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da jogodeouro: If like me you were glued to your television screen on Sunday night staying up late when you probably should have been in bed to watch the BBC’s QPR: The Four Year Plan, you would have been truly captivated by the rise of the West London club to where they reside today. Strangely hooked to the raw, unedited footage, I couldn’t help but feel joy for the Rangers fans when they were indeed assured of promotion following the controversies surrounding the transfer of Alejandro Faurlin last season.
We all think we have a good idea of what goes on within our football clubs, but the documentary provided a real, hands-on insight into what the day-to-day running of football clubs truly is like. Under the brutal ownership of Flavio Briatore, Paulo Sousa, Paul Hart and Jim Magilton all lost their jobs; deemed idiots and not good enough in terms of their fit within indeed what was the Four Year Plan.
If we fast forward to present day, QPR fans can only enjoy the current campaign and revel in the fact that the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are gracing their Loftus Road home, and the days of being defeated to Scunthorpe at home are a long and distant memory.
But if the Four Year Plan was to achieve promotion to the big league, the new three month plan is to certainly remain there. Mark Hughes is now the man trusted with ensuring the R’s Premier League survival but the Welshman has only won one of his first seven games in charge; not the impact everyone connected with the club was expecting or indeed hoping for.
With former boss and Championship promotion expert Neil Warnock now plying his trade back in Yorkshire with Leeds, some QPR fans might be wishing his wise old head remained in W12. Tony Fernandes was always likely to confide in a fresh managerial appointment but with a new man at the helm and a host of big name signings, QPR remain the worst-placed promoted side with Norwich and Swansea taking their first season’s back, more in their stride.
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If we look at some of the teams bigger names, it is clear to see that their experience hasn’t always been channelled in the correct direction. The recent signing of Djibril Cisse turned heads, but the Frenchman let the club down with his sending off against Wolves reacting badly to an ill-timed challenge. All R’s fans have been denied the chance to see a potentially potent strike partnership between the Frenchman and fellow new boy Zamora.
Furthermore, the impact of familiar names such as Joey Barton hasn’t been as big as expected based on the tribulations of his last campaign at Newcastle. Hardworking, dedicated and combative on Tyneside, the midfielder has provided eye-catching displays on a much rarer basis this term, and a few lapses in concentration and minor controversies have contributed to a 6/10 debut season. Perhaps if Barton put as much effort into his performances as he did his Twitter feed, the R’s might find a few more points in their Premier League tally.
The likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jay Bothroyd have failed to impress also with the former providing some magic only in glimpses this season. Compared to Norwich and Swansea, there seems to be an ethos of lower confidence in the ranks, and less of a unified team spirit despite more household personnel forming the ranks. Norwich and Swansea have tinkered much less with their playing squads and mass changes at Loftus Road mean the players require more time to get used to each other, and the manager. Over the second half of the campaign, the R’s have dropped to 16th and level with Wolves above the drop zone, failing a superior goal difference.
Mark Hughes has too brought the likes of Jamie Mackie and Akos Buzsaky back into the first eleven recently; two of the heads who gained promotion last season. This might represent the need to instil some familiarity amongst the ranks and fire the club to a more comfortable league position.
What remains is a tricky set of fixtures for the club, and they have yet to travel to Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and the Etihad on the final day of the season. Let alone home fixtures against Arsenal and Liverpool. With undoubted experience in the squad, the elder statesmen will have to use all their might to push QPR up the table and prevent a return to their former struggles in England’s second tier.
Can QPR beat the drop? Which players have disappointed you this term? Follow me @ http://twitter.com/Taylor_Will1989
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