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Comment | Complacent QPR caught cold by Owls – Report
at 08:41:46
'Twice now QPR have had the opportunity to put a ten-point gap between them and the Owls, twice they’ve lost the game in shambolic fashion to narrow that margin to four.'
That summed up perfectly the precarious situation of any team in the lower reaches of the Championship in 2023-2024. It is what is really meant by a 'six-pointer'. Let's hope that some of that complacency has crept into the Plymouth team. |
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Comment | Dunne’d in the gob – Report
at 09:41:24
Most of us would probably have expected Jimmy's effort to end up at the back of the Upper Loft. Not the fans at the LR end of the SA Road stand though. I am pretty sure that the cameras caught them beginning to celebrate before the ball crossed the line. A wonderful moment. |
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Comment | A horrible new low — Report
at 09:37:17
When the pain from this match goes away (if it ever does), could we look carefully at how the team might move away from the tippy-tappy, Dickie-Dunne-Dickie-Dunne passing routine to a way of playing which gets the ball forward more rapidly? BUT, without the defenders repeatedly whacking high balls forward that go for a throw-in, or, are a gift to the opposing defenders. Somehow, there must be a happy medium that would work. Surely?
I would love to think that Willock or Chair were part of the solution, but, someone please reassure me that they would not have to grow to be about 20 feet tall in order to be engaged in the game. |
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Comment | Out of the darkness — Report
at 10:03:57
"A similar chance in the first half was skewed so horrifically it barely stayed in the same postcode, but this time he caught it flush and, to this day, I still think it went in but passed through a hole in the net."
Has anyone seen a goal given when the ball actually did go through a hole in the side netting? I did once. It was Swindon Town Res v QPR Res in the 1960s. Mike Summerbee (a great character) scored it and his laughter afterwards confirmed what the the fans thought they had seen. Attention was given to the netting afterwards, but the goal stood. |
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Comment | It is what it is - Preview
at 10:45:56
As I become even older and the testosterone falls, I find it much easier to take a gloomy view of the world than an optimistic one. Even though a youngster, I fear that you may have fallen into the same trap, Clive.
The socio/economic/political gloom is all abosultely correct - as headlines. But, beneath those gloomy headlines is the story that - despite everything - most things, for most people, are actually working. If we want to end up in a scoio/economic/political disaster, then let's all keep feeding the bad news stories. How does rejection of our politics, in favour of a properly authoritarian regime (as opposed to the 'practice' one during Covid) sound?
And at QPR, the situation is the same. You remind us, quite correctly, that when we have our best team on the pitch, we have a very good QPR out there. Agreed, but when that team is not at 100% strength, it nevertheless ought to be better - we have few, if any, poor players. If Michael Beale is under pressure, the pressure comes from making the best of the resources that we have. He is supposed to be just the man to do that sort of thing. He probably is, but he will need a little bit of time. I think he recognised that when he said that he would rather start slowly and then improve than start well and collapse when it mattered, as in 2021-2022.
Keep up the wonderful work, Clive, but don't get too negative. Negativity is rather like a drug that will drag the user down. |
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Comment | Josh Bowler, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, QPR, etc. — Report
at 09:35:26
An accurate and entertaining report, Clive, thank you. But, the most important part of it is your your thinking about 'head injuries'. Some of them involve no contact with the head at all. Fans in the stadium often know. Those watching on TV, with the benefit of a couple of different camera angles, know for sure. Listen to a TV commentary though and you will hardly ever hear the 'injury' being questioned. The commentator and the assistant (usually a former player) do not get involved. A ruling by TV company lawyers or simply misplaced loyalty to the profession? One way or another, this and similar cheating is spoiling the game. It needs to be stopped. |
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Comment | Not our first rodeo — History
at 09:05:51
Thanks Clive. Once more, you remind us so eloquently how life as a QPR supporter is character-building. |
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Comment | Running riot at The Baseball Ground - History
at 10:13:17
I remember that 1-5 game in 1975 Clive. I was not there, but was listening to BBC Radio (the 'Light Programme'?) as I was painting some woodwork at the back of the house. By now, someone will have rectified the mess that I made of it as my concentration on the task diminished. What a win and a clear pointer to the wonderful season that lay ahead. |
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Comment | Where were we? Preview
at 08:44:32
Wonderful, Clive. I felt so much of that. I was moved from west London to west Somerset, as a kid, in the 1950s and then suffered many more moves; schools, too, of course. But, one thing was constant and we know what that was.
I had to read twice the words '...trapped in relationships that panicked me but I didn’t know how to end, I went to every QPR game home and away.' Those relationships, surely, did not survive all those trips to see QPR? I would have thought that such a commitment would have ended the other 'commitments' sharpish. |
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Comment | There’s a platinum door - Preview
at 09:39:55
How sure are we that the 'closed shop' European Super League would be such an attraction that it would soak up all the money in the game? One way or another, the sustainability of professional football depends on the fans - gate money, replica shirts, TV income, sponsorship etc. The first three of those are all about payments that fans make; even TV income, which is related to the desire of viewers to pay. Sponsorship? Even that will not be forthcoming unless there are enough people watching to make it worthwhile.
The ESL sounds fundamentally artificial to me. The idea of it is deeply irritating, but I am not sure that it would have sufficient pull to damage the rest of football, where - based on the enormous criticism that it attracted so quickly - true loyalties lie.
I would have preferred that the proposal had not emerged, but, now that it has, there is another way of dealing with it. We could just say 'bye bye' to the six clubs and forget that they ever existed. |
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Comment | Dominant Bees look to finish the job - Interview
at 19:19:05
' We have all but sealed a play-off place...'
Hmm. I understand why he says that, but, they are on 57 points at the moment, with 17 games to play. Over the last 10 years, 74 points has been the average for sixth place. So if they draw every one of their final games, they have a good chance of getting sixth place. They will probably do better than that, but, things happen. Ask Jurgen Klopp. |
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Comment | Seny delight for QPR, déjà vu for deposed Harris — Report
at 18:49:14
Clive properly acknowledges the dreadful conditions - heavy rain and wind. Heavy rain? Yes, with the stadium almost empty, we could actually hear the rain. That's what makes this an even better result. For years, we used to worry about the team's ability to cope 'in Blackburn (or anywhere away from London), midweek, on a cold, wet winter night.' No need to worry now, it seems. The conditions were absolutely foul and thankfully, these QPR players coped well. They may even have enjoyed it. |
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Comment | Gordon Jago: Leading from the front — Column
at 07:51:20
A lovely piece Simon, with wonderful detail. Here is a little more. Living in Wiltshire at the time, I went with a friend to an away match at Bristol City. After the match, we went into the buffet at Bristol Temple Meads, where Gordon and the team, including Marsh and Venables, were waiting for the train. I felt in the presence of gods. A few friendly words were exchanged. On the journey home, Gordon sent someone from the club to our compartment to give us a box of cakes - left over from the players' 'tea'. A kind thought directed towards a couple of young fans. |
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Comment | There’s no escape - Fans forum
at 09:37:45
Clive, many thanks. Some new information there and plenty of the frankness that we have become accustomed to. Well done everyone. |
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Comment | A rot stopper - Report
at 17:40:30
Thought that the ref was very good, overall. Yes, he seemed to be unduly tolerant where Ayew was concerned, but, he got that penalty call right. It would have been difficult to penalise Ayew for simulation, because the clash of legs caused a genuine fall. But, he deliberately put his leg where that was likely to happen. So, no penalty, no yellow card. |
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