QPR Snipppets: Additional Match Reports...Sousa Claim and Denial...Britore on European Championship...Ex-QPR Winger Turns 66

-
- Visit the independent QPR Report Messageboard: The combination quasi-blog and messageboard - which focuses solely on QPR and football matters. Comment on stories posted on this blog. Or comment on any QPR matters. All views welcome!

- Account of Sousa's Comments talking to Chris Kamara
- Briatore views on European Championship Games
- De Canio Linked to Lecce
- Ex-QPR Winger, Mike Ferguson Turns Sixty-Six: Profile/Memories
- Flashback "QPR Facing New Crisis"

- Reposts: - The Ince Replacing Sousa Stories: Mail on Ince/Sousa & Mirror on Ince/Sousa followed by the BBC: Ince Not Replacing Sousa Response from Sporting Director, Gianni Paladini


TELEGRAPH/Sam Green - Sheffield United await compensation pay-out as QPR count the cost of poor finishing
- While most neutral observers have found the intricacies of the Carlos Tevez affair an effective cure for insomnia, its denouement a week today could jolt West Ham like the worst of nightmares.
- For Kevin Blackwell, the Sheffield United manager, however, it presents a potential "dream scenario".
- Sheffield may have extended their unbeaten away run to 13 games at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday and kept their promotion challenge on track, but few of their players looked ready for the Premier League.
- So how welcome would £30 million in compensation from Upton Park be this summer?
- "That is the dream scenario, but unfortunately the wheelbarrow is empty at the moment," said Blackwell, theatrically producing two 20p pieces from his pocket to illustrate his transfer funds.
- "I've not spoken about the Tevez money because it was a situation that happened before I came here, but if it happens it's something to look at.
- "The chairman is a wise man and he will not risk the club, and that's why we've had to do some of the things we've done with [selling] players. If the money comes in, I'm sure he'll put it in the right place."
- Blackwell's bosses have demanded £45 million from West Ham, who were found guilty of breaking rules on third-party ownership regarding Tevez's pivotal role in their survival and Sheffield's demotion in 2007.
- West Ham are poised to offer just £5 million, but with an independent Football Association arbitration panel set to rule on the amount next Monday, the clubs could thrash out a settlement before then.
- One position Blackwell does not feel needs strengthening is goalkeeper, having seen Paddy Kenny win a personal duel with Dexter Blackstock at Loftus Road.
- Twice in the first half he foiled Blackstock, before saving the QPR striker's second-half header from point-blank range.
- "Brian Clough said goalkeepers were worth 10 to 15 points a season and I think Paddy is the best in the Championship – and a capable Premier League keeper," Blackwell said.
- Matteo Alberti, QPR's Italian midfielder, fired a glorious chance over the crossbar, but Sheffield also had opportunities, notably when Radek Cerny used his feet to save from Danny Webber.
- QPR have not won in seven matches and with their play-offs hopes receding rapidly, speculation has begun about the future of manager Paulo Sousa, with Paul Ince linked with his position.
- Sousa, the sixth manager since Formula One supremos Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone took over in September 2007, appeared sanguine as he talked of his long-term "project", saying: "Mediterranean men are never patient, but Flavio knows we are in a good way. Next season we will be much stronger."
- It is to be hoped that the charming Portuguese is given that long. Telegraph


Mirror - KENNY IS PUTTING KEVIN UP ON SHILTS 9/03/2009
Kevin Blackwell hailed Paddy Kenny as the Peter Shilton of the Championship after the keeper's heroics kept Sheffield United on course for the play-offs.
The rotund Yorkshireman always gets stick from the opposition fans and was almost shown the door by Blackwell in December after turning up late for training.
Shilton was Clough's last line of defence when Nottingham Forest upset the odds to win the 1978 title.
Shilts was the supreme athlete but Clough had no qualms about giving a fat lad a game as John Robertson's trickery on the wing helped Forest to two European Cups.
And Blackwell, a former keeper himself, reckoned Cloughie might have been impressed by Kenny's Loftus Road display.
He said: "I remember Brian Clough saying he thought his goalkeepers were worth 10 to 15 points a season so that's why he went and got good ones.
"Goalkeepers are muchmaligned but look at the amount of times a good one gets you points - it's the difference between promotion and relegation sometimes.
"Paddy was first-class. If you are on a run in a promotion season you look back at games where somebody did something out of the ordinary."
Kenny ruined Rangers striker Dexter Blackstock's afternoon with two stunning saves.
Rangers still dream of gate-crashing the play-offs but with no wins in seven and none at home since Christmas the pressure is on boss Paolo Sousa.
Paul Ince is rumoured to be waiting in the wings should Flavio Briatore lose patience again.
But defender Matt Connolly said: "We are all behind the gaffer. There are 10 games to go and if we win seven or eight we will be there." Mirror


Daily Mail - Mail QPR 0 Sheffield United 0: Blackwell sights on a Premier cash pile
- Kevin Blackwell looked like a victim of the recession at Loftus Road as he pulled two 20p pieces from his pocket to illustrate the lack of cash available to him at Bramall Lane.
- At least the Sheffield United boss has realistic reasons to be hopeful. Later this month the club will learn whether they are going finally to receive £30million in compensation over the Carlos Tevez affair.
- Then in the summer, if their form continues, United could be dipping into the Barclays Premier League's trough. Blackwell described that double as 'my dream scenario'.
- He added: 'You have to aim high because then if you fall short there is always the chance of going up through the play-offs.'
- The goalless draw with Rangers, which extended United's unbeaten run on the road to 13 games, left Blackwell men's fifth in a Championship table compiled from a League in which weekly results follow no logical pattern and an eight-point gap with Birmingham in second place could be closed.
- Certainly with Irish goalkeeper Paddy Kenny - the best in the League, claims Blackwell - in brilliant form, United have a defence capable of sustaining a late run towards the Premier League.
- The 30-year-old made two early saves from Dexter Blackstock which dampened Rangers' lively start and a third on the hour from the same player when he parried a point-black header. That must have only further dented the confidence of the striker, who has not scored for two months.
- And it took some equally good saves by Radek Cerny to keep United at bay but Rangers, for whom the play-offs now represent a fast-fading target, were never as convincing as the visitors.
- Rangers have not won at home since December, but manager Paulo Sousa is not feeling the pressure despite Italian owner Flavio Briatore's record of hiring and firing. 'We are in a great, great way,' said Sousa, when asked whether Briatore, who watched the game dressed in a pair of shocking purple slippers, was happy despite the club's lack of progress this season.
'Flavio knows we are stronger than we were one year ago and we are identifying what we need for next season. At the moment
At the moment we are finding it difficult to score goals but we are more solid defensively.' Daily Mail

- Earlier QPR vs Sheffield United Match Reports I and Match Report/Managerial Comments

- Offer your views on these or any QPR matters on the QPR Report Messageboard. All views welcome!