Credit where it's due? 15:30 - Oct 6 with 4650 views | TheChef | Well early doors in the season when we were doing terribly and Mr Nourry was getting dogs abuse. Now six games unbeaten, 6th in league, maybe some of the decisions he/the board have made are working out well for us? There also seems to be a lot of benefit where the manager and CEO have a decent working relationship. Very curious as to what discussions were had after the 7-1 Coventry defeat! Of course it's a long old season but to all at the club, keep up the good work! |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 08:19 - Oct 7 with 1713 views | SW_Ranger | Good post from Simmo on all that we are doing well in our recruitment this season. The strategy has worked so far and we’re seeing the benefits so far too. It definitely feels we are better positioned to deal with our injuries this season with a strong bench available. Coach seems to be learning with every game, makes his mistakes (as do the players) but he seems on the right path so far. Good decisions made in developing the first team and development squad (will be interesting to see any breaking through). On the communications side, I’m not as upset as many. I remember when the only communications were a matchday programme, a copy of Kick Up the Rrrs from outside the Paddock turnstiles and The Evening Standard’. I just want an entertaining, winning team alongside a well run club - I don’t need loads of multiple comms channels to tell me if that’s happening - the table will do that. It’s looking rosy but I get the cautious optimism. We’ve all seen disaster happen too often. We’re not worthy of good things! 10th game due soon and will be time for JS’s school report |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 08:21 - Oct 7 with 1707 views | Toast_R | The Coventry game was a real light bulb moment for QPR. A very necessary evil. JS at the time saying that next week's game against Charlton would be totally different, seems like him tearing up the "process" he'd been handed, and doing things his way. He didn't come all this way to be put through humiliations like this after all. It also prompted the board to get aggressive in the transfer market and get those "will they won't they?" deals done to bring in the players needed. Whether that would have happened in spite of the 7-1 thrashing, I don't know. It's early days for Nourry, QPR could go on a diabolical 6 game losing run at the drop of a hat and there's rumours of a falling out again, you can never trust this club. [Post edited 7 Oct 8:22]
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Credit where it's due? on 08:53 - Oct 7 with 1612 views | TheChef |
Credit where it's due? on 07:13 - Oct 7 by JamesB1979 | Far too early to judge. And for me can only be end of this season when we see where we finish and can we sell some players or a player for a good profit. Unless of course we get promoted! But on the manager, Stephan seems genuinely happy to be here. He’s positive and upbeat. All last season, Marti seemed miserable and he was looking for jobs even before that. Maybe other things going on behind the scenes contributed to that but I want people here who want to be here. Having a manager who is proud to be our manager is massive. |
Well yes in the Nourry/Cifuentes relationship it takes two to tango. Not sure if we'll ever find out what really went on. |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 08:55 - Oct 7 with 1604 views | TheChef |
Credit where it's due? on 16:14 - Oct 6 by nix | I'm being consistent and saying it's early days. It does put to bed some of the more ridiculous assertions e.g. that the club and Nourry don't care about results. Or that the players are all disaffected. But I still think we're just a few bad results away from meltdown again. To judge the overall direction of the club I think I'd need to see a couple more transfer windows and to see the financial picture from the accounts. I'm feeling more optimistic though than for a while. |
But I still think we're just a few bad results away from meltdown again. Well of course. Football fans innit. |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 09:49 - Oct 7 with 1495 views | Lblock | Who can't be enjoying where we are at the moment? The only drawback is the nosebleed from being this high up in the table. I can't see it being sustained..... wise old sages may well say "we'll be there or thereabouts" and let's hope so. My intake of air between my teeth is due to recent history. Nourry's dictate on how the team should be set up / play didn't work - queue change to a more pragmatic approach by Marti and things started looking good. Then, for some reason, a decision made to revert back to original set up and approach and, quelle suprise, the wheels came off again until we went pragmatic again. New man, new season but back to the "game model" that is clearly unsuitable to the squad or the level we are at.... disaster... cue a change back to - you guessed it - a more pragmatic approach and we become the country's form team. I watch with interest to see if there's yet another flip back to Nourry's prefered model and what happens next. Therein lays the rub........... |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 11:13 - Oct 7 with 1373 views | robith | Not to be too into my own mythology, but I keep coming back to a post I made a couple of weeks ago that we don't have to hold binary opinions. Going back to last year, a lot of the changes to the youth set ups etc were overdue and all very positive. But there was a real lack of transparency, they absolutely botched recruitment , they alienated a manager who had really stopped the rot (there seems to be some revision on Marti now, but he had a Paal we'd tried to flog and Celar up front, as opposed to Research and Development and King Kone). Fast forward this year, things look pretty good rn. They massively changed tack on recruitment, so fair play. When the facts change, I change my mind etc. But a lot of our success has come after the 7-1 when a) we signed a lot of quality players (who incidentally look loads fitter than those that pre seasoned here) and b) the manager has changed formation away from what we've played the last few season to one he's had success with in the past. Those two facts seem related. But you don't judge a tree on a leaf. Realistically the only way we'll truly be able to judge the Nourry era is at the end, or if we have unprecedented success. For now with the window closed, I'm gonna try and just enjoy watching the team play and park having to think about the internecine psychodramas that seem to be endemic in the DNA of this club lol The main thing now is how we manage expectations. The season is still very early. At Oxford I had some young lads who spent the first half having a legit conversation about what they were gonna do when we won the league, and the second half slating the team. We've only played 4 teams in the top half, and 2 of them humiliated us. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 13:26 - Oct 7 with 1218 views | CiderwithRsie | Don't want to clog the thread with a quote, but that's a top post by Robith above this. His point that the signings are fitter than the guys who've been here all summer is a good one and surely a sign of something else that the club needs to learn from and fix. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 13:29 - Oct 7 with 1210 views | CiderwithRsie | Also: as a Neanderthal fan personally I don't want to have to think about what the CEO is doing at all, and not much about the DoF. If we've got to the point where I don't then I'll chalk that up as a success. |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
Credit where it's due? on 13:31 - Oct 7 with 1194 views | TheChef |
Credit where it's due? on 13:29 - Oct 7 by CiderwithRsie | Also: as a Neanderthal fan personally I don't want to have to think about what the CEO is doing at all, and not much about the DoF. If we've got to the point where I don't then I'll chalk that up as a success. |
Well indeed, a long time ago I'd say most football fans didn't know who clubs' chairmen/CEOs were. Purely about the managers and the players! |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 17:12 - Oct 7 with 1039 views | nix |
Credit where it's due? on 11:13 - Oct 7 by robith | Not to be too into my own mythology, but I keep coming back to a post I made a couple of weeks ago that we don't have to hold binary opinions. Going back to last year, a lot of the changes to the youth set ups etc were overdue and all very positive. But there was a real lack of transparency, they absolutely botched recruitment , they alienated a manager who had really stopped the rot (there seems to be some revision on Marti now, but he had a Paal we'd tried to flog and Celar up front, as opposed to Research and Development and King Kone). Fast forward this year, things look pretty good rn. They massively changed tack on recruitment, so fair play. When the facts change, I change my mind etc. But a lot of our success has come after the 7-1 when a) we signed a lot of quality players (who incidentally look loads fitter than those that pre seasoned here) and b) the manager has changed formation away from what we've played the last few season to one he's had success with in the past. Those two facts seem related. But you don't judge a tree on a leaf. Realistically the only way we'll truly be able to judge the Nourry era is at the end, or if we have unprecedented success. For now with the window closed, I'm gonna try and just enjoy watching the team play and park having to think about the internecine psychodramas that seem to be endemic in the DNA of this club lol The main thing now is how we manage expectations. The season is still very early. At Oxford I had some young lads who spent the first half having a legit conversation about what they were gonna do when we won the league, and the second half slating the team. We've only played 4 teams in the top half, and 2 of them humiliated us. |
Some reasonable points, especially about not being binary. But I disagree we totally botched recruitment last season. Yes the balance was wrong and yes there were some big individual mistakes but we brought in some current mainstays too: Morrison, Varane, Vale, Saito and Madsen. As well as some very promising prospects in Morgan (who helped a lot last season in keeping us up) and Esquerdinha. We also greatly reduced the age profile. This season we've largely built on that rather than had to tear it up and start again. We both agree MC stopped the rot. Like him and grateful to him. But my info is he alienated as much as was alienated by applying for jobs after his FIRST season here. Agree we need to manage expectations. The more we start to believe this early on the bigger the rage fest if it doesn't happen. And yes it's very early on to judge Nourry's record. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 17:50 - Oct 7 with 995 views | loftus77 |
Credit where it's due? on 11:13 - Oct 7 by robith | Not to be too into my own mythology, but I keep coming back to a post I made a couple of weeks ago that we don't have to hold binary opinions. Going back to last year, a lot of the changes to the youth set ups etc were overdue and all very positive. But there was a real lack of transparency, they absolutely botched recruitment , they alienated a manager who had really stopped the rot (there seems to be some revision on Marti now, but he had a Paal we'd tried to flog and Celar up front, as opposed to Research and Development and King Kone). Fast forward this year, things look pretty good rn. They massively changed tack on recruitment, so fair play. When the facts change, I change my mind etc. But a lot of our success has come after the 7-1 when a) we signed a lot of quality players (who incidentally look loads fitter than those that pre seasoned here) and b) the manager has changed formation away from what we've played the last few season to one he's had success with in the past. Those two facts seem related. But you don't judge a tree on a leaf. Realistically the only way we'll truly be able to judge the Nourry era is at the end, or if we have unprecedented success. For now with the window closed, I'm gonna try and just enjoy watching the team play and park having to think about the internecine psychodramas that seem to be endemic in the DNA of this club lol The main thing now is how we manage expectations. The season is still very early. At Oxford I had some young lads who spent the first half having a legit conversation about what they were gonna do when we won the league, and the second half slating the team. We've only played 4 teams in the top half, and 2 of them humiliated us. |
Good points - but I have to ask, which 2 teams? Coventry and who? Vicarage Road was annoying & disappointing (especially first half), but not humiliating overall I'd say. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 09:29 - Oct 8 with 559 views | robith |
Credit where it's due? on 17:50 - Oct 7 by loftus77 | Good points - but I have to ask, which 2 teams? Coventry and who? Vicarage Road was annoying & disappointing (especially first half), but not humiliating overall I'd say. |
If Watford hadn't taken their foot of the gas, it could've been anything they wanted it to be. Just my view |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 09:31 - Oct 8 with 555 views | robith |
Credit where it's due? on 17:12 - Oct 7 by nix | Some reasonable points, especially about not being binary. But I disagree we totally botched recruitment last season. Yes the balance was wrong and yes there were some big individual mistakes but we brought in some current mainstays too: Morrison, Varane, Vale, Saito and Madsen. As well as some very promising prospects in Morgan (who helped a lot last season in keeping us up) and Esquerdinha. We also greatly reduced the age profile. This season we've largely built on that rather than had to tear it up and start again. We both agree MC stopped the rot. Like him and grateful to him. But my info is he alienated as much as was alienated by applying for jobs after his FIRST season here. Agree we need to manage expectations. The more we start to believe this early on the bigger the rage fest if it doesn't happen. And yes it's very early on to judge Nourry's record. |
I would say having pretty much the entire intake requiring 6-12 months to get up to speed was a pretty huge risk that almost backfired on us last season. YMMV |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 12:57 - Oct 8 with 354 views | nix |
Credit where it's due? on 09:31 - Oct 8 by robith | I would say having pretty much the entire intake requiring 6-12 months to get up to speed was a pretty huge risk that almost backfired on us last season. YMMV |
Definitely down to perspectives: Morrison started playing in November, so only three months into the season, that was largely down to an injury and I don't think anyone thought he didn't hit the ground running. Varanne kicked on after the September sending off and was subsequently one of our best players. Saito was ever-present all season and although he improved was not poor to start with. Morgan contributed a lot despite being brought in for the DS. Celar was a big mistake and Madsen admittedly took time. But I'd say we started that transfer window with a lot of work to do. We had a very unbalanced and ageing squad with Kakay as RB because Cannon didn't seem to ever play. Aside from Steve Cook and JCS we had Morgan Fox who was also supposed to cover LB but was mostly injured and Dunne who fortunately resolved our RB issue. Our midfield options included pensioner but lovely fella Adomah, mixed bag and ageing Colback, hamstrung Willock, MIA Richards and nice but League 1/2 EDB. Up front we had Dykes and Armstrong. To get from there to here across two transfer seasons with a lot more credible cover, more pace and power and a much younger youth profile is pretty good. TBH last season with the squad we had I couldn't see how we could plug all of the holes. This season is a big improvement but the foundation started last season. How nice to have Esquerdinha come on on Saturday for example at 19. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 13:13 - Oct 8 with 291 views | Northernr |
Credit where it's due? on 17:12 - Oct 7 by nix | Some reasonable points, especially about not being binary. But I disagree we totally botched recruitment last season. Yes the balance was wrong and yes there were some big individual mistakes but we brought in some current mainstays too: Morrison, Varane, Vale, Saito and Madsen. As well as some very promising prospects in Morgan (who helped a lot last season in keeping us up) and Esquerdinha. We also greatly reduced the age profile. This season we've largely built on that rather than had to tear it up and start again. We both agree MC stopped the rot. Like him and grateful to him. But my info is he alienated as much as was alienated by applying for jobs after his FIRST season here. Agree we need to manage expectations. The more we start to believe this early on the bigger the rage fest if it doesn't happen. And yes it's very early on to judge Nourry's record. |
Nix I think you're one of the best posters on here, and your stuff often makes me check my own point of view and change my mind. A really useful calm, rational voice to offset some of the more hot headed among us. But, correct me if I'm wrong please, did you not spend the summer saying to a lot of the people who had concerns about the direction of travel that they shouldn't base those views on unsubstantiated hearsay from unnamed sources? Then twice in the last two weeks you've done exactly that yourself. Now, I don't mind it. My whole job depends on unnamed sources. I think the more we know about the club the better, and what you're saying isn't untrue - I've reported myself that the relationship with MC started decaying from the Leeds 4-0 game where his agent got on manoeuvres and put it about to Norwich, Sunderland and Burnley (where Lee Hoos used to work and still has many friends). But we either like unsubstantiated hearsay from unnamed sources, or we don't.
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Credit where it's due? on 13:33 - Oct 8 with 218 views | nix |
Credit where it's due? on 13:13 - Oct 8 by Northernr | Nix I think you're one of the best posters on here, and your stuff often makes me check my own point of view and change my mind. A really useful calm, rational voice to offset some of the more hot headed among us. But, correct me if I'm wrong please, did you not spend the summer saying to a lot of the people who had concerns about the direction of travel that they shouldn't base those views on unsubstantiated hearsay from unnamed sources? Then twice in the last two weeks you've done exactly that yourself. Now, I don't mind it. My whole job depends on unnamed sources. I think the more we know about the club the better, and what you're saying isn't untrue - I've reported myself that the relationship with MC started decaying from the Leeds 4-0 game where his agent got on manoeuvres and put it about to Norwich, Sunderland and Burnley (where Lee Hoos used to work and still has many friends). But we either like unsubstantiated hearsay from unnamed sources, or we don't.
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You're right Clive. Fair. A case of if you can't beat em, join em, I suspect. But yes my unsubstantiated sources are as unsubstantiated as everyone else's. I will work on my hypocrisy! Thanks for the positive comments. |  | |  |
Credit where it's due? on 13:36 - Oct 8 with 210 views | kensalriser | We've been around this block a few times re Cifuentes and if we assume he was already looking elsewhere, the question is why? OK, he's always moved on quickly, but that was before he reached the much more prestigious level of Championship manager where managers are far, far more likely to be sacked than move on voluntarily. More likely the relationship with Nourry had already broken down and when you fall out with your boss, no matter the rights or wrongs, you're going to be the one leaving. |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 13:40 - Oct 8 with 195 views | TheChef |
Credit where it's due? on 13:36 - Oct 8 by kensalriser | We've been around this block a few times re Cifuentes and if we assume he was already looking elsewhere, the question is why? OK, he's always moved on quickly, but that was before he reached the much more prestigious level of Championship manager where managers are far, far more likely to be sacked than move on voluntarily. More likely the relationship with Nourry had already broken down and when you fall out with your boss, no matter the rights or wrongs, you're going to be the one leaving. |
Can't help feeling there was ever a point where they got on. |  |
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Credit where it's due? on 13:50 - Oct 8 with 153 views | nix |
Credit where it's due? on 13:36 - Oct 8 by kensalriser | We've been around this block a few times re Cifuentes and if we assume he was already looking elsewhere, the question is why? OK, he's always moved on quickly, but that was before he reached the much more prestigious level of Championship manager where managers are far, far more likely to be sacked than move on voluntarily. More likely the relationship with Nourry had already broken down and when you fall out with your boss, no matter the rights or wrongs, you're going to be the one leaving. |
Well we keep rehearsing the same points because of our different perspectives: as someone who is quite negative towards Nourry your tendency is to think it must relate to him. I see Cifuentes as an ambitious person who saw the chance of getting a better gig that has a strong chance of leading to the Prem rather than fending off relegation. That seems more logical to me than the falling out with your boss scenario. Leicester pay the most in the Championship, plus have on paper a far higher chance of promotion. Who wouldn't go for doubling(?) your salary and meeting your ambitions over seeing out your contract? |  | |  |
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