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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 09:36 18 Nov 2025
Given they went pretty hot and heavy for Edwards on deadline day I think there's still a chunk of it left, but this summer, like the summer before it, wasn't cheap relative to our recent spend, and there's no sign of another Eze-like windfall any time soon. It'll be disappointing if we've spent years saying "when that Eze money comes in" and then when it did we spent it on a team that got us to... 16th in the Championship again. |
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 08:12 18 Nov 2025
Yes. Becomes a problem if they’re not very good, though. |
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 18:21 17 Nov 2025
Absolutely, now he’s ditched the “game model” he needs to win and win quickly or I can already tell you what people will say and who will say it.
It was very noticeable after Preston at home and Plymouth away I thought.
Lines being parroted word for word about average age of team. Accounts like mine being attacked for daring to say drawing with Preston and losing to Plymouth is a bit sht.
I don’t want to derail the thread really because I’d be interested in other posters responses to the original question but I’ve more to say on this in time. I though the “Bobby z in 89” post on here at the end of last season was absolutely appalling.
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 17:50 17 Nov 2025
I fully accept it's just you and me at this point, but that's okay.
If a worst case scenario plays out and it turns out all the players involved in it are contracted to 2030 interest will increase I think. |
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 16:42 17 Nov 2025
I don't know if it's a gift or a curse that it takes me about 2 minutes to spill that onto page once it's in my head, but I'd been thinking about it on my run earlier so there it is. |
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 15:49 17 Nov 2025
Reason to be positive:
- I like some of the signings and think we're a more competitive, physical, quicker side.
- We're nine (?) points better off than this time last year, and nine clear of a drop zone that we were well adrift in around this time a year ago. We've talked about "being happy with steady progress" and "as long as we're better this year than last year"... well, that's what it looks like.
- Some of the team selections have been barmy, frankly, but I would hope as we get 20-25-30 games in that will enable Stephan to learn the division and the team and improve, so we won't see as many Esquerdinha v Ipswich nonsenses moving forwards. There was always going to be a bit of that with a new manager coming in from the French league.
- The squad depth is improved. Our bench for Southampton was Cook, Dembele, Field, Hamer, Hayden, Bennie, Kone, Morgan, Vale. Two years ago to the week the bench for Leicester at home was A Drewe, T Richards, S Duke-McKenna, J Archer, Z Larkeche, R Kolli.
- We've got better strikers than we've had for ages. Burrell is something of a break out star, love him. Kone started hot, and is now in a bit of a lean patch - that was inevitable for someone that's risen so far so soon, hopefully he settles to the level, not sure we're using him right but relatively pleased with those two so far.
- We've largely ditched the play out from the back stuff, which we don't have the players for and doesn't work any more anyway. Slightly disturbing to see that come back in the Southampton and Ipswich games, and no surprise it got the results it got.
- We've got some potentially exciting players to come into the team and/or get up to speed (Poku, Chair, Saito, Kone, JCS LOL).
- They might go back for Edwards in January and his price may have reduced.
- They'll correct the goalkeeping position in January, that's already cost us 4 points which would put us joint 7th.
Reason to be worried:
- We still don't look very good, to me. A very, very frustrating watch at times. We changed our shape, system and style and put in some good performances that I enjoyed, caught a few teams on the hop, but as they've got wise to us we've been poor. Oxford, Southampton at home, Derby and Sheff Utd away were boring, every bit as bad as anything we've seen over the last few years with lots and lots of the same failings.
- Stephan talking about defending a 0-0 at Sheff Utd because it keeps us nine points ahead of them, rather than attacking a win which would have put us within four of the play-offs, for me was instructive about what he thinks he's got here and how he sees the season going.
- Players we were excited about, players we're meant to be developing, are stagnating, or going backwards - bar Burrell. Kone, Saito, Morgan, Esquerdinha, Poku, Dembele, Varane. We've spent money, last summer, and this summer. Madsen, Celar, Kone, Saito, Poku etc were not cheap. The Eze money is here now, and won't be coming again - we've spoken about it for years, we've got it now, this is what we're doing with it. We desperately need to start producing results and/or sellable assets.
- The youth focus has been completely, predictably binned at the first sign of poor results for the first team. The development squad who got the big hype around that Brentford game have melted away into the usual loans at Bedford and Hampton. There seems to be precious little attention given to where we loan these boys and why. The ones who were near the first team (Esquerdinha, Morgan) are decreasingly involved, and have had nightmares when started. The cheerleaders for this regime were very quick to parrot the "youngest average age in the division" after game one, where we were poor and dropped two points at home. Since Coventry I don't hear this among the 'lines', and that's because we've gone straight back down the Hayden, Hamer, Norrington-Davies line. Michi Frey, two new contracts in the bag, is getting minutes, Rayan Kolli isn't.
- Because of this, and the obvious ditching of the game model, I like Barry fear we may get some more managerial upheaval unless we get good results, fairly consistently, fairly quickly. He was brought in here as a head coach to work with the game model (ditched), to bring in younger players per his reputation (ditched), and to develop assets to sell (all going backwards apart from Burrell). So, if the next six results look like the last six, I wonder how discussions at boardroom level will sound.
- Injuries and fitness. There are, once again, some bizarre things going on in this realm. The state of us in August I thought, personally, was quite embarrassing. We've got an ongoing situation with Poku where we were told he hadn't done his hamstring and wasn't serious when he clearly had and was, he comes back for 20 minutes now he's out again. The farce of JCS' various comebacks in the reserves. The Kolli situation.
- As I said on another thread, I can't shake the feeling I've had since Nourry took over that a) we're run by some very, very inexperienced people and b) they're winging it a bit. That might go well or it might not. The goalkeeper situation is farcical. The situations with Field, Kolli, Frey not far behind it.
- Linked to that, and the need to get some pigs fattened for market - CONTRACTS. I know this is my hobby horse, I've been told lots of QPR fans don't care, Christian says nobody ever asks him about this on his many journeys on the Central Line, I appreciate I'm attacking this as a journo who wants to cover the club, but it is a deliberate attempt to conceal information and I think part of the reason behind it is there would be some alarm about the deals being handed out. Michi Frey got two contract extensions this summer alone, Sam Field has had two in 18 months (first one was 4.5 years) and basically straight after the second one is surplus to requirements, Rayan Kolli is on four years and not playing, Burrell allegedly got five years signing from Burton Albion. If this doesn't go well on the pitch, if we don't build players up to sell, we're going to be on the hook with this squad and with the money spent for a very long time.
- I thought the puff piece about the women's team, quoting none of the women involved nor even mentioning them by name, was really poor, because it again just looks like a bit of an ego trip, CV padding, all about Christian. We've already had one "Lionel Messi of football execdom" article appear this year because we went six unbeaten. It makes me uncomfortable. It should be about collective, team, club, QPR, not one man trying to boost his career prospects.
- Connected to this, I'm also uncomfortable with the number of fan accounts, some who are genuine fans and have been going for years, others who have appeared recently and are largely anonymous, behaving like PRs for the regime, attacking people who are critical or not positive. It feels like if Nourry turned up and curled a big steamer out on their front lawn they'd say he was probably right to do it and it was a really smart move. I guess they'd say I'm over negative, but there it is. A lot of us remember the Paladini days and are very sensitive to this sort of thing.
What I'm hopeful for:
We'll go on another good run of results, hopefully soon (Hull, Blackburn, Norwich, you can't really ask for three better games than that) and push back towards the play-offs at which point I'm sure we'll all get big stiff hard ons again. We'll also have one of our cratering sequences where the bed wetters switchboard starts taking calls. Overall, I don't see us finishing too far away from where we are now, which is what I predicted in the season preview.
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Reply | It Is What It Is
at 15:06 17 Nov 2025
Is there any suggestion he's going to be the Middlesbrough manager?
They're on the verge of appointing Hellberg aren't they?
Maybe I should do a piece on why Boro shouldn't appoint Paul Hart. |
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Reply | Mental!!
at 10:20 17 Nov 2025
TBH the only surprise is they haven't found a way for "Inter Miami" to take part. |
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Reply | Mental!!
at 09:27 17 Nov 2025
I thought that. Luckily, US customs is a piece of pis at the moment so should be able to just breeze straight through. |
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Reply | Mental!!
at 09:08 17 Nov 2025
Parrot has always been one of those players threatening to break out into something generally brilliant but never quite getting there, hopefully this will be the catalyst for him. What a week for him personally, for Jimmy, and everybody involved.
This game and the Scotland game the night before were incredible watches. |
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Reply | Stats that pass the eye test
at 22:09 14 Nov 2025
It’s interesting that whenever these stats come up it’s always Huddersfield in there with us. Another club that has made catastrophic decisions since getting itself into the Premier League under a lightning strike managerial appointment. |
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Reply | Stats that pass the eye test
at 22:05 14 Nov 2025
We’ve also been fortunate that our really bad spells (6 wins in 46 games = dead last) have been over a calendar year rather than a football one.
And there have been some absolute basket cases (Rotherham, Wycombe, Buton) in this league along with points deductions (Derby, Reading) that have kept the wolf from the door. |
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Reply | Goalkeepers at QPR
at 11:23 14 Nov 2025
I saw him play for us in a 0-0 late season draw at Wigan I think. A clean sheet accomplished by him filling most of the goal. |
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Reply | TICKET PRICES IN FAMILY STAND
at 17:34 13 Nov 2025
You’re not allowed to increase prices mid season, Briatore did this and Derby took us to the FA and won, so there’s an error somewhere. |
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