kmpowell

Great to hear from Andy L! From 1988-1992 I was a young(11-14 year old) Goalkeeper, and I was lucky enough to attend the England goalkeeper coaching school. It was a national thing, but moved around the country. When it was held in Bristol (at St Brendan's College) Andy Leaning, and in later years Keith Welch, coached us. I remember Andy was very inspirational, his level of technical detail when it came to positioning and anticipation of where I needed to be positioned, was amazing. Somewhere in my parent's attic I think I still have my attendance certificates, which I got signed by Andy and Keith.

@phantom - not sure I've I've missed it anywhere, but was there any response from the club to my/your query?

Purchased from me and my son (10) also. It’s his first ever away game.

If I can get tickets I plan to take my 9y/o boy. Having not been to QPR before as a parent, to those of you who have/do, what part of the away end is the safest/friendliest place for me to try and get me and him tickets? i.e Top tier, lower tier at the front, front right, front left etc etc

Q: What do we need for top 6? A:

Indeed I can confirm. I would upload screenshots of the email confirmations showing the name/number additions I specified, but the forum software appears to have been changed so it doesn’t allow images to be uploaded.

So I’ve had an answer back from the club re the lack of shirt printing available for online orders. No real explanation given, just a reply saying it’s not available and there’s no date as to when it might be available. According to the rep who replied to my email, I do have the option of “popping into the club shop” to have it done… Well, as I live 2.5hrs from Bristol and I’m ordering for my 10yr old son (his birthday next month) who lives with his mum 3.5hrs from Bristol, due to stock availability this will be the first time he won’t get a City kit from me for his birthday, let alone one with his name and age on the back of it! There are no home games falling around his Birthday (or weekends when I have him) so it’s not like I can tie it in with our annual visit to a home game for his birthday, where incidentally he also spends his birthday money in the shop on training/leisurewear to go with the kit I buy him, and I buy myself a hoodie or something to match his. The club will probably see it as one kit not sold, but in reality it’s not about one kit. It’s about maintaining his connection to the club and things like this matter. My step-son supports Chelsea (like his dad), which is Nike, and in the past it’s been easy for my son to match/compete because the stuff Hummel churned out for us was good quality and well designed so they sat equally together. Now, not so much, compared to Nike the O’Neils stuff is terrible. As somebody who works in Digital Marketing where websites (and e-commerce) also fall into my remit, I think this move to oneils and everything surrounding it has been nothing but a shambles.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cvk57Z4A5YP/ ?

Alan's annual OTIB reminder:

Shame a large(ish) proportion of our fanbase also don't realise that. From a poster on the FoxesTalk thread about Nige... "He started the foundation for our recent success. Without Nige, we'd be a mediocre Championship side....or worse!"

Just went to order for my boy and there's seemingly no option online to specify shirt name/number printing?!? The home and third kit don't have it either. ?

The irony being, the 'knock-offs' are pretty much the same as what the 'official' store is churning out. It's why there has been an explosion of the knock-offs being listed eBay. IMO, the club really have shot themselves in the foot with this one. I for one, also don't buy-in to the talk about Hummel and the distributor etc. Other clubs have been fine. This, IMO, was a poorly judged financial based decision.

Pretty much, all the shirts in my collection (those are a selection of them) are either unworn or very lightly worn. One thing that's really great about this shirt is the material, it's soft, unlike the pinstripe home shirt which I wouldn't want to wear within 10ft of a naked flame! ?

It’s sacrilege this new shirt is even compared to the original. The original is a work of art, and right up there as one of the favourites in my collection…

If my what?

My 2p FWIW, from my personal thoughts into this very point... A long time ago at the very start of my career, I had the absolute pleasure of working for HL from 2000-2008 (120 people in 2000, to post-float and over 600 people working for them in 2008), in a position where I had pretty much daily contact with PH and SL. Both of them are incredible when it comes to business, but they were/are very different drivers/personalities which IMO complimented each other, and the pair of them together were a force because they could challenge each other without fear or retribution. They also built a senior team of people at HL (many of who are still there today) who pretty much drove the company with them, that team were also varied and had equally driving/challenging personalities. That IMO was the key to HL's success, not PH or SL individually, but it was them together then as an expanding team. One thing that always surprises me is the way the two personalities (SL and PH) were/are portrayed and seen. I think you would be amazed to know that PH can be very compassionate and reasoned. Sure PH has a lot of northern noise and can be quite brash, but when it came to business he could be very measured and I indirectly learnt a lot from him. Over the years at BCFC I have witnessed both the strengths & weaknesses I also witnessed from SL at HL, for which I won't go into detail because this isn't a post that is designed to be 'personal' and I have a LOT of respect for the man and what he has done for this club. So, the problem as I see it is there was/is nobody at BCFC who is in a position to challenge/help Steve in the same way PH (and the extended team) did at HL, and therefore SL has to make VERY hard decisions on his own and do what he thinks/wants, which sadly means some poor judgments have been made made over the years which IMO could have been avoided if there had been another voice in the room. But, for all the haters, there is no way on god's earth SL sets out for us to continue to be in this position, IMO it will however take help to get us to the next level. And by 'help' I don't mean his son, or family, or any 'yes man' like that parasite Ashton, but people like PH who would sit in a room and tell him exactly what they think, without penalty. Will that happen? I'm not sure it will, but I stay positive because if he did share and unburden some of the 'questions', we could be up there as one of the powerhouses of football. Steve, if you are reading this (I know you sometimes do dip into this forum, because many years ago you gave me that subtle bollocking, which I rightly deserved!), my 2p from somebody who saw the incredible things you did at HL... continue trying to steer this ship on your own (with Jon) and IMO you are going to destroy your legacy and all the amazing things you have done for this club for which there is so so much! I totally disagree with all the viritrol and 'pox' comments, this is just people's frustrations and by the very nature of Football it will happen, but sadly I also have no doubt this will all turn VERY toxic if we are relegated.

You're probably going to look back on that decision and have a "doh" moment. ? To put it into context, my little collection of City shirts are now named on their own insurance policy, due to their values.