Gareth Ainsworth on QPR's Current Status - How Far Have Come in Past Twelve Months

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Gareth Ainsworth/Kilburn Times - Step on the Gaz
I think some people are looking through a glass that's half-empty right now, but I've never had a glass like that and I never will.
Opinions can change on a daily basis and we're having a bumpy run of results at the moment, but you have to look at how far this club has come in the last year.
Twelve months ago we were in the relegation zone and we'd only just picked up our first win - since then we've had new investment, new players, new management and probably some new fans too. You only have to look at Hull City for proof of how quickly things can change. I'm sure when they were 16th in the Championship there were fans calling for Phil Brown's head, new players or whatever - and now those same Hull fans are enjoying the fact that their team are third in the Premier League.
We're still in touch with the top teams - if we beat Forest in our next game we could go up to fifth - and I don't think many of the TV viewers last Saturday would have felt that Birmingham warranted a 1-0 victory.
It was a poor game all round and the difference between the sides was Kevin Phillips. He's popped up in the right place at the right time throughout his career and that was what decided the game.
Of course, we went into the game with two strikers - but it's worth pointing out that we created more chances in the first part of the Blackpool game, with just one striker, than we did during the entire 90 minutes at St Andrew's.
That's nothing to be pleased about, but I think it shows that it's easier to criticise systems than individual errors, which are often the real reason a team isn't scoring.
For example, Rowly held up his hands and admitted he should have scored against Blackpool last week.
We've got a centre-forward who's third in the goalscoring charts and he's managed all of them with one up front. All I'm saying is that everyone needs to see the wider picture and think long-term. Anyway, we've got some time to reflect now during the international break - not that it's much of a break for some of the lads.
Damion Stewart has to go through several time zones and gets back in the middle of the night, the day before the Forest game, and of course Kaspars Gorkss has a similar journey but in the opposite direction.
That means the staff have to wrap some of them in cotton wool a bit - but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Everyone should be proud to play for their country and it's great for QPR to have so many players of international quality around the place." Kilburn Times


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