| Traore 13:49 - Jan 21 with 5198 views | Petros |
Er, does he always play like that? Why isn't he in the Premier league? |  | | |  |
| Traore on 21:59 - Jan 23 with 979 views | Northolt_Rs |
| Traore on 17:00 - Jan 23 by PinnerPaul |
I was there and although we weren't great to say he only played well because we were so bad is a nonsense - clearly a very decent player. |
Yep and that was his FIRST goal for Boro.... I was there too and it was boys against men all over the pitch. [Post edited 23 Jan 2018 22:00]
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| Scooters, Tunes, Trainers and QPR. |
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| Traore on 12:33 - Jan 24 with 912 views | isawqpratwcity |
| Traore on 23:04 - Jan 22 by CiderwithRsie |
But who says that Holloway * is * that good? There isn't a band of Holloway fanatics on here (and have a look at Clive's piece when he was first appointed, if you can find it, btw; balanced as usual.)
It's just that a lot of us
(a) recognise that our options are limited - the question is not "is Holloway any good?" or even "who's better?" it is "who else can we get who is better? And is it worth the disruption?"
(b) are fed up with knee jerk negativity after a defeat and deafening silence after a win
(c) ditto for demands to throw money about when that is what got us here
(d) ditto about being called "happy clappers"
Not attacking you because I don't recall you doing any of that, and I don't think you're wrong, but I don't think it gets us much further. Holloway is very limited but his heart is in the right place and we could do worse. I think most if us agree on that, it is just what we do about it that's hard - but really, there isn't an easy solution either way.
We're lying in the bed that was made over the last 10 years. |
Thanks for that.
I must state that I am quite at ease with Holloway remaining in position for the rest of the season. While we are rebuilding, there is only one absolutely necessary task for the manager: don't get us relegated. At the moment Holloway is returning 1.18 points per game, which projects to 54 points for the season. Only one team has been relegated with that many points in the Championship's 14 seasons, so, while it would usually be a very slight possibility, this season there are eight teams below us, and six of them are averaging less than a point a game. There would have to be a lot of teams making serious improvements in form for us to be at risk.
But I stand by my opinion that Holloway is not very good. Last season he averaged only 1.10 points per game; three teams in 14 seasons have gone down with that statistic. I wanted him replaced last summer. A large part of my confidence comes from the log-jam around the relegation spots, and I certainly don't trust Holloway to maintain the recent improved form. I may still be repeating that call for his dismissal in May.
It's nothing to do with the man: I don't care what he did elsewhere or even last time he was here. I don't care what he says on social media or if his 'heart is in the right place'. I don't care if he has improved team spirit or if he plays more attractive football than Hasselbaink (decide for yourselves if those two are always true, as a lot seem to think). Nothing matters except the results. Don't. Get. Relegated.
I don't think it matters if we are reaping the rewards of years of incontinent spending. Nor if it looks like we are perpetuating the management merry-go-round. He is either good enough for the job or he isn't. Just for now, he is. But that will have to be reviewed at the end of this season, and again, if necessary, coming up to next January.
Without pre-judging the rest of Holloway's season, come May we will be a club working within FFP, making responsible financial decisions and certainly not making knee-jerk management choices. It isn't impossible that we could attract a quality candidate under those circumstances.
Let's see how he goes. |  |
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| Traore on 13:02 - Jan 24 with 899 views | whittocksRs |
Here's my two bob, for whatever it's worth.
Seems like every thread inevitably ends with a discussion about Holloway at the moment, so I'll start there.
Rangers are struggling because of years of mismanagement by a series of owners and managers. We all know this. What the Briatore/Fernandes era has made some feel, however, is that somehow we're entitled to better.
We were dead lucky in the mid-80s (before my time) through to the mid-90s when we were a force in the First Division/Premier League.
When that ended, nobody really felt we had a God-given right to be in the top division, it was only that we should expect a team of talented footballers giving it their all. You can argue that the only two managers since Gerry Francis left for the first time who have provided us with that are, in fact, Neil Warnock and (whisper it) Ian Holloway.
The team Holloway built in the early 2000s is still one of the best recent teams we've had. He went on to be a good manager elsewhere before it all went a bit weird for him at Leicester, Palace (at the end) and Millwall. He came back to us a little bit of spent force.
Since he's come back in, loads of fans are rightly concerned by his team selection, tinkering, subs and all-found in-game management. Hs interviews have often not helped. He's dug out fans and made some mad statements.
However, those demanding immediate change are those who have come to expect, for some unknown reason, that we should be in the Premier League challenging for the top ten (even though we haven't done that for 20 years or more). Those fans are the same fans that still don't really blame Redknapp for those contracts, want Tony F*cking Pulis to come in and literally bore us into the Premier League, and for Les Ferdinand to basically kill himself.
What Holloway is, and what I wish those people would see, is a bloke who understands the motivation of most our fans. He knows Bircham isn't the best number two, but he knows Bircham is QPR through and through. That means something.
Holloway knows we're in disastrous financial straits. He, Ferdinand and Lee Hoos have actually done remarkably well in the toughest transfer market there's ever been. They've made some weird moves — Lua Lua, I'm looking at you — but most of those brought in have done as well as those arsehats that got us relegated on £80,000 a week contracts.
Holloway also knows we're probably not anywhere near being ready for a play-off run, but he is trying to get us to rediscover our old identity, and if he does the club will be all the better for it. When that happens, providing we make smart choices at the top of the club, it doesn't matter if it's Holloway or someone else in charge, we will have a club identity and that is the key to the future. You win or die with the club, and loads of people have forgotten that.
He has also had to operate under Tony Fernandes, who still manages to cause absolute bloody mayhem every time he picks up his phone and tweets.
Holloway's not the best manager we could have right now, but he is the only realistic choice. Give him a break. | | | |
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