Let’s be honest. After the hullabaloo-fuelled blue and white wave of emotion that emanated from Suffolk, who didn’t have a sneaky titter at the demise of Shepherd Bush’s finest?
When Leroy Fer put his ‘John Hancock’ on a shiny and lucrative contract last summer, I’m sure that ‘Arry had convinced him that a golden future in the Premier League was in the offing.
Yet less than a year on from ecstatic Wembley play-off scenes amongst QPR fans and players, the joy has turned to despair. I’m sure their former manager accepts no responsibility.
Reportedly ‘bad eggs’ in the squad were to blame. Was the double Dutch master one of them?
Now they are left with a massive financial black hole, a load of old donkeys to be consigned to the knackers yard, a rookie manager and the possibility of expulsion to the Conference next season.
Any sympathy? Not a shred from me and I suspect not from anyone else. Their model for joining the big boys in the Premier League was, and still is, fundamentally flawed and they’ve got their just desserts. At every turn, their decision-making has been panicked and wrong.
There but for the grace of a sensible owner and CEO go any aspiring wannabee club with ambitions way beyond their means or capabilities. Bournemouth and Watford fans – be careful of what you wish for.
It goes without saying – but I’ll say it anyway – that we too have been through the proverbial ringer at Carrow Road over the past decade: promotions, relegations, financial woes, and donkeys instead of lions on and off the pitch. We’ve suffered nearly all the same wounds now inflicted upon the Fernandes-funded flops.
We’re *possibly* on the cusp of a Wembley date and some very dark days are behind us. From the outside at least, it seems that the current set-up is a happy and well run one, even if it’s required plenty of staff turnover through the season to get to such a situation.
We have a manager who is widely regarded as a very exciting prospect and who has made a big impression in a short space of time.
We have owners and a CEO who have a- solid, long standing working partnership with a sensible plan and stable finances.
And we have a very strong, young and determined squad. Along the way one or two may have been the subject of cheap jibes and downright abuse (Johnson, Whittaker, Martin etc) but sadly that’s what you get with the wonderful world of the web.
Any bad eggs? If there are, I trust Alex Neil will do a darn sight more thorough job of cracking them than ‘Arry did at Loftus Road.
Ipswich fans of course, after thirteen years in the wilderness, are palpably desperate to see top flight action again. After all those years of attrition, both on the pitch and in the stands, last weekend’s ‘derby of the century’ generated one hell of a noise but not a huge threat on their hallowed turf.
Such was their relief at not losing another East Anglian scrap, that holes were punched in ceilings by excited fans at home. However in reality, more impression was made on said ceiling than on the pitch.
Norwich got the job done without ever finding third, let alone fourth gear. There are no excuses – other than terrible luck and/or officials, or overbearing weight of expectation – for the job not to be finished in Norfolk and the Wembley plans set in action.
Even with that outcome, I sense there will still be some degree of online griping about why it had to come to the play-offs.
Get over it. No-one, but no-one could have predicted the top two that we got or the closeness of the race to get there. We never had any divine right or entitlement as a portion of the City fandom seem to have perceived from the start.
The last club to go up via the playoffs and become a stable top flight outfit were Swansea, who finished behind us in 2010/11. There is a well-run club who have built gradually, invested sensibly and developed an attractive style on the pitch that rarely sees them overrun by the big boys of the top five.
I suspect QPR will be doing ‘a Fulham’ next season – battling it out at the wrong end of things in penance for the sins committed in the Warnock/Hughes/Redknapp years.
I’m not sure that Leroy Fer will be hanging around again though. I suspect his wages cannot be afforded in the Championship, let alone the Conference. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns out at Vicarage Road next season and how I’d love to see ‘lucky’ Leroy complete his hat-trick for them.
If – and it’s still a big if – we get past the Tractor Boys and triumph against whoever on the 25th, the major lessons from last time must be learnt and mistakes not repeated to prevent more yo-yoing in future.
What we don’t need are repeats of dour defensive slogs and wildly speculative purchases. But, talking of which, what will Neil make of Dutch Ricky on his return?
Oh to be a fly on the wall for that face-to-face.
To borrow from the soon-to-be-departing Andy Townsend’s bumper book of clichés; “It’s all to play for Clive.”
An excellent and timely piece.
The comparison of our club with QPR is instructive – on both sides. QPR have continued to spend beyond their means and hope justice wouldn’t catch up with them. In contrast, we’ve shown – politicians take note – how to eliminate a deficit and earn success.
You highlight some players who’ve proved their critics wrong. The same should be said for Delia (& Michael) and David McNally. If you doubt their achievement, look at the finances and league positions of Cardiff & Fulham.
To be pedantic – I have a reputation to live up to – isn’t it the wringer we’ve been through, rather than the ringer? Always had my doubts about Sibierski, though….
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There’s something morally wrong with the beautiful game when the powers that be permit a FFP policy (admittedly agreed between the clubs themselves) which enables clubs to live well beyond their means.
It’s why I have absolutely no sympathy for clubs like QPR, that are run so badly.
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Trolling the Watford fans again, Russell? 😉
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*Stewart – it’s incredible that QPR didn’t learn the lesson from the car crash that was the Flavio Briatore era. I see Arry is putting their relegation down to lack of recruitment! It seems that financial black hole just wasn’t deep enough for him. Apologies for the dropped ‘w’.
*Gary – as was said on the radio t’other day, it beggars belief how a highly successful business man can run a football club so abysmally. Still, at least they’ve got Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton to fight their corner next season!
*Ben – ‘trolling’ is harsh – I prefer ‘poking’ or ‘prodding’. I was hoping to get some QPR fans bite back but I’m not sure they have any argument to make.
Just trying to take my mind off this Saturday lunchtime’s little encounter.
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You know, being a yo-yo club is not that bad in my opinion. The last couple of years of the premiership were pretty dire from my perspective. I’d take the continuing excitement of relegation followed by a promotion for the next few seasons :-).
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I wasn’t surprised the Fer left – I believe he is a genuine Premier League player. What got me was his going to QPR. I didn’t expect them to be quite as bad as they were but there was no doubt they’d be in a relegation battle. Somewhere such as Swansea or perhaps even Everton would be better suited for his talent.
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*Kevin – maybe in theory but without a guarantee of promotion (as this season has shown), it’s a risky strategy.
*Geoff – jury has to be on his PL quality. He has the odd good game but consistency is an issue as is application and desire as evidenced by the Man City performance for QPR – he was also ‘on duty’ when we lost 7-0 at the Etihad. He might be back in the PL next season with team number 3 but I don’t think QPR will recoup much of the 8 million which they were generous enough to give us.
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Geoff (6): Fer’s a talented player who looks impressive when he’s ‘on it’. His problem is that he may not be good enough for a top-8 club in the Premier League, and all the rest are potential strugglers. If you want someone to be in the trenches with you, you’d go for Snodgrass every time over Fer.
Re-reading Russ’s piece, one phrase jumps out at me. I’ve been trying to argue the gripers and the if-only merchants out of that mentality. Russ has a pithy and perfect line for them: “get over it”.
Time for unreserved and unashamed passion. OTBC.
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Geoff (6), wasn’t Leroy headed for Everton before a dodgy knee gave them pause for concern?
We keep getting these snide comments from south of the border about how much our squad cost in comparison with theirs, but we’ve earned that squad, and the money it cost, from our efforts on the pitch. In 2009 we were on the verge of financial ruin, (but didn’t follow the Ipswich cop out into administration), now we have a squad that others envy. If they are so frugal, how come they are the ones with an £85m debt? And if we are so profligate how come we (probably) have money in the bank?
Whatever happens on Saturday we have a financial model to be proud of, unlike ‘Arry, whose CV, with the odd exception, is simply a list of financial failure after financial failure.
OTBC
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Fernandes has given a number of managers free range to shell out on players in a scramble to poach a place in the Premier league. No wonder he was left with egg on his face and a few bad ‘uns in the box. The chickens have come home to roost at Loftus Road.
Our owners/CEO have got it cracked.
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Henry (10): So far QPR have saved their bacon – but their behaviour could hardly have been rasher.
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I was so pleased about QPR, and Wigan for that matter. If we don’t make it, at least I’ll have those consolations, however small
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Wasn’t Tony Fernandes linked with Norwich for a while, before he went to QPR? Or was that just a lazy assumption arising from our sponsorship by Lotus? Either way, it’s just another illustration that mega-rich owners aren’t necessarily the answer. Even Brentford, who looked to have it sussed, seem to have shot themselves in the foot with the bizarre decision over their manager.
As for City, if we go through I think we can call it an enjoyable, successful, constructive season of rebuilding. If we don’t … no, I can’t even contemplate that scenario.
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Neil (13): The answer to ‘if we don’t’ is: we have a brilliant young manager and – because of McNally & the Board – the ability to withstand at least another year of Championship finance. We’ll be competitive.
It’s not the scenario we’re thinking about, but it wouldn’t be a disaster either.
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