Attack of The Killer Message Board

Saturday evening was a strange one. One that leaves you uncomfortable and not quite right, like of Harrison Ford started referencing Indiana Jones in his next movie, it wouldn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be that way. As Neil Warnock thrust a man called ‘Ric-Roc’ into the public light the uneasy feeling began to bubble up.

For those living under a rock, Neil Warnock had a moan after our 1-1 draw with Blackburn that a post on the sometimes popular and always controversial ‘We Are The Rangers Boys’ appeared on Thursday revealing details of Q.P.R’s team for Saturday as well as news of DJ Campbell’s injury. He ranted that this was detrimental to the clubs planning for the game. The poster himself, a Mr. Ric-Roc, has since come out and said he meant no harm and asked for the post to be removed pretty swiftly after it was posted. It wasn’t, and therein lies the problem.

Once again for those peering out from under their rock let me explain. We Are The Rangers Boys was set up by friends of former Chairman and full time Fuck Up Gianni Paladini. Of course like any decent human being the moderators of the site were always quick to defend their friend. This of course has caused the Message Board to become something of a sore point amongst R’s fans, mainly due to the unpopularity of Paladini and the steadfast way the board moderators were constantly defending him and punishing those who spoke out against him. The nadir for the message board came during Paulo Sousa’s reign when a post detailing an intimate conversation with the Portuguese manager appeared online. The post was left up despite it’s inflammatory nature. Sousa was sacked for divulging sensitive information. At the time there were rumors abound of boardroom unrest and a general ill feeling between Paladini and Sousa, most fans added two and two together and came up with four. The fanbase of the club had been split right down the middle as Q.P.R sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss.

It is a website that prides itself on exclusives and rumors. It’s how they get their traffic and it’s how they have made their name. Since the takeover Paladini has been marginalized at HQ and the rumors have dried up somewhat. Personally I think the site has improved as now actual football is discussed instead of who is ‘ITK.’ Some are saying that Thursdays controversial post wasn’t deleted because it caused a traffic spike for a slightly ailing site. Me, I think stupidity is the criminal here. Stupid to post it and stupid not to remove it. Of course now all the old wounds inflicted by the sites previous misdemeanors have been reopened and it’s hunting season again. With a difficult run of fixtures coming up a split fan base is not what we need.

Despite all this foolishness, perhaps the most foolish action was not only for Neil Warnock to read out the email address of the poster in question, but for the Official Website to publish it! It still remains there for all to see. In the heat of the moment I can maybe understand Warnock’s frustration boiling over as he searches for a scapegoat, but for the media team to not think and publish it. That smacks of stupidity.

Stupidity seems to be the theme at the moment around Q.P.R, mostly amongst supporters. Since we drew 1-1 on Saturday I have seen the following comments made. ‘The game was crying out for Buzsaky,’ ‘What was Smith doing on ahead of Puncheon,’ ‘Mackie is a Championship player at best,’ ‘Mackie was brilliant,’ ‘We need to play 4-4-2,’ ‘Why didn’t we start Taarabt?’ ‘Joey Barton needs to be dropped immediately.’ We need a new phrase, because ‘Knee-Jerk’ doesn’t cover it! I will accept the calls for Fitz Hall to be replaced, but only if someone is fit enough to take his place. Akos Buzsaky? Come on, can someone name the last game he changed for Q.P.R? As for our captain… well I will talk about him a little later. It seems that the fans don’t quite know what they want. However the calls for Warnock to be replaced. These people need to be taken outside and shot. We are Eight games into the season and sit in the middle of the table, that’s fine by me. Were these the people calling for Holloway’s head as well? Lets not get hysterical here people, we drew a game, the manager does NOT need to be replaced. Wow!

Finally, Captain Joey? He’s fine by me. I actually thought that he was our best player in the second half and looked to take the game by the scruff of the neck as it died slowly on its arse. Perhaps he will never be loved by The R’s faithful, it seems Taarabt is still not wanted by some. He is still by far our best midfielder, yes I could do without the constant media coverage every time he farts, but I’ll live. He is quite interesting to follow on twitter and his recent interview about Taarabt only confirms what we all know, many of the senior pro’s were upset with Taarabt’s behavior at Fulham. Before we all pile on and criticize him for causing a rift in the dressing room perhaps we should look at our own fanbase and the small cracks that started to appear on Saturday night.