Supporters turn on Mcclaren as QPR woes deepen
Steve Mcclaren insists he is still the right man to manage Queens Park Rangers after another night of embarrassment where he was abused by the club’s supporters.
After four straight Championship defeats at the start of the season, fans turned on the former England boss joining in with Bristol City followers’ taunts of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” along with far more vulgar chants.
Matt Taylor’s first-half goal and two from Andreas Weimann meant QPR have conceded 10 goals in the space of two games, following the 7-1 rout at West Bromwich Albion, but Mcclaren remained defiant.
“Am I the man to turn this around? Yes absolutely,” he said. “I knew the situation when I came in.
“The abuse is society now, an instant reaction and this is normal. Am I pleased? No. Am I angry and disappointed? Yes. Am I determined to put this right? Yes.
“I knew this was a tough job and I knew, coming in, it wouldn’t happen overnight. My message to the fans is patience, I’m certainly losing it, we need players, but we have support from the board to do that. The next 10 days are big. We have talent out there but at the present moment we are suffering. I believe if we get the right players in, we will be OK.”
But if he does not, QPR are in big trouble, and the most worrying thing for their supporters is that, for a man with so much experience, the former England manager appears to have already run out of ideas with the current set of players. Angel Rangel appears to have been a desperation signing and the former Swansea defender made his debut here in a bid to add experience to a struggling defence.
Rangers actually performed well enough in the first half with Conor Washington denied by Niki Maenpaa when well placed, while Massimo Luongo also went close with an overhead kick.
But the visitors took the lead on 41 minutes as Taylor ran on to a lost cause down the right, then cut in before finishing left footed. The game was up for Mcclaren and QPR five minutes after the restart as Weimann was left unmarked to head in from Niclas Eliasson’s cross.
Frustrated Rangers fans sang “you don’t know what you’re doing” and it got toxic when Weimann tapped-in Josh Brownhill’s cross.
Lee Johnson, who saw his side win for the first time this season in the Championship, had some sympathy for his opposite number. He said: “It is about resilience and Steve showed real character to take this job at the current time. It looks like the football club needs to build itself up again and get that identity and there is no better man to do that than Steve Mcclaren.”
Queens Park Rangers (4-4-2) Ingram; Rangel (Sylla 76), Baptiste, Leistner, Bidwell; Wszolek (Smith 60), Scowen, Luongo (Cousins 60), Freeman; Eze, Washington. Subs Lumley, Chair, Kakay, Smyth. Booked Scowen. Bristol City (4-4-2) Maenpaa; Hunt, Pisano, Webster, Kelly; Watkins (O’dowda 75), Pack, Brownhill, Eliasson; Weimann, Taylor (Eisa 90). Subs O’leary, Dasilva, Walsh, Paterson, Moore. Booked Pisano, Brownhill.
Referee Peter Bankes (Merseyside)