The base level

Derby 1 Queens Park Rangers 0

Queens Park Rangers 1 Reading 3

If you ask me who my idol is that would not be a tough question to answer. If I were still in my early teens I would probably have said Madonna. But as I get older and the rose-tinted spectacles disappear I'd say my Dad was probably someone I looked up to more than anyone else. If you ask any of his friends people will say he is one of the most intelligent men they have ever known. It is true that he is well-read, clever and a bit of a know-it-all. He is rather annoying to play general knowledge quizzes with because he is the first to put his hand up all the time, and he'll respond for the other team if he knows the answer.

And as he turns 60 this year he is still out there in the working world working harder than I've ever seen before. He missed today's match against Reading as he is somewhere on the other side of the world working on new business. He sent us a message late at night on a Saturday saying he was in his hotel room working away. It is sometimes hard to believe that he has achieved everything he has simply because he works hard. At school he got prizes for everything and played almost every single sport well: rugby, cricket, cross country. And now he's this amazing triathlete who even competed for a semi-pro veteran place last year. It's a wonderful thing, these individual achievements, for a daughter to look up to. The funny thing about my Dad is that he'll be the last to say he's the most intelligent, and the first to say he works the hardest.

This week I've thought a lot about individuals and what they contribute to teams. Today was an important day as the club welcomed Tony Mills who is a terminal cancer patient for a special day out to see the Rs. I believe the journey started a few weeks ago when someone tweeted Joey Barton about him and Joey suggested organising the day for him to come and get special VIP treatment at Loftus Road. I saw the videos, as did everyone else, on Youtube, and witnessed how Joey travelled down to Eastbourne on Thursday to surprise Tony. He sat with him and his family, had a cup of tea, and made polite conversation to a man who is very very unwell. I had tears in my eyes. Being there for people when they aren't well one of the hardest things in life, never mind for someone you barely know. For me, it shows great strength of character, and I am shocked by some of the comments people made about a 'PR' stunt affair, and why the club would send a 'low-life' like Barton and not someone else. I am not the easiest person to turn when it comes to judging people's characters, but I would also be a complete hypocrite if I didn't give someone a chance who obviously makes an effort be it on the pitch (which surely by now we have seen and must admit to), or off it. I have made many mistakes in my own life and have been a horrible person to know at times. If people didn't give me a chance I would be very far from the  happier place I am now.

However, one or some individuals making an effort, unfortunately, does not equal a winning team. And on the pitch today - we saw signs of a lack of confidence and a sloppy disorganised approach. The bust-up that happened mid-match between Dunne and Benny was not emblematic of a team in it together. And I just wonder whether signs of a side of a few players who think they are better than they are (as per last season) are starting to creep in? Once we have this, it is very much like a cancer, and whatever is holding back what should be a vision of togetherness, has got to be sorted out if we don't want a very embarrassing end to our season.

For, it seems to me that in order for a team to work, we do not need players with Premier League experience who look wonderful on paper. We have this and it is clearly not working. What we do need is a set of individuals who are prepared to work harder than they currently are, with one vision and one goal. Interestingly, Stuart Pearce came to our office with Talksport this week to talk about teams and creating success. Someone asked Pearce - 'what would you do, if Joey Barton was in your team'. This person was obviously not a QPR supporter because frankly most of us don't have a problem with him at the moment. Nevertheless Pearce responded by saying that he didn't necessarily like a lot of things about Joey. He also went on to say, he was never the best, most skilful or technical player. But that in his Man City days, Joey was one of the hardest working: in early at training, last out. Constantly practising drills etc etc. It is somewhat hard to believe when he (bar today's rather worrying performance), appears to be one of our most gifted midfielders.

I believe that it is easy for us to forget that to succeed in anything, including football, only a modicum of talent is actually required. And once you have that base level - anything is achievable if you work hard or want it hard enough. I suppose you could look at many an entrepreneur and find that many weren't necessarily 'academic' but had their eye on a prize and worked darn hard to get it. Without doubt, it is also unlikely that one would be able to achieve in life without the support of others who shared that same goal. Just look at the Olympics when athletes who win a gold medal are the first to praise those trainers, physios and their family for making it happen.

I am not saying that individuals never make a difference. But if one or two people are not firing on all cylinders (and I am not saying I know who they are), something has to be done for the benefit of the team. Reading on paper are a good team, but they don't have the so-called 'pedigree' that we do. But so what? They had a goal, a vision and they had togetherness. With ten men they still dominated the game. They, unlike us, have been managed very well in recent times.

Sadly, if one or two cogs in the wheel break down it can be a huge struggle to get back on track. And without Charlie, Danny and Matty I personally feel a little bereft...and I wonder whether the players feel this too? So I want to know, just how is this being managed? How will the team be coached to believe they are capable of winning again?

I do not have the answer to this, except to say that some guts are involved and perhaps some tough decisions need to be made. While Tony Mills' time is limited, the players and staff need to spend time they have working even harder if they want to play better. Maybe they can take inspiration from fighters like Tony Mills.

A little less bickering would be nice, and a few more corny huddles will make me feel confident in QPR. Win, lose or draw I'd like to see a team playing once again.

Six tips for sad QPR fans

Arsenal 1 Queens Park Rangers 0

Queens Park Rangers 1 Reading 1

Stoke 1 Queens Park Rangers 0

It's bad. It's really bad. It's so bad I'm almost lost for words. Perhaps it's not so much that it's such appalling football, but the fact that it is so relentless. Eleven matches in, not a single win to keep hopes alive, to provide us with an ounce of positive feeling. This situation is incomparable to last season. At least our losses were punctured with home wins. The last performance of any decent quality that I can recall was against Tottenham and we didn't even manage to win that.

It wouldn't  be fair to write a match report for yesterday's game. I was, I suppose somewhat thankfully, 8 hours ahead in Manila enjoying the music of a local band called Session Road with some old pals. I was receiving text updates from my father and even through the various snippets of news it was obvious we were just following the same relentless pattern. And as I look down the list of results so far, all our matches bar the Man City and Swansea ones, show us losing by one goal. This simply affirms the fact that we are making stupid mistakes; that we miss an out and out striker, and that while we are dominating for long periods, we don't seem to have the heart nor that final ounce of skill to be follow through with such possession and score goals. It's as if we lack that vital bit of energy to be able to complete the task at hand. Many fans are calling the problem a lack of passion, and I suppose it's fair also to pine for the old days when we had players who supported the club as well; players for whom the club really meant something.

Unfortunately, we cannot expect that from the current set. But what we should expect is a level of commitment. They bought in to the club, they bought in to the 'long-term project'.  Surely the 'long-term project' should be on their minds as we enter the final third of each match in which we are either still drawing or losing by one goal? Perhaps 'long-term project' is just too 'long-term' and lofty an idea for these chaps.

I have no answers, so quite frankly I'm not going to dwell on it, nor continue to moan.What I would like to propose is Six Top Tips for us QPR fans to cheer ourselves up.

1. Turn the table upside down

This has an immediate and obvious impact. Turning QPR into the top team in the country and putting Manchester Utd and Chelsea in the relegation zone. Be warned though, the impact only lasts for a few seconds and remembering the reality can be rather a harsh experience. A bit like eating a massive bowl of pasta or rice and coming down a few minutes later from the carbo high.

2. Watch Homeland and Hunted

Two of the best TV series being aired in the UK at the moment portraying two of the most gutsy female characters- both fighting for their own justice. Just be careful not to assume that you'll be seeing the same amount of commitment from our own team.

3. Start Planning Christmas

Yes, I am actually advocating that planning Christmas festivities, both at home at at the office might be a suitable distraction. Among several things you can do you can start thinking about the crap gifts you will be buying for £5 in the office Secret Santa. Perhaps a QPR woolly hat for a Chelsea or Utd fan? This strategy does have risks though, you will be reminded of the fact that there are 4 games over the holiday period.

4. Slag off Chelsea

This strategy will allow you to feel superior. There are many things that should make us feel much better about supporting a team like QPR:
a. We do not have a problem with players shouting racist abuse at others
b. We are still a family club with a family atmosphere
c. We really are based in West London and not South West London
d. We serve much better pies

5. Delete qpr.co.uk from your favourites and unfollow @officialqpr

This will not be easy and is a very drastic move. This is not recommended unless you are already going to games regularly as you may get deep withdrawal systems that could shock the system in spite of the constant bad news.

6. Think of Joey Barton

An odd strategy perhaps, and one that goes against several of my posts that promised not to speak of him again. However, given the current circumstance I revive his ghost to make a point about the fact that we should be thankful at the very least that this idiot is no longer at the club. Sadly, we are still stuck with his ongoing appetite for attention through the various newspaper and magazine interviews but at least we can snigger from afar instead of bemoan his presence at Loftus Road.

Sleepy Giants

Queens Park Rangers 2 Reading 3

Queens Park Rangers 1 West Ham 2

West Bromwich Albion 3 Queens Park Rangers 2

AND

A review of  Sleeping Giant: An Indian Football Story

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post and I owe you all this bumper issue. Sadly, there isn't a lot to celebrate. Looking at the list above these were matches that we were meant to win and where we were meant to pick up points. And while I know we never do well in any cup runs, I did feel a moment of hope when we drew the 'fake hoops' that perhaps we'd defy our poor record for the first time in a long time.

The busy fixture list makes the Reading game seem like a distant memory in all honesty. But at that stage, the Tottenham game was still fresh in my mind and I was prepared to forgive the generally poor Rs performance on Wednesday night and count it off as a bit of a blip.

So by the time we played West Ham, I, like many others was filled with a great sense of optimism. We were poorly rewarded for our hope and our support. After a hectic Monday at work, I rushed over to Loftus Road to meet two friends from the dark side (West Ham supporters) who were going to sit with me in the Upper Loft. Shoot me if you like for bringing them along. I wouldn't have if I didn't know that QPR was their 'second team'. I don't really believe in that, and I am hopeful that I can turn them to support a decent family club like QPR (watch this space). So while I was absolutely miffed that we let in a horrific soft goal I must say I was also in fits of laughter as I watched my friend stand up and punch the air saying 'damn, ridiculous.' It was fabulous acting. Not normally known for drinking on a school night and after 3 pints I was soon annoying everyone around me as I ran down to the ladies at 40 minutes. I knew I wouldn't miss much that was any good, and I was right.

One pie, and one a half pint later, I watched as Taarabt and Diakite fired up the team that appeared to pretty sleepy. All of us knew Diakite was going to get in trouble, and we were right. It was pure misery. Not only we were defensively poor, but we were completely over run in midfield. And while I don't proclaim to be a tactician by any stretch of the imagination I do believe Mark Hughes didn't get it right on the night. And I do not believe that being down to ten men lost us the game. We lost that game the moment West Ham scored their first goal.

We will continue to ask questions as fans. We're seven games in, we sit at the bottom of the table. And what excuse do we have given the class of players we have playing for us? The boys appear to be in a deep slumber, at the cost of points on the board. Surely questions need to be asked about why the team is not gelling (outside of the injury problems), and whether they have the right attitude.

So now, I turn to my mid-week jaunt at the Everyman in Belsize Park. For some reason, the Premiere of a new Docu-Film by Ad Hoc Films (the producers of The Four Year Plan) did not get a lot of PR with QPR fans. I am not familiar with the details of the relationship between the makers and QPR but can surmise that having built the relationship with the club for the first film all parties wanted to milk the opportunity as much as possible with the second film. Sleeping Giant is a documentary film about the history of football in India and how it has suffered over the past fifty years due to the growth of the popularity of cricket. It tells the story through a set-up in which two boys from Mumbai are picked out of 2,000 to play for the QPR Youth Team under the leadership of Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham.

As well as learning that Indian football used to be massive, and that while they qualified for the World Cup in 1950 the team then withdrew as they were not allowed to play barefoot, I got a real sense of the frustration at every level in India that football isn't getting the funding and infrastructure it needs to progress. But what really came through for me was the importance of the right kind of coaching and guidance that footballers at an early age need in order to feel they have a chance of progressing to a decent professional level.

In a touching scene filmed on the first day of training back at Harlington you can hear Steve Gallen telling the lads not to let the new boys fall behind as they warm up. This is in full knowledge that the two boys are not as physically fit or as physically built up as the lads in London. And while, in the ensuing Q&A we had that night, the panel talked about cultural differences in terms of body-shape and physiology and the need for players from around the world to adapt their style and training to suit a level of play (using the Japanese leagues as an example), it seems that Steve truly believes that attitude, intelligence, personality and communication makes all the difference.

It was interesting to hear that from him. And interesting to see also that the boy they felt was both technically adept and a bit more vocal at the beginning of their journey, ended up deciding to settle for splitting his time between football and engineering. Whilst the other boy who was rather lost and quiet for the first four weeks actually found in himself when he returned home, a real hunger to succeed and play football and has now taken part in international tournaments for his age group. It took the trip to London and a bit of time thereafter to open his eyes and wake him up.

Apart from realising that Steve Gallen is a seriously good bloke who obviously cares very much about the boys that he coaches I also learned that QPR's first team seriously lacks attitude, personality and communication skills. No I don't want Joey Barton back, and I am not sure that it's passion or commitment I am asking for either. But I'm starting to wonder just how much attitude, intelligence, personality and ability to communicate our players really have? And I am also starting to wonder after this latest 3-2 loss, just how much it is going to take to wake them up.

But you can't make people have intelligence, or personalities. People are born with these attributes aren't they? Or maybe there is a chance to mould people...I hate to say it, but having a bit of personality in Warnock must have filtered through to the boys back in the days when we were in the Championship and when we were promoted. Now, apart from the odd one or two we look positively zombie-like. I am almost hoping that the whole of the first team (captain Park included) get caught smoking shisha pipes and doing jager bombs together in some dodgy London club tonight AND that there's loads of controversy about it. Then at least I'll know they are human and need to let off steam. And I'll know that they might just want to come back and prove they really are a football team and not a group of individual players that are not as good as they should be.