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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Additional PRE-Match Comments by Gallen & Holloway

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This is Plymouth - GALLEN RUES LOAN CLAUSE 24 February 2007
Striker Kevin Gallen will be at Loftus Road today even though he cannot play for Plymouth Argyle against Queens Park Rangers (3pm).Gallen, 31, is on loan to Argyle from QPR until the end of the season after falling out of favour at the west London club.
But the Hammersmith-born goalscorer has not been allowed by Rangers to play in this afternoon's Championship clash.
Gallen scored from the penalty spot for QPR on Argyle's last visit to Loftus Road in October 2005, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
He has netted 97 goals in 404 first team appearances for Rangers over two spells at the club.
Gallen told Herald Sport: "I'm looking forward to going back. It should be a good game.
"I wish I was playing, to be honest. It would have been nice."
Gallen will, however, have a chance to catch up with his brothers Joe and Steve, who both work for QPR.
Joe is Rangers' head of youth while Steve is the under-16s coach.
Gallen has played eight times for Argyle and scored two goals, including a penalty in the 2-0 victory over Derby County in the FA Cup fifth round last Saturday.
"When I signed the paperwork to come here (Argyle), QPR didn't put it in that I couldn't play against them," he said.
"It was all typed out and we sent it by fax and initially I thought I could play, but when they sent it back they had added an extra clause in biro saying I couldn't play.
"I was gutted at the time. I would have loved to play because I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to the QPR fans
."
Argyle go into today's game on the back of two successive home wins - first against Derby and then Colchester United (3-0) in the Championship on Tuesday.
Gallen said: "Talking to the lads, they were probably the two best performances of the season.
"They must be full of confidence going into today's game. Both teams will be desperate to win it, but for different reasons.
"QPR need to win or they could find themselves in the bottom three and Plymouth need to win keep our play-off ambitions alive."
Gallen has started the last two matches with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake as his strike partner and he has been impressed by the former Manchester United prospect...
his is Plymouth

Plymouth Herald - OLLIE'S FOCUS IS ONLY ON WINNING
11:50 - 23 February 2007
Ian holloway has insisted that picking up three points is all that matters when Plymouth Argyle play his former club Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road tomorrow (3pm).It will be the first time Holloway has been back to the west London club since taking over as the Pilgrims' boss last June.
The 43-year-old was QPR manager until last February when he was controversially suspended - or put on 'gardening leave'.
Rangers' chairman Gianni Paladini claimed he had acted because Holloway had expressed an interest in the then vacancy at Leicester City.
Now, 12 months on, Holloway has taken Argyle to 11th position in the Championship and the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
QPR, meanwhile, are now managed by John Gregory after the sacking of Holloway's predecessor Gary Waddock earlier in the season.
Rangers are 21st in the table, two points clear of the relegation zone.
Much of the pre-match build-up has been about Holloway's return to Loftus Road, but he was adamant the result was all that concerned him.
Holloway said: "I don't know how I will feel. The three points are all that matters.
"I'm very proud to be taking my new team there and I shall be trying to win the game with the same passion that I used to try to win for them.
"I'm desperate for three points and I shall be doing all I can to get them.
"If I do see some of the wonderful people that were there, that will be a bonus. But I want to get off the bus, do my job, and get back on the bus with three points in the bag.
"That's how I feel. It's as simple as that."
Holloway has not only managed QPR, leading them to promotion in the 2003/04 season, but he played 171 games for them over a five-year period until 1996.
Argyle coaches Tim Breacker and Des Bulpin are also returning to QPR for the first time after they followed Holloway to Home Park.
Considering his long association with Rangers, it would be a surprise if Holloway did not receive a warm welcome from their fans.
But he said: "I'm not expecting anything and I'm not hoping for anything. They will give me whatever they think I deserve, and that's life.
"I will ignore it and get on with whatever I'm doing anyway because it's a total distraction one way or the other.
"It's what I think that matters - not what anyone else thinks."
Then in his own inimitable style, Holloway compared his situation to being a fish.
He said: "I haven't been feeling that well this week and on Wednesday night I was having a cup of cocoa.
"I was thinking that being a football manager is like being a fish.
"One minute you are in a tank, and your tank is everything. Then you find yourself flushed down the toilet and you don't know where you are.
"It's really weird, because to a fish that tank must be everything.
"All of a sudden, when you are thrown out, you are still swimming but you can't get back in your tank. It's horrible.
"I have had to experience that. I have had it at Bristol Rovers, where I cared so much and I thought the world would stop if I was out of my tank, but you still keep swimming, don't you?
"Now I'm in another tank and you have to adjust. It's really, really strange I have to say."
Holloway insisted he would not have a problem with meeting Paladini either before or after the game against QPR. "I haven't got a nasty bone in my body," he said.
QPR need maximum points tomorrow to ease their relegation fears but Holloway added: "It doesn't matter to me where they are.
"What matters is us needing three points, them needing three points and, hopefully, my team will be better than theirs.
"I'm very optimistic it will go our way if we keep doing what we have been doing."
Meanwhile, Holloway has suspended 18-year-old striker Reuben Reid for two weeks after Rochdale abruptly ended his loan spell with them.
Reid was supposed to spend the rest of the season with Rochdale, but he made only two substitute appearances for the League Two club before returning to Home Park.
This is Plymouth

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