-
Following in the immediate footsteps of Dave McIntyre's brilliant piece re Sousa
Daily Mail/Ivan Speck - Sousa's swagger suggests golden age ahead as QPR coach
-As long as there is no cap on the wealth of football club owners in the Championship, Queens Park Rangers ought to be able to celebrate the vision of a glorious future.
- When one-fifth of the club belongs to the world’s fourth richest man, Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, cheques at Loftus Road come with an extra nought on the end.
-
- Finding the right man to spend those cheques and lead Rangers to the Barclays
Premier League is an art that money cannot easily buy, yet there is a swagger in west
London that suggests the imaginative appointment of Paulo Sousa, a fully paid-up member of Portugal’s golden generation of players, was more than just a flight of fancy by the QPR board.
-The 38-year-old has no previous experience as a club manager. No matter. He speaks and acts with an assurance that belies his lack of knowledge of life in English football’s second tier.
- After a frenetic London derby against Crystal Palace last week, Sousa qualified his admission that the style was different to that encountered in a playing career that took in five different leagues around Europe with a wry aside: ‘But the points are the same.’
-
- Ask him to compare the level of technical ability he has found in his Rangers squad and he says: ‘I can’t compare. I need to adapt. My job is to create exercises so that the players can grow every training session. Their level is what it is and I want to extract the best from them and try to increase their level.’
As a defensive midfielder, Sousa graced the colours of Benfica, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Panathinaikos among his eight clubs. None were in England, although, as a Champions League winner with Juventus, he turned down Arsenal in 1996 in favour of Dortmund — and promptly won the Champions League again with the German club.
- He said: ‘At that moment Arsenal wouldn’t have given me the same chance to stamp my football on the team. I had played against Dortmund twice and I thought that I could be a big part of that team and give great things to them. I think I made a great decision.
-
- ‘As a coach, it was one of my priorities to come to England. I was offered posts elsewhere. I had two job offers in Portugal but I didn’t accept them because they didn’t suit my ideas.
- ‘English football is at the top now, the atmosphere at games is special and I’m proud to be here. The fans bring their emotions to games. Dealing with emotions is not easy, but it’s fantastic when you put passion into this atmosphere.
‘As a player I worked very hard to try to repay the fans’ attitude and that is what I try to pass on to my players in training sessions, to repay the fans with good quality football and with emotion.’
-
- It is impossible not to see the honour that runs through the expressive Sousa, speaker of five languages.
- ‘A player who has played at a high level, whether he has won a lot of things or been on a big salary, he cannot retire. He has to give his ideas and his qualities back to football — as a manager, a director, a fan, everything. You have this responsibility.
- ‘As a coach, I try to understand not only each player’s game, but also his personality so that I can give my best to him and give him the confidence and chance to play his football with the qualities he has.’
Sousa’s players have already been seduced by his methods as he attempts to lift them towards the play-off places. They are 18 points behind leaders Wolves, whom they host on Saturday, but only two behind sixth-placed Preston.
-
- Midfielder Gavin Mahon said of Sousa: ‘You can believe that he has won Champions League winner’s medals because he has a physical aura about him. He’s confident in his own ability.
- ‘He’s very professional, very organised. He’s young, hungry and he loves being out on the training pitch passing his knowledge on to us. He’s trying to change the way we play as a team and his coaching is quite demanding. He doesn’t let anyone slack off. If you make one or two bad passes, he lets you know straight away.’
-
- The burning question at Loftus Road is whether Sousa will have to fend off interference from above, notably co-owner Flavio Briatore, when it comes to team selection and the signing of new players.
Sousa said: ‘That’s not for me to think about. I have come in to do one job. Together, me and the club will try to bring more quality to the team. If the board decide they have enough money to improve the quality of the team in January, of course I would like it.’
Diplomacy is another of the impressive Sousa’s talents. Daily Mail
Visit the QPR Report Messageboard
Welcome to QPR REPORT - A completely unofficial and unaffiliated fan site focusing on G-d's Chosen Team, Queen's Park Rangers (QPR) FC. (Visit also QPR Report Messageboard and Follow on Twitter.) QPR Report accepts no sponsorship, advertising or financial contributions. In 2008, QPR Report was named as one of the top two blogs in the Football League
QPR Report Twitter Feed
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Another Sousa Profile "Sousa's Swagger Suggests Golden Age Ahead as QPR Coach"
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(1621)
-
▼
December
(121)
- Snippets: QPR After Non-Leaguer?....QPR's Promotio...
- Flashback to QPR-at-Year's End: One, Two and Three...
- Confirmation Zesh Rehman Has Returned to QPR
- Loftus Road Ranked at #42 in "Greatest Stadiums fo...
- Briatore Enjoying Running QPR- on Dowie and De Can...
- Zesh Rehman Back at QPR?....Raving About Balanta
- QPR's at Year's End: A Comparison to Previous Year...
- Unlikely Story: QPR Sousa as Derby County Manageri...
- Interesting Assessment of QPR and Borrowdale, Helg...
- "In Case You Missed It!" - Some QPR-Related Postin...
- Lee Camp Returning to QPR?....Ramage on QPR Under ...
- Iain Dowie Speaks About His Time at QPR
- Blackstock to Fulham?....Flashback "QPR Are Now Sa...
- QPR vs Watford: Reports, Managerial Comments and Q...
- QPR Drop Another Two Points - at Home to Watford
- Teams: QPR vs Watford
- QPR Interest in Orient's Jason Demetriou?...Routle...
- QPR Snippets: Tomassi Interview...Warnock on Watso...
- QPR's Charlton Draw - Reports and Comments
- QPR Drop Two Points at Charlton
- Teams: QPR at Charlton: Alberti Debuts
- QPR's Damiano Tomassi Interviewed About His QPR Ex...
- QPR at Charlton...QPR's Boxing Day Record
- Crystal Palace's Ben Watson Supposedly Spurning QP...
- QPR's Christmas Greetings - Present and Past....Ol...
- Amit Bhatia Talks About QPR: Pleased with Progress...
- Vine Recovery Update....Sousa's Wants New Player.....
- Stan Bowles Turns Sixty!....Brian Bedford Turns Se...
- QPR Transfer Developments...Parejo Allegedly Earni...
- Praise for Parejo From Real Madrid's Ex-Youth Coac...
- Adrien Silva for QPR? ...Watson: Crystal Palace's ...
- QPR-Related Articles of Interest
- Two QPR Players Make Championship Team of the Week...
- Analysis of QPR Under Sousa: "Steps in the Right D...
- Lee Cook Feeling Wanted and Wanting to Stay - and ...
- "Times of Change at QPR" - (A Very Interesting Ana...
- Flavio Briatore Helping Out Kenyan Youth Football
- Lee Cook on Hoping to Finalize His QPR Move This W...
- QPR's Victory Over Preston: Further Match Reports
- Routledge: QPR Versus Cardiff...Leon Knight Sacked...
- QPR's Win...Preston's Loss - Reports and Manageria...
- QPR Narrowly Beat Preston
- Teams: QPR vs Preston
- Preston Pre-Matching Blogging from Loftus Road
- Lakshmi Mittal's QPR Investment - Announced One Ye...
- Helguson's Permanent Move?...Preston Preview Big Q...
- At Half Way Mark: Prediction Re-examined and Fresh...
- QPR vs Preston Preview....Man United Trained at Lo...
- Updated: QPR and Other Football Articles of Interest
- Balanta Staying at Wycombe
- Parejo Happy/Thrilled to Be Home....Real Madrid: "...
- The "Home Grown" League Rule Now In Effect
- QPR Report Articles of Interest (Thursday) includi...
- "Dani of the 100 Days" - Recalling Parejo's Arriva...
- Parejo Has Now 100% "Left The Building" - Returns ...
- Parejo's Real Madrid Return: More Than Messageboar...
- QPR Report Articles of Interest (Wednesday)
- Parejo Return Update?...Wanted by QPR; Trialing at...
- QPR Report Articles of Interest (Tuesday)
- QPR/Sinclair?...Flashback Two Years: QPR in Big Tr...
- QPR's Recent "Derogatory Offer" for Crystal Palace...
- Ex-QPR Parrett Set for Spurs Debut...QPR Player Ma...
- QPR's Two Goalies: Lee Camp Profiled and Interview...
- Articles of Interest (Monday) - 50 Best-Ever Footb...
- Snippets: Updated - Parejo Return on Hold?...Journ...
- Various QPR-Related Articles of Interest
- Parejo Returning to Spain?...Routledge to QPR?
- Plymouth 1 QPR 1 - Further Reports and Comments
- Reports & Comments on QPR Draw - and QPR's First-A...
- Beyond QPR: Articles of Interest - Saturday
- Snippets: Terry Venables on The Chairman-Manager ...
- Various Articles of Interest Including: Football F...
- Previewing QPR at Plymouth (and Walton and Barker)
- Parejo Real Madrid Recall Not Ruled Out.....Assess...
- (Updated) Various Articles of Interest
- Next: QPR at Plymouth - As Ex-QPR Simon Walton Com...
- Eclectic Items of Interest
- Delaney on His Season, His Place, and the Impact o...
- QPR Playing in Italian Youth Tournament?....Sheila...
- QPR's Loss to Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield: Repor...
- QPR Lose to Sheffield Wednesday...More Tomorrow!
- QPR & Sheff Wed Price Comparison....Bruno Aguiar o...
- Next: QPR at Sheffield Wednesday (Tonight)
- QPR Fans Meeting With Club - Report/Minutes
- Snippets: QPR's Axed Sheila Marson WAS Football's ...
- No QPR in Team of Week...Tomassi: Good Guy in Spai...
- QPR vs Wolves: Further Reports....Sousa Receives H...
- Video Snippet of Rowlands' Goal Against Wolves + F...
- Snippets: Cook's Done Deal...The Radically Differe...
- QPR and Ben Watson and ostensibly Colin Kazim Rich...
- "Since Paulo Sousa took charge....[QPR] have disco...
- QPR Whip Wolves - Reports and Comments
- Teams - QPR vs Wolves
- Birthday for QPR's Ex-Captain, Ex-England Captain ...
- Lee Cook Supposedly Signs for QPR...QPR/Burnley Ti...
- Mancienne On His Return to Loftus Road Talks About...
- Next: Wolves at QPR....Loan Clubs Hoping to Sign C...
- QPR's 1967 Hero Turns Seventy: Mark Lazarus
- Another Sousa Profile "Sousa's Swagger Suggests Go...
- QPR's Paulo Sousa Assessed - Fascinating Profile, ...
-
▼
December
(121)