- See also: QPR Report Messageboard
- For QPR History: See the Bushman QPR Photo Archives - From the 1880s and on
- Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
____________________________________________________________________________
Four Questions to QPR
1) When's the committed Fan Meeting with Tony Fernandes?
2) When's the next Fan Forum (or that is going to be submerged) into the Meeting?
3) Is the Club going to hold a "Player of the year" Dinner - and when are they going to announce? (After years of having them, hasn't been one since Tony Fernandes took over)
4) When are next season Ticket Prices (and new kits) going to be announced? (Hasn't yet been fan input into next season kits)?
- Rodney Marsh on Talksport: Cheating and Diving, OK
- On This Day in 1967 (Yesterday) QPR Clinch the Title
-
- Video: 4 Future QPR Players in this 1964 Fulham Team vs Manchester United
- QPR1st DRAFT Stadium Survey
- 13 Years of QPR Trust - and since QPR went into Administration
-
- Flashback: Videos of Past QPR-Leicester Games
- 10 Years Ago: First Mention of Gianni Paladini and QPR
- Mark Hughes Makes the "50 Most Powerful People in Welsh Sport
- World List of Sporting Statues
Four Four Two
The Top 100 Premier League matches: Thrill providers, city dividers and title deciders
Read more at
1. Manchester City 3-2 QPR, 13/05/2012
Top at kick-off on the last day, all Manchester City had to do was beat QPR – managed by former City boss Mark Hughes, who had his own reasons for wanting an unlikely win: not only had he been rather brusquely shoved out for City to hire Roberto Mancini, but the 17th-placed Rs were only two points above relegation.
A tense first half got even nervier when Wayne Rooney's goal put title rivals Man United ahead at Sunderland, and although Pablo Zabaleta scored before the break, Djibril Cisse's equaliser early in the second half ramped up the blood pressure. Red-carded Joey Barton tried to take some City players with him but Jamie Mackie put the Hoops into an unlikely 66th-minute lead.
City entered the five minutes' added time 2-1 down, but Edin Dzeko's 92nd-minute leveller gave hope. Three minutes later Mario Balotelli's first assist of the season was larruped home by Sergio Aguero. City were champions at the very death. GP
Read more at
ESPN The salary survey says ...
The Mag, with Sportingintelligence, identifies the highest-paying teams in the world
Originally Published: April 14, 2014
By Maya A. Jones and Ross Marrinson | ESPN The Magazine
WHO SAYS MONEY can't buy happiness? According to the ESPN The Magazine/Sportingintelligence Global Salary Survey, the 2013 Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks spent an average of $2.3 million per player last season, the second-highest total in the NFL. Though the franchise spent more per player than 30 other NFL teams, it ranked No. 116 overall, behind all 30 NBA teams, all but two major league baseball clubs and 13 of 20 English Premier League squads.
"A lot of people think because the NFL has great ratings, the players must be the wealthiest," says Sportingintelligence editor Nick Harris. "A list like this over time shows the disconnect."
The NBA is the highest-paying league in the world, as roughly $2 billion was paid to 441 players, for an average salary of $4,522,283 per player. The 2013-14 Brooklyn Nets, thanks largely to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's desire to build a contending team immediately, have the highest average payoll at $6.8 million per player, up from $5.5 million last season. The offseason acquisitions of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce increased the overall team payroll from $82,726,245 to $102,211,009, a jump from No. 16 to No. 6 on the overall list. The larger payroll is costing Prokhorov more than $80 million in luxury taxes alone.
Other notable items in the survey include Serie A behemoth A.C. Milan's dropping 21 spots, from No. 6 to No. 27. A.C. Milan's team payroll declined from $177,909,000 in 2011-12 to $155,928,000 in 2012-13. Back in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers fell from No. 7 to No. 19 in team payroll, due in large part to the departures of Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, whose combined salary was $26.8 million.
In addition to the yearly salary data, Harris compiled a list of 198 teams that are ranked by the total salary an average player made over the past five seasons. Of these 198 teams, 49 had an average player who has earned $20 million or more since 2009. La Liga's Barcelona tops this list with an average five-year spend of $37,975,600 per player. Real Madrid comes in at No. 2 at $37 million, followed by the New York Yankees' $35.8 million, Manchester City's $31.7 million and Chelsea's $31 million to complete the top five. Over the span, the Lakers were the NBA's highest-paying club, coming in at No. 7 overall, having spent $29,883,100 on the average player over the past five years. The NFL's highest-paid team, the Dallas Cowboys, doesn't land until No. 93, and the average Cowboy was paid $11.8 million over the five years.
The results of the survey reveal the spending trends of 294 teams in 15 leagues in seven sports across the globe. The total wages of the 8,663 athletes surveyed amounted to $16.15 billion. Figures exclude endorsements, appearance fees and sponsorships and have been converted to U.S. dollars. The lists include money paid in salaries to players who form the "first-team squad" or active roster across a season. Salaries for the survey are taken from the following years:...
List of Clubs (QPR 70th)
espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/10709445/sportingintelligence-global-salary-survey-espn-magazine
FLASHBACKS
Official Site - April 15, 2009
QPR OFFICIAL SITE - EXCLUSIVE: FLAVIO BRIATORE INTERVIEW
- Flavio Briatore has spoken exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk to set the record straight regarding the media frenzy surrounding Paulo Sousa's departure from QPR.
The QPR Holdings Ltd Chairman sets the record straight on a number of issues, including team selection and the recently reduced Season Ticket prices.
- Flavio, there's been a lot written and discussed regarding Paulo Sousa's departure - can you set the record straight?
- Firstly, despite what has been reported in the press, Paulo wasn't sacked by QPR. Paulo's contract was terminated, after he - without authority - divulged highly confidential and sensitive information. The Club, with legal advice, responded in this way to protect its position.
- Furthermore, despite what's been written this weekend, we didn't sack Mick Harford, we didn't sack Luigi De Canio and, as I said, we didn't sack Paulo.
- Mick was offered improved terms to stay on the backroom team but chose to move on. He was aware that we had lined up a new Coach and he was only a temporary option, but we were happy for him to stay on as Assistant, on improved terms. He chose to decline that role. Mick has already stated that this is the truth.
Luigi had to return to Italy for personal reasons, and he has also confirmed that is correct. It was very unexpected for me and I was disappointed about it, because I wanted him to stay on.
- For the press to say we've sacked all these people is totally inaccurate and our lawyers are dealing with this.
- We terminated the employment of John Gregory who was already at the Club before we arrived. We had De Canio lined up, but there were complications to get him for the first few weeks.
- But it is true, Iain Dowie was sacked.
The media have reported you told Paulo Sousa which team to pick - is that correct?
- That is incorrect. Paulo picked the team all the time.
- As a Board, we spoke about wanting to see QPR play a more attacking, aggressive brand of football, in a 4-4-2 formation, and he promised us he would do that.
There were two incidents which disappointed us. When we beat Preston North End before Christmas, Paulo made six changes for the next match and we only drew at Charlton Athletic, who were bottom of the league.
- And against Ipswich Town, he stuck to a 4-5-1 formation, when we were at home, and that is when we became very disappointed.
- I was very surprised to see Damion Stewart on the bench and Radek Cerny not involved for that match.
- But I'd like to repeat, I never once told Paulo, or any other Coach for that matter, which team to pick.
- It has also been suggested that it was solely your decision to loan Dexter Blackstock. Is it right that Paulo Sousa knew nothing about the striker leaving to join Nottingham Forest?
- Dexter's agent, Eric Walters, has spoken about this. That statement tells the facts.
- He said: 'Dexter was unhappy at QPR for some time, as he had only started six of a possible 21 fixtures.
- 'He wasn't even on the bench for QPR's home fixture against Bristol City and seeing as he was the Club's top goalscorer, Dexter was unhappy about this situation.
'A few Clubs approached me for Dexter, including Nottingham Forest. I spoke with Gianni Paladini and he advised me that we needed to clear this with Paulo Sousa.
'Paulo came back from Portugal on March 26th at lunchtime. Dexter discussed the situation with Paulo, and he didn't say anything to Dexter about the possibility of him staying with QPR.
'At 4.00pm on March 26th 2009, Dexter signed the paperwork to complete his loan transfer to Nottingham Forest.'
- Moving on, when you arrived at QPR, you spoke quite openly about a four-year project to reach the Premier League. Are you happy with the progress so far?
- We're progressing very well.
- On the pitch, we're already up to the 60 point mark this season, which hasn't been achieved by QPR in many years at this level.
- People seem to have very short memories here. Just this season alone, we have taken points off all the top eight with the exception of Burnley.
- We beat Wolverhampton at home; we drew with Sheffield United; we beat Birmingham City at home; we've drawn twice with Reading; we beat Cardiff City at home; and - we've beaten both Preston North End and Swansea City at Loftus Road too.
- That can't be forgotten and anyone that was at Loftus Road on Easter Monday could see that we not only have a great team spirit, but we can also play some very exciting, entertaining football in a 4-4-2 formation.
Off the pitch, the infrastructure is improving all the time. We have invested over £34 million in to the Club.
- We have signed 17 players - Delaney, Mahon, Hall, Leigertwood, Routledge, Vine, Buzsaky, Agyemang, Gorkss, Ramage, Connolly, Cook, Alberti, Cerny, Ephraim, Helguson and Borrowdale.
- Plus, we have a very strong Youth team, who have just returned from a very successful tour in Sardinia, where we won the Fair Play Cup.
- We have dropped our Season Ticket prices by five per-cent for the renewal period in response to feedback from our supporters.
- We have taken this decision following detailed discussions with fan groups and supporters in general.
- The QPR fan-base plays an integral role in the decision-making process and we were wary that the initial deadline only took into account supporters receiving one pay packet during the initial time period.
- We want to attract fans to Loftus Road and we believe our new prices offer an affordable option to them. Children under the age of eight can come to watch for free - and that is important, because we are always working towards a long-term future, and fans, of all ages, are hugely significant to that.
- Furthermore, we are constantly striving to improve the facilities we have at both the main ground and the training complex, with the re-laying of the Loftus Road pitch over the summer months integral to our plans going forward next season.
- On the commercial side, we are in lucrative partnerships with some major worldwide brands, including Santander, Chronotech, Gulf Air and Lotto Sport Italia. Financially, these deals are amongst the best in English football, let alone the Championship.
- We are looking for a 360 degree improvement in all areas and whilst we admit it will take time, with the support of the whole QPR family, we are progressing well and as a Board, we are confident we will reach our goals.
Speaking of Loftus Road, can you confirm what the current situation is?
- We have sorted the ABC issue, which was crippling the Club, at a 12 per-cent interest rate.
- They would have taken the ground had we not met the deadline, so the fans can be rest assured, that we now own the stadium, which is a great assurance for the future of this Club.
- We would love to see the ground full every week and we are hoping that by introducing the new five per-cent Early Bird reduction, that supporters will follow us in greater numbers, both home and away, next season.
- Speaking of supporters, what are your thoughts on the fans who booed the Board of Directors on Monday?
- It was only a small minority of supporters who booed, but naturally it disappoints me.
- The fact is though; we saved the Club when it was within minutes of going under. If it wasn't for us, this Club would not be here. That is a fact.
- Furthermore, when we arrived here, we had nobody behind us, but now we are only looking towards the top.
- It is similar to at Renault. When we arrived we were last on the grid, and we progressed to the very top. That is what we want to happen at QPR.
- No-one likes being booed, but we know we are doing the right things for the long-term future of this Club and we, the Board of Directors, are unanimous on that.
- This is a very expensive hobby for us and we have already invested significant sums in to the Club.
- But we enjoy the moments when the supporters are behind us in the adventure. That is why we are involved, to bring joy to the fans.
- If we were fighting against relegation, I could understand the booing. But we are making positive strides in our four year programme. This was the first full year and we are a comfortable top half side and have a very strong squad, which is improving all the time, ahead of next season.
- If the supporters don't support us, the project won't work, so all I can ask is you come out and show your support.
- When the stadium is full, there is no better place to watch football. With your support - both home and away - we believe we can keep progressing and one day reach the Premier League.
- If we see that support, we will, of course, do our part by investing more in the future.
Finally, when do you hope to appoint a new First Team Coach?
- Gareth Ainsworth is in charge until the end of the season and we will assess the situation once the campaign finishes.
- In the meantime, I want us to enjoy the last three matches and show the same passion and skill we showed against Sheffield Wednesday on Monday. QPR Chairman Briatore Speaks
www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1627956,00.html
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=2983&page=1#ixzz1rzzbYH1o
-
April 16, 2008 - A Fanzine Perspective of The New QPR
-
Nick Gordon Brown - Goalfood.com--
cash from chaos:
surreal times in london W12
“Oh, how Richard Keys would chastise me if he read this. Deluded flights of fancy from a grumpy old sod. Next you’ll be telling us that a disgraced former Thai Prime Minister and an Icelandic biscuit magnate are competing with a shady Russian oil baron to be the most powerful man in English football…”
So concluded my rant on these pages last summer about modern football’s obsession with money. Or, to be more accurate, modern English football. Or, even more accurately, the Premiership and its attendant throng of hangers on.
I felt out of step with the modern game, and argued millions of others felt likewise. Are we just getting old, I asked (rhetorically, natch)…after all, to younger fans, the modern way IS football. If you’re old enough to have fathered half the Prem’s current crop, then it’s your problem not ours – get with the times daddio.
Then it happened. I was going to say “then the inevitable happened”…only I can’t think of anything less inevitable. My own club, one of those I’d pitied for being forever locked outside the Premiership playground, was taken over. Allegedly only hours before a second stint of administration this decade, at a time when a 10 point deduction would have consigned us to a certain relegation from which we might never have recovered.
However, not only were we taken over, we were taken over by two very rich, very high profile men with a track record of success in the business of sport that is second to none. They’d never even been to our ground before (though one of them admitted it was regularly on his helicopter’s flight path). We were available on the cheap, and they fancied a flutter.
Welcome to Queen’s Park Rangers FC of Shepherd’s Bush, London W12. For the first 85 years of it’s history, nothing more than a foot note in the rich tapestry of the game. Think “Third Division South”. A maverick owner and a succession of (mostly) inspired managerial appointments then led to a period of relatively sustained success. Thirty odd years spent knocking around the top flight or just below. An above average number of flair players, a unique kit (back then it was Reading FC of Elm Park and English football’s fourth tier, and Mr Madjeski was still flogging second hand motors), and an improbable amount of BBC airtime thanks to our location meant we actually became, if not famous, then certainly quite well known.
Then in 1996, just as the Prem gravy train began to go full steam ahead, we fell off. And never really looked like getting back on, despite bizarre managerial choice Stewart Houston (currently residing in the “where are they now?” file) telling terminally unhip music biz mogul and celebrity chairman wannabe Chris Wright, “get me Mike Sheron and I’ll get you back in the Premiership.”
“You’re not famous anymore”, Peterborough fans told us. Harsh but true. “You’re not quite well known anymore” didn’t scan so well.
This season’s events took a further bizarre twist when the two very rich men sold on 20% of the club’s shares to a man who is even richer than them. Richer, too, than Roman Abramovich. 4th or 5th richest in the world, depending on which of those tiresome lists you read.
As I surmised in the pre-season article, fan reaction to such a takeover at any club is to a great extent dictated by your age. Those Rangers fans who grew up in the early 90s with Les Ferdinand and regular top half Prem finishes (often above Arsenal & Chelsea) see it as the return of a footballing birth right, and the cash injection will simply take us back to our rightful place in football’s hierarchy. For even younger fans, like my own kids, it’s simply football as they know it. The Rs have been crap for as long as they can remember, but rich foreign blokes are always buying football clubs and throwing money at them, and now it’s our turn – and mum and dad always say everyone should get a turn.
However, for many Rs fans, one of the big talking points of the season has been how do we as fans react to our new found wealth? “Not like that lot down the road” appears to be the consensus. Chelsea may be happy to be the Premiership equivalent of Millwall (no one likes us, we don’t care), but over the years, we’ve been used to being quite liked by most – or at least not especially disliked. “A kindly aunt”, Danny Baker once called us.
Fans of other clubs liked Stan Bowles, they liked Les Ferdinand. Many liked our kit. And despite its limitations (lack of leg room in and poor views from the away end among them), many liked our tight knit stadium, where you’re right on top of the players, and a crowd of 12,000+ can create a great atmosphere.
Much of that goodwill has evaporated overnight. In this internet age, it’s easy to find out what others think of your own club, and the venom directed towards W12 has not been the sole preserve of rival fans’ messageboards. The pre-match previews in the regional media frequently talk of our opponents taking on “money bags QPR”. We as fans have done nothing to provoke that reaction. Such matters are now beyond our control.
Many of us have even sensed the envy from friends who support clubs outside of the big 4. “Why not us?” is the understandable refrain. There are dozens of clubs, not just in the Championship but also many in the Premiership and some in League One, who would consider themselves to be “bigger” (fanbase, history, however you want to judge that most subjective of issues) than “bloody QPR!”.
To be honest, many of us are thinking along similar lines. “Why us?” It’s all as confusing as it is exciting, and we still can’t quite believe it. All we asked Santa for was a minor millionaire or two who could ensure we could compete on a Palace / Charlton kind of a level, and didn’t have to return to derby games with Brentford. Not only did we get three big cheeses, but there appear to be no human rights skeletons in closets…and whilst I’m not an F1 fan myself, it’s a damn sight cooler than American Football or, indeed, biscuits.
When Jack Walker bankrolled Blackburn to the title in the early days of the Premiership, the neutrals were split. Some applauded a lifelong fan for putting his riches into his hometown team and breaking the monopoly of the big clubs. Others derided the setting of a precedent whereby a club could live beyond its relatively meagre means due only to its sugar daddy. Although times have changed greatly since then, and a latter day Walker couldn’t repeat that trick (just ask Steve Gibson), it’s probably the closest comparison that can be found (not that there is anything approaching a lifelong fan involved).
Walker’s legacy is impressive. Prior to his investment, what odds would you have got on Blackburn in 2008 being where they are? However, the new men at the Bush, for all their relatively cautious talk, don’t seem the sort to settle for Prem consolidation and the odd tilt at the UEFA Cup.
They always refer to what they’re doing at QPR as “the project”. So does the canny Italian manager they employed. Put them in front of a derelict building that still has a few visible traces of former grandeur but that is going for a song, and imagine Grand Designs’ Kevin McLoud interviewing them, and you’ll get the picture. Had they bought, say, Tottenham, not only would it have cost 20 times what it cost to purchase lil’ ol’ QPR, but also they would have spent months & millions ripping out and replacing much of what the previous owners had put in place. This lot would rather start from scratch and, to use another one of their already well worn phrases, “do it our way”.
This approach has thus far struck the right chord with the majority of fans. The “1-0 to the billionaires” song, funny the first time but very quickly embarrassing, has died a quiet death after its author ran a poll on a fans’ website about it and a whopping 90% gave it the thumbs down. (That’s not to say that our new found riches haven’t led to some off the cuff terrace classics, such as chanting “we won’t be signing you” to Shaun Wright Philips after he characteristically blazed high and wide in the cup tie at Stamford Bridge…or serenading Bramall Lane with a chorus of “we’ve got more steel than you” in honour of our richest investor and the business that earned him his billions).
More and more, as the ‘project managers’ allow a few more very minor details of their plans to seep out, it is clear that location is paramount. Chris Wright often talked of moving us out to “the M4 corridor” (where we’d probably have been about as welcome as Terminal 5 – and about as well planned too, given Wright’s track record at the helm). Not these guys. Whilst the Bush and White City may not be amongst the more salubrious parts of town, we’re still the closest London club to the West End (and, coincidentally, Wembley). The urban regenerators are chucking plenty of money at the area, and it’s clearly seen as a good base for the planned international operation in a way that, say, Southampton, Nottingham or Sunderland are not.
The London factor cannot be undervalued, for all that it already has five clubs (albeit it likely to be four soon) in the Premiership. A huge population; culturally diverse and full of second, third and fourth generation immigrants from all the world’s football mad countries; always in the glare of the world’s media…outside of Liverpool and Manchester United with their awe-inspiring footballing heritage, no other English clubs can hope to compete with a well-managed London-based club.
Fans of the likes of Aston Villa and Manchester City, or one club cities like Newcastle and Leeds, would no doubt like to argue the toss about this, but it’s what QPR’s owners are banking on. At the heart of their vision for ‘the project’ is a London location that money could buy…and just about enough of a fanbase / history to start building from.
On the surface, this appears to be a takeover like no other. Shinawatra, Lerner, DIC, Ashley…all these names now trip off the football fan’s tongue readily, but the words tripping off the tongues of the QPR board appear to be different from the rest. Not necessarily better or worse, it’s far too early to judge – but certainly different.
QPR fans can expect an interesting ride. And as hopes and dreams turn into expectations and demands (from fans and owners alike), there’s the potential for it all to get very messy.
The aim appears to be to build phoenix-like a London-based football superpower from the ashes of a modest but once much respected club…to do it shrewdly and with business savvy remaining intact…and playing attractive football. It seems an awful lot to ask. However, after a decade that has seen administration, two relegations, the tragic deaths of two of our brightest young prospects, the mass brawl with the Chinese Olympic team, our main fanzine editor threatened with legal action by our Chairman, and the same Chairman being the central figure in an embarrassing court case about alleged guns in the boardroom…well, I for one aim to enjoy that ride.
Goalfood www.goalfood.com
April 16, 2008 - A Fanzine Perspective of The New QPR
-
Nick Gordon Brown - Goalfood.com--
cash from chaos:
surreal times in london W12
“Oh, how Richard Keys would chastise me if he read this. Deluded flights of fancy from a grumpy old sod. Next you’ll be telling us that a disgraced former Thai Prime Minister and an Icelandic biscuit magnate are competing with a shady Russian oil baron to be the most powerful man in English football…”
So concluded my rant on these pages last summer about modern football’s obsession with money. Or, to be more accurate, modern English football. Or, even more accurately, the Premiership and its attendant throng of hangers on.
I felt out of step with the modern game, and argued millions of others felt likewise. Are we just getting old, I asked (rhetorically, natch)…after all, to younger fans, the modern way IS football. If you’re old enough to have fathered half the Prem’s current crop, then it’s your problem not ours – get with the times daddio.
Then it happened. I was going to say “then the inevitable happened”…only I can’t think of anything less inevitable. My own club, one of those I’d pitied for being forever locked outside the Premiership playground, was taken over. Allegedly only hours before a second stint of administration this decade, at a time when a 10 point deduction would have consigned us to a certain relegation from which we might never have recovered.
However, not only were we taken over, we were taken over by two very rich, very high profile men with a track record of success in the business of sport that is second to none. They’d never even been to our ground before (though one of them admitted it was regularly on his helicopter’s flight path). We were available on the cheap, and they fancied a flutter.
Welcome to Queen’s Park Rangers FC of Shepherd’s Bush, London W12. For the first 85 years of it’s history, nothing more than a foot note in the rich tapestry of the game. Think “Third Division South”. A maverick owner and a succession of (mostly) inspired managerial appointments then led to a period of relatively sustained success. Thirty odd years spent knocking around the top flight or just below. An above average number of flair players, a unique kit (back then it was Reading FC of Elm Park and English football’s fourth tier, and Mr Madjeski was still flogging second hand motors), and an improbable amount of BBC airtime thanks to our location meant we actually became, if not famous, then certainly quite well known.
Then in 1996, just as the Prem gravy train began to go full steam ahead, we fell off. And never really looked like getting back on, despite bizarre managerial choice Stewart Houston (currently residing in the “where are they now?” file) telling terminally unhip music biz mogul and celebrity chairman wannabe Chris Wright, “get me Mike Sheron and I’ll get you back in the Premiership.”
“You’re not famous anymore”, Peterborough fans told us. Harsh but true. “You’re not quite well known anymore” didn’t scan so well.
This season’s events took a further bizarre twist when the two very rich men sold on 20% of the club’s shares to a man who is even richer than them. Richer, too, than Roman Abramovich. 4th or 5th richest in the world, depending on which of those tiresome lists you read.
As I surmised in the pre-season article, fan reaction to such a takeover at any club is to a great extent dictated by your age. Those Rangers fans who grew up in the early 90s with Les Ferdinand and regular top half Prem finishes (often above Arsenal & Chelsea) see it as the return of a footballing birth right, and the cash injection will simply take us back to our rightful place in football’s hierarchy. For even younger fans, like my own kids, it’s simply football as they know it. The Rs have been crap for as long as they can remember, but rich foreign blokes are always buying football clubs and throwing money at them, and now it’s our turn – and mum and dad always say everyone should get a turn.
However, for many Rs fans, one of the big talking points of the season has been how do we as fans react to our new found wealth? “Not like that lot down the road” appears to be the consensus. Chelsea may be happy to be the Premiership equivalent of Millwall (no one likes us, we don’t care), but over the years, we’ve been used to being quite liked by most – or at least not especially disliked. “A kindly aunt”, Danny Baker once called us.
Fans of other clubs liked Stan Bowles, they liked Les Ferdinand. Many liked our kit. And despite its limitations (lack of leg room in and poor views from the away end among them), many liked our tight knit stadium, where you’re right on top of the players, and a crowd of 12,000+ can create a great atmosphere.
Much of that goodwill has evaporated overnight. In this internet age, it’s easy to find out what others think of your own club, and the venom directed towards W12 has not been the sole preserve of rival fans’ messageboards. The pre-match previews in the regional media frequently talk of our opponents taking on “money bags QPR”. We as fans have done nothing to provoke that reaction. Such matters are now beyond our control.
Many of us have even sensed the envy from friends who support clubs outside of the big 4. “Why not us?” is the understandable refrain. There are dozens of clubs, not just in the Championship but also many in the Premiership and some in League One, who would consider themselves to be “bigger” (fanbase, history, however you want to judge that most subjective of issues) than “bloody QPR!”.
To be honest, many of us are thinking along similar lines. “Why us?” It’s all as confusing as it is exciting, and we still can’t quite believe it. All we asked Santa for was a minor millionaire or two who could ensure we could compete on a Palace / Charlton kind of a level, and didn’t have to return to derby games with Brentford. Not only did we get three big cheeses, but there appear to be no human rights skeletons in closets…and whilst I’m not an F1 fan myself, it’s a damn sight cooler than American Football or, indeed, biscuits.
When Jack Walker bankrolled Blackburn to the title in the early days of the Premiership, the neutrals were split. Some applauded a lifelong fan for putting his riches into his hometown team and breaking the monopoly of the big clubs. Others derided the setting of a precedent whereby a club could live beyond its relatively meagre means due only to its sugar daddy. Although times have changed greatly since then, and a latter day Walker couldn’t repeat that trick (just ask Steve Gibson), it’s probably the closest comparison that can be found (not that there is anything approaching a lifelong fan involved).
Walker’s legacy is impressive. Prior to his investment, what odds would you have got on Blackburn in 2008 being where they are? However, the new men at the Bush, for all their relatively cautious talk, don’t seem the sort to settle for Prem consolidation and the odd tilt at the UEFA Cup.
They always refer to what they’re doing at QPR as “the project”. So does the canny Italian manager they employed. Put them in front of a derelict building that still has a few visible traces of former grandeur but that is going for a song, and imagine Grand Designs’ Kevin McLoud interviewing them, and you’ll get the picture. Had they bought, say, Tottenham, not only would it have cost 20 times what it cost to purchase lil’ ol’ QPR, but also they would have spent months & millions ripping out and replacing much of what the previous owners had put in place. This lot would rather start from scratch and, to use another one of their already well worn phrases, “do it our way”.
This approach has thus far struck the right chord with the majority of fans. The “1-0 to the billionaires” song, funny the first time but very quickly embarrassing, has died a quiet death after its author ran a poll on a fans’ website about it and a whopping 90% gave it the thumbs down. (That’s not to say that our new found riches haven’t led to some off the cuff terrace classics, such as chanting “we won’t be signing you” to Shaun Wright Philips after he characteristically blazed high and wide in the cup tie at Stamford Bridge…or serenading Bramall Lane with a chorus of “we’ve got more steel than you” in honour of our richest investor and the business that earned him his billions).
More and more, as the ‘project managers’ allow a few more very minor details of their plans to seep out, it is clear that location is paramount. Chris Wright often talked of moving us out to “the M4 corridor” (where we’d probably have been about as welcome as Terminal 5 – and about as well planned too, given Wright’s track record at the helm). Not these guys. Whilst the Bush and White City may not be amongst the more salubrious parts of town, we’re still the closest London club to the West End (and, coincidentally, Wembley). The urban regenerators are chucking plenty of money at the area, and it’s clearly seen as a good base for the planned international operation in a way that, say, Southampton, Nottingham or Sunderland are not.
The London factor cannot be undervalued, for all that it already has five clubs (albeit it likely to be four soon) in the Premiership. A huge population; culturally diverse and full of second, third and fourth generation immigrants from all the world’s football mad countries; always in the glare of the world’s media…outside of Liverpool and Manchester United with their awe-inspiring footballing heritage, no other English clubs can hope to compete with a well-managed London-based club.
Fans of the likes of Aston Villa and Manchester City, or one club cities like Newcastle and Leeds, would no doubt like to argue the toss about this, but it’s what QPR’s owners are banking on. At the heart of their vision for ‘the project’ is a London location that money could buy…and just about enough of a fanbase / history to start building from.
On the surface, this appears to be a takeover like no other. Shinawatra, Lerner, DIC, Ashley…all these names now trip off the football fan’s tongue readily, but the words tripping off the tongues of the QPR board appear to be different from the rest. Not necessarily better or worse, it’s far too early to judge – but certainly different.
QPR fans can expect an interesting ride. And as hopes and dreams turn into expectations and demands (from fans and owners alike), there’s the potential for it all to get very messy.
The aim appears to be to build phoenix-like a London-based football superpower from the ashes of a modest but once much respected club…to do it shrewdly and with business savvy remaining intact…and playing attractive football. It seems an awful lot to ask. However, after a decade that has seen administration, two relegations, the tragic deaths of two of our brightest young prospects, the mass brawl with the Chinese Olympic team, our main fanzine editor threatened with legal action by our Chairman, and the same Chairman being the central figure in an embarrassing court case about alleged guns in the boardroom…well, I for one aim to enjoy that ride.
Goalfood www.goalfood.com
