Finally

Back in January I was listening to the always excellent Guardian podcast 'Football weekly'. The journo's were discussing Crawley Town's progress in the FA cup and one of them said that despite them being a non league side their story was not a romantic one. He then went on to say that there was no romance in QPR's domination of the Championship either. Well I disagreed then and I disagree now. Since coming down from the Premier league 15 years ago this football club has had more than it's fair share of turbulence and grief. In these fifteen long years the club has nearly been lost forever on more than one occasion. Yes we are owned by very wealthy men, but never forget that not so long ago supporters were out in the streets collecting with buckets attempting to stave off administration and extinction. We have been relegated to the third tier, to supporters of a certain age, who remembered the slow climb to prominence, it appeared that all that had been gained since the 60's had now been lost. We almost merged with Wimbledon and moved to Milton Keynes, it was always an unlikely proposition, but it was a proposition none the less. The road back has been long. Ian Holloway,with no money, found himself having to build a team of cast off's, youngsters and journeymen. We became a laughing stock after being dumped out of the FA cup by non leaguers Vauxhall motors. Against the odds though 'Ollie' got us back not only our place in the Championship, but a renewed sense of pride in our club. The era of 'We are QPR' was born. On the field and in the stands everybody seemed to be pulling in the same direction. Behind the scenes however things were a different story. The club was still perilously close to going to the wall, and it was only the generousity of wealthy and not so wealthy supporters that kept the wolf from the door. Far worse than all of this however were the tragic deaths of two of our young players Kiyan Prince and Ray Jones. In fact while the flowers and shirts put up outside Loftus Road in memorium of Ray Jones were still present news emerged that the club had been bought by a wealthy consortium and we were now (technically) the richest club in Britain. A very bittersweet time indeed. Since then we have seen a conveyor belt of managers enter and exit Loftus Road, making us the butt of every newspapers jokes. It appeared to many that we were just rich mens playthings, everything that was bad about modern day football was apparently present at QPR. That was until Neil Warnock arrived. This season Rangers have dominated the Championship. Adel Taraabt, a player whose skills epitomise everything good we supporters believe is in the clubs DNA,has dominated the headlines, but this has been a season built on teamwork and a determination that had been sadly lacking in recent years. We now have a team that actually appears to give a shit. Sadly in the last few weeks the season has been overshadowed by a looming FA hearing looking into the clubs transfer dealings. In spite of shoddy journalists, ex pros, and ex football executives (who can't keep it in their trousers) proclaiming QPR guilty before knowing the facts. Rangers were found guilty only of technical misdemeanours and advoided the predicted apocalypse of points deductions and relegations. Grown men wept in the streets when they heard this news, we could celebrate, the title was ours. Despite the owners having incredible wealth, this is still at its heart a peoples club. Long after players and owners have moved on, we will still be here. It would have been easier to support other clubs. Clubs that would have provided us with season upon season of silverware. Yet we chose QPR. Triumph always feels better after adversity. We've had our share of adversity. Rangers are back. Not romantic? Do me a favour.