A lot has been said about the atmosphere at HQ this season. It certainly is different from last year. For what it is worth, here are my thoughts... Last season we had a manager who wanted to play football the Rangers Way. The ball on the deck, great wing play and occasionally carving the opposition apart in a way that gave goosebumps. We didn't have the requisite quality throughout the team, but our intentions were clear. "Three Year Plan"? Yep - that sounded about right. We'd iron out the kinks over these three years, adding quality to the squad where needed, to produce a team everyone would want to come and watch. The media loved us again - think pieces in the broadsheets and Flavio (plus hotty entourage) providing some Italian glamour. After years of shopping at Mr Byrite we finally had some cash, some positive attention and something to swagger about (although most of us knew and accepted that there was a long way to go and that we were never really "The Richest Club in the World"). The wheels came off in the summer. Price rises, no iconic signings and the departure of LDC all gave pause for thought. What was worse was the realisation that Flavio has no time or interest in the views or interests of the average fan (I can't recall him mentioning the supporters in a single interview he has given). There was so much goodwill towards him, but I get the impression that we barely register on his radar. This inevitably trickles down into how Corporate QPR interface with us. As they might have said in Goodfellas - "Season tickets up by 50%? - f*ck you, pay me", "Massive ticket handling fees - f*ck you, pay me", "Season Ticket holders kicked out of their seats? - f*ck you, pay me", "Huge prices rises mid-season pricing out families and ordinary fans? - f*ck you, pay me". The real hammer blow came with the appointment of Dowie. This seemed entirely contrary to The New QPR Project that I (for one) had been buying into. Dowie is a pragmatic no nonsense manager, who would produce a team which could grind results and probably do ok for us. However, he is the type of manager we would have gone for in the bad old days - where absolutely everything would be sacrificed on the Alter of Effectiveness. Was this really what I was paying my £600 for? A season of grind? I wanted a chic continental manager, who sneered at the English huff n puff brigade - what I got was someone who understood the percentage pay off of playing the channels. All around West London was the melancholic gurgle of a R's balloon deflating. This all left supporters divided and confused. What were we aiming to be? What was our identity? Were we supporters of a hip rich West London club playing to our footballing traditions? Were we a pragmatic club doing whatever was necessary to get into the Prem? Were we just cash cows, to add a bit of colour to match days at LR but eventually to be replaced by a new richer herd? Did paying more mean we shouldn't support the team the way we would once have done? Were we a big club that should be dominating matches or a mid tier club grinding out results. I don't think any of us really knew. This is partly why, if we weren't winning in the first 20 minutes of a home game, a few thousand people would start getting vocally pissed off and a few thousand would get irritated with these fans. Why Cerny would get booed and then have his name sung for a couple of minutes. Why Parejo is reviled and admired in equal measure. It was all fairly toxic. So where are we now? Well, the dismissal of Dowie is an opportunity for the Club to rediscover a measure of the unity of last season (although I suspect that Flavio has sufficiently alienated (and will continue to alienate) so many fans that there will always now be a schism between "us" supporters and "them" corporates). If we stick with Ainsworth, the interference and ego of Fabio could also conceivably work in our favour. Every good dressing room has an authority figure. Someone not too close to the players and who (deep down) they fear a little (see Ferguson, Wenger and Benitez). Fabio clearly has the potential to be this person. I think he would knife you between the shoulder blades without a second thought. Ainsworth could be able to play off this - because players know that if they don't perform, the Big Man won't stand for it. Ainsworth also comes with a huge stock of goodwill with supporters. A player who would crawl over broken glass for his team mates and (far more importantly) for the fans. It's this goodwill that has to sustain him with the fans through the inevitable bad times. If last night is anything to judge by, he understands the importance of being attack minded in this division. Keeping two up front when down to ten men was bold and exactly the type of attitude that pays off in the long run (if you have quality players - which we do). If he maintains this attitude, I think the fans will unite behind him and we can try to recapture some of the excitement, fun and hope of last season. |