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CREWE OFFICIAL SITE

A Richard Langley finish ten minutes from time gave QPR a thrilling 4-3 win at Gresty Road. It wasn't exactly the end we would have wanted to a disappointing 2005, especially after Eddie Johnson had given us a 15^th minute lead and then led 3-2 at the interval following further goals from Luke Varney and Billy Jones. In a topsy-turvy game, second half strikes from Martin Rowlands and Langley sealed our fate though and left us feeling awfully deflated on this New Year's Eve. Crewe enter 2006 at the bottom of the league following wins for Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday.

Centre-half Richard Walker returned to the sixteen-man squad after overcoming his leg injury. The Stafford based defender replaced Adie Moses on the substitutes bench which also included the scorer of our goal on Wednesday evening, Luke Rodgers.

For the visitors Paul Furlong dropped down the substitutes bench with Shabazz Baidoo starting for QPR.

The start of a rip-roaring first half nearly saw Eddie Johnson give us a lead in the opening minute. The on-loan Manchester United youngster, who recently agreed to extend his loan spell with us until the end of the season nearly finished off a fine passing move, but his looping shot cleared Simon Royce's crossbar.

Johnson was again involved a few minutes later after being picked out superbly by Kenny Lunt and his final shot made Royce to make a decent enough save. It was evident that both sides were going to create chances.

Lee Cook was the main outlet for the blue and white hoops and a probing run was only halted by a timely interception by Chris McCready. Richard Langley saw his long-range shot drift over Ross Turnbull's bar before Crewe took the lead on 15 minutes.

Young Gary Roberts was the creator supreme, smartly turning away from Cook close to the touchline before feeding Steve Jones down the left wing. The Northern Ireland International kept his composure to look up and pick out Johnson, who slotted into the bottom corner for his fourth goal of the campaign.

Crewe had an early advantage but a topsy-turvy affair would see that lead disintegrate within a minute. It was that sort of match, which had you on the edge of your seat.

In their quest to draw themselves level, Cook and then Langley shot straight at Ross Turnbull before QPR lost their influential midfielder Marc Bircham with a re-occurrence of his hamstring injury. He was replaced by Gareth Ainsworth, who played on the right and Martin Rowlands moved into the centre.

QPR came move into the game and pushed Crewe back into our penalty area. David Vaughan was called upon to do his defensive duties in clearing a Lee Cook free-kick before Steve Jones forced a fine save from Royce at the other end of the pitch.

It was end-to-end stuff and the match turned on its head in the 34^th minute. Darren Moss was caught in possession by Lee Cook and the former Watford man drilled it past Ross Turnbull.

Barely 60 seconds later, the visitors were quite unbelievably ahead. Cook and Martin Rowlands were involved in the build up and Gareth Ainsworth's cross to the far post was converted by Shabazz Baidoo.

To compound the situation, Eddie Johnson was unable to continue with what looked to be a hamstring strain and he was replaced by Luke Varney, who went about his business with real purpose. He was spoken too unfairly really for putting himself about that giant of a man Danny Shittu before scoring with his first touch!

Steve Jones unsettled Shittu and despite being impeded he still managed to flick the ball into the box where Varney accelerated onto the loose ball to sweep the ball past Simon Royce for 2-2.

That was not the end of the first half scoring. Steve Jones fired a low shot against the legs of Royce before another flowing move saw Crewe take the lead again!

The tenacious Roberts was again involved with some sublime close control close to the by-line and his pass released Steve Jones, who again rolled the ball across the box to invite the supportive Billy Jones to score his fifth of the campaign. That goal, a minute before the break climaxed one of the most entertaining first half's at Gresty Road.

With a 3-2 lead, Crewe were in a fine position to go on and secure just our fourth win of the season - but again defensive lapses would cost us everything. Credit must be given to Ian Holloway's side, who showed great character to fight back again and secure another win on the road.

It looked to be another exciting half when Steve Jones had another effort cleared off the line and the next goal was always going to be crucial. Danny Shittu headed goalwards from a corner and tried his luck from distance before Crewe again shot themselves in the foot again from our own thrown-in. This time it was Lunt caught out and Martin Rowlands punished him fully with another spectacular effort from 25 yards. His arrowed drive went straight into our top left corner to give Ross Turnbull little chance.

In fairness, QPR enjoyed a lot more possession in the second period, and always looked the more likely to score again. Substitute Paul Furlong fired at the legs of Turnbull after being sent clear through the middle of our defence.

Crewe had their chances too though, with Man-of-the-Match Gary Roberts forcing a decent save from Royce after a forceful run by Royce and Stephen Foster was close to reaching a wicked free-kick delivery from Kenny Lunt.

Crewe then lost left back Anthony Tonkin through injury, thus allowing Luke Rodgers to come on and play in a three upfront. Moss switched over to left back and Billy Jones filled in at right back.

Billy Jones was then cautioned for a trip on the influential Cook before Naiboo again tested the busier Turnbull.

With ten minutes remaining, QPR grabbed the decisive goal. Richard Langley latched on to a through from Furlong and raced clear of the intentions of Roberts and the trying to recover Foster before dispatching his shot with aplomb. It was like a knife through the heart at that stage of the game and overall was a little harsh on the Railwayen.

There was still time on the clock for a couple of Kenny Lunt free-kicks to cause an element of confusion inside the QPR box before Furlong had another opportunity at the death to make it appear more comfortable for the visitors, but Turnbull stood firm to deny the veteran striker a goal.

Crewe huffed and puffed in the closing stages, with Rangers conceding a number of free-kicks, but with Shittu getting his head on most things, real chances were few and far between. From a good position at the break, Crewe had somehow lost the match. http://www.crewealex.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10414~30487,00.html

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QPR OFFICIAL SITE - IAN HOLLOWAY COMMENTS
Ian Holloway was happy to take all three points back from Gresty Road after a seven goal thriller.
We showed terrific character! There were lots of things wrong, but you have to give Crewe some credit for that.I was certainly on the edge of my seat!
"There were two tired teams out there. It was about showing character and keeping going.
We got it wrong defensively a few times, we couldn't get our line right until late in the game."
Despite not being happy about certain aspects of his teams play, Ollie was delighted with his teams attacking play.
"We scored some great goal, we played well and we showed desire. The longer it went on the better we got.
It was a great game and a great advert for this division!"
Gianni Paladini had earlier denied reports linking Jim Smith to the club, Holloway responded.
"I'm sick and tired of it, it seems every man, dingo and his dog is linked with my job. I've got it and you just try and take it off me if you can!"
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/ManagersComments/0,,10373~762104,00.html


BBC - QPR boss Ian Holloway:
"We already have more points than we did at this exact point this time last year with a game hand.

"But that doesn't seem to be good enough for some people. I'm sick and tired of every Tom, Dick and Ha rry getting linked with my job every day. "Well ding, dang, doo. It's my job, I own it and it's up to anyone else to take it off me." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4560078.stm

SPORTING LIFE
HOLLOWAY UPSET AT JOB SPECULATION

QPR boss Ian Holloway watched his side win a crazy game against Crewe then insisted he is "sick and tired" of speculation linking other managers with his job. Holloway's men could still reach the play-offs this season if they build on their 4-3 win at Gresty Road, but George Graham and Jim Smith have also been suggested as possibilities to take over at Loftus Road.
"We already have more points than we did at this exact point this time last year with a game in hand," Holloway said. "But that doesn't seem to be good enough for some people.
"I'm sick and tired of every Tom, Dick and Harry getting linked with my job every day. Well ding, dang, doo. It's my job, I own it and it's up to anyone else to take it off me.
"I'm proud of my players, of what we are doing here a re what we are trying to achieve and that's all that matters. "Today's game was a great advert for the league. I was on the edge of my seat but my players showed great commitment and I'm so proud of them.". http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/31/SOCCER_Crewe_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1

Crewe boss Dario Gradi laid into his side, who sank to the bottom of the table with 53 goals conceded this season. He said: "You have to question whether the players are as good as those they are playing. We are going to have to play much better than that if we are going to survive in league.
"Basic errors costs us and in this league it is tough to get away with that."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/31/SOCCER_Crewe_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1

CREWE OFFICIAL SITE
Dario Gradi has told the club's official web-site:

"It's hard to work out all the time how the goals are going in, the first of the goals were a little unfortunate. We had the ball in the box quite a lot in the second half, but the play was a bit rushed.
"Luke (Rodgers) is trying over-head kicks and Jonah is kicking the ball anywhere and obviously we have to have better quality. They had better quality than us in the end. They had more possession than us and their quality told in the end.
"Perhaps, in the end, we have got the ability of the players we are playing against. It's a tough league, the toughest it has been and we have to play at our very best. Maybe that isn't something they can do week in week out but its what they have to do to stay in this league.He added: " We'll have to do better than we did tonight if we want to stay in this league, there is no doubt about that. http://www.crewealex.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/managers_view/0,,10414~761920,00.html

E

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SPORTING LIFE
Crewe 3 QPR 4

Click here for full match stats

Billy Jones scored moments before half-time to give Crewe a slender first-half advantage against QPR.

Eddie Johnson had given the home side the lead, but QPR hit back thanks to quick-fire goals from Lee Cook and Shabazz Baidoo.

Luke Varney, who replaced the injured Johnson, then quickly made his mark to bring Crewe level before Jones struck to cap an action-packed opening 45 minutes.

The home side carved out an opening inside the opening minute but Johnson sent his right-footed volley wide of Simon Royce's goal.

QPR hit back quickly and Ross Turnbull in the Crewe goal had to be on his toes to keep out a long-range effort from Baidoo just two minutes later.

Baidoo threatened again moments later, but was again denied by Turnbull as both sides contributed fully to an entertaining opening spell.

Royce had to be at his absolute best after 10 minutes as he somehow denied Johnson, brilliantly parrying the Crewe striker's fiercely-struck shot.

QPR's Martin Rowland then fired a shot over the crossbar, but moments later the home side were ahead through the dangerous Johnson.

Gary Roberts found Johnson who kept his cool to slot the ball past Royce after 15 minutes.

To make matters worse for the visitors, they were forced into a change just five minutes later when midfielder Marc Bircham was injured. He was replaced by Gareth Ainsworth.

But QPR continued to push for an equaliser with Richard Langley having a goal-bound shot blocked and then the same player firing over the crossbar from 20 yards.

Play continued to switch from end to end, though, and Royce was again called into action to deal with a 25-yard shot from Steve Jones 11 minutes before the interval.

But it was the visitors who then struck with a double whammy to turn the game on its head.

Cook levelled with a neat left-foot finish after 35 minutes and just over a minute later Baidoo steered the ball home to put QPR ahead and stun Crewe.

The home side were also forced to make a change before the interval with Varney replacing Johnson.

And Varney made a swift impact as within a couple of minutes of coming on he latched onto a pass from Jones to fire home the equaliser after 39 minutes.

Jones then had the final say with a close-range finish just before the half-time whistle.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/reports/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/31/SOCCER_Crewe.html



BBC Crewe 3-4 QPR

Second half strikes by Martin Rowlands and Richard Langley ensured QPR took the points from a seven-goal thriller.

A double strike by Lee Cook and Shabazz Baidoo put QPR on top and cancelled out Eddie Johnson's opener, but Luke Varney and Billy Jones restored Crewe's lead.
In the second half Simon Royce did well to stop Steve Jones extending Crewe's lead and this proved vital.
On 57 minutes Rowlands' long-range effort drew QPR level before Langley hit the winner with nine minutes left. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4560078.stm

QPR Official Site

Rangers produced a sterling second half comeback to beat Crewe in a seven goal thriller at Gresty Road. Goals from Cook, Baidoo, Rowlands and Langley made it a memorable end to 2005.

Rangers made just one change from the win over Cardiff City with Shabazz Baidoo replacing Paul Furlong.

Rangers had an early attack on their own when Shabazz Baidoo picked up the ball 40 yards out but his low shot was dealt with easily by Turnbull in the Crewe goal.

Baidoo had another run at the Crewe defence in the 6th minute and once again hit a low shot that was gathered by Turnbull.

Crewe came close on 10 minutes when Johnson evaded the Rangers back line and saw his effort blocked Royce.

Rangers though were taking advantage of some poor Crewe defending and Martin Rowlands picked up a mis-placed pass and saw his left foot shot skim over the bar.

It was Crewe however, who took the lead. Steve Jones broke down Rangers left and the ball was pulled back to Johnson who placed the ball into the back of the net.

Rangers thought they had good grounds for a penalty after 18 minutes. Lee Cook's through ball seemed to strike a Crewe hand but the ref waved played on.

Rangers were forced to make a substitution on 20 minutes when Marc Bircham hobbled off and he was replaced by Gareth Ainsworth.. Just when the injury situation had started to look up Rangers suffered another blow!

Richard Langley won Rangers first corner of the match on 23 minutes when his shot was defected wide. The corner was taken shot and Langley shot from range but saw his shot fly high over the bar.

It wasn't long though before Rangers were level. Lee Cook ran down the left and his low shot beat Turnbull at the near post.

Even better was to follow when almost from the kick off Rangers took the lead. Ainsworth cross the ball from the right and it fell to Baidoo who hooked his shot in at the far post.

But before the celebrations had time to calm down Crewe were level. Luke Varney slotting home from eight yards. All in all, a mad couple of minutes!

Royce had to be at his best a couple of minutes later when he beat away Jones' effort.

Crewe then regained the lead after some awful defending in the Rangers defence. Rose couldn't reach a wayward pass, Santos missed his tackle and Billy Jones was un-marked to make it 3-2 to Crewe.

Rangers started the second half much better, looking more solid.

It took Rangers just over 10 minutes to draw level and what a goal it was!

Martin Rowlands picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and with no other options he let fly. His shot went like a rocket into the top corner and Rowlands sprinted to celebrate in front of the Rangers fans.

Rangers continued to probe but Crewe were looking dangerous on the counter-attack.

Ian Holloway then made a double substitution. Mauro Milanese replaced Georges Santos. Milanese went to left back and Rose moved to the centre. Paul Furlong made a straight swap with Marc Nygaard.

Langley then came ever so close to giving the Superhoops the lead. The midfielder burst through the middle but Lee Cook's pass just made him check slightly and he saw his shot pushed away.

Five minutes later almost a carbon copy of the incident saw QPR take the lead. Langley once again burst through the middle but this time his low shot rifled into the back of the net! Phew!

Furlong nearly made the game safe just after when he got in behind the Crewe defence, his low shot was beaten away by Turnbull.

The final whistle went and the travelling Rangers army erupted.

Whilst Ian Holloway will have sleepless nights about his teams defensive display, he will be licking his lips from seeing Rangers best attacking display of the season.

http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10373~30487,00.html

TEAMTALK
QPR edge Alex in thriller

Second-half goals from Martin Rowlands and Richard Langley gave QPR all three points after a seven-goal thriller at Gresty Road.

In an action-packed first half Billy Jones had scored moments before half-time to give Crewe a slender 3-2 advantage, but the visitors fought back superbly after the interval.

Eddie Johnson gave the home side the lead in the 15th minute, but QPR hit back thanks to quick-fire goals from Lee Cook and Shabazz Baidoo.

Luke Varney, who replaced the injured Johnson, then quickly made his mark to bring Crewe level before Jones struck to cap a thrilling opening 45 minutes.

The home side carved out an opening inside the first minute but Johnson sent his right-footed volley wide of Simon Royce's goal.

QPR hit back quickly and Ross Turnbull in the Crewe goal had to be on his toes to keep out a long-range effort from Baidoo just two minutes later.

Baidoo threatened again moments later, but was again denied by Turnbull as both sides contributed fully to an entertaining opening spell.

Royce had to be at his best after 10 minutes as he somehow denied Johnson, brilliantly parrying the Crewe striker's fiercely-struck shot.

QPR's Martin Rowland then fired a shot over the crossbar, but moments later the home side were ahead through the dangerous Johnson.

Gary Roberts found Johnson who kept his cool to slot the ball past Royce after 15 minutes.

To make matters worse for the visitors, they were forced into a change just five minutes later when midfielder Marc Bircham was injured. He was replaced by Gareth Ainsworth.

But QPR continued to push for an equaliser with Langley having a goal-bound shot blocked and then the same player fired over the crossbar from 20 yards.

Play continued to switch from end to end, though, and Royce was again called into action to deal with a 25-yard shot from Steve Jones 11 minutes before the interval.

But it was the visitors who then struck with a double whammy to turn the game on its head.

Cook levelled with a neat left-footed finish after 35 minutes and just over a minute later Baidoo steered the ball home to put QPR ahead and stun Crewe.

The home side were also forced to make a change before the interval with Varney replacing Johnson.

And Varney made a swift impact as within a couple of minutes of coming on he latched onto a pass to fire home the equaliser after 39 minutes.

Jones then struck with a close-range finish just before the half-time whistle.

Royce was back in action just after the re-start as he saved superbly from Steve Jones to prevent the home side from extending their lead.

And it proved a crucial stop as the visitors levelled after 57 minutes with a cracking long-range effort from Rowlands which gave Turnbull no chance.

Langley then struck with nine minutes remaining to settle matters.
http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Story_Page/0,7760,1801_921845,00.html

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Crewe 3 QPR 4

QPR Remain 13th with 35 points from 27 games...4 points off playoff spot (and 11 points away from the relegation spot)
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/tables/cc_champ.html


Scoring
Crewe 1-0
QPR 1-1 (Cook)
QPR 2-1 (Baidoo)
Crewe 2-2
Crewe 3-2 (HT)
QPR 3-3 (Rowlands)
QPR 4-3 (Langley)

MINUTE BY MINUTE
This is Staffordshire
0:00(2:44)
Defending throw-in by Gary Roberts (Crewe).

90:00(1:45)
Foul by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) on Luke Rodgers (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Kenny Lunt (Crewe) from right wing, resulting in open play.

90:00(0:51)
Luke Rodgers (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

90:00(0:24)
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

89:38
Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

88:29
Foul by Lee Cook (QPR) on Gary Roberts (Crewe). Direct free kick taken left-footed by Gary Roberts (Crewe) from right channel, resulting in open play.

88:23
Defending throw-in by Kenny Lunt (Crewe).

87:52
Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Ross Turnbull (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

87:20
Foul by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) on Kenny Lunt (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Ross Turnbull (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

87:11
Attacking throw-in by Mauro Milanese (QPR).

86:25
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

86:05
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

85:52
Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

85:22
Cross by Gary Roberts (Crewe), save (caught) by Simon Royce (QPR).

84:56
Attacking throw-in by Billy Jones (Crewe).

84:11
Shot by Paul Furlong (QPR) right-footed from centre of penalty area (12 yards), fantastic save (parried) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe). Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

83:31
Corner from right by-line taken short right-footed by Lee Cook (QPR).

83:04
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

82:22
Foul by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR) on Darren Moss (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Kenny Lunt (Crewe) from left wing, resulting in open play.

81:48
Foul by Paul Furlong (QPR) on Darren Moss (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Stephen Foster (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

81:24
Shot by Luke Rodgers (Crewe) left-footed from right channel (25 yards), save (caught) by Simon Royce (QPR).

80:22
Goal by Richard Langley (QPR) right-footed (bottom-left of goal) from right side of penalty area (12 yards).Crewe 3-4 QPR. Assist (pass) by Paul Furlong (QPR) from right channel.

78:43
Foul by Billy Jones (Crewe) on Lee Cook (QPR). Billy Jones (Crewe) booked for unsporting behaviour. Direct free kick taken right-footed by Mauro Milanese (QPR) from left channel, resulting in open play.

78:00
Attacking throw-in by Billy Jones (Crewe).

77:21
Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

76:52
Defending throw-in by Billy Jones (Crewe).

76:11
Attacking throw-in by Mauro Milanese (QPR).

75:10
Outswinging corner from right by-line taken right-footed by Martin Rowlands (QPR) to centre, resulting in open play.

74:39
Attacking throw-in by Mauro Milanese (QPR).

73:56
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

73:30
Attacking throw-in by Mauro Milanese (QPR).

73:06
Attacking throw-in by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR).

72:41
Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

70:54
Shot by Martin Rowlands (QPR) right-footed from centre of penalty area (18 yards), save (tipped round post) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe). Outswinging corner from right by-line taken right-footed by Martin Rowlands (QPR) to near post, clearance by Darren Moss (Crewe).

70:15
Foul by Luke Varney (Crewe) on Lee Cook (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Mauro Milanese (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

69:50
Foul by Paul Furlong (QPR) on Stephen Foster (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Stephen Foster (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

68:06
Shot by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR) right-footed from right channel (25 yards), missed right. QPR substitution: Georges Santos replaced by Mauro Milanese (tactical). QPR substitution: Marc Nygaard replaced by Paul Furlong (tactical). Crewe substitution: Anthony Tonkin replaced by Luke Rodgers (tactical). Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

67:33
Attacking throw-in by Georges Santos (QPR).

66:33
Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

65:45
Defending throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

65:11
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

64:28
Foul by Billy Jones (Crewe) on Shabazz Baidoo (QPR). Direct free kick taken left-footed by Lee Cook (QPR) from left channel, resulting in open play.

64:01
Steve Jones (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

63:51
Shot by Gary Roberts (Crewe) left-footed from left channel (20 yards), save (caught) by Simon Royce (QPR).

61:56
Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

61:30
Foul by Richard Langley (QPR) on Steve Jones (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Ross Turnbull (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

61:01
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

60:14
Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

59:47
Handball by Gary Roberts (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Marcus Bignot (QPR) from left channel, passed.

59:15
Brilliant shot by Steve Jones (Crewe) right-footed from left channel (20 yards), missed left. Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

58:44
Defending throw-in by Georges Santos (QPR).

57:48
Foul by Marcus Bignot (QPR) on Steve Jones (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Kenny Lunt (Crewe) from right channel, resulting in open play.

56:34
Fantastic goal by Martin Rowlands (QPR) drilled right-footed (top-right of goal) from right channel (35+ yards).Crewe 3-3 QPR.

55:16
Inswinging corner from left by-line taken right-footed by Martin Rowlands (QPR) to centre, resulting in open play. Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

54:31
Foul by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR) on Anthony Tonkin (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Ross Turnbull (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

54:08
Attacking throw-in by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR).

53:21
Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

52:14
Shot by Dan Shittu (QPR) right-footed from right channel (35+ yards), save (caught) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

50:10
Inswinging corner from left by-line taken right-footed by Richard Langley (QPR) to far post, header by Martin Rowlands (QPR) from centre of penalty area (12 yards), save (caught) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

49:19
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

49:04
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

47:53
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

47:33
Attacking throw-in by David Vaughan (Crewe).

47:06
Shot by Steve Jones (Crewe) right-footed from right side of penalty area (18 yards), fantastic save (parried) by Simon Royce (QPR).

46:22
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

45:31
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

45:08
Foul by Luke Varney (Crewe) on Richard Langley (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Dan Shittu (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

45:00(0:34)
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

44:56
Marc Nygaard (QPR) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Stephen Foster (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

44:08
Goal by Billy Jones (Crewe) right-footed (bottom-right of goal) from right side of six-yard box (6 yards).Crewe 3-2 QPR. Assist (pass) by Steve Jones (Crewe) from right channel.

42:51
Shot by Steve Jones (Crewe) right-footed from left side of penalty area (12 yards), fantastic save (parried) by Simon Royce (QPR).

42:29
Defending throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

41:51
Foul by Lee Cook (QPR) on Darren Moss (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Darren Moss (Crewe) from own half, passed.

41:19
Defending throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

41:00
Handball by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Stephen Foster (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

40:13
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

39:54
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

38:49
Goal by Luke Varney (Crewe) right-footed (bottom-right of goal) from left side of penalty area (12 yards).Crewe 2-2 QPR. Assist (pass) by Steve Jones (Crewe) from left channel.

37:54
Foul by Luke Varney (Crewe) on Georges Santos (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Dan Shittu (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

37:46
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

37:03
Foul by Luke Varney (Crewe) on Marcus Bignot (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

36:40
Crewe substitution: Eddie Johnson replaced by Luke Varney (injury).

36:05
Goal by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) right-footed (bottom-right of goal) from right side of penalty area (6 yards).Crewe 1-2 QPR. Assist (cross) by Gareth Ainsworth (QPR) from right channel.

34:48
Goal by Lee Cook (QPR) left-footed (bottom-left of goal) from centre of penalty area (6 yards).Crewe 1-1 QPR.

34:27
Attacking throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

34:00
Eddie Johnson (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

33:37
Shot by Steve Jones (Crewe) right-footed from left channel (25 yards), save (caught) by Simon Royce (QPR).

32:08
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

31:33
Foul by Kenny Lunt (Crewe) on Lee Cook (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Richard Langley (QPR) from left channel, passed.

29:46
Inswinging corner from right by-line taken left-footed by Lee Cook (QPR) to centre, resulting in ball out of play. Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

28:05
Eddie Johnson (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

27:36
Shot by Richard Langley (QPR) right-footed from left channel (35+ yards), save (caught) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

26:32
Foul by Marc Nygaard (QPR) on Chris McCready (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Ross Turnbull (Crewe) from own half, resulting in open play.

26:07
Cross by Marcus Bignot (QPR), resulting in open play.

24:45
Eddie Johnson (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Georges Santos (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play. Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

24:22
Shot by Richard Langley (QPR) right-footed from left wing (18 yards), over the bar. Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

23:34
Shot by Richard Langley (QPR) right-footed from right channel (25 yards), blocked by Billy Jones (Crewe). Corner from right by-line taken short right-footed by Martin Rowlands (QPR).

22:43
Foul by Eddie Johnson (Crewe) on Marcus Bignot (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Dan Shittu (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

22:10
Attacking throw-in by Billy Jones (Crewe).

21:55
Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

21:15
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

20:14
QPR substitution: Marc Bircham replaced by Gareth Ainsworth (serious injury).

19:12
Defending throw-in by Matthew Rose (QPR).

18:35
Shot by Steve Jones (Crewe) left-footed from left channel (20 yards), missed right. Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).

17:28
Shot by Marcus Bignot (QPR) left-footed from right channel (35+ yards), save (caught) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

15:38
Foul by Eddie Johnson (Crewe) on Georges Santos (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

15:21
Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

15:06
Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

14:31
Goal by Eddie Johnson (Crewe) right-footed (bottom-left of goal) from right side of penalty area (18 yards).Crewe 1-0 QPR. Assist (pass) by Gary Roberts (Crewe) from right wing.

13:28
Shot by Martin Rowlands (QPR) left-footed from left channel (18 yards), over the bar. Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

12:44
Defending throw-in by Marc Bircham (QPR).

10:34
Attacking throw-in by Matthew Rose (QPR).

9:39
Shot by Eddie Johnson (Crewe) right-footed from centre of penalty area (12 yards), fantastic save (parried) by Simon Royce (QPR).

9:03
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

8:22
Attacking throw-in by Marcus Bignot (QPR).

6:17
Cross by Marcus Bignot (QPR), header by Marc Nygaard (QPR) from right side of penalty area (12 yards), missed right. Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

5:48
Eddie Johnson (Crewe) caught offside. Indirect free kick taken right-footed by Dan Shittu (QPR) from own half, passed.

5:14
Shot by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) right-footed from right side of penalty area (12 yards), save (caught) by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

4:19
Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

3:58
Defending throw-in by Darren Moss (Crewe).

3:30
Foul by Steve Jones (Crewe) on Georges Santos (QPR). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Simon Royce (QPR) from own half, resulting in open play.

2:41
Shot by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) right-footed from right channel (30 yards), save (caught) by Simon Royce (QPR). Foul by Georges Santos (QPR) on Chris McCready (Crewe). Direct free kick taken right-footed by Kenny Lunt (Crewe) from left channel, resulting in open play.

1:54
Goal kick taken short by Simon Royce (QPR).

1:38
Defending throw-in by Anthony Tonkin (Crewe).

1:18
Goal kick taken long by Ross Turnbull (Crewe).

0:32
Shot by Eddie Johnson (Crewe) volleyed right-footed from right side of penalty area (18 yards), missed left. Goal kick taken long by Simon Royce (QPR).
http://www.thisisfootball.co.uk/Display.aspx?MatchId=2529522

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QPR OFFICIAL SITE
"...Paladini has also rubbished claims that Jim Smith is to come to Rangers as Director of Football
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~761941,00.html

(No Cole; No Bean...)

QPR: Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Santos, Rose, Langley, Bircham, Rowlands, Cook, Nygaard, Baidoo
Subs Not Used: Moore, Donnelly, Ainsworth, Furlong. Milanese

Crewe Team: Turnbull, Moss, Tonkin, Foster, McCready, Lunt, Vaughan, Roberts, B. Jones, S. Jones, Johnson
Subs: Tomlinson, Rix, Walker, Varney, Rodgers

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Dario Prepares For QPR Clash

Crewe Official Site
As he prepares his side for two more games in three days, Dario Gradi has told the club's official web-site that he feels we have dropped four points over the Christmas period. The Alex have failed to take full advantage of playing against reduced teams.
Leicester played the last half-an-hour with ten men at the Walkers Stadium but held onto for a draw, whilst Coventry were reduced to nine men in mid-week after having Michael Doyle sent-off and Robert Page stretched off with a fractured cheekbone.
After using all three substitutes, Micky Adams had no choice but to cross his fingers and hope in the closing stages of the game, only for Luke Rodgers to head home a Kenny Lunt cross in stoppage time to salvage a point.
"I think we have dropped four points because we had a good chance to win both away games because we were playing against ten and nine men,' says Dario.
"We should have been better prepared for that type of situation and we will do a bit more work on it. The players were certainly better against Coventry than they were at Leicester because we dominated the later stages of that game and really should have won the game.
"The positive thing for us, is that we have moved up one place in the league table but I wouldn't say I was happy about our points return. I am encouraged because the players here always give their best and give us hope.
He added: "We need to take the improvements we have made into the next couple of games. QPR are still a big club. I remember when Dave Sexton took them to second place in the First Division. "Ian Holloway has his own unique style but I think he has done a very good job there in difficult circumstances, because the club have not been that stable financially for a few years. He has a decent side there and we know they were come here expecting to get something from the game." http://www.crewealex.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10414~761596,00.html


CREWE'S LUKE VARNEY

Striker Luke Varney sees the clash with Queens Park Rangers as a game that can push Crewe up the table and closing that gap that holds us down the bottom of the league.
Following a run of three consecutive draws, Luke suggests that spirits are high at Reaseheath and a two wins in the next two games could really separate that gap.
"Before Wednesday's game, we looked at the league table, which we do quite often, and I think there was four points in it between us and the middle of the table. Hopefully, we can go into tomorrow's game and get all three points and get us moving up the table again."
Luke and the rest of the team are used to teams arriving at Gresty Road feeling confident they can push over our squad and claim the three points before the first whistle. However, with moral high and players constantly improving, Luke says that it isn't the same anymore and they are getting into the physical side a lot more.
"We know that tomorrow going to be a physical game and we look back at when we played them last season and we got the win, and hopefully we can go with that and get the win this year. I think we're getting the physical side of the game a bit more now, and there aren't really that many teams that are bullying us anymore. We're losing games now by being out played, but teams aren't bullying us on the pitch.
"QPR are one of those teams, where it won't matter where they play, the can be up for any game and it'll be a tough game.
On top of recent results Luke has seen a stop start in his play in the first team but aims to put that back to a starting position after feeling back to his best.
"It's been a little stop start for me recently, but I feel like when I'm getting the chance I'm making an impact. I'm enjoying it, I know I'm only sub at the minute but I'm just going to keep going and hopefully I'll get that start again.
"Since the Cardiff game my form dipped a little, and then I had a little injury and illness but I think I'm back to my best now and I'm just looking forward to getting back into the team.
http://www.crewealex.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10414~761716,00.html

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SMITH RETURNING TO R's
David McIntyre Gazette Newspaper

[Posted on Dave Barton's great Queens Park Rangers FC site]

QPR want Jim Smith to return to Loftus Road as director of football.
Smith, who managed Rangers from 1985 to 1988, has been approached by Rs chairman Gianni Paladini. The two are friends and Smith has been linked with a return before, but this time an agreement is close to being reached.
Smith is expected to watch Rangers' match at Crewe tomorrow with a view to taking up his post early in the new year. It is not yet clear how his possible arrival would affect manager Ian Holloway and his coaching set-up.
...... Paladini is keen to make the structural change after a difficult spell of behind-the-scenes problems and some poor performances on the pitch. http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/papersdec3005.htm


As posted yesterday from The Telegraph re Jim Smith to QPR
http://qprreport.blogspot.com/2005/12/qpr-reportedly-set-to-appoint-jim.html


Jim Smith Record

Jim Smith Career
Jim Smith (footballer) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jim Smith (born October 17, 1940) is a former English football (soccer) player and is now working as a coach. He is currently unemployed after Southampton F.C. decided not to renew his contract as assistant to Harry Redknapp following the 2004/05 season.[edit]Playing careerSmith began his playing career in 1959, when he signed for hometown Sheffield United as a trainee (though Smith himself supports Sheffield Wednesday). After failing to break into the first team he was transferred to Aldershot for the 1961-1962 season.At the beginning of the 1965-1966 season, after scoring one goal in 74 appearances, Smith left Aldershot to join Halifax Town. He made 113 league appearances for Halifax, scoring 7 goals, before moving to Lincoln City in 1968. After a year at Lincoln in which he made 54 appearances Smith signed for non-league Boston United as player-manager.[edit]Management careerA good start to his managerial career at Boston meant that in November 1972 Colchester United offered Smith the position of player-manager at the club.Success came quickly as Smith guided Colchester to the Football League Fourth Division title in 1974. His performance at the club attracted the attention of bigger clubs, and in 1975 he quit the club, and hung up his boots, to join Blackburn Rovers as manager.He led Blackburn for three years before leaving to be appointed boss of Birmingham City in 1978. Unfortunately, Birmingham were relegated from the old Football League First Division the next year. However, Smith managed to guide Birmingham back into the top flight the next season.In 1982 Smith parted company with the St Andrews club and joined Oxford United as manager. Taking them to the old Football League Third Division championship in 1984. The next year they were again promoted, this time into the top flight, for the first time in their history as Oxford won the old Second Division. This spectacular success led to Smith being offered the job of manager at Queens Park Rangers, which he accepted.In his first year at QPR, Smith took the club to the League Cup final, but they lost 3-0 to his former club Oxford. Smith continued to manage QPR until 1988 when he left to become manager of Newcastle United. However, the following year Newcastle were relegated and failure to reverse the club's fortunes led to Smith's sacking in 1991.He quickly bounced back and was appointed manager of Portsmouth the same year. He had a fairly successful reign at Fratton Park for four years, including reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 1992, before leaving Pompey to take over at Derby County in 1995.In his first full season in charge Derby came second in the First Division (now the second tier of English football), and gained promotion to the FA Premier League.For three seasons Derby showed impressive improvements in the Premiership, finishing 12th, 9th and 8th. However, in the next two seasons Derby narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 16th and 17th. Smith resigned at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season.In early 2002, Smith was appointed assistant manager at Coventry City. Though results improved after he arrived, Smith was sacked, along with Coventry's entire management team, at the end of the season.Later that year, former club Portsmouth offered Smith a position as assistant manager to Harry Redknapp. Having accepted, Smith helped Redknapp win the First Division at the first attempt in 2002-2003, and went on to become a major part of Pompey's consolidation process in the Premier League.In November 2004, both Smith and Redknapp resigned from Portsmouth after the appointment of a director of football. Both considered this to threaten their authority and control in team matters.Redknapp soon became the manager of Southampton and Smith was appointed his assistant a few weeks later on December 22, 2004, having previously turned down the role of chief scout. However, Southampton were relegated at the end of the season and Smith's contract was not renewed due to cost-cutting.[edit]Career summary1959-1961 Sheffield United (player)1961-1965 Aldershot (player)1965-1968 Halifax Town (player)1968-1969 Lincoln City (player)1969-1972 Boston United (player-manager)1972-1975 Colchester United (player-manager)1975-1978 Blackburn Rovers (manager)1978-1982 Birmingham City (manager)1982-1985 Oxford United (manager)1985-1988 Queens Park Rangers (manager)1988-1991 Newcastle United (manager)1991-1995 Portsmouth (manager)1995-2001 Derby County (manager)2002 Coventry City (assistant manager)2002-2004 Portsmouth (assistant manager)2004-2005 Southampton (assistant manager)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Smith_(footballer)

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With recent speculation about Ian Holloway remaining as QPR manager, interesting to reread from last season and also back to February 2001 when QPR were last looking to appoint a manager (and ended up appointing Holloway.)


QPR to stick with Holloway
BBC- Tuesday, 11 May, 2004
Holloway has taken the club back to Division OneQPR boss Ian Holloway will still be the club's manager next season, according to chairman Nick Blackburn.
Speculation has linked former R's boss Jim Smith with a return, despite Holloway leading them to promotion.
"I don't see any problems with Ian Holloway being manager next season - unless there are problems on his side," Blackburn told BBC London 94.9.
"But he's told me there's only one club he wants to be at and we want him here with us."
Holloway and 14 players are coming to the end of their contract.
But with promotion to Division One secured, the club is planning to sit down and discuss new deals now. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/3704259.stm

Hammersmith Times 12th May 2004
by Dave Evans and Dave McIntyre
QPR’s elevation to Division One has brought the investors flocking to Loftus Road as they look to jump on to Ian Holloway’s promotion bandwagon. And it is American soccer franchise owner Tim Krause who is leading the way in the takeover stakes with a deal worth £2.5 million close to being agreed between Rangers and the Americans.
Following the recent £650,000 investment from Italian football agent Gianni Paladini, the American money on top of that would enable QPR to strengthen their squad for their Division One campaign, while the crippling £10 million loan at 10 per cent interest that the club took out to come out of administration is also likely to be addressed.
If Krause is successful with his bid then it is also likely to be good news for out of contract manager Ian Holloway. He is a big fan of the eccentric Rangers boss having met him last year when the Wave and Rangers forged close sporting links.
Paladini is also a fan of Holloway, with the only dissenting voices allegedly coming from the consortium headed by former QPR Commercial Director Brian Rowe.
Rowe, who was at the club in the 1980s, is reported to be interested in bringing Jim Smith back to the club he managed between 1985 and 1988. The prospect of Smith returning to Loftus Road though seems to be an unlikely one with Holloway set to sign a new deal within the next week. .." http://www.boardroomblues.co.uk/ht120504.htm

[And this was Brian Rowe's denial re Jim Smith/QPR 2004 report:]

ROWE FURIOUS - from the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle 20 May 2004
by Paul Warburton
Potential investor Brian Rowe is furious over a report that he masterminded the rumour last week that former boss Jim Smith was set for a return to QPR.
Rowe, who was marketing manager at Rangers until 1996, was adamant he and his would-be investors were four-square behind the renewal of Holloway's contract. Rowe said: "I personally have gone on record and stated that Ollie is the most dedicated manager I have met in this industry - and I had experience of at least 10 during my time at QPR. "It would be unthinkable, totally wrong and suicidal, not to give Ollie the opportunity to take the club further, and I have told Ollie this. "Had the consortium I represent ever thought otherwise, I would have walked away a long time ago." http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&action=1&replytoid=533072393&forumId=3672

QPR line up Argentinian manager
Jon BrodkinSaturday September 4, 2004 The Guardian
Queens Park Rangers are ready to make an extraordinary managerial appointment, replacing Ian Holloway with Ramón Díaz, a former Argentina striker who has coached River Plate to several trophies in his homeland.
The struggling Football League Championship club are preparing to dismiss Holloway and turn to Díaz, who played with Diego Maradona, Ossie Ardiles and others in the 1982 World Cup, scoring during the team's defeat by Brazil.
Díaz has connections with a Monaco-based consortium, Barnaby Holdings, which recently acquired a stake in QPR. The consortium, headed by the former Brazil captain Dunga, has bought 10% of the club's shares and plans to purchase another 19.9% in the near future.
Díaz has an impressive CV as both player and coach. He turned out for Napoli, Internazionale, Fiorentina and Monaco among other teams before moving into coaching. The 45-year-old has had more than one spell in charge of River Plate, winning the Libertadores Cup in 1996 and several domestic championships.
He has not worked for two years after falling out with River over his salary and, after spending time with his family, has been looking for work outside Argentina. Having failed to secure employment in France, Spain or Italy he has happily accepted the overtures of QPR.
He watched the team two weeks ago at Loftus Road against Derby County and is understood to have spoken to Gino Padula, the club's left-back who was born in Argentina and played under him at River in the mid-90s.
QPR said last night that "at no stage have negotiations taken place between the club and Mr Díaz regarding managerial or coaching positions at QPR".
They stated that the club "wants nothing more than success for both Ian and the team". However, time seems to be running out for Holloway, who led QPR to promotion last season.
Holloway could be sacked as early as next week, although QPR - 20th in the table - may wait for another defeat or two before removing their popular manager.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1297115,00.html


Jewell plays down QPR link
BBC- Monday, 19 February, 2001
Bruce is favourite to take the helm
Paul Jewell has played down speculation linking him with the vacant manager's post at Queen's Park Rangers.
The former Sheffield Wednesday boss said he won't be rushed into a return so soon after getting the sack at Hillsborough.
I have had a quick chat with an official connected with the club which lasted two minutes at the most and that is as far as its gone
Paul Jewell
"I want to get back into the game, but I'm not going to jump at the first job that comes along," he said.
"I've read that I've been interviewed about the QPR job - but it's quite funny really because I was in bed all day on Monday with cold - so that was quite interesting.
"I have had a quick chat with an official connected with the club which lasted two minutes at the most and that is as far as its gone.
"But you can never say never, if it's right for me and it's the right job I would be interested."
Steve Bruce, Ian Holloway and Iain Dowie are all in the frame for the job with the Londoners.
Bruce has emerged as the hot favourite after Dave Bassett ruled himself out of the running on Mondayhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/1180779.stm


Bassett snubs QPR job
BBC - Monday, 19 February, 2001
Bassett does not want to succeed Gerry Francis
Dave Bassett, favourite to take over as QPR manager, has ruled himself out of the running.
It is believed Bassett was scared off by speculation concerning the club's finances.
The former Wimbledon, Sheffield United and Barnsley manager was widely tipped as being favourite to land the post vacated by Gerry Francis.
Marsh claims denied
Bassett's withdrawal leaves Iain Dowie, Steve Bruce, Roy McFarland and Ray Graydon, who are all also believed to be on Rangers' short-list, still in the running.
But Rangers have dismissed claims by former star Rodney Marsh that the club are £20m in debt.
Speaking to BBC Ceefax, a Loftus Road spokesman said: "The accounts are there and anybody can look at them.
"As a television pundit, Rodney Marsh is paid to say controversial things. We are not £20m in debt as the accounts show."
Meanwhile, Brentford owner Ron Noades is reported to be ready to sell the club, re-invest his money and take the reins at QPR.
The former Crystal Palace supremo is believed to by eyeing a return to the limelight, and could soon make QPR chief Chris Wright an offer for the Loftus Road club, according to the Daily Star.
Wright is willing to sell, after becoming a target for fans' abuse as the team battles against the threat of relegation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/1178204.stm


QPR suffer Bruce snub
BBC - Wednesday, 21 February, 2001
Bruce decides the QPR boss job is not for him
Steve Bruce has pulled out of the running for the QPR job.
The former Huddersfield Town boss was linked with the post following Gerry Francis' decision to stand down.
Rangers had been expected to unveil a new manager before the weekend but it now seems likely that Francis will still be in charge for the game against Wimbledon.
A statement released on behalf of Bruce said: "Further to discussions with the board of QPR, Steve Bruce has decided against having any further active discussion regarding the managerial position at the club.
I want to retire and I'm not going to change my mind
Gerry Francis
"The situation that Steve perceived as a long-term commitment seems to be clouded with uncertainty and Steve now understands that the club may be seeking a replacement only for the short term.
"On that basis Steve has decided to pull out but wishes to thank the board for their initial interest."
QPR have won twice - recording their first away win of the season against Gillingham on Tuesday - and have climbed out of the relegation zone since Francis announced his retirement from the game.
But the former England captain has made it clear that he has no intention of changing his mind despite the recent turnaround in the club's fortunes.
"I'm delighted with the six points we've gained in the last two games and obviously we are in a much better position now but my decision to go was never based on positions in the league," he said.
"I'm under no pressure from the board apart from the pressure to sign a new contract for next season but I've told them I don't want to do that. I want to retire and I'm not going to change my mind."
Former QPR midfielder Ian Holloway, recently sacked by Bristol Rovers, is thought to top the much-shortened candidate list. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/1182049.stm


QPR name Holloway as boss
BBC - Monday, 26 February, 2001,
Ian Holloway prepares for a return to QPR
Queens Park Rangers have named Ian Holloway as the new manager at Loftus Road.
Former QPR midfielder Holloway - sacked as Bristol Rovers boss last month - takes over from Gerry Francis who announced he was standing down 10 days ago.
I can't wait to take it on and I feel we can kick on from this
QPR boss Ian Holloway
He said: "I'm absolutely delighted to take this challenge on and motivate some of these players.
"It was a huge part of my playing career and I felt so proud. Anybody that watched me play could see what I was - whole-hearted and determined.
"This is the biggest club I ever played for and what we achieved in those five years, I was delighted.
"I can't wait to take it on and I feel we can kick on from this."
Optimistic
Holloway has joined Rangers on a contract for the remainder of this season and the whole of next term with options for an extension.
He is optimistic that he can keep the struggling club in the First Division, but insists that it is not just down to him.
"The players have got to work hard and they'll get honesty and enthusiasm from me and hopefully that will rub off.
"We are fully realistic of where we are and what we've got to do."
The former Rovers boss takes charge of first-team affairs on Tuesday and will work alongside his former mentor Francis, who has become the club's director of football.
But Holloway's appointment - which Francis is widely reported to have supported - throws the future of Rangers' assistant manager Iain Dowie into doubt.
Dowie was desperate to take over but, having failed in his second bid to land the job, could be set to leave the club altogether especially if - as expected - Holloway brings in Gary Penrice as his assistant. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/1190402.stm


"Holloway's Back As QPR Manager
David Bond Evening Standard

Former Loftus Road favourite Ian Holloway was today appointed manager of Queens Park Rangers and handed the task of steering his old club clear of relegation.

Holloway, who played 147 games for QPR, has just 13 matches left to guide them to safety. Saturday's 5-0 defeat at Wimbledon left Rangers one place above the drop zone on goal difference.
His appointment comes 10 days after Gerry Francis announced he was standing down as manager. The game on Saturday was his last in charge of the team and he is now expected to take up the club's offer of a place on the board.
But Holloway, who was sacked as manager of Bristol Rovers last month, will be in full control of the side for Saturday's home League clash against Sheffield United.
The club refused to reveal the length of his contract but confirmed it was not a stop-gap measure and that Holloway's deal was "multi-year".
Iain Dowie will remain as his assistant for the time being even though he was interviewed and turned down for the manager's position.
Chief executive David Davies said: "Ian is one of the club's most enthusiastic sons and we are delighted he has decided to join us. He will be fundamental in keeping the club in Division One this year."
With the club facing an uncertain future following chairman Chris Wright's decision to sell his majority stakeholding, finding a new manager has proved difficult. Last week Dave Basset, Wycombe's Lawrie Sanchez and former Huddersfield manager Steve Bruce all distanced themselves from the job. But Davies says Holloway was always their No 1 choice.
He added: "No one else was offered the job. Steve (Bruce), Lawrie (Sanchez) and David (Basset) were never actually offered the post in the first instance. Two of those three were seen in interviews along with Ian and we only made one offer and that was to Ian.
"We believe he is the man to take us forward. His four and a half years at Bristol Rovers typified his character and in the end he got no reward for that work. We think he was unlucky to get sacked from Bristol Rovers but we are certainly not complaining as it has been to our advantage.
"He has never courted publicity but if you examine the statistics both with wins, losses and points and also in player trading, he has done extremely well.
"He has worked with financial restraints and in our current situation that's what we need. I think one or two of the other people we saw might not have been comfortable with that.
"When Ian was a player he instilled a great deal of affection with our fans. He never gave up and that's the attitude we need to get us out of trouble now.
"We've got 13 games to go and I'm sure the first thing he will do is to work on the dynamics of the team and the players' willingness to go that extra yard. Woe betide any of them who aren't prepared to do that."
There still remains the job of finding new owners and Davies said: "We can now devote all our energies to finding a buyer." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/sport.html?in_article_id=26499&in_page_id=1771

QPR line up Sanchez as new manager
Adrian Curtis - May , Feb 2001

Queens Park Rangers are considering the position of manager Gerry Francis.
Rangers are understood to have identified his possible successor, with Wycombe Wanderers manager Lawrie Sanchez top of their wanted list.
Francis's team are one place off the bottom of the First Division and tonight face runaway leaders Fulham at Loftus Road in a match billed as "Gerry and the pacemakers".
A heavy defeat could mean that the game is the last in charge for Francis, who was a big favourite as a player at QPR and a huge success in a previous stint as manager there. He returned for a second spell in October 1998.
But the West London club, already struggling financially, are concerned that relegation into the Second Division would cripple them.
Rangers are one of only four clubs in the Football League without an away win this season. They have only four home wins.
With little money to bring in new players, Francis has had to juggle his resources carefully but the club are now believed to be ready for a change.
Francis, a successful businessman off the pitch, has often said he does not need the pressure of full-time football management and is likely to give serious consideration to any offer to step aside.
However, it is thought unlikely that Rangers will want to move him into another, more senior role and defeat this evening could well be the catalyst for his departure.
Sanchez is earning himself a reputation as one of the country's most promising young managers.
The former Wimbledon player, whose goal against Liverpool won the FA Cup for the Dons in 1988, has worked wonders at Wycombe since taking over from Terry Evans in February 1999.

He has also steered the club into the fifth round of the FA Cup this season.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/sport.html?in_article_id=19264&in_page_id=1771

Francis Goes On His Terms
Ealing Times - February 20, 2001
Gerry Francis had made it common knowledge that he was considering retirement from management at the end of the season, when his contract expired.
Following discussions with the QPR board it was mutually agreed that it was imperative to install a new manager as soon as possible in order to plan for next season.
Francis reiterated his belief that 'the players here have what it takes to get out of trouble'. A tacit acceptance of his own failure to get the best from these players.
Of course he hasn't been helped by an horrendous injury list which has decimated the squad.
Some would say Gerry has pulled a masterstroke by staying on to help the new man in charge through to the season's end. Stay up, and you'll hear him accepting much of the credit go down, and there will be someone else to pin the blame on.
So who will be the man to fill the Loftus Road hotseat. Favourite to replace Francis is the present No.2 Ian Dowie, although former Chelsea coach Graham Rix has also been mentioned.
With ex-Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett ruling himself out of the running, the dark horse in the race could be former crazy gang member Lawrie Sanchez, currently working wonders at Wycombe.
Whoever it is, they will have their work cut out to keep the R's in the first division.
By.Andrew Adebowale http://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/archive/display.var.527702.0.0.html

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Blog Updated December 31, 2005

Skysports

Crewe will once again be without striker Michael Higdon when they face QPR at Gresty Road on Saturday.

Higdon's stomach injury has kept him out of the last two matches and his place is likely to go to Eddie Johnson once again.
Defender Richard Walker misses out with an ankle injury but Adie Moses could return.
Dario Gradi's side have drawn their last three matches, but they are without a win in eight.
Rangers expect striker Marc Nygaard to be fit, even though he limped out of Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Cardiff shortly after scoring the winner.
Hamstring victim Kevin Gallen remains on the sidelines along with midfielder Tommy Doherty who has a leg injury.
Stefan Moore sat out the midweek success due to illness but he will return to the squad for the journey to Cheshire. Crewe 5/4 Draw 9/4 QPR 7/4

Click here for full odds with Sky Bet

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=348948&CPID=10&clid=&lid=&title=Crewe+v+QPR+preview



This is Staffordshire

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKING FOR RODGERS
30 December 2005

Crewe boss Dario Gradi will have an extra headache when he sits down to pen his attacking line-up for tomorrow's clash with QPR. Spoilt for choice all season with the likes of Steve Jones, Mike Higdon, Eddie Johnson and Luke Varney all vying for a place in the starting line-up, there's now a new boy in town.Dogged by injury since his arrival from Shrewsbury Town during the summer, Luke Rodgers finally made his mark for the Alex this week in extraordinary circumstances.
Thrown on by Gradi in the 93rd minute against Coventry in a last-ditch attempt to salvage something from the game, Rodgers hardly had time to get his bearings before nodding home Kenny Lunt's cross for a dramatic last-gasp equaliser.It was the 23-year-old's first touch of the match and also broke his scoring duck for a club at which he had previously failed to fulfil his undoubted promise.And with Higdon currently out injured and Johnson's future at the club still hanging in the balance, there is no better opportunity for Rodgers to come to the fore and prove his worth.Gradi has always been a keen admirer of the 23-year-old, whose birthday is on Sunday, and Crewe had a substantial bid for him turned down in 2002 when Shrewsbury were relegated.An ankle injury prevented the Brummie, who has just one start and nine substitute appearances to his name so far, from making an immediate impact.But having now bagged that crucial first goal, he could well be vying for a run in the first team.Gradi was pleased with Rodgers's performance when thrown on in an attempt to secure a point and has always hoped that his long-term target would bear fruit."Scoring that goal will be good for Luke as he has had a tough time since coming here." said Gradi. "But he has worked hard and is starting to do well."He is an exciting player and works hard in training. He has a good attitude around the place and I'm glad he's here."
Another factor Gradi must consider is Jones's lack of confidence and the future of Johnson.Jones has not scored since he bagged a brace against Millwall at the start of November and appears to be suffering a crisis in front of goal.This was apparent when he spurned a glorious opportunity against Coventry in the 87th minute, tamely toe-poking the ball straight into the arms of keeper Marlon Fulop when one against one.Meanwhile, Johnson's loan spell from Manchester United is up at the end of the month and the young striker has yet to decide whether to remain at Gresty Road or move on to pastures new.Currently considering offers from various other clubs, the game against QPR could well be the last Johnson plays for the club.
But whoever Gradi chooses to spearhead his attack, he will be hoping his side can continue a scoring run which has seen them net in their last four games against a QPR side which has kept just one clean sheet on its travels this season.T he Londoners, however, travel north buoyed by their 1-0 victory against Cardiff on Wednesday night and manager Ian Holloway has no fresh injury concerns. Although striker Marc Nygaard, whose goal 60 seconds after the restart sealed the points for the Londoners, was substituted on the hour due to a lack of match fitness and Marc Bircham suffered tight hamstrings after the game, both are expected to make the trip.
One to watch: Lee Cook - a striker turned left winger, who has an eye for goal, bags of pace and can deliver a fine cross into the box for the powerful Paul Furlong

http://www.thisisthesentinel.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=158780&command=displayContent&sourceNode=158705&contentPK=13754452&folderPk=87662


FIT-AGAIN WALKER VOWS TO WIN BACK HIS PLACE
BY SEAN MCFARLANE09:30 - 30 December 2005

Richard Walker has pledged to fight for his place in the Crewe back four ahead of tomorrow's clash with QPR.The 25-year-old central defender has been out for the past two weeks with a leg injury, but is now back in training and hoping to force his way back into Dario Gradi's plans. But he knows that he will face a battle to make it back into the starting line-up after Stephen Foster and Chris McCready have impressed in his absence.He said: "I have been working hard in the gym over these two weeks trying to get back to fitness and now I am looking to get back into the side. Of course, it is going to be tough as Foz (Stephen Foster) has done well since coming in and taken his opportunity well."Walker was pleased with his performances before he picked up the injury.He said: "I was having a good run in the side, so it was disappointing to be forced out of it when things were going well."It has been frustrating to be out for these two weeks but, of course, I am pleased the defence is doing well as we are a team at the end of the day."
Walker admits he may not be fully ready to step straight back into the side at the expense of Foster or McCready for the game against QPR, but is also focused on Monday's trip to Sheffield Wednesday."I am not sure about the fitness of the others," he said, "but I am prepared to come in and start and we will just have to see how it goes. I just want to be back and available for selection, whether it be for tomorrow or Monday's game against Wednesday."http://www.thisisthesentinel.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=158780&command=displayContent&sourceNode=158705&contentPK=13754453&folderPk=87662

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QPR's Star from the 1974-1977 period, David Webb....

BBC -Ex-boss Webb takes over at Yeovil

Former Yeovil manager Dave Webb has returned to Huish Park to become majority shareholder and chief executive of the League One club.

He has bought out Jon Goddard-Watts although John Fry will remain as chairman, reports BBC Radio Bristol.
Webb first went to Huish Park in 2000 and helped transform the Glovers into a full-time outfit.
He left that September with Yeovil top of the Conference, but they were pipped to promotion by Rushden & Diamonds.
Webb had four separate spells as manager of Southend - most recently as caretaker boss in November 2003.
He has also managed Bournemouth, Torquay, Chelsea and Brentford.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/y/yeovil/4568672.stm

The Weather in Crewe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=1593&links


Crewe Results this season
http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/sport/crewealex/2006/season_results.shtml


Crewe Goalscorers & Bookings
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/crewe_alexandra/club_stats/default.stm

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Interesting list. No current QPR players included in the 20....One former QPR player (Nigel Quashie). Probably, no future QPR players?


Independent

The top 20 players outside the Premiership

By Glenn Moore

: 30 December 2005

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Jim Smith Set to Become QPR's Director of Football

Telegraph

"Jim Smith, the much-travelled manager, is poised to return to former club Queens Park Rangers as director of football. The appointment, which he is expected to take up early next month, will increase pressure on Rangers manager Ian Holloway, under fire from disgruntled supporters.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/12/30/sfnbow30.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/12/30/ixfooty.html

- If true, somewhat strange to put it mildly.

Jim Smith Career

Jim Smith (footballer) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jim Smith (born October 17, 1940) is a former English football (soccer) player and is now working as a coach. He is currently unemployed after Southampton F.C. decided not to renew his contract as assistant to Harry Redknapp following the 2004/05 season.
[edit]

Playing career
Smith began his playing career in 1959, when he signed for hometown Sheffield United as a trainee (though Smith himself supports Sheffield Wednesday). After failing to break into the first team he was transferred to Aldershot for the 1961-1962 season.
At the beginning of the 1965-1966 season, after scoring one goal in 74 appearances, Smith left Aldershot to join Halifax Town. He made 113 league appearances for Halifax, scoring 7 goals, before moving to Lincoln City in 1968. After a year at Lincoln in which he made 54 appearances Smith signed for non-league Boston United as player-manager.
[edit]

Management career
A good start to his managerial career at Boston meant that in November 1972 Colchester United offered Smith the position of player-manager at the club.
Success came quickly as Smith guided Colchester to the Football League Fourth Division title in 1974. His performance at the club attracted the attention of bigger clubs, and in 1975 he quit the club, and hung up his boots, to join Blackburn Rovers as manager.
He led Blackburn for three years before leaving to be appointed boss of Birmingham City in 1978. Unfortunately, Birmingham were relegated from the old Football League First Division the next year. However, Smith managed to guide Birmingham back into the top flight the next season.
In 1982 Smith parted company with the St Andrews club and joined Oxford United as manager. Taking them to the old Football League Third Division championship in 1984. The next year they were again promoted, this time into the top flight, for the first time in their history as Oxford won the old Second Division. This spectacular success led to Smith being offered the job of manager at Queens Park Rangers, which he accepted.
In his first year at QPR, Smith took the club to the League Cup final, but they lost 3-0 to his former club Oxford. Smith continued to manage QPR until 1988 when he left to become manager of Newcastle United. However, the following year Newcastle were relegated and failure to reverse the club's fortunes led to Smith's sacking in 1991.
He quickly bounced back and was appointed manager of Portsmouth the same year. He had a fairly successful reign at Fratton Park for four years, including reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 1992, before leaving Pompey to take over at Derby County in 1995.
In his first full season in charge Derby came second in the First Division (now the second tier of English football), and gained promotion to the FA Premier League.
For three seasons Derby showed impressive improvements in the Premiership, finishing 12th, 9th and 8th. However, in the next two seasons Derby narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 16th and 17th. Smith resigned at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season.
In early 2002, Smith was appointed assistant manager at Coventry City. Though results improved after he arrived, Smith was sacked, along with Coventry's entire management team, at the end of the season.
Later that year, former club Portsmouth offered Smith a position as assistant manager to Harry Redknapp. Having accepted, Smith helped Redknapp win the First Division at the first attempt in 2002-2003, and went on to become a major part of Pompey's consolidation process in the Premier League.
In November 2004, both Smith and Redknapp resigned from Portsmouth after the appointment of a director of football. Both considered this to threaten their authority and control in team matters.
Redknapp soon became the manager of Southampton and Smith was appointed his assistant a few weeks later on December 22, 2004, having previously turned down the role of chief scout. However, Southampton were relegated at the end of the season and Smith's contract was not renewed due to cost-cutting.
[edit]

Career summary
1959-1961 Sheffield United (player)
1961-1965 Aldershot (player)
1965-1968 Halifax Town (player)
1968-1969 Lincoln City (player)
1969-1972 Boston United (player-manager)
1972-1975 Colchester United (player-manager)
1975-1978 Blackburn Rovers (manager)
1978-1982 Birmingham City (manager)
1982-1985 Oxford United (manager)
1985-1988 Queens Park Rangers (manager)
1988-1991 Newcastle United (manager)
1991-1995 Portsmouth (manager)
1995-2001 Derby County (manager)
2002 Coventry City (assistant manager)
2002-2004 Portsmouth (assistant manager)
2004-2005 Southampton (assistant manager)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Smith_(footballer)

Dec 29 2005
'City fans spat at me' - Langley
Langley's claim as Bluebirds lose

Mark Bloom, South Wales Echo

Former Cardiff City midfielder Richard Langley was left shocked after allegedly being spat at by Bluebirds fans as his Queens Park Rangers team claimed a 1-0 win at Loftus Road last night.
City took around 1,000 supporters with them to west London and Langley, who never won over the Ninian Park followers in his time in South Wales, claimed a section of them spat at him as he was collecting the ball from the sidelines.
'I'm shocked and disappointed that I was spat at by some of the Cardiff fans,' said Langley, who returned to Rangers last summer when City decided he did not fit in to their plans.
'I don't deserve that kind of treatment. I played for Cardiff for two seasons and gave my best and worked hard. 'I didn't choose to leave Cardiff - in fact I enjoyed my time there. I still have a lot of good Welsh friends.
'But to be spat at when I was getting the ball underneath the Cardiff fans was a poor act. To be honest I didn't know what to expect.'QPR's match-winning goal came just two minutes after the break as striker Marc Nygaard headed home. And Langley's spitting claims only marred further an already disappointing night for Dave Jones' side, who are now 11th in the Championship table http://icwales.icnetw
ork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16530023%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=%2dcity%2dfans%2dspat%2dat%2dme%2d%2d%2d%2dlangley-name_page.html


Holloway: Langley must improve

Dec 29 2005
Terry Phillips, South Wales Echo

Ian Holloway, Queens Park Rangers' outspoken manager, had a pop at former Cardiff City midfield player Richard Langley last night, saying: 'Give me more consistency.'
Langley played in the centre of midfield for QPR against the Bluebirds and was among the most influential players.
He rejoined QPR from Cardiff this season and Holloway said: 'Richard showed me what he can do, against his former team.
'But he needs to do that on a regular basis. He has not been anywhere near achieving that so far.'
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16530014%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=holloway%2d%2dlangley%2dmust%2dimprove-name_page.html

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INJURY UPDATE
Official Site

After last night's game, there are no fresh injury problems for Rangers.

Worries over Marc Nygaard are totally unfounded. The striker came off after an hour due to a lack of match fitness alone and not because of a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury.
Marc Bircham also suffered from a lack of fitness and was feeling tightness in both hamstrings. He is however expected to be fine for the trip to Crewe.
Stefan Moore failed to make the squad due to illness but is hoping to be back for the weekend.
Club physio Prav Mathema was also keen to clear up rumours surrounding Tommy Doherty's injury. He said: "Tommy hasn't broken down in training; he suffered a clinical fracture against Plymouth and was in plaster for four weeks.
"When we had the plaster taken off, we were advised by his consultant that he was to do low impact rehab for two weeks. "We made a decision to attempt low level jogging to gauge at what stage his injury was at. At this point he was slightly sore and therefore we decided to continue with the present rehab regime. We will look to attempt running again next week. "Once he is pain free with his running we can then focus on regaining his match fitness and getting him to join back in training with the squad."There are often set backs in this field and a lot of the time it's a case of rolling with the punches.
"Sometimes players come back earlier than expected, but people seem to forget that.
"With Kevin Gallen it's been the opposite case. There are no conspiracy theories or anything like that, I simply will not risk one of my players coming back earlier than necessary and risk them breaking down."

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Deadly Dane on the mark to add to the holiday misery for City

Dec 29 2005 Western Mail
QPR 1-0 Cardiff City

CARDIFF CITY slipped to a second defeat in as many days with Marc Nygaard providing the killer punch for Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road last night.

The Danish hitman pounced just after the interval when he headed Lee Cook's cross home.

Dave Jones' faltering Bluebirds have now collected only one point from their last nine but, more worryingly, they have not scored in their last three matches.

Had it not been for goalkeeper Neil Alexander, who had an outstanding match between the posts, City's defeat would have been much heavier.

It was another disappointing 90 minutes for the toothless Ninian Park outfit, who were so poor in the Boxing Day home defeat against Plymouth.

Bluebirds boss Jones had to shuffle his pack for this trip to west London, the biggest blow being the loss of skipper Darren Purse, sent off against Plymouth, who had his red-card appeal rejected by the Welsh FA.

That meant the influential defender had to sit out City's next two matches - starting with this clash against Ian Holloway's Rangers - and his place was taken by Neil Cox.

The loss of right-back Rhys Weston through injury gave the City chief another headache with midfielder Neal Ardley having to fill the void.

Jones opted for the 4-5-1 formation that notched a 1-0 win at Leeds earlier this month. Cameron Jerome was again asked to lead the forward line on his own with Michael Ricketts relegated to the bench, while Willie Boland was drafted in to strengthen the midfield.

The visitors arrived at Loftus Road on the back of a disappointing run, Jones' men collecting four points from the last 12 and scoring just one goal - a Jason Koumas free-kick at Elland Road - in their last four outings.

Holloway's lineup featured former Bluebird Richard Langley, who rejoined Rangers at the start of the season after two forgettable years at Ninian Park.

Another ex-City man, winger Gareth Ainsworth, was named as a substitute.

The Londoners, who had won only one of their last seven home fixtures, had the better of the opening exchanges and Cook tested Alexander in the fourth minute with a low shot which City's goalkeeper did well to hold.

But Rangers went much closer after 18 minutes when Nygaard's volley clipped the crossbar after the striker was fed by Martin Rowlands.

Moments later Boland became the first player to enter Mike Thorpe's book after the Irishman brought down Marc Bircham.

City were on the ropes, although they briefly threatened midway through the first half when Chris Barker's pass forced Simon Royce off the line, the Rangers shot-stopper beating Jerome to the ball.

Koumas then embarked on a dangerous run, but was felled by Langley with the tackle earning the Rangers man a yellow card.

The Wales midfielder almost broke the deadlock with the resulting 30-yard free-kick which flew narrowly wide of goal.

Alexander had to rescue his side minutes later with a stunning save to deny Langley, using his agility to tip the Jamaica international's free-kick out for a corner after it took a wicked deflection off Cox.

But there was nothing Alexander could do stop Nygaard's goal less than two minutes after the break.

Cook was the provider with a tantalising cross from the left after Joe Ledley lost possession with a sloppy pass and the lanky Dane outjumped Glenn Loovens to plant his header in the corner of the net.

It was the worst possible start to the second half for Jones' men, who have faded over this Christmas period.

Although the five-man midfield provided City with extra defensive cover, the downside was that it invited Rangers to come at them.

Koumas was one player capable of hauling the Bluebirds back into the contest and Royce was called upon to stop his snap-shot.

City finally carved out a goalscoring opportunity after 57 minutes when Ledley pulled the ball back to Jerome, but the unmarked striker - who has not found the net since November 9 - fired straight at Royce from 15 yards out.

Nygaard had been a handful for the City defenders all night and they must have been glad to see him quit the action midway through the second half with an injury.

With his charges chasing the game but lacking any menace up front, it was no surprise to see Jones change his tactics with 20 minutes left. On came striker Alan Lee and off went wide man Kevin Cooper as the Bluebirds switched back to 4-4-2.

But it was Rangers who continued to press forward and Cook bent a 20-yard effort wide before being replaced by Ainsworth.

Danny Shittu, who netted the winner in last season's fixture here, powered Langley's corner over the target.

With the game slipping away from City, Jones threw on forward Paul Parry at the expense of midfield battler Jeff Whitley.

Rangers, though, had two excellent chances to finish off the Bluebirds inside the final 10 minutes.

First Rowlands blasted substitute Shabazz Baidoo's pullback over the crossbar. The same two players combined soon after, this time Rowlands supplying Baidoo, but Alexander maintained the one-goal deficit with a brilliant save from point-blank range.

Despite playing second fiddle to Rangers, Boland almost snatched a point for City near the end, Royce diving to palm away his shot.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528421%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=deadly%2ddane%2don%2dthe%2dmark%2dto%2dadd%2dto%2dthe%2dholiday%2dmisery%2dfor%2dcity-name_page.html


Jones blasts Welsh FA as City freeze against QPR

Dec 29 2005

Western Mail

DAVE JONES slammed the Welsh FA after the governing body threw out Darren Purse's red-card appeal, forcing him to miss last night's 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers.

The Cardiff City chief made his remarks after seeing his Bluebirds suffer their second loss this week.

Jones had to travel to Loftus Road without skipper Purse who was sent off during the Boxing Day defeat against Plymouth.

City appealed against the defender's straight red card but it was thrown out by Welsh football chiefs meaning Purse has to serve a two-match ban.

The former Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion player was given his marching orders after conceding a penalty for pulling back Nick Chadwick.

Jones admitted referee Lee Probert was right to award a spot-kick - but said he should never have brought out the red card as several City players were inside the box.

"The Welsh FA looked at it (Purse's foul) and decided it was a sending-off offence. Whoever decided that needs to take a long, hard look at themselves," said the furious Bluebirds boss after last night's clash.

"We lost Pursey through suspension and I think that's absolutely ridiculous.

"The people at the Welsh FA have deemed their knowledge of the game is better than mine. It's so frustrating because I can't afford to lose any of my players.

"I would love to know who looked at the incident at the Welsh FA. I can't believe they've ever played the game.

"I can't believe they decided it was a sending-off offence.

"A player in the Chelsea-Fulham game got a yellow card for doing something similar but Pursey gets a red. As far as I'm aware the rules in Wales are the same as in England."

Purse will also have to miss Saturday's clash against Southampton at Ninian Park.

"Someone told me that Cardiff have appealed five times in the last few years and the club has not won any of them," continued Jones. "I back my players to the hilt and I wish people in authority would do the same.

"There is a lack of numbers at the club and I just can't afford to lose any of my key players."

Jones' men slumped to a second defeat in two days with Danish striker Marc Nygaard heading a 47th-minute winner at Loftus Road.

City have now failed to score in their last three matches.

"We had enough of the ball but we didn't do any damage in the last third," continued City's manager.

"One lapse in concentration in the second half cost us. You can't afford to do that.

"We didn't produce that killer pass, that little bit of quality, to cause QPR problems.

"We're relying on a 19-year-old (striker Cameron Jerome) to know the game but he's still learning.

"We need to do better in the final third. At the moment the strikers aren't protecting the ball to give us time to build something."

Since beating Leeds at Elland Road earlier this month and rising to fifth in the Championship, City have picked up one point from the last nine and have slipped to mid-table.

"We've got to be big. We've got to stand up," continued Jones, who faces former club Southampton on the weekend.

"This is a test of our character and the players haven't let me down so far.

"They worked hard tonight and ran themselves into the ground. We just allowed their player (Nygaard) to peel away and get a header in."
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528430%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=jones%2dblasts%2dwelsh%2dfa%2das%2dcity%2dfreeze%2dagainst%2dqpr%2d-name_page.html

Deadly Dane on the mark to add to the holiday misery for City

Dec 29 2005

Western Mail

QPR 1-0 Cardiff City CARDIFF CITY slipped to a second defeat in as many days with Marc Nygaard providing the killer punch for Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road last night. The Danish hitman pounced just after the interval when he headed Lee Cook's cross home. Dave Jones' faltering Bluebirds have now collected only one point from their last nine but, more worryingly, they have not scored in their last three matches. Had it not been for goalkeeper Neil Alexander, who had an outstanding match between the posts, City's defeat would have been much heavier. It was another disappointing 90 minutes for the toothless Ninian Park outfit, who were so poor in the Boxing Day home defeat against Plymouth. Bluebirds boss Jones had to shuffle his pack for this trip to west London, the biggest blow being the loss of skipper Darren Purse, sent off against Plymouth, who had his red-card appeal rejected by the Welsh FA. That meant the influential defender had to sit out City's next two matches - starting with this clash against Ian Holloway's Rangers - and his place was taken by Neil Cox. The loss of right-back Rhys Weston through injury gave the City chief another headache with midfielder Neal Ardley having to fill the void. Jones opted for the 4-5-1 formation that notched a 1-0 win at Leeds earlier this month. Cameron Jerome was again asked to lead the forward line on his own with Michael Ricketts relegated to the bench, while Willie Boland was drafted in to strengthen the midfield. The visitors arrived at Loftus Road on the back of a disappointing run, Jones' men collecting four points from the last 12 and scoring just one goal - a Jason Koumas free-kick at Elland Road - in their last four outings. Holloway's lineup featured former Bluebird Richard Langley, who rejoined Rangers at the start of the season after two forgettable years at Ninian Park. Another ex-City man, winger Gareth Ainsworth, was named as a substitute. The Londoners, who had won only one of their last seven home fixtures, had the better of the opening exchanges and Cook tested Alexander in the fourth minute with a low shot which City's goalkeeper did well to hold. But Rangers went much closer after 18 minutes when Nygaard's volley clipped the crossbar after the striker was fed by Martin Rowlands. Moments later Boland became the first player to enter Mike Thorpe's book after the Irishman brought down Marc Bircham. City were on the ropes, although they briefly threatened midway through the first half when Chris Barker's pass forced Simon Royce off the line, the Rangers shot-stopper beating Jerome to the ball. Koumas then embarked on a dangerous run, but was felled by Langley with the tackle earning the Rangers man a yellow card. The Wales midfielder almost broke the deadlock with the resulting 30-yard free-kick which flew narrowly wide of goal. Alexander had to rescue his side minutes later with a stunning save to deny Langley, using his agility to tip the Jamaica international's free-kick out for a corner after it took a wicked deflection off Cox. But there was nothing Alexander could do stop Nygaard's goal less than two minutes after the break. Cook was the provider with a tantalising cross from the left after Joe Ledley lost possession with a sloppy pass and the lanky Dane outjumped Glenn Loovens to plant his header in the corner of the net. It was the worst possible start to the second half for Jones' men, who have faded over this Christmas period. Although the five-man midfield provided City with extra defensive cover, the downside was that it invited Rangers to come at them. Koumas was one player capable of hauling the Bluebirds back into the contest and Royce was called upon to stop his snap-shot. City finally carved out a goalscoring opportunity after 57 minutes when Ledley pulled the ball back to Jerome, but the unmarked striker - who has not found the net since November 9 - fired straight at Royce from 15 yards out. Nygaard had been a handful for the City defenders all night and they must have been glad to see him quit the action midway through the second half with an injury. With his charges chasing the game but lacking any menace up front, it was no surprise to see Jones change his tactics with 20 minutes left. On came striker Alan Lee and off went wide man Kevin Cooper as the Bluebirds switched back to 4-4-2. But it was Rangers who continued to press forward and Cook bent a 20-yard effort wide before being replaced by Ainsworth. Danny Shittu, who netted the winner in last season's fixture here, powered Langley's corner over the target. With the game slipping away from City, Jones threw on forward Paul Parry at the expense of midfield battler Jeff Whitley. Rangers, though, had two excellent chances to finish off the Bluebirds inside the final 10 minutes. First Rowlands blasted substitute Shabazz Baidoo's pullback over the crossbar. The same two players combined soon after, this time Rowlands supplying Baidoo, but Alexander maintained the one-goal deficit with a brilliant save from point-blank range. Despite playing second fiddle to Rangers, Boland almost snatched a point for City near the end, Royce diving to palm away his shot.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528421%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=deadly%2ddane%2don%2dthe%2dmark%2dto%2dadd%2dto%2dthe%2dholiday%2dmisery%2dfor%2dcity-name_page.html


Jones blasts Welsh FA as City freeze against QPR

Dec 29 2005

Western Mail

DAVE JONES slammed the Welsh FA after the governing body threw out Darren Purse's red-card appeal, forcing him to miss last night's 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers. The Cardiff City chief made his remarks after seeing his Bluebirds suffer their second loss this week. Jones had to travel to Loftus Road without skipper Purse who was sent off during the Boxing Day defeat against Plymouth. City appealed against the defender's straight red card but it was thrown out by Welsh football chiefs meaning Purse has to serve a two-match ban. The former Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion player was given his marching orders after conceding a penalty for pulling back Nick Chadwick. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT Jones admitted referee Lee Probert was right to award a spot-kick - but said he should never have brought out the red card as several City players were inside the box. "The Welsh FA looked at it (Purse's foul) and decided it was a sending-off offence. Whoever decided that needs to take a long, hard look at themselves," said the furious Bluebirds boss after last night's clash. "We lost Pursey through suspension and I think that's absolutely ridiculous. "The people at the Welsh FA have deemed their knowledge of the game is better than mine. It's so frustrating because I can't afford to lose any of my players. "I would love to know who looked at the incident at the Welsh FA. I can't believe they've ever played the game. "I can't believe they decided it was a sending-off offence. "A player in the Chelsea-Fulham game got a yellow card for doing something similar but Pursey gets a red. As far as I'm aware the rules in Wales are the same as in England." Purse will also have to miss Saturday's clash against Southampton at Ninian Park. "Someone told me that Cardiff have appealed five times in the last few years and the club has not won any of them," continued Jones. "I back my players to the hilt and I wish people in authority would do the same. "There is a lack of numbers at the club and I just can't afford to lose any of my key players." Jones' men slumped to a second defeat in two days with Danish striker Marc Nygaard heading a 47th-minute winner at Loftus Road. City have now failed to score in their last three matches. "We had enough of the ball but we didn't do any damage in the last third," continued City's manager. "One lapse in concentration in the second half cost us. You can't afford to do that. "We didn't produce that killer pass, that little bit of quality, to cause QPR problems. "We're relying on a 19-year-old (striker Cameron Jerome) to know the game but he's still learning. "We need to do better in the final third. At the moment the strikers aren't protecting the ball to give us time to build something." Since beating Leeds at Elland Road earlier this month and rising to fifth in the Championship, City have picked up one point from the last nine and have slipped to mid-table. "We've got to be big. We've got to stand up," continued Jones, who faces former club Southampton on the weekend. "This is a test of our character and the players haven't let me down so far. "They worked hard tonight and ran themselves into the ground. We just allowed their player (Nygaard) to peel away and get a header in."

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528430%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=jones%2dblasts%2dwelsh%2dfa%2das%2dcity%2dfreeze%2dagainst%2dqpr%2d-name_page.html

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Jones blasts Welsh FA as City freeze against QPR Dec 29 2005 Western Mail DAVE JONES slammed the Welsh FA after the governing body threw out Darren Purse's red-card appeal, forcing him to miss last night's 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers. The Cardiff City chief made his remarks after seeing his Bluebirds suffer their second loss this week. Jones had to travel to Loftus Road without skipper Purse who was sent off during the Boxing Day defeat against Plymouth. City appealed against the defender's straight red card but it was thrown out by Welsh football chiefs meaning Purse has to serve a two-match ban. The former Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion player was given his marching orders after conceding a penalty for pulling back Nick Chadwick. Jones admitted referee Lee Probert was right to award a spot-kick - but said he should never have brought out the red card as several City players were inside the box. "The Welsh FA looked at it (Purse's foul) and decided it was a sending-off offence. Whoever decided that needs to take a long, hard look at themselves," said the furious Bluebirds boss after last night's clash. "We lost Pursey through suspension and I think that's absolutely ridiculous. "The people at the Welsh FA have deemed their knowledge of the game is better than mine. It's so frustrating because I can't afford to lose any of my players. "I would love to know who looked at the incident at the Welsh FA. I can't believe they've ever played the game. "I can't believe they decided it was a sending-off offence. "A player in the Chelsea-Fulham game got a yellow card for doing something similar but Pursey gets a red. As far as I'm aware the rules in Wales are the same as in England." Purse will also have to miss Saturday's clash against Southampton at Ninian Park. "Someone told me that Cardiff have appealed five times in the last few years and the club has not won any of them," continued Jones. "I back my players to the hilt and I wish people in authority would do the same. "There is a lack of numbers at the club and I just can't afford to lose any of my key players." Jones' men slumped to a second defeat in two days with Danish striker Marc Nygaard heading a 47th-minute winner at Loftus Road. City have now failed to score in their last three matches. "We had enough of the ball but we didn't do any damage in the last third," continued City's manager. "One lapse in concentration in the second half cost us. You can't afford to do that. "We didn't produce that killer pass, that little bit of quality, to cause QPR problems. "We're relying on a 19-year-old (striker Cameron Jerome) to know the game but he's still learning. "We need to do better in the final third. At the moment the strikers aren't protecting the ball to give us time to build something." Since beating Leeds at Elland Road earlier this month and rising to fifth in the Championship, City have picked up one point from the last nine and have slipped to mid-table. "We've got to be big. We've got to stand up," continued Jones, who faces former club Southampton on the weekend. "This is a test of our character and the players haven't let me down so far. "They worked hard tonight and ran themselves into the ground. We just allowed their player (Nygaard) to peel away and get a header in." http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528430%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=jones%2dblasts%2dwelsh%2dfa%2das%2dcity%2dfreeze%2dagainst%2dqpr%2d-name_page.html

Deadly Dane on the mark to add to the holiday misery for City

Dec 29 2005

Western Mail

QPR 1-0 Cardiff City CARDIFF CITY slipped to a second defeat in as many days with Marc Nygaard providing the killer punch for Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road last night. The Danish hitman pounced just after the interval when he headed Lee Cook's cross home. Dave Jones' faltering Bluebirds have now collected only one point from their last nine but, more worryingly, they have not scored in their last three matches. Had it not been for goalkeeper Neil Alexander, who had an outstanding match between the posts, City's defeat would have been much heavier. It was another disappointing 90 minutes for the toothless Ninian Park outfit, who were so poor in the Boxing Day home defeat against Plymouth. Bluebirds boss Jones had to shuffle his pack for this trip to west London, the biggest blow being the loss of skipper Darren Purse, sent off against Plymouth, who had his red-card appeal rejected by the Welsh FA. That meant the influential defender had to sit out City's next two matches - starting with this clash against Ian Holloway's Rangers - and his place was taken by Neil Cox. The loss of right-back Rhys Weston through injury gave the City chief another headache with midfielder Neal Ardley having to fill the void. Jones opted for the 4-5-1 formation that notched a 1-0 win at Leeds earlier this month. Cameron Jerome was again asked to lead the forward line on his own with Michael Ricketts relegated to the bench, while Willie Boland was drafted in to strengthen the midfield. The visitors arrived at Loftus Road on the back of a disappointing run, Jones' men collecting four points from the last 12 and scoring just one goal - a Jason Koumas free-kick at Elland Road - in their last four outings. Holloway's lineup featured former Bluebird Richard Langley, who rejoined Rangers at the start of the season after two forgettable years at Ninian Park. Another ex-City man, winger Gareth Ainsworth, was named as a substitute. The Londoners, who had won only one of their last seven home fixtures, had the better of the opening exchanges and Cook tested Alexander in the fourth minute with a low shot which City's goalkeeper did well to hold. But Rangers went much closer after 18 minutes when Nygaard's volley clipped the crossbar after the striker was fed by Martin Rowlands. Moments later Boland became the first player to enter Mike Thorpe's book after the Irishman brought down Marc Bircham. City were on the ropes, although they briefly threatened midway through the first half when Chris Barker's pass forced Simon Royce off the line, the Rangers shot-stopper beating Jerome to the ball. Koumas then embarked on a dangerous run, but was felled by Langley with the tackle earning the Rangers man a yellow card. The Wales midfielder almost broke the deadlock with the resulting 30-yard free-kick which flew narrowly wide of goal. Alexander had to rescue his side minutes later with a stunning save to deny Langley, using his agility to tip the Jamaica international's free-kick out for a corner after it took a wicked deflection off Cox. But there was nothing Alexander could do stop Nygaard's goal less than two minutes after the break. Cook was the provider with a tantalising cross from the left after Joe Ledley lost possession with a sloppy pass and the lanky Dane outjumped Glenn Loovens to plant his header in the corner of the net. It was the worst possible start to the second half for Jones' men, who have faded over this Christmas period. Although the five-man midfield provided City with extra defensive cover, the downside was that it invited Rangers to come at them. Koumas was one player capable of hauling the Bluebirds back into the contest and Royce was called upon to stop his snap-shot. City finally carved out a goalscoring opportunity after 57 minutes when Ledley pulled the ball back to Jerome, but the unmarked striker - who has not found the net since November 9 - fired straight at Royce from 15 yards out. Nygaard had been a handful for the City defenders all night and they must have been glad to see him quit the action midway through the second half with an injury. With his charges chasing the game but lacking any menace up front, it was no surprise to see Jones change his tactics with 20 minutes left. On came striker Alan Lee and off went wide man Kevin Cooper as the Bluebirds switched back to 4-4-2. But it was Rangers who continued to press forward and Cook bent a 20-yard effort wide before being replaced by Ainsworth. Danny Shittu, who netted the winner in last season's fixture here, powered Langley's corner over the target. With the game slipping away from City, Jones threw on forward Paul Parry at the expense of midfield battler Jeff Whitley. Rangers, though, had two excellent chances to finish off the Bluebirds inside the final 10 minutes. First Rowlands blasted substitute Shabazz Baidoo's pullback over the crossbar. The same two players combined soon after, this time Rowlands supplying Baidoo, but Alexander maintained the one-goal deficit with a brilliant save from point-blank range. Despite playing second fiddle to Rangers, Boland almost snatched a point for City near the end, Royce diving to palm away his shot.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16528421%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=deadly%2ddane%2don%2dthe%2dmark%2dto%2dadd%2dto%2dthe%2dholiday%2dmisery%2dfor%2dcity-name_page.html

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NIGEL QUASHIE

December 30, 1995: Ray Wilkins gave 17 year old, Nigel Quashie his QPR debut byagainst Manchester United at Old Trafford. (QPR lost 2-1. Dichio scoring for QPR). Quashie played 11 consecutive games before coming down with Glandular Fever while QPR just simply went down.


Soccernet Nigel Quashie

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Quashie earned a reputation as a quality midfielder after beginning his career in London with Queens Park Rangers. His League debut came on the grand stage of Old Trafford, as QPR went down 2-1 in December 1995. He was used sparingly for the remainder of that campaign before bursting into the starting side on a regular basis in the 1997/98 season. After winning England Under-21 and 'B' honours there was always talk of a move to a bigger club. Quashie was sold in August 1998 with Rangers looking to bring in funds, with the side now playing the First Division. He joined Premiership side Nottingham Forest for a fee of £2.5million but struggled as they were comfortably relegated. Portsmouth paid a cut-price £600,000 to take him to Fratton Park just prior to the start of the 2000/01 season and he soon became an important player. Quashie was due to be the club's skipper for the 2002/03 season, but after Paul Merson was snapped up from Aston Villa he had to settle for the job of vice-captain. The influential left-sided midfielder, who can play out on the wing or in the middle, was a vital player as Pompey won the First Division championship in 2003. His 2003/04 Premiership season was hit by injury. After missing six weeks due to a knee injury at the start of November, he then sustained ligament damage to his other following his comeback game - ruling him out for almost two months. Quashie returned to fitness to be an important player once again, and he also earned a call-up into the full Scotland squad. His debut came in Estonia, and he bagged a goal in his second game - a 4-1 win over Trinidad & Tobago. The midfielder moved on in the transfer window in Janaury 2005, following former Pompey boss Harry Redknapp to Southampton. He signed for arch rivals Saints for £2.1million. Quashie played 163 games for Portsmouth, scoring 14 goals.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/print?id=5362&type=player&cc=

Wikipedia

Nigel Quashie, (born July 20, 1978 in Nunhead), is a Scottish football (soccer) player, born in Peckham. He currently plays as a midfielder for English club Southampton F.C.

Quashie began his career in London with Queens Park Rangers F.C., making his League debut against Manchester United F.C. at Old Trafford in December 1995, impressing despite his club's 2-1 defeat. He was used sparingly for the remainder of that campaign before breaking into the starting side on a regular basis in the 1997/98 season.

After several impressive performances for QPR Quashie was awarded with England Under-21 and 'B' honours.

Quashie joined then FA Premiership side Nottingham Forest F.C. for a fee of £2.5million at the start of the 1998/99 season, but struggled as they were comfortably relegated.

Despite settling into the team, and providing some good performances, Nottingham Forest missed out on promotion the following season. For the next season, (2000/01), Portsmouth F.C. paid a cut-price £600,000 to take him to Fratton Park and he soon became an important player. He was a vital player in the 2002/03 season, during which Portsmouth won the First Division championship. During the season Quashie was the club's vice-captain.

Despite missing three months of the 2003/04 Premiership season, Quashie remained an important player as Portsmouth claimed 13th place. His assured performances also had the Scottish national football team taking note. Eligible for either the Scottish or English national sides, Quashie opted for the Scots, and made his debut against Estonia. He scored a goal in his second game - a 4-1 win over Trinidad & Tobago, which cemented his place as a first team regular for both club and country.

On January 17, 2005 Quashie rejoined former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp at Southampton for a fee of £2.1m. After the transfer of Jason Dodd, he became the club's captain, and is still in this capacity as of the 2005/2006 season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Quashie

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Ex-City star Langley nothing to prove

IC Wales - Dec 28 2005

Mark Bloom, South Wales Echo

Former Cardiff City winger Richard Langley insists he has nothing to prove tonight against the club that sent him packing in the summer. Langley returned to Queens Park Rangers feeling he was not given a decent chance by the new Cardiff City manager Dave Jones. But he insists he does not hold any grudges as he prepares to meet a couple of old faces. 'I would have liked to have been treated better towards the end,' he admitted. 'In the end I had to train with the youth squad and was totally left out any of the first team activities and I don't think I deserved that. 'Dave Jones came in and saw me in one game - a pre-season friendly at Accrington Stanley in which I scored a 30-yard drive.

Obviously the powers that be wanted me away whatever. I don't think I have got anything to prove to Jones or the City fans.

'I'm at a club now that wants me and that has done my confidence the world of good.

'All I will do against City is do my best, as I did when City played QPR.'

Langley still has a home in Cardiff and returns to the Welsh capital to meet up with his close friends at the club.

'All I have ever done was give 100-per-cent even if it didn't appear that way at times.

'I never really had total confidence in my own ability at City and maybe the City fans did not see the best of me.' http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16526775%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=ex%2dcity%2dstar%2dlangley%2dnothing%2dto%2dprove-name_page.html

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BBC

QPR manager Ian Holloway: "It was nice to get what we deserved because in the last few weeks that hasn't happened. I can't tell you how proud I am of my lads. "I couldn't be more chuffed if I were a badger at the start of the mating season. "It was great to get some of my boys back. I made some changes and they showed me some character. "The reality of the situation has been that with the injuries that we've had and the new transfer window coming in it's been diabolical. "I'm hoping to add some new faces if I can when the window opens. "We are not too far off the play-offs and have a chance to do even better than we did last season." Cardiff manager Dave Jones: "They're a big side, but we dealt comfortably with them squeezing us for the first half. "One lapse cost us - it's disappointing when you've worked for something and it's not paid off. "We controlled long spells of the game without doing much damage in the final third - it's been like that for a few games now. "But we haven't become a bad team overnight and we're working on the problems."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4538036.stm


SPORTING LIFE
OLLOWAY DELIGHT AT JUST DESSERTS

QPR boss Ian Holloway felt his side had earned their rewards after they recorded only their second win in 10 matches with a 1-0 victory over Cardiff.

Striker Marc Nygaard headed home the winner after returning to the starting line-up along with Marc Bircham and Matthew Rose.

Holloway said: "It was nice to get what we deserved because in the last few weeks that hasn't happened.

"I can't tell you how proud I am of my lads.

"I couldn't be more chuffed if I were a badger at the start of the mating season.

"It was great to get some of my boys back. I made some changes and they showed me some character.

"The reality of the situation has been that with the injuries that we've had and the new transfer window coming in it's been diabolical.

"I'm hoping to add some new faces if I can when the window opens.

"We are not too far off the play-offs and have a chance to do even better than we did last season."

Cardiff rarely threatened but Jason Koumas went close with a 30-yard free-kick that flew just wide.

Koumas brought a good save from Simon Royce with another long-range effort, before Cameron Jerome missed a good chance to equalise when he shot straight at Royce after being sent up by Joe Ledley.

Cardiff manager Dave Jones admitted: "One lapse of concentration in the second half cost us the game. It's disappointing when players work at things and then switch off.

"We had enough of the ball to have got something from the game but you can't afford to lose concentration like that.

"We had possession but got to their 18-yard box and then didn't deliver the final ball or show that bit of quality.

"QPR are a big side and we coped well with that but then from one cross, we allowed the striker to get in between the centre-back and full-back.

"We've just got to keep working and plugging away, and we need to do better in the last third of the pitch.

"It's a test of my players' character and they haven't let me down. I can't fault any of them for their efforts and I back my players to the hilt.

"We know we need to strengthen, not just because of the injuries and suspensions we have but just because of a lack of numbers. We knew that would be the case."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/28/SOCCER_QPR_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1

QPR OFFICIAL SITE

Ian Holloway believes Rangers are on the up after a 1-0 win over Cardiff City.

Ollie had seen Rangers win the game in the second half thanks to a solitary Marc Nygaard goal.

Now, the Rangers manager wants to go onwards and upwards and continue the form that his side showed against the Welsh outfit.

"I'm very pleased.

"We got what we deserved on the night and our luck has changed.

"It's all about hunger and desire and our players showed plenty of that tonight and I'm proud of them - each and every one of them.

"We just need to get real and the facts are that we're in a similar position now to last year when everybody was raving about us.

"I can't understand what has happened around the place because we're definitely moving forward.

"The lads were great tonight but we need to get a grip on reality.

"We're trying to move forward as a club and it isn't easy.

"We've got two games to get to the 34 points we were on at this stage last season and that's achievable.

"I'm proud to be manager of this club. I'm nearing five years and I'm chuffed as a badger.

"We've got some great players at this club but it's all about striking a balance and if we do that than we can progress even further.''

Ollie reserved a final thought for goalscorer Nygaard, commenting: "Marc Nygaard looked like a great Viking when he scored.

"He was a handful all night.

"It was a tremendous leap, a great header and a wonderful goal.

"Cookie picked a great cross and we deserved the goal and the result.''

http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/ManagersComments/0,,10373~760827,00.html

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BBC
46th-minute goal for recalled Danish striker Marc Nygaard proved enough for QPR to overcome Cardiff at Loftus Road.

In a lacklustre first half, Nygaard struck the bar, Jason Koumas went close, and Neil Alexander saved well from Cardiff old boy Richard Langley.

Within a minute of the restart Lee Cook broke down the left and floated a delightful cross for Nygaard to head powerfully past a helpless Alexander.

Cameron Jerome had a chance to equalise but shot straight at Simon Royce
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4538036.stm

Official Site Report

Rangers gained a much needed and thoroughly deserved three points against Cardiff.

Marc Nygaard notched the only goal of a one-sided match inside 60 seconds of the second half to cap a first rate display from Rangers.

The goal was no more than the Dane and his team-mates deserved, after an impressive display, that had seen R's come close to scoring on a number of occasions throughout the 90 minutes.

Nygaard came closest to opening the scoring in the first period when he latched onto Martin Rowlands' pass, only to see his fizzing volley cannon off the top of the crossbar and to safety.

Rangers' starting line-up showed five changes from the side which lost at Brighton on Boxing Day.

Simon Royce returned after completing a one-match suspension, as did Georges Santos at the heart of the R's back four.

Matthew Rose returned at left back, while Marc Bircham and Marc Nygaard also took their places in the starting line-up after prolonged spells on the sideline.

Rangers forced the first corner inside two minutes, but Richard Langley - playing against his former club for the first time - was unable to provide the killer delivery and Cardiff comfortably cleared their lines.

Just two minutes later Lee Cook's stinging 25 yard left footed drive forced Neil Alexander into a terrific full length save at this far post, as Rangers' positive start resulted was rewarded with a first shot on target.

Rangers continued to enjoy the lions share of possession in the opening exchanges and on 11 minutes Paul Furlong dragged a shot wide after decent link up play with Nygaard.

Furlong registered his first attempt on goal on the quarter hour, applying the deftest of touches to Martin Rowlands' cross, only to see his header easily held by Cardiff stopper Alexander.

Fine work from the lively Cook provided Furlong with another opportunity on 18 minutes, but again his header failed to test Alexander

Just a minute later Rowlands' deft chip fell into the path of Nygaard, who having evaded the attention of Bluebirds defensive duo Chris Barker and Glenn Loovens, saw his stooping volley clip the top of the crossbar and fly to safety.

Rangers were encamped in the visitors half, but as the clock ticked on, you could sense the home faithful were becoming increasingly frustrated.

On 32 minutes and to the delight of a vocal travelling crowd, Langley was booked for a late lunge on Jason Koumas and from the resultant 25 yard free-kick, the West Bromwich Albion loanee curled a dipping effort inches wide of the far post.

With half-time fast approaching Langley's 25 yard free-kick took a huge deflection off Loovens, but yet again Alexander came to Cardiff's rescue with a superb finger tipped save.

With neither manager choosing to make changes at the break, it was pretty much business as usual for the R's, who continued to take the game to the visitors.

And their fast start to the half was rewarded inside 60 seconds when Cook floated in an inch-perfect left footed cross and Nygaard stooped between Cardiff skipper Neil Cox and Loovens to power his 10-yard header past the sprawling Alexander and into the corner of the net.

With his confidence at an all-time high, Nygaard began to lead the visitors a merry dance and just three minutes later his mesmerising run took him deep into Cardiff territory, only for Loovens to produce a timely tackle to thwart the rejuvenated Rangers front-man.

But Cardiff are resolute if nothing else and on 55 minutes Koumas' 20-yard effort brought the best out of the returning Royce, ho dived to his right to palm the ball to safety.

Although Cardiff's five-man midfield provided extra defensive cover, they were all too often guilty of inviting the hosts on to them.

Yet it was the Bluebirds who fashioned the next chance, when top scorer Cameron Jerome powered a stinging 10-yard effort into the arms of the grateful Royce.

Like their visitors, Rangers were also guilty of sitting back at times and as the clock ticked towards the hour mark, Cardiff enjoyed their best passage of play in the contest.

Ian Holloway introduced Shabazz Baidoo at the expense of the tiring Nygaard on 66 minutes and the teenager made an immediate impact, winning a free-kick on the edge of Cardiff's 18-yard box.

That came to nothing, but the young striker was at it again five minutes later, forcing Chris Barker to concede a needless corner by harrying the defender into a cul-de-sac.

Cook fizzed a shot just wide on 72 minutes and was soon replaced by fans favourite Gareth Ainsworth.

Cardiff huffed and puffed, but it was Rangers who created the next opportunity on 76 minutes when Langley's corner was headed powerfully over by the unmarked Shittu.

Rowlands had the chance to ease the nerves of the home crowd when Badioo escaped the offside trap and pulled the ball back to the end of the penalty box. But the Northern Ireland midfielder rushed his effort and sent it flying over the bar.

He almost made amends a minute late though, when a fine individual run ended with an inch perfect pull back into the path of Baidoo. But Alexander stood firm, flinging himself to his left to produce a stunning top drawer save.

Play soon switched to the other end, where Royce had to be at his agile best to palm Willie Boland's shot to safety.

The full-time whistle came as a huge relief to the hosts, who were delighted to celebrate a first home victory since October 22.

QPR: Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Rose, Bircham (Milanese 81), Rowlands, Santos, Cook (Ainsworth 71), Furlong, Nygaard (Baidoo 66), Langley

Subs: Cole, Donnelly.

Bookings: Langley (32)

Cardiff: Alexander, Barker, Whitley (Parry 78), Cox, Ardley, Koumas, Jerome, Boland, Loovens, Ledley, Cooper (Lee 69).

Subs: Margetson, Darlington, Ricketts.

Bookings: Boland (21)

Attendance: 12329
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10373~30609,00.html

CARDIFF OFFICIAL SITE

Snapshot

It was a case of better workrate, but still no bite up front as the Bluebirds now make it one goal in the last five games. City fell by a single goal to rivals Queens Park Rangers, with an early second half header from Marc Nygaard that proved the difference at Loftus Road - the win bein Rangers first home win since late October.

A changed team and formation from Dave Jones looked more solid than they did against Plymouth, but a distinct lack of final third action and too much reliance on Jason Koumas' free-kicks meant that we never really looked like scoring. It might have worked at Elland Road, but in London we were less fortunate.

Next up come Southampton, who also lost on the night to second place Sheffield United. We're sure that both teams will demand goals and better attacking play on the final day of 2005.

Team News

Dave Jones had promised changes after the loss to Plymouth, and he didn't change his mind. Not only was Darren Purse missing after his red card appeal was denied, but Jones also gave a start to Neal Ardley in the place of Rhys Weston at right back.

The formation from Boxing Day was also shuffled, with both Ricketts and Alan Lee on the bench. Jones had opted for the 4-5-1 formation used successfully at Elland Road. As at Elland Road Neil Cox partnered Glenn Loovens at the back, guaranteed also a chance to play at Ninian Park against Southampton

Detailed Report

QPR opened the game with intent and were the early pace setters at Loftus Road. After five minutes a Willie Boland foul gave Rangers a chance from a free-kick twelve yards in front of the penalty area. Richard Langley tapped the ball to Rowlands who then hit the ball hard, blocked by Jeff Whitley to end the danger.

All images in this report via Sportsbeat, our Official Away Photographic Partner

The Bluebirds in their new line up and formation however looked improved themselves from the lacklustre display on Boxing Day. As per Leeds the solid inclusion of Boland with Whitley in the centre gave room for Ledley, Cooper and Koumas to create more.

Rangers continued to be dominant and almost got the opener after eighteen minutes as Marc Nygaard was forced into a chipped shot by Neil Alexander - the 'keeper doing well to force an early shot that thankfully from our perspective hit the bar and went out for a goal kick.

City continued to frustrate their hosts, with the pack mentality and defending mindset preventing any other real chances for Rangers. Their style of play however also prevented many opening chances for the Bluebirds.

Just after the half hour mark Richard Langley was booked for bringing down Jason Koumas ten yards outside of the area, with a chance for Koumas to try his dead ball magic. Despite his great bending effort beating the R's 'keeper Royce, the ball flew narrowly wide and hitting the support beams.

Rangers then had an identical opportunity at the other end as Paul Furlong was brought down by Glenn Loovens. Up stepped Langley who's shot hit the City wall for a deflection, with the ball looked like going in until Alexander excellently dived to save for a corner.

City looked a lot more composed as the half ended, matching their hosts with attacking chances, though neither could find much action in their respective penalty areas.

Half Time: QPR 0 - 0 Cardiff

Whatever Ian Holloway said at half time it worked, as after seventy seconds of the restart Rangers had the lead. Lee Cook made a great run down the right wing and crossed the ball well for Nygaard to rise and powerfully head past a helpless Alexander.

QPR 1 - 0 Cardiff (46 mins)

The goal gave Rangers a lift, but the Bluebirds also responded well, refusing to lower their heads at Loftus Road. After fifty four minutes Jason Koumas spanked a great half volley towards the low corner, forcing Royce to dive at full stretch and palm to safety.

City continued to fire forward with a sense of urgency about them and minutes later again called Royce into a save as Ledley first did well in a wide position to then cut in and feed the ball to Jerome. Despite Jerome hitting the target, Jerome aimed the ball too close to the 'keeper to save.

With Cardiff looking more dangerous, Rangers were always capable of taking advantage on the break, with Lee Cook looking the most dangerous in a hooped shirt.

Substitutions were made on either side, as Alan Lee was introduced for Kevin Cooper and City reverting to a 4-4-2 formation. QPR introduced former loan Bluebird Gareth Ainsworth and Shabazz Baidoo.

The changes made no real difference to the game in terms of attacking opportunities with little to report in terms of penalty area action. Paul Parry was then introduced for Jeff Whitley and Bircham made way for Milanese.

With just under ten minutes on the clock Ainsworth set up Rowlands for a certain goal, but somehow Rowlands managed to skew his drive and the two goal advantage disappeared. Immediately after Rangers again were denied a certain goal as Alexander saved a Baidoo effort - City living far too dangerously and back too deep to find an equaliser.

With just five minutes on the clock Willie Boland almost got his 'goal of the season' with a stunning twenty five yard drive that Royce did well to save. It looked at this point as if it wasn't to be our night no matter what.

City then illustrated the point further as a good spell of possession and passing ended with Cameron Jerome with a free header that sailed well wide.

As four minutes of injury time were displayed City looked to have their last throw of the dice as again we looked to Koumas to save us from a free kick six yards outside of the area. His strike however hit the wall and fell to nothing.

Rangers like Plymouth on Boxing Day understandably ran out time to the best of their ability - the referee calling time as the four minutes fell away.

We now sit a further spot down the table in eleventh place, leapfrogged by Luton who beat Brighton 3-0 on the night. We're still in touching distance of the play-off places, but the three points seem a lot bigger based on our Christmas performances and a dire lack of goal scoring opportunities created in our opponents final third.

Full Time: QPR 1 - 0 Cardiff

QPR: Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Rose, Bircham (Milanese 81), Rowlands, Santos, Cook (Ainsworth 71), Furlong, Nygaard (Baidoo 66), Langley

Subs: Cole, Donnelly. Bookings: Langley (32)

Cardiff: Alexander, Barker, Whitley (Parry 78), Cox, Ardley, Koumas, Jerome, Boland, Loovens, Ledley, Cooper (Lee 69).

Subs: Margetson, Darlington, Ricketts. Bookings: Boland (21)

Attendance: 12,329 http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/1stTeamReport/0,,10335~30609,00.html

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QPR 6 points away from Playoff Spot!


Sporting Life Table

Reading	26	65	39	51	1-0	v Leicester
Sheff Utd	26	56	24	48	1-0 FT	v Southampton
Leeds	25	45	10	32	1-0	v Stoke
Watford	26	43	11	42	0-0 FT	v Millwall
Crystal Palace	24	38	11	37	2-0	v Derby
Wolverhampton	26	38	9	31	2-0 FT	v Sheff Wed
Burnley	26	38	5	37	1-2 FT	v Norwich
Luton	26	38	3	39	3-0 FT	v Brighton
Stoke	26	37	-4	32	0-1	v Leeds
Preston	25	35	6	27	P-P	v Plymouth
Cardiff	26	35	4	33	0-1 FT	v QPR
Norwich	26	35	-2	31	2-1 FT	v Burnley
QPR	26	32	-7	28	1-0 FT	v Cardiff
Southampton	25	31	0	26	0-1 FT	v Sheff Utd
Hull	26	30	-3	26	2-0 FT	v Ipswich
Coventry	26	29	-7	31	1-1 FT	v Crewe
Ipswich	26	29	-13	27	0-2 FT	v Hull
Derby	26	28	-5	31	0-2	v Crystal Palace
Plymouth	24	27	-7	22	P-P	v Preston
Leicester	25	26	-4	27	0-1	v Reading
Brighton	26	25	-14	25	0-3 FT	v Luton
Crewe	26	22	-21	28	1-1 FT	v Coventry
Sheff Wed	26	21	-15	17	0-2 FT	v Wolverhampton
Millwall	26	19	-20	18	0-0 FT	v Watford

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QPR 1 Cardiff 0

Nygaard scored at the beginning of the second half. Baidoo came on for Nygaard...Ainsworth came on for Cook...and Milanese came on for the last few minutes for Bircham. Near the end Rowlands and Badio came very close to getting a second.

Rangers: Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Santos, Rose, Rowlands, Langley, Bircham, Cook, Furlong, Nygaard.
Subs: Cole, Milanese, Ainsworth, Donnelly, Baidoo.

Cardiff: Alexander, Barker, Whitley, Cox, Ardley, Koumas, Jerome, Boland, Loovens, Ledley, Cooper.
Subs: Margetson, Darlington, Lee, Parry, Ricketts.

SPORTING LIFE MINUTE BY MINUTE

90	The referee blows for full time.
90	Cardiff are in control of the match. Key player: Jason Koumas
90	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Alexander
90	Foul on Neil Cox (Cardiff) by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR), free kick awarded
90	QPR throw-in taken by Mauro Milanese
90	QPR throw-in taken by Martin Rowlands
90	QPR throw-in taken by Martin Rowlands
90	QPR freekick taken by Mauro Milanese
90	Handball by Jason Koumas (Cardiff )
90	Cardiff throw-in taken by Paul Parry
90	Shot by Jason Koumas (Cardiff) : off target
90	Cardiff freekick taken by Jason Koumas
90	Foul on Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) by Dan Shittu (QPR), free kick awarded
90	QPR throw-in taken by Mauro Milanese
89	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
89	Header by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) : it goes wide
88	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
86	Saved by Simon Royce (QPR)
86	Shot by Willie Boland (Cardiff) : the 'keeper has it covered
86	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
85	QPR throw-in taken by Mauro Milanese
85	Saved by Neil Alexander (Cardiff)
84	Shot by Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) : the 'keeper has it covered
83	Shot by Martin Rowlands (QPR) : it goes over
82	QPR freekick taken by Simon Royce
82	Foul on Dan Shittu (QPR) by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff), free kick awarded
81	QPR tactical substitution: Marc Bircham replaced by Mauro Milanese
81	QPR freekick taken by Georges Santos
80	Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Richard Langley
80	Cardiff tactical substitution: Jeff Whitley replaced by Paul Parry
78	Cardiff throw-in taken by Willie Boland
78	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
78	Cardiff freekick taken by Chris Barker
77	Foul on Jeff Whitley (Cardiff) by Paul Furlong (QPR), free kick awarded
77	Header by Dan Shittu (QPR) : it goes over
76	QPR corner from the Right taken by Richard Langley
76	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Cox
75	QPR freekick taken by Richard Langley
75	Foul on Marcus Bignot (QPR) by Jeff Whitley (Cardiff), free kick awarded
74	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
73	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Cox
73	Foul on Willie Boland (Cardiff) by Richard Langley (QPR), free kick awarded
72	QPR tactical substitution: Lee Cook replaced by Gareth Ainsworth
72	Shot by Lee Cook (QPR) : it goes wide
72	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
71	QPR corner from the Right taken by Richard Langley
70	Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Jeff Whitley
70	Cardiff freekick taken by Jason Koumas
70	Foul on Alan Lee (Cardiff) by Dan Shittu (QPR), free kick awarded
70	Cardiff tactical substitution: Kevin Cooper replaced by Alan Lee
69	QPR corner from the Left taken by Richard Langley
68	QPR freekick taken by Lee Cook
68	Foul on Shabazz Baidoo (QPR) by Glenn Loovens (Cardiff), free kick awarded
67	QPR substitution: Marc Nygaard injured, replaced by Shabazz Baidoo
67	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
65	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
65	Caught by Neil Alexander (Cardiff)
65	Shot by Lee Cook (QPR) : the 'keeper has it covered
64	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
64	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
63	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
62	QPR freekick taken by Richard Langley
62	Foul on Marc Bircham (QPR) by Chris Barker (Cardiff), free kick awarded
61	QPR freekick taken by Simon Royce
61	Foul on Martin Rowlands (QPR) by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff), free kick awarded
61	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
60	Cardiff are in control of the match. Key player: Jason Koumas
60	Cardiff corner from the Right taken by Jason Koumas: the defence clears
58	Caught by Simon Royce (QPR)
58	Shot by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) : the 'keeper has it covered
57	Cardiff throw-in taken by Kevin Cooper
56	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Cox
56	Handball by Lee Cook (QPR )
55	Cardiff throw-in taken by Joe Ledley
55	Saved by Simon Royce (QPR)
55	Shot by Jason Koumas (Cardiff) : the 'keeper has it covered
55	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
53	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
52	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
52	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
51	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
51	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
50	QPR are in control of the match. Key player: Marc Nygaard
50	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
50	Cardiff throw-in taken by Jason Koumas
49	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
48	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
47	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
47	Goal scored by Marc Nygaard (QPR)
47	Header by Marc Nygaard (QPR) : on target
45	The second half kicks off.
45	The referee blows for half time.
45	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
45	Cardiff throw-in taken by Kevin Cooper
44	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
43	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
41	Cardiff freekick taken by Jason Koumas
41	Foul on Jason Koumas (Cardiff) by Martin Rowlands (QPR), free kick awarded
40	Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Jason Koumas
40	QPR corner from the Left taken by Richard Langley
40	QPR corner from the Right taken by Richard Langley: the defence clears
40	Tipped over by Neil Alexander (Cardiff)
40	Shot by Richard Langley (QPR) : the 'keeper has it covered
39	QPR freekick taken by Richard Langley
39	Foul on Paul Furlong (QPR) by Glenn Loovens (Cardiff), free kick awarded
39	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
38	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
38	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
37	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
36	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
36	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
36	Cardiff freekick taken by Glenn Loovens
34	Shot by Jason Koumas (Cardiff) : it goes wide
33	Richard Langley (QPR) booked for unsporting behaviour
33	Cardiff freekick taken by Jason Koumas
33	Foul on Jeff Whitley (Cardiff) by Richard Langley (QPR), free kick awarded
31	Cardiff throw-in taken by Joe Ledley
30	QPR have the better of play. Key player: Lee Cook
30	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
29	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
29	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
28	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
25	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
24	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
23	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
22	Willie Boland (Cardiff) booked for unsporting behaviour
22	QPR freekick taken by Lee Cook
22	Foul on Marc Bircham (QPR) by Willie Boland (Cardiff), free kick awarded
21	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
20	Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Martin Rowlands
20	QPR freekick taken by Simon Royce
20	Foul on Matthew Rose (QPR) by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff), free kick awarded
19	Shot by Marc Nygaard (QPR) : it goes over
18	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Alexander
17	QPR throw-in taken by Matthew Rose
16	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
16	QPR freekick taken by Marc Bircham
16	Foul on Marc Bircham (QPR) by Jeff Whitley (Cardiff), free kick awarded
15	QPR corner from the Left taken by Richard Langley
14	QPR freekick taken by Simon Royce
14	Foul on Richard Langley (QPR) by Willie Boland (Cardiff), free kick awarded
13	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
13	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Alexander
13	Foul on Glenn Loovens (Cardiff) by Marc Nygaard (QPR), free kick awarded
12	Shot by Paul Furlong (QPR) : it goes wide
11	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
10	Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Richard Langley
9	Cardiff freekick taken by Neil Alexander
9	Foul on Glenn Loovens (Cardiff) by Paul Furlong (QPR), free kick awarded
8	Cardiff throw-in taken by Neal Ardley
8	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
7	QPR freekick taken by Marc Bircham
7	Foul on Marc Bircham (QPR) by Jason Koumas (Cardiff), free kick awarded
6	QPR freekick taken by Georges Santos
6	Foul on Georges Santos (QPR) by Cameron Jerome (Cardiff), free kick awarded
5	QPR freekick taken by Richard Langley
5	Foul on Paul Furlong (QPR) by Joe Ledley (Cardiff), free kick awarded
5	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
5	Caught by Neil Alexander (Cardiff)
4	Shot by Lee Cook (QPR) : the 'keeper has it covered
4	QPR corner from the Right taken by Richard Langley: the defence clears
2	QPR corner from the Left taken by Richard Langley
2	QPR freekick taken by Dan Shittu
2	Foul on Paul Furlong (QPR) by Jeff Whitley (Cardiff), free kick awarded
1	Cardiff throw-in taken by Chris Barker
1	QPR throw-in taken by Marcus Bignot
0	The match has kicked off

(No Moore and no Bean in the 16)

Rangers: Royce, Bignot, Shittu, Santos, Rose, Rowlands, Langley, Bircham, Cook, Furlong, Nygaard.
Subs: Cole, Milanese, Ainsworth, Donnelly, Baidoo.

Cardiff: Alexander, Barker, Whitley, Cox, Ardley, Koumas, Jerome, Boland, Loovens, Ledley, Cooper.
Subs: Margetson, Darlington, Lee, Parry, Ricketts.

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We want revenge over big rivals City
Dec 28 2005
Mario Risoli, Western Mail

FORMER Swan Marcus Bean has revealed Cardiff City's visit to Queens Park Rangers is one of the most eagerly-awaited fixtures in the Loftus Road calendar.
The Rangers midfielder admitted his team-mates - and the club's fans - are still sore about the play-off final defeat at the hands of the Bluebirds in May 2003.
And he said today's fixture has been given a sprinkling of extra spice in the shape of Richard Langley facing his former club.
The Jamaica midfielder (pictured below) left Rangers for Ninian Park in the summer of 2003, but returned to the London club four months ago after failing to make an impact at the Welsh club.
"The games with Cardiff are big ones for us. They are one of our biggest rivals and we always want to put one over them," said Bean, who was on loan at Swansea earlier this season.
"When the fixture list comes out I know our fans look at it to see when we're playing Cardiff, home and away."
The Bluebirds beat the Londoners in the old Division Two play-off final at the Millennium Stadium thanks to Andy Campbell's extra-time winner.
"A lot of the rivalry with Cardiff goes back to that play-off final," added Bean, a product of Rangers' youth system.
"They beat us to promotion. We had to wait another year to go up and that hurt our fans, so beating Cardiff means a lot to them."
The two sides met for the first time since the final last November, Ian Holloway's men gaining some revenge with a 1-0 win at Loftus Road.
"I was in the Millennium Stadium stands the day Cardiff beat us," added Bean, who has been starting for Holloway recently thanks to a spate of injuries.
"It was an even game, but I thought we were the better team, especially in the second half. Cardiff's goal was a sucker punch.
"A few of the boys who played in the final are still here and they still remember that, so the Cardiff game is going to be passionate."
One Rangers player who will be desperate to beat City today is Langley, who was off-loaded by City chief Dave Jones in August.
"Langers is a very good friend of mine and he will definitely be out to make a point to Cardiff. He really wants to win this one," said Bean.
"A new manager came in at Cardiff and Langers was forced out. He wants to show them what they are missing out on.
"I grew up watching him play for QPR and I'm very glad he's come back here.
"I'm not sure what happened to him at Cardiff, but these things happen in football.
"He didn't reach the heights with Cardiff that he did with QPR.
"Maybe it wasn't the right move at the right time and it can be hard for players from London to move elsewhere.
"Going to Cardiff was a hard step for Langers, especially as he's very close to his mum and dad. Being away from his family may have affected him.
"But he's back at QPR now, he seems happy and I know he's enjoying his football."
Bean had two loan spells with Swansea - one last season and one this - but Swans boss Kenny Jackett didn't make a permanent swoop for a player he worked with when he was No 2 at Loftus Road.
But the 21-year-old from Hammersmith said, "I've started our last three games and I hope I can keep my place over the Christmas period.
"I enjoyed my time at Swansea. They look like they can win promotion from League One and joining them permanently would have been a good move.
"But I'm happy to be back at QPR and playing in a division higher.
"I learned a lot from Kenny, not just at Swansea but from when he was working at QPR.
"I got match-fit at Swansea and the standard at the top of League One is high. You only have to look at what Luton, who were promoted to the Championship last season, are doing to see that.
"Swansea are capable of doing the same thing as Luton. They are the best team I've seen in League One."
Darren Purse is still waiting to hear whether or not he will be suspended for tonight's trip to Loftus Road. Cardiff City managed to lodge an appeal with the FA of Wales yesterday against Bluebirds skipper Purse's dismissal during Monday's 2-0 home defeat against Plymouth.
After considering the grounds for appeal, the FAW, who were closed for business over the Bank Holiday period, will inform Cardiff of the outcome ahead of the QPR match. If the FAW refuse to overturn the red card, Purse, who travelled up to London with the rest of the squad this morning, will miss Saturday's visit of Southampton as well as tonight's game......
Form guide: Rangers have won only one of their last nine in the league and have lost the last two. Cardiff have won only two of their last seven in the league and failed to score in three of their last four.
Mario Risoli's verdict: Rangers are hardly formidable at home, winning only one of their last eight games at Loftus Road. City have been useful away and could grab a maximum here.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16525254%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=we%2dwant%2drevenge%2dover%2dbig%2drivals%2dcity-name_page.html


CARDIFF MAD
- Past Cardiff vs QPR Results

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BBC - QPR v Cardiff
QPR look set for wholesale changes as the team bid for their first home win in more than two months. Lloyd Dyer is no longer at the club after his loan spell ended, but Marc Bircham could return to the starting line-up, along with Matthew Rose.
Cardiff captain Darren Purse is set to face QPR despite being sent off against Plymouth - his club have decided to appeal against the decision.
And Willie Boland and Alan Lee could replace Joe Ledley and Cameron Jerome.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4538036.stm


Calm down now - Jones
Dec 27 2005 Mark Bloom, South Wales Echo
Cardiff City boss David Jones had a simple message for the bumper Ninian Park crowd which saw them lose 2-0 to Plymouth yesterday: 'Calm down.'
'We were poor, but it's not the end of the world,' was Jones' honest assessment of the defeat, which leaves the Bluebirds down in 10th spot - albeit only two points off the Championship play-off places.
City lost captain Darren Purse to his third red card of the season before conceding two late goals.
But Jones believes City's supporters need to look at the bigger picture rather than get carried away by the result as City focus on their trip to Queens Park Rangers tomorrow night.
'People should have a reality check,' he said after the Bluebirds attracted a 16,403 crowd for their Boxing Day bout with the Pilgrims.
'Although we did not perform, this is not the end of the world.
'People's expectation levels have risen since the start of the season when they thought we were relegation material.
'Now they think their world has fallen apart. Maybe this is the kick up the backside we needed.
'It's a long time since we played so poorly and not created anything.
'No excuses, no complaints, it was a poor performance from us.
'I've asked the players to look at themselves and ask if they did enough.
'I think they are an honest bunch of players and they will say no, they didn't do enough.
'One or two players could have done a lot better on both goals conceded.
'We were poor, the referee was poor. What can I say? It was a bad day all round for us.'
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16524428%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=calm%2ddown%2dnow%2d%2d%2djones-name_page.html


Purse looks set to take on QPR
Dec 27 2005 South Wales Echo

Darren Purse looks set to face Queens Park Rangers tomorrow - despite his red card against Plymouth.
Manager Dave Jones confirmed Cardiff City will appeal against their captain's third dismissal of the season.
And with both the Football Association and Football Association of Wales' offices closed tomorrow, Purse should be cleared to play pending the appeal.
The club are confident that the red card will be reduced to a yellow.
Video evidence suggests that it was a poor decision from referee Lee Probert to dismiss Purse for a pull on Nick Chadwick.
Purse, however, will not escape lightly, whatever the decision after the appeal.
As he left the field, he kicked the fourth official's electronic board laying by the tunnel area - an action which could cost him a hefty fine.
The official could not operate the board for substitutions later in the game and he had to use the old cardboard numbers.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0600soccer/0200news/tm_objectid=16524426%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=purse%2dlooks%2dset%2dto%2dtake%2don%2dqpr-name_page.html

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Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times (and other papers)
Rangers run aground at Brighton

GARETH Ainsworth has rubbished suggestions that QPR could be drawn into arelegation battle following their Boxing Day defeat at the Withdean Stadium. Struggling Brighton, who lie one place above the Championship's drop zone,are now just four points behind Rangers after inflicting their second 1-0defeat in a row.It took the Rs half an hour to shake off the lethargy that allowed veterandefender Guy Butters to rise unchallenged and head the only goal in theseventh minute.And Ainsworth admitted: "It was a really bad game that had 0-0 written all over it, but another set-play's done us and we played nowhere near what we can do."We don't need to start looking over our shoulders yet - we're better thanthat and we're above any battles to stay up. There are some good players here, a few of them are coming back from injury and we're still looking forward."
Rangers could not even blame their bete noire, Rob Styles - who, despite hisusual exhibition of inconsistent refereeing decisions, could not be heldresponsible for their languid display.True, Styles did dismiss QPR assistant manager Tim Breacker from the dugoutf or vocal criticism of one decision, but that could hardly be said to have a major bearing on the outcome.
Clumsy defending allowed Butters to head in Richard Carpenter's free-kickand Rangers were slow to repair the damage as they struggled .....
"I thought my team looked a bag of nerves after their goal went in. Itwasn't until the second half that we actually did anything of any merit,"observed QPR boss Ian Holloway."You need to create chances up front and you also need help from the wide areas - we didn't do that. The team looked mentally weak and I need to picka different one next time."
http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/content/camden/kilburntimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportklbt&itemid=WeED27%20Dec%202005%2010%3A15%3A14%3A403

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Frank McLintock Turns 66! Born December 28, 1939

Signed for QPR from Arsenal in 1973 after Gordon Jago led QPR to promotion. Already a "veteran" 33, Mclintock was a lynchpin in the QPR Defense for the following four seasons including our "Championship" season when he played alongside David Webb. "Probably" QPR's best signing from Arsenal!
See: http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=8363


Recently published his autobiography "Frank McLintock"
"SynopsisFrank McLintock was a leading players of his generation and is acclaimed as one of the Arsenal's greatest captains. After transferring from Leicester, in 1970 he led Arsenal to a famous victory in the Fairs Cup and followed this up with even greater glory a year later, winning an historic league and FA Cup double. He left Arsenal in 1973 after being controversially dropped, and enjoyed four successful years at QPR. He retired from playing in 1977, to make an ill-conceived and hasty move into management. Following this difficult period he entered the often shady world of agents, and faced perhaps his worst moment in the game, becoming involved in the infamous bungs scandal over Teddy Sherringham's transfer from Forest to Spurs. Frank continues to retain a high profile in the game, appearing weekly as a Sky pundit. His is a captivating football story spanning 45 years during which he achieved fabulous success and faced shattering lows, all told with enthusiasm, humour, honesty and intense passion.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0755314123/202-9938057-3473467


See Dave's QPR Site's- Profile of McLintock
http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/mclintock.htm


Wikipedia on Mclintock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_McLintock

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QPR Official Site
[N]o new injuries were picked up at Brighton...Simon Royce and Georges Santos come back into contention ...after both serving a one match ban....
Steve Lomas continues his rehab and is now back in full training and may play some part over the Xmas period.
Kevin Gallen was able to do 80% running on Tuesday and will do full sprinting on Wednesday but with the games coming thick and fast he will be looking towards the FA Cup fixture at Blackburn for his return.
The only real bad news on the injury front is that Tommy Doherty felt soreness whilst doing light running so he will still be out for another couple of weeks.
Lloyd Dyer has now completed his loan spell and has gone back to WBA.
QPR v Cardiff City kicks off at 7.45pm on Wednesday
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~760331,00.html

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[Would be nice if the game was arranged and if Langley could play at Loftus Road...! Time will tell.]


Jamaican Football Federation in Talks With the English Football Association For Jamaica vs England Friendly Fixture

Submitted by Pavlos Skoufis on Tue, 2005-12-27
According to Jamaican Press reports, Jamaica is close to arranging the date for one of the toughest International Friendly games for the national team in 2006. The game will probably be England's last test before the World Cup 2006 tournament kicks-off.
Sky Sports in England is reporting that the match date is on the 3rd of June, just a few days before the opening game of the World Cup 2006. However, the president of the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF), Crenston Boxhill, insisted that the English FA had yet to confirm the fixture.
"We have been in discussion for the last two weeks and discussions have been going well. A number of dates and venues have come up including that date but we have had no confirmation. It is just a matter of time before we come to some agreement," Boxhill told reporters about the issue.
The England team have been seeded on top of Group B and will play against Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden. England are keen for this fixture, as Trinidad and Tobago are the Caribbean's second ranked team. England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is looking forward to this fixture, which will probably be played just days before the tournament kicks-off.
The technical Director of the Jamaican team, Wendell Downswell, who took over from Carl Brown and Sebastiao Lazaroni after Jamaica failed to qualify for the World Soccer tournament, told reporters that "it is a game that we are really looking forward to."
"The fact that we are playing 'the mother country' and in England too will make it an even bigger event. It will be an excellent test for us. The whole marketability of our team will be enhanced if we perform well and we are trying to get a number of quality games before that."
"The English see this as a significant preparation for them as they will be playing a Caribbean team in the World Cup and being the top team in the Caribbean it would help them to play us," he added.
Downswell revealed that the target for the JFF is to arrange one fixture each month. The Federation has also been in contact with both the Paraguayan Football Federation and the Swedish Football Federation, who seem interested to play an International Friendly with Jamaica, as Paraguay and Sweden will also play against Trinidad & Tobago.
The Jamaican Technical Director also said that the Federation is in talks with other teams that have qualified for the World Cup 2006 tournament, to be hosted in Germany next summer.
http://www.worldcuplatest.com/node/1470

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Happy Birthday to Richard Langley, 26

Born December 27, 1979. ...
Made his debut under Gerry Francis, October 1998, and helped save the club from relegation. Became a Jamaica International. Went to Cardiff for a couple of years
See: http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=9459
Also: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=5799&cc=5739

The QPR Team that Played on the Day that Langley was Born
And this was the QPR team that played on the day that Langley was born (losing 2-0 at Leicester). QPR vs Leicester: December 27, 1979: . Woods - Gillard Hazell Wicks Shanks Currie Mcreery Roeder Allen Goddard Hill Sub: Waddock
Managed by the "mercurial" Tommy Docherty...Stan Bowles had just a couple of weeks previously played his last-ever game for QPR - That's more than a quarter of a century ago -- before being sold to Nottingham Forest. This QPR team didn't go up. But it scored a lot of goals. And there are several First Division players on the 1979 team. (Not sure how many of the 2005 team one could say that about)

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Sporting Life

McGHEE ROCKED BY OATWAY INJURY

Brighton paid a heavy price for their second successive victory with skipper Charlie Oatway suffering a suspected broken right ankle and three other players collecting bookings which will lead to suspensions in a 1-0 win over QPR.
Cautions for Dean Hammond, Colin Kazim-Richards and Paul Reid will put them out of the match at Southampton on January 2 but manager Mark McGhee was most concerned about the injury to Oatway.
The experienced midfielder was taken to hospital after being injured in only the second minute.
He was left motionless by a late tackle from Marcus Bean, who escaped without a booking.
McGhee revealed that he had opened talks with Oatway about a new contract and admitted: "Charlie has been a tremendous leader and captain and this is a huge blow."
McGhee had warned fans not to expect a feast of festive entertainment over the cluttered Christmas period but was nonetheless relieved his side were able to build on their victory over Hull with a workmanlike performance.
He said: "Rangers came to make it a physical game, they were content to stop us passing and it was a bit of a scrap.
"We worked hard for the result, having to hang on towards the end, and it's pleasing we have regained our form and maintained our attitude."
Brighton goal-scorer Butters described Oatway's injury as a 'devastating blow' but is convinced his side have the ability and spirit to maintain their Championship status.
He said: "It was a great all-round performance. There were several positives to come out of it like Richard Carpenter's return from injury and the form of goalkeeper Michel Kuipers in his first appearance for nearly a year."

QPR's defeat was their sixth in the last nine matches and furious manager Ian Holloway hit out at his players who now face a struggle to avoid being dragged into the relegation dog-fight.
He said: "It's all about spirit and character and my team lacked some of that. The players didn't give me what I wanted.
"Brighton didn't do enough to win but we looked mentally weak and were a bag of nerves after conceding the goal."
Rangers entertain Cardiff on Wednesday and Holloway promised changes.
He added: "We have to do better. I need to freshen things up and I want a new team.
"I'm not very happy as I didn't like one or two things that I saw. It wasn't until late in the game that we started to come into it.
"But we got what we deserved. We ended up losing yet we had the chances to get ourselves back in the game. I will be demanding a much improved display against Cardiff."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/12/26/SOCCER_Brighton_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1


INDEPENDENT
Round-up: Butters earns Brighton vital breathing space
By John Nisbet Published: 27 December 2005

Brighton defeated Queen's Park Rangers 1-0 yesterday to give their fans the perfect late Christmas present with their first back-to-back wins of the season.
Guy Butters' seventh-minute goal at the Withdean Stadium was a real triumph in adversity, with the Seagulls shrugging off the early loss of their influential captain, Charlie Oatway, to take an instant lead. The hosts then went on to survive a late rally from QPR to record only their fourth Championship win of the season and ease their relegation worries.
Brighton suffered an early blow when Oatway was taken off on a stretcher inside five minutes after a tackle from behind by Marcus Bean. However, it proved a blessing in disguise as the free-kick from the substitute Richard Carpenter found Butters, who stroked home his second goal of the season.
To compound Rangers' misery their coach, Tim Breaker, was sent off by the referee, Rob Styles, after speaking out of turn. http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article335205.ece


Telegraph
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Queens Park Rangers 0
Brighton shrugged off the loss of influential captain Charlie Oatway to snatch an important victory.
Oatway was carried off with a suspected broken ankle inside five minutes following a tackle from Marcus Bean, but Brighton scored immediately.
Substitute Richard Carpenter took the resulting free kick and found Guy Butters, who headed home his second goal of the season.
"Charlie has been a tremendous leader and captain and this is a huge blow," said Mark McGhee, the Brighton manager, who was otherwise delighted with his team's performance.
"It was a great all-round performance. There were several positives to come out of it like Richard Carpenter's return from injury and the form of goalkeeper Michel Kuipers in his first appearance for nearly a year."
Kuipers tipped Richard Langley's fierce free kick over the bar.
Brighton: Kuipers, Reid, Butters, El-Abd, McShane, Hart, Oatway (Carpenter 4), Hammond, Frutos (Mayo 62), Knight (McCammon 61), Kazim-Richards. Subs: Robinson, Sullivan. Booked: Hammond, Kazim-Richards, Reid.
QPR: Cole, Bignot, Evatt, Shittu, Bean (Cook 61), Ainsworth (Bircham 75), Rowlands, Dyer, Langley, Moore (Nygaard 60), Furlong.
Subs: Milanese, Rose.
Booked: Rowlands, Bean.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2005/12/27/sfncham27.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/12/27/ixfooty.html


The Times

Brighton lose victory glossBy a CorrespondentBrighton and Hove Albion 1 Queens Park Rangers 0
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION PAID a heavy price for their second successive victory yesterday with Charlie Oatway, the captain, suffering a suspected broken right ankle and three other players collecting bookings that will lead to suspensions.
Cautions for Dean Hammond, Colin Kazim-Richards and Paul Reid will put them out of the match away to Southampton on January 2, but Mark McGhee, the manager, was most concerned about the injury to Oatway. The experienced midfield player was taken to hospital after being injured in the early stages at Withdean Stadium. He was left motionless by a late tackle from Marcus Bean, who escaped without a booking.
Brighton secured three points in their fight to ensure Coca-Cola Championship survival from the resulting free kick, with Richard Carpenter, a substitute, delivering the perfect ball for Guy Butters to head home.
McGhee said that he had opened talks with Oatway about a new contract and added: “Charlie has been a tremendous leader and captain and this is a huge blow. We worked hard for the result, having to hang on towards the end, and it’s pleasing we have regained our form and maintained our attitude.”
QPR’s defeat was their sixth in the past nine matches and Ian Holloway, their manager, hit out at his players. “It’s all about spirit and character and my team lacked some of that. The players didn’t give me what I wanted,” he said. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1959668,00.html


Brighton Argus
Oatway's injury mars super win
by Andy Naylor

Albion will have to scrap for Championship survival until March without their inspirational skipper.
The broken right ankle suffered by Charlie Oatway took the shine off a bruising victory for the Seagulls against the club he has supported since childhood, when he lived next door to Loftus Road.
Oatway's influence in the camp was emphasised by the reaction of matchwinner Guy Butters.
"We are delighted with the result," Butters said. "Unfortunately it has been overshadowed by the injury to Charlie. It's devastating news for the club.
"He has been brilliant both on and off the pitch all season. He has led by example."
Manager Mark McGhee may now have to reconsider his priorities during the January transfer window. Suddenly he is facing a crisis in the centre of the park.
Oatway's injury, sustained in only the second minute in a challenge by Marcus Bean, meant Richard Carpenter was pressed back into action much sooner and for much longer than ideal.
Carpenter had played for just 45 minutes in a friendly at Luton last week since rupturing a foot tendon at Crystal Palace in October.
Alexis Nicolas is out for up to three weeks with medial knee ligament damage and Dean Hammond, together with Paul Reid and Colin Kazim-Richards, is suspended for next Monday's South Coast derby at Southampton.
All three were cautioned in the first half by Premiership referee Rob Styles. Albion fans fearing a conspiracy need to know that Styles, although from Hampshire, is in fact a Pompey fan!
That did not stop Rangers' heart-on-his-sleeve boss Ian Holloway criticising his performance.
"I felt Mr Styles got the first decision wrong. Marcus Bean should have at least been booked," Holloway admitted. "It got quite nasty after that."
Had Bean seen yellow for his tackle on Oatway then Rangers would have played the second half with ten men, because Bean was eventually cautioned in first half stoppage time for a challenge on Carpenter.
It speaks volumes for Albion's character that they were able to put a double injury blow behind them in recording back-to-back wins for the first time since February.
Oatway's prompt departure came after Seb Carole, their creative force on the right wing, failed a fitness test before kick-off on a calf injury.
McGhee decided not to risk his French trickster, with three more matches looming in the space of six days, which led to a late reprieve for Leon Knight.
He was back in the starting line-up, instead of on the bench, following his exclusion from the squad for the pre-Christmas home win over Hull.
McGhee had no complaints about the attitude of Knight on this occasion. Albion's enigmatic leading marksman was replaced by Mark McCammon for the last half-hour not because of his contribution but the need for more height in response to Rangers introducing their Danish giant Marc Nygaard.
The Seagulls were absorbing pressure by that time after Butters rose above man-mountain Danny Shittu to head them into a seventh minute lead from Carpenter's free-kick, his second goal in four games.
They always do things the hard way, going close in both halves to making their advantage more comfortable.
Reid, the best player on view in the opening 45 minutes, worked a one-two with Knight before setting up Alex Frutos for a shot from 12 yards which was blocked on the line by a combination of rookie keeper Jake Cole, deputising for the banned Simon Royce in the Rangers goal, and his defenders.
Kazim-Richards went close twice after the break. He volleyed wide when well placed, then had a stinging effort parried by Cole. McCammon was also thwarted by Rangers' stand-in custodian when the tireless Hammond put him clean through in the closing stages.
If that all sounds exciting it was not. Rangers were awful. Their abrasive approach deserved nothing and dragged Carole-less Albion into a messy, ugly match.
Fit-again Michel Kuipers, back between the posts for the Seagulls for the first time in 11 months, had little difficulty celebrating his comeback with a clean sheet.
The Dutchman made one outstanding stop early in the second half, diving to his right to keep out Richard Langley's 25-yard free-kick with the vigilant Butters guarding the post behind him.
Adam El-Abd deserved the shut-out too for an outstanding display out of position at leftback, while Paul McShane grew stronger as the game wore on in his first taste of action since late November.
McGhee said: "QPR clearly came to make it a physical game and to break down our play. We've been passing the ball well and they stopped that.
"The conditions were cold, the pitch a bit bobbly, so it wasn't conducive to good football. It ended up a bit of a scrap."
It may not have been much of a game for a record Withdean crowd but Albion's fourth victory of the campiagn was vital in two respects.
They are now four points clear of the relegation zone after the teams below them all drew and only the same number adrift of plummeting Rangers in 14th, a tonic of sorts for the crestfallen Oatway.
ALBION (4-4-2): Kuipers 8; Reid 7, McShane 7, Butters 8, El-Abd 9; Hart 7, Oatway 6, Hammond 7, Frutos 7; Kazim-Richards 7, Knight 6. Subs: Carpenter 7 for Oatway (injured 4), McCammon 6 for Knight (withdrawn 60), Mayo 6 for Frutos (withdrawn 60), Robinson, Sullivan.
QPR (4-4-2): Cole; Bignot, Evatt, Shittu, Dyer; Ainsworth, Rowlands, Bean, Langley; Furlong, Moore. Subs: Cook for Bean (withdrawn 60), Nygaard for Moore (withdrawn 60), Bircham for Ainsworth (withdrawn 75), Milanese, Rose
http://www.theargus.co.uk/the_argus/sport/SPORT2.html


Brighton Argus
Injured Oatway to get new deal
by Andy Naylor
CHARLIE Oatway will still be an Albion player next season, despite facing 12 weeks on the sidelines with a broken ankle.
Manager Mark McGhee is in talks with his captain over a new contract and the deal will be honoured after Oatway fractured his right fibia in yesterday's 1-0 home win against Queens Park Rangers.
Long-serving Oatway, a lifelong QPR supporter, was hurt in a tackle by Rangers' midfielder Marcus Bean just two minutes into the match.
McGhee said: "It's very unfortunate for us and devastating for the boy. Charlie has been tremendous, a tremendous captain and leader.
"I've already started talking to him about a new contract. His injury won't affect that."
Bean escaped with a lecture from Premiership referee Rob Styles but Rangers boss Ian Holloway admitted he should have been booked.
Dean Hammond, Colin Kazim-Richards and Paul Reid were all cautioned by Styles in the first half and are now all banned for next Monday's trip to Southampton.
Paul McShane is currently unavailable for the visit to St Mary's as well, as his spell on loan from Manchester United expires with Saturday's home game against Millwall.
McGhee hopes to keep hold of the young centre half, who made his comeback yesterday after five weeks out with ankle damage.
"We want to keep Paul on whatever terms Man United will allow us, ranging from keeping him on loan for the rest of the season or permanently," McGhee said. "We are in talks with them now."
McShane confirmed: "I'd like to stay for the whole season and hopefully avoid relegation. I think Man United should let me stay here, because that is best for my career, and I think they will agree to it."
Albion remain fourth-bottom in the Championship ahead of tomorrow night's visit to Luton, when Seb Carole could return. The French winger was ruled out yesterday by a calf injury.
Leon Knight, dropped for the home win against Hull before Christmas because of his attitude to training and his team-mates, played for an hour following the late withdrawal of Carole.
McGhee, denying reports that Knight has handed in a transfer request, said: "Leon would have been on the bench, so I was looking for an excuse to put him back in. He is a good player and I was pleased with his reaction and attitude.
"I took him off because we needed the extra height of Mark McCammon with the substitutions Rangers were making."
http://www.theargus.co.uk/the_argus/sport/SPORT0.html

Brighton Argus
Chaigneau storms off after being left out
by Andy Naylor
Florent Chaigneau's Albion career could be over after just one appearance in five months.
The French goalkeeper, signed on a year-long loan from Rennes at the start of the season, left Withdean in a huff yesterday when Michel Kuipers was preferred for the clash against QPR.
Boss Mark McGhee revealed: "Flo spat out his dummy when he realised he wasn't playing. He was last seen running down North Street, heading for the Channel Tunnel. I had to make a decision on what I've seen and I wasn't confident enough about Flo to put him in the team."
Chaigneau has not featured in the Championship for Albion. He played his only game in the Carling Cup exit at Shrewsbury in August.
McGhee added: "The lad probably should consider going back now, because he isn't getting first team football here and that is why he came. It's unfortunate it hasn't worked out."
England under-18 John Sullivan was named on the bench yesterday as cover for Kuipers, who made a triumphant return from a loan spell at Boston.
The Dutchman kept a clean sheet on his first Albion appearance since suffering serious shoulder damage against Nottingham Forest in January.
"He did everything asked of him," McGhee said. "He kicked and handled well, his concentration was very good and he looked very strong."
http://www.theargus.co.uk/the_argus/sport/SPORT1.html

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QPR Official Site
MUST TRY HARDER

Ian Holloway is calling for a sharp contrast in fortunes for the festive season's remaining fixtures.
After seeing his Rangers side go down 1-0 against Brighton, Ollie is now hoping to end 2005 on a successful note with a little help from those returning from injury.
Marc Bircham and Matthew Rose were both on the bench at the Withdean and Kevin Gallen in pencilled in to return against Cardiff.
With Steve Lomas also due back soon it could soon be a very different Rangers die out there.
Ollie said: "Hopefully I'll be able to pick some of my better players on Wednesday and that will be a help.
"That wasn't my first choice out there today and it will be great to have people like Marc Bircham Matthew Rose and eventually Kevin Gallen all back in contention.
"We've got three more games over the Christmas period and hopefully we'll be able to turn things round."
As for the game against Brighton, Ollie was more than disappointed with the display.
"That wasn't good enough out there. We've lost three points today and I find it hard to believe. We threw the game away.
"We looked scared of going 1-0 down but we had a few chances after half time and I thought we were starting to look better.
"Jake Cole made two excellent saves, but I don't like having to see my goalie make those sorts of saves because it means my defenders aren't doing their work."
Afterwards, the Rangers manager spoke of his disappointment at not being able to clarify a few things with the match officials.
"I wanted to talk to the referee but he refused to see me. I just wanted to ask him one or two things, but what can you do?
"That's no excuse though, the buck stops with me - I pick the team."
With the transfer window looming, Holloway will also be looking to see if there is any money available for strengthening his squad.
"I had a long chat with Gianni Paladini yesterday and we've spent all sorts of money recently, but we'll have to see what's on the table."
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/ManagersComments/0,,10373~760118,00.html

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Brighton 1 QPR 0
QPR OFFICIAL SITE

Brighton ran out 1-0 winners at the Withdean after a disappointing game from Rangers' point of view.
On a day that should have seen a game full of Christmas cheer, the match culminated in one big festive hangover.
Brighton took a 1-0 lead into the break with Rangers having failed to find their feet.
Albion had gone in front after Guy Butters headed home Richard Carpenter's free kick after just six minutes.
The Seagulls had already lost Charlie Oatway after a sloppy tackle from Marcus Bean and from thereonin the game faded into obscurity.
The second half started promisingly, but one again it was soon a case of little action, little end product and little to talk about.
There were two changes to the Rangers' starting line up.
The obvious one being the full debut of Jake Cole after Simon Royce's dismissal against Coventry last week.
Georges Santos also missed out through suspension and made way for Paul Furlong to come back into the starting eleven.
With two minutes gone, Marcus Bean's tackle on Charlie Oatway ended the captain's game. Oatway was stretchered off with his leg strapped up and not looking in the best of shape.
A Richard Langley foul gave Richard Carpenter a free kick 20 yards out from goal on the wing.
The newly arrived substitute whipped the ball in and Guy Butters rose highest in the box to head home.
Throughout the first ten minutes, Brighton were camped in the Rangers half, with the visitors conceeding free kick after free kick.
In fact, the game had started with a niggly feeling with the referee's whistle ging into overdrive.
For the next 15 minutes, the game scrapped about in midfield without much action.
Gary Hart was the next to force Jake Cole into action, driving the ball low along the ground for Cole to gather.
Rangers just seemed unable to piece together a string of passes or threaten the Seagulls' goal.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, Cole was forced to save with his feet after Alexandre Frustos drove goalwards.
With the second half kicking off, there was hope that the game would spark into life.
Martin Rowlands won Rangers a free kick 25 yards from goal and smack in the middle of goal. With Langley and Furlong standing over the free kick, the former stepped up to take.
The hit was as sweet as they come, but Michel Kuipers was equal to it and punched clear.
Ian Holloway decided to mix things up with a double substitution, bringing on Marc Nygaard and Lee Cook for Stefan Moore and Marcus Bean.
Cook tried his best to make an impact, shooting from distance, but again Kuipers denied Rangers an equaliser.
Ainsworth then tried without success to shoot, but he failed to get enough on the ball to send it goalwards.
That was his last touch of the game before Marc Bircham replaced him.
Cole had his moment of the game when he pulled off an excellent save to deny Kazim-Richards from outside the area.
The Brighton man's shot was strcuk with venom, but Cole went full stretch to punch to safety.
As the game entered the final ten minutes, Rangers began to push foward. Now it was Brighton's turn to defend.
Langley's corner connected with Nygaards head, but his bullet header flew wide of the post.
Paul Furlong then missed a golden opportunity to give Rangers a share of the points when Bignot sen the ball across the face of goal, but Furlong failed to connect sweetly and the ball cannoned over the bar.
Up the other end, Cole was once again called into action when McCammon was clean through.
The young stopper again punched clear to ensure Rangers still had a chance in the game.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough action up front to warrant a share of the points and this was not going to be Rangers' day.

Brighton: Kuipers, Reid, Knight (McCammon 60), Turienzo, Hart, Oatway (Carpenter 5), Hammond, Butters, Frutos (Mayo 60), El-Abd, Kazim-Richards, McShane
Subs: Robinson, Sullivan
Scorers: Butters 6,
Bookings: Hammond 15, Kazim-Richards 33, Reid 45
Rangers: Cole, Bignot, Dyer, Shittu, Evatt, Ainsworth (Bircham 74), Bean (Cook 60), Rowlands, Langley, Moore (Nygaard 60), Furlong
Subs: Milanese, Rose
Scorers:
Bookings: Langley 6, Bean 45
Att: 7,341 Ref: R Styles
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10373~29188,00.html


BRIGHTON OFFICIAL SITE

first-half header from Guy Butters gave the Seagulls a 1-0 win over QPR this afternoon.
The central-defender rose highest to head a Richard Carpenter free-kick past Rangers keeper Jake Cole.
Carpenter was on as a substitute for Charlie Oatway, who had to be taken to hospital with an ankle injury after being stretchered off as early as the third minute.
Mark McCammon had a chance to make the result safe late on but was denied brillintly by Cole, while at the other end, a superb challenge from Paul McShane stopped Paul Furlong from drawing the visitors level.
Report to follow.
Albion: (4-4-2) Kuipers; El-Abd, McShane, Butters, Reid; Hart, Oatway, Hammond, Frutos; Knight, Kazim-Richards. Subs: Sullivan (GK), Carpenter, McCammon, Mayo, Robinson.
QPR: (4-4-2) Cole; Bignot, Shittu, Evatt, Dyer; Ainsworth, Langley, Rowlands, Bean; Moore, Furlong. Subs: Cook, Milanese, Rose, Bircham, Nygaard.
Referee: Rob Styles
http://www.seagulls.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10433~29188,00.html

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Brighton vs QPR

QPR Official Site
Jake Cole makes his full QPR debut and Paul Furlong returns to the starting line up.The young stopper comes in for the suspended Simon Royce at the Withdean today and will hope to make an impression.Cole was only given four minutes to shine against Coventry last week, but with picking Gary McSheffrey's penalty out of the net as his first task, it was always going to be an uphill struggle.But now the goalkeeper will have the full 90 and will no doubt be out to impress.Up front, Georges Santos' suspension makes way for Paul Furlong to return to the strike force after serving his one match ban.

Brighton: Kuipers, Reid, Knight, Turienzo, Hart, Oatway, Hammond, Butters, Frutos, El-Abd, Kazim-Richards, McShane
Subs: Mayo, Carpenter, McCammon, Robinson, Sullivan

Rangers: Cole, Bignot, Dyer, Shittu, Evatt, Ainsworth, Bean, Rowlands, Langley, Moore, Furlong
Subs: Bircham, Rose, Cook, Milanese, Nygaard
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~759862,00.html

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BRIGHTON PERSPECTIVE
The Argus
Don't expect a festive treat
by Andy Naylor

Albion manager Mark McGhee warned fans today not to expect a feast of festive entertainment over the cluttered Christmas period.

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness has led criticism of the congested fixture list and McGhee symapthises with the view of his fellow Scot.

Quality, rather than quantity, is McGhee's main concern as he prepares his players for a stamina-sapping schedule launched by troubled QPR's Boxing Day visit to Withdean.

"It's not so much that we cannot manage to play four games in eight days, even with the small squad we have," McGhee said. "I don't think we can expect the quality of performance we would hope for and for the players to be as fresh, energetic and dynamic as they should be with a week between games.

"By the third game, against Millwall, there are going to be some tired boys. The danger at that stage is you get injuries brought about by fatigue. You don't have time to recover and you are playing with injuries that are exacerbated by the closeness of the next game, so I don't think it's ideal by any means."

McGhee's custom of giving his players Christmas Day off was rewarded last year by a healthy haul of points.

Now he is looking for a similar return from what, on paper at least, is a not too testing programme for the fourth-bottom Seagulls against out-of-form teams as they try to build on the pre-Christmas home win against Hull McGhee admitted: "I think it's an opportunity. There will be somebody in our area of the League that comes out with a haul of points nobody expects. I think we've got decent fixtures and there are points there for us.

"We've kept other people in our sights, which is the main thing. Psychologically it would be nice to go into the New Year still out of the bottom three and higher up than we are now.

"We've got to claw our way up and that's what we have been doing. Going into the last few games, if we give ourselves a chance like we did last year then we would take that now."

The players also regard the holiday period as an opportunity to make up ground. Defender Kerry Mayo, recalled for the Hull victory, said: "I think this year is very important with the teams we are playing.

"QPR didn't look the best the other night (at home to Coventry). We've got them at home as well and, on the back of a good win against Hull, if we can capitalise on that and get three points then we go away to Luton who are a bit hit and miss at the moment.

"Maybe we can get a point up there and then we've got Millwall at home, who are struggling, so potentially there are seven or nine points to be had.

"If we can get at least seven points out of those three games that will take us well above where we are now and put us in good stead for Southampton on January 2.

"If we have a great Christmas and New Year it will pull us right out of the danger zone and put a lot of pressure on the teams below us to get results. Not being part of that mini-league would give us great confidence to push on."

Mayo's return against Hull was his first appearance since the beginning of October.

The long-serving leftback, who is in his benefit season, said: "I'd been out for a long time and I've been very frustrated, the manager has known that. I've been getting my head down and getting on with it.

"I found out just over an hour before kick-off and I was buzzing. I just wanted the game to start.

"That's all I want to do, play first team football. All the time I'm not in the first team I'm not happy but I'll get on with it.

"I keep my football life and home life separate. I've been able to do that over the years because it's become like a culture for me, being in and out of the side and then I get back in at Christmas and tend to stay there."
Leon Knight is unlikely to be back in the starting line-up over the festive season. The five-goal top scorer's future remains in doubt after he was dropped for the third time in seven matches against Hull.
McGhee, unhappy with Knight's attitude, said: "I will continue to use him the way I see fit for as long as he is here.
"Lots of players have been left out and I think there has been a bit too much made of it."

http://www.theargus.co.uk/the_argus/sport/SPORT1.html

December 17: Knight's future is put in doubt

by Andy Naylor

Albion manager Mark McGhee warned Leon Knight today he has got to change his attitude if he wants to rescue his career with the club.

McGhee axed his top scorer from the squad again for last night's crucial 2-1 win at Withdean against Hull.

Knight was dropped for last month's trip to Stoke after reacting badly to being substituted in the home game against Wolves a few days earlier.

He was left on the bench for the visit to Watford a fortnight ago and his exclusion last night raises doubts about his future at Albion.

McGhee said: ìI've just been disappointed with Leon in training and generally and decided I was going to put people out there that I knew at worst were going to work hard for us. I picked a team that I knew were going to graft.

"Leon's got to look after his own future, I am responsible for the future of this football club.

"If he's left out he needs to do something about it. He's got to change his attitude towards his training and towards his career."

Superb first-half strikes by Seb Carole and Charlie Oatway after Stuart Elliott had given Hull an early lead ended Albion's nine match run without a win and lifted them two places to fifth bottom.

McGhee said: "It's the start of a happy Christmas. If ever there was a must-win game this was it. If we had lost, we would have been unable to catch the likes of Hull and it would have resigned us to a relegation fight all season."

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Mark Devlin Talking about QPR Finances


From a year ago (December 13, 2004) Interview with Mark Devlin at Ron Norris & Simon Skinner's great QPRnet.com site http://www.qprnet.com/interviews/devlin.shtml


EXCERPTS FROM QPR NET INTERVIEW
.
QPRnet.com: Was it a case that Rangers came looking for you or did you throw your hat in the ring?

MD: I was aware of something, I got a text informing me that David Davies had handed his resignation in and it was a couple of days after that, that I got spoken to about it. I certainly didn’t put my hat in the ring but you are always confident of your abilities to do a good job. At Swindon we were embroiled in trying to get planning permission for a new stadium and there was much going on. I was enjoying life down there and we had steadied the ship and turned the club around so I wasn’t actively looking to leave. Then whatever happened during the summer here happened, I was aware through reading various websites and from hearing various reports as to what was going on and that clearly it wasn’t a happy ship so it was flattering when I was approached and I was delighted to come back.....

QPRnet.com: What happened with the Ramon Diaz situation?

MD: Aah, Ramon Diaz, our new manager! He is someone that knows quite a few of the people from Barnaby, the first Monaco group that invested in the club. Apparently it was in the Argentine press that he had been offered the job and it was only a matter of time.
The facts of the matter are that one of the people involved with the club at board level got fed up after a game and said things indiscreetly, which they have learned they ought not to do and it was picked up by a newspaper. Diaz was never approached by the club, whether somebody at Barnaby had asked him if at some stage he would fancy managing in England because they were getting involved at QPR, who knows? Certainly nobody at the club had spoken to Ramon Diaz and offered him a position at QPR but once it was reported in the Argentinean press and it was big news over there, it soon moved onto England. Maybe he said a few things to build himself up as he is out of a job and I do understand that he does fancy coming into England so people put two and two together.
The Diaz thing had no real substance at all. I think we have a very inexperienced board of directors, and I include myself to an extent in that, that are all massively keen to do the best for Rangers and what I am comfortable with, as a Rangers fan, is that the people on the board at the club have got all the best intentions and want to see QPR moving in the right way. What we won’t do is spend money we don’t have and if that means that we get a bit of stick from fans for being un-ambitious then so be it.
My mission is not to work here when the club goes out of business, I would like to work here when the club cements itself as a Championship club and has a good tilt at the play off’s. First and foremost I want a develop a good, strong financial base which will allow us to invest in a team and squad of players that will give us as fans what we all want but likewise looking after the fans and engaging them, having two way conversations and listening to their opinions.

QPRnet.com: Can you just explain a bit about a modern football club. We have a Chairman and Chief Executive, how do responsibilities work, how are things run day to day?

MD: On a day to day basis I run the club, Bill might be in here on an odd day every so often, depending on what’s going on. Certainly he is around when there are board meetings, reserve, youth or first team matches, but invariably it’s no more than one day a week so the day to day management is down to me.
One of the first things I did was to batten down the hatches in terms of the way we were spending money, basically trying to spend a lot less! I have changed the procedures so that when we want to spend money we have a purchase order system which requires my sign it off. This helps to give me a much better understanding of how we are trying to spend our money, and can we do things differently.
Major expenditure clearly has to be approved by the board, which includes things like signing a player or bringing a player in on loan. What generally happens is that Ian will talk to me about it; we will get a rough feel for what the cost would be, I will speak to the club concerned and then go to the board and tell them what Ian would like to do and discuss the financial implications. I will already be able to say to the board whether I think the money is there or not but ultimately I will leave the decision with them. I will give a recommendation but Bill as Chairman is the ultimate controlling party; he will have the deciding vote at board meetings over big matters.
Olly obviously gets on with the football side but we all take an interest in that and I think that’s why we all enjoy the job and work in the industry we do, but ultimately the footballing side falls down to Olly, his coaches and to Joe Gallen on the youth side. We have had a reshaping of the youth structure and I think for the first time Ian has been fully engaged and spoken to about it. We had to decide what we wanted from our youth structure, where is it weak, where is it strong and what can we do about changing it.
It wasn’t just a case with Des Bulpin, as has been suggested somewhere, that we had differences of opinion and he was sacked because of it, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was simply that the structure, and cost base, was not right. I believe we now have in place a structure that will take us forward. That’s come about through talking with Ian and getting him involved in the youth scheme. It’ can be difficult, because why should football managers give a damn how the under twelve’s have got on when their livelihood depends on the first team. We hope Ian is here for the long term so it was a case of engaging him to find out the sort of structure he wanted, getting Joe Gallen’s input and hence they have identified somebody to come in to head up youth recruitment.
There are football clubs where the board think they know about footballing matters, we’ve all got opinions but at the end of the day the decision maker on that side of things is Ian. All I will tell Ian is whether we can afford someone or not and that will be the end of the matter. Of course I am always happy to pitch in with names of people I have seen play but how seriously anyone on the football side ever take people on the administration side doing that is open to debate!

QPRnet.com: So the new position is that effectively a Chief Scout for youth players?

MD: More or less yes, we are very concerned that we really get no kids from this area at all and that this has been happening for years now. How many kids from the White City do we ever get, or from Harlesden and Willesden and places like that. We know there is plenty of raw football talent out there but it all seems to be buggering off to Fulham, Chelsea or Arsenal. Something has been inherently wrong with our youth recruitment policy and operation.
We want to make the personnel accountable as well. You ask, “Who was the person that spotted such and such”, and I guarantee you that at least three people will claim they were involved in spotting him and getting him signed to a pro side. So we are putting in place a system so we can review how good our scouts are and if they are not good enough then regrettably you have to let them go and bring in people that have a better eye for the job.
It costs a lot of money to operate a Centre of Excellence, and you can go one of two ways. Either you can adopt the route that we are going down, or you can go down the route of saving the £250k it costs the club, after grants, and say to yourself, would that money be better off going to Olly?. Or maybe give Ian £150k and use £100k to go and nick players from Premiership Academies as Swindon have done recently. This is a gamble, but other teams have spent the money coaching them, then you can offer them a chance at your first team, normally on reasonable wages as they are young players.
We believe that a club like QPR has so much more to offer than a Chelsea or a Fulham. Sure, it must be lovely for a parent to think their boy can go and play for Chelsea, but unless he is world class he is not going to get a sniff of their first team because at some stage they will spend £20m importing the finished article. At QPR we have a lad called Shabazz Baidoo, who is still raw but he’s come from Arsenal and clearly has more chance here if he continues to improve. If he does he will have a shot at the first team, he was highly unlikely to get that at Arsenal other than the occasional cameo in the Carling Cup and that is the message we need to get across.
We have got to be able to recruit really good kids, look after them well, coach them properly and give them a chance at the end of it. If at the end of it they can play for the club and take the club forward, fantastic, if they play for the club and they are so outstanding that the club makes some money out of them, equally fantastic. If neither of those things happen then over the course of the years to come we will have to reassess the way the youth scheme operates.
It doesn’t help that we have more than one base. We operate out of the Acton training ground, Cranford and Brunel University, its fragmented and we are actively looking for one place to build a decent training ground that will house everyone from under nines up to the pro side and also have the under sixteen’s and eighteen’s playing their home games there on a Saturday. That’s what we want but we need the facilities and that is definitely not easy to find in West, or West of, London. ...

QPRnet.com: At the moment I think we’ve got a better standard of youth player than we have had for years, but what sort of timescale do you give it to see whether it is being successful or not?

MD: To be fair I think you have to look at it over the course of the next five years or so, not one or two years, and we may have to be a little more aggressive in the market place, which is why we are bringing in someone that can identify fifteen to sixteen year olds at Premiership clubs who maybe we can approach.
This guy has in depth knowledge of some of the Premiership’s young kids and what we would like to see is with his knowledge and with Joe Gallen’s leadership that turn those into players that we can bring across to QPR who will be knocking on the first team door within a couple of years. Slowly but surely that will filter all the way down to the under nine’s but it is that fifteen to sixteen year old age group that we need to bring in now. We’re looking for players who are pretty outstanding but don’t have a great deal of opportunities at their clubs.

QPRnet.com: Can you sum up the financial situation at the club generally, where are we at right now compared to when you joined us?

MD: Thanks to the new investment, we are in much better shape. Most of that investment has gone to paying off old debts. If we hadn’t addressed it when we did it would have lead to some serious issues with the Inland Revenue. Because we took that action, we are back on track with the Inland Revenue and on a far more even keel generally. That is entirely down to the new investment from Monaco and also Gianni Paladini’s involvement. To be fair to Gianni it has been his contacts in Monaco which he has been able to convince to invest in the club. I wouldn’t be overstating it if I said that without the new investment, coupled with the plans that I saw that the previous board were trying to implement in terms of additional costs and so forth, I believe this club might have been in administration by now. As it is things are still very tight and they will continue to be for the remainder of this season and probably next while we clear the decks and make sure we are operating responsibly and smartly. It would have been nice had £500k of that investment been diverted into the playing staff rather than paying off old debt but, and it pains me as a fan to say this, it was more important to keep the Inland Revenue happy than to give Ian two or three more bodies.

QPRnet.com: Since you’ve been here we’ve seen a few staff move on from the admin side, were we hideously overstaffed?

MD: We were overstaffed in certain areas, I’ve not let people go that I felt could help to take the club forward. I’ve let people go whose jobs were redundant or whose skills did not match our requirements. There were people here that I couldn’t tell you what their jobs were, but between personnel and changes to services we’ve saved the equivalent of about £400k a year.
For example we were spending £24K a year on photography, now we have got in a QPR fan who’s an extremely competent photographer who’s doing it for the cost of the film and love of the club. .
We were spending £30k a year having our database cleansed for promotional usage. I’ve knocked that on the head as we can do that ourselves through the ticketing system we’ve got here. When we need to input a bit of marketing expertise, so we can run promotions, we’ll bring it in, but only, then.
The new safety officers that I’ve brought in are not PAYE, they are contractors, and we only pay them for the days they come in on a set rate. They’ve already highlighted how overstaffed we were from a stewarding point of view and by the end of this season we will have seen a good saving on stewarding.
We’ve been so set in our ways here over the years that we just worked with the stewarding company and spent whatever it cost. We didn’t attempt to get best value out of the contract. I was fortunate in that I moved away to another football club for two years and saw things done totally differently. I don’t understand why stewards are dotted around the pitch edge at the end of a game as the only time there is ever likely to be a pitch incursion is the final game of the season, like it is at a lot of clubs. I think we just lay down and accepted things as a club for the past few years and we are beginning to get up now.
If I don’t agree with something I’ll say I don’t agree and fight my corner, particularly if it comes down to saving costs. I’m just trying to create a mentality here whereby staff are spending money as if it was their own. If it was own money, would we spend it? Will the place fall apart?, and will we forever be cast into the Vauxhall Conference if we don’t spend that pound? If the answer to that is no, it doesn’t really matter, then don’t spend the bloody thing! Let’s just batten down the hatches for a year or so and see where that takes us. Let’s channel as much money as we can into the squad and into making sure our supporters services are correct. Let’s make sure the box office is right, the club shop is right, and all of the key customer facing areas are operated correctly. Let’s make sure we have got the best people we can afford in the right numbers not just a lot of bodies for the sake of it, and we won’t go far wrong.
We’ve got a great fan base here. It’s more active vocally, numerically and financially than I’ve ever known. I remember coming here to Premiership games or old Division One games against Coventry, Leicester, and Sheffield Wednesday we were lucky if we got 9-10,000 now we have got 15,500 for Burnley who bring 800 people with them. The fan base has been magnificent. I sat at Swindon envious, but delighted, over what’s been going on here in terms of the fan base and the magnificent support. Look at the bucket collections, a club like this should not need to have fans rattling buckets out the front and nobody wants to see a return to that. Our turnover should be enough to have a decent playing budget and a club that is staffed properly so there is no way we should be asking fans to stick money in a bucket to prop this place up, it’s a travesty.

QPRnet.com: It is interesting as when we talked to your predecessor he made it very clear that he wanted to pay for things rather than use free or cheap fan help because he found it easier to go back to them if there were problems. Are you happier to accept help from the fans?

MD: I understand what he was saying, it is very difficult to go to someone who is doing a favour and complain about the standard, but if it is handled in the right way fans will understand that. I am more than happy to accept help from fans and whilst I can understand his point of view it is not one that I share.
I am very aware from talking to the supporters groups that in recent years quite a bit of assistance was offered and was generally turned down. A football club is nothing without its fans and we won’t always make decisions that keep the fans happy, but we will make them with the right intentions.
A very small example is that we will be going back to having kit votes. I thought it was ludicrous not to have a kit vote as the fans that buy the stuff ought, at least, to have a say in whether they like it or not. The last time I looked we weren’t a fashion house so what is the harm in running a website poll. Some of the people that worked here previously weren’t as keen to engage the fans as maybe they ought to have been in my opinion.
There are clubs that say sod the fans we’ll run the football club, all they have to do is turn up, pay their money and support the team, boo, hiss or cheer. Our strength is our unity. That might sound terribly crass but I actually believe that is the abiding advantage Rangers have got versus a club like Chelsea. You go to Chelsea and you see people there that aren’t really into Chelsea, they’ve just bought tickets as it is seen to be good to take corporate people and you take the soul out of the place.
Once people have been to see a game at Loftus Road they can’t help but be taken in by the atmosphere of the place and the passion of the fans. My missus has never been into football but she has come to a couple of evening games and understands all this QPR nonsense I’ve told about over the past umpteen years, a little better now. I think that is one of the reasons why when people like Dunga got involved, before they committed themselves they had people come over here to see what they were going to get themselves involved in and they saw the raw passion of the place. It isn’t the San Siro, we don’t play in front of 60,000 crowds and we don’t play in the Premiership, but they still chose to invest in the club for other reasons and a lot of that is driven by the fact that we are a proper football club with fans and players and people behind the scenes working together. That isn’t to say that we won’t make decisions fans don’t like or which might be unpopular, but they will generally be made for the right reasons.

QPRnet.com: What’s the latest with the ABC situation?

MD: The ABC situation is that we are actively seeking an alternative to take the loan over. We are talking to ABC about under what circumstances they would allow the loan to be taken over and if there are any financial penalties. I think it is well documented now that as a board we are not happy over the circumstances it was taken out in, we didn’t need £10m, we don’t see any evidence that forced us to take this loan from a Panamanian based organisation which then upped the loan by £200k a year at the last minute.
Of course the League were putting pressure on the club to come out of administration but like we have seen with Notts County, if we had gone back to the League, told them of our circumstances, I believe the Football League would have given us time to find another exit route. That’s my belief, there is no guarantee of that, but knowing the way the Football League works, then that’s what I would have thought would have happened.
We are very uncomfortable, to put it mildly, with the fact that Ray Hocking has left BDO, having been our administrator and has now popped up as a representative of ABC, a real conflict of interests if ever there was one. There were other areas of conflict. We continued to use a firm of solicitors who were also retained by Chris Wright and Chrysalis. As a big London firm, they were not the cheapest. We have now found a highly qualified Solicitor, who is also a QPR fan, and it’s safe to say things are a little more reasonable now without compromising on quality.
Generally speaking, football clubs do not need to spend large amounts on legals. We seemed to speak to a legal advisor at the drop of a hat, racking up huge costs at the same time. We are currently reviewing all the information available to us, to see what action we need to consider taking. This will take us through to January at the earliest.

QPRnet.com: Speaking of conflicts of interest, how did you react to the news that David Davies had popped up as Chief Exec at Wasps?

MD: Not surprised in the slightest! I look forward to some interesting conversations with David. For a man who I am told detested Chris Wight with a passion when he was here to then go and accept a job working for the rugby club that is owned by Chris will tell you everything you need to know about that situation.
In administration I am not sure how seriously we looked at a CVA, it would have been horrible for the creditors involved but the whole point of an administration is to protect the business, restructure the operation, and see it restart again with a chance of survival. Normally there are wholesale staffing cuts and being here previously I expected that I might have gone, David Davies would almost certainly have had to have gone and the senior management tier would have been stripped out. In the end we let go two maintenance men and brought in a contractor that cost almost as much!

QPRnet.com: You see so many other clubs go into administration and end up paying back so little of what they owe yet we owe £10m.

MD: Yes, weird that isn’t it. Leicester was the trigger for the new ten point deduction ruling. Leicester went into admin, got themselves promoted to the Premiership, rid themselves of huge amounts of debt, especially crown debts and everyone went mad about it.
Look at Leeds, they had £100m of debt and seem to have been able to write off around £60m of it and come to an agreement with other creditors over the remaining debts, but not QPR. Let’s go into administration owing money and let’s come out owing even more.
We owe more, we lost our training ground, which now costs the club £50k per annum in rent and Wasps is no longer part of the family so it doesn’t seem on the surface to have been a great deal!
We will continue asking questions long and hard, the board are very passionate about getting to the bottom of this to make sure that everything was done legitimately and above board. It may well have been, it may just have been down to desperate management who made bad decisions, it could be no more than that but we owe it to the shareholders and supporters to research it properly and find out what the hell’s gone on.

QPRnet.com: Are we talking to Chris Wright regarding his shares or is that now a dead issue?

MD: We are still talking. One of the directors is talking to Chris Wright about selling his shares, and we remain optimistic that a deal can be agreed.

QPRnet.com: Staying up was the priority for this season, we are now sixth. How do you budget as a club for next season?

MD: It is a nice problem to have. We will have to produce a Championship budget and a Premiership budget rather than just a Championship version. By the end of January we will have produced two outline budgets based on what we think revenues and costs will be if we are in the Premiership and likewise the Championship. I might have missed something here, but I don’t see why we would have to add lots of personnel behind the scenes. The commercial department is down to one person already, although we do need to bring one more person in, but when you’ve got Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, the whole lot coming to play at your ground then your phones ring, you don’t have as much pressure to go out there and sell tickets. Speak to any club, speak to Palace, there will be some matches that are slightly harder to sell in the Premier League, but nothing like as difficult as Rotherham in August, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Rotherham. So you don’t need bundles of extra staff.
You actually play less games so your infrastructure doesn’t need to be any bigger, its all down to how much you want to stick into playing funds and we would need to come up with contracts that allow players to earn more when we are in the Premiership and if we are not in the Premiership then they immediately come back down to Championship salaries. If players aren’t prepared to take that gamble along with the club then we will have to think seriously about employing them. I don’t mind paying them well when we’ve got the money; the players should enjoy it, but we would, undoubtedly, need to invest in the squad.
So we will produce two budgets and keep refining them as the months go on and the seasons outcome becomes clearer. The real issue I suppose comes down to if we get in the play offs. Suddenly, you don’t know if you are in the Premiership until May 31st which gives you two and a bit months to plan. I still think getting players in is then the major issue, but the rest of the infrastructure is in place here.
I believe if we were in the Premiership tomorrow then the infrastructure here, in terms of the personnel numbers we’ve got wouldn’t need to dramatically change. There are things we would need to do differently, the Premiership has different rules to the Football League, there may be some subtle changes in terms of medical provision and physiotherapy cover on match days but outside of that we wouldn’t fundamentally need to change. We’ve got some highly experienced staff behind the scenes and I have absolute faith in them to deliver.
Promotion to the Premiership is worth around £15m as a minimum and could go up to as much as £20m dependent on how often you feature on TV.

QPRnet.com: Would you be tempted to use the £15m, pay off ABC, come back down and take the parachute payments for a couple of years and go back up again?

MD: That is certainly one option you would want to look at. In my opinion maybe we would should do is pay off a slice of it. I think we owe it to the players, manager and fans, to give the team some sort of chance, but we wouldn’t be looking to spend all £15m on players. I think we would be getting it wrong if we didn’t try to rid ourselves of some of the debt burden.

QPRnet.com: When you are producing the budgets do people like Olly and Joe Gallen get involved in terms of saying how much money they need or is it very much a case of you saying, “This is how much money you have got”?

MD: A bit of both, not so much with Joe, as with the youth costs it is easier to budget. On the first team side, knowing Olly, he would like twenty five billion to spend on players and we might have to keep him to something slight more manageable! It’s all about working with your manager and hopefully him understanding what you are trying to achieve. You can spend all of your Premiership £15m on players and it doesn’t guarantee you anything like success. If you’ve done all that and you’ve not been very smart you come back down and players are all on huge salaries. In this day and age, you sometimes see players throw their toys out of the pram, when the club has been relegated and want to go back to the Premiership instantly. What you hope to have is a sensible conversation with Ian, give him as much as you can afford to and give him a fair tilt at going up. At the same time the directors of the club have got a burden of responsibility that means they must manage the place properly and that also means taking care of some of the debt that we may have accrued.

QPRnet.com: In terms of future investment, are we still actively seeking further investors to come on board? It is a strategy to have several smaller investors?

MD: Not at the moment as the biggest group of shares that could potentially be sold are Chris Wright’s. There doesn’t appear to be an awful lot of manoeuvring left because there is not much in the way of available equity. There are some key individuals who are looking at different ways of investing in the organisation. I am speaking to one gentleman about investing in the Centre of Excellence and we are looking at ways he can put money into the club, that doesn’t involve having equity of the club. There are plenty of trust type schemes out there that can be utilised in that way. That kind of investment we are looking at but in terms of selling shares or selling equity in the business there is not a lot more that can be done.
You could issue a re-offer, where every share is converted into, say, three shares. That dilutes the current shareholders shares, and is not fair on those recently arrived investors. Perhaps that is one for the future.

QPRnet.com: If a rich Rangers fan turned up with £250k and says, “Here you are, but I want you to buy a player”, would you do that or would you have to say, “Actually, we would quite like to pay some debt with it”?

MD: If someone came to me with £250k and they cant buy equity as there are no shares but they want to buy a player as long as they are happy to fund a player or players of the manager’s choice that would be acceptable. We would want any investment to cover salary as well as any fees.

QPRnet.com: So would it be a case that a player signs on Monday and then on Tuesday the Inland Revenue are on the phone asking how you can afford it?

MD: No, to be fair you can explain that type of thing to the Inland Revenue. What you can’t do is plead poverty, ask for time to pay off debts, and then expect the IR not to say anything if they notice (and they will) you spending money on a new player a few days later. Basically they will think you lied to them and, naturally, they wouldn’t be best pleased.

QPRnet.com: Going forward for this season, in terms of player budget, I assume we will not be signing too many people so is it just loan players we are looking at now?

MD: Yes, mostly it will be loans, whether that be long term or short term. If there are players available and there is no fee and the salaries they are looking for are manageable then we will try and support Olly. He has one or two people like that in mind and we will have to see whether they come to fruition. He also has two or three loan ideas currently on the go but for whatever reason we have not approached them. We have frank and open contact with Ian in terms of understanding what players he is looking for and whether we can afford them or not. Most of the time we are trying to support Ian, I don’t think he can complain too much in that respect. No, we don’t have £1m to spend on a player but who the hell has in our division apart from Wigan? They have a benefactor that will do it, we don’t.

QPRnet.com: Do you ever find that Olly will come flying in and say, “I have found this player give me £100k”, or does he know that if he says that he will get turned down so he doesn’t bother?

MD: I think Olly knows that transfer fees are going to be difficult for us to find but I think he also knows now that if he’s got people in mind and he is keen to bring them in for a month or three months or longer than that, that we will try and support him wherever possible. He understands fully, we have tried to be honest with Ian and the players about the whole situation with the Inland Revenue and the credit card companies. We had the best part of £1.5m held by the credit card companies, our credit card revenues were being frozen, seriously affecting our cashflow, again because the previous management team had agreed that they wouldn’t touch season ticket money and then they went and spent £600k of it so the bank froze our account. People were buying tickets, they were buying stuff in the shop using their credit cards and we weren’t getting anything. It was really hurting us and we tried to explain to the players and Olly exactly what the situation was as we think that as long as people are aware of it and are fully involved they can’t say they don’t understand the decisions we are making.

QPRnet.com: Were the players receptive to it?

MD: Generally yes. They just absorbed it, players are no different from members of staff, the first thing that go through their minds are whether they are going to get paid, can they pay their mortgage etc. They have families to support, they are no different than most of us. They just get paid to play sport and they earn a decent wage doing it. It just meant that they were aware of certain difficulties we were experiencing at the time. That has eased a little bit now and we don’t have to have those conversations. My style is to be very open and honest with as many people as possible. It is no different with the players.

QPRnet.com: We talked about promotion before, nobody expected it, but do we have targets for this season, next season and going forward?

MD: This season was all about staying in this division and giving us a chance to get the finances sorted off the field. Next season we would hope that Ian could move us forward a bit and if that meant as far as getting into the top ten or top eight that’s what we would hope for. Then a year after that, I think is when we expected realistically to have got ourselves in a position to have a proper tilt at promotion. This season if we are still in with a chance come March we might be able to back to some of the new investors and ask them for some support for Olly. It is worth it to them, to the players, to the manager, to the fans for us to give it a go.

QPRnet.com: In terms of player’s wages, not going into specifics, how do we sit in terms of how we pay players?

MD: I would say we are pretty middle of the road. Managers are fantastic at saying, “Well they earn XYZ there”, and we say, “but they get 27,000 people through the turnstiles every week”. I can afford to pay more than we paid at Swindon because our crowds are 2.5 times what Swindon enjoyed. I would say we are up there in the top half of the division in terms of payment. Clearly those clubs that have come down from the Premiership and have significantly bigger gates than us and bigger stadiums can afford to pay more but we don’t pay badly for a club of our size.

QPRnet.com: Do you think Wasps will come back?
MD: The only people that can tell you that really are Wasps. My understanding of the rules of the Zurich premiership is that they need to let them know by the end of the year what they are planning to do, and by March they need to say exactly what they are going to do. We have not opened discussions with them yet. They would be welcomed back; my gut feeling is that they don’t want to come back, as they have found a little home for themselves in Wycombe with facilities that are suited to rugby. The only reason that they would come back is because we would vigorously chase them for compensation. They have had a year’s grace this year- that was negotiated with them previously, but as far as I am concerned they are supposed to be our tenants here for the next eight years and if they want to come back they are more than welcome. Unless I hear otherwise I would expect them back here at the start of the new rugby season.

QPRnet.com: Is the compensation worth more to us than the rent?

MD: The compensation would be very handy. Hopefully we would get it all upfront and it would help us pay some historics and move on. It would also allow us to look seriously at whether we would like to bring in another football club, another rugby union club, a rugby league club, whatever into Loftus Road to ground share. I know that fans feel that their stadium is sacrosanct and the fans of the club coming here wouldn’t be too keen but I would have no problem having somebody share Loftus Road as long as they gave us a reasonable rate.
QPRnet.com: Do you think having David Davies at Wasps now will hinder the negotiations?
MD: As far as I am aware David has gone on record, when he worked for Rangers, saying that if Wasps didn’t come back he would expect compensation to be in the region of £1.5m. I don’t see the fact that his office is now three miles up the road in Acton makes that comment any different. It’s certainly a starting point and I am not saying that is what we would accept but that is certainly a starting point.
The one reason they would really want to come back here is the capacity. They have built their fan base in Wycombe but they might have a problem getting that fan base to Loftus Road. We are in a traditional footballing part of town, not a traditional rugby area which is what they have at the moment. We are on the doorstep of a big council estate and rugby people are not necessarily always comfortable with that. This is a football stadium; I know that sounds like an obvious statement, but rugby stadiums are different. They have bigger suites, different types of facilities for people to drink and eat, because the rules are different. Wycombe does have the benefit of much bigger corporate facilities than we can offer them here. As I say though we would welcome them back and we expect them back unless we here to the contrary.

QPRnet.com: Just to sum up on the financial side, is administration a threat to us right now and do you think it will be in the future?

MD: No, but we came close. Without the new investment I honestly believe we would be in administration or worse by now. If the investment during the summer and early in the season hadn’t come in when it did, and if we hadn’t made the cost reductions that we made, it would be fairly bleak. Having done all that we are now on a more even keel. The fans have played a full part in turnaround, the shop is doing magnificently well, and it is unrecognisable from when I was here previously. Then it had gone from £450k a year to £650k a year and we thought that was really good. Now the shop has had a refit, in Mike Pink we’ve got a tremendous asset to the club and now it is turning over more than £1m a year. I’ve never been able to quite work out why the club could be in the play offs, get promoted, have a club shop turning over what it is with our best average gate in eight years, record numbers of season tickets, Fulham here for two years and end up owing nearly £2m to the Inland Revenue. I just don’t understand how that is possible. I would understand if somebody said that Ian Holloway had spent £7m on players last year but he didn’t. To sum up though administration is not a threat.
http://www.qprnet.com/interviews/devlin.shtml

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Brian Bedford...72

Born December 24, 1933
Signed from Bournemouth...Made his debut in 1959. Scored 180 goals in less than 300 games. Was part of the QPR team that beat Tranmere 9-2.


See David Barton's Unofficial QPR Site Profile of Brian Bedford.
www.queensparkrangersfc.com/brianb.htm


Also:
See QPRnet.com/Ron Norris Interview with Brian Bedford, from March of this year

Monday 21st March 2005by Ron Norris

THE BRIAN BEDFORD INTERVIEW
Our latest interview is with one of Rangers' greatest ever goal scorers, Brian Bedford. In six years at QPR he never failed to score less than 20 goals a season and netted a total of 180 goals in 283 appearances. He returned to Rangers and worked behind the scenes at Loftus Road until 1992 and is now happily retired and living in Wales. Here's what he had to say. http://www.qprnet.com/interviews/bedford.shtml

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Stan Bowles...Almost 60!

Happy Birthday to Stan Bowles, turning 57...
Born December 24, 1948...

The man who, arguably, superceeded Rodney Marsh as THE greatest at QPR!
Say QPR and #10 and the shirt belongs to either Marsh or Bowles....

For anyone old enough to remember the early 1970s: The despair at QPR/The End of the World: When Rodney left QPR in March 1972....And then six months later, the signing of Bowles joining (an already rampant) QPR under Gordon Jago...

Made his QPR debut versus Nottingham Forest - September 16, 1972 after QPR paid a record transfer fee of 110,000 pounds.....Made the first; scored the second


Career Statistics:
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=226

Nice recent profile/Interview with Bowles
BRIAN VINER INTERVIEWS - Stan Bowles: 'Clough, Brooking, Eriksson
Brian Viner, The Independent, October 13, 2005
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20051013/ai_n15714842

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Various posters on various messageboards Querying/Discussing re this


Battletank's http://www.qpr.org/

Rivals - http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16

LSA - http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/qprlsa?forum=2570

Official Site - http://boards.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/MBv2/messageboard.php?mode=topics&action=show&iForumID=87

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QPR OFFICIAL SITE - SELECTION DILEMMA

"...... With Marc Nygård now back in full training he will be competing for a place up front against Paul Furlong and Stefan Moore. Georges Santos will sit out the game with Simon Royce who both have a one game suspension. This means Jake Cole will make his senior debut between the posts for Rangers. Marc Bircham came on as a second half substitute against Coventry and will have another weeks full training under his belt. Matthew Rose also started on the bench and will be pushing for a first team recall on a ground where he scored a 90th minute winner last season.

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TEAMTALK - Holloway's Men in Good Spirits

QPR manager Ian Holloway claimed he would have few problems raising his players' spirits for the Boxing Day trip to Brighton.Despite their poor home form Rangers have produced some encouraging displays on the road and collected four points from their last two away matches against Stoke and Ipswich.Victory at the Withdean would give Holloway's side their fourth away win of the campaign and would put them in the ideal frame of mind for the home clash with Cardiff two days later."We'll be training on Christmas Day, and we'll leave on the morning of Boxing Day," Holloway said."I'm hoping to have a nice day with my family on the 25th, and I'm also hoping that we won't have any more injuries, because we've had so many this season."It won't be hard to pick up the players for Brighton, because I was proud of how hard they worked against Coventry."


TEAMTALK HOLLOWAY EYES PLAY-OFFS
Ian Holloway insists QPR can still claim a play-off place this season ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Brighton.Rangers' home defeat by Coventry - their fifth of the season at Loftus Road - left them six points adrift of the play-offs.But manager Holloway said: "There's more than enough in my side to show me we are not far off [the play-offs] but we just need it in that final third," said Holloway."We have four games in eight days and they have to show character now - simple as that."

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[Typically summarized as "GRASSROOTS: Former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder John Hollins is relishing the challenge of improving Crawley." - and leaving out the not-exactly insignificant, QPR role!]


Hollins at the helm
By Tony Incenzo. FA.COM Tuesday, 20 December 2005.

John Hollins made 939 appearances in midfield for Chelsea, Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers. He subsequently managed Chelsea, QPR (caretaker), Swansea and Rochdale.

Hollins was recently appointed as the new boss at Crawley Town, who have been struggling in the wrong half of the Nationwide Conference this season.

Good luck at Crawley, John. How are you settling in?
It is very exciting and enjoyable. I always relish my football. I just want to get the players working hard and improve them so that they get results.

Crawley are a good up-and-coming club aren't they?
Yes they are. And the Conference is a very difficult league. I always think it is the hardest division in England to win. Everybody can beat each other and the team at the top must be a very good side as they have had to work extremely hard to get there and stay there. So I like the challenge. I have watched a lot of football at this level over the years and I have appointed Alan Lewer as my assistant as he knows the Conference inside out. We are trying to gel our partnership together and, so far, there is an improvement in the team's performances. But we want even more points on the board.

How do you assess the standards in the Conference?
It is improving all the time. You just have to look at the teams that have gained promotion from the Conference and gone on. The likes of Wycombe, Doncaster and Carlisle. And even more good players are filtering down to this level. They can't get in at Premier League clubs and they are creeping down and down to the Conference So if you make the right signings, you can put a strong side together.

Crawley have a relatively new stadium and an expanding fanbase. What is the potential there? It is a good club. They had winning ways here to get promoted to the Conference and then went full-time quite quickly. They were massive steps forward for the club and I think they have been taking a while to adapt. It is a learning curve for Crawley Town. But I can teach them as I know how to run a football club. So I am sure we will get there.

What were the highlights of your playing career?
I have been a very lucky man. I joined Chelsea in 1961 and every day was like a birthday really. I got into the first team, won the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup and won an England cap. Then I joined QPR and we nearly won the league. I played on at Arsenal and then finished when I was 38/39. So I was at relatively successful clubs throughout my career. I worked with some great managers - Dave Sexton, Tommy Docherty, Ted Drake, Bobby Robson, Alf Ramsay. They were fantastic people who just passed on information and got the best out of you. I'm hoping that I can take that approach and put it into the players we have at Crawley.

So what are you ambitions at Crawley?
There are a lot of points left to play for this season. You just have to think positively. If we won all our remaining fixtures, then we would lift the Conference championship trophy by a mile! But other people want to win it as well! So realistically we just need to keep improving.
http://www.thefa.com/Grassroots/GrassRootsNews/Postings/2005/12/John_Hollins_at_Crawley.htm

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Recent tax bill update
http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=49

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QPR1st offers an update on the "Court Hearing"

http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=48
http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=47

New York Times on Queens Park Rangers!

Fans Bewildered as Agents Run Club
By ROB HUGHES International Herald Tribune

The way soccer has run its business over the past two decades - with cash draining straight from the television windfall into the pockets of players - it seemed only a matter of time before players, or their agents, became the buyers of the clubs themselves.
A ridiculous fantasy?
There is an English club fallen on hard times called Queens Park Rangers. Like many a European club, QPR floats around the borders of financial ruin, paying out more than it takes in.
Currently, it is owned by business consortiums based in Monaco. The club's debts include a loan of £10 million, or $17.67 million, with interest at £1 million per year, from a Panama City lender to prevent other creditors, notably the British tax authorities, from taking over the club.
The day-to-day running of QPR, which is based in West London, is conducted by Gianni Paladini, a onetime Italian agent to players. Another former agent, Antonio Caliendo, is in the wings apparently in line for his turn as chairman.
Carlos Dunga, who captained Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title in Pasadena, is on the board looking after the interests of Barnaby Holdings, one of the consortiums involved. As a player, Dunga was always where you expected to find him - the hard man and enforcer in midfield. As an administrator he is invisible. He lives in Japan.
Are you still with me?
The money men are in Monaco, the Italians are in the boardroom, the Brazilian is on the telephone, and the team is struggling through a season of mediocrity in the second tier of English soccer.
Soccer and its clubs are no longer the preserve of the fans or the community. The three main clubs of West London are all in foreign ownership - and all happen to occupy what would be valuable real estate land if the stadiums were shut down.
Chelsea, as anyone remotely familiar with soccer knows, is the domain of Roman Abramovich, ....Further down Fulham Road you reach Craven Cottage, Fulham's quaint ground. ....
So into this scary triangle of multinational ownership comes QPR.
In the mid-1970s, financed by a second-hand car dealer and with the team coached by Dave Sexton, Rangers were unquestionably the best team in West London. Later, when it was under the patronage of Chris Wright, a musical entrepreneur, the reality that soccer was unlike any other business struck Wright where it hurt.
"You can't relate what is happening here to pop music," said Wright, who made his fortune with the Chrysalis label. "There are a lot of pop stars - household names - making plenty of money through royalties. But they have to sell to earn."
"We have players on three- or four-year contracts earning £100,000 a year. They are not in the first team, Premier clubs don't want them, and they are not going to drop down a division. So they stay."
They stay, and they siphon any profits the club might hope to make.
Driven off by the tax man, the other creditors and the underperforming players, Wright moved his sporting interests to rugby.
To pay back some of what he invested in Queens Park Rangers, the next board took on the crippling loan with the Panama City company. QPR was between a rock and the hardest place: insolvency.
The Panama company twisted the knife and increased the terms to 10 percent per annum.
Who would want the ailing club that is a more-than-century-old institution in its own parish? An Australian entrepreneur came and reckoned he could turn the one asset the club has left, its Loftus Road stadium, into a home away from home for Aussies and New Zealanders.
His scheme was to lease the ground to the national teams of his own people, giving the players a base in Europe, where the best of them play. He shook hands on the deal and was never seen again in West London.
Soccer clubs are like Mr. Micawber; they always believe something or someone will turn up.
Enter, last May, the Italians. Paladini was first in, trading in his agent's license to invest £650,000 to buy a significant share of the ailing club. Caliendo - who once boasted that of the 22 players in the 1990 World Cup final in Rome, a dozen were "his" - followed suit.
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, does not allow someone to control a club and hold one of its agent licenses. The Italians, saying they are in love with QPR, renounced their licenses. Not everyone loves the former agents.
Caliendo had a run-in with the Italian tax authorities in 1991 and was given a 10-month suspended jail term for alleged corruption. He was also investigated, but not prosecuted, in connection with the collapse of the Hellas Verona soccer club in 1992.
The past is the past, and the agents-turned-guardians are now in London town. It is, however, hard going.
Last August, days after stepping up to the chairmanship, Paladini allegedly was accosted by four men who held a shotgun to his head and forced him to sign a letter of resignation. He signed, but the police arrested and jailed four suspects and their alleged accomplices.
Last Friday, they appeared briefly in court and a trial is scheduled in spring. Meanwhile, a £500,000 installment of money owed to the British tax authorities was paid to prevent a shutdown order. Meanwhile, the team, alas, is losing, though the Italians say they will work the market for better players in January.
The faithful fans, some of whom put their own money into hiring players two seasons ago, stand like children with their noses up against the shop window.
"All we want is the truth," one member of the supporters' club said.
About what?
"How long do you have?" he asked. "We can't get straight answers to anything, from the future of the stadium to the day we might expect Carlos Dunga to put in an appearance at Loftus Road."

http://www.nytimes.com/iht/2005/12/21/sports/IHT-21SOCCER.html

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HOLLOWAY ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT QPR

The Times December 22, 2005
Holloway puzzled - Ian Holloway, the Queens Park Rangers manager, has said that he is “in the dark” about events at the troubled Coca-Cola Championship club. QPR paid £500,000 to the Inland Revenue this week to prevent the club facing a winding-up order and going into administration. “I don’t know what is happening,” Holloway said. The Times

Sporting Life
QPR manager Ian Holloway has hinted he will not be allowed to sign the players he wants next month.
Holloway is keen to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window - but indicated his hands might be tied by the club's off-the-field difficulties.
Earlier this week, Rangers made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.
"It's too early to say anything about whether I can get any players in, but usually I would ask myself as manager," Holloway said. Sometimes you don't get the control you need as a football manager." Sporting Life

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QPR Official Site Preview of Brighton Game - Brighton Preview

...Brighton's poor start to the season, which saw them fail to register a single victory in their opening five Championship fixtures, saw them prop up the table early on.
But a morale-boosting 2-0 victory at home to Plymouth Argyle, followed by a thrilling 3-3 draw at Elland Road, provided fresh hope.
Defeat to high-flying Sheffield United followed, but three draws on the spin saw them briefly climb out of the drop zone.
Victory at Selhurst Park, the home of close rivals Crystal Palace, was the highlight in October, and although their form has been patchy since then, a 2-1 home win against Hull City last time out ensures the Seagulls head into the festive period in good spirits.
Rangers and Brighton played out a disappointing goalless draw when the two sides met on New Years Day at Loftus Road. And although both sets of supporters will be hoping for much more entertainment come Boxing Day, three points will rank even higher on their priority list, as the New Year beckons.
.....Top scorerLeon Knight 5...
Key player: Charlie Oatway
A born leader, Seagulls skipper Oatway is the catalyst that sparks Brighton into life. Dogged in the tackle and a constant force going forward, Oatway was labelled 'Captain Fantastic' by his boss Mark McGhee after notching in the Seagulls' 2-1 victory against Hull City on Friday night....
Last meetingQPR 0-0 BrightonFootball League ChampionshipJanuary 1st 2005
Did you know? Although popular on the Continent, Brighton's Withdean Stadium is the only ground in the Football League with a athletics track surrounding the perimeter of the pitch.

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Guardian
QPR 0 - 1 Coventry Championship: A late Gary McSheffrey penalty left Rangers empty-handed despite dominating at Loftus Road
Rangers see daylight but fail to penetrate Sky Blue curtain Arindam Rej at Loftus RoadTuesday December 20, 2005The Guardian
This was the proverbial mugging and how Coventry enjoyed it. When they lost to QPR in a pre-season tournament in Ibiza they were upset at the way Rangers celebrated, but this season they have taken all six points from Ian Holloway's team.
QPR dominated possession and laboured hardest for a breakthrough, pinning Coventry in their own half for long periods, so the way in which the visitors won this will have been particularly sweet for their fans. "They deserved the first three points," said Holloway of the 3-0 defeat at the Ricoh Arena in August. "They stole the last three."
Gary McSheffrey sealed the points after he seized on James Scrowcroft's pass, advanced into the Rangers area and was hauled down by Simon Royce, who was sent off. The striker rose to his feet to dispatch the penalty beyond the substitute goalkeeper Jake Cole.
"Micky [Adams] will be laughing all the way back to Coventry," said Holloway. "They had one shot. That was from a penalty. They score a goal. I think they've had their Christmas present."
Rangers are ruing their missing strikers. Stefan Moore was the only one who was fit and available and had he been assisted by one of Rangers' regular front men this result would surely have turned out differently. Instead, for all their efforts, Marton Fulop was hardly tested in the Coventry goal.
The defeat loosened QPR's grip on mid-table security but they can be thankful they are not in the relegation zone this morning. Today was the deadline for payment to the Inland Revenue and, had it not been met last Friday, the club faced administration and a points penalty that would have dropped them to 23rd place.
Adams is another manager coping with difficult finances. He is philosophical about the probability that Coventry may retain this squad for the rest of the season especially if they can show this kind of resistance. "It was always going to be one of those midfield scraps," the manager admitted. "My goalkeeper certainly wasn't troubled."
The only exception came in the second minute, when Fulop had to claw Gareth Ainsworth's free header from Richard Langley's corner around his near post. After that QPR pushed forward fruitlessly. Another header from Ainsworth was the best they had to offer before McSheffrey sealed their fate. http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,1527,1671188,00.html


INDEPENDENT
Queen's Park Rangers 0 Coventry City 1: Royce's rash turn puts Coventry in the driving seat By Mike Rowbottom Published: 20 December 2005
A match devoid of anything save relentless effort was transformed six minutes from time yesterday. After QPR's defender Ian Evatt had misplaced a throw-in, the ball was swiftly transferred forward by the Coventry substitute James Scowcroft to send Gary McSheffrey scampering in behind the Rangers defence, only for him to be felled by Simon Royce. After the Rangers keeper had been sent off, McSheffrey struck the penalty exuberantly past Rangers' replacement keeper Jake Cole and suddenly Coventry found themselves closer to the play-offs than the relegation area.
Rangers' manager Ian Holloway reflected: "That's just football, isn't it?"
Rangers had the majority of possession, but were never able to make it tell, having been reduced by suspensions and injury to one recognised striker - Stefan Moore. Coventry, who contested the ball eagerly, fully earned what their manager, Micky Adams, acknowledged was "a little bit of luck".
QPR rarely seemed likely to transform their enthusiasm into reward, although their hyperactive midfielder Gareth Ainsworth almost managed it. The former Blackburn player provoked a reflex save from the Coventry goalkeeper, Marton Fulop, with a header from a second-minute corner which turned out to be the home side's clearest chance of the night. The match appeared dead on its feet by the time Evatt made his defensive lapse.
Rangers will now travel to Brighton on Boxing Day without their first choice goalkeeper. At least they will have forward Paul Furlong back from suspension - they will need all his strength and experience to prevent this result turning into a mini slide.
Queen's Park Rangers (4-4-2): Royce; Bignot, Evatt, Shittu, Dyer; Ainsworth (Cole, 84), Rowlands, Bean (Cook, 66), Langley; Moore, Santos ( Bircham, 82). Substitutes not used: Milanese, Rose.
Coventry City (4-5-1): Fulop; Whing, Page, Shaw, Duffy; Morrell (Impey, 61), Osbourne, Doyle, Hutchison, McSheffrey (Jorgensen, 88); Adebola (Scowcroft, 76). Substitutes not used: Ince (gk), Thornton.
Referee: U Rennie (South Yorkshire).
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article334224.ece


TELEGRAPH
Rangers stunned by late penaltyQPR (0) 0 Coventry City (0) 1A flash of inspiration from James Scowcroft set up Gary McSheffrey to earn - and convert - a match-winning penalty.
When these sides met in August, Coventry’s determination to put on a show to celebrate the opening of their new stadium saw them romp to a three-goal victory.
The return fixture was a different story but still proved memorable for Micky Adams’ team who secured a first away win of the campaign. QPR had dominated possession and kept the visitors pinned back without ever putting goalkeeper Marton Fulop under sustained threat.
Even so, it was a cruel way to meet defeat, the third they have suffered at Loftus Road in their last four outings. Coventry had made precious little impact on the Rangers defence and the 87th-minute penalty that secured a third successive victory was their first attempt on target.
It derived from a clever ball from James Scowcroft, who sent Gary McSheffrey through. As he attempted to round Simon Royce and then tumbled to the ground, both the spot-kick decision and the goalkeeper’s red card were inevitable.
McSheffrey then struck the penalty out of reach of substitute Jake Cole for his ninth goal of the season. It was a huge disappointment for Rangers and their manager Ian Holloway, who was forced to rule four strikers out of his plans, deployed a central defender, Georges Santos, in attack and saw his team pose all the questions.
"Coventry have had their Christmas present early," he said. "They’ve had one shot and won the game, and when we needed a bit of quality it wasn’t there. '"But we were bright and combative and my players can feel proud of their efforts."
Holloway gambled that Santos’ physicality would unsettle Coventry and he was proved right. Subtlety is not part of his game, and for inspiration Rangers put their faith in winger Gareth Ainsworth.
From Richard Langley’s corner, he headed powerfully and Fulop went full stretch to save. That was answered almost immediately by a near-miss at the other end. Attempting to clear a corner, Marcus Bignot succeeded only in hoisting the ball up in the air and when it was returned into the danger zone, Robert Page hooked it narrowly wide.
However, Coventry were to pose no threat to Royce again until Scowcroft conjured the decisive move. When Rangers’ Ainsworth sent in a low ball, Stefan Moore let it run but, with a sure touch required to take him clear, Santos’ footwork was clumsy.
Another Moore dummy, from Langley’s cross, nearly gave Ian Evatt a sight of goal. However, when Moore needed to take direct intervention himself he was found wanting, failing to make contact as Ainsworth measured a chip onto his head.
Ainsworth kept battling away. It was his pass that put Moore in space in the 65th minute and it was he who got on the end of the cross. From only six yards, he planted his header over. Frustrating for Rangers and it was to get a great deal worse.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=MZZNEWMDPQO4ZQFIQMGSFGGAVCBQWIV0?xml=/sport/2005/12/20/sfgqpr20.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/12/20/ixfooty.html


THE TIMES

McSheffrey pulls off smash-and-grabBy Russell KempsonQueens Park Rangers 0 Coventry City 1
JUST when Queens Park Rangers could have tiptoed closer to the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs with a dour yet profitable draw last night, they self- destructed at Loftus Road. An 87th-minute penalty from Gary McSheffrey, a rare venture into the Rangers area by any Coventry City player, gave his side a third successive victory and their first away from home this season.
Though Rangers had dominated a scruffy encounter, McSheffrey broke clear and was hauled down by Simon Royce, the goalkeeper. After Royce had been sent off and Jake Cole, his deputy, called from the bench, McSheffrey drove in his ninth goal of the campaign. The outrageous smash-and-grab was complete, extending Coventry’s unbeaten run to four matches and easing their plight near the foot of the table.
“I’m not sure if we deserved that,” Micky Adams, the Coventry manager, conceded. “I’m not sure if either side deserved to take the three points. It was always going to be a midfield scrap but at least we stood firm. Our recent form is not down to Micky Adams or my backroom staff, it’s down to the players. They realised the situation and have given it a real go.”
Coventry, unambitious for most of the match, did not deserve it. Perhaps one point for their resilience, but three? The only bigger surprise was that Ian Holloway, the often volatile Rangers manager, accepted the morale-sapping defeat with startling equanimity.
“That’s the beauty of football,” he said. “Not always the best team wins. Micky will be laughing all the way back to Coventry.”
Rangers could have moved to within three points of the play-offs with a win yet, apart from an early header from Gareth Ainsworth, hardly tested Martin Fulop. Coventry would have stayed five points off the relegation zone with a defeat yet, thanks to McSheffrey’s late strike, they maintained their improvement.
Natural justice did not prevail but, then, the Championship has proved remarkably unpredictable this season. “OK, maybe we did get a little lucky break,” Adams said, before laughing all the way back to Coventry.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1944114,00.html

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QPR Official Site
Holloway's Post Match Assessment

Ian Holloway was in a philosophical mood after seeing his Rangers side lose to an 86th minute penalty.
Rangers had bossed the game from the off, but when Simon Royce was given his marching orders for bringing down Gary McSheffrey, Coventry had a golden opportunity to seal the game.
They did just that with McSheffrey converting from the spot, but despite coming so close to winning, Holloway was calm and composed.
"I thought we dominated throughout but lacked the cutting edge. That's football and our lads have found out the hard way tonight.
"I'll admit it was a penalty but never in a million years is that a sending off - certainly not to the letter of the law anyway. Evatt was catching him and covering.
"But it was sloppy on our part because we conceded possession from our own throw-in and you just can't afford to do that at this level."
Ollie summed up the mood in the dressing room immediately after the game.
"The lads are gutted in the changing room and rightly so. We lacked the final ball but that was understandable given those we've got out injured at the moment."
With Simon Royce and Georges Santos now due to miss the Brighton game and with only Paul Furlong looking to be back, it will be a tough festive period.
"We can't go into the loan market for players anymore and I'd have certainly been in for some players this week if the circumstances were different.
"Our final third play wasn't good enough on the night and we paid the price. I don't know why we're not winning games at home. We were bright, so were the fans, but crazy things happen in football. It's a crazy game.
"We've got Jake Cole who is a professional at this club so we're not able to bring anyone else in. Simple as that.
"Paul Furlong will be back for Brighton but the others will all still be sidelined.''http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~757600,00.html


BBC

QPR boss Ian Holloway:"Coventry had one shot - that was the penalty - and they scored a goal. I think they have had their Christmas present early.
"This is a results business and you need to win at home. Unfortunately we cannot buy a win at home at the moment.
"Stefan Moore's my only striker. Paul Furlong's suspensions have cost us."

Coventry boss Micky Adams:"Whether or not we deserved that is debatable but we'll take it. I'm not sure either side deserved to get all three points.
"My keeper certainly wasn't troubled and Royce wasn't either. We stood firm and got a bit of luck at the end.
"We didn't come to be defensive. QPR forced us backwards without creating too much. Then we had a lucky break."
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4516270.stm

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QPR OFFICIAL SITE
Coventry have beaten Rangers with their only shot on target, an 86th minute penalty after Simon Royce had been sent off.
Gary McSheffrey was brought down by the Rangers stopper as the curse of Sky struck again and Royce didn't even wait for the card to be brandished before walking off towards the tunnel.
Jake Cole was forced to pick the ball out of the net no sooner had he taken to the pitch after McSheffrey converted.
It was a harsh finish to a game which Rangers had dominated from start to finish.It was still goalless at the break, but Rangers had the better chances against the defensive Coventry City side.
The visitors had failed to muster a shot on target while Rangers had forced Robert Page to be at his best with numerous clearances in the box.Rangers should have wrapped the game up at half time, but as it was, were forced to pay the price.With Kevin Gallen still injured and Paul Furlong serving a one match suspension, Ian Holloway had his attacking pack shuffled for him.Stefan Moore and Georges Santos took to the attack and in defence, Ian Evatt came in for Mauro Milanese.Marc Bircham also made a return to the subs bench, as did Matthew Rose after a long spell out injured.Rangers were immediately on the offensive with Gareth Ainsworth heading on target, only to have Marton Fulop push the ball over the bar for a corner.
Although chances weren't exactly at a premium throughout the opening stages, Rangers were showing some effective touches with Georges Santos looking especially useful in holding off his marker.
Rangers were definitely taking the game to a defensive Coventry side though and Ainsworth's through ball caught the Sky Blues napping.
Stefan Moore miss-timed his run, but Santos was lurking in the distance to pick up the ball, unfortunately his first touch let him down when he was through on goal.
Richard Langley then put on a display of some beautiful footwork in the middle of the park, twisting his man this way and that, before sending the ball forward for Santos.
He then found Moore, but the nippy striker failed to get any purchase on the ball.
Rangers were coming closer and closer to breaking the deadlock.
With his back to goal, Langley slipped the ball to Ainsworth, and as good as his cross into the box was, Moore just failed to get his head on it and the ball sailed out for a throw in.
Had Rangers have scored in their next books it definitely would have been a gol to savour over and over again.
Marcus Bignot nut-megged Michael Doyle on the wing, sprinted to the edge of the box and crossed for Santos.
The Rangers forward swung at the ball, but just failed to catch it - Rangers were getting closer.Ainsworth continued to cause problems up front, chipping the ball over Richard Shaw and forcing Marton Fulop to save low at his near post.
After the break, the game took a while to settle, but it was Rangers who were continuing their form from the first half.
A quick shimmy in defence from Dan Shittu saw Moore released, but his long ranger effort went wide of the post.
Seconds later, a quick one-two between Dyer and Santos saw the latter cross for Moore who was darting into the box.
But the ball had too much pace on it and skimmed past the face of goal.
Ainsworth continued to impress and Coventry failed to contain him.
The midfielder picked up the ball just inside the Sky Blues' half, bore down on goal, crossed for Moore out on the wing and darted into the box to receive the cross.
Had it not have been for his wayward finish that saw the ball loop over the crossbar, he would have ended with a goal to be proud of.
Ian Holloway chose to inject some fresh blood on 65 minutes with Lee Cook replacing Marcus Bean.
Cook had an immediate impact when he snatched on Santos' knock down and volleyed the ball goalwards.
Despite it curling all the way, Fulop was able to get behind the ball and prevent Rangers from taking the lead.
With six minutes to go, Simon Royce brought down Gary McSheffrey in the box and was given his marching orders.
Jake Cole's first job was to face McSheffrey's spot kick and despite getting a hand to it, there was just too much power in the shot to for it to be diverted over the bar.There was little time for much else, and Rangers were forced to wave goodbye to the three points which should have been theirs.

Rangers: Royce (sent off 85), Bignot, Evatt, Shittu, Ainsworth (Cole 86), Rowlands, Santos (Bircham 80), Bean (Cook 65), Moore, Dyer, LangleySubs: Cole, Milanese, RoseScorers:Bookings: Rowlands 15, Santos 57Coventry: Fulop, Whing, Page, Duffy, Doyle, Adebola (Scowcroft 75), McSheffrey (Jorgensen 89), Morrell (Impey 61), Osbourne, Shaw, HutchisonSubs: Ince, ThorntonScorers: McSheffrey (pen) 85Bookings: McSheffrey 17, Adebola 73Att: 13,556Ref: U Rennie
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10373~30684,00.html



COVENTRY OFFICIAL SITE REPORT

The Sky Blues score their first away win of the season thanks to a late Gary McSheffrey penalty.
City did not create too many opportunities throughout the 90 minutes but defended well and snatched all three points when McSheffrey converted from the spot after being brought down by QPR keeper Simon Royce - an incident which saw the shot stopper sent-off.
Micky Adams chose to put Don Hutchison straight into the starting line-up for the match at Loftus Road at the expense of Claus Jorgensen.
The experienced loan man came in for his first start in a Coventry shirt up front alongside Dele Adebola with Andy Morrell and Gary McSheffrey playing on the right and left hand side of midfield respectively while youngster Isaac Osbourne retained his spot in the centre after impressing against Millwall last time out.
Former Sky Blues man Paul Furlong was suspended for the clash but former City loanee Lloyd Dyer was in the QPR line-up at left-back.
Marton Fulop was called into action early on when he produced a great save from a Gareth Ainsworth header. It did not take long for Hutchison to stamp his authority on the tie, linking well with McSheffrey and producing a dangerous corner which Robert Page hooked just wide.
A fairly even opening half-hour saw plenty of meaty challenges going in from both teams. Osbourne was acquitting himself superbly in the City engine room, winning fifty-fifties and tracking back to help his defence.
Despite some tidy play neither side was producing much in terms of shots on goal and Coventry seamed fairly at ease coping with their host's attacking threat.
In the 36th minute former Aston Villa striker Stefan Moore got a sight of goal but failed to produce an effort on target as QPR began to apply the pressure.
City's players were being stretched now and Richard Shaw made a superb block from a stinging Richard Langley strike to ensure Fulop was not tested.
There was a lot of endeavour on show in the first half but not a vast amount of quality although City would have been happy with the way they'd limited their opponents to just one shot on target. However, Micky Adams would want his players to show more as an attacking outlet in the second 45 but the early signs did not indicate that the Sky Blues would be taking the initiative.
Rangers continued to do the pressing but could not unlock Coventry's organised defence - Santos went clear but his square ball eluded Moore in the centre and Ainsworth got away from Doyle but his centre was cleared by the solid Page.
With half an hour remaining Micky Adams made his first switch, bringing on Andy Impey for Morrell. But QPR soon created a great opportunity although Ainsworth failed to get his header on target from Moore's precise cross. Ian Holloway then brought on a substitute, Lee Cook, and he forced Fulop into a routine save with a crisply struck 20-yarder.
Adams then made an attacking switch as James Scowcroft replaced Adebola and McSheffrey got a half sight of goal as he moved up front, but failed to work himself into a shooting situation as Shittu recovered well.
The game looked to be heading towards a stalemate but with five minutes left on the clock the late drama which was to decide the tie began when McSheffrey was brought down in the penalty area by Simon Royce.
The City forward raced onto a Doyle throughball and even though his first touch let him down he still knocked the ball past the QPR custodian who clipped his ankles.
Uriah Rennie had to send off the keeper as he was the last man and when Jake Cole came on for Gareth Ainsworth to go in goal, his first job was to pick the ball out the back of the net after McSheffrey smashed his spot kick home.
The Sky Blues then kept their shellshocked opponents at bay to record a third consecutive victory and their first double of the season after beating QPR at the Ricoh back in August.
Coventry: Fulop; Whing; Page; Shaw; Duffy; McSheffrey (Jorgensen 89); Doyle; Osbourne; Morrell (Impey 60); Adebola (Scowcroft); Hutchison. Subs (not used): Ince; Thornton
McSheffrey (18); Adebola (75)
QPR: Royce; Bignot; Evatt; Shittu; Ainsworth; Rowlands; Santos (Bircham 82); Bean (Cook 67); Moore; Dyer; Langley. Subs (not used): Cole; Milanese; Rose
Booked: Rowlands (16); Santos (58)
Sent-off: Royce (85)
Referee: Mr Uriah Rennie
Attendance: 13,556
http://www.ccfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10269~30684,00.html

Sky Sports reporting on Sky Blues win shown on Sky TV...

Sky Sports - Sky Blues steal late win
By James Pearson - Created on 19 Dec 2005

Gary McSheffrey's late penalty gave Coventry City a 1-0 win over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.
In truth, neither side deserved the three-point haul, but the game burst into life in the closing stages when the visitors were awarded a penalty.
McSheffrey raced through on goal and a poor touch enticed Simon Royce from his line, however, the home keeper only succeeded in bringing him down, culminating in a spot-kick.
Royce was sent off by referee Uriah Rennie and McSheffrey picked himself up and lashed a fine left-foot shot past substitute keeper Jake Cole.
The R's created the better of the chances throughout the contest and were unlucky not to take the lead early on.
Gareth Ainsworth arrived on cue to head Richard Langley's corner goalwards at the near post, but on loan Martin Fulop pushed the shot wide with a fine save.
The visitors responded and Robert Page was close to hooking home after Isaac Osbourne headed the ball back into the danger zone.
In the second half chances were at a premium with Lee Cook coming close with a well-struck volley shortly before McSheffrey won the points for the visitors
http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?HLID=346650&CPID=10&title=Sky+Blues+steal+late+win&lid=2&channel=Football_Home&f=rss

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Skysports "Holloway bemoans transfer rules
By Peter ORourke - Created on 19 Dec 2005

Queens Park Rangers boss Ian Holloway has bemoaned the transfer window as he faces up to a striker crisis.
Holloway has just two fit strikers available for Monday's clash with Coventry due to injuries and suspension.
The Loftus Road chief is unhappy that with the transfer window being closed he is not able to bring in any new players to help ease the injury crisis.
"It is a tad (a selection crisis), I wouldn't even say it is selection problems as he have got no one to choose from," Holloway told Sky Sports News.
"Stefan Moore's fit, Shabazz Baidoo has been ill for the last week. Even that young fella is not fit so I am going to have to play a makeshift strikeforce.
"Until I know Martin Rowlands is fit I can't do anything, but that's life.
"That's the new transfer window we can't do anything about it.
"It is the same for everybody in our division and that's why results are so up and down for most teams bar the two at the top.
"What we are all trying to deal with at the moment is the implications of the window and what effect it has on us.
"We can't bring anyone on loan. I would have to borrow a striker from somebody and I can't do that.
"It is new for all of us (the transfer window). We have four games in eight days after tonight's game.
"With injured squads it's very difficult for us all."
http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?HLID=346557&CPID=10&title=Holloway+bemoans+transfer+rules&lid=2&channel=Football_Home&f=rss

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Ipswich Rivals Gnohere Set for TrialBy Phil Date: 18/12/2005
Former QPR and Burnley defender Arthur Gnohere is set for a trial at Portman Road. The 27-year-old Ivory Coast-born centre-half or left-back is available without a fee having left Rangers last season.
Gnohere joined Burnley from French club Caen in 2001 and made 92 appearances while at Turf Moor, scoring six goals. A spell on loan at QPR went well in September and October 2003 and led to a two-and-a-half year deal in February the following year.
A cruciate knee ligament halted his Loftus Road career and while he was on the sidelines Rangers sacked him for breaches of club discipline.
Gnohere, who played 23 games for QPR and scored one goal, has been training with Stockport County but is looking for a move to a Championship club.
The Blues are keen to bring in a left-back in January after Jay McEveley returned to Blackburn having torn a medial knee ligament in the away game at Cardiff City.
Elsewhere, Town are reported to be in the running to sign Tottenham youngster Mark Yeates on loan in January. Millwall, Crystal Palace and Norwich City are also said to be after the 20-year-old when the transfer window opens. .
http://ipswichtown.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=911&p=2&stid=8398747

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TEAMTALK
Rs in emergency payment
QPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.
However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over."
We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date."If we hadn't paid the bill by 20 December, they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill."
The total bill is for £1.58m and so far we have paid £1m. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."
http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Story_Page/0,7760,1801_900459,00.html


QPR MAKE EMERGENCY TAX PAYMENT
Sporting Life
QPR have reportedly made an emergency payment of £500,000 to the Inland Revenue to prevent the club facing a winding up order and going into administration.
Rangers would have incurred an automatic 10-point deduction under Football League regulations, and that would have meant the club dropping into the Championship relegation zone.
However, the payment was made on Friday, and chairman Gianni Paladini told the Sunday Mirror: "There was a winding-up order in place when we took over.
"We made a first payment of £500,000 last month and another of £500,000 on Friday so we are currently up to date.
"If we hadn't paid the bill by December 20 they'd have published details of the winding-up order in the London Gazette. There is a provisional hearing set for January if we haven't paid the bill.
"The total bill is for £1.58million and so far we have paid £1million. We've an agreed schedule with the Inland Revenue for the remainder to be paid as part of our regular monthly payment."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide1/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=nonwire_soccer/05/12/18/manual_192114.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1

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On this day....

- The more I look at the 1979/1980 QPR team of Tommy Docherty, the greater it looks, and the greater the shame we didn't win promotion...


December 18, 1987 - QPR 1 Coventry 2. Falco scored for QPR. A crowd of 7,229 turned up! One of Fenwick's last games before he departed....And this was in the Jim Smith Team that topped the table at the beginning of the season...


December 18, 1982: Wolves 4 QPR 0....as Terry Venables Championship team got crushed by Wolves....


December 18, 1979....QPR 2 Chelsea 2...Two more for division's top scorer, Clive Allen...But we were on our (relative) slump for Docherty's QPR. (But what a team: even though STAN BOWLES had just been sold and Tony Currie was injured and Gordon Hill wasn't playing!)
Still playing against Chelsea: Goddard and Allen; Roeder and Wicks and Woods and Waddock
Hazell and Shanks and McCreery...and Gillard and Burke...

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How Media Probably would portray it!

Born December 18, 1966...Les Ferdinand Happy Birthday! -



Really nothing else needs to be said about one of greatest players; our biggest non-league "steals" and our highest-priced player sold. And from all accounts, a great guy! Q.P.R.: 1986-1987 Played 2 Scored 0 1987-1988 Played 1 Scored 0 Brentford: 1987-1988 on loan Besiktas: 1988-1989 Played 24 Scored 14 goals Q.P.R.: 1989-1990 Played 9 Scored 2 goals 1990-1991 Played 18 Scored 8 1991-1992 Played 23 Scored 10 goals 1992-1993 Played 37 Scored 20 goals 1993-1994 Played 36 Scored 16 goals 1994-1995 Played 37 Scored 24 goals Transferred to Newcastle United on 7/6/1995 for £6, 000, 000 http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=5633

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to: navigation, search Les Ferdinand MBE (born December 18, 1966 in London) is an English footballer. He was a powerful and elegant centre forward famed for his ability in the air. He is the cousin of Rio and Anton Ferdinand. Ferdinand started his career in non-league football, first at Southall and then moving to Hayes. He was spotted by QPR and moved there for £30,000. Ferdinand had two loan spells at Brentford and Besiktas (in Turkey). He became first choice at QPR in 1991 and made his England debut in 1994. He had a great career with Rangers and was a often seen leaping like a salmon to power home headers. Much to the fans' disappointment, Ferdinand was sold to Newcastle in 1995 for £6 million, with Hayes receiving £600,000 of this (a huge sum for a non-league side) due to a sell-on clause. He scored 29 goals in his first season with them, and got them within touching distance of the Premiership title. Meanwhile, his absence precipitated Queens Park Rangers' relegation in the 95/96 season. In 1997 Ferdinand was bought by Spurs, again for £6 million. In the 2002/2003 season he moved to West Ham, but the club was relegated at the end of the season. Ferdinand joined Leicester on a free transfer at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season. After the Foxes were relegated at the end of that season he joined Bolton Wanderers, but left them on January 2, 2005. Four days later, Ferdinand signed with Reading. His contract at the club lasted until the end of the 2004/2005 season, at which point he retired from professional football. He was made an MBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List. In September 2005, Ferdinand committed to non-contract terms with Football League Championship side Watford as both part-time player and coach. For England, Ferdinand was capped 17 times, scoring five goals. He was part of the Euro 96 and 1998 World Cup squads. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Ferdinand

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Born December 18, 1966...Les Ferdinand
Happy Birthday!

- Really nothing else needs to be said about one of greatest players; our biggest non-league "steals" and our highest-priced player sold. And from all accounts, a great guy!


Q.P.R.:
1986-1987 Played 2 Scored 0
1987-1988 Played 1 Scored 0

Brentford: 1987-1988 on loan
Besiktas: 1988-1989 Played 24 Scored 14 goals

Q.P.R.:
1989-1990 Played 9 Scored 2 goals
1990-1991 Played 18 Scored 8
1991-1992 Played 23 Scored 10 goals
1992-1993 Played 37 Scored 20 goals
1993-1994 Played 36 Scored 16 goals
1994-1995 Played 37 Scored 24 goals

Transferred to Newcastle United on 7/6/1995 for £6, 000, 000
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=5633


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
Les Ferdinand MBE (born December 18, 1966 in London) is an English footballer. He was a powerful and elegant centre forward famed for his ability in the air. He is the cousin of Rio and Anton Ferdinand.
Ferdinand started his career in non-league football, first at Southall and then moving to Hayes. He was spotted by QPR and moved there for £30,000. Ferdinand had two loan spells at Brentford and Besiktas (in Turkey). He became first choice at QPR in 1991 and made his England debut in 1994. He had a great career with Rangers and was a often seen leaping like a salmon to power home headers. Much to the fans' disappointment, Ferdinand was sold to Newcastle in 1995 for £6 million, with Hayes receiving £600,000 of this (a huge sum for a non-league side) due to a sell-on clause. He scored 29 goals in his first season with them, and got them within touching distance of the Premiership title. Meanwhile, his absence precipitated Queens Park Rangers' relegation in the 95/96 season.
In 1997 Ferdinand was bought by Spurs, again for £6 million. In the 2002/2003 season he moved to West Ham, but the club was relegated at the end of the season. Ferdinand joined Leicester on a free transfer at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season. After the Foxes were relegated at the end of that season he joined Bolton Wanderers, but left them on January 2, 2005. Four days later, Ferdinand signed with Reading. His contract at the club lasted until the end of the 2004/2005 season, at which point he retired from professional football. He was made an MBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List. In September 2005, Ferdinand committed to non-contract terms with Football League Championship side Watford as both part-time player and coach.
For England, Ferdinand was capped 17 times, scoring five goals. He was part of the Euro 96 and 1998 World Cup squads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Ferdinand

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Coventry Update

Adams wants some christmas cheers
Dec 16 2005
By Andy Turner

MICKY ADAMS is looking to cash in on Christmas by attracting floating supporters back to the Ricoh Arena.
And the Coventry City boss knows that could all start on Monday if his players put on a good show in front of the Sky TV cameras to prompt a few armchair fans to take a look at the new stadium over the festive period.
The Ricoh gate slipped to its lowest to date against Millwall last weekend, with just 16,156 attending, but Adams sees the team's current form as a great opportunity to get punters flooding back.
"Generally you find that the games over the Christmas and New Year period are well supported," he said looking ahead to a busy holiday period.
"Obviously we would like to see more people coming to see us at the games against Crewe and Wolves at the Ricoh. But we are not daft and we understand that we have to put on winning performances to draw the crowd in. They go together.
"We have got to get a winning team out there to fill the stadium, and maybe we can help with a good performance in front of the TV cameras."
He added: "There is a little edge to training and I would think that they all want to play. Confidence is high and they are working as hard as they possibly can, and the QPR game being live on telly will be a boost to them all.
"Players enjoy showing themselves off if they are winning. It gets a little bit embarrassing if they are not, and if they don't play well.
"But we have got to forget about the TV cameras and go down there and be professional, and try to get a result."
Adams has mixed fortunes on the availability of players. Although young midfielder Kevin Thornton is rated as 'doubtful' with a groin strain, City welcome back Don Hutchison who was ineligible for the Millwall game.
Matt Heath remains a doubt with his rib injury and although Marcus Hall (calf), Stephen Hughes (Achilles) and Neil Wood (knee) are ruled out, James Scowcroft has returned to training following a week out with a sore neck.
. http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0300coventrycity/0100news/tm_objectid=16492360%26method=full%26siteid=50003%26headline=adams%2dwants%2dsome%2dchristmas%2dcheers%2d-name_page.html


Stern returns to city
Coventry Evening Telegraph Dec 16 2005

THE SKY BLUES welcome Stern John back to training tomorrow after the striker was released from his loan spell at Derby County on Thursday.
John is likely to be on the bench for Monday's game at QPR, and manager Micky Adams is urging him to make the most of the second half of the season in a City shirt to ensure he is in good form going into the World Cup.
"Stern has got fantastic ability and you hope that anyone who is in the frame for the World Cup, whoever they are, would pick up their performances between now and the end of the season just to guarantee their place."
And John's club and international team-mate, goalkeeper Clayton Ince, is delighted he is back, saying: "Having any player back is always good, especially someone of Stern's calibre. He has been down and out so far.
"Both of us have been out of it so we need to cheer each other up and try to support each other to get ourselves back in the frame.
"I have kept in touch with him while he has been at Derby and we have been trying to give each other words of confidence to get ourselves back in it, and if we can't then both of us need to go somewhere else to play football http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0300coventrycity/0100news/tm_objectid=16492383%26method=full%26siteid=50003%26headline=stern%2dreturns%2dto%2dcity-name_page.html

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QPR Official Site

CHRISTMAS CHEER
Marc Bircham is now back in full training and will be joined on Saturday by Marc Nygaard.
Bircham originally returned to full training last week but pulled out on Friday as a precaution. He is now back training with the first team squad and if his progress continues he may play some part in Rangers Christmas programme.
Nygaard ....returns to full training at the weekend. The giant striker has been kept out by a series of niggling injuries .... It is thought Nygaard needs at least a week's full training before he is considered for first team duty. .....
Kevin Gallen. He continues his rehab on his hamstring injury and it is hoped he will be able to take part before the Christmas programme finishes....
Steve Lomas, he is expected to be back in action about the same time as the skipper.
Tommy Doherty goes to see his surgeon on Friday afternoon, if it goes well the 'Doc' may be another player looking to be back before the end of the Christmas programme. If things do not go so well on Friday afternoon he will have to wear an aircast boot and will stay on the sidelines.
Matthew Rose suffered no ill effects from his 60 minutes in the reserves on Tuesday and he continues to train with the first team.
Dominic Shimmin has had an MRI scan that shows a tear in his groin but he shows no sign of the injury physically. Therefore, the medical staff are taking no chances and are going by the MRI scan results. Shimmin faces six weeks on the sidelines.
One player who is unlikely to pull on a hoped shirt again is Dean Sturridge. The club are in negotiations with the striker to mutually terminate his contract.
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~756391,00.html

On this day....

A year ago, Leon Best joined us on loan from Southampton as QPR had just lost to Nott F...and at home to Ipswich (debutant/goalscorer, Currie) and were set to lose to Reading...

Three Years ago, QPR had gone 11 games without a win...and were set to play Brentford (who had Rowlands...We drew 1-1)....
Holloway speaking a few days before the game:
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Holloway hopes for derby tonicQPR manager Ian Holloway has demanded a derby revival against Brentford at Loftus Road on Saturday to end his side's alarming slump.
Rangers are without a win in 11 matches, but Holloway feels the clubs' rivalry will help spark his team back to life.
He said: 'We've got to go out and attack teams, press them, and what better game to do that in?
'Form goes out of the window in local derbies and let's hope that's true.
'The players are very upset and have to turn that into positivity. It feels like we're bottom and we've got to do much better, so bring them on http://www.soccernet.com/england/news/2002/1217/qpr_20021217_hollowayurgesplayerstostingbees.html

Teams vs Brentford
Dec. 21, 2002 QPR 1 - 1 Brentford
13 Nicky Culkin
5 Clarke Carlisle
2 Terrell Forbes
16 Danny Murphy
4 Steve Palmer
7 Matthew Rose
8 Marc Bircham
9 Richard Langley
15 Lee Cook
29 Paul Furlong
10 Kevin Gallen
Substitutes
1 Chris Day
3 Gino Padula
21 Wesley Daly
31 Brett Angell
27 Andy Thomson


December 21, 1997
QPR 1 Bradford 0
Gavin Peacock's 28th-minute penalty gave QPR boss Ray Harford his first win since succeeding Stewart Houston and raised hopes of a First Division play-off place.
Rangers are nine points adrift of sixth place at the half way stage of the season but expectations remain high at Loftus Road despite a season's lowest crowd of less than 9,000.
Harford will need luck to steer Rangers towards promotion - a good deal more than he enjoyed when his first signing for the club, £250,000 Hungarian-born Australian international midfielder George Kulcsar, limped off after only 25 minutes of his debut against opponents for whom he was a regular only eight days previously.
Kulcsar got the worst of a 50-50 challenge with Nigel Pepper and after hobbling around disconsolately had to give in to the inevitable substitution seven minutes later.
Three minutes after that Chris Wilder upended John Spencer with a rash challenge inside the penalty area and Peacock scored his ninth goal of the season from the spot.
Goalkeeper Gary Walsh got a hand to the ball but could only watch as it span over his body and rolled across the line.
The second half began with Bradford's Bryan Small, making his debut on loan from Bolton, clattering into Rangers £4million asset Trevor Sinclair.
While Sinclair was still limping back into the fray Sheron exacted retribution on Small and was promptly booked.
Sinclair then showed he was non the worse for Small's attentions, thundering a shot against Bradford's crossbar.
There was more action in the first 10 minutes of the second half than in the whole of the first, with Walsh spreading himself to foil Sinclair and Karl Ready scooping the resulting corner over from a few yards.
Bradford sent on Edinho for Rob Steiner and the Brazilian sent a flashing header only inches over as Harford endured an anxious last quarter.
Teams
QPR: Roberts, Yates, Brevett, Kulcsar (Murray 25), Ready, Maddix, Spencer, Peacock, Quashie, Sheron (Gallen 76), Sinclair.
Subs Not Used: Perry.
Booked: Sheron.
Goals: Peacock 27 pen.
Bradford: Walsh, Wilder, Small, Murray, Youds, O'Brien, Lawrence (Blake 67), Pepper, Steiner (Edhino 50), McGinlay (Ramage 67), Beagrie.
Booked: O'Brien.
Att: 8,853
Ref: S W Mathieson (Stockport).
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/qpr/reports/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/97/12/21/SOCCER_QPR.html&TEAMHD=qpr
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/qpr/news/


December 19, 1998 Crystal Palace 1 QPR 1
By Matt Barlow, PA Sport
Substitute Rob Steiner salvaged a point for QPR in a fiercely fought London derby.
Steiner had been on the pitch just 11 minutes when he fired home a 76th minute equaliser which condemned Terry Venables' team to a seventh league match without a win.
And the super-sub almost sealed three points for the visitors with a diving header, brilliantly saved by Kevin Miller in the dying minutes.
Palace had looked poised to end their dismal run of form, and bring Venables some cheer in a week when his father died, when Simon Rodger opened the scoring in the 62nd minute.
Rodger nipped in to poke a low cross from Sagi Burton past Ludek Miklosko on his near post and give the Eagles some reward for a spirited second half opening.
But Rangers bounced back and Steiner drilled home from a Gavin Peacock corner.
A Miklosko blunder had almost gifted Palace the lead early in the second half.
He fumbled a Matt Jansen shot badly and the ball spun onto the post and then rebounded into the goalmouth past the hapless keeper.
Only a splendid saving tackle from Danny Maddix stopped Lee Bradbury tapping the loose ball home.
The first half had rebounded frantically from end to end and both sides failed to impose their authority.
The visitors started brightest and could have been ahead in the opening minutes when striker Kevin Gallen caught the home defence napping to latch onto a header from Antti Heinola.
He raced towards goal but his thumping shot was turned behind by keeper Miller.
It was livewire Matt Jansen who sparked the Eagles into action.
The highly-rated young striker had missed Palace's midweek defeat at Sunderland with 'flu but was on song at Selhurst Park as he tormented the Rangers back-line.
He found space around the edge of the penalty area three times in the first half to fire shots just wide and called Miklosko into action midway through the half with a low drive through a crowded goalmouth.
Rangers had the ball in the net twice in the first half. Gallen's lob was ruled out for a foul and Matthew Rose's crisp finish was disallowed for offside.
Palace came out firing on all cylinders after the break. Andy Linighan powered a header over from Rodger's corner and Bradbury shot wide.
Miller produced another fine save from Gallen after a wonderful sweeping move involving Mike Sheron and Ian Baraclough.
Rodger opened the scoring but Rangers never gave up and Steiner drilled home for the point their display merited.
Teams:
Crystal Palace: Miller, Crowe, Rizzo (Curcic 76), Burton, Linighan, Foster, Rodger, Mullins, Bradbury (Morrison 86), Jansen, Smith.
Subs Not Used: Petric.
Booked: Burton, Mullins.
Goals: Rodger 61.
QPR: Miklosko, Heinola, Baraclough, Morrow, Ready, Maddix (Rowland 76), Rose, Peacock, Sheron, Gallen, Murray (Steiner 64).
Subs Not Used: Kulcsar.
Booked: Ready, Maddix.
Goals: Steiner 76.
Att: 17,684
Ref: M Pierce (Portsmouth).