Supporting QPR we all know the club never do anything easy. We have been on the biggest rollercoaster ride all season though after what has gone in recent seasons what did we really expect?
This week has similar feeling to one we endured last season for very differing reasons. We had played the best football in the championship last season though we had to endure a week of heartache not knowing if the FA would grant our promotion to the Premiership over the Faurlin Saga. We only knew an hour or so before kick-off which led to mass tears of joy from all that support QPR. We had waited 15 years to get back into the big-time and now it was a reality we were going to pit ourselves against some of the best clubs in the world.
This Sunday which is again the culmination of a long hard season and we seem to be relying on a result elsewhere to define our fate which will lead to many loss of finger nails during the 90 minutes and I am sure many will try and find the stream of the Stoke v Bolton game to put themselves through even more agony. Failing that the dreaded words of Jeff Sterling saying on Sky Sports News that there has been a “goal” at the Brittania Stadium, followed by a ten second pause (which will seem like minutes) to find out who actually has scored the goal. It is conceivable this could happen a few times this Sunday afternoon.
This season has proved the team have character and a willingness to take criticism and prove all the so called football experts wrong. Without question the big turning point was coming back from 2-0 down against Liverpool when we looked dead and buried, looking certainties for relegation. That night reminded me of Derby County away in the Championship which gave us the impetus to go on a run of results which would keep us at the top of the Championship. It is no surprise that the unsung hero of both them matches was Jamie Mackie who whilst not being the most gifted of footballers makes up for it with heart and vigour with a mental attitude of never giving up. That has served us well this season. I am not a believer that because Joey Barton suddenly comes off Twitter it makes him perform better on the pitch, it was more him coming out of the firing line of supporters and doing his talking on the pitch and being a captain of our football club.
After 88 minutes of the Stoke game we were practically down and relegated only for Djibril Cisse to make up for his recent misdemeanours with a goal which could be worth around 30-40 million for the club. If someone above is looking after us than surely he cannot be that cruel this Sunday to now take it away? Added to the joy of beating Stoke we heard the news that WBA had equalised against Bolton which showed in 5 minutes how to turn a game of football full circle. Now the emphasis was on Bolton winning at Stoke and not us having to beat Manchester City away.
We have spoken and written about the bad luck throughout the season and I am a great believer over 38 games it evens itself out and I think that has come in the nick of time. Anyone impartial would say that a draw was a fair result against Stoke City and against Spurs whilst we defended with our lives it was backs against the walls to the very end but we survived to get a creditable 1-0 victory. When we looked at our run-in with about 8 games to go we were looking at the Swansea and Stoke games being probably the only games we would win, even then we doubted that would be enough to survive. I must admit to be full of doom and gloom after defeats against our relegation rivals Bolton and Blackburn especially the latter where I failed to see any fight and desire until the last 20 minutes. It is worth mentioning yet again Jamie Mackie the unsung hero almost turned that game around.
Recent results have proved never estimate us when the chips are down and for that reason Manchester City will be in for a hard game this Sunday. Most fans are relying on the Stoke V Bolton game indicating that losing to Man City is a formality. This Premiership season more than ever has shown the underdog to have performed heroics against the big spending clubs in this division. Who would have given us a pray V Arsenal after they had won 7 games on the run? Who would have thought Wigan would go the Emirates and win comfortably or Blackburn Rovers going to Old Trafford and beating them? Our best results have been against the so called better teams in the league and whilst these have been at home we have not been totally dominated away by any of the top teams bar one who we won’t mention.
Winning the Premiership for Manchester City is a momentous task after being years in the shadow of Manchester United and even though its only 90 minutes of football it will see like an eternity the longer games stays at 0-0 for City fans. I do not expect us to park the bus but we have to approach the game with a degree of caution and that’s why I suspect Mark Hughes will go with a 4-5-1 formation and work on being more compact in the midfield.
One big loss for us in recent games Samba Diakite who shows great athleticism and I can only hope he plays on Sunday, as with both Derry and Buzsaky we could find ourselves over run in midfield.
I just hope that if Manchester City score against us than Stoke City are too far ahead to be caught by Bolton. Make no mistake I would love to see Man City win the Premiership but not at our expense. I look at similarities with the two clubs and it was not long ago they were plying their trade two leagues below the Premiership like us and whilst we will never have the catchment area to progress to a 50,000 seated arena we both have board members who have invested far and beyond what we expected them to do.
In our case it would not be a complete disaster if we were relegated. What would make it more devastating is that the impetus is genuinely with us. Though saying all that we are QPR and I suspect one little twist or turn come Sunday afternoon as we don’t do things in half measures. The day would be so comfortable if Stoke are beating Bolton 3-0 at half time and we are drawing against Manchester City. You know having supported QPR over the years it won’t be that simple. Also bear in mind Manchester City have not won the equivalent of this title since 1968 so the pressure will very much on them too.
This week has similar feeling to one we endured last season for very differing reasons. We had played the best football in the championship last season though we had to endure a week of heartache not knowing if the FA would grant our promotion to the Premiership over the Faurlin Saga. We only knew an hour or so before kick-off which led to mass tears of joy from all that support QPR. We had waited 15 years to get back into the big-time and now it was a reality we were going to pit ourselves against some of the best clubs in the world.
This Sunday which is again the culmination of a long hard season and we seem to be relying on a result elsewhere to define our fate which will lead to many loss of finger nails during the 90 minutes and I am sure many will try and find the stream of the Stoke v Bolton game to put themselves through even more agony. Failing that the dreaded words of Jeff Sterling saying on Sky Sports News that there has been a “goal” at the Brittania Stadium, followed by a ten second pause (which will seem like minutes) to find out who actually has scored the goal. It is conceivable this could happen a few times this Sunday afternoon.
This season has proved the team have character and a willingness to take criticism and prove all the so called football experts wrong. Without question the big turning point was coming back from 2-0 down against Liverpool when we looked dead and buried, looking certainties for relegation. That night reminded me of Derby County away in the Championship which gave us the impetus to go on a run of results which would keep us at the top of the Championship. It is no surprise that the unsung hero of both them matches was Jamie Mackie who whilst not being the most gifted of footballers makes up for it with heart and vigour with a mental attitude of never giving up. That has served us well this season. I am not a believer that because Joey Barton suddenly comes off Twitter it makes him perform better on the pitch, it was more him coming out of the firing line of supporters and doing his talking on the pitch and being a captain of our football club.
After 88 minutes of the Stoke game we were practically down and relegated only for Djibril Cisse to make up for his recent misdemeanours with a goal which could be worth around 30-40 million for the club. If someone above is looking after us than surely he cannot be that cruel this Sunday to now take it away? Added to the joy of beating Stoke we heard the news that WBA had equalised against Bolton which showed in 5 minutes how to turn a game of football full circle. Now the emphasis was on Bolton winning at Stoke and not us having to beat Manchester City away.
We have spoken and written about the bad luck throughout the season and I am a great believer over 38 games it evens itself out and I think that has come in the nick of time. Anyone impartial would say that a draw was a fair result against Stoke City and against Spurs whilst we defended with our lives it was backs against the walls to the very end but we survived to get a creditable 1-0 victory. When we looked at our run-in with about 8 games to go we were looking at the Swansea and Stoke games being probably the only games we would win, even then we doubted that would be enough to survive. I must admit to be full of doom and gloom after defeats against our relegation rivals Bolton and Blackburn especially the latter where I failed to see any fight and desire until the last 20 minutes. It is worth mentioning yet again Jamie Mackie the unsung hero almost turned that game around.
Recent results have proved never estimate us when the chips are down and for that reason Manchester City will be in for a hard game this Sunday. Most fans are relying on the Stoke V Bolton game indicating that losing to Man City is a formality. This Premiership season more than ever has shown the underdog to have performed heroics against the big spending clubs in this division. Who would have given us a pray V Arsenal after they had won 7 games on the run? Who would have thought Wigan would go the Emirates and win comfortably or Blackburn Rovers going to Old Trafford and beating them? Our best results have been against the so called better teams in the league and whilst these have been at home we have not been totally dominated away by any of the top teams bar one who we won’t mention.
Winning the Premiership for Manchester City is a momentous task after being years in the shadow of Manchester United and even though its only 90 minutes of football it will see like an eternity the longer games stays at 0-0 for City fans. I do not expect us to park the bus but we have to approach the game with a degree of caution and that’s why I suspect Mark Hughes will go with a 4-5-1 formation and work on being more compact in the midfield.
One big loss for us in recent games Samba Diakite who shows great athleticism and I can only hope he plays on Sunday, as with both Derry and Buzsaky we could find ourselves over run in midfield.
I just hope that if Manchester City score against us than Stoke City are too far ahead to be caught by Bolton. Make no mistake I would love to see Man City win the Premiership but not at our expense. I look at similarities with the two clubs and it was not long ago they were plying their trade two leagues below the Premiership like us and whilst we will never have the catchment area to progress to a 50,000 seated arena we both have board members who have invested far and beyond what we expected them to do.
In our case it would not be a complete disaster if we were relegated. What would make it more devastating is that the impetus is genuinely with us. Though saying all that we are QPR and I suspect one little twist or turn come Sunday afternoon as we don’t do things in half measures. The day would be so comfortable if Stoke are beating Bolton 3-0 at half time and we are drawing against Manchester City. You know having supported QPR over the years it won’t be that simple. Also bear in mind Manchester City have not won the equivalent of this title since 1968 so the pressure will very much on them too.
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