I'm much more of a reader than a poster on here (please never leave us Disco!), but I'm glad that there has recently been a growing trend towards reality and joking about our more impatient/blinkered/angry fans, e.g. joking about Gladwin being written off before half time on Saturday (just watch this space...).
Anyone who has been following our great, but irredeemably unsuccessful, club for as long as me (38 years in which we've never won a top trophy) knows that there is always more rough than smooth. For example, even the good teams of the mid 80s and early 90s turned in regular abject away performances every season (with the possible exception of 83/84) but the hype and the endless coverage of football was nothing like it is now, so we kept things in perspective. Anyone remember mass meltdowns when we flirted with relegation from Division One in, say, 1985, 1987 and 1991? No, neither do I.
Nowadays we are force fed the message that the Premier League is the only place to be and that every single game matters if it's live on Sky. Back in the real world Clive's analysis of the Championship's 35,240 fixtures is much nearer the mark but we all get sucked into the hype machine and start to believe that a mid season game against Ipswich is a must win when, plainly, it is nothing of the sort.
I'm not going to give my opinion on whether the club is being run properly because that isn't the point of this message. While I understand people's serious concerns, 99.9% of us on here haven't got a clue about owning or running a football club, or selecting a team from a large squad we never see in training (although Henry at number 10 was beyond belief), and for all the mayhem around the club and the numerous dud players, 3 of the past 5 seasons were spent in the Premier League. Yes, we stank the place out most of the time but I never imagined we'd get back to that level after so long out of it.
Anyway, the point of this message is that QPR is, basically, a second flight club which, thankfully for us, has often punched well above its weight. Based on ground size, support base, etc. we had no right to expect a second place in the top flight, three fifth place finishes and a UEFA Cup quarter final, just as we wouldn't have expected three years in the third flight and losing to Vauxhall Motors. The average stats for our "great" club are these:
Average league position in the past 50 years: 25th
Average league position since formation: 43rd
Position on the all time Premier League table: 27th
I'm not putting on rose tinted spectacles or saying that the team is doing well enough right now, but we are where we are right now partly, and possibly mainly, because we are QPR. We are all entitled to feel annoyed by the poor patch/season/era we're going through, but we shouldn't be surprised by our current league position.
Anyone who loses their rag because anything other than promotion to the promised land isn't good enough has either got a short memory or wasn't around when we were, as usual, not very good.
Come on you R'ssss!!!! [Post edited 7 Jan 2016 14:11]
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