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Reply | the (not so) bons mots of Julien Stephan
at 22:25 29 Nov 2025
If you're 3-1 up at half time and haven't won for 14 games then you're going to settle for 3-1. Any team in that position would be delighted with a 0-0 second half. |
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Reply | the (not so) bons mots of Julien Stephan
at 22:05 29 Nov 2025
Yes, he should have made changes, but it's easier to draw a second half 0-0 when your opponents are already two goals up and desperate for a win. [Post edited 29 Nov 22:09]
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Thread | Ilias Chair
at 10:28 26 Nov 2025
An interview in The Athletic today where he talks about the court case. Some new details in there.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6337353/2025/11/26/ilias-chair-qpr-assault-inte
Ilias Chair had just finished a training session with Queens Park Rangers in January 2024 when he pulled his phone out from his locker and saw the message from his mum. It was a screenshot from the website of one of Belgium’s biggest newspapers.
Beneath a picture of the Morocco international midfielder was a short news story explaining he was being prosecuted in a criminal case, accused of breaking a man’s skull by hitting him over the head with a stone four years previously. Chair’s stomach lurched.
As he stared at the words on the screen, his phone rang. It was his mum. She could barely speak amid sobs.
“Oh my God, son. What is this?”
Chair went into a state of shock. Five minutes later, he was called into a team meeting at QPR, and sat in silence as then-head coach Marti Cifuentes addressed his players.
“That meeting is a blank,” Chair recalls to The Athletic. “I have no idea what it was about. My head was somewhere else.”
Ilias Chair at his personal manager’s officeSarah Shephard/The Athletic
This is the first time Chair has spoken publicly about what happened in 2020. Partly, he explains, because the legal process had to be completed, and also because he wanted to “find the right time for it”. The Athletic first interviewed him at his personal manager’s office in April, a few days before the end of QPR’s season, and spoke to him again by telephone earlier this month.
Chair is not seeking sympathy: he does not hide from the fact that what he did was wrong and has expressed his deep regret to the victim’s family, including writing him a letter to apologise. But he also wants to explain, from his perspective, how a seemingly innocuous situation spiralled out of control so disastrously and caused such hurt to so many people.
Chair describes himself as being “a bit obsessed” with football. Beyond the time the 27-year-old spends with his wife and two-year-old son, everything he does is centred on the game he first started playing on a concrete five-a-side pitch 100 yards from his childhood home in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
It is one of the reasons this season has been such a frustration: his progress has been stymied by an injury he sustained just two games in, although he did score his first goal since February on Saturday. Yet that pales in comparison to events off the field in the last three years, when even football could not save him from the dark thoughts that swirled in his mind.
The charges he faced stemmed from an incident in the summer of 2020 when Chair was 22 and on holiday during the off-season. He was part of a small group of family and friends that took part in a kayaking trip in southern Belgium’s Ardennes Forest. When the excursion finished, participants waited for a bus back to their base. Alongside Chair’s group was a man identified in the case only as Niels T, with his sister and a friend.
When the bus pulled up, an argument started between the two groups about who should have boarding priority. It escalated rapidly, with Chair’s mother being hurt in the melee, although it is unclear how or by whom.
According to Belgium’s public prosecutor, there was “hitting, scratching, and biting”. At the end of it, Niels T lay on the ground with a skull fracture that measured 2cm.
Niels T was taken to a hospital in the French city of Reims in critical condition before being moved to one in Belgium, where, according to the prosecutor, he spent “a long time” recuperating. In February 2024, the court was also told that Niels T had been unable to work as a truck driver for a considerable period and was “still suffering the consequences of the blow”.
The prosecution named Chair as the individual who struck Niels T over the head with a stone.
It was a year later that the player says he received a letter informing him there was a legal case being made against him, as well as some family members. He immediately employed a new legal team and says he gave them whatever documents and information they needed.
Then came that message from his mother in January 2024, confirming that the case had developed from a civil into a criminal one and he was being accused of failing to appear for a court hearing when he hadn’t appreciated his presence was required. He subsequently discovered he had been found guilty in that hearing in his absence.
Chair says he was oblivious as to how the seriousness of his case had escalated, having left it in the hands of his legal team. “I wrongly, maybe naively, left it for them to manage,” he says. “That’s on me. I’m a grown man and should have taken control of the situation earlier. It should never have escalated to where it did.”
When The Athletic approached Chair’s former legal team, it said it was unable to comment on specific cases for reasons of confidentiality but that it always acts in accordance with a client’s instructions.
On February 23, 2024, Chair attended court with a new lawyer and requested a fresh hearing to allow him to put his side of the story across. “Although I was aware that at sentencing, my time to speak had passed, I was there to show up with my new legal team for the first time, to show that I have respect for the legal system in Belgium and that I never meant to disrespect it.”
The request was denied and Chair was given a sentence of two years in prison, half of it suspended. He was also to pay the victim €15,000 (£12,800; $16,400) in compensation. Chair’s cousin, Jaber, was sentenced to six months in prison for his part in the brawl.
“That was probably the darkest day of my life,” says Chair. “You automatically go into the worst-case scenario — everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve done for myself, for my family, could be gone. It still makes me emotional thinking about it now.”
Growing up, emotions were a closely guarded secret in the Chair household. His Polish mother and Moroccan father were aged 18 and 23 when they had him — their first child — and he spent much of his time with his grandparents while his parents did whatever they could to build a life for their young family. They went on to have five more children, all boys, though one tragically passed away when Chair was just six.
“I still have some memories of playing with him,” says Chair of his brother. “And having a son myself now, I can imagine for my parents it must have been really hard. That emptiness, that void, will never be filled.”
Chair’s father was tough on his firstborn. Smaller than most of his peers but a naturally skilled footballer, his dad was determined to harden him up: aged 12, he was sent to live in a football academy in Belgium. His progress was rapid, encompassing Belgian second division side Lierse, QPR in 2017 and senior international caps with Morocco, but Chair never once heard the words, ‘Well done,’ from his father.
“All my life, the only person that I wanted to impress was my dad, because he was very hard with me. I struggled with it in the beginning but, later on, I came to appreciate it and think, ‘I want to prove to you that I am a good player’.”
Chair plays in the World Cup third-place play-off in 2022Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
The moment finally came in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where, after spending all of Morocco’s incredible run to the semi-finals on the bench, Chair finally made his tournament debut in the third-place play-off game against Croatia. Morocco were beaten 2-1 but when Chair saw his parents after the game, he finally heard the words he had waited a lifetime to hear: “Son, I’m proud of you.”
“That was probably one of the best moments of my life,” he says. “Forget about playing in the World Cup, it was more about the appreciation and the acknowledgement that my dad gave me. That is really the reason I do it. I have no choice not to.”
After receiving his sentence from the Belgian court in February 2024, Chair returned to England, where he was named in QPR’s squad to face fellow relegation strugglers Rotherham United a day later.
This was possible because, in Belgian law, if an appeal is made straight after the initial sentence, the alleged perpetrator is free to continue their lives until the legal process is complete in the majority of cases. Chair played a key role in that game, helping QPR secure a 2-1 victory that took them out of the relegation zone for the first time in almost six months.
Ilias Chair suffered from various injuries last seasonStu Forster/Getty Images
Chair remains unsure how he was able to perform on the pitch with the threat of jail hanging over him. “Obviously, these things are difficult to handle, but maybe it’s down to the upbringing my dad gave me. Although it was probably the lowest point in my life, he protected me for these kinds of situations.
“The mentality that I had was: you’re a man, take responsibility for whatever happened that day and get on with it. Your family needs you. There’s still a boss who expects you to perform on a Saturday and team-mates depending on you.”
Two months later, QPR secured their safety in the Championship by beating Leeds United 4-0 in their penultimate game of the season, with Chair scoring the opening goal. The assumption is that football was an escape for Chair during that period, but he says that was not the case.
“There’s a lot of stuff that has gone on in my life, and once I’m on the pitch, I tend to forget about it,” he says. “But that was the one thing that stuck with me this whole time. A lot of people told me, ‘Maybe go and see a psychologist’, but I’ve had sports psychologists and for me, it’s not really that effective. It’s more effective when I speak about it with my family. It was something that I needed to fight, really — my own demons.”
Chair was back in court in July 2024 for his appeal. He admitted to the judge that he was the person who had lashed out at Niels T. “I simply saw my mother on the floor in a vulnerable and scary position and I reacted,” he explains. “It all happened so fast in response to what was happening. Despite this, it never should have happened.
“I wrote a letter to him and his family to say how sorry I am and apologise from the bottom of my heart. I said I wish them nothing but the best in life.”
Chair left the court with a reduced sentence amounting to 150 hours of community service and a fine of €1,600 (£1,400; $1,900) after his criminal conviction was changed to a misdemeanour.
“I spoke to the judge and I think the judge appreciated the human side of the whole case. Because at the end of the day, as a young man, being there with your family, seeing your mum on the floor, bruised up… it’s not an excuse to do what I did, but at the same time, it was such a natural and human reaction that I had to that circumstance.
“I said it through the whole process and I said it to the judge that day: I’m really sorry for what happened to that person. I just wish I could take it back. My sincere apologies to that whole family.”
Now, more than a year on, he says it has changed him. “I learned from the whole situation,” he says. “As a father, as a role model, as everything I have to be for my son. It was time for me to make sure that from that day onward, these things would not be associated with me anymore.
“We are humans, we make mistakes. My mistakes are out there in public, which is not an issue because as footballers we have the fruits of being in the public eye and playing football, which a lot of people in this world want to do, but at the same time, some negatives come with it. You have to deal with them.
“It has changed me for good in terms of taking more responsibility.”
Chair started last season full of relief and gratitude that he is still able to do what he loves. But the 2024-25 campaign still brought challenges, with injuries limiting his appearances and QPR struggling for consistency.
On the day we met in April, Cifuentes — with whom Chair said he had “connected deeply, not only in terms of football but in life” — was being linked with a move away. The head coach duly joined Leicester City in July.
This season, Chair has made only eight appearances under new manager Julien Stephan, thanks to what he calls a “freak injury” suffered in training just two games in. He returned to full training in October and was back in the squad for QPR’s 1-0 win away at Swansea later that month. On Saturday, he scored QPR’s first goal in a 3-2 win over Hull City.
The aim now, he says, is to “get back on track and make sure I can help the team”, having been told by Stephan that he should take up a leadership role within the squad. QPR are 15th, well clear of relegation danger but with ambitions to achieve much more.
Chair has only featured sporadically this season due to fitness issuesJasper Wax/Getty Images
Chair is a perennial subject of transfer speculation, but his attachment to QPR — who supported him throughout his case — is clear. In January, he signed a new long-term contract that would see him reach a decade as a QPR player if fulfilled, and he still dreams of reaching the “promised land we call the Premier League”.
It is tempting to wonder where Chair’s career may have gone had he made a different decision on that fateful summer day in 2020, but the man himself is philosophical.
“I’m just grateful that I can still go out there, enjoy myself and play football,” he insists. “I don’t really see it as a job. I’m playing the game that I love and I’m very appreciative of that.”
[Post edited 26 Nov 10:46]
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Reply | Furs leaving
at 20:49 25 Nov 2025
Well, unless WLS are telling us something that is untrue, what's a fact is that someone who has a long association with the club, someone who most fans hold in high regard, has been moved on by the club. The club don't seem to think that this is even worthy of a mention. The CEO, who is presumably responsible for all of this, should be embarrassed. |
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Reply | Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 20:04 24 Nov 2025
I'm not disputing the impact on the supporters at all Drum. If it were down to me I'd cut the number of teams in the Championship to 20. Fewer games, particularly in midweek, would hopefully improve the quality and reduce the frequency of the issues that you're referring to.
It's the constant complaining about these three week games, as Brian mentioned earlier in the thread, that I'm referring to. Everyone has them. It looks like an excuse culture to me, but others seem to see it differently and that's fair enough. |
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Reply | Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 18:50 24 Nov 2025
Yep, and there will that and a whole host of others factors affecting fixtures. And as you've said Derby and Bristol City are in the same boat as us. |
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Reply | Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 18:16 24 Nov 2025
Our home fixtures will also be dependent on those of the clubs local to us. The police won't allow too many teams in our area to play at home at the same time. It's presumably quite different for Watford and Leicester. |
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Reply | Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 16:33 24 Nov 2025
It's impossible for every team in the division to play alternate home and away games whether a computer does it or not.
Us and Portsmouth were both at home on Saturday. How would we ever play each other if our fixtures had to alternate every week? |
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Reply | Wednesday away, Saturday away
at 13:07 24 Nov 2025
And then there are seven teams who play away on Saturday 6th December and then again on Tuesday 9th December while we have two home games.
Ultimately everyone plays each other twice. This fixation with playing three games in a week seems to me to almost setting up an excuse culture at the club. Apparently, the manager was even partly appointed based on his ability to manage three game weeks.
We're in the same boat as the other 23 teams in the division. If you only win one in three home games over a three year period then the problem seems evident. We don't have a problem with winning games in three game weeks, we have a problem in winning games full stop. |
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Reply | Ashes thread
at 09:55 22 Nov 2025
It looks as if the "has beens" who were concerned at England's lack of preparation for the series may have had a point. |
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Reply | QPR - State of Play
at 15:56 18 Nov 2025
You should probably share your analysis with the authors if Soccernomics and also with Deloitte. They've all shown that there is a high correlation between wages and league position.
Maybe there's something missing in their analysis that you could share with them. |
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Reply | Queens Park Razors hopefully taking the edge off. Sheff Utd vs QPR match thread
at 21:47 8 Nov 2025
Not intended as a criticism of you, Ted, but if after 11 years in this division, the Eze money now largely spent, and a not in considerable amount gone on transfers over the last 18 months, if after all of that we're happy with a 0-0 draw at a team who have lost all but one of their home games this season, having also failed to win at Sheffield Wednesday and at home to Oxford, then I'd take that as a pretty sad indication of the level of ambition at the club these days.
And that's not a criticism of you at all, the manager, and I guess many at the club, seem happy with it too. |
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Reply | Frey
at 22:06 27 Sep 2025
Agreed. Bizarrely he played most of the second half in midfield and had Smyth playing as a loan striker for the last part of it. It all seemed a bit a strange when the game was there for the taking. |
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Reply | Celar
at 09:53 6 Sep 2025
Is that Nourry on commentary? |
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Reply | In Advanced Talks With Edwards
at 18:22 28 Aug 2025
Are you the same poster who constantly complained about the manager last season?
Re this season, it might be worth waiting until we win some games before you start telling us all how clever you are again. [Post edited 28 Aug 18:26]
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Reply | This transfer window
at 16:35 25 Aug 2025
Didn't we hear pretty much the same thing last year?
Some players with potential signed this year, that's for sure, but let's wait for some actual wins before we all get carried away again. |
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