England’s three lockdowns didn’t cause me much suffering. I don’t have a shop selling ‘non-essential’ goods (e.g. books) that has now gone out of business. As a freelance journalist, I was never at risk of losing my job and didn’t need to take any hand-outs from the Treasury. I don’t have a life-threatening disease so I was never going to die because my local hospital wouldn’t admit me. I only have one elderly relative and she was in our ‘support bubble’. The biggest downside was the intermittent closure of schools, not least because one of my children was doing her A levels and another his GCSEs. No end-of-exams celebrations for them. But I was probably better off than 95 percent of the population.

The one thing I really missed was going to the football, which I had naively thought might be possible in the 2020-21 season. I even bought two season tickets to my beloved QPR – one for me, one for my 13 year-old son Charlie – and nonchalantly ignored the deadline for applying for a refund. At one point, the club announced that a few hundred fans would be allowed into the ground and Charlie and I eagerly put our names in the hat, only for the offer to be withdrawn when the ‘rule of six’ was introduced. The next best thing was going to the stadium’s posh restaurant on match day – which the club made possible for our game against Cardiff on 31 October. But it was £60 a head and we were told we wouldn’t be able to go over to the window to look out over the pitch. We would have to make do with a big screen. That sounded even more frustrating that watching the match at home, knowing the ground is only a mile away. (Although we did beat Cardiff 3-2.)

It was only when football started being played behind closed doors that I realised how much I valued the weekly ritual. And I say ‘weekly’ because Charlie and I had taken to going to away games, too, criss-crossing England by train. QPR’s away record isn’t great, so more often than not we’d find ourselves on Saturday evening in a carriage strewn with empty beer cans and KFC boxes, listening to middle-aged men in QPR shirts grumbling about missed chances and poor substitutions. Before the second half of the 2020-21 season, our home record wasn’t great either. We finished 13th in the table in the 2019-20 season and 19th in the season before that. Why, then, did I miss it so much?

I can think of three reasons. First, there’s the fact that when Charlie and I are watching QPR lose 0-1 to Barnsley on a rainy Tuesday night in Shepherd’s Bush we’re suffering together. I’m always working so hard I don’t get to spend much time with my children, particularly now they’re becoming older and more independent. But ever since they were babies I’ve been taking them to QPR games and even though the other three often have something more important to do these days, Charlie has really got the bug. Sitting beside each other in the stadium, celebrating together, commiserating with each other, sharing cheesy chips… that’s companionship. I’m hoping Charlie will repay me in 25 years time by collecting me from the old people’s home on match days and wheeling me into Loftus Road.

Then there’s the fact that, very occasionally, we win and that’s absolutely bloody marvellous. I often tell Charlie that if we supported Arsenal or Chelsea, a win wouldn’t mean a great deal because it happens virtually every week. The great thing about supporting a mid-table Championship side is that victories are so rare it feels like winning the FA Cup every time. The last league game we went to was away at Preston North End on 7 March 2020 and QPR won 3 – 1. The train back to London was packed with QPR fans and we sang all the way home. (‘We’re the Rangers, the mighty Rangers, we always win away/We’re the Rangers, the mighty Rangers, we always win away/A win away, a win away, a win away, a win away…’ sung to the tune of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.)

But above all, it’s being with other people – lots of other people – who share a common interest. I’ve lived in or around Shepherd’s Bush most of my life, but the only time I have a tangible sense of community is at QPR games. When I see the fans converging on the Kayan Prince Foundation Stadium on a Saturday afternoon my heart lifts and nothing can beat that feeling of walking up the concrete steps in the family stand and seeing the pitch for the first time. I love hearing the roar of the crowd, seeing the entire stadium leap to its feet when a chance presents itself and joyfully chanting the names of the players when they score goals. That’s the stuff of life.

To make up for the lost season of 2020-21, Charlie and I have decided to go to as many games as we can this season. It won’t be possible to go to every mid-week game because he’ll need to be at school in the morning – and if schools close because we lock down again I imagine fans won’t be allowed into football grounds either. (Please God, no.) But I reckon we’ll get to at least 75 percent of them. We’ve already booked our trip to Hull on 14 August and we’re going to stay up there and go to Middlesborough on 18 August. (Fred, my 14 year-old, is coming on that trip too.) And because I’m a journalist by trade, I thought I might as well write about our experiences on this blog.

There’s one other reason for doing this which is that QPR might actually get promoted this season. I know, I know. Almost every fan in the Championship thinks their team is a promotional prospect at the beginning of the season. But QPR finished 9th at the end of the last season, two points off seventh, our best showing since we got relegated from the Premier League in 2015, and that was partly because the manager, Mark Warburton, brought in some fantastic loanees in the January transfer window – Charlie Austin, Stefan Johansen, Sam Field and Jordy de Wijs. And over the summer Warburton has signed all four of them. Not only that, he’s also brought in some new players who look very promising – Andre Dozzell, Moses Odubajo, Jimmy Dunne – and got Sam McCallum on loan from Norwich.

Warburton is the best manager we’ve had since Neil Warnock, who got us promoted at the end of the 2010-11 season. This is his third season in charge, which is almost unheard of for QPR, and it’s not hard to see why. He’s got a talent for developing young players, and can claim a good deal of the credit for the transfer of Ebere Eze to Crystal Palace for £19.5 million last August. And some of the younger members of our squad – like Chris Willock (23) – have thrived under him. He also seems to have a knack for revitalising older players, with Lee Wallace (34) enjoying a new lease of life last season.

It’s entirely possible that Warburton will be sacked in January, with QPR sliding into the relegation zone, but at the moment it looks as if the club’s decision to keep faith with him is paying off. He’s pulled together the most exciting group of players since the squad that won us the Championship 10 years ago. So expectations are high.

Here’s hoping this blog has a happy ending. 🍺