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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Perspectives of Lee Camp and Gareth Ainsworth

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Kilburn Times - Camp facing friendly fire
LEE Camp has nothing extra to prove when he lines up for QPR against his one-time goalkeeping rival Lee Grant this weekend.
The former Derby duo both quit the promoted club last summer after several years of intense rivalry for the number one shirt at Pride Park.
They play on opposing sides this Saturday for the first time, when Grant's new club Sheffield Wednesday visit Loftus Road - part of a wider Derby old boys' reunion.
"Granty's a former under-21 international like myself and whether there was room for both of us at Derby was questionable, but it did surprise me that we both ended up leaving," Camp told the Times.
"I was always under the impression that the goalkeeping situation there was pretty strong, there was a lot of potential, and I thought there would be more spent in other areas of the team.
"But my face didn't fit and Granty never got the opportunity to prove himself for whatever reason, so the minute I realised I wasn't going to be in the team, I just wanted to play football.
"I think it was the same for him and he's been excellent so far this year for Wednesday, but there's nothing different about Saturday's game - I want to prove my ability every time I play."
Apart from the two goalkeepers, Rangers skipper Adam Bolder and, of course, newly-borrowed defender Bob Malcolm both have strong Derby connections.
Wednesday, meanwhile, could include another Rams loanee in Michael Johnson, as well as two former Derby strikers, Deon Burton and Marcus Tudgay.
"Marcus Tudgay's one of my best mates in football and one of my best mates in general too," said Camp. "Even when he moved on, he still lived in Derby, so whenever I go back there I usually bump into him somewhere along the line. But it'd be nice to smash him on Saturday - it's about time!
"I played behind Michael Johnson for a number of years and speak to him regularly and I know he doesn't like to do a lot of running, so I'll have a word with Rowan [Vine] about that.
"I know Tuggy's strengths and Granty's strengths and I'm sure we'll talk about those before the game.
"But I'm sure they'll be talking about me and Bolds and Bob as well. In any case, it's not about the discussions beforehand, it's about what you do on the pitch."
Overall, Camp has been satisfied with his efforts on the pitch of late, with QPR conceding only four goals in the last seven games - compared to 20 in their first eight.
The goalkeeper says former caretaker boss Mick Harford must take some of the credit: "Mick worked hard on shape and discipline, not allowing teams to have many shots and crosses
"Preston away epitomised what we've achieved - we were under the cosh for 75 per cent of the game, yet we didn't concede, and the new boss has taken it on from there.
"Clean sheets are what goalkeepers thrive on - the more the merrier. And if you can keep a clean sheet you're halfway to winning a game."
The Rs travel to Stoke City in the Championship next Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm. Kilburn Times


Gareth Ainsworth/Kilburn Times
WE'RE back in the bottom three at the moment - but you only have to look at our next opponents to see how quickly that can change.
Sheffield Wednesday had a hell of a start to the season - even worse than us - but by stringing a few wins together they've pulled themselves out of it and now they're looking to overtake the teams in mid-table.
If you lose too many games and get sucked in, it's hard to get out, as we discovered last season. But Saturday looks like a good opportunity for us to make up distance on teams like Wednesday and I think the game's winnable.
Despite their early season form, Wednesday stuck with their manager, Brian Laws, when a lot of other clubs - including QPR - decided a change was the best option.
That's football all over - the shelf life of a manager is about two years and it's rare for clubs to hang on to them too much longer. Mind you, we seem to change manager more than most!
It looks as if that was the right decision for Wednesday, but every situation's different - after all, José Mourinho came in at Chelsea and won trophies straight away, but he still lost his job.
I think sometimes people are too quick to say it's all the manager's fault. It'd be nice to see the players on the pitch taking more responsibility now and then.
Talking of players, we've had another one join the club in the last week and the first impressions we've had of Bob Malcolm are very positive.
He's played Champions League football, something that would be the ultimate ambition for most of the lads, and he looks very much a no-nonsense centre-half. Filling Martin Cranie's boots is a massive task but, although Bob's quiet, he seems very confident.
After Saturday's game, we go off to Stoke - always quite a tasty encounter. The gaffer might not know the history between QPR and Stoke, but I'm sure he'll be up for it.
They have some big grudge matches in Italy and he's shown us already that he can be very emotional and passionate, which rubs off onto the players.
From now to the new year, we've got an unbelievable programme - someone told me it's 11 games in 37 days, which is just over one every three days.
This is what I call the real nitty-gritty. It's not make or break, but when you come out of it, you know what you've got a realistic chance of doing for the rest of the season. Kilburn Times

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