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Reply | Is Chris Peddy
at 16:31 7 Jan 2025
Kensal - laughed out loud and then downvoted by accident...apologies |
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Reply | The coldest/wettest you've ever been at a match
at 19:59 4 Jan 2025
The wettest and most miserable I have ever been at a football match wasn't with QPR, it was Belgium v Ireland in November 1997, at a play off match for WC qualification. My bruv flew in from Kerry and we hopped on the Eurostar and over a few beers pondered the dark warnings that everyone had issued about the perils of Belgian beer, warnings which we royally ignored. Later that night and now in the company of various members of Air Force Two (taking Madeleine Albright somewhere and recovering pieces of the space shuttle that had fallen off) and a Swedish female volleyball team we were actually asked to leave a karaoke bar. We were monumentally mullered. The morning after was horrific. I have never felt as bad, nor since. Catastrophically hungover, we eventually emerged into the hotel reception where the staff were still laughing at the cctv of our attempts to use the new fangled keyless entry things they'd just had installed. We decided that the only way to get through the rest of the day was to carry on drinking. This was a really poor decision and we ended up walking towards where we though Heysel was. The heavens opened, unending sheets of rain. By the time we got to the ground (where we stood on an open terrace) we were both wet through. It absolutely hammered down througout the match. And then David Bloody Connelly got sent off and then we lost. Awful. |
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Reply | Burgers
at 14:04 27 Nov 2024
Jakes, Seven Kings, peerless... |
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Reply | San Mamés, Bilbao
at 14:14 22 Nov 2024
Went quite a while ago so don't know if this is the most up to date info Danny...
Away from the usual tourist stuff you'll find a no nonsense sensibility to the place. We wound up in bars around the old quays. Most of the food was heavy going to be honest and the bean soup (alubia con sacramentos)...well, you could ballast super tankers with that stuff. Each to their own and all that. On that note, and unlike P Honneywood, I think the Guggenheim and some of the stuff that's in it is great.
Dont got to the football without tickets. We went to the Alaves derby and simply assumed we'd get them on the door or outside unofficially. We were wrong and ended up watching the match from a bar next door to the stadium.
Have fun. |
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Reply | Adam Ant.
at 20:26 18 Oct 2024
I was too young to see them but remember all the older boys in school (Croydon) coming back from gigs and raving about the original line up (and attendant punch ups). Bought the Zerox single and can still recall how mysterious it all seemed - the D the wrong way round and the struck through O. The moment he jumped into the mainstream he was dead to the original lot. Were Martian Dance any better? That's another story... |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 10:27 18 Sep 2024
I agree with you Brian.
It wasn't the strongest team we could have put out and the first 45 were so supine. Spent much of half time explaining to my bemused son what the old phrase 'you might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb' means. We should have gone after Palace from the word go with everything we had. It probably wouldnt have changed the outcome but I would rather be sitting here thinking well, at least we gave it a go... |
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Reply | Over-rated books
at 13:16 21 Aug 2024
Hemingway's initial style was hugely influenced by Stein and Joyce et al in Paris but equally as much by the fact he was a journalist and filing copy back to the States. This was paid for by the word so hacks then were encouraged to be as brief as possible. His first collection of short stories in some places is almost a collection of bullet points. Think his writing became less focused as he progressed and the booze and his myth became more foregrounded. |
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Reply | Opening day of the season
at 09:42 9 May 2024
Not sure how relevant this will be to the conversation but I remember schlepping down to Bristol City on a Friday night in 1999 for a terrible 0-0 that was on ITV digital. Mrs _tf_ was working in media and on the Monday saw that the TV audience was smaller than the crowd at the actual game! Am assuming the numbers will be significantly different now...
The bigger thing for me is how poor 12.30 kick offs are. The players (and a lot of the fans) are barely awake. Not happy with this at all. |
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Reply | Dunne...
at 20:37 7 Mar 2024
It's Duninho now. Extraordinary. |
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Reply | Relegated
at 18:57 1 Jan 2024
It was 34 minutes before anyone in midfield did anything other than pass the ball sideways or backwards. From about 25 mins there was significant moaning around me. It just seemed so pointless watching poor old Jimmy Dunne being asked to effectively be the creator. Absolute dogshit first 35 mins. Then, miracle of miracles, the moment one of the midfield actually did what they're meant to do we looked <slightly> better. I think everyone realises that the problem is the players and not the manager although I for one would like to know why Dixon bonner was pulled because we were well on top at that stage. Without significant reinforcements this team will go down. |
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Thread | Midfield General(ly)
at 10:19 19 Dec 2023
Hundreds of years ago when I actually played football I had trials for a local team. These were simpler days and we were asked to split into three groups - defenders, midfielders and attack. I walked to the midfielders. Coach then returned and said 'are you sure? Because you should know that whenever I see the ball in our own box I'm expecting to see you there. whenever I see the ball in the middle of the park I'm expecting to see you there and whenever the ball is in the oppo box I'm expecting to see you there too, non negotiable.'
What has happened to the QPR midfield? Watching Bannan on Saturday dictate terms against us for about the thousandth time in his career was so on brand for us... For the last two/three years we haven't had what I would call a proper, consistent midfielder. Yes, I know some of them have had the odd stand out game or moment but that's all they are, moments. It's so long since we had someone who you thought could take the game to the oppo, you know, try and dictate terms to teams, impose ourselves, not just wait and see what happens.
I understand SF is a holding/breaker upper type and that's fine to a point, but he now seems incapable of doing anything that involves moving forward (and might account for his woeful finishsing). And he's not alone. All our midfield seem to be able to do is occasionally win a ball, pass it sideays and then jog off, job done. Broadly, the midfield seems to be watching life pass it by.
Maybe it's me. Whilst I watch a lot of football I don't really get what's going on any more. I look back at performances like Roy Keane at Loftus Road for Forest or before that, Gerry Francis' career for us and wonder if that role, the hard tackling, creative, ten goals a year lynchpin of a team, I wonder if that role exists any more. I wish it did. Saturday's game was appalling, almost a negation of the game I grew up loving.
So what says the board? What has happened to the midfield generally and is there a role any more for the midfield general? |
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Reply | Dozzell spectacular arrival drives QPR's latest Riverside wonder - Report
at 18:21 4 Sep 2023
God, I enjoyed Saturday. Enjoyed the walk to the ground, the bizarre skyline, the wag who said 'no one light a cig' when that petrol smell wafted through, the performance, and as noted elsewhere, being right behind Dozzell's shot. It's moments like that, those tiny moments which keep me going. On the 8th September 1973 my old man, an emigre from Cork City took me to my first game and whilst not falling exacly on the anniversary I thought,'have to go'. Glad I did. Compared to Watford, that was unrecognisable. Deficiencies in depth noted, but we're going to be all right, I really think so. |
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Thread | The view from corporate...
at 14:34 6 Aug 2023
So because I couldnt get a ticket yesterday I took up a longstanding invitation to watch a game from my neighbour's box at Watford. Lovely day out, great company, free beer, all went swimmingly well apart from the...well you know, the football.
Pre-kick off all the Watford fans were seriously talking about long how their new manager would last this year. You think as a fan base we're alone in being damaged by the indifference of players? Not a bit of it. And here's the rub. At Loftus Road last year Watford collectively and blatantly downed tools. And I know we all know this but it's the one thing that can't be forgiven of your team isn't it, not even bothering to hide the fact that you can't be arsed. So when Watford strolled around Vicarage Rd yesterday scoring goals at will the main surprise amongst the Hornets wasn't the ease of the game, it was things like 'look, they're talking to each other' and 'they're backing each other up.' They were amazed at the turn around in the collective will and organisation. So look at the difference between Watford from last season and the team now.
And now let's look at us. Arguably, we are now in a worse position (and that's being kind). We've had an off season where nothing has really happened to significantly alter things on the pitch. Yes, we have financial constraints but they haven't been hidden from view have they, so where are the 'rough diamonds' and nuggets from the lower league? The decision to let Masterson go still baffles me.
Next month is my 50th anniversary of my first game at LR and truthfully, I cannot remember a worse first half of football from a QPR team. Every single aspect of it was off. Keener observers than I will point out the miniutiae of what went on but it was nine minutes before Ilias (on his day, our best player and one that the Watford fans were worred about pre-game) touched the ball and about five mins after that a high,wafty, non-penetrative vague pass was sent his way, all 5' 7" of him. What a waste. I nevr thought I'd see a QPR goaly time wasting whilst four down. Shameful.
Two observations. Firstly, irrespective of cramp and hotheadedness, Armstrong HAS to start. He has pace, aggression and some 'x' factor about him. If he cramps up, sees red etc then so be it.
Secondly, whereas I'm usually one of the 'let's give XX 10/15 games and then take a view' supporters I'm afraid that performances like yesterday are only going to fuel the rapidly growing discontent and for once, I'm beginning to think that they might be right. At the moment, QPR is like a pint of sour milk. You don't need to take more than one sip to know that.
I have no idea where we go from here (apart from Cardiff obviously). |
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Reply | Less psychology, more self respect.
at 18:09 19 Apr 2023
This. This is how I feel at the moment. For every one good example of comradeship/team spirit in the squad (Dykes' recovery from pneumonia) there are dozens of mystery illnesses/injuries/absences and all the other nonsense we have endured this year. As I was trying to hint at in the first post, it would appear to me that post Beale, the club has lost control of the squad. Management (not the manager, please note) needs to dictate to staff, not the other way round.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll put five past Norwich tonight and I'll have missed this year's 'reward' game. But I have never felt further from the individuals pulling on the shirt. |
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Thread | Less psychology, more self respect.
at 13:10 19 Apr 2023
Give me strength.
As the crowd drifted away on Saturday it felt like the lifeblood of the club draining away. I have absolutely no idea what is behind this mass psychosis amongst the players. I have no idea why Taylor Richards stopped to do up his laces in the middle of a passge of play at Rotherham (and where incidentally I watched him warm up in disbelief, he is clearly not well). And I have no idea why Dozzell on Saturday spent so much of his time fiddling with his hair. Again and again and again. A grown man fiddling with his fringe while all hell is breaking loose around him. Chris Martin's comments about commitment 'off the pitch' is so revealing as is the perpetual shambles of the Tyler Roberts situation. Again, I have no idea why Roberts is clearly taking the piss but when did the club lose so much control of this season that they have also jettisoned their self-respect? To borrow from Clive's review, the tail is indeed wagging the dog. I am sick and tired about hearing about how 'fragile' our players are. My sister is sometimes 'fragile' after a 14 hour shift in A and E, but I'll give her that. It's time for this lot to have a long hard look in the mirror, grow a pair and so forth, insert your own metaphor here, but for the love of god have some self respect.
I've supported QPR for nearly 50 years now, through thick and thin. We all know the deal, we've all got the scars. But this iteration of incompetence is new level, in that I genuinely feel that we are being treated contemptuously by a lot of this team and by definition, the club. I know this might attract some criticism but neither me or my son will be going tonight, as we both arrived at the conclusion that we don't actually know what we'd be supporting any more... |
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Reply | Buying a ticket.
at 11:12 17 Mar 2023
I have been unable to buy tickets from the website for over three years now. No matter which card I use I get the same error message about my details not matching what the club holds for me. I have spoken with countless individuals about this (some more helpful than others) and have been asked to send a screenshot of the error message I get to the IT team (done) and not one person has 'owned' the problem, got back to me or sorted it out. As a result I have spent days/weeks/months of my life listening to the Chair/Uncs holding messages trying to book tickets over the 'phone. The first time I heard these I thought they were mildly amusing whereas now even just the thought of them is making my left eye twitch a bit. |
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Thread | One inexplicable moment today
at 20:53 4 Mar 2023
Just got back. Should be more angry than I am.
What can you say, because the team that played today tried, it's just that they're not very good, and in some respects are becoming worse.
A few positives - Drewe looked composed and in the first half especially made a few decent passes. His first unforced error of the second half was because the ball took a bad bobble and it was good to see a few other players geeing him up. Throw-in will be handy for the rest of the year... Armstrong made an immediate impression when he came on and even if he is only good for 60 (raw) minutes I'd be starting him. His pace is frightening. Finally, we played better over the 90 than of late. Had Johansen's volley not been kept out by what from the away end looked like an incredible save then who knows?
But that's it. As much as I love and appreciate Kakay's effort and application, he is currently not defending to a standard that is anywhere near what is required. Neither is Dickie. Both of them need some time away to either improve or regain confidence. I am still trying to process how our defence managed to let Hugill score the first. Awful, and another three goals shipped.
Did anyone else see this? In about the 75th minute, and about ten minutes into his game, Richards was in the absolute middle of a passage of play where the ball was bouncing around between possession. It was about five yards from him. And he suddenly stopped playing and started to tie his laces. And then started feeling his ankle. And then carried on as if nothing had happened, whilst Rotherham charged up field, thank you very much. What is going on with him?
Fair play to the Millers, good ground, good result for them but jaysus, we made them look like Brazil at times.
This is a very bad QPR team, we are in trouble. |
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