Equally cursed and blessed – my season as a QPR supporter
My mild-mannered QPR-supporting friend angrily texted me yesterday instead of "chinning" a colleague that had teased him about Rangers being stripped of promotion.
Loyal supporters: QPR fans have endured a rocky 15 years, and now face an anxious wait when they should be celebrating Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Thom Gibbs 11:37AM BST 06 May 2011
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To understand his vitriol you've got to know about the 15 years since we were last in the Premier League.
A potted history: relegation, administration, relegation again, losing to a works team named Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup, gun plots in the boardroom, Ian Holloway being unceremoniously ousted via gardening leave, the murder of 15-year-old youth teamer Kiyan Prince, an ugly brawl against China's youth side, the death of 19-year-old striker Ray Jones in a car accident, a dramatic megabucks takeover with the new owners being lauded as heroes, heroic new owners becoming figures of hatred after employing 11 managers in four years, and a constant nagging feeling that the next farce is waiting just around the corner.
That litany of ridiculous and tragic situations is why taking the mickey out of a QPR fan is likely to cause a reaction akin to Michael Douglas' in Falling Down.
We've mellowed this season, because it's been an uncharacteristically flawless campaign. Neil Warnock has moulded a side permanently set to "graft" and built his team around Adel Taarabt whose impudence has given me a dozen footballing memories I'll treasure for the rest of my life.
This year's is a listless Championship, devoid of the pacesetting behemoths of previous seasons but QPR have led from the start, were unbeaten for the first 19 games of the season and have kept a club record 25 clean sheets.
This just isn't the way QPR do things. I'm wary of supporters ascribing characteristics to their clubs – how can any organisation with such frequent turnover of staff expect to maintain a set of traits? – but Rangers fans more than most know what it's like for their club to build you up before knocking you down, usually embarrassingly.
The unbeaten record looked doomed as early the fourth game of the season away at Derby. 2-0 down and playing terribly after an hour - we were back to the familiar feeling of dashed hopes. To my shame, I suggested leaving early to beat the traffic. I'm delighted my father decided he couldn't be bothered to stand up and we stayed to see two ridiculously late goals secure a point. It set the tone for the rest of the season – rarely spectacular but high on jubilant result-grinding.
Similar triumphs followed: a last-minute winner at Crystal Palace, an undeserved draw on a Friday night at Bristol City, Adel Taarabt producing a legitimately magical moment to see off closest challengers Cardiff at home.
I was there for all of them, relearning the giddy feeling of expecting a win before away games, anticipating home games in a way I haven't since Andy Sinton was an England international and Les Ferdinand was tearing up the Premier League in 1992/93, telling anyone that would listen that it was our year.
Of course, this was folly. A convoluted set of administrative errors, murky transfer fee massaging and dreaded third party ownership emerged and Rangers' glorious season picked up a niggling injury.
For what it's worth I'm not overly concerned about the verdict, whenever it arrives. At least that's what I'm telling myself as I frantically refresh Twitter and news wires every 10 minutes to see if there's any shred of new news.
It's the timing that rankles. The FA were aware there was a problem in September, brought the charges in March and have now put off the verdict until after the end of the season.
The blame surely lies with the club as much as the governing body, and Rangers deserve to be punished if found guilty.
Such stoic reasoning is beside the point. Unless you support a handful of clubs, moments like this are once-in-a-decade. This should be our Birmingham winning the League Cup, our Norwich beating Bayern Munich, our Vauxhall Motors beating QPR
Now ... nothing. Indecision, uncertainty, and frustration that QPR's clearest triumph in the 20 years I've been watching them is asterisked by the spectre of potential sanctions over low-level dodgy dealings.
The celebrations at Vicarage Road as we clinched the Championship last weekend certainly did not feel muted and I hope there's a similar atmosphere of wilful denial at Loftus Road tomorrow when we receive the trophy.
Whatever the outcome, this is a chance for Rangers to properly examine themselves. A club doesn't just lurch from one crisis to the next for no reason, and whatever the result of the hearing it should mark a time for QPR to sort out their internal affairs.
Lakshmi Mittal underlings Ishan Saksena and Amit Bhatia have put the PR back in QPR, but erratic chairman and former agent Gianni Paladini still seems to be holding too much power at Loftus Road.
If Rangers are promoted (as they should be - anything less would be a travesty given their dominance this season) it's an opportunity to re-establish themselves in the upper tier, shed their reputation as a perennial crisis club, and maybe, just maybe, win an FA Cup game for the first time since 2001.
qpr fans, kiyan prince, neil warnock, frequent turnover, vauxhall motors, cup gun, tragic situations, ray jones, loyal supporters, potted history, clean sheets, impudence, behemoths, vitriol, michael douglas, litany, fa cup, boardroom, rest of my life, graft
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