perthwhite wrote:
...got a text from my boss (a rangers fan) and a few hibs and st johnstone fans saying ' hope the whites do it and stay up, hate QPR' etc etc, so the support seems to be widespread over the nation!
COYWM!
Hate to burst a bubble, but that support might have something to do with the fact that we have a very close affiliation to Celtic - what with Shepherds Bush being a very strong Irish Catholic area.
However, you do have a point - most teams fans want you to stay up and not us. It is easy to just put it down to the north-west football bias (you all think it's your game up there - and London clubs should just feck off and play ruggers). Or even a anti-London thing - but I won't insult your intelligence.
Personally, I put it down to ignorance. The vast majority of people I talk to about QPR know absolutely nothing of the roots of the club and its fans - and have us down as some offshoot of the usual West London-Chelscum-Foolham axis.
This could not be further from the truth. QPR is the only genuine working class football club - certainly in West London, probably in the whole capital - it was founded out of a boys club run by a catholic church in the most rundown area of the city (everyone thinks East London when they think poverty, but they could not be further from the truth - North West london was far tougher...at least the Eastenders had the docks, jobs etc..).
We were not wanted from the getgo. We have the record for the most home venues in our history (15 - soon to be 16) as we were bandied from pillar to post...eventually being allowed to build our current home on a rubbish dump. We were even denied access to the football league in favour of Spurs, in spite finishing above them in the Southern League for a number of years.
In the 1970s, we almost won the title against the big clubs by playing a form of football that the Dutch would nick from us - we went down soon after.
In the 80s, the fans forced plans to merge with Fulham to be thrown out by disrupting a number of matches and some very forceful campaigning. Fulham hold one rally - and got all the credit. We did the same in the 90s when MK Dons loomed large.
We saved our own club when nobody cared, with bucket collections and fans taking over control of the boardroom, as we lurched from crisis to crisis. When our previous incumbents Ecclestone and Briatore came in, we hated them, and forced them out.
The new guys have money, but they are only allowed to stay in charge because they believe in the local community (Fernandes was bought up 200 yards from the ground). We have been shortlisted for a global award for our community work (along with NY Yankees, Man Utd).
Essentially, we play football, we do things our own way, we appreciate how other teams do things and we show them the utmost respect. But ultimately we are a traditional football club with a very unique background. And nothing like our posh neighbours.
All that said. Good luck on Sunday, genuinely. What will be, will be. We've been relegated enough not to be too bothered about it. In all honesty, we had the same attendances in League One as we did in the top flight anyway (and a hell of a lot of fun..).
Anyway, whatever happens we can both agree. Whoever finishes in the bottom three after 38 games deserves to be relegated.