“There’s nothing like the feeling of getting up every day and going to work with elite footballers,” Neil Banfield says as he leads Queens Park Rangers’ first-team squad through their warm-up on a bitterly cold Monday morning. For the next two hours, the genial veteran coach oversees a series of drills, barking non-stop encouragement and regularly bursting into laughter. “You don’t stop loving this game,” he continues, shortly after wrapping up the session. “When I leave here this afternoon, I’ll still be watching games, studying tactics and looking for developments. And if I’m not doing that, I’ll be in Buckhurst Hill watching my son play.”
Banfield has been one of the unsung heroes behind QPR’s remarkable form this season, with the west London club currently fourth in the Championship and on a run of seven games unbeaten. A former England schoolboy international, he spent 21 years at Arsenal after his career was cut short by injury, starting out as a youth coach under Liam Brady, moulding the likes of Ashley Cole, Jack Wilshere, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie, before later becoming a key member of Arsene Wenger’s first-team staff. Banfield spent every day attempting to facilitate the Frenchman’s vision and was part of the collateral when that reality finally came crumbling down in 2018.
