Walton Returning....Pre-Season Change: Oxford Out. Stevenage In...Ex-QPR Winger Freed...Ex-QPR Bean on Unhappy at Blackpool

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QPR have announced that their pre-season friendly against Oxford has been cancelled and that they will instead be playing Stevenage. (The news doesn't seem to yet be on the Oxford or Stevenage official sites.)

Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - This won't be the last Walts

WEMBLEY-BOUND Simon Walton wants to win promotion this weekend - and do it all over again with QPR in a year's time.
Walton, who is in the Hull squad to face Bristol City in Saturday's Championship play-off final, has an added incentive to shine when his loan spell ends after the game.
He impressed Iain Dowie sufficiently to merit a £500,000 transfer from Leeds to Charlton two years ago - and now has a second chance to play for the new Rangers boss.
"I haven't spoken to him as yet, but I spoke to Gianni Paladini recently," Walton told the Times. "The plan is for me to come back and start afresh and try and make a good impression.
"When I heard the news that the manager had gone, my first thought was 'Oh God, what's going to happen now? But I was pleased when I heard Iain Dowie had got the job.
"I never got the opportunity to play for him at Charlton, so I hope it'll be different this time. But it was a couple of years ago that he signed me and I don't think it really counts for anything now.
"I don't expect any favours from him or anybody else. The fact is that when a new man comes in, everyone's on a blank piece of paper and you have to make sure that when your chance comes you take it.
"I've not played as much football as I would have hoped at Hull, but that's partly because the team's been doing well. When pre-season comes around nobody's fully fit anyway.
"I've got a point to prove. I know I'm capable of being a regular in the QPR team and I'm confident I can do that next season."
Walton has spent most of the past two years on loan - he went to Ipswich for regular football soon after signing for Dowie and then had a spell with Cardiff before his £200,000 move to the Rs last summer.
A broken leg in the pre-season friendly with Fulham ruled him out until Christmas and then, after a handful of appearances for Rangers, he was allowed to go to Hull.
The 20-year-old midfielder was an unused substitute during the Tigers' play-off semi-final success against Watford, but is hoping to be part of a double celebration at Wembley this weekend.
Hometown club Leeds face Doncaster in the League One final on Sunday and Walton added: "Things haven't been that great for Yorkshire football in recent years and that needs to be put right.
"To win a play-off final would be a hell of a finish to the season after the start I had - and it's not something I'd have imagined on that Friday night against Fulham.
"This is the best way to get promoted - if you win - but next year we won't be aiming for the play-offs at QPR. I'm sure we'll be aiming higher than that and no-one will be happy with second best. Kilburn Times


QPR Official Site - BORO' REPLACE U'S
In a change to the previously advertised fixture, QPR will now travel to Conference side Stevenage Borough for a pre-season friendly on Saturday 19th July 2008 (3.00pm kick-off).
The R's were originally scheduled to play fellow Conference outfit Oxford United on that day, but that fixture has now been cancelled.
Under the guidance of former England Under-21 coach Peter Taylor, Stevenage just missed out on the Conference play-off's last season, finishing in sixth place.
That failure ended up costing Taylor his job, with Boro' moving quickly to install former boss Graham Westley at the start of May. QPR


BBC -Bluebirds release winger Sinclair
Cardiff City have released winger Trevor Sinclair after just a year at Ninian Park.
Former England international Sinclair, 35, signed a 12 month deal last summer with a clause for an extra 12 months which the Bluebirds could trigger.
But boss Dave Jones has decided against it, while the futures of Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who were on the same type of deal, are unclear.
Both have been offered pay-as-you-play deals, which they have yet to accept.
Sinclair joined Cardiff last summer from Manchester City and was soon followed by former Liverpool striker Fowler, 33, and Hasselbaink, 36, from Charlton...
BBC


Marcus Bean/Jacob Murtagh - Bean reveals Blackpool blues
Brentford new-boy Marcus Bean wants to put a nightmare two years behind him and help the Bees to promotion.
Bean made just 23 starts in all for the Lancashire-based club, and the former QPR midfielder was quick to fire a parting shot at Blackpool boss Simon Grayson.
He said: "I'm just glad to be leaving to be honest. I felt I wasn't given a fair crack of the whip while I was there.
"I found myself frozen out without much explanation, and the gaffer was never really honest with me.
"Andy Scott phoned me towards the end of the season. I came down and trained for a few days and liked what I saw, and obviously he did too. This is a League One club playing in League Two, and hopefully we can do something about that this season." Hounslow Chronicle