Elegant Chaos

As various sources have reported, Ian Holloway seems to be on his way out of QPR.

Ollie has been an absolute star since he returned to QPR. Things have been a bit wobbly, though, in the last few weeks, and I was beginning to get the sense that the fans were turning against him.

So if he is off to Leicester, then in a strange way it gets everyone out of spot. He can move on to bigger and better things, and the fans can genuinely say "So long mate, thanks for everything you've done for the club, and good luck!". That's got to be better than an ignominious exit in a month or two.

As for what he leaves behind, the weird thing is that the main problem - the defence - seems to have had some sort of bizarre transfer-deadline swap-shop makeover. If it works, and Shittu returns to the sort of form that he apparently showed at Leeds on Saturday, then things may not be too bad for us.

The only scary bit is exactly who Paladinni decides to bring in as a replacement. The talk is of Jim Smith as a director of football. That's all very well, but what we need is a coach (or two), not a wheeler-dealer.

Poor? Hmm... that doesn't do it justice.

Piss poor? Getting there, but still lacking a certain something.

A piss poor travesty of a sham of a mockery of a shambles of a... oh dear.

You would have thought that five goals meant that it was, at least, an entertaining game. You would have been wrong.

At our best, with everyone playing well, we are a decent team, albeit a brittle one. Tonight, only Simon Royce was playing well, and of the outfield players only Ainsworth was playing with any sort of spirit. Everyone looked sluggish. Our reliable stalwarts, the likes of Shittu, Furlong and Bignot were off form - Shittu was particularly poor. Our less reliable, but occasionally inspired players - the likes of Cook, Langley, Nygaard, were in wimpish mode, all misplaced effort (or no effort at all in Langley's case). Even Lomas, who I thought looked promisingly forceful last game, was nowhere to be seen.

And as for Santos. What can I say that I haven't already said? It beggars belief that Ollie keeps picking him each week. I just don't understand it, and frankly every time he plays I lose a little bit more respect for Ollie. Unfortunately I also lose a bit of respect each time we put in a tactically inept performance, and each time that he makes a bizarre substitution or tactical switch. I am running out of respect.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,10260,1653813,00.html

I like the quote about Stan Bowles:

"Bowles is a gambler (his mother once said that if he invested in a cemetery people would stop dying)."