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The travails of supporting QPR apply to so many fans

Keen Super Hoops supporter Lord Young of Acton (he did briefly consider becoming Lord Young of Lofus Road) reflects on the travails of being a QPR supporter in his column in this week's Spectator.

It occurred to me that the noble lord's remarks contained some universal truths that could be applied to supporters of any team outside the Premier League, or even the big six.  Being a football supporter is as much about disappointment as it is joy.

Young confesses that at the beginning of the current season he thought that QPR would get promoted. 'We've been languishing in the second tier of English football for more than ten years and I thought that we might finally escape.'  [I don't think many pundits predicted that].

As it turns out 'this season is looking a lot like the previous three.  With seven more games to play, the summit of my ambitions is to finish in the top half of the table.'

He tells his sons that 'watching the Hoops bounce up and down the league every season is good, character-building stuff.  But I'm beginning to have second thoughts.   What if, instead of instilling my sons with a valuable degree of stoicism, supporting QPR has accustomed them to failure?'   [It should be noted that Lord Young's father was Lord Young of Dartington who is regarded as one of the intellectual giants of the immediate post-war era].

'If the enduring lesson is that hope is a soul destroyer, won't that teach them not to aim too high in their own careers?  How do you preserve optimism of the will if pessimism of the intellect is drilled into you every Saturday?'  [Actually I would put it the other way round].

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