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I really liked Warburton and Marti and thought we were crazy to ditch both.
At the time, on paper (and not having anything else to go on) I thought JS looked a better coach than we had any right to expect.
The next bit is pure speculation, but I think any coach looking at QPR's history, our finances and fanbase, the squad and the way the club has been run, would see us as a gamble. Lower mid-table in the 2nd tier is about par, relegation (or at least fighting it) more likely than promotion (or challenging for it.)
Clearly JS was willing to take the gamble. I think he's played it very canny - keeping his mouth shut when it might have been tempting to shoot it off and win likes on social media; not pissing off the owners, but keeping some distance from them too.
Think he's reaping the rewards now. Current league position is enough to keep fans happy, so is the way the side plays (good mix of pragmatism, muscle but decent amounts of skill too.) Think he's made himself some room for manoeuvre with Nourry. Has maybe been lucky not to inherit a financial black hole and need to sell his best players (all too frequent here.)
I have to wonder what he thinks about the Furlong/Dev Squad issue - does he see that as part of his turf? Maybe it's just not his priority in his first year, but I feel that eventually any head coach/manager worth his salt is going to want to know that side of the club is functioning in a way that meets his needs.
I don't mean that I think he's a great keeper, or that we shouldn't try to upgrade on him.
I just think that he buys into the club and does his best, and I think he's been shabbily treated but hasn't let it affect his commitment. So I'm always pleased when he does well.
(Appreciate this isn't really the point of those who have criticised him on this thread, who have done so reasonably and proportionately. But I think it needs to be said.)
I am always very reluctant to write a player off so long as they are wearing the hoops. Even if they are cr*p, they're our cr*p and you've always got to look at who else we have got to play in that position.
But I can't pretend I always believed in him, I had reached the point where I just didn't think he would cut it, and it's a delight to be wrong.
PS It's also a position and role that we've lacked in for donkey's years.
PPS when we first signed Madsen, the curly hair had me thinking of John Gregory. Starting to feel like that's not far off.
There was a great little interview with Darren Lehmann on TMS in the final interval and while he is very much not my favourite person in cricket he was very sensible on England. Almost sounded like a job application tbh.
(My big idea is that tour matches v 1st class sides would not only make for more competitive tours but could be a boost for 1st class cricket in each country. You could include the "lesser" test sides in it e.g. sides touring England could play a test v Ireland with the Dukes ball and sides touring SA could have one v Zimbabwe. Maybe Zim could be incorporated into the Aus tours as well, as nearest thing to an Ireland for Australia? Or maybe play Afghanistan in Aus?)
Not actually true. In 2023 Ashes Aus didn't play any County matches. Don't recall India doing any in 2025 either, though they did have a couple of matches vs England Lions.
Don't think anyone plays any serious tour matches in the sub-continent either, which is another place where the conditions are very different
In living memory Aus used to play more tour games - Alistair Cook first came to my notice when he got a century vs Aus for Essex in 2005
They did (in 2023) however have several players go into English county sides in the Championship (Steve Smith had three games for Sussex) which England don't seem to do.
Whatever, it's well recognised that the tour matches in 2010-11 were a big part of the only successful England tour of Aus in decades, that they were a step up from previous tours even then. So, naturally, England have never done anything like it again. Go figure.
Root's a phenomenon and I don't know anyone else, ever, any team, who can accumulate so quickly without boundaries - I don't think you can expect other players to be like that (or have Jimmy's ability to make the ball talk, or McGrath's consistency).
IMO the pure joy of Bazball is (was) that it was carefree - the players were free to express themselves and so did amazing things.
This isn't carefree, it's careless.
It's neither gloriously exciting nor dependably solid, it's just poor. I don't mind Brooks batting like Brooks instead of like Root, but there's no excuse for failure to learn and adapt. The Aussies batted poorly in their first innings at Perth - a day later they batted completely differently (and better). England are making the same cock-ups in the 4th innings of these Ashes as they did in the 1st one - still not adapting to the way the pitches behave.
Preparation has been non-existent and catching has been unprofessional.
Personally, I want blood. One of the great revolutions in English cricket was when Flower and Strauss took over from Moores and KP and ended the culture of failure. One of the first things they did was drop Ian Bell for serial failure. He came back a better player (as did Root after being dropped for the last match of the 13-14 Ashes.) I think Pope and Brook would both get a valuable lesson if dropped (sadly there's only one Bethell to come in).
McCullum is a different sort of man to Flower (more Alec Stock than Alex Ferguson) but I think a bit of the latter is long overdue and if he can't do it he should go too.
Honest to God I checked before I decided to post that but by the time I'd finished googling and failing to find if the bloody story was true you'd snuck in there.
(Once heard a radio programme about a Canadian woman who in the 30s became famous for allegedly being the illegitimate daughter of an exiled French duke called, I'm pretty sure, Henry, and who died in London in the 70s in poverty after, I think, several stays in mental hospitals. Instantly made me wonder of she was the inspiration for the Duch of the Terrace who says she's Henry's kid.)
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