On Thursday the club’s CEO/DOF Christian Nourry sat down with representatives from the club’s various fanzines, fan sites, podcasts and supporter groups to discuss a variety of topics. Andy Hillman was there on behalf of LFW.

Player Fitness

Several players appear to be struggling with fitness or availability including Frey, Clarke-Salter & Poku injuries, Dembele gassed after a short period of time on the pitch, Dunne apparently playing through injury and concerns about Kone’s conditioning overall. What steps being taken to address these cases and can the club better support their return to full fitness?

In terms of availability, we have the joint sixth best injury record in the league. We were 13th last season, so we’re pleased with that. We decided to increase the level of pre-season training by about 20%, and as a result of that we’ve picked up a few injuries going into the campaign – around the Coventry / Watford Period we had four or five out, that’s where the majority of our injuries have come from, and then you have the three-game week Christmas period where you can’t train consistently, you don’t have a normal training week, so teams in general are picking up more injuries

Last season we were a bottom six team for in game physical and athletic output. We’re up across the board on our total distance run, high speed running, top speeds etc. We’re much more a mid table team now in terms of distance and out running other teams.

Jimmy Dunne is not playing injured. He had a two-week hip flexor / muscle injury in August, but he’s not been injured since.

In terms of the JCS and Poku injuries It's always challenging when a player has had a long period out because on the one hand, we want to be as clear as we can possibly be about when they're going to come back. But the other reality is that when someone's coming back from a long-term injury, no one knows 100% what each step of that stage of being able to be back and being comfortable and being confident looks like. So we can project what we are hoping it to be and it's also why there are many teams that don't do injury updates really the way we post them because naturally, there'll be times where we project something, we believe something's going to happen and for a reason that can be physical, tactical, psychological, ultimately, you guys don't see the players as quickly as is advertised that they might be back. So that's a bit of a challenge in that regard. I don't know that there is, in the context of either of those players, more than necessarily we felt we should have communicated to put them in the best possible conditions to be back in the right frame of mind, in the right space as quickly as possible. There are also GDPR realities that if they player doesn’t want their medical situation publicised, we can’t do it.

Matchday Observations highlights some poor general fitness, e.g., Dembele and Frey fading early. Is this bad luck, rushed returns or broader conditioning problems? What review process is there to identify systemic patterns in fitness levels?

In terms of do we have processes in place to try to understand why a player might be cramping or why someone might not be producing the same level of force or running data as they were in previous parts of the season, for sure, we look at that.

The other reality is that you have different types of athletes. You've got some athletes like, for example, Field or Madsen, who maybe don't look like the quickest over ten meters, but will regularly cover a top number of kilometers a game. You've got other players who can hit very, very high speeds, but their body might not be able to do it 25, 30 times in a game. That's also just your athletic makeup and what you are able or not able to do.

There are certain things that are trainable and certain things that are prolongable. Then there are other elements where it's ultimately just the makeup of a player's physical and athletic profile. I think that's within the bounds that we work. But at the same time, we're trying to make sure that at no point are we ever leaving any little detail off the table. Are you eating right? Are you sleeping right? Are you hydrating right? How does you being involved in X number of blocks of training

In a Saturday to Saturday, how does that correlate with ultimately your physical output on a weekend? We're now in a moment where sports science and technology has got to a place where you can hyper-personalize a plan to each athlete. Do we have every single plan right for every single athlete? No. One, because that's an iterative process. But two, because the athlete is also ever-evolving. Especially when you have a squad which has seen a lot of turnover in two summer transfer windows, we've got to get to know the athlete as much as possible and understand what works for them. We've got to basically rely initially on the experiences they can give us, the medical reports that their previous club can give us. But then ultimately understanding how they settle into our environment. I think it's fairly multifaceted in that regard. But something that we definitely have plans in place for and something that is reviewed weekly amongst the football and medical staff.

Players with histories of missing more games than they play raise questions about squad planning and risk management. Does the club weigh up injury proneness and mitigate such risks in contract renewal decisions?

Sure. I think there was a club this summer that ultimately made a statement about us because we are so serious about understanding medical concerns. Ultimately, we feel if the wool is being pulled over our eyes in any way, shape or form, we're going to turn over every rock and try to make sure that what we believe or what we're informed that we're getting is the athlete that we're actually getting. So I think we take that unbelievably seriously. I would say we're probably more detailed in that department than many other clubs in England.

At the same time, the budget reality of QPR is a high-end player who's got top potential, who's never been injured, very often those players are not in our budget. So, it's constantly weighing up budget, capacity and where we renew a player or assign a player with previous injury history. It's because a bunch of people have got around the table and felt that ultimately the quality of that player when they're available and the strategy that we can try to put together going forward to ensure that player is available as much as possible as a reward outweighs the risk and the frustration maybe sometimes that the player will have and fans will have and a coach will have in that player not being available.

Paul Furlong

There have been a lot of suggestions over the poor way that this was allegedly handled. It would be very good to know who is actually responsible for decisions like this. Does that fall under the head of methodology, or director of sports and operations?

Obviously, this is an employment matter that’s been settled between both parties so there’s a limit to what I can say. But in this case, Paul, Alex (Carroll, Academy Director) and Jon (De Souza, Head of Methodology) have had regular discussions over the last calendar year about the development of the Dev Squad, and what the strategy is and what we’re hoping to achieve there. My understanding is that those conversations between the three were very honest over the course of the year, and ultimately the methodology department and Jon makes recommendations to the board and then we (The Board) have to make the final decision.

I think Paul Furlong is an extraordinary human being, top-class guy, I had great, great chats with him when I had the opportunity to spend time with him, and if there's anything more that we can do to support him going forward, we certainly will do that.

Loftus Road

Is there a definitive plan in place to improve the facilities at Loftus Road, toilets, PA, capacity, infrastructure etc., if we don't have a definitive move to a new stadium in the next five years?

We’re constantly trying to tackle congestions wherever possible, to ensure that as many fans as possible can move freely, getting food and drink etc. We’ve introduced some fast-pouring units to accelerate the process and have some roaming beer units as well, which I’m hoping we can implement more of in the next seven to ten games.

In terms of capital expenditure, they will put together a proposal a couple of times a year for consideration, and ultimately, we have to make a decision when we’re setting next year’s budget about how much of an improvement to the fan experience it will make, and what we can realistically do at the time – anything we do on the capital budget side is potentially taking away from the competitiveness of the squad, there’s not two separate pots.

The Season So Far

How does the Club / Christian feel the season has gone so far?

I think in many different areas, there's been clear and fairly identifiable improvement. I would contest anybody who says it's not a very good league this year in the sense of player quality. I think the games are maybe sometimes less exciting, maybe the quality of goal is less exciting.

Our view internally is that that's because squads are so much more similar and actually teams have less time on the ball, there's less opportunity to dominate. And so maybe the football product looks worse, but actually our opinion is it's because the league itself is more competitive. And so far, this season, I think we've shown really clear attacking patterns at times, which I think hopefully have been more fun. The Hull game was not fun for me personally. My heart was in my mouth. There’s definitely stuff we could have done differently defensively, but some of our attacking was relentless, and it’s been a dream of mine for us to give you more of that.

I think we're in a situation where in terms of underlying data, we conceded more goals than we should have. Defensively from open play, we're top eight in terms of actually conceded, so it does mean there are certain things that we need to improve outside of the collective to ensure we are more in line with that.

I think for a group that is sort of resettling, getting to know each other with a new coaching staff, it's certainly been a decent start. Now, this league is nuts and things can change very quickly in both directions. So no one is sitting here, least of all me, resting on our laurels or saying we’re satisfied. A bunch of teams in January will have opportunities to do things and that will shuffle the pack again.

You're in a situation where there were moments in the Ipswich game where at 1-1, we looked, for me, for about 10-15 minutes we looked more dangerous than they did. You go into a situation where ultimately you lose that game heavily at home. The Southampton game, for me, seven times out of ten you win that game with the dominance that we showed. And then you're in a situation where you've played two teams that have just come down with budgets that are 5x, 6x our budget.

The Rest of the Season

What are the club's hopes and expectations for the remainder of this season?

I think it is to continue to get this group more and more cohesive, fighting for each other, working hard for each other and being in a position where, you know, you have players who maybe haven't had opportunities yet when they do get those opportunities, to take those opportunities and grow with the team.

We feel that this is, despite some of the narratives out there, it's probably the most direct championship for ten years in terms of the focus on set pieces. But it's also, in terms of player, individual player quality, probably the highest level of average quality in terms of individual player in this league for quite some time as well. From a first team perspective, we just need to keep plugging away and attempting to get better individually, collectively, week by week.

I hope that the football product that you're seeing this season is more exciting and is getting you more excited to come to Loftus Road.

I mean, certainly the numbers would suggest so. It's been the highest average attendance at Loftus since pre-pandemic at this point this season. We've sold more season tickets than in 11 years. You know, in terms of general tickets, we've sold more of those than for any year in the Championship for quite some time up until this point.

In terms of, do I have a plan with X month period and Y month period in terms of where we want to be and move forward as a team? Yeah, I mean, it's something that we build internally. But the reality is, with our budget situation, with where we are as a football club, that plan is impacted by what other teams do. The only way to compete, and I've said this multiple times, and this ultimately is our design, is our plan, and it's not the most hypey or sexy, but the only way to compete and for our budget to increase is to develop players, play those players, through their highs and lows, and sell those players on.

if I tell you this, this, this, this, this, and this is our targets, because empirically that's going to be the case, that would be dishonest, because whatever plan we want to have, whatever we want to build, is entirely dependent on other teams right now and their budgets, based on their spending power, and what we can do and how competitive a squad we can put together, based on those things, and the only way we can change it is through player trading. So, that's ultimately our focus, that's why we've gone from the second oldest squad in the league when I arrived, to now the second youngest.

Look, I've not come here because I want the team to be in the Championship. I've come here because I want us all to go to the Premier League together, but, me saying in X, Y, Z period of time, this is how we're going to achieve it, this is what we're going to do, is dishonest. Because there are 23 other teams, the vast majority with much bigger budgets, and increasing at a greater rate those budgets than they have been before. That requires us to beat the market for a couple of seasons, like we have done by the way in the last two seasons, relative to our budget versus where we finished in the league, to then get to a place where we can have a budget that then allows me to come here, hopefully, in the not long, long, long term future, and sit with you and say, we're now in a place from a budget perspective where we think we should be targeting X

The January Transfer Window

What can fans expect from the January transfer window?

From about November 15, we're in a position where Andy (Belk, Head of Recruitment), Julian and myself are talking once every two days about the squad, what's working, what's not working, what Julian would like, how that fits into our financial realities. So I can tell you we're talking.

In terms of what we want to do, what we're going to do, honestly, it's too soon to say. We have a bigger, healthier squad than we've had for an extended period of time. We've had some players who are hitting their groove, some players who have had opportunities and maybe ultimately haven't made the most of those opportunities. So certainly there are going to be conversations in both directions for those players. And then ultimately, in January, one thing that we will never do is let anyone hold a gun to our head.

Because you can quickly get into a situation where someone who in summer would maybe be target number eight or target number nine is the only one available in January. And for the selling club, it's a lot more difficult for them to replace that player, so they charge you three times more than they would in summer, and then you end up doing a deal which ultimately you feel, ‘oh, we did a deal’ but actually, you've done something that doesn't serve the interest in the medium to long term of the football club.

This is the least number of loan players the club has had for 10 years. We only have one player in our squad this season who isn't our own. That for me was, alongside the personality profile (of the players), the most important thing to do this summer. Because in the last three or four seasons, we've regularly had five players in on loan, and at least three or four of them have been players who have affected the first team. So naturally, if you don't get out of that loan cycle, you're always going to be in that situation. So having our own players, I think, is absolutely critical. And being in a situation where we can build with them is great. It also means that some of those players we have to give a little bit more time to, to get settled, get ready and be in the best conditions to then go and smash them.

The goalkeeping situation

Who is number one? Will Walsh come back in? Will we look to sign a new keeper next month?
So the first two questions are selection questions, which is not my area. The third question, in relation to will we do something there, I will just refer you to my answer in the previous question about the January one. [On Mahoney] Do we have an option? I can't disclose any detail of any contract between the club and the player, or us and another club. But certainly in general, I try to make sure that all the deals we do ensure that we have as many options on our side to do what we need to do.

Loaning Out Players

We built a squad this season, probably, in terms of size, off the back of our injury history from the previous season, which was mid-table. So we built a squad that we felt would be able to withstand five to six players out any one time, which is the championship average this season. The problem is we've had two players out, on average, most of the games. In terms of squad building, it's always more of an art than a science when it comes to that. So that therefore means that there are three, four, five players who maybe last season had significant playing time, and this season they have much less playing time. And so, certainly, we will look in January in certain situations where we can find the right opportunity for players to continue to develop, to find that right opportunity.

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Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

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