The Premiership DREAM

Good morning chaps.

Well I will start by saying an absolutely massive well done to Malky & your squad for putting you in a great position to reach the promised land. Credit also to the board for the backing & of course you the supporters for giving the team that vocal push all sides need for confidence.

As a QPR fan I have like yourselves watched us for the last 30 years since I was 5 up & down the leagues from the old division one, down to league 2 back to the Premier league after a 15 year absence & down to me still sitting in my same seat yesterday against Manchester Utd & theirs nothing more I love than match day, bit of brekkie, shower, get ya clobber on & head to the boozer for a few shants before the match........ Unfortunately over the last two years the match is where the fun stops for us.

I'm not a Cardiff fan in any stretch of the imagination & to be honest have had a fair few rows with you lads over the years mainly at our place as the away games people used to mysteriously drop out 3 days before due to very important things, you know things like 'I forgot I was going away that weekend' or 'my budgie needs taking to the vets' !! Haha but I won't lie over the past couple of years from having some banter on here & learning more about your fans I have a lot of respect for you & your club & sincerely hope you get promotion (which you will) mainly due to the fact you are a 'proper' club, a salt of the earth club with proper working class fans who know what it's like standing on that big wind swept open terrace at Chesterfield or the shitty view at Oldham etc.

The season we got promoted was one big party, every week scoring goals, usually winning & in the end Neil Warnock delivered our dream & took us back to the big time! Unfortunately for us & me personally that's where the fun stopped. We've had 2 seasons of nothing but shite, expensive, over rated football & to be honest I can't wait to see the feckin back of it.

Getting to the premiership is like an addiction, a feeling you crave & have to experience & when you get there the sense of pride & happiness can't be beat. Everything is exciting, waiting for the fixtures to come out, seeing your club paired against the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea etc, the mass amount of media coverage, the new grounds you will see. For me I was on cloud 9 until reality set in & in short it's been nothing short of a 2 year nightmare.

Mark Hughes destroyed the good will & spirit at the club in a very short time & the spending policy we adopted has proved to be a massive massive error. Of course at the time you love it, your club who were used to the signings of players like Tony Scully, Bob Malcolm, Ned Zelic etc ..... Who? Yea exactly!! next thing we are signing players like Joey Barton a flawed diamond, Jose Bosingwa a European cup champion, Julio Cesar a Brazil legend & you naturally go around with that feeling of the kid with the biggest knob in the showers! Yes my club is doing what all the others do, spending big money, proper players, winners, just like our Chelsea mates who are local to us we have players who are proven, tried & tested & it's gonna be amazing!!

Unfortunately that's where the fun stopped for us & it all became to serious & the fun stopped. As much as I respect our owners because they REALLY REALLY gave it a good shot & backed their managers & put their money where their mouths are the whole strategy was / Is fundamentally flawed.

Facts;

We are QPR not Man City lets not forget that.

Our ground holds 18,000 only

Money doesn't guarantee success

We've always had a hardcore fan base being in top flight or league 2 of approx 12,500 who'll be there rain or shine.

The owners rightly expected to sell every seat as that's the appeal premiership football has & we have in almost 99% of games but at what cost? We are going to get relegated & rightly so. A team who's won 2 games all season doesn't deserve to stay up & we'll now go down with players on millions upon millions of pounds wages a year & lots of them!

I really hope when you get promoted you learn from our mistakes & be wise with money. We have similar owners as they are both Malaysian & both not football people & for me that was our biggest mistake not having a QPR man behind the scenes working with the owners on who to bring in, who's worth what etc. personally I would of loved to see Gerry Francis be given a role like that as he's a QPR legend, a QPR fan & knows his stuff with regards to players worth etc but who did we get? Philip Beard a thoroughly pleasant chap, a very positive guy & workaholic who has worked his socks off since we got promoted problem is his background, he was the top man at the O2 arena, a very successful enterprise yes but NOT a football club. He has sanctioned a very large amount of players on extortionate wages, contracts longer than they should be & to be honest it's been nothing short of a disaster. It's all well & good saying 'yes but the managers wanted them players & the owners backed them' which of course is a fair point but that doesn't mean you say yes to every player. You need a strong man to sometimes say no & give valid reasons why not just keep spending because that's what a manager wants, a manager will spend every penny you have given the chance it's not their money!! I felt Mark Hughes as a man & personality was to strong for Beard & Fernandes & got all he wanted when in reality his transfer activity was abysmal. An experienced football man behind the scenes who would be at the club longer than a manager needed to be there to advise. For example why pay older players who've won it all who's hunger could be questionable when you can go out & buy young, hungry, eager players absolutely dying to prove their worth? We get a player like Jose Bosingwa who's won Premier league titles, FA cups, league cups & a European cup! Why the feck would he join QPR?! What hunger is he likely to have after winning all that? Very very little & we all know the reasons he along with others signed. Cash, money, moola, wong call it what you want it's all about the green and that is where we ultimately fu*cked up. We have 4 Champions league winners in our side FFS! We should be good we're not we're crap & when you rip a spirit & soul away from a team and replace it with players who in reality don't really care it spells one thing, failure.

You won't like me saying it but if you were wise you would follow the likes of Swansea who have been very astute, very smart & extremely successful in their business dealings. One small example, Wayne Routledge, judged by us (not me I loved him) as a club & many fans as a player not worth signing because 'he wouldn't make the step up to the premiership' who is now one of swanseas best players on what £20k maybe £30k a week but no we opted for Junior Hoilett in the same position on £65k a week to name but one.

Be smart, have a Cardiff man who is respected & knows his stuff assisting the owners & chief exec & remember money guarantees absolutely nothing but headaches.

Personally I'm old skool & loved away days at the likes of Ninian Park (don't care much for the CCS sorry) Griffin Park, Brammal Lane, Fratton Park, proper football grounds, proper atmospheres & proper football. What we have now is £62 to go to Fulham or home games like yesterday where many old skool fans who've gone forever can't get a ticket yet I've got 20-30 Koreans in front of me all stuffing their faces with grub & not even watching the game, only there as part of a package. It disgusts me.

I'm a simple man I like a laugh a few jars & a bit if footy, all the rest that's come with it over the last 2 seasons has been a load of shit & cost me a small fortune.

You've done superbly & I hope the red situation doesn't sour what will be an amazing day the day you get promoted but please listen its the truth, don't get above yourselves stick to your roots, buy wisely & most importantly enjoy the ride.


Stan

We dont need to have a Cardiff man who is respected & knows his stuff to assist the owners & chief exec all we need is someone whose careful with money and i believe in Malky and Tan we have a excellent pairing "one a succesful businessman and one a hungry young manager who wont pay over the odds for players as proved with some shrewd signings.
I believe if we get promoted we definetly wont be doing a Qpr i feel in my opinion your owners although succesful elsewheree made a big mistake taking over Qpr a club that to me does not have very much potential and spending millions on them..
Hope you can escape relegation but if you dont i think i'll blame your ex manager mark hughes whose utter garbage

Let's be honest, you've been absolutely wank in the prem. We did warn you about Mark Hughes, as well.

Let's be honest, you've been absolutely wank in the prem. We did warn you about Mark Hughes, as well.

And the reasons I outlined above are in my opinion the reasons we are where we are.

We dont need to have a Cardiff man who is respected & knows his stuff to assist the owners & chief exec all we need is someone whose careful with money and i believe in Malky and Tan we have a excellent pairing "one a succesful businessman and one a hungry young manager who wont pay over the odds for players as proved with some shrewd signings.
I believe if we get promoted we definetly wont be doing a Qpr i feel in my opinion your owners although succesful elsewheree made a big mistake taking over Qpr a club that to me does not have very much potential and spending millions on them..
Hope you can escape relegation but if you dont i think i'll blame your ex manager mark hughes whose utter garbage

You are talking as we did 2 years ago.

You seem very confident you don't need help I'd beg to differ but I respect your opinion.

Your owners are not as successful as our owners financially, in fact they come no where near to the wealth of the Mittals yet we still f*cked up! You need proper football people at football clubs not general businessmen. Again just my opinion.

Good to hear from you again Stan.

Cheers for a great post Stan and going in to so much detail. Money doesn't always guarantee success as it seems with QPR this season, sorry to see its all gone tits up for you.

I miss Ninian Park too and yes like you I am old Skool, I havent moved on like many have and personally I am glad I havent and still miss the passion and the old stadiums.

Look at Boro, Leicester,Hull etc those new stadiums are now no where near full anymore.

TBH honest Stan I think the trick is to have the right manager in place when you reach the PL. QPR went up in the same season as both Swansea & Norwich did. Both of those teams adapted well to the Premier League without busting the bank.

The problem for you and the reason for success with them was the management. As soon as QPR hit the big time the signs were that Warnock was not the first choice as manager and your recruitment at that time reflected this (we told you Jay Bothroyd was crap ). Also you had the complications of a takeover.

On the other hand both Swansea and Norwich stabilised bought wisely stuck with their managers (and when they were poached by bigger clubs made wise choices in replacing them) and established themselves in a very ordinary Premier League.

Had QPR done the same I’m sure you would have enjoyed the last 2 years much better.

Your warnings about our mutual Malaysian owners are valid at first sight but I have much more faith in Vincent Tan than I have in Tony Fernandez. The reason for that is VT has a proven record of diversity in his business portfolio and he does seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to his future plans for CCFC.

I hope you do stay up (although it’s looking unlikely) as I have always had a soft spot for QPR having stayed in the Shepherd’s Bush area on several occasions (in hospital not prison BTW) and we are very similar as clubs in the terms of size potential and passionate fans.

i have said in previous posts i love the championship, and would not mind staying in it its a family league most teams are on the same footing apart from parachute payments

Cheers Annis. I agree mate I've lost a lot of my oomph but that's down to how it's been I'm sure if we'd done well I'd be happy enough but that's life. You guys have more valid reasons to be cheesed of with regards to the change of colour which I'll be honest I would never accept, I would maybe try to embrace it & for the sake of the club moving forward accept the reasons why but yes it would kill me inside to be any other colour than blue & white.





Tony some great points & I agree a lot of upheaval & changes contributed to our demise but with regards swans & Norwich look who they've bought, I'd struggle to name 3-4 to be honest & that's because they have bought the right players, everyone could make our signings because they are all so high profile & that in itself was our undoing. I'd have rather gone for players like Austin, Rhodes etc, young and hungry.

i have said in previous posts i love the championship, and would not mind staying in it its a family league most teams are on the same footing apart from parachute payments

To be honest that's the only thing cheering me up at the moment knowing we are going back go a competitive league with some good games.

i have said in previous posts i love the championship, and would not mind staying in it its a family league most teams are on the same footing apart from parachute payments

To be honest that's the only thing cheering me up at the moment knowing we are going back go a competitive league with some good games.

Stan what you have said it what i have been dreading Kick off times all over the place (less games even) so the price freeze does not look so good then does it

there is a closer bond in the championship(or div 1 as i prefer )

Really good and honest post,shame he 's not a Cardiff man he could have been the man

Cheers Annis. I agree mate I've lost a lot of my oomph but that's down to how it's been I'm sure if we'd done well I'd be happy enough but that's life. You guys have more valid reasons to be cheesed of with regards to the change of colour which I'll be honest I would never accept, I would maybe try to embrace it & for the sake of the club moving forward accept the reasons why but yes it would kill me inside to be any other colour than blue & white.

Tony some great points & I agree a lot of upheaval & changes contributed to our demise but with regards swans & Norwich look who they've bought, I'd struggle to name 3-4 to be honest & that's because they have bought the right players, everyone could make our signings because they are all so high profile & that in itself was our undoing. I'd have rather gone for players like Austin, Rhodes etc, young and hungry.

Couldn't agee more Stan and I would prefer signing a Austin, Rhodes etc.

My point was when you first went up Warnock had to make do with free transfers like Jay Bothyrod and an aging Danny Gabbidon. When Hughes came in he tried playing catch up and that's when your free spending on shite went completely out of control.

When I look back to that tremendous game between us in April 2011 (the 2-2 draw) I wonder just what happened to that majestic side you had? QPR looked destined for greatest at that time so it is so sad to see it all went pear shaped, especially when those Jack B********d's are doing so well

Really good and honest post,shame he 's not a Cardiff man he could have been the man

Haha that tickled me claw.

i have said in previous posts i love the championship, and would not mind staying in it its a family league most teams are on the same footing apart from parachute payments

To be honest that's the only thing cheering me up at the moment knowing we are going back go a competitive league with some good games.

That's great post Stan. Here's a quick run down on the Champioship - it's a fecking nightmare to get out of

And can we have Cesar - pure class from an entertainment value - between him and Friedal it just goes to show you're never too old to pack it in - just helps being a bit more bulky in goals!!

Tony I agree but personally I think we thought we were buying v v good premiership players, we were to an extent but these players only knew success & when at a smaller club who started struggling they didn't have the qualities to dig in & get us out if it. Not only have we been playing badly the manner of which prior to Harry was pretty disgusting. Effort at 50% max. Just not good enough.

Our whole spending big bucks backfired spectacularly & should have stuck to the fundamentals & basics rather than trying to be bigger than we were.

i have said in previous posts i love the championship, and would not mind staying in it its a family league most teams are on the same footing apart from parachute payments

To be honest that's the only thing cheering me up at the moment knowing we are going back go a competitive league with some good games.

That's great post Stan. Here's a quick run down on the Champioship - it's a fecking nightmare to get out of

And can we have Cesar - pure class from an entertainment value - between him and Friedal it just goes to show you're never too old to pack it in - just helps being a bit more bulky in goals!!

Mate Cesar will come out of this whole sorry saga with top marks. He is an unbelievable keeper & the one true success for us this season.

Really good and honest post,shame he 's not a Cardiff man he could have been the man

Haha that tickled me claw.

It's never to late to COME OUT!

Haha I value my nuts thanks the family would have them hanging off of Hammersmith bridge if I ever defected

Welcome back Stanley

Welcome back Stanley

How are ya lad

No doubt Hughes only went to QPR under the promise of funds available and a lot of slack in terms of who he wanted to sign. The price paid for a so called big name Prem Manager. I doubt MM would harbour such illusions of grandeur although of course he will always want players!

What I will say about Swansea and Norwich is that they have shown that its the TEAM that matters and the importance of signing players that have the hunger and work ethic you want and the ability to fit into the system you want to operate. Thats the skill, not just signing 11 individuals who on paper have the ability but can't play together. That way you just need to keep 'tweaking' the team as you evolve as opposed to complete squad replacement like QPR. Evolution not revolution.

I'm sure MM knows this especially being close to Rodgers, but the lessons are there to be seen for all so it doesn't take a genius to work out what's best for your club.

Welcome back Stanley

How are ya lad

not too bad mate and yourself..?

modern day football is just pissing me off and your post just goes to show that reaching the premiership isn't the be all and end all.

Welcome back Stanley

How are ya lad

not too bad mate and yourself..?

modern day football is just pissing me off and your post just goes to show that reaching the premiership isn't the be all and end all.

It isn't mate but we done it all arse about face. Have a more sensible policy & strategy & you'll be ok. You are a big club, bigger than us with a bigger catchment area so if you do things properly you will kick right on.

A club our size wasn't ready for the spending & the way we spent money. I shudder to imagine the figures involved.

You obviously haven't seen what the mirror's been reporting yesterday

We're apparently going to be given a £50million transfer budget.

This warning might be too late for us

You obviously haven't seen what the mirror's been reporting yesterday

We're apparently going to be given a £50million transfer budget.

This warning might be too late for us

Malky could be given 500 millions, he will only spend 10, if 10 is all that is needed. Refreshing man is Malky.

You obviously haven't seen what the mirror's been reporting yesterday

We're apparently going to be given a £50million transfer budget.

This warning might be too late for us

Malky could be given 500 millions, he will only spend 10, if 10 is all that is needed. Refreshing man is Malky.

I think if he was given £500 million he would change his targets to a higher level of player.

You obviously haven't seen what the mirror's been reporting yesterday

We're apparently going to be given a £50million transfer budget.

This warning might be too late for us

The Mirror are just MediaWales and I don't trust a word which they say

You obviously haven't seen what the mirror's been reporting yesterday

We're apparently going to be given a £50million transfer budget.

This warning might be too late for us

The Mirror are just MediaWales and I don't trust a word which they say

I think we all know your opinions on the Mirror by now


But tbh I think most people will take the article with a pinch of salt, even if it had any truth in it I can;t see the club being stupid enough to release the transfer budget into the public domain.

Sorry to hear that Stan and can fully understand why you are unhappy with your lot right now as I would if it had happened to Cardiff.

Its such a shame that mangers who succeed in achieving Premiership status for a club are so soon dismissed and I do worry about that with Cardiff and Mackay although there does appear to be a very close bond between him and Tan.

The issue seems to be basically around whether the owners of clubs are domestic or foreign. The owners of clubs like Swansea, Norwich, Blackpool, Hull etc have a close relationship with their club and will not overspend even if it means the club will go down. They are wise enough to accept that they will never survive on huge wages should they happen to be relegated as they will always be limited in terms of revenue streams as their market dictates that

Clubs such as Chelsea and Man City are only doing well now because their foreign owners are madly rich and its mainly about ego with them although to be fair to Abramovich he does attend every game and does appear to have an interest in football. These clubs make huges losses but as clubs they are big clubs with big grounds and have the potential to be self servicing by growing their market overseas through success.

Some clubs with foreign owners with limited markets get it right like Fulham but unfortunately for QPR your new owner Tony Fernandez has got it wrong. I did admire your previous owners for laying the foundations without spending big considering they were so mega rich. Tony Fernandez appears to be a different animal to them and has come in and sanctioned or pushed expensive players for/on Hughes which was never going to work. Warnock wasn't backed enough at the outset and then he brought in Hughes and went wild in the transfer market. Hughes may well have been successful for you as he had done previously in the premiership on a low budget as he had at Blackburn and Fulham but then was given an open cheque book and failed big time. The trouble for smaller clubs buying expensive players are that these expensive players tend to go to smaller clubs for one reason - the size of their wage packet. Harry has also found the same problem and the two amount spent on the two recent players is beyond a joke.

The thing I like most about Tan is that he is already lying the foundation to increase our market. He is laying foundations in Malaysia and has links to many influential people in the far East and particularly China. He has a number of business partnerships with Peter Lim, the guy who tried to buy Liverpool, and the guy who is marketing Man Utd overseas. Lim is currently building a motor racing circuit in Malaysia with the Crown Prince of Jahor who has been several times at Cardiff City as a guest of Tan. Suggestion have been made that new investors will come on board next year once Hamman has been paid off and I wouldn't be surprised if Lim was one of those potential investors and even the Jahor royal family maybe another

I honestly believe Tan sees a potential in us and its not about ego like I think it is with Fernandez. Whilst he may have become to like football it is very much a business first and formost for him. We have a stadium with planning already in place to increase the capacity, have a huge potential local market place and he has the connections to grow us overseas. Time will tell but I am optimistic