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Always forward, but what are QPR getting into here?
Always forward, but what are QPR getting into here?
Tuesday, 23rd Oct 2012 23:35 by Colin Speller

Colin Speller returns to LFW to reflect on the one-way street QPR have set off along and the benefits and drawbacks of that compared to simply settling "in their own skin" at a more natural level.

As poor as QPR are at the moment, there’s still nothing to like about a weekend without live football – unless of course you count the England games, which I don’t.

I don’t know what I like least about the England scene now. It seems like a perfect shit storm: ITV with Tyldesley and Townsend (I spare myself the pre-amble and half time nonsense from the studio); Wembley with its bloody Mexican waves and corporate punters who can’t be arsed to return for the second half until it’s 20 minutes old; England players who go from wrecking my weekend when they play for their multi-national teams against QPR to looking distinctly average when playing alongside other Englishmen.

I slumped in front of the San Marino game with tiredness from a week’s work and just stared balefully at the screen as they went through the motions. In the end the triumph was as much about the self-destructive incompetence of the pub team they were playing than it was about English skill and incisiveness. And then this time last week I returned to my hotel room from a restaurant expecting to watch the second half in Poland only to pick up the later stages of the ludicrous scenes which, whilst being no fault of England ’s, were consistent with the air of farce that currently surrounds the team nevertheless.

This moodiness of mine with the modern game is not that new. The more ‘sexy’ football has become, the more it seems to attract elements that are unwelcome to the long-term fan. And yet despite the increased popularity and soaring revenue, the underlying situation could all be very serious. There are many better writers than me articulating reasons to suggest that it’s all heading to hell in a handcart and you have to say that there is a fair amount of that writing appearing large on the proverbial wall.

I started my serious football-watching career in 1968 on the terraces at Watling Street in my home-town Dartford where the local team was in the top half of the Southern League First Division. As a 13-year old I was one of a bunch of football-mad kids who went to all sorts of places to watch the game – Gravesend & Northfleet, Gillingham, Charlton (some even braved Millwall), but there was a lot to like about the local club and I settled on Dartford.

In the same season, a curious team started appearing on the Big Match playing in blue and white hooped shirts in an idiosyncratic, crowded ground and losing heroically – or not so heroically – every week. Queens Park Rangers, it turned out, played not far from where my dad and granddad were born and brought up and when in 1969 a school mate announced he was a supporter and going to watch them play live I tagged along and watched from the West Paddock as, back in Division Two after their one year in the limelight, they played out a 1-1 draw against, somewhat ironically, Charlton.

Over the next few years I mostly watched Dartford but went to QPR as well. Dartford enjoyed a lot of success – cup runs, promotion, county cups of one sort or another until, gloriously, in 1974 they won the Southern League playing wonderful football. They also got to the FA Trophy final at Wembley but in the sort of game that is only too familiar to me now as a QPR fan they lost 2-1 to Morecambe when they should have won. In 1975 they beat Boston United, winners of the Northern Premier League, to win the accolade of being the best non-league side around. No sooner had they finished that, QPR took up the cudgels to deliver their best-ever season and the runners-up spot in the football league. By about 1977 Dartford had achieved the status of the teenage love I’d never forget and QPR that of lifelong partnership, albeit that the level of my commitment to the latter would then wane for a time.

By 1978 I was in the latter stages of my University career, I was mostly broke and football was a rare luxury. I moved to Lincolnshire , then in 1985 Leeds and through marriage, moving house and having son Nik I managed to kick the live football habit completely. I still followed the fortunes of both Dartford and QPR from a distance and/or on tv. QPR were an established first-tier side by now, but Dartford were snuffed out in the 1992-93 season by the Maidstone United debacle, losing their ground and very nearly the club. A quirk of administration allowed a Phoenix club to rise again, playing in the Kent League, but it seemed they would be destined to stay at that level because of lack of a ground and support.

Roll forward to 1995 and son Nik – by now 11 – announced that his mates from school, who were all Newcastle United fans (well, what else would you be in South Cambridgeshire ? It was the fashion of the time) were off to see live football at the weekend at a team called QPR. ‘Did you want to go?’ said I. ‘Yes!’ said he, though he looked a little surprised when I announced my allegiance to QPR and that we would be sitting in the Loft End if I could get tickets. Which, of course, I could because in those days Premier League football was nothing like it is now – February 4, 1995, Newcastle at home, the away end pretty full and the crowd was just 16,567. Just look at some of the other gates that season if you want a reality check of the degree of interest in those days.

That was the start of regular attendance as, perhaps unfortunately, the drug kicked in again. I found Carl, who I went to my first ever QPR game with, on the old qpr.org site and started to sit with him, eventually graduating to neighbouring season tickets in the Ellerslie. I’ve been through every twist and turn since and am currently watching home and away, mercifully with the LFW gang who keep me amused and make up for the two hours of crap in the middle of each match day.

About six years ago, rather like one of those middle-aged men who found his teenage sweetheart on Friends Reunited, I rediscovered Dartford by virtue of life-long supporter cousin Dave contacting me to announce that their town council (and a Tory one at that) had decided to build the club (now in the Ryman Isthmian League South) a brand new ground. I was one of a crowd of 4,100 at the opening game in 2006 and have watched with pleasure and amazement since as the club has rediscovered the glory days and catapulted into the Conference Premier at the start of this season. I’ve gone to about four home games a year and a couple away – usually local to me – and it’s given me an interesting slant on some of the key contrasts in football at different levels in the 2010’s.

Dartford get a core home crowd of roughly 1,000. This can creep up to 1,500 for a ‘big’ game against a team who only bring a few, more if there is strong away support and nearly 3,000 when they played Ebbsfleet. Only on that one occasion has access and departure from the vicinity of the ground been an issue. You can normally park outside, get in for £15 (it used to be £10) watch the lunchtime game in the excellent bar, walk out to the game at 2.55pm and be on the M25 in time to hear the classified football results. It’s not as skilful, nor as exciting as Premier League but it’s fun and it is really good to see the club back in the town, playing well and attracting good crowds.

It is, though, pertinent to wonder where they go from here. In the Ryman League the fans had a wonderful time. They travelled in good numbers to friendly away grounds that laid on extra staff to serve them beer or before and after the game to pubs that touted for their business on their equivalent of LFW. Home games were un-segregated and the bulk of the crowd swapped ends at half time. Like most fans they craved success, they got it and, as a part-time team they are currently boxing miles above their weight in the Conference Premier, beating teams that ten years ago were beating QPR like Grimsby and Cambridge. It looks from the outside as if the club is solvent and content in its own skin and despite being in a much more serious league, much of the character of the Ryman league days remains intact. But can this idyll last in the cutthroat world of football where ‘always forward’ is not so much a motto as a rule? Would promotion to the Football League take away the very essence of the experience and replace it with something altogether more serious, higher risk and a lot less fun?

At the other extreme we have QPR – a Premier League club with rich owners and a developing global profile. On the face of it this is a superior position, but the unease around the club at the poor start to the season is very much related to the precarious state of an organisation that despite its status is actually still at the start of a long transition that is (a) going to be fraught and expensive, (b) has no guarantee of success and (c) carries the risk of a fall of space balloonist proportions if it all goes wrong.

The economics of the Premier League defy belief. According to the BBC, Newcastle United have achieved ‘financial stability’ since Ashley effectively wrote off over £100 million of debt. Abramovic has spent £500 million getting Chelsea to where it is today. Al Fayed has pumped over £200 million into Fulham. I read that Bolton have debts north of £100 million and when Stoke got to the FA Cup Final their chairman was quoted as saying he’d pumped £45 million into the club since they had been in the Premier League. The business I run turns over £38 million per year and an injection of a free £10 million would be very welcome, but that is in the real world.

Back in never-never land, the TV money is due to double next year and everyone sees this as the solution. But, it isn’t just club owners who will be rubbing their hands together. We already see some pretty average footballers on tens of thousands a week yet despite the indifference of their performance their agents will be demanding even more when the TV deal starts. It is – in every sense – madness. We might be daft to travel long distances on away-days but at least we can stop. The Premier League is a form of corporate heroin. Sky boast of the ‘play-off’ final being the £90 million game – but that’s revenue, they never mention the likely costs, which in almost every case exceed that figure.

So, what is the QPR plan? Survive this season, grow the fan base, develop the academy, build a new ground and become an ‘established’ football brand. In a normal business such a plan would be developed and re-worked drawing in as much good data as possible, looking at scenarios and risks and plotting the probability of the promised return. In QPR’s case I am sure similar things are being done but the actual business model is inherently very risky. I’m glad my business doesn’t depend on Johnson’s knee ligament, Hoilett’s inability to shoot when he should or Dowd’s capacity to wave red cards about. Rather than being a ‘risky business’ it seems to me to be more like risk-limited (but only to an extent) gambling. All in all the owners of this club will need patience, good humour and very, very deep pockets. And with all that in mind I am not at all surprised to hear rumours that the Mittals would like to get out. They strike me as sensible business people to be very much in the mould of the Bill Gates character in the Simpsons who, in the process of ‘buying out’ Homer’s internet business said "I didn’t get to where I am today by writing a lot of cheques."

So, where is it all going to end? Some say badly, others say ‘shut up and enjoy the ride’. I tend to veer from one extreme to the other. I’m in the wonderful position where both my clubs are riding high at their respective levels but, crucially, the key difference between Dartford and QPR is that the former doesn’t have to pursue the ‘always forward’ plan. I believe the majority of their fans would like to see them stay in the Conference, but relegation to the Conference South would not be a disaster. The club could cheerfully yo-yo between the South and the Premier forever and a day, you’d still get 1,000 souls a week turning up to watch and it would still be solvent – or ought to be. The problem QPR has is that the alternative to the success of the plan, or dare I say ‘project’, is potentially a Portsmouth-style meltdown.

I’ve often speculated where QPR would sit if normal football economics applied. I work on the principle that core home support is a reasonable determinant of the status of a club, albeit that Premier League attendances are skewed somewhat by tourist supporters and glory-hunters. I would say on balance that QPR would settle out at League One if core home support was the measure of true league position. It is by no means certain, though, that the club would be solvent at that level without external support given that we used to lose money when we were in that league. What is evident is that there is now certainly no path back to that level that offers anything like a ‘soft landing’ unless the current owners were prepared to write off the loans that the club owes them. I stress I wouldn’t want to go there anyway but it seems that ‘always forward’ does look necessary rather than merely desirable.

In recent times there has been a lot of concern expressed in blogs ad message boards about ‘the plan’ and its consequences – whether that be new Johnny-come-lately supporters, mercenary players, ticket prices or the prospect of a soul-less new ground. The truth is, though, that unless and until the mad economics of Premier League football changes, there really does seem to be little option and I believe that we can consider ourselves fortunate that we have owners who have elected to invest in QPR rather than one of the many clubs that have one or more of a bigger fan base, new ground, less local competition for support, etc.

Support for a concept, an ideal or a brand can be very demanding but having been dragged through the mire over the last 16 years I guess many people thought that arrival in the Premier League would herald a return to less fraught times. Survival last season by the skin of the teeth could be explained away easily by the poor passing of the baton from the Briatore to Fernandes regimes, consequent restricted access to the summer transfer market and the usual limitations of spending in January. Yet despite a clear run at the summer market we seem to have ended up with a squad that is part genius and part mediocrity with one helluva challenge to blend the two. I suspect that our support for the club is likely to be tested far more than we might have imagined both in terms of trying to stay up this season and, beyond that, trying to build the stability we all crave.

I really hoped that this season was going to be special – decent football, exciting results, and a good mid-table finish. Given that the bloody Premier League has barely got going amidst all the free weekends that all might still be possible - I’ll be there again on Saturday desperately hoping to see signs of improvement. In the medium term I want to see us stay up and in the long term I would very much like to see the Fernandes plan succeed and QPR stay within the elite of British football. I am certain, though, that given the creeping influence of the gentrified/corporate culture with Premier League football that finds its peak at Old Trafford and England games at Wembley, this will have a price in terms of losing some of the things I like about the club. The thing is, though, that given the crazy economics of the Premier League and the lack of an alternative viable strategy, there is no really no option other than to grit our teeth, support ‘the plan’ and hope it all works out.

Always forward.

Tweet @ColinSpeller, @loftforwords

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isawqpratwcity added 04:53 - Oct 24
I was at that Charlton game in '69, too, behind the goal at the School end. They had a mouthy Scot goalkeeper who kept us entertained in low key moments with some good-natured banter back and forth. I can't remember the bloke's name, or for that matter, any time I've seen a player so engaged with the crowd. Delightful!

I agree with your observations about our attendance figures, they are almost always disappointing.

The increase in TV fees, plus the possibility that at some stage soon the Premier league may decide to become a 'closed shop' by dumping promotion and relegation (an insane move, imho), multiplies my concerns about relegation. Not only might we be financially crushed by relegation, we might also face the prospect of never being able to regain top flight status again.
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YorkRanger added 07:40 - Oct 24
Good article Colin
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WokingR added 09:12 - Oct 24
It's interesting that you have managed to retain your connection and interest in non league. I used to watch Woking and remember well the look on some supporters faces when, en masse, we would all get up at half time and walk round to the other end of the pitch.
Lost a lot of interest though when, even at this level, it all became a bit commercial and stopped being our 'local' club. As soon as players were brought in from outside and it stopped being local lads that we would know and mix with it just changed and lost it's identity. It was no different from watching QPR just cheaper and with a lower standard of football.
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isawqpratwcity added 11:03 - Oct 24
I should add that the attendance figures I have found disappointing are home games; I have nothing but admiration for the loyal clique that follow the team around the country and provide a Rangers soundtrack to my internet link.
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QPRFish added 16:21 - Oct 24
I can absolutely agree with most of the above. I too still retain the non league links with my local club Sutton United, going way back to when i first walked into the borough sports ground on the 3rd november 1979, to watch them beat Tilbury 3-0. B A Robertsons "knocked it off" was playin on the tannoy as i went through the turnstile. Funny how i still remember that but probably couldnt tell ya what happened 2 weeks ago. That is a club that is still run almost the way it was 33 years ago & hasn't tried to keep up with other non league clubs of the same stature that have chased the dream & come unstuck, Kingstonian springing to mind. Sutton were in the conference south play offs the end of last season, beaten by Dartfords near neighbours Welling United funnily enough, over two legs, but in truth, for them to have got promoted would've set more problems financially than it solved. The conference being mainly a league of northern clubs, the travel costs alone to away games were thought to be in the region of £40,000 pounds minimum. Then of course, you have part time players that maybe cannot do the long distances due to work commitments etc especially for a midweek game....So do you stay part time or go full time? A conundrum indeed. But Sutton United have still managed to turn out some decent players over those years, that have gone on to play football at a fairly high standard. Efan Ekoku, Paul Rogers, Jon Nurse, Nicky Bailey, Eddie Hutchinson and Andy Scott to name a few. And they even had a player on loan in 2005 by the name of Jamie Mackie. Now i wonder what ever happend to him.......
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M40R added 20:18 - Oct 24
Thought provoking and enjoyable article.

Attention isawqpratwcity: I think your odd Charlton goalie was one Charlie Wright - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wright ?
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Roller added 20:53 - Oct 24
“Shut up and enjoy the ride” is probably the best advice although I personally struggle to follow either aspect of it.

I agree that we are very fortunate to have Tony Fernandes; we have to trust in him, what alternative do we realistically have? He has made an incredible investment in QPR, continues to say the right things and has started to implement many of the changes that we have all been crying out for.

I think that many of us have seen QPR screw up so many times over the years we are just waiting for it to happen again. My teeth are well and truly gritted.
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Myke added 00:58 - Oct 25
It really wouldn't bother me if we ended up playing in the third tier (which, as you say, is where our hardcore attending supporters pitches us) just as long as we don't go out of business entirely. Similar to your non-league 'other' club, I can equate that to my long-standing relationship with my local club Sligo Rovers. It's still possible to mingle with those players after a game (no sign of a Bently) and the national media can even interview the manager (former R, Ian Barraclough) ten minutes from the end of the game against St Pats in the title decider with the teams locked at 2-2 - can you imagine Hughes reaction if Sky tried to get his view last Sunday with 10 mins to go!! The premier league is an obscene nonsense and I wouldn't care if we weren't part of it - just as long as we still have a team to support
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isawqpratwcity added 10:18 - Oct 25
Thanks, M40R, that's the bloke! Were you there? (Hong Kong footballer of the year, lol!)
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