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It was just over a year we were booing the team off after a winning a game on Boxing Day. We had seen a manager who felt the best way to ensure victory was to finish the game against Bristol City with 8 defenders on the pitch and it was clear the QPR faithful were not going to accept this way of winning.
To add insult to injury the QPR board seemed to lack ambition with the sell of Routledge and hardly any movement in the transfer market, only to bring in loan players who were not good enough for the starting 11 anywhere else, who had either no affilation or ambition with the club and simply just played football. You need more than that and it was obvious big changes needed to be made, unfortunately the board at this stage seemed oblivious to the situation or felt that they had invested enough and were not going to do anymore.
It wouldn't be to February 20th 2010 we would actually win another game. The club was simply going downhill and the fans would at the home games against Ipswich and Scunthorpe vent anger towards the board. Whilst the club would never admit it, the fans protests were a clear indication that they had a decision to make, they could either wash their hands on the whole thing or do something about it.
The board have been given alot of flack in the last 3 years and quite rightly so, but they were about to make the best signing they would ever make. The club had been looking to replace Harford who like many players never matched that ability when managing a football club. Eyes had been on Warnock for some time and the window of opportunity was about to appear after Crystal Palace had been served with a 10 point deduction which would tie the hands of Warnock and a realisation that he couldn't do anymore. What we had against us, was the fact we had a terrbible record with managers, rumours of interference were clearly not going to help to attract a top class manager at this level, this is where the board must take great credit.
First objective was to prove to Neil Warnock that if he wanted to fulfill his dream of managing in the premiership again, than QPR would be the best team to manage. Its okay to say it, but with a character like Warnock you have to prove it. Thats where the skills of the board came into play, they would give assurances that within reason he would have a budget at his disposal and full trust would be given to him the manager. The talks must have gone on for a couple of weeks, because Warnock is no idiot and he would have deliberated over the decision and taken many things into account.
The first task was to secure our championship status, which would be no easy task bearing in mind we had 6-7 loan players who knew their future would not be with QPR and this is where Warnock man-mangement skills would be examined, which he passed with flying colours. The win against Crystal Palace practically assured we would not be involved in a relegation dogfight. One of many great days in 2010, that game showed that we were starting to build some kind of character within the team, by the time we played Newcastle we as fans had gone to hell and back and survived it, but only just.
if asked in the summer, where QPR would finish in the upcoming season most would have predicted Play Offs, but deep down that was more of a hope than a expectation. Warnock started to assemble players he trusted and show incredible patience in bringing in the one player he knew would be the difference between also rans and Play off/Championship contenders, the signing of Adel Taarabt. The fact that Warnock and Paladini spent a week in Morrocco should not be overlooked, because it was obvious that the young dynamic Adel would need convincing that his future would be best served by being at QPR, he did take alot of persuading. Job done and you could see that pre-season we had a different approach, no longer did we have players turning up overweight and with a careless attitude, we looked fit and Warnock in his short time in the job had made players believe they could do so much better.
We started with a win against Barnsley which many never got over-excited about, as we always beat Barnsley and never a clear indication on how the season would progress. What followed was an exit from the Carling Cup and a couple of comfortable victories against Sheffield United and Scunthorpe United. We had started the season well and fans were starting to feel a little excited about the future, only to be 2-0 down in the next game against Derby with about 5 minutes to go. I still maintain, that what would happen in the last 5 minutes of that game proved to the players that they could make a mark on this seasons championship. We all thought the late goal from Ageymang was no more than a late consolation, yet the team showed a unity not seen for a long long time, with a late equaliser from jamie Mackie. That game installed belief that we were going places and if we all stuck together than the promotion from this division was not merely a pipe dream, but a reality.
We followed that performance with away wins at Ipswich, Leicester and Crystal Palace and an unbeaten record which would last 19 games. If we do get promoted in may 2011, then surely we will look at points gained late in games like Palace, Portsmouth and Derby.
The club has been transfomed completely in 12 months. We are no longer the laughing stock of football commentators and fans alike. We have stability, without much changing upstairs. The board made mistakes in the past, but are now seeing what happens when you get a proper manager to manage. The fans are really excited that 2011 proves a year to remember.
To add insult to injury the QPR board seemed to lack ambition with the sell of Routledge and hardly any movement in the transfer market, only to bring in loan players who were not good enough for the starting 11 anywhere else, who had either no affilation or ambition with the club and simply just played football. You need more than that and it was obvious big changes needed to be made, unfortunately the board at this stage seemed oblivious to the situation or felt that they had invested enough and were not going to do anymore.
It wouldn't be to February 20th 2010 we would actually win another game. The club was simply going downhill and the fans would at the home games against Ipswich and Scunthorpe vent anger towards the board. Whilst the club would never admit it, the fans protests were a clear indication that they had a decision to make, they could either wash their hands on the whole thing or do something about it.
The board have been given alot of flack in the last 3 years and quite rightly so, but they were about to make the best signing they would ever make. The club had been looking to replace Harford who like many players never matched that ability when managing a football club. Eyes had been on Warnock for some time and the window of opportunity was about to appear after Crystal Palace had been served with a 10 point deduction which would tie the hands of Warnock and a realisation that he couldn't do anymore. What we had against us, was the fact we had a terrbible record with managers, rumours of interference were clearly not going to help to attract a top class manager at this level, this is where the board must take great credit.
First objective was to prove to Neil Warnock that if he wanted to fulfill his dream of managing in the premiership again, than QPR would be the best team to manage. Its okay to say it, but with a character like Warnock you have to prove it. Thats where the skills of the board came into play, they would give assurances that within reason he would have a budget at his disposal and full trust would be given to him the manager. The talks must have gone on for a couple of weeks, because Warnock is no idiot and he would have deliberated over the decision and taken many things into account.
The first task was to secure our championship status, which would be no easy task bearing in mind we had 6-7 loan players who knew their future would not be with QPR and this is where Warnock man-mangement skills would be examined, which he passed with flying colours. The win against Crystal Palace practically assured we would not be involved in a relegation dogfight. One of many great days in 2010, that game showed that we were starting to build some kind of character within the team, by the time we played Newcastle we as fans had gone to hell and back and survived it, but only just.
if asked in the summer, where QPR would finish in the upcoming season most would have predicted Play Offs, but deep down that was more of a hope than a expectation. Warnock started to assemble players he trusted and show incredible patience in bringing in the one player he knew would be the difference between also rans and Play off/Championship contenders, the signing of Adel Taarabt. The fact that Warnock and Paladini spent a week in Morrocco should not be overlooked, because it was obvious that the young dynamic Adel would need convincing that his future would be best served by being at QPR, he did take alot of persuading. Job done and you could see that pre-season we had a different approach, no longer did we have players turning up overweight and with a careless attitude, we looked fit and Warnock in his short time in the job had made players believe they could do so much better.
We started with a win against Barnsley which many never got over-excited about, as we always beat Barnsley and never a clear indication on how the season would progress. What followed was an exit from the Carling Cup and a couple of comfortable victories against Sheffield United and Scunthorpe United. We had started the season well and fans were starting to feel a little excited about the future, only to be 2-0 down in the next game against Derby with about 5 minutes to go. I still maintain, that what would happen in the last 5 minutes of that game proved to the players that they could make a mark on this seasons championship. We all thought the late goal from Ageymang was no more than a late consolation, yet the team showed a unity not seen for a long long time, with a late equaliser from jamie Mackie. That game installed belief that we were going places and if we all stuck together than the promotion from this division was not merely a pipe dream, but a reality.
We followed that performance with away wins at Ipswich, Leicester and Crystal Palace and an unbeaten record which would last 19 games. If we do get promoted in may 2011, then surely we will look at points gained late in games like Palace, Portsmouth and Derby.
The club has been transfomed completely in 12 months. We are no longer the laughing stock of football commentators and fans alike. We have stability, without much changing upstairs. The board made mistakes in the past, but are now seeing what happens when you get a proper manager to manage. The fans are really excited that 2011 proves a year to remember.
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