The job Neil Warnock did at Loftus Road will be remembered by fans of QPR for many years to come. LoftforWords looks back at a memorable 22 months under his charge.
Everybody thinks they know Neil Warnock. Neil Warnock is an old school football manager, an exponent of the worst kind of long-ball football, and a serial picker of arguments. Warnock is that manager on the touchline with his hands behind his head in mock outrage at whatever perceived injustice has just befallen his team. Neil Warnock never loses – he either wins, or is prevented from doing so by some great conspiracy or other. Neil Warnock is nicknamed Colin for a reason.
But QPR fans, who’d long held all of these views and more besides about the former Sheffield United man, have been treated to the best part of two extraordinary years with him as their manager – enjoying the fruits of one of the most dramatic reinventions football has ever seen.
Before arriving at Loftus Road Warnock had waded into so many arguments with referees, league officials, opposing managers and players that his list of grievances required a separate section on his Wikipedia profile. But at Loftus Road Warnock continued a transformation into the thinking man’s English football manager that had started at Crystal Palace. Wounded by relegation and dismissal at his boyhood club Sheffield United after their relegation from the Premiership, which he blamed on the failure to punish West Ham adequately for the Tevez affair rather than his own negative tactics on the run in, he set about finding his way back to the big league.
He began to write a newspaper column for the Independent, and appear regularly on the television and radio. He spoke of his love of London, and bike rides around Richmond Park. He portrayed himself as a relaxed family man, a loveable character of the game and a guy having the time of his life. He took Palace to the Championship play offs before his Premiership quest floundered on the rocks of financial ruin at which point he took on the poison chalice at Queens Park Rangers.
To an outsider it appeared to be a case of frying pan and fire. Palace had been deducted ten points for enterting administration and were consequently fighting a relegation battle in the Championship – but QPR were down there with no such excuse. A procession of managers and dreadful decisions by mega-rich and unbelievably stupid owners Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone had seen their ‘project’ slip off in the direction of League One. This was a club known as the one that got billionaire owners and got worse, and not a place where managers were given much time, or indeed say on who played in the team. It was a management position for the terminally insane or desperate – Paul Hart and Mick Harford had managed two months and two victories between them prior to Warnock’s arrival.
But from the moment he walked through the door the club ethos changed completely. Flavio Briatore had taken a back seat, Amit Bhatia was now the frontman for the consortium, and the days of megalomaniac directors dispatching Gianni Paladini down to the touchline to order substitutions were at an end. Warnock won his first match comfortably, beating eventually promoted West Brom 3-1 at Loftus Road, and the R’s ultimately survived with plenty to spare despite boasting a mediocre squad packed with more loan players than he was allowed to pick in a single matchday squad. Safety was all but secured with a fine 2-0 win against his former Crystal Palace side.
Warnock became known, particularly after pre-season friendlies, for trotting out the well worn phrase: “it was just what we needed if I’m honest” and he was just that for QPR. For 2010/11 he spent £3m on seven new players and remained unbeaten for the first 19 matches of the campaign. His signings were universally criticised at first – Clint Hill and Shaun Derry were apparently over the hill and well past their best, Paddy Kenny had just been out for nine months with a drugs ban, Jamie Mackie was unknown, Bradley Orr was nothing to write home about, Adel Taarabt was a temperamental liability and Leon Clarke was a fat, useless clogger. Ultimately only the assessment of Clarke was correct.
Despite the host of new arrivals the team gelled instantly, and the spirit among the players was obvious from day one when the R’s beat Barnsley 4-0. At the end of August they scored twice in injury time to salvage a 2-2 draw at Derby. The man could do no wrong – Heidar Helguson returned to form he hadn’t shown for ten years, Derry and Hill were exceptional. When he lost Bradley Orr and his understudy Peter Ramage to bad injuries in the same home game against Middlesbrough he went out and loaned Kyle Walker from Tottenham’s reserves – one year on he’s an England regular.
His handling of Taarabt was masterful. Only once, at Hull, did Taarabt suffer one of his emotional meltdowns and Warnock extracted consistency from the Moroccan that had previously appeared way beyond him. He was named the division’s Player of the Year and ran his own Goal of the Season competition. Here was the ultimate luxury flair player being given carte blanch to destroy teams as and when the mood took him by a manager apparently known for his dour, defensive, long-ball laced football.
When the 19 game unbeaten run came to an end and three quick fire defeats over a tough Christmas period followed Warnock brought in Wayne Routledge and others to provide an extra boost. Routledge scored crucial goals against Coventry, Reading and Hull to keep Rangers on track. When Alejandro Faurlin’s transfer was investigated by the FA Warnock shrugged off the clear embarrassment of it being so similar to the Tevez case he’d moaned about for so long and kept his team focused and on track. Poor defeats at Scunthorpe and Millwall didn’t unsettle the team, and it won the title with a game to spare.
For 15 years QPR had tried to get back to the Premiership. The last four of those had been under the guidance of some of the world’s richest people and exotic managers like Luigi De Canio and Paulo Sousa. And yet it was a grumpy old-fashioned northern manager who eventually cracked it. He arrived, said he wanted to be in the Premiership at the end of the following season, and achieved it with a minimal of fuss. The quality of the football wasn’t half bad either.
Having worked so hard it was heartbreaking for Warnock to see his dream of competing in the Premiership once again hampered over the summer by the re-emergence of Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Ticket prices were hiked, transfer fees almost totally withdrawn, Amit Bhatia resigned, and the club was placed on the market. Warnock had built a team to win the Championship, and was now going to have to try and make do with it in the top flight. Derby County’s record for the lowest number of Premiership points looked in real danger, as did Warnock’s position as manager as the egotistical billionaires publicly rebuked him for complaining about the situation through the press.
In the nick of time the takeover went through and Warnock quickly added players the likes of which QPR could only have dreamed of signing just a few short weeks previously – Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Luke Young and others all rattled through the entrance door and the impact was immediate. The performance in a 0-0 draw at home to Newcastle, that should have been a 3-0 home win, was the best at Loftus Road for years and was quickly followed up with a 3-0 win at Wolves. Warnock also delivered a much sought after home victory against bitter local rivals Chelsea. QPR rose to ninth with a win at Stoke, it seemed everything was going right. Amazing to think that just 18 months previously QPR had been turning in one of the worst performances in living memory in a 5-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, here they were on the cusp of the European positions.
Warnock is a manager of 30 years standing in the game, and seven promotions. But to November 19 this season, away at Stoke, his achievements at QPR eclipsed anything he’d done in the game previously. A remarkable, outstanding managerial job.
QPR 3 West Brom 1, March 6 2010
Neil Warnock’s first game in charge. He agreed to become QPR’s fourth manager of the season in the days leading up to the game and then calmly oversaw a convincing 3-1 win over the team that would go on to win promotion in second place. Matthew Connolly, Jay Simpson and Akos Buzsaky scored and although two of the goals were heavily assisted by woeful Scott Carson goalkeeping the difference in performance was there for all to see immediately. Rangers had won just three of their previous 22 games under three different managers prior to this match.
Palace 0 QPR 2, April 10, 2010
Warnock’s first task as QPR manager was to ensure they stayed in the Championship, with relegation a very distinct possibility. That meant potentially relegating the club he left with such a heavy heart Crystal Palace, who had been sucked into the relegation mire thanks to a ten point deduction for entering administration and a laughable decision to appoint Paul Hart as manager. Warnock took little pleasure from a professionally executed 2-0 win at Selhurst Park, Rangers’ first on the ground for more than two decades, but it made Rangers safe and ultimately Palace survived by the skin of their teeth as well – much to Warnock’s delight, at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday.
Summer 2010 transfer window
Much was expected of Warnock in his first full season in charge, backed by the more popular figure of Amit Bhatia on the board. There was a mixture of horror and disbelief though when his summer signings included Leon Clarke from Sheffield Wednesday, Clint Hill and Shaun Derry from Palace, Jamie Mackie from Plymouth and Paddy Kenny from Sheffield United. It looked like a team of Championship journeymen. The fact that Hill, who’d been poor against Rangers the previous season, was preferred to the impressive Dusko Tosic who wasn’t kept at the end of a successful loan spell dampened enthusiasm still further. How wrong we all were.
Derby 2 QPR 2, August 28, 2010
Rangers had already won their opening three league matches of the season, scoring nine and conceding none, to top the table as they headed to Derby. You’d never have guessed it though as the Rams cruised into a two goal lead and saw that through to the second minute of stoppage time. Even when substitute Patrick Agyemang rolled in the first it appeared mere consolation but Derby missed a golden chance to make it 3-1 from the kick off and Rangers sprang forward to equalise thanks to a fine goal by Jamie Mackie. It epitomised and increased the spirit among the team and the unbeaten run eventually stretched 19 matches through to December.
Ipswich 0 QPR 3, September 14, 2010
Rangers won their next match at home to Middlesbrough, but lost both right backs from their squad in the process with Bradley Orr and Peter Ramage limping off injured. Warnock signed Kyle Walker within 24 hours and the Tottenham loanee then starred in a memorable 3-0 Tuesday night win at Ipswich Town, themselves flying high in the table at the time. Jamie Mackie’s inspirational start to the season continued with another two goals.
QPR 2 Cardiff 1, November 27, 2010
A pulsating match against the second best team in the Championship at that time was settled by a typically brilliant winner from Adel Taarabt in the second half. QPR had trailed early on to Craig Bellamy’s strike, and twice went behind in the later corresponding fixture in South Wales, but fought back on all three occasions to take four points that would ultimately see Rangers promoted and Cardiff left to suffer their annual play off heartbreak.
Reading 0 QPR 1, February 4, 2011
Three defeats and an FA Cup exit over Christmas had the faithful wondering if the wheels had fallen off. Warnock went out and bought Wayne Routledge who scored a fine late goal in this match to settle it in QPR’s favour. Reading were chasing the play offs themselves, and Rangers had Hogan Ephraim sent off in the first half, but victory was secured against the odds regardless.
QPR 1 Leicester 0, March 5, 2011
Warnock also signed Ishmael Miller in January, and sent the giant striker on here to bag a memorable last minute winner. At the other end another of his signings Paddy Kenny performed a miraculous save to deny Yakubu in the first half. Routledge scored late in a similar home win against Coventry to confirm Warnock’s success in the transfer market last season.
Watford 0 QPR 2, April 30, 2011
Despite Swansea and Norwich breathing down their necks, and attention almost entirely focussed on the forthcoming FA hearing into the Ale Faurlin transfer, QPR were able to keep their heads and secure a 2-0 win at Vicarage Road that confirmed their promotion to the Premiership. Adel Taarabt and Tommy Smith scored in the second half in front of a boisterous travelling support.
QPR 0 Newcastle 0, September 12, 2011
A disastrous summer that almost saw Warnock talk himself out of his job by repeatedly criticising the decisions being made by previous owner Flavio Briatore, ended happily with the takeover by Tony Fernandes. Warnock acted quickly to bring in seven quality players and the performance on their first appearances against Newcastle at Loftus Road on the Monday Night Football was exceptional. How QPR didn’t win nobody will ever know, but the performance promised much for the future.
QPR 1 Chelsea 0, October 23, 2011
Loftus Road was rocked to its very foundations by a memorable first win against Chelsea for 17 years. The Blues had two men sent off, but Rangers had already taken a deserved lead by the time Jose Bosingwa was dismissed and had referee Chris Foy played on Shaun Wright-Phillips would have made it 2-0 anyway. The nine men rallied in the second half but QPR hung on for what is, sadly, their only home win of the season so far.
Stoke 2 QPR 3, November 19, 2011
Upon winning promotion Neil Warnock promised his side would enjoy the experience, and play to win every match. That attitude shone through in this fixture at the notoriously inhospitable Britannia Stadium where a brace for Heidar Helguson and a goal from Luke Young sealed a 3-2 win despite Jon Walters giving Stoke an early lead. No wins from the following nine matches, during which time the attacking ethos seems to have been abandoned, cost Warnock his job.
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