It happens to all teams, even the very best ones. And now it's happening to QPR.
Sooner or later every side hits a patch of bad form. Players, who just a week ago could do no wrong, now play as if they would struggle to get into their pub team. Midfielders who were brilliantly splitting opposition defences with precision passes now give the ball away with every other touch. Forwards who couldn't stop scoring start to blast the ball over the crossbar from two metres out. Some such periods last just a few matches. Others lead to a sustained run of losses.
What matters is what you do about it. In the past QPR's reaction has been swift and panicky: sack the manager. Prior to Mark Warburton's appointment the club had had six managers in four years.
Patience is not a virtue that many football supporters or many clubs are over-endowed with. QPR sacked Neil Warnock during his first season in the Premier League when the club were struggling but still just above the relegation zone. His successors, Mark Hughes and Harry Rednapp, were allowed to go on disastrous spending sprees that led to League fines, nearly bankrupted the club and ultimately led to relegation (twice). Be careful what you wish for.
Last year by mid season Rangers were in the middle of a terrible patch of form. At the turn of the year, they were just above the relegation zone with only four wins. The websites were incandescent, urging the Rangers management to revert to type and to sack Mark Warburton. Tim Sherwood was being widely touted as the replacement. But for once, the board held their nerve and held on to Warburton.
Their patience paid off. Rangers went on to end the season on a very successful run. We won 15 out of the remaining 24 games and finished the season in ninth place.
This season the team have been in the play-off spots for most of this season and at times have played some very good football. Warburton, with his measured, unflashy management style, has achieved this on a very small playing budget – a fraction of what most clubs around us spend. The club is now on a much more even financial keel.
Hopefully the current dip in form is just a blip but even if it isn't and we don't end up in the play-offs after all, what Warburton and the players will have achieved this season will be remarkable. The club is now on much firmer financial foundations with some good players playing some good football. Good omens for the future.
Perhaps in football patience is a virtue after all.
Phil Harding is a journalist and writer. He lives in Hammersmith, is a season ticket holder at QPR and has supported the team since the early 70s.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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