Snippets: Dowie on his Job....Fulop Deal?...Ex-QPR Birthdays...RIP Memory...Simon Walton's Bad Start...Andy McCulloch Debut Memory

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- Mirror - Iain Dowie insists he is the man for QPR
Terry Venables has been told there is no job for him at QPR - by the current Rangers manager Iain Dowie.
Dowie has hit back at talk that Loftus Road legend Venables or Millwall chief Kenny Jackett will replace him.
The club's mega-rich owners are expecting promotion, but Dowie, who only took the job on in May, said: "I'm not going to worry about it.
"I know I am doing a decent job here and I have got the support of the players, which is the most important thing." Mirror


- Sunderland Reserve Goalie Martin Fulop:
As originally reported, yesterday by Dave McIntyre/BBC606, Daily Mail reports "- QPR close in on deal for Sunderland keeper Fulop
Queens Park Rangers are close to agreeing a deal for Sunderland goalkeeper Martin Fulop. The Hungary keeper is expected to join on loan with view to a permanent deal worth around £1.6million." Mail


- Ex-QPR Maurice Doyle Turns 39. Born October 17, 1969.
Signed by Trevor Francis from Crewe as "one for the future" but never really emerged at QPR.


- Ex-QPR Manager, Jim Smith Turns 68: Born October 17, 1940 - Smith managed QPR from 1985-1988 (one League Cup Final against Oxford United!). Smith almost returned in the Gary Waddock managership and was rumoured on more than one occasion to be set to return. Smith/Wikipedia


- RIP Memory: Barry Wallace - Two years ago today, former QPR player Barry Wallace Died. RIP


Plymouth Herald - Simon Walton - I HAVEN'T LIVED UP TO MY BILLING
-MIDFIELDER Simon Walton has admitted he has not lived up to expectations at Plymouth Argyle.
- But the 21-year-old, who signed from Queens Park Rangers in August, is determined to battle his way back into the starting line-up.
Walton also revealed he had been told by manager Paul Sturrock 'in no uncertain terms' what was expected from him, and he was now working to achieve that.
- The midfielder, whose transfer fee could rise to a club record £750,000, started the first five Championship matches of the season for Argyle.
- But Walton was one of the seven players axed by Sturrock after the 2-1 home defeat by Norwich City on September 13.
Plymouth are unbeaten in five games since then – winning four of them – and Walton has not even been included among the substitutes.
- Instead, he has played in the last three reserve team matches, most recently the 2-1 win away to Exeter City on Tuesday.
In a candid interview about his first three months at Argyle, Walton said: "I couldn't have wished for a worse start, to be honest.
"I came here with big expectations – from other people and myself – and, obviously, I haven't lived up to that, or anywhere close.
"I have been told what to do, or what not to do, so I know what it will take to get back in the team.
"It's going to be hard, but I have got a few months to put it right."
Sturrock shook up his side after the defeat by Norwich, which saw Argyle slide to the bottom of the Championship.
His bold decision paid off as the Pilgrims beat Watford 2-1 at Vicarage Road only three days later, which sparked their recent revival.
Walton said: "You can't argue with four wins and a draw. It has made it a little bit easier for me because we have been winning.
"I have just had to get on with it because there is nothing I could have done.
"At the time, the gaffer had to do something to turn things around, and it has worked.
"I haven't sulked – I'm sure he (Sturrock) would say that if you asked him. I had my little chat with him the day after the game against Watford and I have got on with it.
"I have worked so hard to try to get back in the team, but after four wins and a draw there is not much you can do.
"It has made it a little bit easier to take in a way, but, at the same time, it's not a period I have enjoyed."
Walton, who signed a four-year contract with Argyle when he arrived from QPR, is prepared to do what it takes to win over Sturrock.
"He has told me in no uncertain terms what he wants from me," said the midfielder. "It's more clear to me now.
"I know what I have got to do, like I said, and I'm trying to go the right way about it.
"You have got to be able to adapt to different ways as a footballer, and maybe I haven't adapted as I should have to the style of play here.
"Like I keep saying, I'm doing my best and I want to play here. I have never ever said I don't want to play here.
"It's just I have maybe got to change the way I play to suit the team, and not suit Simon Walton."
Even though he has not been playing, Walton has been pleased to see the Pilgrims make such good progress.
He said: "For Plymouth to be fifth in the league now is better for me than to be sat bottom, where we were when I was playing.
"Obviously, now the challenge is for me to get into the side and for us to stay up there.
"I'm not a player or a person who settles for second best.
"I wouldn't take being in the bottom three and playing. I want to play for a team at the top of the league.
"I want to play in the Premier League, so the higher up the team the better it is. But, at the end of the day, I need to be playing and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure I do."
Walton has played two games for the reserves over the past fortnight, a 3-3 draw at Reading and the 2-1 win against Exeter.
"I feel like I have done well in training and maybe done that bit extra to make sure that when I do get back in, I stay in," he said.
"It's just getting that chance, and I would like to think that chance will come pretty soon.
"I have worked hard, I haven't sulked and I have got on with it.
"But if the team keeps winning, and the lads keep doing what they are doing, there isn't much you can say." Plymouth Herald



- Andy McCulloch Debut: Thirty-Eight Years ago today: Andy McCulloch made his debut and scored as Rodney Marsh scored a Hatrick vs Birmingham (and the game was shown on "The Big Match" the next day!-Andy McCulloch: Signed by Les Allen from non-league Walton & Hersham, Center forward Andy McCulloch made his debut in QPR's home game in place of Frank Saul vs Birmingham, October 17, 1970. Marsh got a brilliant hattrick as QPR won 5-2 vs a good Birmingham team. QPR's team that day: Parkes, Clement, Hazell, Watson, Gillard. Ferguson Venables Hunt Morgan Marsh McCulloch. (In their previous home game, a brilliant Martyn Busby playing up front had led QPR to a 5-1 at home to Orient.) McCulloch was eventually sold to Oxford for 45,000 pounds in 1972, and he became a prolific goalscorer in the lower leagues.