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Reply | Poku
at 13:32 24 Dec 2025
Orient offered him more money than we offered and he chose us because he really wanted to return here and show he was good enough. |
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Reply | Poku
at 13:31 24 Dec 2025
I like the Player Trading strategy. Agree that it is the only way we become more and more competitive.
But:
a) not every player needs to be signed/renewed with a view to being sold for money. That is myopic. Many do, especially the ones we pay transfer fees for, but not everyone. Performance on the pitch, the balance of the squad, the skills they bring (in Smyth’s case pace and workrate), the role they play within the dressing room culture…all these and more factor into decision making. You can renew or sign players accepting you won’t sell for a profit. That is okay. It can’t everyone but it can be some.
b) not everyone in a squad can be a starter. You need squad players who are happy to get decent game time whilst not starting every week. Smyth fulfils that role.
c) I personally think he is excellent within the dressing room in terms of how he gets on with others (see Saito)
To be clear, I wouldn’t offer Smyth a top salary because, whilst I think he deserves to start currently (Dembele has done it once all season, and Poku is feeling his way back in), he is likely to be a very good back up on the right (yes, I know he used to play inverted on the left at Orient, but at this level he is more effective on his true side).
But I think he deserves an extension, is an important member of the squad. If he chooses not to take it, that’s his choice. If he turns it down because it’s a derisory offer and signs for the likes of Millwall or Charlton, I’d hope Q block aren’t so naive as to sing he’s a c*** when he returns.
And I think some fans are too quick to dismiss him just because some shiny new players are here. Don’t underestimate, pace, availability, and work rate in this league. |
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Reply | Poku
at 13:13 24 Dec 2025
It’s wishful thinking, sure, but it’s this type of behaviour that builds culture or harms it.
I think we’d miss Smyth more than many think. |
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Reply | Poku
at 09:10 24 Dec 2025
I’m not trying to do anything.
I’ll spell it out to you, in this thread Beckenhamhoop was suggesting we bin off Smyth. Baz spoke about loyalty and I suggested that it seems this isn’t a situation where the player is being disloyal to the club but some fans being disloyal to the player. Nuanced point I thought worth making.
I’m not “trying to create divisions again”. It’s a thread with different opinions. I’m defending, and by definition backing, one of our players. Is that wrong? Give it a break. |
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Reply | Poku
at 08:16 24 Dec 2025
I wasn’t saying any of that, anywhere in my post. Bizarre post, James.
The disloyalty I was hinting at was the fans, some on this thread, who now we have new shiny toys, like Poku, think we should not offer Smyth a contract. That is the inverse of a player being supported by a club running his contract down and walking away. It happens all the time in football (both situations) but it is disloyal. Some of our fans want to move on from him, which isn’t showing much loyalty to a decent servant.
The other hint/possibility of disloyalty is that the club could offer him a nonsense contract that forces him to reject it and walk away. They could then paint Smyth as disloyal when in actual fact, it might be the reverse. No one knows on that front, hence why it is only a possibility of reverse disloyalty, and why is posed a question rather than said anything as fact. |
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Reply | Poku
at 11:19 23 Dec 2025
Yes, it doesn’t feel like Smyth is being disloyal here; perhaps the other way around…?
On the basis of his performances this season, I don’t understand why we wouldn’t want to sign him. Prior to Leicester, he was ahead of Dembele and Poku in Stephan’s pecking order. He’s far better than Vale at right wing. He played very well against Birmingham. He’s also one of the only genuine (not inverted) wingers we have, and with pace. Good squad player. |
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Reply | Rest of the Championship thread 25/26
at 11:13 23 Dec 2025
My take too.
I think the relegation battle this year might not be that exciting. You can see Norwich escaping with their resources, and easily see Oxford and Pompey joining Wednesday, all being relegated well before the end of the season. There is already a bit of a gap and everyone above pulls out results now and again.
It’s why I want us to go to Portsmouth and win, comfortably. We are still only winning when we have less possession that the opposition, and our result versus the current bottom 3 are DLD. Let’s get a win on Boxing Day. |
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Reply | Full backs and Wingers
at 12:13 21 Dec 2025
I agree.
Forget resale value, just have him lock down the left back position for 4 years. He has been exceptional for us. Was up against Fatawu and gave him nothing all game. Seriously well rounded full back. |
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Reply | Ashes thread
at 14:47 19 Dec 2025
Point of order: Bashir’s stats are not “quite good.”
Tests: 68 wickets at an average of 39, with an economy of 3.8.
FC record: 87 wickets at an average of 50, with an economy of 3.7.
That isn’t quite good.
Jack Leach (for context)
Tests: 142 wickets at 34, and an economy of 3.08
FC: 547 wickets at 27, and an economy of 2.75.
I don’t think Leach is some wonder spinner. He is not. He’s a competent finger spinner though. Bashir is not that (yet). He should be learning his trade in county cricket currently. Taking Bashir without a back up spinner was foolish. It was obvious when the squad was announced and it has been proven to be foolish. |
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Reply | Ashes thread
at 14:33 19 Dec 2025
I never said if we picked these players we would have won in Aus. Straw man alert.
The point I was making, in response to question posed earlier, is that there is a lot of talent in county cricket to select as alternatives to the current side. There is the talent to create a competitive, accountability culture within the England team. It is simply not the case that they have to select the squad they have and keep picking the same players because there is no one else.
Crawley, Pope, Bashir, Bethell, Smith…there are very valid alternatives to all of them. Does that mean we would have won, no? But if this side had a culture with more personal accountability in it, then, yes, we might have competed better.
They are going to lose the Ashes in the fewest number of days of cricket since 1921. As Ashes tours go, it has been an unmitigated disaster. They’ve ignored conventional wisdom on so many fronts, basically saying “we know better” and then they’ve gone and performed abysmally. Criticism is entirely warranted.
Also, McCullum sending out Tresco after Day 1 and Day 2 and Jeetan Patel after Day 3 is cowardly. |
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Reply | Ashes thread
at 12:34 18 Dec 2025
Sorry, I actually meant to say Essex! Saw him play last season for them. Had Kent on the brain with some of the others. |
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Reply | Ashes thread
at 10:08 18 Dec 2025
The thing is, there are lots of very good county players waiting in the wings. Loads of them.
But this set up doesn’t value county cricket so the casual England fan will not have heard or seen many of them.
Hameed is a completely different player to the one that last played for England. He averaged in the 66 as Notts’ opener as they won the CC this year, facing Div 1 attacks all season. He should play.
You could make a similar case for Dom Sibley, who, whilst not different, continues to score prolifically. Averaged 61 last season.
James Rew at Somerset is the best young batsmen I have seen play county cricket since Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow emerged at the same time at Yorkshire. Superb talent. He keeps for Somerset too, although I don’t actually rate his keeping much. He should be in the England side. Could be a great.
Jordan Cox at Kent is a better keeper and batsman than Jamie Smith. He should have that role.
Tom Haines and Emilio Gay are decent openers. The former has been doing it for years, is a leader, and is responsible. The latter is attacking with a high ceiling.
Ben Compton out scores Crawley in like for like matches every season at Kent.
Rehan Ahmed a young leggie who batted 3 for Leics as they steamrollered Div 2, averaging very well.
Tom Abell averaged over 50 this year, is a leader having captained Somerset for years from when he was 21. Knuckles down and delivered regularly.
Coles looks an extremely progressive cricketer.
Ed Barnard is an excellent, professional all rounder, even if his bowling is a little pedestrian for International cricket. Would say he is better than Beau Webster, Aus’ back up all rounder.
Lewis Gregory a similar sort of player, and a leader, who delivers in clutch moments.
Leach took 50 wickets in Div 1 at 23 this year. Took 40 off last year at 23. Basically since England dropped him, he has been by far the best spinner in county cricket, English or overseas. He’s out bowled Harmer who is SA’s first choice spinner now and who bowled them to victory in India.
The seam bowling stocks probably aren’t as deep as we’d like. England probably have the right crew involved. But that is a blip, I feel. England’s under 19s have been blessed with a very deep crop of seamers this year and last. There are very high hopes for Sharma at Middx becoming an England seamer.
The point is, there is huge depth. The problem is the set up has dismissed county cricket. The arrogance of Key, McCullum, and Stokes is beyond belief.
I actually want Stokes to stay as captain. But Key and McCullum have to go. Immediately. [Post edited 18 Dec 11:07]
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Reply | So Cifuentes ?
at 20:33 16 Dec 2025
Dowie had a decent record in the short time he was in charge before Briatore binned him.
Magilton wasn’t in that list becuase, from memory, the football was decent under him.
Haven’t included De Sousa or Gigi Di Canio either, as don’t remember them having particularly dreadful football. But dull at times but not awful.
That list was meant to be managers who I remembered some awful football and performances under to counter the comment I was replying to.
Gerry was great first time around, but that second spell had some shocking performances in it and the football was very poor.
Holloway in that first spell had mainly great times and lots of wins, but early on there were still some awful performances and dreadful football (Vauxhall Motors…).
This is kind of my point, under Cifuentes I don’t think the team and performances ever really plumped such depths. Maybe 2-0 away loss to Millwall. The losses, especially at the start of the 2nd season weren’t so much awful football as simply being way too open. Hull and Boro at home spring to mind.
That list I gave provided us, at times, with worse football than anything Cifuentes did.
But, to be clear, I hope Stephan proves to be even better. It’s looking positive. More to work with, but I like him. And I hope we stuff Leicester!
It’s not a Cifuentes or Stephan debate.
I just don’t see how any sane QPR fan, who has been around for a while, can think Cifuentes, at the very least, was anything worse than decent for us. Personally, I’m grateful he kept us in this league over two seasons with a set of strikers of Dykes and Armstrong in one season, and Frey and Celar in another… |
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Reply | So Cifuentes ?
at 15:27 16 Dec 2025
No. I don’t. That’s a pretty dumb straw man you’ve created there.
I simply think that the statement that “some of the worst football” you have ever seen was played under him is ludicrous. When positing why you might say such a thing, the obvious answer is you’re too young to have seen much other football, or you’ve only been around watching Rangers for a few years, or you (not me or anyone else) has a personal thing against Cifuentes.
I didn’t say anything about pro/anti Cifuentes being split along generational divides. |
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Reply | So Cifuentes ?
at 15:11 16 Dec 2025
So what is your point?
I wouldn’t put any of the football under Cifuentes in the category of “some of the worst football I’ve ever seen”. Saw worse under each of those managers. Bad, occasionally, yes, but nothing like “some of the worst”. Like I said, perhaps you didn’t see the football under the others because you were too young/not born/not around then, or perhaps it’s personal with Cifuentes for some reason.
It’s such an utterly ridiculous comment, you have to expect challenge on it. |
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Reply | So Cifuentes ?
at 11:24 16 Dec 2025
Are you 12? Or is it personal with Cifuentes? Worse than some of the football under?
Ainsworth?
Critchley?
McLaren?
JFH?
Hughes?
Redknapp?
Hart?
Harford?
Houston?
Francis (2nd time)
Even spells under Holloway in league One had some dreadful football, even if it was a great time.
“Some of the worse football I’ve seen at LR”…only if you’ve only been watching football at LR since early 2024. |
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Reply | Fearsomely in-form Boro too hot for QPR to handle – Report
at 16:17 15 Dec 2025
Which is pretty inexcusable, isn’t it? Christmas Day and the Christmas period exists for every club and fanbase in the country. Is anyone in the club aware of the stat? Is anyone saying “not on my watch this year”?
Would love to see us go to Fratton Park and absolutely roast them. Show we’re a different beast. Same goes for the next 3rd game of a 3 game “week”. Until we start demonstrating that cultural shift through actions, not words, it’s not real. |
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Reply | Fearsomely in-form Boro too hot for QPR to handle – Report
at 15:58 15 Dec 2025
The mentality *should* be that we are relishing another game after 2 wins in a few days. We should want 3 game “weeks”, want to play as much as we can when we’re in form. We should be going to Boro thinking “they’ll be worried about playing us after we’ve won 2 of the bounce and 4 of our last 5.” If we were welcoming a side in that form we’d be thinking that, even if we were 2nd.
For all the good things Stephan has done, and for all the chat about a project, we still, fundamentally haven’t changed the culture that we’re the underdog, 16th is good enough, 3 game weeks are hard, we don’t have the budget to compete under FFP, etc. We got close under Warburton - he called out the attitude problem. Critchley also referenced how everyone in the league saw us as a soft touch. We still look for reasons we can’t or shouldn’t compete as opposed to reasons we can. We excuse ourselves.
It’s a different squad, different head coach, different DOF, different back room staff, but we don’t seem to have solved or changed it.
I think a big part of it is us, the fans. We should demand more. We should settle for less. We are all guilty of it, especially the logical ones of us looking at playing budgets, talking about gradual success. But we need to raise standards through raising expectations.
I posted a bit about this on the expectations thread a while back.
What is the target this season? The club’s leadership don’t tell us what “good” looks like. An important red flag in itself to me, because without a target where is the accountability? But what does it look like to us as fans too?
Personally, I think this squad is a top half squad because we finally have two serious centre forwards, depth out wide, and good centre halves, plus Madsen has had some sort of epiphany. I think our target should be top half. This league is not strong. Look at Preston and Millwall with similar budgets. Our expectation should be top half. Top half sides should expect to go to any team in the league and compete.
We probably still lose to Boro. That’s fine. We can all accept losses. Christ, as QPR fans we can accept them better than most. But we shouldn’t still be phoning in performances. We should have the expectation we can always compete.
Boxing Day is another weird QPR “phone it in” thing. We have the worst Boxing Day record in the football league, I believe. Maybe it is “away” record. Either way. We’re away this Boxing Day at a poor Pompey side. We should be expecting to go there and win comfortably. We may not. But we shouldn’t be talking about it inside the club or as fans as a “hard” fixture, even if they make some noise. You don’t want complacency. But you need the players to believe they should be competing and beating sides. [Post edited 15 Dec 16:13]
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Reply | What are people’s thoughts on the Club pulling out all the stops in January ?
at 19:46 12 Dec 2025
Exactly. You can’t say you have a Player Trading model, and everyone agree that’s the only way we can compete better every year under P&S, and then, when we get a sniff of the play offs, start hoarding players and turning down good offers.
The second part of a player trading model was always going to be the hard to swallow bit (selling). We as a fanbase have to back the club on that and not coat them off if/when it happens. Obviously I think this is more likely if the club were transparent on the sales and brought the fans inside the tent, but that is secondary.
If we receive a decent offer for anyone, we accept it. |
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Reply | Just back
at 13:43 10 Dec 2025
Nah, you can’t really blame RND for that . He was goalside, and square with his back 4 colleagues, where he was meant to be. The ball was pulled back across the middle of the box. If he was touch tight, a cross to the back stick would have been undefendable for him as Roberts would have had the run on him. This is why getting near to the byline and squaring it/pulling it back is so hard to defend. The issue was letting Gray have the ball where he did unmarked… |
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