Let's Have Coffee...

Five years into the job - a veritable lifetime in the unstable world that is football management - QPR manager Ian Holloway has left the club on "gardening leave" because of speculation linking him with the vacant manager's job at Leicester City.

"QPR has not sacked Ian," chairman Gianni Paladini told the club website. "But we are concerned about recent performances and the effect speculation about Ian joining Leicester City might have on the players."

Make no mistake: Holloway will not be managing the club again, that's just some strange spin from the club, who have been in a slump all season long. I can't help but feel there is more to come from this story, as Holloway has hinted at unrest behind the scenes (financial woes, Paladini allegedly held at gunpoint before a match) and will surely speak out soon enough. For my part, he probably has taken the club has far as he could. We live in a results world and the senior players seemed to lose their belief in him a while back. Whether caretaker Gary Waddock (who has already promised a new style of play from his first press conference this morning) is the man to return us to the Premier League is highly debatable but expect a win on Saturday against Millwall and then your guess is as good as mine.

His five years were quite a whirlwind. Holloway took over in exactly the same position the club now finds itself in: languishing towards the bottom of (the old) Division 1. His first programme notes welcomed us to "this Division 2 fixture" which wasn't the most auspicious of starts. Soon enough, we were relegated and made an extremely average start to life in our lowest league in three decades. And then something stirred: Holloway nearly lost his job after exiting the FA Cup to non league side Vauxhall Motors (yes, the car company!) but re-signed former hero Kevin Gallen and the team started to find its feet. And Holloway started to find his voice. After each game, he came out with a series of increasingly mad soundbites, which brought the club to the attention of the nation once again. The 2002/03 season ended in the Play Off final after a thrilling victory against Oldham, which is still the loudest I can ever remember Loftus Road but fate wasn't on our side. We lost 1-0 to Cardiff City in extra time and cried all the way home. The game was played in Cardiff and their Chairman's ex-bodyguard set off the fire alarm in the players' hotel at 4am on the day of the final. Still, Holloway had restored some much needed pride to the football club.

The 2003/04 season was, however, the best in years. I remember how the first of forty-six games was played in 100 degree heat as we swept Blackpool aside 5-0. From there on in, we remained in contention at the top of the table. Plymouth ended up winning the league - beating us 2-0 to clinch the division - and so it came down to the final game of the season. Bristol City (whose fans hate Holloway as he used to manage their rivals Bristol Rovers) had to win and hope we didn't beat Sheffield Wednesday at their stadium. The games started at the same time and City had already gone 2-0 up whilst we were still at 0-0. Gallen then opened the scoring for QPR before Paul Furlong doubled the lead. Sheffield pulled one back and nearly made it 2-2...instead, QPR made a goal line clearance, raced down the pitch and a cross saw a Sheffield player put the ball into his own net to secure a 3-1 win and promotion. The sight of 12,000 fans celebrating will stay with me forever and that's why any real QPR fan will always have a place in his heart for Holloway.

Last season again saw Holloway threatened with the sack - the rumor was he would be replaced by an Argentinian who didn't speak a word of English! - before the team won seven in a row and briefly flirted with a second successive promotion. This campaign has been far more unsatisfactory and it's somewhat ironic that the final straw probably came in last week's home defeat to Leicester - the side Holloway may well manage next. His last match in charge (many are now saying that he already knew then that he was going) was a 2-0 loss at Leeds United. We created little and Holloway handed a staggering five players their debuts. He typically said afterwards that it was more like "Queens Park Strangers". And that Ian, is what you will now be to us. In honour of your five years, I put up your most (in)famous post match quote. All the best...

"To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, you've done what you set out to do. We didn't look our best today but we've pulled.

Some weeks the lady is good looking and some weeks they're not. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi.

She may not have been the best looking lady we ended up taking home but it was still very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much and let's have coffee."