One of the most common phrases from Harry Redknapp during his time in charge at QPR was “it’s difficult”.
It has also been difficult for fans of the club to watch it turn into a circus act played out in front of millions worldwide.
Watching Shaun Wright-Phillips attempt to roll back the years against Crystal Palace on Saturday was difficult for the loyal fans who have seen their team pick up just three points from a possible 42 on the road so far this season.
With just nine games remaining Rangers’ loyal band of supporters will have to endure five more difficult matches on the road at West Brom, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and finally, on the last day, Leicester City.
It’s difficult to say for sure if either team will still have a chance of staying in the top flight when they clash on Sunday May 24 but it wasn’t difficult to predict that QPR were going to struggle this season.
Last season in the Championship, QPR were horrible to watch. The club has a tradition for playing attractive football but there wasn’t much of that on show as QPR, despite having more money invested in their playing staff than the rest, set about relying on Charlie Austin to fire the Super Hoops to promotion.
With Austin missing through injury, Rangers found it difficult to pick up a win and slipped out of the automatic promotion places.
The day out at Wembley will live long in the memory of QPR fans who may never get to see their side play at the famous stadium again. They certainly have little hope of watching them in an FA Cup or League Cup final, given how difficult the Rs tend to make trying to get beyond the first hurdle in either competition.
QPR were outplayed by Derby County on the day, which was made all the more difficult when Gary O’Neil was sent off, but Bobby Zamora’s last-minute winner quickly led to jubilant celebrations and the terrible football that went before was quickly forgotten, until this season that is.
Redknapp, a man who rarely accepts responsibility for anything going wrong at a football club he is in charge of, had excuses coming out of his ears by the time he decided to leave the club.
Pre-season was difficult because he didn’t have enough players. Signing players appeared to be difficult, as his contacts book was clearly so old it had not been updated since he was in charge of Spurs.
Signing Sandro for £8million, with the rest of football knowing his knee was a sliding celebration in training away from injury, was always going to make it difficult to get a full season out of the Brazilian.
Switching to a 3-5-2 formation, with players not capable of fulfilling the roles required, made winning a game difficult.
Chris Ramsey was handed the difficult task of trying to keep QPR up when Redknapp departed just after the transfer window closed – he found it difficult to sign more players while it was open, you see.
Ramsey has been left with a squad of players who find it difficult to win away, but he has managed to secure one more than Redknapp did.
Blooding youngsters in a relegation battle is difficult for both the players and the management.
Staying up will be difficult, much like building a training ground and new stadium continue to be.
Follow me @RobBrennan82
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