Rowan Vine On QPR, Briatore's Involvement and Playing in the Premiership

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INDEPENDENT/Amar Azam
Queen's Park Rangers 3 Bristol City 0: Briatore's hands-on role at QPR sets the standard for Gillett and Hick

Flavio Briatore, head of the Renault Formula One team, thrust his fists triumphantly into the air as the Queen's Park Rangers' midfielder Akos Buzsaky scored the last goal. At the final whistle and from his position in the directors' box, Briatore, a shareholder in the west London club, gave QPR's victorious players the "thumbs-up" as they came off the pitch below him after this confident and comprehensive win over high-flying Bristol City.
Two goals from Ghanaian striker Patrick Agyemang and a fine strike from the Hungarian Buzsaky, ensured victory for the team managed by the Italian Luigi de Canio.
With the Formula One season almost upon us, this is likely to be one of the last occasions we see Briatore at Loftus Road. But with nine signings in the January transfer window, funded by cash pumped into the club by himself, among others, the Italian is unlikely to be discussing discontent and unrest amongst supporters when he next meets fellow shareholders Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One ringmaster, and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
All seems well at the club dubbed "the richest in the world". Messrs Gillett and Hicks, take note.
"Flav is here quite a lot and makes the games," said the QPR striker Rowan Vine, who played a prominent role. "He is fairly hands-on and comes into the changing rooms to wish us luck before games. I am not sure if he is a massive football fan. But he came in after the game too, to say congratulations."
QPR's first goal came on 18 minutes. Vine controlled a lofted ball on his chest before playing a clever pass into the path of Agyemang, who raced through before scoring low under Adriano Basso. Agyemang added a second, a tap-in, on 33 minutes to rock Bristol City.
The half-time words of the manager, Gary Johnson, did little to stem the tide and it was Buzsaky who sealed the win in the second half with a stunning shot from outside the penalty area. It left Johnson, whose side dropped to third in the division, in reflective mood. "We come back from adversity so well at the club because it means so much to us," he said.
Given QPR's uneven start to the season, a burst for the Championship play-offs may seem a little too much to ask. Vine added: "We need to go on a big run if we want to get into the play-offs. This isn't like the Premier League where it is not really possible. But it is still a massive ask for us."
....Man of the match: Vine Independent

Mail/Arindam Rej - Heat is on us, says Bristol City's Basso
QPR 3 Bristol City 0
Bristol City are struggling to cope with the pressure of being in the hunt for automatic promotion, according to their goalkeeper Adriano Basso.
City dropped out of the top two after being deservedly thrashed by a QPR side still not out of relegation danger despite their exceptional resources.
"Of course we feel more pressure," said Brazilian Basso, who wants City to recover from this defeat in the way they did when Ipswich mauled them 6-0.
"Nothing changes in your team when you lose a game. If you lose 1-0 or 6-0, it is the same thing. The only thing that matters is your reaction after it.
"After the Ipswich game, when we lost badly, it made us stronger to face the challenge of the next games and we did very well and stayed at the top. We have our focus now too."
After the humiliation at Portman Road in November, City dug out draws at Hull and Plymouth and defeated Watford in their next three games on the road.
But since the Vicarage Road triumph on December 1, Gary Johnson's team have taken four points from five away games, while scoring three and conceding 10.
Things started going wrong here when Rowan Vine set up Patrick Agyemang with an incisive pass and the former Preston striker drove home the ball in the 18th minute.
After half an hour, there was a break in play because of an injury and Johnson was seen gathering his players round.
He pointed a finger at many of them while bellowing his thoughts.
That did not help, though, because City were further behind within three minutes.
Agyemang reacted first to Akos Buzsaky's blocked shot to grab his second of the game. Buzsaky completed the scoring after 63 minutes with a powerful, long-range effort.
Johnson said: "It does hurt and the coach is quiet on the way home after these sorts of defeats because it hurts the players as well. But I think that's why we've come back so well from adversity at our club because it does mean something to us.
"We mustn't dwell on it for too long. We have a big game against Southampton next week."
In-form Vine is already eyeing a return to the Barclays Premier League with QPR, which would be his third crack at the top flight. He said: "I've had a couple of knockbacks. When I was at Portsmouth I never had a chance to make an appearance and the same thing happened at Birmingham.
"Every time you get close to a chance and it doesn't happen then it makes you hungrier. But I think I'm at the right place now." Mail

The Times/Alyson Rudd - Patrick Agyemang double finishes City
Gary Johnson, the Bristol City manager, said that with 16 matches left, teams such as Queens Park Rangers posed a threat to clubs at the top of the table. QPR are eighteenth; was Johnson being polite? Hardly. His team were outplayed. The West London club may be 15 points behind City, but in this division that barely means a thing.
Rangers are a revamped side but performed as if every player had attended the same academy. Patrick Agyemang, signed from Preston North End last month, harassed the visiting team and scored twice. However, he failed to make it into the Ghana squad for the African Cup of Nations.
“They’ll probably be thinking they have made the wrong decision now because he’s on fire goalscoring-wise,” Rowan Vine, Agyemang’s strike partner, who set up his first goal, said. Akos Buzsaky’s volley sealed the win, leaving Johnson perplexed. “When they left the dressing-room they were like lions but in the game they were like little pussycats,” he said.
Possibly his players had examined the league standings and decided that they were superior. Certainly in their previous outing, away to Cardiff City, QPR had not resembled a team who could summon such composure. Joe Dunbar, who found out at noon that he was stand-in manager as Luigi De Canio, the first-team coach, received news of his father’s death, said that “anyone can beat anyone” - the trick now for QPR is to believe that they can avoid the pussycat role and beat more teams.
“They’ve virtually had a complete turnaround here,” Vine said. “And the boys here now know that we’ve got a squad that everyone’s happy with.” The Times

MIRROR/Ann Gripper Vine still has Lofty dreams - ROWAN WANTS SHOT AT BIG TIME
Rowan Vine still harbours Premier League ambitions - and he reckons QPR will be the right place to fulfil them.
After moving to Birmingham from Luton last January for £2.5million, Vine played a part in the Blues' successful promotion campaign but did not make a top flight start.
He was quickly loaned out to QPR and the move was made permanent last month for £1m after the cash injection from new Loftus Road owners Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore.
Rangers are a club on the up and the arrival of Patrick Agyemang from Preston has given them a real cutting edge. He boasts five goals in four games after a brace on Saturday, the first set up by striker Vine.
A stunning strike from Akos Buzsaky added the gloss to this rampant win over a badly off-colour City.

New striker Dele Adebola saw two shots come back off the woodwork in quick succession late on but otherwise they posed no danger to the home side.

At present it is the Robins who are better poised to break into the top flight, but former Portsmouth trainee Vine hopes Rangers can be the club to finally satisfy his hunger for the big time.

He said: "Birmingham was another knockback. I've had a couple. When I was at Portsmouth I never had a chance to make an appearance and the same happened at Birmingham.

"But I'm only 25 so it's not like my chances are fading, I still regard myself as young.

"Every time you get close to a chance and it doesn't happen then it makes you hungrier. But I think I'm at the right place now.

"I think we've got all the qualities to push for promotion but it takes a lot from the start of the season.

"I'm not saying we can't go on a run but from now on in it's the pressure of picking up points every week. We've seen Palace do it, and even Hull are right up there now - it just shows you what this league is like.

"It's not like the Premier League where you can't go from the bottom to the top.

"You don't need to talk about going on a run, you need to go out there and do it. We know it can happen. It's still a massive ask though."

City have been in the promotion shake-up all season but manager Gary Johnson is wary of his team being overhauled by a late run from the likes of Rangers, Southampton or Sheffield United.

And keeper Adriano Basso admits the Robins are feeling the pressure of being among the Championship pacesetters. He said: "Of course we feel more pressure.

"But nothing changes in your team when you lose a game, the only thing that matters is your reaction after it.

"After the Ipswich game, when we lost badly, it made us stronger to face the challenge of the next games and we did very well and stayed at the top. We must keep believing in ourselves."

Rangers are unsure when boss Luigi De Canio will return to Loftus Road following the death of his father.

De Canio dashed back to Italy to be with his family on Saturday morning and stand-in manager Joe Dunbar, said: "Luigi will take as long as it takes and as long as he needs.

"First and foremost our thoughts are with him and I was proud of the players, they put on a very professional performance.

"Luigi left at noon and he had already told me the starting XI he wanted to play. I wasn't QPR's manager today, I was just filling a gap and I had very little to do."

Mirror