In the 16th of a series of pre-season reports, HarryfromBath assesses the mood around the Championship clubs by delving into their forums, looking here at how things have progressed at Loftus Road this summer. Fulham and Brentford will follow later today with all of the teams in the division covered by the start of the season.

“Have we ever started a season with such pessimism?”, “It has been a while, Premier League apart, that we have gone into a season with such low expectations. Worrying times”, “We are in a mini-league of six teams for the drop”, “Without reinforcements it will be a hard, disappointing season.”

“A weak squad and a poor manager only leads to disaster.” A poll on one Hoops’ forum has a mere four per cent of fans predicting a top-six finish this season with 17 per cent forecasting relegation to League One. Most West Londoners — 41 per cent — believe that their side will “just stay up”.

“I will be honest and say I would find a finish anywhere above 17th a bonus”, “I think we will stay up but 50 points seems a long way off as I write”, “I voted to stay up on the basis that Holloway will go and someone will come in and steady the shop”, “I think that we are in for a real struggle this year.”

Ian Holloway

“If we stay up it will be no thanks to Holloway, who will no doubt mess with team selections because he doesn’t have a Scooby about what his best team is, or how to play them”, “If he stays in charge for the whole season, we will manage 45 points, so that means relegation”, “It won’t be pretty.”

Ian Holloway

“As long as Holloway doesn’t mess about with formations or play people out of position.” Rangers mistrust their manager’s ability to play a settled team and formation. Tinkering in last season’s run-in was blamed for a run of seven defeats in their last eight games, culminating in a 4-0 loss at Norwich.

“I just can’t see past the last few games of last season and where the improvement is coming from. It could be that Holloway was experimenting and people took their foot off the gas. It nearly cost us and it’s going to take a lot to get my confidence back”, “With him in charge, I sadly see us dropping.”

“I have no faith in Holloway not meddling”, “His record is indefensible, 17 defeats in 31 games with six losses on the spin twice and four clean sheets”, “I said at the end of last season that we would be relegated this year. Nothing has changed my mind, poor players, a poor team and a poor manager.”

A Very Quiet Transfer Window

“We barely survived last season with basically the same squad.” Fans have been unnerved by the club’s lack of transfer activity this summer. Rangers have made just one signing in this transfer window, with 24-year-old midfielder Josh Scowen arriving from Barnsley on a three-year contract.

Karl Henry

Four players have departed Loftus Road this summer. Midfielders Ben Gladwin (to Blackburn) and Michael Doughty (to Peterborough) have switched to League One clubs, while veteran Karl Henry is a free agent at the time of writing. Teenage winger Josh Bowler has been snapped up by Everton.

Fans have been impressed by Scowen, who joined on a free transfer having turned down a deal at Oakwell. “How good does this lad look? He was on his own planet in terms of midfield vision, tackling and a little bit of Faurlin’s passing skill. He could be a very important player with the right partner”, “He reads the game well and looks to have a goal in him.”

Pre-Season Defeats

“We have had an extended pre-season with no signs of improvement.” After beating Bromley 4-0, the Hoops have lost six warm-up games on the spin. Two Reading sides beat them on the same day, 5-2 and 2-1, and they suffered a 4-2 reverse away to Peterborough before travelling to Germany.

They fared no better in Europe, losing 3-2 to one-time Town conquerors Lokomotiv Leipzig and then succumbing 2-1 at Union Berlin. Their final match saw them beaten 1-0 at home to Bournemouth in a commemorative match to raise funds for Hoops legend Stan Bowles, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

Holloway has used a variety of formations in pre-season and set the starting XI for the Cherries’ game (above) with wing-backs. Pawel Wzsolek ended up playing what was a full-back role under pressure in a first half dominated by the visitors who finally took the lead through Jordan Ibe on 41 minutes.

“With the current players we have, we can only play 4-5-1.” Fans felt that the team which concluded the game (above) has a greater solidity, although the second half was punctuated by substitutions. “The biggest problem was that we lost possession too easily and the midfield wasn’t strong enough.”

Left back Jake Bidwell (stomach bug), midfielder Jordan Cousins (hamstring) and centre-back Grant Hall (tendinitis) were unavailable. Many Hoops are also pleased to see that centre-back Steven Caulker is back in training after being away from the side with depression and addiction problems.

More Firepower Needed

“What the hell are we going to do up front?”, “I cannot see where the goals are going to come from”, “We just need a powerful striker and we could be safe, but we are still toothless”, “Unless we sign a forward and wingers I struggle to see how we will regularly score more than two goals in a game.”

Conor Washington

There is a wide consensus on the area which needs strengthening. “This team desperately needs a goalscorer and some good service”, “Not enough get into the box to support the forwards”, “Lots of us are worried about the lack of firepower. Neither Smith nor Washington are Championship standard.”

“Matt Smith has his heart in the right place and works hard but is poor. Let’s be honest, Idrissa Sylla is as mad as a bag of frogs and isn’t the answer to anything. Conor Washington isn’t the real deal at this level and is dominated by centre-backs. Tyrone Mings had him in his pocket with room to spare.”

Our Current Demise

“The day owner Tony Fernandes goes I will open a bottle of bubbly. A nice man with his heart in the right place? Absolutely. A clueless, gung-ho irresponsible fool? Absolutely.” Given the club’s lack of funds and staring a difficult campaign in the face, Hoops have been discussing their recent failings.

Ferdinand and Fernandes

“It beggars belief that we have gone from having the football world at our feet to having no money to spend for the foreseeable future and a Championship relegation battle”, “Southampton were promoted the following season after we went up and are now playing Europa League football.”

“Fernandes had his heart in the right place but appointed poor people on reputations and they all flopped”, “Sacking Neil Warnock in January 2012 was the biggest mistake”, “We wasted a quarter of a billion pounds to become worse than we were. I can never see us getting the same chance again.”

Websites

The best Rangers website for interesting blogs and forum comment is our sister site Loft for Words.

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@HarryFromBath

Photo: Action Images

jdtractor96 added 11:45 - Aug 1 Interesting read, thanks Harry. It seems nailed on that they will be scrapping to avoid relegation. I've always rated Holloway as a manager but their folk seem to hate him - would they like Mick in a swap deal?
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BlueNomad added 12:47 - Aug 1 Don't want Holloway here!
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Warkys_Tash added 13:49 - Aug 1 @HarryfromBath. Once again many thanks for a top write up Harry, I look forward to these pre-season and its good to know Town fans aren't along in their footy worries. From reading that I would much rather been Towns position than QPR and thats stretching it a bit! 'A quarter of a billion to be worse than we were' - WOW! I remember only a few seasons ago 'Money Bags' QPR were throwing money at reaching the PL, then what happened, an awful season, followed by relegation, a struggle in the Champ. And now not an apparent pot to pee in! :-)

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carlo88 added 15:33 - Aug 1 The world seems a more sensible place now QPR are rubbish again.
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