Snippets - Dowie Wants Gorkss Resolution...Supposed Forest Watson Interest ...Ainsworth Mangerial Debut...Chelsea's China Goal

-
BBC Gossip "Nottingham Forest have joined QPR in the race to sign Crystal Palace's £2m midfielder Ben Watson. (Daily Mirror)" BBC Daily Mirror

Daily Mirror - Nottingham Forest join QPR in chase for Ben Watson
Nottingham Forest have joined QPR in the race to sign Crystal Palace's £2millionrated star Ben Watson.The England Under-21 midfielder only has a year left on his contract at Selhur st Park and is threatening to run his deal out before quitting on a free. Qpr have had a £1.75m bid for Watson, 22, rejected but are poised to return as Forest up the stakes." Mirror


Blackpool Gazette - QPR want Gorkss deal done with striker set for Blackpool
QPR manager Iain Dowie has declared that he wants the Kaspars Gorkss transfer sorted and he wants it done soon.
Dowie has had to be careful with what he's said in public about the deal to take the Latvian to Loftus Road, after a bust-up between Rangers and Pool.
The Seasiders accused their Championship rivals of an illegal approach and threatened to submit a complaint to the Football League.
There has since been a stand off, although negotiations between the clubs' lawyers are ongoing.
A frustrated Dowie admitted that he is keen to get the matter resolved.
"Yes, we'd like to get Kaspars here," said Dowie. "We've put a bid on that we believe is the right bid, given the clause in his contract, and I felt that was fine.
"Certainly I haven't talked to anyone untoward, but this is obviously rumbling on and that's for people in a higher position than me to deal with.
"We've made our choice and we hope to see it over the line, but we'll have to wait and see."
It seems certain the deal will happen eventually – even Simon Grayson has admitted that it's just a matter of time – and when it does Rangers striker Daniel Nardiello will be part of it.
The 25-year-old striker is set to move to Bloomfield Road and he obviously knows it, admitting that he expects to leave QPR before the start of the season.
"There's things going on – negotiations and things like that," said the former Barnsley frontman who began his career at Manchester United.
"I can't really say I'm going to be here in the near future. I think I'll be getting off. I've just got to sort a few things out."
Pool will receive £250,000 plus Nardiello, who has been capped three times by Wales, when the Gorkss move finally gets the green light.
There is also the possibility that another QPR player could arrive at Bloomfield Road as part of the deal, with Zesh Rehman and Chris Barker the names also being mooted. - Blackpool Gazette


Dave McIntyre/Ealing Gazette - Ainsworth the coach takes charge of reserves
QPR reserves beat Windsor & Eton 2-1 on Tuesday night in Gareth Ainsworth’s first match in charge of the team.
Ainsworth will manage Rangers’ second string this season and got off to a winning start thanks to goals from young defender Lee Brown and trialist striker Chris Flood
Danny Nardiello, Zesh Rehman and Chris Barker played after being left out of the squad for the first-team’s match at Northampton tonight and there was also an outing for teenage winger Christian Nanetti, who is another player on trial at Loftus Road.
"We’ve got a few lads now who are too old for the youth team and will be playing in the reserves and it was a good chance to have a look at them," said Ainsworth.
"There were also a couple of first-team players who played and won’t be involved at Northampton because Iain Dowie wanted to trim the squad down for that game.
"I expected a little bit more but looking back on the game, it was a first pre-season match for many of them and was away to a team who were well up for it and treated it as a big game, and I think our lads did well.
"We had some young kids playing who held their own and I think we probably just about deserved to win the game.
"I’m well pleased because it’s my first game in charge of a QPR team and it’s nice to start with a win."
Nanetti came on as a late substitute and could also feature in a friendly at Hayes & Yeading on Friday night.
Ainsworth added: "Chris has got a bit of pace, likes to take people on and is one for the future.
"He wouldn’t be able to feature now because he’s very small, very young and has got a lot to learn but the attributes seem to be there and hopefully the club can work with him."
Nardiello, meanwhile, expects the match to be his last appearance in a QPR shirt.
The out-of-favour striker, who has a year of is contract left to run, is close to agreeing a settlement with the club and looks set to move on.
Blackpool are favourites to sign him and Nardiello confirmed: "There’s things going on – negotiations and things like that.
"I can’t really say I’m going to be here in the near future. I think I’ll be getting off, I’ve just got to sort a few things out." Ealing Gazette


Chelsea and China: Meanwhile, QPR's beloved West London Neighbour Continues its China Outreach - and some QPR fans may vaguely recall QPR's contribution - See QPR's China Brawl! It's also interesting because this is presumably where QPR will be in a few years! (Chelsea's global outreach includes a sale of a gloss FourFourTwo-type publication, "Chelsea" which can be found for sale among other places, in American bookstores!) (For more on QPR and Chelsea, see QPR "QPR and Chelsea: The Humiliation/"Long National Nightmare" is Over"

Mail/Simon Cass - A whole world in their hands as Chinese warm to Chelsea's masterplan
For a team that, according to chief executive Peter Kenyon, plan to be 'internationally recognised as the world's No 1 football club by 2014', Chelsea could be accused of leaving it a little late to play their first game on Chinese soil.
That box was finally ticked here last night as they took on Guangzhou Pharmaceutical. The previous evening, around 100 highly excited Chinese teenagers pressed their faces up against a retractable fence hoping to get a glimpse of their heroes boarding the team bus after training.
Last night around 35,000 locals were present to watch Chelsea's opening game of their Samsung-sponsored Asia tour - Luiz Felipe Scolari's first match in charge.
There could have been more to watch Chelsea record a comfortable 4-0 win but with tickets starting at 300 yuan - a quarter of the average Chinese worker's monthly wage - the 80,000 seater Guangdong Stadium was less than half full.
Still, a nice little earner for Chelsea, their appearance money understood to be around £1million. Make no mistake, Chelsea's Asia tour has as much to do with commercial matters as team preparation, with the opening match of the Barclays Premier League season just over three weeks away.
And while increasing 'brand awareness' remains just as important as increasing fitness levels, Chelsea certainly cannot be accused of failing to learn from the mistakes of previous visitors to the region.
Three years ago, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Everton, Manchester City, Bolton and Tottenham all headed to the Far East with the intention of tapping into the market.
But Real, in particular, were accused of little more than a smash-and-grab raid by local media while Yang Yiming, Chinese FA vice president, said: 'We soon realised what actually attracted the famous stars to China was not love but money. It's just a commercial game, no more. So many stars come to China, just like a pop concert.'
Kenyon has clearly taken note and is keen to live up to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hamman's appeal for visiting European teams to act like 'missionaries, not businessmen'.
Shrewdly, Kenyon put plans in place last year to ensure Chelsea's arrival in China would be seen in a much more positive light.
First came the invitation to the Chinese Olympic team to train for two weeks at their Surrey headquarters, although the fisticuffs that broke out in a training match with Queens Park Rangers caused something of a public relations disaster. [QPR Report note: See QPR's China Brawl]
That was followed by Chelsea agreeing a four-year deal with the AFC to sponsor and develop Chinese grassroots football. In addition, their decision to donate some of the proceeds from Saturday's game in Macau against Chengdu Blades to the victims of the recent earthquake in Sichuan province - Chengdu is the capital - deserves credit.

Shining Lamp: Luiz Felipe Scolari congratulates Frank Lampard on his goal in the 4-0 win over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.
There will, of course, be cynics who view such gestures as part of Chelsea's plan for world domination and, in fairness to Kenyon, he conceded: 'If Chelsea can help achieve this through involvement in areas such as grassroots, youth, coaching, education, marketing, sports medicine, media and fans, this will bring long-term benefits to us all.'

But the Vision China programme has been viewed favourably by AFC president Hamman, who said: 'This is not a business relationship. It's more of a development partnership. The AFC will benefit greatly and I don't expect Chelsea will benefit financially from this agreement.'

It is a long-term approach which former Chelsea, Leeds and Derby chief executive Trevor Birch feels will reap benefits. Asked at the recent Soccerex forum whether Asia was the game's main future market, Birch said: 'Everyone agrees that is where the true value might be but the time frame is the great unknown. It's five years, 10 years, certainly not short term.'

Paul Kam, chairman of ProEvents, who arranged the games in Guangzhou and Macau, also feels Chelsea's long-term approach via their commitment to grassroots football in China will give them a distinct advantage in the race for supporters and market share.

He said: 'Chelsea have a very good relationship with the AFC, they've co-operated about this huge development programme. Guangzhou is not just another city. There's a big, big following for football in southern China. The crowds are grateful to the clubs for coming to say hello. It is all going in a cycle, more fans means more TV interest. It is important for the clubs to grow their businesses. The fans in Asia have a great knowledge of the Premier League - they like to come and watch. There has been a lot of expectation.'

The majority of Chinese youngsters were there to see John Terry and Frank Lampard last night but not because of any Chelsea affinity. That could, of course, change if, via their Vision China scheme, Chelsea unearth a local with the talent to reach the Premier League.

If they can do that, the consequent swelling of their already estimated 60million Asian fans with an army of loyal Chinese supporters might just turn Kenyon's optimistic plan of making Chelsea the world's biggest club into a reality.

....Chelsea - China (1 game), Macau (1 game), Malaysia (1 game), Russia (2 games)...
Mail


Telegraph/Jeremy Wilson - Premier League clubs will stop at nothing to build their brands
The globalisation of the Premier League is perhaps best summed up by a simple glance at the changing nature of Chelsea's pre-season fixture schedule.
In 2001, for example, supporters had to travel no further than Queens Park Rangers or Leyton Orient to watch the club's preparations for the forthcoming season. This year, they would require visas for China and Russia while travelling more than 14,000 miles to see all five friendly matches in Guangzhou, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.
Indeed, while the thorny issue of 'Game 39' continues to loom large within the in-tray of Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's chief executive, English clubs are currently testing the popularity of the national game in just about every corner of the globe.
Chelsea's Asia tour and Manchester United's trip to South Africa are the highest profile events, but West Ham are currently in America, Fulham are playing matches in South Korea, while FA Cup winners Portsmouth depart for games in Nigeria later this week.
Few would dispute that the dominant incentive is money. In the short term, clubs like Manchester United can earn more than £1 million per match, while Portsmouth are believed to be generating £500,000 from the second of their games in Abuja when they face Sir Alex Ferguson's United on Sunday.
Yet any immediate monetary incentive is dwarfed by the potential benefits of firmly establishing a club's 'brand' within strategic new markets.
So far, Chelsea's arrival in Southern China has been greeted with significant, but not overwhelming interest. Organisers of yesterday's match against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical had been hoping to equal the 40,000 attendance that Manchester United achieved last year, but around 35,000 turned up.
Chelsea have been well received at a variety of community functions, including a dinner for victims of the Sichuan province earthquake.The aim is to try and establish a lasting bond with new fans. Chelsea can point to evidence that their global fan-base has grown by 523 per cent in the past five years and they also now claim 60 million supporters across Asia.
"Five or six years ago the popular teams and league was Serie A but now it is the Premier League," said Paul Kam, chairman of ProEvents, the company organising Chelsea's Asia tour. "The crowds are grateful to the clubs for coming to say 'hello'. It is all going in a cycle, more fans means more TV interest."
Indeed, in the longer term, the broadcast potential is where significant income lies for every Premier League club. Yesterday's match was screened nationwide across China but of greater significance are the looming negotiations for the Premier League's overseas rights.
The Premier League are also well aware of the steps being taken from competing global sports leagues, such as the NFL, who will play in London again later this year.
Indeed, the Premier League could easily argue that the willingness of the NFL's New Orleans Saints this year to give up a competitive home match to come to Wembley represents a more radical step than 'Game 39'. "The league needs to play overseas because the English market is saturated," said Scudamore. "If you take it on to the next level, you have to think internationally and globally. I would hate it if, in five years' time, we were the fifth most watched league because we'd stood by watching others go past us."
The most recent overseas deal for 2007 until 2010 was almost doubled to £625 m and, particularly if some sort of new overseas dimension is eventually agreed by the clubs, there is a growing sense that the value of the league's overseas rights can eventually outstrip the £1.7 bn currently being paid for live domestic coverage. That would, indeed, prove the value of exotic pre-season tours.
Carbon footprints....
(Austria, England, Scotland, Holland) Telegraph