QUEENS PARK RANGERS

LAST SEASON

CHAMPIONSHIP 11th FA CUP Fourth Round LEAGUE CUP Fourth Round TOP SCORER Andre Gray ( 10)

FAN FILE

Last season was like an oil rig disaster. Everything’s fine until it’s not, then the moment it’s not, it’s really, really not. The big talking point is whether we have done that ‘ Spurs with Pochettino, Sheffield United with Wilder’ trick of binning a manager who would be his own best replacement. It seems that relations had deteriorated so badly last year that only promotion would have kept Mark Warburton in the job. This season will be different because

Warburton did a very un- QPR- like three full seasons and now it’s a first No. 1 job for Michael Beale [ above]. Nobody has a bad word to say about him, but it’s a tough gig for a rookie: the budget will be pretty tight. He’s known as ‘ the brains behind Steven Gerrard’, but is that like Peter Taylor with Brian Clough, or Caroline Watt with Rebekah Vardy?

Our key player will be Chris Willock [ below], one of the 10 best players in the Championship. His injury was a big part of last season’s implosion. Our most underrated player is Rob Dickie, who is maturing nicely into a sellable asset. Fans think our ground is loveable, but past its best and a financial millstone around the club’s neck. Terracing in the Lower Loft for the first time since 1994 is a massive step in the right direction. The thing my club really gets right is the charitable arm, Community Trust, led by the saintly Andy Evans.

Fans think our owner is a devil we know. Some huge mistakes were made by Tony Fernandes, and other mistakes continue to be made, but even in our pared- down state, QPR costs £ 1.8m a month to run. The majority are just pleased that we’re not another Derby.

The pantomime villain will be Sky Sports and their intrusive, entitled, destructive and uncaring presence in the second tier. Ever- more games switched at ever- shorter notice to increasingly outlandish kick- off times, season tickets devalued, kids put off attending, local businesses screwed... all so Gary Weaver can scream to an audience smaller than Piers Morgan’s. The one change I’d make would be to stop letting referee Keith Stroud into the ground.

We’ll finish 16th, as things stand.

FFT VERDICT 12TH

With a progressive new manager in Beale and a strong core, QPR should rank in the top half again, after last season’s play- off charge was scuppered by a closing return of just four victories in 18 matches. Attacking Dutch left- back Kenneth Paal might make a difference…