For some reason, our manager John Gregory seems to have come in for a lot of unjustified stick recently.
I find the talk of John Gregory being under pressure absurd.
Last season, the signings of Michael Mancienne, Jimmy Smith, Danny Cullip, Lee Camp and Adam Bolder were a stroke of genius and were the catalyst for our survival in the Championship. Some will argue that Smith was ineffective, but the reality is, he scored a lot of important goals for the club.
Why do people keep questioning the money or players Gregory has acquired in the past? With any signing you make, it’s always a risk, but in the present his signings have been nothing short of remarkable considering the type of quality we were bringing in prior to his arrival.
QPR were and still are quite clearly a club that has very little structure and organisation on various levels. The quality, professionalism and the foundations within have been severely lacking over the last decade.
Part of this has come about through bad management, but is also a resource problem, because we’ve not had the necessary funds to develop a plan of action to tackle these issues, or we’ve not had the right experience on board, to identify or do something about it.
This season, fair enough, we’ve had a tough old start for various reasons and we’ve not got the results we wanted. We shouldn’t be making excuses, but there has been a lot going on and even if there hadn’t, it’s too early to be getting on the manager or the teams back. I feel like we’re just one win away from igniting our season and we’re going to need to get behind the team as much as we can to make sure that happens sooner rather than later.
I also find it unusual that people keep dragging up Gregory’s track record at previous clubs. There is very little point in looking at win ratios for managers. Unless you’re one of the few elite, the statistics are never going to look that impressive and are misleading to the quality of the work being carried out at a club. Even Sir Alex Ferguson has only won just over 57% of his games at Manchester United and what a manager he is.
John, you are doing a fantastic job and as a QPR fan, I want you to know that. There’s a lot more to running and organising a football club than what happens out on the pitch, and your focus had to be there last season because we were in serious trouble and hanging on by the skin of our teeth. You could only work with what you had available to you and deserve much credit for guiding the team to safety.
Under the circumstances, to have kept us up in the Championship was an amazing achievement and now you deserve a chance to analyse those foundations and work out what really needs to be done so this club can prosper.
You’ve helped restore some dignity and pride back in our club and have set us off in the right direction again. I have no doubt in my mind that whatever happens, for the period of time you’re in charge, it’s going to be for the benefit of our future and a very necessary part of our evolution.
I didn’t feel like we were a proper football club before you came in, and I don’t think you felt that way about us either. We’re not quite a proper football club yet, but I know you’ve set us off on our way – and that was before the potential investment arrived. That experience has been vital for our survival and future.
Back when you were managing Wycombe Wanderers, some of my friends were Youth players at the club. They told me back then that the place was amazing when you were around and involved, but when you left, it all went downhill and the focus from the new management moved solely onto the first-team squad. The *proper* football club feeling evaporated fast for them, but I know while you’re here, that’s not going to be the case for us.
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