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Players Training Further Photos from Squad back in training
Daily Telegraph/Rich Brown - Crystal Palace set to lose Ben Watson
Crystal Palace, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season, are resigned to losing talismanic midfielder Ben Watson.
Watson starred in last season's Play-Off semi-finals, scoring both of their goals in a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Bristol City. Despite interest during last January's transfer window, manager Neil Warnock persuaded Watson to stay at the club he has been with since the start of his career, but a move away now seems a virtual certainty, with QPR leading the charge for the highly-rated 22-year-old.
QPR, now managed by former Palace head coach Iain Dowie, first made a bid for Watson at the end of May, but their inital £1.25 million offering was rejected by Palace chairman Simon Jordan.
The west London club, now under the stewardship of multi-billionaire businessman Lakshmi Mittal, accredited to being the fourth richest person in the world, and Formula One tycoons Bernie Eccleston and Flavio Briatore, have already made various signings this summer as they look to gain promotion to the Premier League next season, following their dissapointing finish of 14th last season.
Since being named manager of QPR in May, Dowie is determined that Waston, who played a key role in the Palace's promotion to the Premier League whilst he was at the club, will link up again with his former colleague, and achieve promotion from the Championship to the Premier League, with Watson as an imperative part of his new-look side.
Although Palace rejected QPR's initial offer of £1.25m, Watson is expected to leave Palace at a cut-price rate due to the fact that his contract expires in the next 12 months, and without him signing a new contract, Palace will have to sell soon if they want to achieve anywhere near to his true valuation.
Despite constant attempts by Warnock to get Watson to sign a new contract, the midfield star has declined to sign any new contract with Palace, with Watson rejecting a 'final contract offer' from Warnock on June 20th. As well as QPR's interest, Championship clubs Norwich City, who are themselves subject of a takeover bid currently, and recently relegated Reading both expressed an interest in signing Watson last January. With Reading midfielder James Harper expected to leave the club, Watson could be an ideal replacement for Harper, who has been linked with a £3.5m move to Middlesbrough.
Warnock, when asked about Watson's potential next employer, said that '' Ben has rejected our contract offer, which would have made him the highest-paid player at the club and his agent is hinting to me that he might want to try something new". Warnock also commented recently that QPR remain the favourites for Watson's signature, but Palace are keen to stress that if Dowie wants to secure the services of his former player, QPR must increase their first bid of £1.25m.
Watson, who is a former England Under-21 international, has made 170 appearances for Palace in all competitions, scoring 15 goals in this time. He made his debut as a raw 17-year old in a 1-0 home defeat by Watford, and has since risen to being one of Palace's most reliable and valuable players.
Watson did, however, endure the misery of missing a penalty in the second leg of last season's Championship play-off tie at Ashton Gate, against Bristol City. With the aggregate scores level at 2-2 at the time, Watson's penalty struck the post, in the 72nd minute, and Palace went on to lose the game 2-1 in extra-time and see their dreams of Wembley, and the Premier League, disappear.
Although other clubs apart from QPR have expressed an interest in signing Watson, it is widely expected that he will rejoin Dowie at QPR within the next few days, now that the transfer window has officially opened. Watson is rumoured to be keen to work with Dowie again, and with the vast funds that QPR now have available, they represent a genuine chance of Premier League football by this time next season. Telegraph
"QPR's" Chris Day is looking for a club, having been released by Millwall.
PFA's Give Me Football Q&A with Chris Day - Unattached
Experienced goalkeeper Chris Day is looking for a new club after his release by Millwall at the end of last season. The 32-year-old began his career at Spurs before being transferred to Crystal Palace shortly before his 21st birthday. Day then moved to Watford in 1997 but made just 11 appearances for the Hornets in four years before joining QPR on a free transfer in 2001. It was at Loftus Road where he enjoyed a lengthy run in the first-team, making 87 starts, before signing for Oldham in 2005. A year later Day returned south to Millwall but his opportunities were restricted through injury last season. Givemefootball's Mark Shail is the man with the questions.
Q: HAVE YOU HAD ANY INTEREST FROM CLUBS YET?
A: As yet I haven't heard anything and have not had any phone calls. I've asked my agent to keep me up to date with what is happening and I'm hoping things will start to happen now that the European Championships are over. I've been following all the transfer activity on the teletext but things have been quite slow this summer.
Q: DO YOU THIINK THAT IS BECAUSE OF THE EUROS?
A: You wouldn't think that the Euros would affect what goes on in League One and League Two but because there are so many foreign players joining the Premiership, players are falling out of the Premiership into the Championship and from the Championship into League One, and so on. It's having a knock-one effect so I suppose managers are leaving it late to see who is available.
Q: WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED TO LEAVE MILLWALL?
A: I was but to be honest I knew it was coming. I had an operation to get rid of some scar tissue that had been in my ankle ever since I broke my leg seven years ago and I only managed to get myself fit for the last few weeks of the season.
Q: DO YOU THINK IT IS HARDER FOR PLAYERS TO FIND CLUBS THESE DAYS?
A: I'm not sure, there seems to be less opportunities in the lower leagues. I think one of the problems is that teams in League One and League Two are trying to take more advantage of the loan market. Perhaps they are looking to bring in up-and-coming players from the Premiership and the Championship on a temporary basis rather than have an extra two or three players in their squads. For example, for a club like Millwall, instead of having three goalkeepers in their squad they would have just two and bring in a loan keeper if they needed one.
Q: AFTER A FRUSTRATING SEASON LAST YEAR, I SUPPOSE YOU JUST WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE AND PLAY SOME REGULAR FOOTBALL?
A: It would be nice to get back playing week in and week out. I'm only 32 so I still feel I have a lot to offer. My ankle feels fine now and I believe I can go on and play for another three of four years at the very least. After that I'd like to move into coaching in some capacity.
Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY PREFERENCE AS TO WHICH LEVEL YOU PLAY AT?
A: No, not really, obviously I'd like to stay in the Football League but I'm aware of five or six clubs in the Conference that are looking for a keeper. I would like to stay full time but many of the clubs in the Conference are already full time and the top eight or ten clubs in that division actually have better financial infrastructures than many of the teams in League Two. PFA's Give Me Football
re Matt Rose: Last I saw, Matt Rose had not agreed terms with Yeovil for a new contract, so believe his contract is now concluded. Matt Rose/Yeovil Contract Discussion
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