QPR Look at Colchester...Players Who've Played for Both Teams

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After 24 hours of billionaire-talk madness, QPR fans now have to go back to facing a very important game against fellow relegation rivals, Colchester United. Hopefully all the QPR players will be focusing on this crucial game and not letting themselves be distracted by all the media "QPR's Richest Club" nonsense.


QPR OFFICIAL SITE - THE FRIDAY PREVIEW: U'S

The phrase 'six-pointer' is often overused in footballing parlance, but Saturday's showdown between the R's and Colchester United at Loftus Road certainly requires such a billing.

Only goal difference currently separates the sides lying in 24th and 23rd respectively in the Championship table and with at least half a dozen or so other Club's also embroiled in the scrap for survival, victory for either side this afternoon would provide a huge fillip ahead of the all-important festive fixtures.
Second season syndrome appears to be hitting last season's surprise package pretty hard at present.
After excelling in their maiden campaign in the second tier of English football, Geraint 'George' Williams' side are the latest Club to fall victim of the now-common phrase that is used to describe a downturn in fortunes for a Football Club two seasons after its promotion
The U's currently occupy 23rd place in the Championship table, with just two victories to their name from their last 12 outings.
A heavy 4-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Cardiff City a fortnight ago saw them drop into the bottom three for the first time this season and Williams, for one, is aware of the need to pick up results, before it's too late.
"I'm quite low but I am after every defeat," he said.
"Every Manager takes it very personally but I'm sure the players do as well. We have to make sure that it doesn't happen again.
"We're making too many errors - not as individuals but as a team.
"We set out in the second half to carry it through and we've said in the dressing room afterwards - are we all singing from the same hymn sheet?
"There's a lot of hard work to be done."
Coincidentally, United's poor form followed hot on the heels of their 4-2 victory against QPR in early October.
A Mikele Leigertwood own goal and strikes from Kemal Izzet, Mark Yeates and Clive Platt put Rangers to the sword at Layer Road and although a fine win against West Bromwich Albion followed a fortnight later, the negatives have far outweighed the positives since then. QPR

COLCHESTER UNITED - They Played For Both
Supporter Graeson Laitt continues his series looking at players who have represented both the U's and their upcoming opposition.
Since the U's became a Football League club in 1950, there have been nineteen players who have represented both QPR and the U's including four who may well be involved on Saturday.
We start, as always, in the U's formative years as a fledgling Football League side in 1956 with Eddie Smith.
Signed by Benny Fenton, the inside forward only stayed for a season at Layer Road scoring thirteen goals in three times as many appearances before he finished his career back in London with a season at Loftus Road.
Peter Carey joined the U's from QPR in November 1960 after making fifteen appearances for The Hoops.
A centre-half, he played ten times for the U's before being released at the end of the summer where upon he joined Aldershot.
Team-mate of Carey that season was fullback Alan Eagles. Like Carey he only played a few games for the U's before joining QPR during the summer of 1961, and then a few months later to Aldershot.
Another central defender who played for both sides is Keith Rutter.
The Yorkshire man spent eight seasons at Loftus Road, racking up over three hundred Football League appearances.
United paid £4,000 for his services in February 1963 and his 63 games for the U's meant that he'd played in over four hundred league games throughout his career - but had scored just one goal!
Arthur Langley is a member of a fairly unique club at Layer Road as you'll struggle to find his name in the record books!
He was born Arthur Longbottom but changed his name by deed poll to Langley and, alongside Julian Hazel / Dart remains one of only two U's players to have changed their names!
Langley played over two hundred games for QPR and, via Port Vale, Millwall, and Oxford United arrived at the club in October 1964. The forward scored twelve goals in 33 games for the club.
Defender Colin Moughton had a less successful spell with the club. He arrived at Layer Road in July 1968 from QPR for a two month trial but failed to impress manager Dick Graham and was not kept on.
Bypassing the 70s completely, our next player is goalkeeper Graham Benstead who started his career at Loftus Road without making the first team.
He came on loan to the U's in August 1987 from Norwich City and stayed for three months.
Northern Ireland International Ian Stewart was another who started his career at Loftus Road in 1980.
He was a late addition to the U's team that secured the Non-League double and scored some vital goals during his short spell at the club.
Gus Caesar had a loan spell with The Hoops in 1990 when he was still with Arsenal.
He was one of George Burley's first signings from Airdrie when he took over as manager in 1994, spending two seasons with the U's, scoring three goals.
Another loan spell saw Wayne Brown play two games for Rangers in March 2001. Brown went on to return to Layer Road in 2004 and was a crucial part of the squad that won promotion to The Championship.
Bradley Allen spent seven seasons at Loftus Road scoring 27 goals in that time.
The U's secured his services on loan from Charlton in 1998 but injury, something that blighted the former England U21s International's career, curtailed his Layer Road experience.
Barry Conlon had a terrific rapport with the U's fans during his long loan spell with the U's in 2000 culminating in the Bald Barry Conlon Day at Wycombe Wanderers.
The much-travelled frontman is now at Bradford City alongside another former U's striker Ndumbu-Nsungu.
Two players now who are perhaps not on everyone's Christmas card list this year.
Like the U's, QPR rescued the career of Jamie Cureton after the striker's ill-fated move to South Korea side Busan Icons.
Played out of position at Loftus Road he only scored six goals in 43 games.
His spells at Layer Road were much more successful culminating with winning the Championship's Golden Boot award last season.
Tony Thorpe was a member of the promotion winning squad and, I felt, was unlucky not to have scored for the club particularly against Brentford when he had two chances cleared off the line!
Towards the end of his career when he moved to North Essex, this intelligent forward with an eye for goal spent two seasons in West London with The R's.
January looks set to see the U's and QPR go head to head for the services of West Ham's Hogan Ephraim.
The England Youth International was a hit during his time at Layer Road, and the U's recently proposed a transfer for the youngster reputedly worth £500k.
Earlier this season, he scored against the U's for QPR in their 4-2 defeat but unlike certain other people, he respectfully declined to celebrate his goal and for that, received a warm round of applause from the U's faithful.
He would clearly be an addition to the U's squad for the remainder of the fight to stay in The Championship.
Also appearing for QPR in that fixture was Chris Barker and Rowan Vine, both previous season-long loanees at Layer Road.
Left back Barker came in to the U's side last season and steadied the ship with consistent and reliable performances - though he did see red twice during the campaign.
I understand that he hasn't yet won over the Hoops faithful but I am sure that he will come good eventually.
Rowan Vine's Layer Road highlight was an FA Cup hat-trick that put out Coventry City in a replay - though the TV interview on Match Of The Day was memorable for all the wrong reasons too!
After leaving Layer Road he moved to Luton and then Steve Bruce signed him for Birmingham.
The U's also have two players who will be expecting to play on Saturday who also spent time with QPR.
Kevin Lisbie had a loan spell with the London club in 2000 comprising of just two games while Kevin McLeod has had three spells with QPR. The first two were as loan spells from Everton before the later spell was made permanent for a fee of £250,000.
He spent two seasons at Loftus Road before moving to Swansea and then on to the U's in September 2006. Colchester

Also: League Table and Colchester's Results and Colchester's Team