Pressure on in survival fight
Gregory and Wise in spotlight
The League Managers Association and their many members would agree that learning curves are not exclusively reserved for England's least experienced coaches.
John Gregory, for example, will not forget the past seven days in a hurry. QPR's boss is a veteran of six clubs and 18 years as a manager, but Gregory would be hard-pressed to identify a more draining period of his career that the events that befell Rangers last week.
His problems began on Wednesday when a friendly at Harlington training ground ended with a brawl between several QPR players and members of China's Olympic team.
The violence was captured on camera and broadcast across the globe, a rare piece of worldwide publicity for Rangers but not the image that Gregory or his chairman, Gianni Paladini, would wish to paint of life at Loftus Road.
An opportunity for building international relations had gone badly wrong.
An internal investigation was announced by Paladini, and the results of the inquiry could have serious consequences for the players involved.
The story was left to simmer while Gregory wondered how his preparation for their game against Southend United on Friday evening could have been any worse.
It was with an air of inevitability, then, that QPR were routed 5-0 at Roots Hall. The carnage that ensued in the final 20 minutes, when Southend scored four times, robbed Gregory of his convincing poker-face as any pretence of a club at peace with itself faded rapidly.
Appalling
"It's been an appalling night," said Gregory. "I don't see how this week could have got any worse.
"This will happen to better teams than us, everyone has a day like this, but it's all about how we recover."
The nature of their response is highly relevant to Leeds United.
QPR's first opportunity to prove that their season is not on the verge of imploding will come a week tonight when Gregory travels with his players to Elland Road.
The cliché of six-pointers – first brought out for Barnsley's visit to Leeds at the start of December – has been used excessively this season, but no phrase can better describe the stakes in Yorkshire next week.
United can afford only one outcome, much as they could against Crystal Palace last weekend when Matt Heath and Robbie Blake earned a 2-1 victory over the Selhurst Park club.
Reduced ticket prices – a long-overdue but welcome initiative from Ken Bates – may provide United with their biggest home crowd of the term and, on the balance of form and their improving results at Elland Road, Leeds will hold favouritism over QPR before kick-off.
It is also true, however, that the seven days ahead of Wise may be just as trying as the last week has been for Gregory.
The ecstatic reaction of United's supporters on Saturday – as positive an atmosphere as the stadium has seen for months – quickly gave way to confused anger after the revelation from Wise, pictured right, that his team-sheet had been leaked prior to kick-off.
His annoyed and unprovoked comments left little doubt that United's manager suspected foul-play on the part of an unnamed player, but the scale of the betrayal was shrouded in doubt yesterday when Peter Taylor, Palace's manager, suggested Wise may have misjudged the situation.
In Wise's eyes, the apparent lack of loyalty was unacceptable, enough to bring the implicated player to the end of his career at Elland Road.
Taylor responded by claiming a misunderstanding, suggesting the 'leak' came during a "general conversation" between a member of his squad and a member of Wise's.
Similar conversations take place every weekend, he insisted. "Players talk to players, it's part of life."
United have as yet made no move to clarify the situation, or to identify the individual involved.
A guessing-game has sprawled across the Internet since Saturday, leaving supporters to wonder who is at the centre of the dispute.
When the facts come to light, it will quickly be discovered whether the drip of team news was a unintentional mistake or a deliberate act of sabotage.
The Professional Footballers' Association are watching carefully, wary of United's intentions towards the player involved.
Pessimistic managers would call Saturday's events draining. Wise might prefer to use the phrase character-building.
His week will be topped off by a visit to Cardiff City – no more appealing an appointment than QPR's clash at Southend was – but, in spite of the off-field chaos, United's players salvaged three points from a high-pressure fixture against Palace, and one which prepares them suitably for the job at Ninian Park.
Given the choice, United's boss would doubtless take his situation over Gregory's, increasingly so if Leeds get the better of QPR in seven days' time.
Wise's attitude has never changed – people are either with him or against him, with no middle ground. United's supporters will like that.
His mantra was roundly reiterated by the controversy that followed the win over Palace.
Wise said: "If the players are honest with me I'll be honest with them. It's very simple.
"If they give me as much as they can then we'll be okay.
"It was a fantastic result for us and full credit to the players, the whole lot of them.
"They did themselves proud and I'm chuffed to bits."
Kilde: YEP
