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Beware the pitfalls of a Redknapp coronation
Beware the pitfalls of a Redknapp coronation
Friday, 23rd Nov 2012 19:50 by Clive Whittingham

As Mark Hughes moves out of Loftus Road, Harry Redknapp seems set to move straight in. Are QPR simply repeating the same mistakes all over again?

I don’t think I’ve ever disliked an article of mine as much as the assessment of Mark Hughes that I posted earlier tonight.

That’s not because anything in it was untrue or unfair – it’s a real challenge to find anything positive about an 11 month, 30 league match reign that contained just six victories – but because it was just the kind of wise-after-the-event Richard Littlejohn-type nonsense that I’ve always hated.

Littlejohn once infamously described his job as “sitting at the back and throwing bottles.” And isn’t that just so easy to do? People at the front try hard, come up with ideas and live with their successes and failures while people like Littlejohn sit at the back doing nothing except throwing things at them. I’m reminded of George Bernard Shaw’s line that ‘those that can, do; those that can’t, teach.’ These days it’s ‘those who can, do; those that can’t, write for the Daily Mail.’

I’m proud of LoftforWords because it proves just about everybody I’ve ever encountered in my own journalism career completely wrong. “People have short attention spans, people don’t want to read 3,000 word articles any more, people want things summing up quickly, people are on the move all the time these days, people aren’t going to sit and read five pages of in depth analysis on Akos Buzsaky on their mobile phone,” said one sub editor after another as they imposed 300 word limits on me. Well, I’ve taken very great pleasure in ignoring them on my own time, and making a success of a website that does the exact opposite of all the present-day rules and now brings in 95,000 page impressions on a good day, and holds up around the 60,000 mark on a quiet one.

Whenever I work on pieces for LFW – mine or guest submissions – I think ‘would I like to read this myself?’ which brings me back to my Mark Hughes article, which I loathe.

You see it’s all very well me sitting here now, after Hughes has made a monumental mess of managing Queens Park Rangers, and saying he was arrogant for walking out on Fulham, he was an idiot for spending massive money on the likes of Wayne Bridge at Manchester City, he was foolish to get rid of so many players who felt something for QPR and replace them with big names and so on. But when he was appointed I glossed over these things and talked up his achievements at Blackburn; the signings of people like Chris Samba, Vincent Kompany and Mousa Dembele; the eighth placed finish at Fulham. When Hughes was appointed I framed him as the man who performed wonders for two clubs of similar size to QPR and signed players who proved key to Manchester City winning the title last season, now he’s gone I’m saying he’s the idiot who is too involved with Kia Joorabchian and blew millions for no trophy return at Eastlands.

I hate the lack of accountability in sports journalism. Shaun Custis can say QPR are about to be deducted 15 points and splash it all over the back page of his paper, then when it turns out to be rubbish nothing happens to him – just onto the next story that might be true but probably isn’t. Likewise Patrick Barclay can write a piece in the Evening Standard haranguing Chelsea for the way they’ve dealt with the John Terry affair after the FA threw the book at him, when just a month beforehand he’d written a column for the same paper suggesting QPR would owe Terry an apology if they refused to shake his hand before a match and he was subsequently found not guilty. When you raise this with him on Twitter you’re either ignored, or he denies all knowledge of the first column. And it’s best I don’t start (again) on Sky Sports News and their ‘throw enough shit at the wall’ approach to transfer deadline day.

I’m not wrong in what I’ve written about Hughes, but I wish I’d been right earlier.

This is the difficulty in writing about a club that I love so completely. I may make myself abide by the Richie Benaud mantra of never, ever saying “we” when referring to Rangers, and I may try as hard as I can to approach every article objectively, but deep down I’m still that eight-year-old boy running around Bushy Park in his Brooks QPR home shirt with a Les Ferdinand poster on his bedroom wall.

My dad used to hate Mark Dennis with a passion. When Dennis was charging around in a Southampton shirt cutting Wayne Fereday in two my father could be found hanging over advertising hoardings to abuse him. As soon as Dennis pulled on the blue and white hoops he was alright: “Well done Mark Dennis” my dad’s booming voice would yell from the P Block as the full back sliced some poor unsuspecting winger in half.

Partly through the blind loyalty that all football fans have to their clubs, and partly through the new modern day fear of being branded “a closet Chelsea fan” on Twitter, I always find myself looking for positives in new signings and managers. “Yeh he’s been dog shit before, and he did lose a leg to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, and he is into his forties now, and an alcoholic, and a former Chelsea player, and that botched sex change operation hasn’t done much for him, and he was never the quickest anyway, but maybe he can do a job for us at right wing,” I’ll say as the latest crock moves in.

When Jose Bosingwa signed I queried whether he’d have the fight and motivation to play for a struggling team after an entire career spent winning matches every week – but I resolved that somebody with his international caps and medal collection couldn’t be a bad signing. Likewise with Park, despite evidence at the end of last season that his legs had gone, I resolved that this was a great deal for the club. In the summer Hughes turned down the chance to sign Taye Taiwo, who played well at the end of last season and seemed to really like it here, in order to sign Fabio Da Silva on loan instead. I queried whether that was sound long term thinking, but then went running back to his Brazilian youth caps and 60 appearances for Manchester United.

In truth, I was as delighted as everybody else about the big name players coming into QPR in the summer, and I think I said something about Hughes being the only sensible option for the managerial job last January. So it’s a bit rich of me to sit here now talking about what an unbelievably awful job he’s done.

Of the QPR fans I speak to or read only three have said consistently, from the start, that both Mark Hughes and the club’s transfer policy were recipes for disaster: message board regular Dai Hoop, who is Welsh and hated Hughes before he even took the Blackburn job; mainstay of the LFW Travelling Crew Neil Dejyothin who gave me a detailed 30 minute run down of exactly why this season was going to be an unmitigated disaster on the way to the Swansea game in August and all I could say to him at the time was “stop being so harsh”; and journalist David McIntyre, whose words look so wise now but were met at the time via social networks with abuse along the lines of “not a proper QPR fan” and “never say anything positive.” Congratulations gents, such a shame we’ve found out you were right all along in such lousy circumstances.

This is why having supporters on the board of directors at a club can be problematic. Supporters are emotional and it clouds their judgement. Even now, after everything that’s happened, supporters across message boards and Twitter want more signings, more new players, more blood. Get Harry Redknapp in here, get rid of this lot, get in a new lot, right now.

The QPR board of directors may not be QPR fans, but they are football fans. Headhunting goes on in all forms of business, but to come out and say that Mark Hughes interviewed them for the QPR job, as much as the other way around, shows the problem with this. For whatever reason, Tony Fernandes and the board decided Mark Hughes was the ideal manager to lead their revolution and did everything bar suck him off to get him to agree. They let him buy whatever players he wanted, appoint whatever staff he wanted, mould the club however he wanted, and they gave him a contract so extortionate with a pay-off so great that they had to beg him to resign from it before eventually biting the bullet and sacking him.

They have no football experience and it has showed. I remember reading a piece from Chris Wright, who was a QPR fan, talking about just how illogical football makes reasonable businessmen. Would Philip Beard ever have got himself into a situation when he was the manager of the O2 Arena where he only considered a single candidate for a senior position, and then when that candidate arrived the questions were directed more at Beard than the other way around? Would Tony Fernandes appoint somebody to run his airline or hotels in that manner? So why did they allow it to happen with Hughes? Because somebody turning up to work for Air Asia would be just another executive, whereas Mark Hughes played for Manchester United.

Again, it’s easy to say all this now, because Hughes was a disaster and has gone. I didn’t raise many of these concerns back in January so I’m back in Littlejohn mode again. What is absolutely crucial now is that QPR do not make the same mistake again. There should be a managerial appointment, not a coronation.

Sadly it seems that Harry Redknapp is going to march straight into Loftus Road as the only candidate given serious consideration. If he does, and is welcomed with open arms, then QPR’s board and their fans have learnt zilch. The last 11 months of complete and utter dreadfulness on the pitch will have achieved nothing.

Ultra short term, Redknapp would be an improvement. He’s a motivator, and boy does this QPR team need motivating; he plays attractive, positive football, and my oh my do the QPR fans deserve some of that; and although he took over Southampton in a similar situation to the one we’re in now and got them relegated, he did later return to Portsmouth and rescue them from an almost certain demotion. Plus, let’s face it, unless he fails to win any of the next 13 matches he can’t do any worse can he? Short term, with the Premier League money skyrocketing next year, you could make a good case for this being reason enough to appoint him. In truth, I’m excited by the prospect of him taking over.

But in many respects Redknapp would be a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” – from The Who’s rather aptly named song Won’t Get Fooled Again. Redknapp is going to name his terms and negotiate a big fat contract, then this January he’s going to go out and buy five or six players and so the whole cycle begins again. Expect Willie McKay, like Kia Joorabchian with Hughes, to start furnishing us with big name players on big name contracts who will no more muck in when the going gets tough than come round my house and cut my lawn for me. And, judging by the “come and save us Harry” banners at Loftus Road, everybody is all in favour of this. Well, sorry, this time I am sticking a warning flag in the sand nice and early.

QPR need to look at what is working for football clubs at the moment. Ignore the Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris SG, Barcelona, Real Madrid stories of throwing money at it until it works. The real success stories are coming at clubs that are focused on a long term plan, on youth development and on a strategy. West Brom, Norwich and Swansea in this country, Ajax in Holland, Dortmund in Germany etc etc. They often make managerial appointments that seem a little left field but are made after an exhaustive process aimed at finding not the best candidate on paper, but the best fit for the club. They don’t get them wrong often as a result, and even when they do it’s not the end of the world because it’s the system and the strategy that’s running the club, rather than the manager as Hughes did at QPR.

When QPR were last in the Premier League having a chairman as wealthy as Tony Fernandes, and as happy to spend money on the team as he is, would probably have seen us win the whole competition outright – Blackburn Rovers did just that by spending a similar amount to that which Fernandes has shelled out. But these days every club has a rich owner and it’s only when you get somebody like Roman Abramovic or Sheikh Mansour that it’s enough to propel you beyond the rest. For everybody else, success these days is to be found in sound, strategic planning. It’s why QPR were foolish to simply crown Hughes and hand him the keys to the safe, and medium to long term they’d be just as daft to do the same with Harry Redknapp.

QPR need to be bringing in hungry, young players with plenty to prove who will provide excellent sell on value further down the line. Look down the divisions and wide across Europe and concentrate hard on developing your own. While Rangers were handing Jose Bosingwa a stupid contract this summer, 200 miles up the M1 there’s a fabulous young attacking right back playing for Huddersfield called Jack Hunt who would relish coming here and having a crack at the Premier League. By all means supplement these players with the odd big name, or “marquee signing” as the modern parlance has it, but not more than two or three.

There’s no guarantee of success – for every Leon Britton at Swansea there’s a Tom Soares at Stoke – but QPR are finding to their cost now that there’s no guarantee buying proven, big names either and when things do go wrong with that strategy they’re much harder to shift, much more expensive to keep and much more damaging to the team and the club.

What I want to see from QPR now is a widespread, thorough search for a new manager; a detailed, prolonged interview process of a dozen candidates or more from all over Europe; and finally an appointment of somebody who talks about ethos and targets three to five years away more than he mentions who he’d like to sign this January. Ask Harry Redknapp where he sees himself in five years time and I should imagine playing golf would figure quite prominently in his answer.

If the club learns from the mistakes of the Hughes coronation and does this, I’m pretty confident we’d end up with a similar European appointment to the one that Swansea City made in the summer, or with somebody similar to my two personal choices for the job Malky Mackay at Cardiff or Gus Poyet at Brighton.

And we’d (sorry) be all the better for it.

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qprcanadabc added 20:07 - Nov 23
Clive - which three would you like to see interviewed for the post?
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Eltham_Ranger added 20:07 - Nov 23
Thanks Clive. I actually tweeted QPRnet the other day saying I liked the idea of Malky Mackay getting the job. I'd give it to him now because realistically a lot of damage has been done and we'll probably be relegated anyway. Shirt term fixes break things more than taking the time to fix the damage properly
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simmohoopster added 20:09 - Nov 23
It's hard to disagree with a lot of what you said. I want Redknapp to get the job because I believe he can save us & I Worry for the future of the club if we go down financially. We need to stay up.

However if Harry says no I would be wanting us to look at Grayson Robinsin Poyet or someone of that ilk.
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shooters47 added 20:09 - Nov 23
Think we both know that your two choices will never happen and cant wait for the Churchill dogs first interview and how much it will cost the club to extend the dugout. Look out in the paddock you might lose your seats!!
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HollowayRanger added 20:10 - Nov 23
never wanted hughes was happy with warnock even if we had gone down under him so what there wasnt a better man to get us re promoted ,always said we should have invested in top class championship players how many have leeds lost to the premiership for instance those are the type of players we should have signed players who were hungry and may have been good enough for prem but at least were certainly good enough for championship instead we are full of over paid has beens who wont move and few who can be sold

too many people fans included have tried to run with QPR before it could even walk now we stand at a crossroads there was a chance to have a fire sell and prepare for the championship and hopefully bounch straight back up like wet spam,instead we are going to try and roll the dice one last time winner takes all under uncle Harry dont get me wrong i think Harry IS the only manager who does have a chance of keeping us up and IF we can lean to start winning then maybe just maybe we will be ok there is still time.....just
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YorkRanger added 20:14 - Nov 23
Great article but no way will TF gamble on an up and coming manager. Harry it is and lets start praying
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qprcanadabc added 20:14 - Nov 23
sorry clive - i have your two!
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THEBUSH added 20:19 - Nov 23
I too hope we learn by our Hughes mistake and perhaps appointing Harry is not as bad as it looks.
Perhaps after this season he can be made director of football and oversee a youngish manager, with more young players coming through the system, I live in hope.
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Northernr added 20:22 - Nov 23
Weirdly, I don't think Redknapp is a bad appointment. I think he'll keep us up, the football will be great, QPR might actually be fun to watch. It's just the method of it, and the long term planning.
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nadera78 added 20:53 - Nov 23
Agree with every word Clive. I fear the club has learned nothing over the last year, or decade in fact.

Leaving aside the fact that I detest Redknapp as an individual, there are plenty of people in this world I don't like, I think it's going to be another huge error appointing him. One we'll be regretting in 18 months time.
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BeauRanger added 20:58 - Nov 23
Short term thinking rules in football, particularly in the Premier League & particularly with the increase in TV money next season.
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qprmick added 21:00 - Nov 23
Whatever happens this season, I hope the Money stays and we sort out a young progressive manager. With Redknapp in charge for the short term, he might save us or he might have a heart attack and die. Either way we need to look for a long term appointment, like Palace had with Freedman.
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N12Hoop added 21:07 - Nov 23
Agree with your sentiments, but I have to believe that those running the club are fully aware of the need to build for the future and at some point appoint the right manager to take us forward for many years. New training facilities, the academy etc are all welcome signs. However, in the short term they are going for a win or bust scenario, hence Redknapp. Lets just hope it ends up a win.
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Billy_Kershaw added 21:16 - Nov 23
Getting to the Premier League (under the previous owners) was The Promised Land. And how we all cheered - but there is a catch! With the huge sums of money involved, perhaps TF sees it as just too risky to go for "a long-term appointment". When the primary goal every season is just to stay up, it would take a very bold owner to go for a "Poyet", risk relegation and the wrath of the fans, even if he thought it was in the long-term interests of the club. It's a bit of a dilemna.
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BasingstokeR added 21:20 - Nov 23
I'll support Harry if (when) he comes in. I think most fans would, after the conveyor belt of managers we've had would like a younger hungry manager to stay long term and be a big success. However would any of those being suggested (Poyet, Mackay, etc) want to come at the moment, or get anywhere close to being released by their clubs? My Spurs supporting friends all think it'd / it will be a great appointment bringing in Harry, I was initially against it, but after the true horror of the Saints game, on top of all the previous results - we need a relatively quick change now. I don't think we have the time now to run a set of rigorous applications and interviews processes, but I do agree with the coronation comments, lets see what kind of deal Redknapp gets if they do announce details. Overall though, I'd really like to get some enjoyment back, to start being excited and looking forward to the actual 90 mins of games part of the matchday a bit more again. Hopefully Harry can bring that in, and we can have a long term plan a bit like the one Warnock mentioned - whereby someone does the mythical stabilisation job, for someone to take over a steadier platform.
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toreqpr added 21:29 - Nov 23
Harry first but then start to search for our next man. Ole Gunnar Solskjær should be That man in # years time but make sure he know now..Then were on to a sure winner my flag out!
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Neil_SI added 21:51 - Nov 23
I've been named and shamed! :P

But seriously some sensational articles and writing from you tonight mate. I really hope the penny has dropped for the club and we can start building sensibly and more important, properly.
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e1337prodigy added 22:16 - Nov 23
Another good article. My dad is excited at the prospect of Harry, but I text him in Cyprus and told him, not sure he is the right man (he can't be any worse than MH), but at what cost?! Poor Tony F and the board; they are going to be paying his wages (but I guess it was there mistake for firing Neil Warnock and grabbing Hughes)
Whichever manager we get, they need to sell players too old and too big wages. Start preparing for a relegation battle; because we will still be in one by Feb/Mar; if we are safely out of the relegation zone by Jan I will be very surprised. If we are going to sign players, it needs to be young hungry players like you said.
And whichever manager does take over, they need to get off to a flying start, the QPR players at the moment can completely deflate like they did with that thrashing to Swansea at the start of the season; and it could be just a case of history repeating.
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silky added 22:37 - Nov 23
I personally would love to see Ole Gunnar Solskjær brought in for long term. He has a great footballing brain, you could tell as a player there was something special about him, even with his Utd connections.....

Harry short term is the only option if we want to survive this year........
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TacticalR added 22:37 - Nov 23
Perhaps you are a little harsh on yourself here.

Sometimes you can *only* be wise about things after the event. We thought we were getting 'midtable mediocrity' Hughes, instead we got clueless 'big club' Hughes.

Actually, being wise after the event is no small thing because many people are incapable of learning from experience. At one place I worked some of the employees tried to tell the boss what was wrong with the company, and that was the day I realised that sometimes there is no point in saying what's wrong for the simple reason that the intelligent people can see already see what's wrong, while the stupid people can't see what's wrong even when you tell them.

Agree that McIntyre, as a longtime sceptic of developments at QPR, is more reliable than some of the more unquestioning, 'passionate' supporters.

I am very intrigued that Neil was predicting our dire season, as he always seems to be Mr. Ultra-positive on these boards!
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ozranger added 22:46 - Nov 23
Clive, your commentary is always a good read and makes too many newspapers look like fish and chip wrappers. Yet, I want to add something here and would love your reasoning. Why did it take until Friday to make this decision? Yes, TF was in US last weekend, but even so, the decision could have been made on Sunday, thus giving everyone time to adjust prior to the double-header coming up. It just seems strange to leave it all until the last moment. Which brings me to another question and one many will tell me I have just placed egg on my face.. what about the recently sacked di Matteo? I am not saying he would be a good fit for us, but the timing is awfully suspicious.

Also, why are Hughes' running mates now in charge? They will just implement the same bland tactics, same playing players out of position and same inability to control the players. I would not be surprised if they were not discussing the upcoming games with Hughes prior to making any decisions. Why not the Youth coach or someone similar who has no connection to Hughes?

As I stated earlier this week, I am not a Rednose fan and oh dear, the talks have already started. And yes, I have met the man. I do hope the correct decision is made, both for the short-term and the long-term. On a rare good note, at least it was good to read that Bosingwa is not playing in Manchester.
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Northernr added 22:47 - Nov 23
Yes Tactical, to my eternal shame and embarrassment Neil spoke to me on the tube on the opening day of the season and on the walk down the Goldhawk Road to the pub and outlined a whole host of reasons why he was concerned about this season, and almost everything he said turned out to be right. I told him to shut up and stop being so harsh at the time.
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isawqpratwcity added 23:00 - Nov 23
Thanks for that, Clive. Measured, thoughtful, succinct.

I'm relieved that it has finally happened. No-one could be seriously expecting a turnaround at OT, so how long were they going to wait before making the decision? Well, sooner than I'd feared, at least. Let me say it for you, Clive: "Don't let the door bang you on the arse on the way out!"

I do trust TF to do the best that he can for the club. It looks like HR is the shoo-in. I have no opinion if he is the right man or not. Time will tell.

First job for the new man: get some spirit into the team. There is quality in the squad, and still enough time to turn it around.

U RRRRRRRRRsssssssssss!
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Neil_SI added 23:01 - Nov 23
TacticalR –
I am generally positive or at least publicly, I try to be. I don't see any reason to scaremonger people or give off an overly negative vibe because that can be counter productive and more often than not I am hopeful I'm wrong about certain things.

Usually when I am unsure about something I simply say nothing at all and keep myself to myself, or well, have a private word in person with those close to me. :)
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CiderwithRsie added 23:12 - Nov 23
Fantastic article.

I wish your point about the lack of accountability in sports journalism was seriously taken up in the world of political journalism where it is just as rife. But you can't always be right before the event and the reason we read your 3000 word articles is that its 10 times better than the superficial stuff that we'd have to pay to read.

I really wish Redknapp well but the suggestion in the Guardian that QPR are being panicked into signing him up now in case he goes to mange Ukraine suggests the managers ares till interviewing the club not vice versa.

Oh well, at least Redknapp was never in my list of most hated players. And I suppose Hughes could have been worse - he could have been Roy Keane.
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