Do we think the new manager is going to be announced by the end of this month?
Surely so...!? As the season is starting early this year they must sort this out ASAP to get the pre-season schedule sorted, player contracts sorted, and transfers in sorted. The club is rumoured to have made this decision a while back, so I assumed they were after a seamless transition. That is certainly not the case though! Instead we have an unsettling wait - for the fans, the players, and the club staff.
What's everyone's thoughts on Les Ferdinand as Director of Football?
His tenure has really been a mixed bag in terms of on the pitch, off the pitch has been a really positive don't get me wrong but recruitment with management and players, most of the time it's not highlighting our aim for the future of the club. It is a risk deciding to make a change, going for a younger approach rather than experience. I just want more clarity as a supporter, give us something we can look forward too for many seasons ahead.
Good question qprfcfromwhitecity ! The problem is that we, the fans, still have little idea of the extent of Les Ferdinand's role. Does he select the prospective players for transfer bids all alone, and then advise Lee Hoos and the manager/coach? Does he, as Nedum Onuoha suggests, come into the dressing room when the team has lost and make comments? Does he push the manager/coach to use certain players - especially those from the Development side? After all this time, I still have no idea of how the hierarchy works!
That's some good points, some fans think Les will want to appoint a "yes" man so he runs the club his way but his role is to only appoint the right man for the job and back him as much as he can, he can't influence with tactics and game management. I don't think he goes into the dressing room as much as he should do and his communication was with the manager. I feel he's focusing on off the pitch situations rather than on the pitch. I understand you want to work with Lee Hoos and improve the club as a good attraction but you got to balance it and the fans do want to excitement very soon cause it's nearly a decade since we was last in the Premier League.
What's everyone's thoughts on Les Ferdinand as Director of Football?
His tenure has really been a mixed bag in terms of on the pitch, off the pitch has been a really positive don't get me wrong but recruitment with management and players, most of the time it's not highlighting our aim for the future of the club. It is a risk deciding to make a change, going for a younger approach rather than experience. I just want more clarity as a supporter, give us something we can look forward too for many seasons ahead.
One thing is for sure... his own job hinges on this appointment going well. He needs this to work out big time. Sacking a popular manager means his position will be under massive scrutiny now. I can see Les being shown the door if this appointment doesn't go very well.
I like what he managed to achieve since he came in cutting the wage bill whilst generally keeping us moving forwards and moving towards an ethos of attacking football and trying to develop younger players... but I think they have lost their way a little bit, getting stuck between wanting promotion but also still wanting to give young players a chance. It's hard to achieve both.
Yeah I think us as fans deserve to know a lot more what are our ambitions. I think back when we were struggling near the bottom of the league in December 2020, Les decided to keep Warburton cause he was the right man to push up forward despite our position in the league. He has now changed his tune, lets him go and looks like he's want to be a part influencer alongside the manager. His intentions was us to get playoffs last season, Mark didn't unfortunately due to injuries and lack of depth, the question is what really happened from January? Did he really back Mark then? I feel there was plenty of tension between them.
I suspect that next season will be about regrouping. We pushed the boat out to try to get promotion and it didn’t happen. Now we’ll have to make cuts to stay within FFP. We will surely sell at least one of our stars and bring in some free/cheap players from lower leagues or out of favour at other clubs.
If I’m right, it is no surprise that the club isn’t publicising the fact.
What's everyone's thoughts on Les Ferdinand as Director of Football?
His tenure has really been a mixed bag in terms of on the pitch, off the pitch has been a really positive don't get me wrong but recruitment with management and players, most of the time it's not highlighting our aim for the future of the club. It is a risk deciding to make a change, going for a younger approach rather than experience. I just want more clarity as a supporter, give us something we can look forward too for many seasons ahead.
I remain convinced that he was only appointed to deflect the flak away from TF and RG. When Ferdinand arrived in 2015 the owners had totally mismanaged the club for 4 years, had authorised Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp to spend all the clubs Premiership money and knew that with a FFP fine looming they had to find a patsy to keep the fans off their backs.
TF and RG knew that with no money in the bank and a possible big fine and or a points deduction the QPR future was looking bleak. As is the TF and RG way they needed some smoke and mirrors to take away from all the criticism they were getting. What better way to deflect all that fan anger than to appoint a club legend as DoF because the owners would now have a buffer between them and the fans.
In reality I believe that Sir Les has very little power and is just a figurehead. On a day to day basis Lee Hoos runs the club and the major footballing decisions such as manager appointments are made by the owners. Whether Sir Les has the negotiating skills to deal with the players and their agents over contracts etc., who knows.
Personally I see Les as a glorified club scout who gets sent out to view the occasional possible signing and act as the head of propaganda for TF.
My opinion is that Les is being used by the owners and I just hope his reputation as a club legend won't be tarnished.
Again some good points, fans won't forget Tony and Ruben put us in a massive hole in terms of spending a lot of money in the Prem and having to pay a big fine, putting us into a position where we have to work around FFP and can't use the funds for a player which could be massive difference on the pitch. If this is the case, let the scouts do their job and he should be focusing on backing our next manager and progress what we did under Warburton. Some fans would argue he's not good enough to be director of football from what he's done to effect on the pitch?
It seems clear that Dave Mc has very close ties to the people who make the decisions. I wonder if it's those decision makers who have asked him to quell the fans concerns over Sherwood and Campbell by stating that neither is in the running to become manager.
By working with the owners it becomes a win win because he will then get early notification when they actually appoint someone. In fact Dave Mc may already know who the club wants as their first choice but has been sworn to secrecy.
They could well be waiting until after the L1 play-offs this weekend before approaching Ainsworth. Probably more chance of getting him if Wycombe don't make it up!
But would you call ainsworth a head coach He’s more a hands on get your guitar out,hey man person Done a great job at Wycombe from top to bottom Made superstars of some of our youth players look where eze is now after going on loan to Wycombe I wouldn’t complain if he come to us as he is still young and hopefully would have some fresh ideas,the last time he came up with Wycombe he had virtually no budget at all So would be unfair to judge him on the last time he came up with Wycombe
Last Edit: May 20, 2022 7:03:41 GMT by singlespeed
I love Ainsworth and very much like when Ian Holloway came in I think he'd galvanise the support and give a feelgood factor.
But - and this one we wouldn't know the answer to until he's been here a few months - does he fit the style of football? We are meant to now have a set model and style and we should sign players and hire the manager to fit in with that. Does Ainsworth do that? That's the big question mark... has he played a style of football at Wycombe to get results with the players he had at his disposal? Can he play it primarily on the ground and on the front foot based about possession?
