It’s been a difficult start to the season for QPR. Results and performances have been disappointing at times and there has been a noticeably subdued atmosphere around Loftus Road.

But Rangers fan Ted Kessler, like many others, has been here before – and believes patience is required.

I’m in it for the long haul. I’m sure everyone reading this is too, but it’s worth examining what that entails.

Often, I wish there was a ‘Long Haul’ stand at Loftus Road where fans who’d signed up to support QPR through thin, sometimes very thin, occasionally gossamer and, once in a glorious while, in abundance, could congregate.

We’d do so knowing this:

1) Football is miserable, disappointing, unpredictable and yet, at the same time, so very predictable.

2) You can’t win them all.

3) You can go through a whole season barely enjoying a game, and yet you’ll watch nearly every minute (see seasons ’78-’79; ’00-’01, ’14-’15 etc).

4) Sometimes, these bad seasons can seep into the next season too. In fact they can go on for the best part of a decade (see 1996-2003; 2005-2010).

5) QPR is not a big club. It’s a small club in a densely populated area, but the locals are transient and the club competes with many near neighbours.

So when prices and expectations are low, but tails are up, the ground is full and rocking. Quite often, though, the club is in some kind of flux and therefore when Bristol City visit on a chilly Tuesday when the Champions League is on telly you get the 12k base. So be it. That’s QPR.

6) It’s rarely as bad as the run you are on feels. But sometimes it’s worse.

7) You will lose many, many games.

8) That player you’ve just signed who everyone thinks will make the difference, probably won’t.

9) Occasionally, though, a hero emerges and you’ll know him straight away (Stan Bowles, Kevin Gallen, Paul Parker, for example). But often the players who become indispensable, who destabilise the place when they leave, take ages to develop – and they’ll be written off long before they do.

Les Ferdinand, Paul Furlong, Adel Taarabt – they took years to come good. It’s a miracle they were still with us when it all fell into place for them. And then we couldn’t live without them.

10) So be patient. Always. Be thankful that there’s a plan now, and a squad that is full of promise but very much in the getting-to-know-you stage. How many of last Tuesday’s team played together before August?

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink may not see it through – history suggests his personality lacks the required QPR exuberance – but he’s doing a good job of putting the tracks in line, setting some standards.

History shows the great QPR managers applied the finishing touches and pizzazz to another’s more painstaking work: Jago built Sexton’s; Howe built Francis’s; a whole production line built Warnock’s. I feel like JFH and Les Ferdinand are building someone else’s.

I only see green shoots with this squad. So I’m going to give Ben Gladwin a chance. I’m going to give them all a chance, and another chance, and another (apart from Sandro – how many chances does he need?).

Gladwin won valuable midfield headers against Bristol City again and again – something we haven’t had since Ale Faurlin’s promotion season. I like him.

Give him a chance and he might grow into a modern Mick Leach or Martin Allen – unloved but essential cogs in their teams. Give them all a chance. You’re in it for the long haul, after all.









