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Two weeks ago I was going to write a blog about a various subjects, we changed our badge and made a right cock up of presenting it, the kids won their league again, we signed two players and let five go. Hardly groundbreaking news but all noteworthy stuff.

Then Luigi De Canio left.

So instead I wrote about my disappointment with that and hoped things wouldn’t get worse with the board making a poor appointment. Earlier this week I was going to sit down and revisit the lost blog and round things up for the end of the season.

Then we appointed Iain Dowie.

So instead I had to write about that, whilst it’s not a total disaster it certainly wasn’t the most exciting move the club has ever made and it didn’t exactly make me relish my season ticket renewal coming through.

Then I got my season ticket renewal through.

I think everyone was expecting a rise, we are paying high wages to attract players and the owners constantly stress that whilst they are rich the club isn’t. We all understand how close we came to administration and I’m sure we all accept that for the club to be a viable business they need to bring more money into it but nobody expected prices to rise to this level.

QPR have always had a small to medium loyal following, they are there rain or shine, come what may, they have supported the club through thin and thin and would be happy to dig a little deeper in order to see it move onto a level we all thought impossible but to hit people as hard as they have is heartbreaking.

Only a few weeks back QPR’s Deputy Managing Director Ali Russell was telling the AGM that they wouldn’t over the top with rises and that whilst there would be rises in all areas they would be “reasonable”. His idea of reasonable seems to be making us one of the most expensive clubs in the division.

To rub salt in the wounds the club are busy posting stories on the website about “unprecedented demand” whilst the phone lines ring off the hook with angry fans trying to make their point. Either they really believe this has been well received or they really don’t care. Either way it’s been the new owners first massive blunder and they could well pay for it for years to come.

We are all grateful for the new owners coming in and saving the club, we are surely excited about the potential they bring with them but it looks like they have seriously misjudged just how much our gratitude is worth.

Expectations for next season were already sky high, possibly too high and I believe we were already heading for disappointment. The club are at fault on this, they put out countless sound bites about new eras, global brands, don’t miss out etc etc. Add these crazy prices to this and you are going to be left with a pissed off, pent up fanbase who won’t just want success they will demand it. If we are going to be charged Premiership prices then we will expect Premiership quality.

As if to add insult to injury you have to pay £4.50 to have the book sent to you! Another nice little earner on Royal Mail prices there.

The first line of the season ticket story on the official site continues in the propaganda vein

“The 2008/09 Coca Cola Championship campaign promises to be one to remember for Queens Park Rangers Football Club”

At these prices it better be, it’s just such a pity so many will have to enjoy it via Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports.

No its not too bloddy early!  Just hang with me for a minute…

We now know the 21 of the 23 teams we will face next year.  Unfortunately Fulham wont be one of them.  I will admit to wanting either Donny or Carlise to come up automatically from the 1st as well, as that would mean one of the ‘big’ clubs in Forest and Leeds definately missing out.  I would put money on Leeds winning the playoffs, just to compund the whole thing.

In some people’s eyes, we are already fovourites, but this seems to be based upon fiscal opportunity rather than anything else, so lets look (or preview) the evidence… (see where Im going now?).

 I want to compare thios season to the potential next season, and Ill do it in a number of categories:

 1 - Our team.

At the momnet we have a decent startign XI, when all are fit.  ON its day this team can beat anyone.  But as was shown at the arse end of this season a couple of injuries and we start to struggle.  This is one area where our new found wealth will come in handy.  I expect at least half a dozen championship standard players to come in over the summer - a huge improvement on what we have had to scrape together in previous season and one which should improve our squad and provide compeition for places - which isnt usually a bad thing.

Verdict: Improvement

2 - The tactics.

We had three managers last year - and our tactics varied quite considerably from the sublime (mostly under De canio) to the ridiculous (the Hawthorns).  Even under the De Canio, however, there were issues, such as our inabilioty to hold onto a lead going into injury time.  We dont have a manager right now, and IMO the key thing is to get a decent tacticain - someone who understands how to play Blackpool away on a cold, wet and windy tuesday night in novemeber as well as at home in August when its 100degrees on the pitch and Blackpool have decided to turn up in black.

Verdict: Expect to be more consistant and probably imrpovement.

3 - Stability.

After the rollercoasters of the last few seasons, the one things i really crave is some stability on and off the pitch.  those people who say that off field shenannigans dont come onto the pitch with the players are talking crap.  In this respect we should surley see a massive improvement.  but then this is QPR…

Verdict: Improvement

4 - Opposition

I hoenstly beleive Derby will struggle big time - a team with no money, no decent players and no confidence will struggle next year - but I beleive that Birmingham and reading will be better teams than Stoke and whoever wins the playoffs.  Forest have the ability to spend a few quid, Swansea less so, but come up as champions and we saw what Brizzle did.  Certainly that coming up is better than Colchester and Scunny.  Add oonto that the strange years that teams like Preston and Cardiff have had.  This league will be tougher.

Verdict: Tougher next year.

We can all add more categories, but all I am trying to say is that its not a foregone conclusion we will go up next year - I think you should see a significant concl;usion, and I will be dissappinted if we are not in the shake up for the play offs as a minimum come the end of the season.

Whoever becomes manager will have huge (all be it unrealistic) expectations behind them, and that will create pressure; pressure they could probably do without.  I just hope they can cope with it, juggling 20 players who all want to be in the first team and Flav’s media profile.  Good luck mate.  Ill be there to roar you on.

Earlier in the season I worte we should give JG a chance.  he was fired in a week.  2 days ago I worte how De Canio should get the recognition for the seasons (relative) sucess, hes gone already.

 I will no longer comment on managers (unless we want him out).

 Yours Sincereley

 Chris Tonto Cole

“Life is a roller coaster” sang the girlie looking one from Boyzone. It certainly was for QPR this year. We very nearly hit the ultimate low - extinction, instead we’ve been given 3 rich sugardadies and the largest dose of optimism for 20 years.

The end of season reviews will, of course, be all about Flav, Bernie and Mr Mittal. Their spending power will make us a favourite for promotion next year. I have already written how much we should be thankful for GP for sorting the mess out, and finally the majority are realising just that.

Really the end of season reviews should concentrate on the achievements of De Canio. It is he who has taken a team which was at its lowest ebb and transformed it one that can compete. I suspect, however, that his achievements will be lost in the journalist’s rhetoric about Flav and co. I find it annoying that his achievements have essentially been under reported.

Maybe I should move on? Start thinking about the new season to come - and one of the most exciting off seasons (for the right reasons) that we have faced in a long time? Maybe I should be thinking which players we need to turn our decent team into a promotion chasing squad (yes there is a difference). My championship manager tactic for this year consisted of basically selling the lot and starting again, using the money raised in selling Camp and Dex to fund an entirely new XI (I did manage to buy Buzz for a pittance! I doubt I will be doing the same with the 2009 edition.

I am glad the season is over, its been emotional (should I be saying those words considering who said them?). I missed more games this season than the last 5 combined due to work commitments. Thats something I dont want to repeat next year, and I suspect Firebrace may have been shitting himself after our start to the season and 53 points looked a mile off (you still owe us all a pint BTW)

All I am saying is that it is one roller coaster I dont fancy riding again. Yeah sure, the highs were great, the lows were horrible, but its time to start new ride, maybe a bigger better ride, with different thrills and spills, and resign the old one to the been there done that column.

The rumour mill is already kicking into gear and we have been linked with three players this week alone.

Apparently we are interested in both of Plymouth’s Hungarians, Peter Halmosi and Krisztian Timar as well as Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

Any of these would be good signings but I expect to see us linked with almost everyone in the Championship and half of the Premiership before the summer is out so right now none of them are worth discussing in depth.

What we need by position for next season is worth a few thoughts though and personally I think we’ll be looking for at least five first team players.

Goalkeeper
The club needs quality cover for Lee Camp in case of injury and Campy himself can only benefit from much needed competition.

Right back
Assuming Michael Mancienne is not still here in August we will need to replace him, in fact we probably need two right backs!

Centre back
With Damion Stewart reduced to cover and Fitz Hall as fragile as an egg we need another solid centre half in the ranks.

Left winger
We have no natural player for this position and whilst Rowan Vine has done a fine job playing there we really need to get a left side expert in as soon as possible.

Striker
The missing piece of the jigsaw, the famed 25 goal a season front man, easy said, but not easily found.

What, and who do you think we should sign in the summer? You can leave your comments below.

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Many congratulations to Aldershot on winning promotion to the Football League.

When the new club was formed out of the ashes of the old, the guy who lived next door to me was their first manager and got them their first promotions before moving onto league football so from a personal point of view it’s nice to see them complete what he started.

From the Rangers side of things it’s also fantastic to see them do so well under the guidance of Gary Waddock. Waddo was a legend as a player and I feel bad for him that things didn’t work out well in his short spell in charge of the club. He’s a fantastic, determined fella and it’s good to see him get a second chance in football and showing what he can do.

I had a feeling he would resurface again, when he was written off with the injury that temporarily finished his career he was determined to prove everyone wrong and play professional football again. He had quite a journey in doing so but he did exactly that and now he might just be doing the same in management.

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What a brilliant atmosphere the Rangers fans created at Hull on Saturday. That new De Canio is song is infectious and was sung almost non stop for over twenty minutes!

It reminded me of when Forest came to Loftus Road the season they were relegated from the Premier League and their fans sung “Brian Clough’s Red Army” for the entire second half.

Fantastic stuff!

It was a terrible shame to hear about the injury suffered by Rowan Vine last week and I wish him well with his recovery.

We certainly felt his loss at the weekend’s game against Preston, not having a player of his quality in your side makes you realise just how good he is. He is someone that can suddenly make an impact, a rare breed of footballer that can have you on the edge of your seat in excitement and his absence was felt heavily on Saturday.

He gets his fair share of stick, I’ve heard him called lazy or unproductive, I prefer to think of him as mercurial! He is a classy player though and a real joy to watch and it’s a great pity we’ll be without him for the remaining games.

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Talking of the Preston game what a hilarious result that was! How often have we sat there and watched Rangers throw away leads over the years knowing exactly what’s coming? It’s happened time after time after time and it was brilliant to actually be on the other end of it for once.

As soon as that board went up for four minutes injury time I just knew we would equalise and when we did I couldn’t stop laughing! It was a travesty of justice for Preston, a thoroughly underserved point for us but good lord it made my night!

It’s a great sign as well that this team just will not give up no matter how poor they are playing. They always say the sign of a good side is to pull results out when you don’t deserve them. Based on that performance we’re on our way to being a bloody good side!

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So we move onto face Hull City this weekend, one of the season’s unlikely trio of promotion chasers. I’m a big fan of small clubs doing well but Jesus what an awful Premier League it’ll be if Bristol City, Stoke and Hull all went up, the other 17 teams would be over the moon I’m sure.

I quite admire Bristol City’s moxy and out of the three of them I’d rather like them to do it, Stoke are Stoke and Hull make such a girly fuss about us it’d be brilliant to throw a spanner in the works on Saturday.

It won’t be easy but it’s great to be going into games like this knowing we’ve got as good a chance as ever to get something out of them. It’s even better not having to go into it crapping yourself about getting to fifty points though!

*****

More doubts have been cast over Luigi De Canio’s future this week and frankly I’m starting to get a bit worried that he isn’t that settled here. Getting mugged on Saturday night wont have helped none either.

He hinted in an Italian interview this week that he would consider his future in the summer. Maybe he’s playing hardball, I hope so but I also heard reports from Italy early this week that we were sounding out former Cagliari manager Marco Giampaolo. I dismissed that as rubbish at the time but who knows?

Hopefully this will all turn out to be nothing more than a poorly translated article as whilst there would be a queue of fantastic managers a mile long wanting to get into this club I don’t think another change would help us right now. On top of that I’ve grown quite fond of the little fella and would hate to see him go.

*****

When Adam Bolder joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan he had the following to say

“I am quite an attacking midfielder, hopefully I can get box to box, get some tackles in and hopefully come up with a few goals.”

I cracked up at the time, an attacking midfielder indeed! Well who’s laughing now eh! Two goals in the Steel City derby must have surely earned him a some sort of place in folklore and probably secured a permanent move in the summer for him too.

Bolder’s exit seems imminent and, like many of the players we’ve said goodbye to lately, he played his part at the time but the club rapidly moved past their abilities.

Normally it’s quite difficult to work out who will go and stay in the summer, this year things look pretty cut and dried, Bolder will surely be followed through the exit door by Rehman, Barker, Walton, Bailey and Nardiello and with doubts hovering over Jake Cole and Damion Stewart’s long term involvement it looks to be another summer of change in the offing.

*****

A massive congratulations to Martin Rowlands on his return to the Irish international set up, Gigi promised to have a word in Giovanni Trapattoni’s shell like if he kept up his good form and it looks like he’s been good to his word!

Rowly still has to make the cut from the initial 40 man squad down to the final 28 but looking down the list of the other midfielders picked he must stand a decent chance of that. He’s in the form of his life right now and it would be richly deserved.

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And finally, I spent some time last week upgrading the blog site to an improved software package and hopefully this will work out better than the old one. Comments are open once again and fingers crossed the spam should be controlled so please feel free to comment on all our posts below and I’ll be back next week with another Ron Around.

Rangers were in The Financial Times this week, the last time they mentioned us was because we’d gone into administration.

Yes the Lotto kit deal has really made waves and, at the risk of repeating myself every bloody week, isn’t it great to see us getting nothing but good press at the moment.

Briatore only seems to have to open his mouth and the media flock to him. Can you remember the last kit deal that was covered every half an hour on Sky Sports? Their twenty four hour rolling news thingy bellowed out that this was the biggest kit deal in Championship history, which probably isn’t so impressive considering The Championship is only three years old and not many teams have changed kit supplier in that time but still…

The figures quoted just sound crazy, twenty million over five years is a fantastic sound bite and, whilst it might not quite work out to that considering it’s performance related, it just goes to show how seriously this club can be taken with the right people in charge.

Flavio has been quick to shoot down any mega spending rumours though, and any chances of “doing a Chelsea” have been given short shrift by Briatore and De Canio this week.

As exciting as it is having all this wealth at Loftus Road I am really pleased with the level headed, baby steps approach our new owners seem to be taking.

Taking the steady and sensible route might not be the most pulse racing approach to running a club but surely it bodes much better for the future that we are keen to build slowly and surely rather than go for boom and possible bust.

Evening folks here we go with another “Ron around” the weeks news, see what I did there? Enough of the cheese, let’s blog…

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It has been a strange old week of transfer talk with Rangers starting the week being linked with the galactico, Luis Figo and ending it being linked with the less glamorous Peter Ramage. I know which one my money is on!

The Figo thing has been fascinating, he has brushed it off of course but it can’t hurt us to be linked with players like this.

My old mucker Mr Skinner likes to remind me that the Chelsea revolution kicked off when they signed Ruud Gullit and it will take us doing something similar to kick start the new Rangers era in earnest.

I have no idea how good Figo would have been, is he past his best? Yes. Would he have the heart for it? No idea, but Christ it would have been good fun finding out.

The number seven shirt wouldn’t have known what hit it, from Matthew Rose and Adam Bolder to bloody Figo!

I have little doubt Flavio made enquiries, and I expect the story got planted in the Daily Mail on purpose but why not, stories like this may or may not pan out but they make the football world sit up and take notice and if it’s not Figo that ends up being our Gullit it will be someone similar and soon.

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I floated the idea in last weeks Ron Around that we would be pretty high in the table if the season had started from the day De Canio took over. It perked up Simon’s interest and out of boredom he prepared a table for me to talk about this week.

However before I could write it up someone else on our message board did the same thing (although in much more detail!), then before you know it they are talking about it on Sky Sports. Does George Gavin read this site?

Anyway turns out we would be fifth which just goes to show what a turnaround Gigi has achieved in his short time here and it gives me a lot of hope for next season.

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Talking of next season, everyone is talking about next season! From De Canio to Blackstock the excitement is building already but with that comes the pressure.

We are already hot favourites to gain promotion next season and I even read that one bookie was quoting odds of 20-1 for us to qualify for the Champions League within the next four years. Staggering.

We have put up with years of bizarre stories and all for the wrong reasons, things don’t get anymore sensible on the Rangers news wires but at least the gossip it positive for a change.

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The day we leave Loftus Road might be a while off but it’s certainly on the cards, even De Canio has been talking about the possibility this week.

He told the official Rangers newspaper, The Daily Mail, “If QPR were to reach the goals which the directors have set, the idea of a more spacious and comfortable stadium would be guaranteed.”

It will be a sad day that we don’t play games at LR, it’s seems more and more inevitable though and I only hope that when it is done we are kept as local as possible and a ground is built that retains some of Loftus Road’s charm and character.

I wonder if Bernie switching the Grand Prix back to the BBC has anything to do with the soon to be available Television Centre?

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Finally a quick good luck to the Youth Team as they get ready for their Youth Association Cup semi final match against Colchester on Good Friday. It’s an away fixture that somehow we are playing at home which should help.

If you want to attend and cheer on the boys the game kicks off at Harlington at 2pm and we’ll have news of the game on the main site later in the day.

Since the Petrol heads took over the column inches surrounding the bizarre juxtaposition off little ol’ run down QPR and the glitterati of the Formula one circuit has threatened rainforests.

Perhaps the most illuminating and most disturbing was the recent Observer Sport Review article where a Rangers supporting journalist was given open access to the world of Briatore’s QPR. Not a combination design to perhaps fully critique this new dawn, but it had its insights none the less.

One was struck by the way Briatore had bought into the whole shoebox Loftus Road thing. He appeared, and I accept that his sense of personal PR may be more acute than messes Thompson, Wright, Davis, Power and Paladini, to intrinsically understand what made us QPR.
In stark contrast was the reaction of ‘the son in law’, his barely disguised contempt at the facilities showed that this director was not likely to put up with it for very long. Any man who’s father in law had lavished £30 million pounds on his wedding and bought him a fifth of a football club is thinking Ashburton Grove not Shepherds Bush.

I suspect that those of you living out towards the M4 will soon find your journey to the R’s improving.

That wasn’t the disturbing part mind, the Home dressing room at Loftus Road proved to be an enlightening section of the piece.
I’d seen it before, a cold, cramped, damp space, usually with Olly gathering his charges and dispensing a mixture of West Country homily and foul expletive. Lots of shouting and bouncing followed, usually, by a drab nil-nil.

Not anymore, now the scene is one of bacchanalian splendour, toga clad figures, wreathed in mud and sweat idle in conversation, muscled frames posed statuesque in languor. Dressing Room or Turkish bath? A modern day Roman Emperor swans around the room, dispensing fine words, an occasional pat or ‘European’ caress. A carefree indulgence that only the truly rich can get away with.
His troops, to a man in awe of this god like figure, display gratitude and insouciance in equal measure. Delicately balancing pasta in one hand and their manhood in the other. What greater display of their prowess, their importance to the team…I eat and I am potent!

Now, call me old fashioned, but I didn’t need to know any of that. Not only am I struggling to cope with the idea of having your tea in the bath (I had a mate who tried to save time by having his Spaghetti Hoops on toast in the bath before he went out, it all went wrong…nightmare), but the unsightly observance of Akos, absent mindedly toying with ‘little Akos’ was at best unnecessary.
We even got photographic evidence…some of those towels seem to be staying up too easily, I know it was a good win, but even I don’t get that carried away.

I know football is constantly changing, media access is all encompassing, but I reckon some things are best left behind closed doors.

Welcome back to another, albeit a little shorter, Ron Around.

It has been a hectic couple of weeks with Rangers playing six times in the last twenty days but hey we made it to the top half of the table! Well for twenty four hours anyway.

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The last couple of games have been both strange and worrying, why is it we fall to pieces as soon as we concede a goal? Luigi De Canio must be tearing his hair out on the training ground at the moment.

Normally I get over a bad game fairly quickly, especially this season when I’ve seen so many positives but Sheffield Wednesday really pissed me off. You could excuse the collapse if it only happened every now and again but it’s happening all too often. What’s more annoying is you can see it coming a mile off!

We tried our best to throw things away against Blackpool as well, how you can end up clinging on for a win with eight defensive minded outfield players on the pitch after being three nil up is beyond me but that’s QPR at the moment.

We have such a soft underbelly it’s untrue, it isn’t like teams carve us up for a period of time then make the breakthrough, they score, we fall apart.

When you watch us play so well for long periods then try and commit football suicide it’s bloody annoying and something we have to sort out because we can’t rely on getting three up just to be sure of winning a game.

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That said what an achievement it has been to get up to twelfth in the league. Gigi has taken us from rock bottom to the top half and if it hadn’t been for some dodgy results we would be right up there scrapping for a play off place.

It’s all the more amazing when you consider we were the last team in The Football League to win a game this season!

It would be interesting to see a table based on games played since Gigi took over, I might try and work that one out for the next edition as I’d love to see how we compare against the rest of division under De Canio.

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I was sad to read on the official site that Frank Sibley has retired from football and is suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Sibley spent so much time at Loftus Road through the 60’s to the 90’s he became part of the furniture. Always an unsung hero he has made a massive contribution to the club on and off the pitch across four decades and I wish him well for the future.

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Performance manager Joe Dunbar has left the club today giving credence to the rumours that Gareth Ainsworth has now been installed as De Canio’s deputy.

The Kilburn Times reported that he has signed a new contract in a player/coach role although there has been nothing official said on that yet.

If true that can only be good news, Wild Thing seems like an infectious bugger to be around and hopefully that’ll rub off well on the players. Good luck to him.

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Finally I’ve had to disable the comments section on the blog site for now, it seems there is no stopping crazy Chinese Viagra sellers whatever you do!

If you want to get in touch the email remains the same, ron@qprnet.com

‘Till next time….