Slow and steady at QPR - or should they try to buy success
by Graham Fisher
A few million quid on a decent striker might have made all the difference to the Super Hoops as they crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Coventry on Saturday. Maybe their famously wealthy owners are taking prudence a little too far.
I’m not going to talk about the ''goal'' that Reading were awarded at my beloved Watford on Saturday because I do not believe that writers should resort to using profanities and there is no way I can write about it without swearing.
Instead, I want to talk about Queens Park Rangers. They suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat at Coventry on Saturday, leaving them in fourth place with 13 points from seven games.
In almost any other season QPR fans would be absolutely thrilled with the start they have made. I just wonder if the fans are so happy this year after the astonishing names and money that came into the club a few months ago.
It is obviously a sensible policy to build slowly and try to develop a success that is sustainable. That may well be what the owners of the club are trying to do. The temptation would be to spend several million pounds and buy your way to success. The problem with doing that is that if success is not immediate, the situation can become pretty desperate. Watford have still not fully recovered from the attempt to buy success with Gianluca Vialli and Ray Wilkins.
Having agreed that the board and the club are adopting a sensible approach, I can’t help but feel that if I was a QPR fan, I would be a little disappointed that more money hadn’t been spent.
Dexter Blackstock, for example, is an excellent Championship striker, but his misses on Saturday cost the side dear. A small outlay of a few million quid from the owners of the club could have bought in a striker who would almost certainly have taken those chances and won the game. It is a difficult balancing act, but I think if I was a fan I would want more.
