| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:18 - Feb 4 with 1500 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 14:25 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
TBF to him though, Houston had excellent pedigre at Arsenal and had done well in extended caretaker spells. I was young, but I don't remember many saying it was a bad idea. Blackburn subsequently claimed in the AKUTRs interview that he'd wanted Curbishley, and had an agreement he would come, but they went Houston instead and then next time he refused because the money had gone.
Harford, likewise, was flying in the First Division at West Brom, they were fuming he left. |
Never knew that about Curbishley.
Bugger. |  |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:22 - Feb 4 with 1493 views | Northernr |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:18 - Feb 4 by BrianMcCarthy |
Never knew that about Curbishley.
Bugger. |
I have tried to get Chris Wright without success. Maybe I'll give Blackburn a go. |  | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:23 - Feb 4 with 1485 views | daveB |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:22 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
I have tried to get Chris Wright without success. Maybe I'll give Blackburn a go. |
Clive Berlin would be an interesting one as well |  | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:24 - Feb 4 with 1488 views | TheChef |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:22 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
I have tried to get Chris Wright without success. Maybe I'll give Blackburn a go. |
Danny Maddix would be good too - he covered that late 80s/early 90s golden era followed by the post 95/96 chaos. |  |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:27 - Feb 4 with 1486 views | Northernr |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:24 - Feb 4 by TheChef |
Danny Maddix would be good too - he covered that late 80s/early 90s golden era followed by the post 95/96 chaos. |
Yeh I'd love Danny Maddix, apparently he's a great fella. I shall try my best. Think it's Simon Barker next though we're struggling to match diaries. Same with David Bardsley. Tried for Richard Langley a few times but he's blue ticking me  | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:39 - Feb 4 with 1470 views | daveB |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:27 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
Yeh I'd love Danny Maddix, apparently he's a great fella. I shall try my best. Think it's Simon Barker next though we're struggling to match diaries. Same with David Bardsley. Tried for Richard Langley a few times but he's blue ticking me |
Simon Barker will be good, he was a really under rated player for us, he looked like going on to be a real star before the 1990 World Cup but got a bad injury and never really hit those heights again but was a very good player for us. Think he got the injury against Man City, Gary Megson did him from memory and Paul parker was sent off for chinning him
Sadly in his last year he had a ruck with some fans at Stoke and seemed to leave under a cloud which he didn't really deserve. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:42 - Feb 4 with 1469 views | TheChef |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:27 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
Yeh I'd love Danny Maddix, apparently he's a great fella. I shall try my best. Think it's Simon Barker next though we're struggling to match diaries. Same with David Bardsley. Tried for Richard Langley a few times but he's blue ticking me |
Yeah nice guy, got chatting to him at a Test match years ago, hopefully he'd be approachable/available. | |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:42 - Feb 4 with 1468 views | nadera78 |
Part of the problem with the Chris Wright era was that he and the people around him had no experience in running a club and listened to people with vested interests. We can see that with the continuation with Wilkins that summer, then the decision not to pay Charlton a fee for Curbishley, then Houston's transfer dealings, and of course Rioch throwing his weight around behind the scenes - the way he orchestrated McDonald's departure was outrageous.
Secondly the purchase of Wasps made everything worse because Wright then had 2 rudderless clubs losing money hand over fist. He really should have prioritised one (obviously QPR from our perspective) and learned the business inside out. |  | | |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 16:16 - Feb 4 with 1419 views | toboboly |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:27 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
Yeh I'd love Danny Maddix, apparently he's a great fella. I shall try my best. Think it's Simon Barker next though we're struggling to match diaries. Same with David Bardsley. Tried for Richard Langley a few times but he's blue ticking me |
Gary Borrowdale would be interesting... |  |
| Sexy Asian dwarves wanted. |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 16:39 - Feb 4 with 1407 views | sprocket |
Good listen. Thanks Clive.
Not great memories/recollections of him playing and that's probably due to his injury record.
He sounded much older than his age but same across as a pretty ordinary good bloke. Interesting how he judges players loyalties and pretty spot on I'd say.
I'd love if Clive could to get Gallen (all 3!)/Bards/Crouch/Peacock
no pressure... | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 18:04 - Feb 4 with 1346 views | paulparker |
The attitude of the players and general running of the club
Sinclair didn’t want to be there
Dichio was coming towards the end of his contract
Macca was being fobbed off about his contract same as Barker
Barnsley was injured
Gallen was injured
Murray didn’t want to play on the right
Quarsie had a major attitude problem and was a nightmare off the pitch
Slade the same and was a party boy off the pitch ( saw him in many clubs days before a game)
Ready was crap
Hatley was crap
Morrow was crap
Osbourne sold
Add in poor managers like Houston & Ricoh who thought they were better than us then you have a recipe for disaster
I would say that was the most poisonous group of players we have had even more so than the Hughes and redknapp reigns of terror |  |
| And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 18:05 - Feb 4 with 1346 views | gigiisourgod |
Think Gallen would have bagged 30+ that season comfortably without the injury. Such a sad and vivid memory from my childhood that injury at Portsmouth. Also what I never realised until I listened to his podcast the other day Danny Dichio was a boyhood Rangers fan, imagine 2 QPR lads scoring 45 goals between them, backed up by the rest of the team and then Spencer and Peacock later in that season. What could have bloody been. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 20:02 - Feb 4 with 1260 views | TacticalR |
At the beginning it didn't feel like Murray was a natural talker, but he was ok once he got going. He really experienced the ups and downs of football, and the whole range of leagues.
My memory of him is as a skillful player, but as he said about his leg break he went in for tackles he probably shouldn't have gone in for. |  |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 20:19 - Feb 4 with 1247 views | TacticalR |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 14:23 - Feb 4 by TheChef |
And yet according to Blackburn there was money to spend, but Houston procrastinated.
To bounce back would have made such a big difference to the club, we missed out hugely.
Wasn't Clive Berlin CEO at that point as well? I don't get the impression he did the best for the club in the circumstances, unfortunately. |
There quite a bit about Berlin in David Conn's article about QPR:
'The extravagant deals which Berlin then did, flush with the flotation money, look, in hindsight, endearingly homespun compared to the exotic talent on which other clubs were spending their own nouveaux riches. Two of the big signings, Gavin Peacock and John Spencer, were pushed out by the Euro-influx at Chelsea which began with Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli. Mike Sheron, a £2.5m signing from Stoke, was the other major signing of Wright's reign. According to Davies, the salary deals for players were, simply, too much, and for too long. Most players were on five-year deals. Fifteen youth team players were on full-time salaries, with several being paid £50,000-£60,000 a year and three or four on over £100,000 a year. "You cannot blame the then chief executive personally," he was at pains to stress. "The whole board sanctioned these deals and the club itself has to take responsibility.'
David Conn, QPR show how to lose £27m in four years
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/qpr-show-how-lose-a
(Note that the article is dated 2014 on the Independent site, but is actually from 2001) | |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 20:21 - Feb 4 with 1244 views | TacticalR |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 14:25 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
TBF to him though, Houston had excellent pedigre at Arsenal and had done well in extended caretaker spells. I was young, but I don't remember many saying it was a bad idea. Blackburn subsequently claimed in the AKUTRs interview that he'd wanted Curbishley, and had an agreement he would come, but they went Houston instead and then next time he refused because the money had gone.
Harford, likewise, was flying in the First Division at West Brom, they were fuming he left. |
I think Houston was a Fernandes-style mistake, hoping that a bit of big club glamour would rub off on QPR, rather than looking at his record. Houston was a seat-warmer while Arsenal waited for Wenger to arrive. | |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 07:45 - Feb 5 with 1078 views | distortR |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:39 - Feb 4 by daveB |
Simon Barker will be good, he was a really under rated player for us, he looked like going on to be a real star before the 1990 World Cup but got a bad injury and never really hit those heights again but was a very good player for us. Think he got the injury against Man City, Gary Megson did him from memory and Paul parker was sent off for chinning him
Sadly in his last year he had a ruck with some fans at Stoke and seemed to leave under a cloud which he didn't really deserve. |
I met Simon Barker a couple of times, seemed to be a genuinely nice bloke. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 08:17 - Feb 5 with 1069 views | mcqpr10 |
Great thread with some brilliant insights to the running of the club at the time.
There were always rumours that Murray and another player wouldn't speak to each other. Anyone know who the other player was? | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 09:11 - Feb 5 with 1038 views | PhilmyRs |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 14:25 - Feb 4 by Northernr |
TBF to him though, Houston had excellent pedigre at Arsenal and had done well in extended caretaker spells. I was young, but I don't remember many saying it was a bad idea. Blackburn subsequently claimed in the AKUTRs interview that he'd wanted Curbishley, and had an agreement he would come, but they went Houston instead and then next time he refused because the money had gone.
Harford, likewise, was flying in the First Division at West Brom, they were fuming he left. |
Not sure I fully agree with that. I was underwhelmed by Houston. Ok job as caretaker but no way in my mind was he above Curbishley in the pecking order. If I remember correctly, an interview with someone at the club at the time said the reason they went for Houston was the club had just been Floated and his appointment would have best impact on the share price. I think it was a poor move. I think the clubs that kept faith with the manager that took them down from the premier league with us did much better. I would have given Wilkins longer, we were a win away from top spot after losing to Bolton. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 12:14 - Feb 5 with 969 views | daveB |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 09:11 - Feb 5 by PhilmyRs |
Not sure I fully agree with that. I was underwhelmed by Houston. Ok job as caretaker but no way in my mind was he above Curbishley in the pecking order. If I remember correctly, an interview with someone at the club at the time said the reason they went for Houston was the club had just been Floated and his appointment would have best impact on the share price. I think it was a poor move. I think the clubs that kept faith with the manager that took them down from the premier league with us did much better. I would have given Wilkins longer, we were a win away from top spot after losing to Bolton. |
yeah I was gutted at the time when they sacked WIlkins, even then he was still one of our best players | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 12:59 - Feb 5 with 940 views | Northernr |
The longer this thread goes on, the more I think we need a Chris Wright/Nick Blackburn Patreon. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon (n/t) on 15:39 - Feb 5 with 864 views | nadera78 |
[Post edited 5 Feb 2021 15:40]
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:40 - Feb 5 with 861 views | nadera78 |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 12:14 - Feb 5 by daveB |
yeah I was gutted at the time when they sacked WIlkins, even then he was still one of our best players |
1) Wilkins walked out, he wasn't sacked
2) He really wasn't one of our best players at that point. He was clearly finished, and one of the big issues was his reaction to the coaching staff subbing him off away at Wolves - he insisted he was the best player on the pitch and they had to tell him the game was passing him by. | | | |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:43 - Feb 5 with 859 views | Antti_Heinola |
My memory is that we wanted George Graham and that he said no but told us to get Houston. Curbs in his book I think says QPR offered him the job, and he thought about it, but decided not to take it. Don't think it's right we turned down Curbs for Houston. |  |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 16:11 - Feb 5 with 847 views | CamberleyR |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 15:40 - Feb 5 by nadera78 |
1) Wilkins walked out, he wasn't sacked
2) He really wasn't one of our best players at that point. He was clearly finished, and one of the big issues was his reaction to the coaching staff subbing him off away at Wolves - he insisted he was the best player on the pitch and they had to tell him the game was passing him by. |
Exactly my recollection, he was finished but couldn't or didn't want to see it. The game WAS passing him by at that stage and after leaving us his slightly desperate hawking himself around to any club that would give him a game was a bit sad to see.
Ironically it was Paul Murray who replaced him that night at Molineux. |  |
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| Paul Murray - Patreon on 16:51 - Feb 5 with 811 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Paul Murray - Patreon on 19:41 - Feb 3 by MedwayR |
We were well set in the mid-90's but still found a way to f**k it up. Around that time we had the likes of Gallen, Dichio, Quashie coming through, quality players like Impey, Sinclair, Bardsley, Maddix and Macca as well as the experience they brought, plus the likes of Brevett & Barker. All we had to do was forward plan a little and get a suitable replacement for Sir Les and we'd have been fine. Even when we went down we should've smashed that division with the team and players we had. Such a shame. |
We couldn't have been relegated at a worse time could we? Financially, 1997 was when the gap between the Premiership establishment and everyone else started to widen.
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