During his tenure in the Premier League there has been a change of ownership take place, injury crisis in the striker department, racism investigations, controversial red cards, player tantrums etc. The list could go on, not that I feel sorry for Warnock you see, I think personally he's a victim of his own success, his own nemesis somewhat.
He brought in quality players during his time in the Championship such as the outstanding Paddy Kenny, the often ill-tempered but talented Adel Taraabt and controversial signing Alejandro Faurlin (who nearly cost them their title). These signings were key to their climb up the table in an almost Pompey style turnaround in 2002 where we went from a relegation fodder side to a title winning side in a quick turnaround, always constantly reducing and improving the squad.That's as far as I will comment on Warnock in the Championship, as this blog is focusing on his tenure in the Premier League and where I feel he may of faltered.
The beginning of the season in the Premier League was certainly filled with news stories of new owners, price tickets being absurd for such a small ground (Loftus Road holding only 18,000) it was hardly a positive start. The results didn't follow suit either, after being thrashed at home 4-0 by Bolton and then 2-0 by Wigan away a few weeks later made their 1-0 win against Everton somewhat insignificant. QPR had also been dumped out of the League Cup in the second round by League One side Rochdale in a 2-0 defeat at home.
Now it's not as if they didn't invest in the pre-season, they added Jay Bothroyd (free), injury prone Kieron Dyer (free), Danny Gabbidon (free), DJ Campbell (undisclosed; £1.2 approx), which helped bolster their squad with some Premier League experience, these had a mediocre impact on the squad. Dyer was injured in the first game, unfortunate for him to be injured once more, Bothroyd and Campbell couldn't hit the ground running and often were rotated awkwardly to little effect on games.
Improvements had to be made in the squad, and with the new owner Tony Fernandes securing his ownership not long before the transfer deadline it made for some interesting stories.
The main story was Joey Barton, a favourite at St James' Park to the fans, but not the board, after refusing to sign a new contract he ditched his boyhood club and moved to QPR on a free, Barton was optimistic about the move and felt it was a 'relief' to move.
More faces joined after this before the transfer window closed;
- Defender Luke Young from Aston Villa
- Armand Traore from Arsenal
- Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City
- Anton Ferdinand from Sunderland
 |
| From Telegraph Online |
All of these signings were listed as 'undisclosed' so who knows how much money these guys were bought for, but knowing Wright-Phillips and Traore from the past I'm sure it's on large wages, wonder how a 18,000 crowd will fund this. A few ego's in the squad as well, Wright-Phillips and Traore again have had a few tantrums fits at their past clubs by being left out or not being allowed to move (remember Wright-Phillips at Chelsea?) clubs. It was up to Warnock to gel these players into a team that could avoid relegation and push forward as the owner saw, often making fanciful statements such as building a 40-50,000 stadium etc. I may be hypocritical as a Pompey fan, these things were all promised to us many, many times, but over a long period, not in 3-4 months!
After the international break it was time to put the new signings to the test and after a promising but dull game against Newcastle at home their form turned Jekyll & Hyde, with some good performances in the mix as well, highlights were the plucky 3-2 loss to Manchester City where QPR kept knocking on the high-spending club goal mouth and nearly came away with a valuable point. There was the win against Chelsea which saw 2 red cards early on and John Terry giving the FA another reason why he isn't a suitable captain (but they are blind as dead people). By the end of year they had 4 wins, 5 draws and 10 losses, now when you analyse this with the amount of investment the new owner put into the club to try improve their form it's understandable why they have been faltering.
It's hard to put on what is the exact problem behind their poor form this season, as they have the talent to push forward and achieve more wins, one player I think may have a negative effect is Adel Taraabt, I've never liked his attitude, he has too many tantrums for a footballer! He would be a top player at a top club one day if he curbed his attitude, he has the quality and natural talent to succeed.
But overall the team hasn't gelled very well I don't think, if you compare QPR to the other promoted teams they are not as slick or fluent as total-football Swansea or rugged Norwich, they simply cannot survive if they continue to invest in highly paid transfers, they already have a striker overload without one main goalscorer (unless you count Helgusson), it all looks worrying, and I'm sure Hoops fans are already dreading the coming months, as it could be another trip to Barnsley away on a Tuesday evening if results keep going this way!
I hope this made some sense, as it felt like I rambled towards the end....but that's how I feel about QPR, I'm not the biggest fan of the club, nor Warnock. Rumours so far all point to Mark Hughes taking over within 48 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment