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"....QPR have come back before, and they will hopefully do so again. Of course, the last time it took 15 years before our Premier League return… Promises and plans are nice but QPR fans look to deeds not words. In the end, though, the essence of being a fan is that however low we sink, QPR will always be our club.
QPR BRANDING
For fans, QPR are the club we love and support. QPR are not ‘a project’. QPR are not ‘a brand’. Fans are not going to switch to another, but nor do they want the club to be transmuted or transformed into something very different.
Owners may have different views. This week, EuroMoney published a profile of QPR’s prodigiously multi-tasking chairman, Tony Fernandes. Fernandes declared: ‘QPR has enormous branding potential and has helped AirAsia tremendously.. .’
It’s five years to the day, that then QPR chairman Flavio Briatore, who repeatedly referred to QPR as ‘a project’ said of QPR: ‘I want to create an international brand and I believe we have the possibility.’
Fans with slightly longer memories will recall the efforts of chairman Gregory to merge QPR with Brentford; of chairman Bulstrode to merge the club with Fulham; of chairman Wright’s announcement of a merger with Wimbledon – and even chairman Paladini being forced to deny that QPR were becoming a feeder club for Chelsea...." QPR Metro Blog
Nine Year Flashback: Gianni Paladini First Mentioned in context of QPR...Couple Weeks Later, had bought into the Club.
- Marking 24 Years Since Hillsborough: For any fan of club, really was the case of "There but for the Grace of God, go I"
- Four Year Flashback: Chairman Briatore Responds on a number of issues - including re Managers and Fans...+ Dexter Blackstock Speaks re his Nottingham Forest Loan
TONY FERNANDES OPTIMISMIn a series of tweets yesterday Chairman Tony Fernandes reaffirmed his faith in QPR...
I
went to dressing room after game. Talked to players. It's clear who is
committed. Last man to leave who was gutted Chris samba. There were
others
Clear to me who's is committed and who is not. I will clean up and have right attitude. Let's will change
Good chat with Harry. He wants committed players. Players with the right attitude. Also wants new pitch at Loftus which we have agreed
For season after next we will bring back old badge
Though I have to take responsibility. Qpr fans are truly amazing
Despite the problems on pitch the future continues. Shareholders have approved the plan for our new training ground. pic.twitter.com/xjXMI9MP6c
HARRY REDKNAPP PERSPECTIVE
Many of the papers carrying re this Guardian QPR likely to be stuck with their overpaid failures if they are relegated • Harry Redknapp says his players' salaries will deter suitors • 'It is going to be very hard to shift them' Richard Jolly at Goodison Park The Guardian, Sunday 14 April 2013 18.00 EDT Normally recrimination follows relegation. At Queens Park Rangers, those trailblazers for expensive underachievement, the fallout has begun before their demotion has been rubber-stamped. Yet with it appearing an inevitability, Harry Redknapp surveyed a squad with as many Champions League winners as league victories this season, abandoned the pretence Rangers are keen to keep those responsible and finally admitted what others have long suspected: that they will be lumbered with overpaid players in the Championship because their sizeable salaries will deter any suitors. "They won't go," said Redknapp, suggesting a side who exhibited little unity at Goodison Park will remain together next season. "How are you going to get rid of them? That's your biggest problem. They all have contracts. How are they going to go? Who is going to pay them what they are earning here? It is going to be very hard to shift them." Perhaps it was a veiled swipe at his predecessor, Mark Hughes, who brought many of them to Loftus Road, but unanswered questions amounted to an indictment of Rangers' recruitment policy. Despite their players' illustrious pasts and the cliched assumption sides with big-name footballers are too good to go down, Redknapp hinted they have been too bad to stay up. "You say [they are] talented players but I don't know," he asked. "Are they that talented?" Their track records suggest they are, but these are mismatched medal winners, signed from more glamorous clubs but often in decline. Saturday's starters alone included alumni of Internazionale, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United. Harry Redkanpp QPR manager Harry Redknapp said the club's big-name players will be reluctant to leave, even if Rangers are relegated to the Championship. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images The journey from Champions League to Championship may be swift for many of them, the landing in the lower league an unpleasant shock. "I hear that all the time that if they get relegated they want to go because they don't want to play in the Championship," added Redknapp. "But if they F***ing played better they would not be in the Championship so that's a load of cobblers." For players and powerbrokers alike, the reality of the second tier looms. During wanton spending, QPR appeared impervious to the consequences. Not now. If there are parallels with Portsmouth who, following Redknapp's departure, collapsed into administration before they were demoted, the manager again divested himself of responsibility for the unpleasant figures on the balance sheet. "Only the chairman [Tony Fernandes] would know," he said. "I don't know the financial situation of the club at all." It was hard to imagine those words coming from David Moyes' mouth. But, had QPR chosen to heed them, there were lessons to be learned from Everton. Their wage bill is probably dwarfed by Rangers' but the Merseysiders' spirited pursuit of a top-four finish continues. While QPR looked resigned to their fate, Everton are shaping their own destiny. "If we beat Arsenal [on Tuesday] you would talk about Everton having a real chance of getting in the Champions League," said Moyes. The cut-price challengers showed the merits of prudence. In two decisive duels, they were younger and hungrier. Seamus Coleman, a £60,000 recruit from the League of Ireland, ran at and past José Bosingwa, whose three-year contract is worth £10m, with indefatigable enthusiasm. Victor Anichebe, a Nigerian international but homegrown, dominated the £12.5m defender Christopher Samba in the air. "He has really great attributes," Moyes said of Anichebe. "He has great strength, raw pace and is a tough enough boy." But the bruiser has a tender side. He has improved with appreciation. "He needed a little bit of loving and that needed to come from the stands," his manager added. It took time. Anichebe debuted in 2006, but a seven-year itch is being scratched as his potential is finally realised. "My patience has been tested by him a few times because his attitude wasn't always what it should have been," Moyes said. Now it is faultless. Dogged and determined, Everton's attitude is excellent. Disjointed and demoralised, Rangers's is not. Their players may be in the shop window but, on this evidence, there could be few buyers. Man of the match: Victor Anichebe (Evert http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/14/qpr-everton-harry-redknapp |
