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Reply | Kone MOM?
at 15:30 30 Aug 2025
Kone’s scored as many goals in his first game and a half as Celar did all of last season. Early days, but it looks like he might potentially be the striker we’ve been waiting for. Also good to see Saito and Smyth address the big criticism of them from last year, namely a lack of end product.
Still plenty to work on across the team, but today was a really promising response to last weekend’s debacle in several areas. |
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Reply | Books
at 16:30 27 Aug 2025
Eliza's an acquaintance of mine! And an absolutely brilliant writer. Her first book Boy Parts is one of my favourites of the last decade, extremely sinister but completely hilarious. |
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Reply | Looks like Armstrong is available
at 16:27 27 Aug 2025
"Could do with a spell at somewhere like Stockport, bulling some clogger League One defenders for a good team"
It's so weird, he's always been the perfect candidate for a L1 / L2 loan: all the physical attributes, but in desperate need of senior minutes to properly sharpen up his skills. Any idea why that didn't happen when he was with us? Was it the club's decision (we were obviously under-resourced up front) or his, or just a lack of interest from other teams?
It's such a shame: you look at Eze going to Wycombe and Chair going to Stevenage, and the effect that had on their careers, and wonder what might have happened here if he'd done the same. Or maybe he'll still come good, who knows. |
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Reply | Coventry City 7 Queens Park Rangers 1 – Report
at 10:00 25 Aug 2025
I’m so sorry things are tough, Clive: it’s absolutely the right move for you to take a break, and great to see Jamie step in so effectively.
Please don’t forget that the voices on Twitter are a tiny minority of idiots, and that whatever else the rest of us disagree on, the vast majority of QPR fans agree that your writing is brilliant. Even when we’re doing terribly on the pitch, LFW remains one of the very few things QPR fans can be proud of and grateful for.
Really hope that you get a bit of a breather, and come back to things with renewed energy and enjoyment in a little while. |
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Reply | Anyone see the penalty Leeds got?
at 13:41 19 Aug 2025
Really good point. A huge part of why we have so many debates about these decisions isn’t just because they’re inconsistent and confusing, but because they have such a huge influence on the outcome of a game. A yellow card or a free kick is often a pretty minimal punishment; a red card or penalty is massive. Cricket and tennis, even rugby to a certain extent, have fewer issues with VAR because their use of it is less about subjective interpretation, and because the decisions they reach are less likely to turn entire games on their head.
Not sure how you fix that - maybe some kind of sin bin, but I suspect that’d create more issues than it solves. What’s very clear though is that VAR, in the way it’s implemented, hasn’t made refereeing more consistent or less contentious: it’s doing the opposite. FIFA and the FA need to go back to the drawing board with the whole thing. [Post edited 19 Aug 13:45]
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Reply | The QPR summer transfer rumours thread
at 15:08 15 Aug 2025
Ah right, hadn't realised his contract had been terminated early: agree that if Newcastle have paid him off, that makes things easier. At the same time, I've seen people saying that he was on £50k a week at Newcastle, of which Portsmouth paid £6k - if that's anywhere near accurate then surely it'd be too big a step down to what we could afford.
The point about fitness is a good one, but from memory he was pretty consistently available when he was here previously, wasn't he? Also doubt he'd be the sort to slack off too much, wouldn't be surprised if he was training somewhere even as a free agent. I guess we'll see, but even if he needed a few weeks to get fully up to speed I still think he'd do a job for us. |
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Reply | The QPR summer transfer rumours thread
at 13:44 15 Aug 2025
Would love to see Hayden come back. He's a quality player, came across really well during his loan spell, was decent for Portsmouth last season, and would surely do a solid job here on a two-year contract. Even if he's 30, that's still a full five years younger than Colback.
The big question would be wages. Nobody's getting a fee for him at this point in his career, so whatever we spend on him would be dead money. He's coming off a big Premier League contract, and won't have Newcastle part-subsidising things any more. Do we really want to risk another Johansen situation?
My guess is he'll probably end up at a club with a slightly higher budget than us (would be a perfect fit for Wrexham's current transfer strategy) but if we can make the sums work I'd be really keen to see him here. [Post edited 15 Aug 13:58]
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Reply | Le Shrugs thoughts post Plymouth stuffing.
at 11:51 13 Aug 2025
Wasn't aware of this but you're right - they also put out a young team (with slightly more senior players than us), played poorly and lost to Norwich. I'm sure Saturday's taken on extra significance for them too.
Not sure that really changes our situation though. Announce Kone, beat Watford, and I'm sure everyone will forget about yet another cup loss very quickly. Sacrifice a midweek game to give the entirety of the first team a rest two games into the season, then lose at the weekend anyway, and questions inevitably start being asked. [Post edited 13 Aug 11:52]
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Reply | Le Shrugs thoughts post Plymouth stuffing.
at 09:55 13 Aug 2025
Given some of the stuff this club’s witnessed over the last 50 years (guns in the boardroom, administration, Joey Barton’s elbow on Tevez, Harry Redknapp’s knees, Karl Henry’s political opinions, Karl Ready’s haircut, Vauxhall Motors, the list goes on) it’s a bit of a reach to claim that this marks our lowest point. If nothing else, we still tend to lose cup games even when we put our first team out.
That said, this does feel like a risky move at best, and a completely avoidable mistake at worst. Even if we needed to rest the vast majority of the first team (which raises its own questions one game into the season) surely you stick a couple of senior players on the bench to help see the game out? Going so far the other way guarantees defeat, invites lots of easy criticism, and feels like a slap in the face for travelling fans.
Playing a young team, fine. Losing in the cup, predictable enough. But for a relatively new regime who’ve just sacked a popular manager, and are trying to convince the fanbase that they’ve got the answers, it all feels a bit naive, and adds unnecessary pressure on the Watford game. |
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Reply | Knob End Match Fred
at 17:21 9 Aug 2025
Mixed feelings about that. Thought we were very decent in the first half, lots of positives across the team but particularly from Mbengue, Poku and Dembele. Second half we just kind of withered, heads dropped after giving away a cheap goal, allowed Preston to bully us, turned into your typical lower-midtable Championship slop. Has to count as two points dropped given our position at half-time, and how dreadful Preston were.
Lots to work on, but also some very promising signs. If we can consistently play to the level we were at first half, we’ll be alright. [Post edited 9 Aug 17:21]
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Reply | Knob End Match Fred
at 16:03 9 Aug 2025
Much much better than I expected / feared. We look sharp on the ball, loads of attacking movement, bit lucky with the OG but it was no more than we deserved. Morgan and Esquerdinha looking tidy despite their lack of experience, particularly Esquerdinha’s combinations down the left with Dembele. I agree Celar hasn’t been great but he at least looks engaged and hungry, lots of pretty thankless running the channels. |
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Reply | Knob End Match Fred
at 11:24 9 Aug 2025
Feeling nervous about this one to be honest. New manager, lots of injuries, thin squad, PNE look a poor team but coming here with low expectations might mean less pressure on them. Think we’ll go with something like:
Walsh
Adamson
Morrison
Mbengue
Larkeche
Vale
Field
Poku
Chair
Dembele
Celar
Which does not, in the kindest way possible, feel like a team that’s likely to steamroller a canny, physical side like Preston. I’m saying 1-1 with Burrell to score for us off the bench, but even that feels a tad optimistic. Hope I’m wrong. |
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Reply | Squad numbers out
at 11:04 9 Aug 2025
Echoing what others have said, but this really does underline for me how thin our squad is. I felt optimistic when the club got Poku and Mbengue in early, on the basis that there’d be two or three more additions at least. The fact that nothing’s materialised since then is concerning, and leaves us desperately short of quality in key areas. I still reckon we’ll get a striker, midfielder and fullback in before the deadline, but if the squad still looks like this in September I’d be seriously worried. |
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Reply | OASIS
at 14:31 4 Aug 2025
I'm sure they did! I'm not trying to discredit that in any way, although I do feel like all three of those acts are doing the same sort of thing, really.
I just see so many people claiming over and over again that the 90s were all about Oasis and bands like them, and that their reunion has taken on this massive cultural importance, when (aside from them obviously being hugely popular) I honestly don't think that's a particularly accurate or exciting reflection of UK culture either in the 90s or today. [Post edited 4 Aug 14:32]
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Reply | OASIS
at 12:57 4 Aug 2025
Yeah I mean… look, I’m obviously not a fan, but I don’t want to be needlessly argumentative or look down on people for liking what they like.
At the same time, I do find some of the chat around this tour a bit strange. Seen plenty of comments about it being unique and boundary-breaking, how Oasis are the only band who could achieve something like this, or words to that effect, when plenty of other artists have sold out bigger runs and had equally rapturous receptions in recent years.
I think there’s always been a bit of an exceptionalist streak with Britpop in general and Oasis in particular, where it’s seen as “proper” music while other stuff doesn’t really count. It feels like that’s come back to the fore very strongly with this reunion. Obviously people like what they like, but I personally find all the hyperbole a bit odd.
Edit: sorry, one more thing! Your mention of Oasis being “the sound of the 90s” I think encapsulates what I’m trying to say with all this. I’m sure that sentiment’s true for lots of people, but the 90s were absolutely stacked with incredible, groundbreaking music of all kinds, from all over the world Reducing it all down to four blokes with guitars riffing (however effectively) on older and more familiar sounds feels quite limiting. [Post edited 4 Aug 13:09]
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Reply | OASIS
at 11:17 2 Aug 2025
Surprised, given how varied the debate is on here across so many topics, to not see a single dissenting opinion on Oasis!
Don’t want to take away from anyone’s enjoyment, but I find the whole thing pretty puzzling. Loads of people paying hundreds if not thousands of pounds to watch a band whose last decent record was 30 years ago, whose best songs all sound like they were made 30 years before that, and who - with the best will in the world - haven’t always been the most reliable live act.
Been interesting to watch the videos of their performances though, and see how they’re basically just massive singalongs. Feels like most people are there to connect with their own nostalgia, rather than necessarily watch the band. Which is all good, obviously, just interesting. |
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Reply | The new kit
at 11:35 1 Aug 2025
Really like it, clean and classic. Definitely a little too much white on the shoulders, but that’s nitpicking. Still think the 21/22 Ashville Holdings home shirt is our best of recent years, but this is a close second for me.
I know a lot of people don’t like the pink and black halves, but you can clearly see the commercial thinking behind it, and I think they’ve done a relatively tasteful / competent job, regardless of personal taste. That Norwich shirt is absolutely grim, and a useful reminder of how bad things could be. |
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