Clowns at Loftus Road

Angry Queens Park Rangers fans started protesting because of all that’s been going on in the club for the past two years. Since the new owners, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone arrived, many things have changed at Loftus Road stadium in the West London, but the most important thing didn’t – the club are still without results.

After losing to Scunthorpe United at home this weekend (0:1), angry fans surrounded Briatore and Ecclestone demanding the explanation for the club’s terrible policy and complete discontinuity on the manager’s bench, as well as in the transfer policy. Fourth defeat in the last six league games saw experienced manager Paul hart sacked after only 28 days on the bench and this is only the tip of the ice berg of problems in popular Hoops squad.

A lot of fans on the stands were wearing clown wigs and red noses as a protest against the situation in the club shaken by the problems on the pitch and outside of it, since 2007, when the club was bought by Italian F1 magnates, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, with the support of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mital who holds 20 %.

The facts since then speak for themselves: Paul Hart was even sixth full-time manager on Hoops bench in the last two and a half years. Italian quickly sacked John Gregory and after that Ian Dowie, Luigi De Canio, Paulo Sousa and Jim Magilton tried their luck on the bench in London. None of them has stayed for a whole season, some of them didn’t make it one term. Mick Harford, Gareth Ainsworth and Steve Gallen had the roles of caretaker managers. The team was situated in the midtable, far away from the play-off zone and the new signings were of decent quality, but not top-class, or they brought some talented but inexperienced “kids” from Italy or Argentina.

All of this, together with the situation with Paul Hart and the Mexican soap opera before sacking Jim Magilton, points out an obvious lack of vision and incompetence. QPR are a ridicule object for other clubs’ fans. especially since Jim Magilton was sacked because of the clash with midfielder Akos Buszaky, when the club management backed the player instead of manager (?). Rumor has it that Paul Hart’s sack was partially caused by the clash with on-loan Tottenham midfielder, Adel Taarabt. None of the many managers had time to make any changes in the team, bring their own signings, convey their vision… There were some speculations about how Briatore meddles in team selection, squad policies, etc. Completely untypical of English football and the managers of English teams.

The worst thing in the club was complete lack of continuity, and Briatore’s lack of patience for any manage he hired. One of the financially most stable teams in England, while they are by far the richest one in the Championship, definitely won’t be successful unless they show a little patience. The fans are paying a big price on season tickets (another novelty from the new owners), though they did work on the infrastructure of the stadium, so that is perhaps one sensible decision.

In spite of all the failures, this season can still be saved. A good run would see QPR break through to the play-off and possibly to the Premiership. However, the latest moves (selling winger Wayne Routlidge to Newcastle) show that the owners are still making hasty decisions, there are no results and the fans have lost patience. Unlike Briatore, who hasn’t given enough time to any of the managers, the fans gave him plenty of time. They kept swallowing all of his blunders quietly and waited for something else to change besides the faces on the bench, stands and club’s crest. They are still waiting…

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