Langley column: We really cared. Do these guys feel the same?

It’s approaching the end of the season and the pressure is mounting on QPR, who sit uncomfortably above the drop zone – goal difference being the only thing separating them from Bolton.

I was at Rangers when we were close to the bottom of the Championship back in the 1998/99 season and remember what it was like being around the club.

I was nursing a knee injury picked up a few months after making my debut in the first team and I felt powerless to help. Having to watch every game and not being able to contribute was painful.

Being at the club from the age of 12, I had grown up loving QPR, and to be a part of the squad was a dream for me. Seeing us struggle was terrible.

I was travelling to all the away games to show my support to my team-mates. With two games to go we went to Port Vale and lost, which meant we needed to win the last game of the season at home to Crystal Palace.

In the last few months of the season there was a nervousness surrounding the training ground. We all knew the importance of staying up.

On a few occasions the players arranged a meeting. We would sit and discuss the situation we were in.

“With a combination of great team spirit and a nucleus of players that were QPR through and through, we managed to survive.”

Gavin Peacock was the captain at the time and he led a few of these talks with the older pros chipping in.

We would remind ourselves that we had so much to lose; our status as a professional footballer, playing in the Championship, pride and our salary. And of course no-one wants to have a relegation on their CV.

We knew that going down could mean not getting another team. People had responsibilities, mortgages and families, and the wages were not as they are now. It was all about survival and we’re not just talking about football.

The pressure was too much for some guys to deal with.

I remember players who I once looked up to all of a sudden not looking as great as I had once seen, mostly because of the possibility of us being relegated. They played within themselves. They played scared.

Being young and naive was an advantage for me. I was living my dream and didn’t let the desperate position we were in affect my displays, which was maybe the reason I’d managed to impress.

What I did learn was that when there is pressure you can confront it or you can hide away.

We are seeing signs of that this season and understandably so when the ante has been raised so much. Premier League survival is a must.

Looking back at that time, we had a nucleus of players that had a deep rooted loyalty and passion for the club. People like Maddix, Peacock, Ready, Perry, Gallen, myself and Gerry Francis.

This was a group of people who loved the club. We genuinely cared. It was our club.

Maybe the team wasn’t good enough but what we didn’t lack was commitment or fight.

There was also a sense of responsibility. It was down to us.

With the players so united, it ensured that the whole squad maintained the standards of training and discipline. The older pros often kept the young ones in check and made sure the newcomers were buying into the work ethic we had.

In the week leading up to that game against Palace I remember Gerry making the training ground environment as relaxed as possible.

He changed the training regime on a couple of occasions. We did the general midweek preparation but in between there were fun and games. This helped to take the players’ minds off the significance of the ultimate fixture of the season.

There were a few characters that always helped calm the nerves of the players in the changing room – Kiwomya and Dowie being the loudest and funniest of them all.

Gavin Peacock always had a calming voice, putting to bed any worries you ever had about the game.

We had an honest team – no prima donnas – and with a combination of great team spirit and a nucleus of players that were QPR through and through, we managed to survive that year.

That last game of the season versus Palace. I can see it like it was yesterday.

I remember feeling so connected with the club, the players and fans. I had to watch on from the sidelines. I remember the sun was blazing down on Loftus Road and I couldn’t keep still.

George Kulscar opened the scoring with a volley that the Palace keeper generously let sail past his head without moving as much as a finger.

The R’s finished the season in style to guarantee safety with a 6-0 victory! It was the greatest feeling I had experienced. The pitch invasion after the final whistle was the first I had ever witnessed. The fans and the players had done it – cue celebrations!

But a lot of things have changed at QPR.

There are so many positives that have come with the takeover. But the identity of the club and players is lacking.

This is the problem you get when you acquire a team of highly-paid individuals in an attempt to buy success.

In the best teams you’ll find a core of players that know what the club represents – what’s acceptable. An enforcer. Someone who can do the manager’s speaking for him.

Manchester United are the best example of this. Throughout the last two decades they have managed to build a team around a loyal group of players that are United ’til they die.

Players would be brought in to improve the squad, but they had to adapt quickly to what the club wanted and expected. Although QPR have some experienced players, I’m not sure how many feel that connected with the club or fans.

The squad at QPR is so big now that many players are sitting on two and three-year contracts and may not be in the first team.

For a lot of these players if the club go down the consequences are not as brutal financially as they would have been 13 years ago.

I’d like to think that pride will drive them on, but if you have the luxury of knowing that you’ll be earning your life-changing money for three years whether you stay up or not, what is there to motivate you?

With the lucrative contracts that have been handed out in the attempt to improve the squad, I fear the players will be thinking they’ll stay put until the end of their contract – regardless of whether they play – or they’ll be thinking about jumping ship. Either way it’s an unhealthy place for the club to be.

There are two games to go and what all Rangers supporters will be hoping for is that we are safe to celebrate after 90 minutes at Manchester City on the last day of the season.

For the future of the club, it is important that they start to keep some players who really understand QPR and want to be there.

This revolving door that players seem to be coming in and out of right now leaves too much instability.

Let’s consolidate and build a team around those that want to commit to the club as much as the fans do. That’s the key to success.

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