Well, it looks like it is finally here.
Flavio Briatore was at the game yesterday & was introduced at HT to the crowd. The announcer's comment of "hope to get us back where we belong - the premier league" was met with a few outbreaks of hysterical laughter amongst most R's fans & the travelling southampton contingent.
The day had started with the Ray Jones tribute which was very sad. I walked past the shrine outside the ground with an ever growing number of shirts/flags/photo's being displayed amongst the flower tributes. It hit me then that this was a young man for whom will never be able to fufill his potential. One was from the day's mascot who had written a tribute on his shirt. At that point, it was hard to take the whole thing in. Passing down the road, i was back in the throng of the normal Loftus road saturday, beer, chips etc, people talking about the game, the takeover & of course Ray.
The whole tribute thing inside the ground was accepted by all fans, credit to the Soton fans, they joined in too & this was great to see. The sight of his family on the pitch with young nephews/nieces etc was again difficult to take.
It just seemed very strange that we were saying goodbye to a young footballer on the same day that we were unveiling a saviour to take my beloved club forward to hopefully better things.
The game was dire, after the 1st went in, we gave up, Rasiak should have scored 7 at least & soton 9!! Our keeper kept most of them at bay & also piss poor finishing by Soton. 0-3 was not a fair reflection on the game at all, but we breathed a sigh of relief at the end. Our fans had started to leave 15 mins from the end, i never know why as I can only imagine its to get down the pub quicker as surely they dont need to get home !!
The whole last few weeks have drained the life out of the Rangers fans. it's just a pity that the money came through too late to sign a few more players but we have a wage structure at present & simply most would not sign.
To conclude, QPR are part of my life in a big way & so is the QPR family. Those booing the team off & booing the players during the game achieve nothing other than self gratitude.
Onwards & upwards.
