John Gregory Sacked as QPR Manager

[Atouk]

New ownership who set a four-year target for the Premier League. No wins yet this season. 1-5 loss on Saturday. I guess it all adds up... John Gregory has been sacked as manager of QPR.

http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1124262,00.html

From the club website:

QPR Chairman, Gianni Paladini, said: "The Club would like to thank John for everything he has done during a difficult period as Manager, in particular for saving us from relegation last season.

"However, the performances and results this season have not met with our expectations. The league table does not lie.

"The Club have decided to act swiftly in time to turn things around for the remainder of the season.

"Mick will be Caretaker Manager for Wednesday's away game at Colchester and a further announcement about the post will be made after that.

"Everyone at QPR wants to wish John good luck and success in the future. In the meantime, Mick and the entire team are focused on achieving the Club's first win of the season at Colchester."

The Club will be making no further comment at this stage.

[Atouk]

According to someone on the dot.org board, the Skybet odds for new manager are:

Next QPR Manager - Next Permanent Manager (Monday October 1st, 18:00)
Vialli L 4/1
Allen M 4/1
Barese F 5/1
Harford M 7/1
Wilkins R 12/1
Jewell P 12/1
Merson P 16/1
O Leary D 16/1
Keegan K 20/1
Warnock N 12/1
Reid P 20/1

[QPR Kevin H]

The Evening Standard is already crowning Vialli the favorite. I'm sure he's the owners choice - but does he want the job...?

I can't imagine the new owners wouldn't go to the Continent for the next manager.

[Atouk]

The Evening Standard is already crowning Vialli the favorite. I'm sure he's the owners choice - but does he want the job...?
I suppose whether he wants the job will come down to what Briatore/Ecclestone tell him his budget will be over the next 3-4 years.

[QPR Kevin H]

I suppose whether he wants the job will come down to what Briatore/Ecclestone tell him his budget will be over the next 3-4 years.
I can't imagine it would be small. However, it's going to be a challenge to meet the expectations of the owners. They want Premier League football NEXT SEASON - when in fact, a relegation fight is far more likely. And I don't know what miracle workers they think will be found in the January transfer window.

The owners need to be realistic and plan for a solid future. Get a good manager in that can mix well with them, keep the respect of the few British players that we need to keep and be an asset for future transfers. I think that could be Vialli. Let's just stay up this season and try to build for a brighter 08-09.

[Atouk]

I can't imagine it would be small. However, it's going to be a challenge to meet the expectations of the owners. They want Premier League football NEXT SEASON - when in fact, a relegation fight is far more likely. And I don't know what miracle workers they think will be found in the January transfer window.

The owners need to be realistic and plan for a solid future. Get a good manager in that can mix well with them, keep the respect of the few British players that we need to keep and be an asset for future transfers. I think that could be Vialli. Let's just stay up this season and try to build for a brighter 08-09.It's a bit hard to know what they want. Gregory said they wanted promotion right away, but he was always going to feel the pressure. Briatore has said it's a four-year timetable.

If that's what they're expressing to Vialli privately and they're giving him the money to do it, he may take it. Keep us up this year, challenge for/make playoffs next year, make playoffs/challenge for auto promotion in year three, auto promotion in year four. It shouldn't be that difficult to meet those targets for this year and next if given the budget (years 3 & 4 are much more difficult), so he'd be looking at 3 years nearly guaranteed which might be enough for him to take it.

Honestly, we're not that bad. We can beat Colchester away. Our next two games are at home. We could be out of the drop zone by the 20th.

[QPR Kevin H]

Honestly, we're not that bad. We can beat Colchester away. Our next two games are at home. We could be out of the drop zone by the 20th.
That's the kind of optimism I'm looking for! From first-hand/Sky reports yesterday, the team were pathetic. No effort, just poor.

Of course you saw them just a week ago and they weren't too bad, so who knows. I was surprised to see how stale things got under Gregory this season. I thought we'd get off to a decent start following the new ownership boost. Oh well, we are where we are at the moment. Certainly better than going bust - or having 3 points and NO money :)

[Atouk]

Of course you saw them just a week ago and they weren't too bad, so who knows. After we settled down, we were as good as Watford (despite being without possibly our best player in Mancienne). I expected us to at least compete at West Brom, if not take a point. The result was very disappointing.Oh well, we are where we are at the moment. Certainly better than going bust - or having 3 points and NO money :)Exactly. I honestly don't believe we'll be in a relegation dogfight all season. I think we're good enough now to get out of the bottom three, then we'll add to the squad in January and end up finishing 10-16th.

[QPR Kevin H]

After we settled down, we were as good as Watford (despite being without possibly our best player in Mancienne)
If Gregory had Mancienne, Walton, Ainsworth, Sahar and (of course, sadly) Big Ray fully fit for the last two months, he might still have the job.

[art]

According to someone on the dot.org board, the Skybet odds for new manager are:

Next QPR Manager - Next Permanent Manager (Monday October 1st, 18:00)
Vialli L 4/1
Allen M 4/1
Barese F 5/1
Harford M 7/1
Wilkins R 12/1
Jewell P 12/1
Merson P 16/1
O Leary D 16/1
Keegan K 20/1
Warnock N 12/1
Reid P 20/1

Interesting names in this list...Vialli, Jewell, O'Leary....where is Jean Tigana these days? I honestly dont know.

I feel bad as I liked Gregory and I wanted him to succeed, but it's about the results, and as GP said, the table doesn't lie.

[QPR Kevin H]

where is Jean Tigana these days? I honestly dont know.
Resigned from Besiktas at the end of last season. Rumored to want a return to England - not a bad manager.

[QPR Kevin H]

Telegraph reports that Briatore is talking to Vialli... and some interesting (bizarre) quotes from Ecclestone...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/10/02/ufnqpr102.xml

[doolittledog2]

Bizarre to say the least from Ecclestone. I hope QPR doesn't turn into a manager of the month club. But I do like the fact they will be spending money, both on players and on Loftus Road.

[Atouk]

Some odd quotes, but I'm glad to hear Ecclestone saying he's going to spend money (both on the squad and the stadium), since he's got much more of it than Briatore.

"We have big ambitions for the club. It has a terrific fan base. We didn't buy the place to make money. We want to give the stadium a big face lift. We will spend what it takes to get the job done. I want to see it looking as good as it can look and get these guys kicking the ball a bit better. It is hard to go down any lower."

Accurate comment about the stadium ("I have only been there once but thought the good thing about it was that you could just lean over and ask the guy for his autograph while he was running down the wing"). In my first game, I sat on the Ellerslie Road side in the 2nd row and I was worried that Peter Crouch might hit me with an elbow if he ran along the sideline. :D

[art]

Resigned from Besiktas at the end of last season. Rumored to want a return to England - not a bad manager.

He led Fulham to the best ever record in the second division, I'd think he merits a look.

It sounds like the new owners have more or less had in mind a house cleaning for awhile and will be bringing in their own.

[art]

Accurate comment about the stadium ... :D

Try as I might I just can't see how they can increase capacity at all, there's just no room...unless they buy all those houses on the south and east sides and expand that way. A facelift, though, is very much in need, maybe it will allow 19,000 people to actually shoehorn in there without a couple thousand of them sitting sideways and/or looking at the back of a post. Loftus is looking pretty tired these days.

[QPR Kevin H]

He led Fulham to the best ever record in the second division, I'd think he merits a look.
Agreed

Not sure if he has any links to Paladini or Briatore though - and I'd be surprised if we hire a new manager without those connections.

[QPR Kevin H]

Try as I might I just can't see how they can increase capacity at all, there's just no room...unless they buy all those houses on the south and east sides and expand that way. A facelift, though, is very much in need, maybe it will allow 19,000 people to actually shoehorn in there without a couple thousand of them sitting sideways and/or looking at the back of a post. Loftus is looking pretty tired these days.
I'd love to see (and think it's feasible) the SA Road Stand completely rebuilt. I know it's really not all that old, but that's the only spot that could really be expanded/re-fitted. I've heard the changing rooms, offices and hospitality areas are going to be re-done. So they might just want to re-do the whole thing.

[art]

I'd love to see (and think it's feasible) the SA Road Stand completely rebuilt. I know it's really not all that old, but that's the only spot that could really be expanded/re-fitted. I've heard the changing rooms, offices and hospitality areas are going to be re-done. So they might just want to re-do the whole thing.

That's a good possibility, like the sound of that.

I think more important than vastly increased capacity is just an all-round fix-up of the place, I havent been there for a couple of years but im sure it hasnt got better than it was in 2005. It's like the old Boston Garden...oozes character, great place to watch a game, but a total dump.

Long term I think QPR has to look elsewhere for a stadium if there's to be a more modern place with eventual 30-40K capacity, which i think is probably what's going to be needed if the club plans on following through with the goals of getting to, and staying in, the Prem, ala Reading.

:) :D (sorry still giddy about the Prem becoming an actual real possibility sometime in the next few years).

[QPR Kevin H]

They at least need to clean up the rooftops so they look better on Google Map aerial shots :D

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=London+W12&ie=UTF8&ll=51.50926,-0.231839&spn=0.001803,0.004334&t=h&z=18&om=1