Football fans often complain about not being told what is happening at their club. Why certain decisions were made and who made them. QPR: The four year plan documents the roller-coaster ride that has been QPR since the club was saved from liquidation by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone back in 2007. It provides an interesting insight to how modern football works and is a must watch for any football fan.
When the takeover was completed, a four year plan was spoke about, a plan which would hopefully see QPR return to the top flight of English football. Iain Dowie was the man at the helm as the film begins and from the word goes it is clear to see he never had total control of team affairs. Briatore and then chairmen, Gianni Paladini, clearly felt that they knew how to run a football club. Watching reserve and first team games they are clearly seen to be instructing Dowie on substitutions and individual player instructions. Surely this is a recipe for disaster? A manager at a football club at any level needs to have total control over team affairs. They are employed to do a job and should be left to do it.
Unsurprisingly Dowie didn’t last long in the job and was replaced by Paulo Sousa. Sousa didn’t fare much better either and was dismissed over a disagreement over the sale of striker Dexter Blackstock. The scenes that were played out documenting this were remarkable to watch. Blackstock at the time of his departure was QPR’s top goalscorer. The front-man was with the Chairmen when defender Fitz Hall appeared and proclaimed: “Don’t sign it Dex” before asking the chairmen “Do you not want to make the playoffs?”
Blackstock did depart as did Sousa soon after for telling the media that he knew nothing about the deal. This is a claim that QPR rejected. Throughout the film you can see the dismay on some of the players faces at how the club was being run and the fans were also becoming disillusioned under the new ownership. Briatore’s response to this was to threaten to sell the club. Very mature of him don’t you think? A football club is not a toy, it plays a big part in local communities and people’s lives. If these businessmen are to come in and run clubs they need to understand this.
The only man to come out of the film with any creditability in my eyes is Amit Bhatia, the vice chairmen at QPR. Rather than needless criticise players and threaten to sell them when they make one mistake, he is seen to be a more composed character who thinks logically about making decisions. He was visibly delighted when Neil Warnock agreed to take the job and immediately told Warnock to ignore the input of Briatore and Paladini and do things his way. Warnock is a strong character and managed to do this and succeed where others failed. He led QPR to the Championship title in his first full season and more importantly back to the Premier League. Despite backstage rumblings off the field over the signing of Alejandro Faurlin, Warnock kept his side focused on the pitch.
What this documentary showed us is how disruption behind the scenes can affect performances on it. We all probably knew that but some of the scenes during the film didn’t seem real. It could have easily been mistaken for an old episode of Dream Team. Briatore, Ecclestone and Paladini have all now departed Loftus Road and I can’t help but think that is a good thing for the club. They ultimately achieved their aim of promotion in the end but how they got it was at times scary to watch. Changing managers every couple of months, threatening to sell the club, criticising players and becoming over involved in first team affairs is not the ideal board to have at a football club. It would be great to see a behind the scenes look at more clubs like this, unfortunately I don’t think this will happen. After what Four Year plan revealed I can’t see many clubs opening their doors to cameras any time soon.
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