QPR Report Twitter Feed

Sunday, October 31, 2010

QPR Report Sunday: Bhatia Talking Big...Everton Want Mackie?...Burnley Reports

-

-
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Two Year Flashback: Marc Bircham Perspective of QPR Behind the Scenes

- QPR's ABC Replacement Loan from Amulya: It's been more than two years since the two year loan (at 8.5%) was announced

- League Cup ("Carling Cup") Quarter Final Draw

- Birthday for Tommy Docherty's First QPR Signing!

- Year Flashback: QPR's Wayne Routledge Leads Championship Stats in Assists. (Couple months later, QPR sell him!)


Sunday People - David Moyes want to take QPR's Jamie Mackie to Goodison Park
-
Everton boss David Moyes is setting up a move for QPR’s new Scotland striker Jamie Mackie – as he tries to unearth his next lower league gem.

Moyes’ spies have been trailing Mackie for weeks, alerted by the goals he has collected for Rangers since joining them from Plymouth for a bargain fee.

Rangers will want around £3million for Mackie now – with West Ham also making an inquiry – but Everton are serious about the speedy forward.

Moyes is hopeful Mackie (above) could step up like Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka to become a big hitter in the Premier League after he went down to pluck them from the Championship. People


Express - Sunday October 31,2010 By Colin Mafham

MEGABUCKS QPR TO SHEIKH UP CITY


Amit Bhatia said “the dream is to get into the Champions League"

QPR are waiting in the wings to match Manchester City’s millions next season.

As things stand now they will be up there with the Premier League giants in every sense of the word.

And while Manchester United and others wrestle with massive debts, the club that has a staggering £20BILLION behind it is prepared to go pound for pound with City if necessary to conquer Europe.*

“We have a target. We will make it happen no matter what it takes, within reason,” said vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, whose father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal has a staggering fortune that is more than a match for Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour.

“The dream is to get into the Champions League and if we are promoted we will put our hands in our pockets,” Bhatia added.

“My father-in-law didn’t get where he is settling to finish fourth. We want to finish top,” he added.

Backed by two of the richest men in the world – and a third who is no pauper – the Championship promotion chasers can match the buying power of Mansour and also pay the sort of mind-boggling players’ salaries they will ultimately need to in order to achieve their goal.

It is an amazing prospect for a club whose owner spent £34million on his daughter’s wedding.

The cash-fuelled rise of QPR since Indian steel tycoon Mittal, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore took over three years ago also adds up to a real rags to riches rise for manager Neil Warnock.

This time last year Warnock didn’t know where his next penny was coming from at Crystal Palace.

Now he is looking forward to one last crack at the Premier League at the age of 62, despite hints from Briatore that he would like Italian Marcello Lippi at the helm if they do go up.

“We have some quality players who never give up and that’s what good teams do,” said Warnock, whose high-flyers achieved a club record at Bristol City last week by staying unbeaten for 13 league games since the start of the season. Express


QPR-Burnley Reports

BBC QPR 1 - 1 Burnley

QPR slipped down to second in the Championship table as they were held to a draw at Loftus Road by Burnley.

The Clarets made a good start but it was Rangers who scored first, with Adel Taarabt creating space before drilling home his strike from 25 yards.

Burnley equalised from the spot through Graham Alexander after Matthew Connolly's foul on Dean Marney.

Jay Rodriquez wasted a superb chance to score a winner for Burnley after Wade Elliott's great through ball.

But Tommy Smith shaved the post for Rangers, while Shaun Derry also missed a good opening, shooting wide from 14 yards.

It may be harsh to suggest Rangers' form is stuttering after they extended their unbeaten run to 14 games.

But four successive draws suggest the division will not be the cakewalk it appeared a month ago when the Hoops were steamrollering everyone in sight.

Paddy Kenny had not picked the ball out of the home net for more than nine-and-a-half hours, but he had to make a double save early in the first half to extend his record by a few minutes.

Kenny probably should have held Chris Eagles' 20-yard drive but when he spilled the ball at the feet of Rodriguez, the keeper recovered superbly to palm his effort clear.

Burnley felt they should have had a penalty on the half-hour when Eagles tumbled under Clint Hill's challenge but referee Iain Williamson booked the Clarets winger, despite having earlier ignored when seemed like a dive by Taarabt.

But if that was the worst side of Taarabt's game, the mercurial Moroccan soon showed the best by lashing an unstoppable 25-yard curler past Lee Grant and into the top corner.

Rangers could soon have been two up but Rob Hulse and Alejandro Faurlin got in each other's way as they went for Taarabt's cross.

Instead, they allowed Burnley to draw level on the stroke of half-time when Kenny's goal was finally breached.

Connolly clumsily bundled Marney over in the area, Williamson this time pointed to the spot and Alexander duly obliged.

Rangers came closest to a winner in stoppage time when Smith curled inches wide and Derry crashed a shot over.

Burnley had their chances too, with Chris Iwelumo lashing his shot high over the bar and Rodriguez's toe-poke bouncing narrowly wide of Kenny's goal.

But even Rangers co-owner Bernie Ecclestone, on a rare Grand Prix-free weekend, had seen enough before the end as both sides settled for a point.

QPR 1 - 1 Burnley

QPR slipped down to second in the Championship table as they were held to a draw at Loftus Road by Burnley.

The Clarets made a good start but it was Rangers who scored first, with Adel Taarabt creating space before drilling home his strike from 25 yards.

Burnley equalised from the spot through Graham Alexander after Matthew Connolly's foul on Dean Marney.

Jay Rodriquez wasted a superb chance to score a winner for Burnley after Wade Elliott's great through ball.

But Tommy Smith shaved the post for Rangers, while Shaun Derry also missed a good opening, shooting wide from 14 yards.

It may be harsh to suggest Rangers' form is stuttering after they extended their unbeaten run to 14 games.

But four successive draws suggest the division will not be the cakewalk it appeared a month ago when the Hoops were steamrollering everyone in sight.

Paddy Kenny had not picked the ball out of the home net for more than nine-and-a-half hours, but he had to make a double save early in the first half to extend his record by a few minutes.

Kenny probably should have held Chris Eagles' 20-yard drive but when he spilled the ball at the feet of Rodriguez, the keeper recovered superbly to palm his effort clear.

Burnley felt they should have had a penalty on the half-hour when Eagles tumbled under Clint Hill's challenge but referee Iain Williamson booked the Clarets winger, despite having earlier ignored when seemed like a dive by Taarabt.

But if that was the worst side of Taarabt's game, the mercurial Moroccan soon showed the best by lashing an unstoppable 25-yard curler past Lee Grant and into the top corner.

Rangers could soon have been two up but Rob Hulse and Alejandro Faurlin got in each other's way as they went for Taarabt's cross.

Instead, they allowed Burnley to draw level on the stroke of half-time when Kenny's goal was finally breached.

Connolly clumsily bundled Marney over in the area, Williamson this time pointed to the spot and Alexander duly obliged.

Rangers came closest to a winner in stoppage time when Smith curled inches wide and Derry crashed a shot over.

Burnley had their chances too, with Chris Iwelumo lashing his shot high over the bar and Rodriguez's toe-poke bouncing narrowly wide of Kenny's goal.

But even Rangers co-owner Bernie Ecclestone, on a rare Grand Prix-free weekend, had seen enough before the end as both sides settled for a point.

* Taarabt 32
* Alexander (pen) 45

* 01 Kenny
* 03 Hill
* 13 Gorkssyellow card
* 15 Walker
* 16 Connolly
* 04 Derry
* 07 Taarabtyellow card (Smith 82)
* 11 Faurlin
* 25 Ephraim (Agyemang 62)
* 12 Mackieyellow card
* 20 Hulse (Clarke 74)
Substitutes
* 24 Cerny,
* 02 Orr,
* 06 Leigertwood,
* 14 Rowlands,
* 08 Clarke,
* 19 Agyemang,
* 21 Smith

Burnley
* 01 Grant
* 03 Fox
* 04 Duffyellow card
* 05 Carlisle
* 14 Mears
* 02 Alexanderyellow card
* 08 Marney
* 11 Elliott
* 33 Eaglesyellow card (Wallace 46)
* 09 Iwelumo (Thompson 83)
* 19 Rodriguez
Substitutes
* 12 Jensen,
* 18 Cort,
* 21 Bikey,
* 06 Cork,
* 22 Wallace,
* 10 Paterson,
* 30 Thompson
Ref: WilliamsonAtt: 15,620
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/9129001.stm


- Year Flashback: QPR1st's AGM Report - and QPR's Deputy Managing Director, Ali Russell's Response

- Latest Actim Index Rankings

- Profile of the One Professional Footballer who Won the Victoria Cross during World War I

- Three Year Flashback: After weeks of various managers being linked to QPR, Luigi De Canio Announced as QPR's First Foreign Manager. Mick Harford Departs (for the first time)...Flashack: De Canio's Two Assistant Coaches announced - as Warren Neil Departs

- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Neil Warnock: Dinner With Gianni...Warnock's Weekly Column...Vine and Hull Want Loan Extended

-
QPR's Arthur Jefferson and Albert Smith
-
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Flashback: Akos Buzaskay Joins QPR On Loan

- Today's QPR Birthdays: Harper and Clarke

- Year Flashback: QPR1st's AGM Report - and QPR's Deputy Managing Director, Ali Russell's Response

- Latest Actim Index Rankings

- Further Tributes to ACTING CORPORAL DAVID BARNSDALE Killed in Afghanistan

- Profile of the One Professional Footballer who Won the Victoria Cross during World War I


- Kick Kick Out Racism


Independent
Neil Warnock: Disgusted of Loftus Road...Neville's escape shows how the big clubs get all the breaks

What I Learnt This Week


Saturday, 30 October 2010

The one decision last weekend which disappointed more than any this season was Andre Marriner not sending off Gary Neville at Stoke.

It was an obvious second booking, a decision which would have changed the match. Smaller clubs have always complained the elite get favours, but I have long thought that many decisions can be explained by the fact referees are human and are as vulnerable as anyone else when there are 60,000-70,000 fans baying for a verdict in their favour. But this was at the Britannia, where the Stoke fans make a right racket.

It is nothing to do with the fact it was him – I am Gary Neville's biggest fan – it was just that everyone in football knew if that foul had been committed by an opponent at Old Trafford it would have been a sending-off.

I can remember vividly the last time I felt like this about a decision, and it was Man United again. They had to beat Wigan in the last game of the season in 2008 to win the title and Steve Bennett was refereeing. Steve was a stickler for doing everything by the book, I called him "robot man" because he never let common sense get in the way of regulations. That day Steve should have sent Paul Scholes off about half-time for a second booking. Any other player, in another team, would have gone. With so much at stake in that game I did feel disgusted that evening, and likewise Sunday night.

So the next time you hear Tony Pulis, Big Sam or anyone else at a similar club banging on about the big teams getting all the breaks, think back to Sunday's decision and you'll know why.

2. How green was my valley? I was looking the other way

It's been a strange week for us at QPR. We've not been on the motorway, I've slept in my own bed, and most of all I've seen the family. The one plus about playing Bristol City last Friday night is that I was down in Cornwall at midnight and had a proper weekend with them.

On Sunday, after some wonderful fish and chips at Looe, we went to a place called Adrenalin Quarry. They have a Zip Wire, the longest in Britain at 500 feet, down a valley and over a lagoon. You go down in a pair. Like everyone, as I get older I think I put weight on, but it was still a bit embarrassing when they filled this big blue bottle of water to make sure Amy had sufficient weight on her, but didn't need to add anything on my side.

There are fantastic views and I couldn't wait, but as soon as I set off I was twisted round backwards and whatever I tried couldn't rectify it. So I looked backwards up the valley all the way. What a let-down. Amy was facing the right way and having a lovely time, she told me all about it. Poor William is going to have to put some weight on, they told him he was not heavy enough. He's also waiting to get a year older, then he will be allowed to go on a faster go-kart at the track we go to down there. Hoping to put on weight, looking forward to getting older – it's been a while since I held either of those ambitions.

We rushed back that evening to have a cup of tea by the beach but as we pulled up at five o'clock the two cafes had closed. We were gutted, but there was glorious sunshine so we walked along the front. While the kids played I lay down on a bench with my head on Sharon's legs and had a few minutes in the sun. Then the sun moved, so we did, to the next bench. And it happened again, and again. We worked out every five-and-a-quarter minutes we had to move to the next bench. We did eight benches before the sun dipped below the horizon.

3. Call centres can make a meal out of a simple answer

What's my bugbear of the week? I had to phone an electricity company to change my monthly payments. I was just about to do tea and I thought I'd get the phone call done. I'd been on about a minute listening to a voice telling me, "All our operators are engaged, please hold, your call is important to us." I was doing sea bass fillets with green beans, so I put the phone on speaker and got them out of the fridge. I cooked the sea bass, cooked the greens, opened a bottle of wine, poured myself a glass, put my meal on the table, ate my meal. I was on my last mouthful when a young lady answered and sorted out my query. I said to her, "I must tell you, darling, while I've been waiting for you to answer I've got my dinner out, cooked it and eaten it. But I still waited, because you told me my call was important to you." I don't think I'd have been so understanding if I hadn't been on speakerphone. Whoever invented them has saved a lot of people from rising blood pressure.

4. Now everyone puts the League before the League Cup

There were some unusual team sheets in the Carling Cup. Normally it is the Premier League clubs who rest everybody, but while Arsenal finally put out a team with intent to win it Championship teams like Burnley, Swansea and Ipswich played the fringe players. It shows how much importance these clubs have put on getting out of the Championship. The League matters, at any level. Ian Sampson, the manager at Northampton, will have been on cloud nine after winning at Anfield in the last round but I doubt he is too upset at losing to Ipswich this week. While beating Liverpool was a fantastic achievement Northampton haven't won since that week and he'll be keen to get his team's focus back on the bread and butter.

The one tie I don't want to see drawn out of the hat this morning is Manchester United v Arsenal. I know it would be a great match, but I would like to see Arséne Wenger win something and get people off his back.

5. Managers need a chairman who will watch their back

How disappointed I was this week at my old club Notts County sacking Craig Short after 13 games. It is not just a premature decision, it is a daft one. If they had won last week they would have been a point off the play-offs. But I was told over two weeks ago that an influential person behind the scenes at the club wanted Craig out and to bring Paul Ince in. As did the same person when the interviews took place this summer. At the time the chairman wanted Craig and supported him, but a few months later he seems to have changed his mind.

A truism to all young managers starting out is you have got to make sure you have got people behind you who will support you. It is obvious to me right from the first game this season, that has not always been the case at Notts County. When I was asked this week by the Nottingham Evening Post to comment I said all this, but of course the local paper have to have a working relationship with their local club. The bit about my knowing that Ince would be appointed two weeks ago was conveniently left out. I am very glad I have a column of my own so I can tell people what I know.

What a different situation Paul Peschisolido has at Burton Albion where one of the fairest chairmen I have ever known, Ben Robinson, will be doing everything to support his manager once he has appointed him. Would Robinson have sacked a manager after 13 games, with the club having a fair start? No, and he would not have tolerated anybody influencing him to make such a decision.

Another manager who's had to deal with a lot of speculation is Chris Hughton at Newcastle. I don't think Chris will be worried about it at all. He's doing his reputation no harm whatsoever. From the first day he set foot in the club he has acted with dignity and I think he's been loving every minute of it. But the one thing you know when you go into football management is that the sack is round the corner. That's why you have to be your own man if you can.

6. It's not only in the Ashes that sledging can turn nasty

I'm really looking forward to the Ashes. One thing I don't think England will be doing is any more boxing after Jimmy Anderson's injury. That was a daft idea, but we all have done stupid things as managers. When I look back, my biggest was at Notts County, a few days before we played Man City in the FA Cup. We went sledging in Wollaton Park. It was only when I looked at the pictures on TV later I realised both my keepers, Steve Cherry and Kevin Blackwell, were flying past behind me on the same sledge. They missed a tree by millimetres.

7. I'm no dirty old man – it's not what it looked like

Gianni Paladini and me had dinner in London this week with our daughters, Katie and Natalie. Both girls are in their twenties and I could see people looking at us, thinking, "Look at those dirty old men." Their next thought would have been, "They must have a few quid to be with girls like that." We had a good laugh thinking about that. Independent


\This is Hull and East Riding-
HULL CITY: Pearson seeks Vine talks


NIGEL Pearson will enter talks with QPR next week in a bid to extend Rowan Vine's loan spell with Hull City.

As it stands, the 28-year-old striker will see his current one-month deal expire after today's trip to Barnsley.

But with City and QPR keen to see Vine's stay stretched to at least another month, it is hoped talks will see the forward remain at the KC.

QPR boss Neil Warnock has made it clear that Vine has no future with his table-topping side and Pearson would be only too happy to profit.


All that remains to be sorted are the financial terms of an extended deal and the City boss hopes there will be no hitches.

"I had a chat with the player on Thursday and like any situation with loan players, we'll explore the possibilities open to us," said Pearson.

"I'd like to keep him but it will depend on a few things.

"I think he's enjoyed himself and he's fitted in so hopefully we can make something happen."

Vine is yet to find the net in his four appearances after a debut in the 0-0 draw with Coventry but has shown signs of progress.

A partnership with Nick Barmby, first tried in defeat to Portsmouth last weekend, could be given another chance to shine at Barnsley.

Pearson added: "He will be the first to admit his disappointment that he's not scored so far but I've seen a gradual improvement, certainly in his fitness levels, since he's been here.

"We need as many players as possible available at the moment and we still need to find the answers in terms of scoring goals." This is Hull and East Riding


- Three Year Flashback: After weeks of various managers being linked to QPR, Luigi De Canio Announced as QPR's First Foreign Manager. Mick Harford Departs (for the first time)...Flashack: De Canio's Two Assistant Coaches announced - as Warren Neil Departs


- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Friday, October 29, 2010

QPR Report Friday: Warnock's Transformation of QPR...Hulse Speaks...Luigi De Canio Arrives Flashback

-

-
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Three Year Flashback: After weeks of various managers being linked to QPR, Luigi De Canio Announced as QPR's First Foreign Manager. Mick Harford Departs (for the first time)...Flashack: De Canio's Two Assistant Coaches announced - as Warren Neil Departs


- Latest Actim Index Rankings

- Further Tributes to ACTING CORPORAL DAVID BARNSDALE Killws in Afghanistan

- Richard Langley Coaching QPR U-12s?


Independent Revealed: How graft on training ground put QPR on top

Glenn Moore goes behind the scenes to hear Shaun Derry explain how Neil Warnock has transformed the Championship pace-setters

There is a buzz about a training ground when a club is top of the table and so it was at Queen's Park Rangers' west London base yesterday. As the Championship leaders prepared to face Burnley tomorrow, passes were zipping across the turf, the banter was lively, there was a general sense of purpose.


To many in football, this is long overdue. When QPR were taken over by a combination of millionaires and billionaires from Formula One and Indian industry, their ascent to the Premier League seemed inevitable. It did not quite turn out that way as the new owners invested in managers, several each year, instead of players.

In three seasons under new ownership, Rangers have failed to finish in the Championship's top 10. They did break the club's 12-year-old transfer record but, as well as Alejandro Faurlin has played, his £3.5m signing is not quite what supporters envisaged when Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal took stakes in the club.

But building a promotion-chasing team is not just about spending cash. When Rangers began the season with a flurry of goals, the focus was on the skills of Adel Taarabt, signed in the summer for £1m from Tottenham, but as the leaves fall, and the nights close in, other players have come to the fore, less heralded but, in the context of a long Championship season, more significant.

When manager Neil Warnock arrived at Loftus Road in March he was impressed by the squad's quality, but not by its mental strength. "QPR have always had the showboaters, the flair, but I thought when the chips were down we did not have enough spine," he said.

Warnock's solution was to recruit three former players, goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, signed from Sheffield United for £750,000, and a pair of free transfers from Crystal Palace, full-back Clint Hill and midfielder Shaun Derry. The trio, all aged 32, started every match as QPR established a club-record 13-match unbeaten start to the season to lead the Championship from day one.

Derry is in his third stint under Warnock, having also played for him at Sheffield United, so is well placed to assess what makes The Independent's columnist such a successful manager. A big factor is sheer force of personality, he tells me as we sit in the canteen at the club's base near Heathrow after I had watched a two-hour training session led by coach Keith Curle. Although Curle took the session, Warnock and his assistant manager Mick Jones observed and occasionally interjected as the players focused on forward play – a necessity as the team has scored only once in their last three games.

"When he steps onto that training field, whether 10 minutes before the end of the session, or 45 minutes, rightly or wrongly the work-rate goes up by 10-15 per cent," Derry says. "That's the impact he has on players. He does not rule by an iron fist but his mere presence around the place brings people out of their shell.

"Everybody involved in football has looked at QPR the last few years and expected more than they delivered. I think that is the biggest thing he's done here, changing mentalities. He has tried to instill a work ethic before anything else.

"All good teams work hard: look at Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, they work their socks off first so they can impose their game on the opponents. People will look at the group of players we have and say, 'would Neil have worked with them 10 years ago [the mercurial Taarabt comes to my mind]?' But he has realised the game is evolving and he is evolving with it. To an extent, he is a modern-day manager and he has embraced the changes."

Only to an extent. Derry adds: "He has mellowed, but make no bones about it, you cross that line and you have crossed that line. You're out. I know where the line is, and I know not to cross it, but I don't want to cross it. If you work within his boundaries and his structure you work for a successful manager, it is as simple as that. His record speaks for itself."

Derry speaks from experience. In the past he did cross that line. He admits ruefully, "People seem to think I have followed Neil around but he shipped me out of Sheffield United. I was 22 and perhaps had a bit too much to say for myself back then. Neil needed to get rid of a couple of players and I was sold to Portsmouth. It was good for me. I had to live on my own, stand on my own two feet and I grew up as a person and a player."

However, Derry still liked to speak his mind and, having prospered under Tony Pulis and Graham Rix at Portsmouth, he fell foul of Harry Redknapp. "I perhaps had too much to say for myself again. I felt it would be the best decision to move on and Harry was very quick to make that happen."

Next stop was Crystal Palace where Derry was a key figure in the team Iain Dowie led to promotion. However, in the top flight Derry's contribution was limited to one start and six appearances from the bench. He left for Leeds but relations with Dennis Wise turned so sour he began the 2007-08 season unable even to get a place in a squad that had been relegated to League One. With his thirties approaching, Derry's career seemed to be drifting into decline.

Salvation came from an unlikely source. Warnock had just started a new job at Selhurst Park and felt he needed a street-wise midfielder to steer a young team away from relegation. Warnock recalls: "Shaun had been bombed out totally, he was training with the kids. I said to [then-Palace chairman] Simon Jordan, 'We'll have to give him a two-year contract, but it'll be worth it because if he keep us up this year we'll be able to get something for him next year.'

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think not only would he stay the following year, but he would become a better player, so much so when I came to QPR I thought he could do a job for me here. Even then I did not expect him and Clint Hill, both, I thought, coming to the twilight of their careers, to be playing every game.

"I think he has surprised himself too, he is playing better than he has ever played. He has another yard of pace because his mind's bright, it's not hard work for him. He is a dedicated professional."

Family life has helped. Derry has two young children, aged three and four, who take up much of his spare time. "I feel I have matured as a player," says Derry. "People might have looked at me in the past and said, 'he is hot-headed, a liability in certain games even', but since I realised what this game means to me I have settled down as a person and I feel I am on top of my game.

"I am at an age that I know what to do on the football field, and I know what is required for a person in my position. There will be mistakes along the way, but I am really enjoying playing at the minute. When people say it is the best job in the world, for me, it really is.

"At some point the legs will go, and they will require a younger person, but I am not looking at that at the moment, I feel a young 32. Not really getting a go that season in the Premier League at Palace does drive me on. I look at certain players in the league and I feel I would love to have a proper crack at it. This year the opportunity is there. This is a topsy-turvy league and we're not taking anything for granted – Neil wouldn't let us – but we do have a squad capable of staying around the top echelons."

Derry intends to move into management himself and one aspect of Warnock's work he has studied is team-building, the way the manager has blended such disparate players as Taarabt and himself into a unit. Warnock quotes Bill Shankly's line, "football is a simple game, it is players that complicate it", and adds, "Shaun Derry does not complicate it. Occasionally, when he is playing well, Shaun thinks he is a young whippersnapper about 20 years of age and he does something stupid, but he knows within a fraction of a second somebody will be shouting at him, so he doesn't do it often."

Taarabt does complicate it, and did so to Warnock's ire last Friday at Ashton Gate, but he also has game-changing abilities few Championship players have. He could, adds Derry, "be the difference in QPR getting to the Premier League, or not doing so".

But Derry adds: "Adel needs us just as much as we need Adel, and I think he is slowly coming round to that belief now. Last year both Adel and QPR, on the day, could be magnificent, or they could be abysmal. We're trying to get him working hard, for the team as much as for himself. That goes back to getting the right people into a club and changing the mentality." The game is about consistency and graft, as well as virtuosity and art.
Independent

Fulham Chronicle/Yann Tear -

Rob Hulse hits back after QPR's winless streak

\
NEW boy Rob Hulse insists QPR have not become more defensive in a bid to hang on to their unbeaten run.

The striker, who turned 31 this week, finally made his QPR debut as a second-half sub at Bristol City last week, and proved something of a lucky talisman as Rs salvaged a 1-1 draw. It confirmed the club’s longest-ever unbeaten start.

However, four of the last five games have been draws, suggesting avoiding defeat may have become a priority for Rs.

"There’s no way that’s the case," said Hulse.

"I don’t think this unbeaten run has a downside. We aren’t just trying to avoid defeat. We go out in every game looking for a win.

"We were attacking from the start last Friday, even though we were away from home and just got caught with a goal against the run of play. We won’t be satisfied with drawing every week.

"That said, draws can sometimes feel like wins. There’s a great team spirit and we’ve shown great character on a couple of occasions to come back from being down and that stands you in good stead."

Finally free from the Achilles injury that he had when he signed from Derby which has meant he has not played since the opening day of the season, Hulse is all too aware he is not an automatic choice. But he says he prefers it that way.

"I always expected to play at Derby and I think that can take the edge off you," he said.

"I think this challenge will make me play better. I don’t mind a bit if it proves harder to get a game, as long as we keep winning.

"Rangers being top of the league played a big part in coming here, even if it’s early days. I knew the manager and played with him before and knew a few of the boys.

"I see it as a strong squad. Hopefully everyone’s going to play their part."

Hulse says his frustrating start to life at QPR is nothing compared to past injury woes.

"I didn’t expect it to take this long to get back because I didn’t have certain scans at Derby that would have told me the extent of the damage," he said.

"But it’s just a niggle in the end. In the past, I’ve had far worse. I’ve broken my leg and fractured my back and I’m used to injuries.

"It’s been frustrating, but the physios have been great, working very hard to get me back fit. I just need a bit of endurance work now.

"I’ve only had a week of proper training, so with a few more weeks under my belt, the fitness will go from strength to strength." Chronicle


- Malcolm Allison Funeral Held

- Kick It [Racism] Out: Podcast Examines Anti-Semitism in English Football

- Video: "QPR's Greatest-Ever Goals"

- Pele's 70th Birthday Celebration in New York...The Return of the New York Cosmos?

- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Thursday, October 28, 2010

QPR Report Thursday: QPR-India...Vine Wants Extension...Lippi Hopes to Coach Again...QPR Fight Racism...Hucker Birthday

-

-
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Marcelo Lippi Hints at Return to Football Coaching!

- Surprise! Welsh FA Let Off Cardiff's Jay Boothroyd

- World Cup 2018: Russia vs England Update

- Malcolm Allison Funeral Held

- Ken Bates on Sky TV at Leeds and on some Leeds Fan Critics

- Richard Langley Coaching QPR U-12s?

- Ex-QPR Goalie, Peter Hucker Birthday

- Two Years of Tiger Cubs

- Tax Loopholes Save Players Millions


Times of India - QPR and the other India mix - Saumyajit Basu, TNN, Oct 28, 2010, 02.23am IST
park rangers|lakshmi mittal|flavio briatore|bernie ecclestone
NEW DELHI: When friends get together, they make happiness. And when rich friends get together? Well, perhaps they buy a football club, which is rich in history but gone to ruins!

The story of Queen's Park Rangers, co-owned by India steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, goes on similar lines.
Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the brains that made Formula One and Benetton, household names around the world, got together once more in 2007 like two movie stars to chase a new dream, not on celluloid but on the green turf of Loftus road in West London.

They bought Queen's Park Rangers "an hour before bankruptcy would have been declared", as Briatore famously claimed. Their objective was to see QPR in the Premiership within four years. Three summers down the line, with the wealthiest man in Europe on its board, QPR are really pushing to make the EPL, currently placed second in the Championship. The biggest coup that Bernie and Briatore staged after the acquisition was to convince steel magnet Lakshmi Mittal to splash a few of his millions in the new venture.

Bernie wants QPR to challenge the status of their West London rivals Chelsea but not exactly in the Roman Abramovich way. They want to work their way up. They are not breaking any bank to buy stars, coaches and trophies in the process.

They are more into building it up slowly, bringing the fans back to Loftus Road along with their feelings.
The welcoming of Mittal is just one step towards that dream. Bernie told the Daily Telegraph, "Mittal is a mate of mine as you know. I told him he should come on board; he took my advice. We want this to work. This is a great old club they haven't always been where they are today. They were challenging Liverpool for the league title back in the Seventies. That is where we want to see them again, in the top flight."

When asked if Mittal's involvement was a statement of intent, Ecclestone, replied: "Absolutely."
The link with QPR and the current newsmaker Blackburn Rovers are starkly familiar. Sometime around the early 1990s, a metal sheet maker sold his company and got caught in that vicarious allure of sporting glory.

Money flowed, Ewood Park was spruced up for the club to carve a niche in the Premiership history under a certain Kenny Dalglish who forged a then English record of 3.5 million pounds for a young Southampton centre forward in 1992.

Alan Shearer scored 34 goals in 1995-96 season and along with another major signing, Chris Sutton, snatched the EPL title from the jaws of Manchester United.

That's what money does more often than not. The combined power of money behind QPR is staggering, even threatening for Roman the Russian, the Glazers from America or the Sheikh from UAE.

The status of QPR's northward journey will be clearer during Christmas. The January transfers may well turn out to be a bloody battle, but for a few pounds more.
Times of India


East Riding Mail - HULL CITY: Loan striker Vine keen to extend stay – and make an impact
Attitude and commitment: Rowan Vine.
ROWAN Vine is keen to extend his spell with Hull City and feels
ready to show the Tigers fans his best.

The 28-year-old QPR striker penned a one month deal with City on October 1, meaning Saturday's trip to Barnsley is due to be the final game of his stay.

But having featured in all four games since making his debut in the 0-0 draw with Coventry, the 6ft frontman is keen to remain in East Yorkshire.

"Rowan has been very positive about his time in Hull and there have been conversations about extending his loan deal," a source close to Vine told the Mail.

"Nigel Pearson called him aside recently and asked Rowan if he would like to stay at Hull longer and his answer to that is certainly yes.

"He is hopeful that Hull and QPR can come to an agreement as he feels he is only now getting back to match fitness.

"He feels he will be able to get back to his best and make an impact with Hull if he stays on.

"What you get from Rowan is a great attitude and commitment, and he won't stand by and watch other players not doing the same."

With Caleb Folan thought to have pulled out of last weekend's clash with Portsmouth on the morning of the game, manager Pearson will be keen to keep as many options as possible for his front line.

The City boss bemoaned having to change his team on the morning of the game in the post-match press conference, and he is thought to have been unhappy at Folan's late withdrawal, after a week of planning his team with the former Wigan man leading the line. Report


Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Dawes not open to defensive changes

AMIDST all the statistics churned up by QPR’s stampeding start to the season, their miserly defensive record is surely the most impressive.

Only four players have breached the Rangers back line during nearly 20 hours of Championship football – a rearguard that, apart from injuries to Fitz Hall and Bradley Orr, has remained unchanged.

And Ian Dawes, the ever-present left-back in the last QPR team to gain promotion to the top flight, agrees that a settled defence is an essential element for any successful side.

Dawes and goalkeeper Peter Hucker played in every single match as Terry Venables’ team stormed to the Division Two title in 1982-83, while right-back Warren Neill and central defenders Terry Fenwick and Bob Hazell missed just three games each.

“When you look at most of the best sides, they don’t change the back four that much and I think Neil Warnock’s doing something very similar at the moment,” Dawes told the Times.

“If they’re tinkering, it tends to be with the midfield and up front. It does help if everyone in defence knows what each other’s doing and detail was a big thing for Terry Venables – he was spot on with that.

“We were a youngish side, but we had a good manager – and I’d say QPR have the same now. Neil Warnock’s a good manager in that league, the best they could have at the moment.

“We used to do drills nearly every day in training, just on the back four, with seven, eight or nine players attacking us, and we got very good at defending.

“It also helped that a lot of us had played together for a while – Peter Hucker, Warren Neill and myself and Wayne Fereday – but you still have to gel as a team.

“We were a hard team to beat. We knew how to knuckle down and defend and we tried to play good football, although the pitches weren’t the best in the world – not like the carpets there are now.”

At that time, of course, Rangers’ own playing surface was regarded with suspicion and scepticism – they had installed the country’s first artificial, all-weather Omniturf pitch at Loftus Road the previous year.

Critics claimed that the Rs’ plastic pitch gave them an unfair advantage, tending to ignore the fact that they won 10 and drew four of their 21 away games that season.

After jostling for top spot with Wolves, Rangers finally began to pull clear in March and sealed the championship with three games remaining by beating local rivals Fulham 3-1.

“Your home record is imperative, but you need to do reasonably well away too if you’re going to win the league,” said Dawes. “No-one really spoke much about us that season, though.

“Even with six weeks to go, all the talk in the press was about other teams and I didn’t think we really got the recognition we deserved for becoming champions.

“It’s different this time – everyone’s expecting QPR to go up because of the start they’ve had and already they’re finding it harder because teams are treating it as their cup final. I fancy them to do it, though.”

Dawes remained a permanent fixture in the team the following season – and, incredibly, right through until December 1986 – as QPR adapted quickly to Division One and finished fifth to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

But the full-back, now 47 and working as a teacher in his native south London, admits it would be difficult to see Warnock’s team repeating that feat if they were to gain promotion at the end of the current campaign.

“We didn’t think too much about it at the time, but the gulf between the top level and the one below wasn’t as big then as it is now,” Dawes added.

“Realistically you’ve got the top 10 in the Premier League and everyone below is fighting each other, so to go up and stay up is a good season now. It’d be a big surprise for anyone to do what we did then.” Kilburn Times


QPR Official Site - KICK IT OUT!Posted on: Wed 27 Oct 2010

On Saturday, QPR will celebrating equality and diversity in football by supporting Kick It Out's One Game, One Community weeks of action campaign.

As well as all the professional Clubs, Kick It Out - football's equality and inclusion campaign - will be working with community groups, grass roots clubs, schools, colleges and places of worship to encourage all football fans to get involved in events, activities and celebrations in their local area.

We have dedicated Saturday's fixture against Burnley as our day of action in support of the campaign.

QPR defender Fitz Hall told Hoops: "When we play football, we play together as a team - our backgrounds don't come into it.

"People are discriminated against for many different reasons and as a society we have to realise that the population is always changing. We need to become more tolerant and accepting and work together."

Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out said: "Collectively, we continue to make strides in the fight for equality across the game. Clubs, however, have a unique power to act as the catalyst for this progress.

"The One Game, One Community weeks of action illustrates this perfectly, as clubs, along with players and fans, combine to send out the strongest message that football is our game, and there to be enjoyed by everyone."

The unified support of the campaign will be replicated across the continent too as the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network will ensure Champions League and Europa League fixtures communicate the message that discrimination and intimidation will not be tolerated within the game.

The One Game, One Community weeks of action is backed by football's governing bodies and is the largest sporting initiative of its kind worldwide.

To find out how you can get involved, or to learn about activities and events taking place near you, visit www.kickitout.org QPR

- Kick It [Racism] Out: Podcast Examines Anti-Semitism in English Football

- Video: "QPR's Greatest-Ever Goals"

- Pele's 70th Birthday Celebration in New York...The Return of the New York Cosmos?

- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

QPR Report - Wednesday Snippets: Warnock on Taarabt "Boycott"...Two Years of Tiger Cubs

-

-
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007. In Three and a half-years, not another one has been held! held.
-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
- Ex-QPR's Christian Nanetti's Raith Future Unclear

- Video: "QPR's Greatest-Ever Goals"

- Year Flashback: Comparing QPR's 1975 team to Magilton's Team

- The Increasing Misery of Modern Football

- Glentoran in Financial Trouble

- Pele's 70th Birthday Celebration in New York...The Return of the New York Cosmos?


Ealing Gazette/Yann Tear - QPR boss backs Adel Taarabt's international exileOct 27 2010

NEIL Warnock has no intention of talking Adel Taarabt out of a quitting international football, if his star player goes ahead with a threat to stop playing.

The Moroccan was furious when coach Dominique Cuperly left him on the bench in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Tanzania after a 22-hour round trip.

Taarabt has vowed to step down from the international stage at the age of 21 because of his wasted trip.

[b]Warnock told the Gazette: "I think it's entirely an individual decision and if Adel decides he doesn't want to play for Morocco, that has to be up to him. I wouldn't try and talk him out of quitting.

“Obviously, though, it would be beneficial for us because there's a lot of travelling involved and I think he came back shattered after that last trip.[/b]
[b]
“I wondered if I should leave him out of the game against Norwich when he returned and in the first half he wasn't very good. Players react in different ways to the international break but certainly in his case, there are a lot of hours involved.[/b]

Taarabt said: "I will stop playing for Morocco this season. I want to concentrate on my club, as the national team disrespected me.

“The fact I was called up to face Tanzania and not used did not please me at all. I want to play all the time, so I'm retiring as I did not play for them.

“I spent 22 hours on aeroplanes. I did not play and nobody explained to me why.

“The Moroccan FA has invited me to play against Northern Ireland next month, but I don't plan to respond favourably." Ealing Gazette


QPR Official Site - TIGER CUBS BIRTHDAY THIS WEEKEND!During half-time at Saturday's home fixture against Burnley, the QPR Tiger Cubs will be celebrating their second birthday.

The Tiger Cubs is a Football Club designed specifically for young people with Down's Syndrome.

The Football Team - which was formed two years ago - has gone from strength to strength and QPR in the Community Trust, QPR and its fans are extremely proud of the project.

The Tiger Cubs were the proud winners of the Inclusive and Active category at the recent Hammersmith & Fulham Community Sports Awards and will be presented with their trophy by the Hammersmith & Fulham Community Sports Team at half-time.

At this weekend's fixture the Tiger Cubs will be on the pitch at half time taking penalties.

There will also be a cheque presentation of £9,613.29 from the Tiger Feet Walk to Crystal Palace last season, and also £656.52 from Daniel Williams, who ran the Great South Run last weekend in a fantastic time of 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 54 seconds.

QPR in the Community Trust would like to thank the fundraisers and all the QPR fans for their ongoing support of the Tiger Cubs.



- Flashback: The Tiger Cubs Launched


Daily Mail - Championship leaders QPR to make January move for Swindon's teenage defender Sean Morrison
QPR manager Neil Warnock is weighing up a January move for teenage Swindon defender Sean Morrison.

Warnock has joined north east rivals Newcastle and Sunderland in the battle to sign highly-rated centre back Morrison, 19, who joined Swindon from Plymouth in 2007 and has played 42 league games. Mail


QPR Official Site - TEACH YOUR KIDS PROPER FOOTY!
Posted on: Wed 27 Oct 2010

The prawn sandwich brigade; the diving; and those fancy gold football boots. Do you want this for your kids?… nor do we. That's what proper footy is all about … proper footy.

We want your kids to support your local npower Championship Club. So 'Teach Your Kids Proper Footy' right now at www.properfooty.com before you lose them to the celebrity players and multi million pound transfers forever.

Show your support and like us on Facebook at properfooty.com QPR


QPR Official Site - KICK IT OUT!
Posted on: Wed 27 Oct 2010

On Saturday, QPR will celebrating equality and diversity in football by supporting Kick It Out's One Game, One Community weeks of action campaign.

As well as all the professional Clubs, Kick It Out - football's equality and inclusion campaign - will be working with community groups, grass roots clubs, schools, colleges and places of worship to encourage all football fans to get involved in events, activities and celebrations in their local area.

We have dedicated Saturday's fixture against Burnley as our day of action in support of the campaign.

QPR defender Fitz Hall told Hoops: "When we play football, we play together as a team - our backgrounds don't come into it.

"People are discriminated against for many different reasons and as a society we have to realise that the population is always changing. We need to become more tolerant and accepting and work together."

Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out said: "Collectively, we continue to make strides in the fight for equality across the game. Clubs, however, have a unique power to act as the catalyst for this progress.

"The One Game, One Community weeks of action illustrates this perfectly, as clubs, along with players and fans, combine to send out the strongest message that football is our game, and there to be enjoyed by everyone."

The unified support of the campaign will be replicated across the continent too as the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network will ensure Champions League and Europa League fixtures communicate the message that discrimination and intimidation will not be tolerated within the game.

The One Game, One Community weeks of action is backed by football's governing bodies and is the largest sporting initiative of its kind worldwide.

To find out how you can get involved, or to learn about activities and events taking place near you, visit www.kickitout.org QPR


- Average Championship Gates...Percentage of Grounds Filled

- A Couple of old QPR Team Photos - Photo I .... Old Photo II

- Video Highlights Bristol City vs QPR

- Ex-QPR Goalie Matt Pickens Thriving This Season in the MLS

- Flashback Four Years: QPR's Gianni Paladini "Vs" AKUTRs


- re Iain Dowie's Wife: Cancer Survivor
- Paddy Kenny Makes Championship Team of The Week

- Next: Burnley - QPR vs Burnley Flashback Videos

- Kick It [Racism] Out: Podcast Examines Anti-Semitism in English Football

- Club-Fan Meet Flashbacks: QPR Loyal Supporters Association (LSA) - Club Meeting Reports (From 2002 and 2003)

- Almost Two-Year Flashback: Report of Club-Fan "Reps" Meet

- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

QPR Fan Forums: Last One Held Exactly Three and a Half Years Ago

-

-
- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
-
In April 2007, QPR held a Fan Forum with fans. Since that date, three and a half-years later, another one has not been held.

In December, 2007 as reported on the club Official Site: A Fans Consultative Committee Meeting was held with the club:
- "3a - Are the club planning on holding a Fans' forum in the future?
Alejandro Agag: - in response, Agag said: "Yes. Sure, we can do that."
- agreed and suggested that a minimum of 2 Fans' Forums should be held per season.- the suggested timeline for these to take place were February/March and September/October.
- a third Fans' Forum could be held during the season in "extraordinary" cases if necessary.
- stressed that the Fans' Forums should be for football talk and team matters and not to discuss finances or the ABC loan.
- the EGM would be where discussions would take place about finances and the ABC loan, which is its purpose.
- Stephen Dedridge told how he felt this wouldn't be a problem so long as this was properly communicated to the fan base. QPR Report

Flashback to the April 2007 Fan Forum....

QPR OFFICIAL SITE - FANS' FORUM (April 26, 2007)|QPR are pleased to announce details for the forthcoming Fans' Forum to be held at Loftus Road on Thursday 26th April 2007 at 7.30pm.
There will be 100 free tickets up for grabs for Rangers fans and they will be administered on a first come, first served basis.
The event will take place in the Blue and White Bar and will be hosted by our media partners at BBC London.
Tom Watt will once again be running the event and the panel will consist of Chairman Gianni Paladini, Manager John Gregory and Club Captain Marcus Bignot.
Tickets will be available from 9.00am tomorrow morning (Friday 13th April) and can be picked up in person from the Loftus Road Box Office, or ordered over the phone - please note, phone bookings will carry a £2 booking fee.
Entry to the event will be via the Loftus Road entrance. Doors open at 7.00pm.
For those who cannot make the event, it will be aired on BBC London and QPR World.
If you would like a question submitted, e-mail iant@qpr.co.uk and we will try to answer as many as possible.
Please include the words 'FANS FORUM' in the subject header. Official Site


QPR Official Site - April 30, 2007FORUM IN FULL
Posted on: Mon 30 Apr 2007
Last night saw another successful Fans Forum take place at Loftus Road.

Chariman Gianni Paladini, Manager John Gregory and Captain Marcus Bignot fielded a host of questions from supporters on a variety of topics, ranging from out-of-contract players to the new pricing structure for season tickets.

QPR World subscribers were able to hear live coverage from the event.
-
For those of you who missed it, full audio from last night's Fans Forum will be made available next week to all fans, via www.qpr.co.uk

Here is a complete transcript from the event. Our thanks to Clive Whittingham for the copy.

Host Tom Watt welcomed the panel (Gianni Paladini = GP, John Gregory = JG, and Marcus Bignot = MB)

The first question from Tom himself was about Marcus Bignot's future with the club.

MB - Well, I'm going on holiday and enjoying that, looking back with some fond memories. My personal situation has taken a back seat, the priority was keeping the club in the Championship, that was at the forefront of all the players' minds. The only goal we were trying to achieve was keeping the club up. There wasn't a queue at the gaffer's door asking for a new deal. The most important thing was survival. I've been here before when this club was relegated and knew what it could mean.

JG - The attitude has been totally unselfish on behalf of the players, Marcus has summed up the attitude of every player that has a couple of months left on their contract. The team and dressing room comes first, the club comes first. They've not been concerned with their own personal situation. It would have been quite easy for them all to bang on the door and say 'what about me?' but not one has come in and asked the question. They've come in for various other things, like a day off, but nobody has said, "Don't worry about all that other stuff, what's happening to me in the summer?"

The whole focus of everybody has been the next match, hoping they're in the next line up, start the next game. Something I've tried to bring to the forefront is that every time they step onto the pitch, they have the opportunity to impress me. You don't have to impress their team-mate or friends at the game. You have to impress me, that's the way it is. Show me you're worthy of another 12 months or two years on your contract. One or two could argue they haven't been given a chance under the new manager but generally everybody in the squad has had a chance to convince me they deserve an extension.

Fans know, they don't get conned, you know the ones that can play because you've seen it year after year - the players and managers come and go. That's why you come every week, you are good judges and you know the good ones from the bad ones. Consequently, the fans are never conned by players. If they give everything they can, you admire those people and warm to them. The ones you don't warm to are the cheats, the ones that don't give it 100%.

This group, every Saturday they've been here recently, they've got a standing ovation because, alright we may have lost the game, like against Southampton and West Brom, but they gave it their all. When they don't, fans have every reason to voice an opinion. Certainly the last three months they've been applauded by fans every time because they've given 100 %. This good run in the last six or seven weeks is down to that.

The team spirit is like nothing I've ever experienced in my career. I played in some good teams here and at Derby, but I've never seen a spirit like the one we've got in the dressing room here. It's carried us out of trouble and we've stuck together and supported each other. The players get on with each other tremendously well. The way you guys have responded to the team - it almost feels like a promotion, it's not, but it's been that good of late. Long may it continue.

What's the situation with the three loan players, Mancienne, Smith and Camp?

JG The two Chelsea boys, as part of their education Chelsea wanted them to come to us. It suited the boys because instead of going to Cobham they just came to Harlington. Michael lives in Feltham so it's actually closer to his home. Joe Mourinho and Frank Arneson were delighted when they came to us, they keep a close eye on them and always have a representative at our games home and away.

From time to time they've gone into Chelsea and trained there. Chelsea don't see the lads in their first team at the moment. Maybe in a year or so they will be putting John Terry and Frank Lampard under pressure. There is an opportunity for them to possibly return here next season and play for another 12 months. I'd love them to come back, they've really enjoyed it like you'd never believe, they've enjoyed being part of the QPR set up, playing first-team football in front of proper crowds - not the reserve team at Aldershot on a Monday night.

Lee Camp joined the club and it gave us so much confidence having him at the back, it's been unbelievable since he came. It's no coincidence that we've had so many clean sheets since his arrival. I hope it will be a brief return [to Derby], we're all very disappointed to lose him. The ball is in Derby County's court, if he leaves we're at the front of the queue to sign him as a QPR player this time, we'd like to sign him. We'll do everything in our power to make sure he comes back and we sign him permanently for next season.

If Derby are promoted, his salary increases quite remarkably. He'd be on a Premiership salary for 12 months. The same would have happened to Adam Bolder, but he so wanted to play first-team football he waived it. Camp's money goes up considerably so we're all waiting to see what happens to Derby. If Derby stay in this league it's a relatively simple decision, if they go up it's a financial one.

What about the future of Lee Cook?

GP: A long time ago I said we want £10m to let everybody know we would like to keep Cook. In football if somebody came up with £10m we wouldn't say no because John could bring in good players. (laughter, and joke about Paladini driving Cook to the buying club himself should such an offer be made)

John wants to build a team around players like Blackstock and Cook, we're not going to sell our best players. If we wanted to do that, we would have done it in January when we had many inquiries for players.

We're not rich and it would have been a simple solution to sell Lee Cook, Dexter Blackstock and Martin Rowlands, but we want the club to move forward so we want to bring better players every year, John wants to do that next season. If you start getting rid of the best ones, you have to start again.

JG - If Liverpool come and offer us £2m for Lee Cook it's not what we want, it's not enough, but sometimes you have to think of how Lee Cook feels about that. It would be difficult to deny him the opportunity to move to the Premiership and play for a top club. If there's a club in the Championship that offers us £2m, it's not enough, we don't want him playing against us and does Lee Cook really want to make a sideways step for a few more quid?

It's a delicate situation. A few years ago I was the manager at Aston Villa and Dwight Yorke had the opportunity to go to Man United. It was a precarious situation of trying to deny him the chance of playing for one of the best clubs in the world and us getting the right amount of money. It was a long drawn-out affair that got messy and nasty.

I don't anticipate a problem with Lee Cook, I think he'll be playing for us next season.

Tom then brought Stuart Downing into the discussion and wondered if Lee Cook is really that much worse than the man currently playing left wing for England

JG - If Stuart Downing was right footed he'd be in League One. It's only because he's left footed that he's in the England team.

Tom then asked Marcus Bignot if the players always think there's a chance we'll be alright in a match because Cook will do something soon and turn the game.

MB - I've played behind him a lot this season and it's comical sometimes. He'll have two or three players around him and he just wiggles his way out. Like the gaffer was saying, hopefully from a selfish point of view that Premiership bid doesn't come, but he is Premiership class. He is a talent and a superb person off the pitch.

He's a great character, QPR through and through and the supporters love to see one of their own out there. He deserves every success in the future.

If that Dwight Yorke-type situation comes up and you're thinking you can't deny him the chance, is the club in a situation where the money can go straight to John Gregory to rebuild, or does he get a little bit and the rest pays bills?

GP - I don't want to think about selling Cook, I enjoy seeing him play for us. £10m is silly money for someone in the Championship, that's why I said it. He wants to stay and he's said that quite clearly, we won't sell him without a stupid offer. If there's a situation like with Shittu where he doesn't want to play for us any more, when the offers came in, he made his mind up he wanted to play in the Premiership. If a player comes and tells you clearly he doesn't want to play, there's nothing you can do so you get the maximum amount.

Cook is completely different. I'm not selling him unless we get a stupid offer. I'll go against the board if I need to on that. John Gregory makes the last decision.

What has happened to Ray Jones since he signed his new deal?

JG - I have to pick the team that I think will win the next match. Whether I bought them or inherited them, whether they're my best mate, friends of my family, I pick the team with total thought on winning the next match. I pick them all for a reason - I don't pick favourites. If I have a personal problem with a player, it doesn't alter my opinion on picking him. If I've paid £5m I don't have to justify it by picking him every week.

That's why Ray Jones hasn't figured in the team for three months or so, I picked others ahead of him because I felt others could do a better job at that time. I've looked at his reaction, which I often do with people. I ask what they're going to do about it. Will they bang on my door, kick up a fuss? Or accept it and crawl away? What will the reaction be on the training ground during the week, how do they react to a punch on the nose?

We lost 5-0 at Southend and I looked at the fans' and the board's reaction, and the players' reaction most of all. I was asking them 'What are you going to do about it?' It was on television, everybody saw that. I got a reaction from it, the one I wanted. That's why we're sat here today, out of the relegation zone. The group reacted well.

When I left Ray out, I looked at his reaction and I'm still waiting for one. I hope he'll bounce back, he's young and it's been a big learning curve. Jimmy Smith was a regular and got left out. I looked for his reaction and he sulked for a couple of days, but then he was the best trainer for four weeks. I put him back in and he scored the winner, that's a fantastic reaction.

Ray will come back again, it's been a massive learning curve. He got his new contract, and I'm always nervous about players with new contracts because they put their feet up for a few weeks and Ray did that - he stuck his feet up for a few weeks with the security. He needs to get his act together by the start of season or he'll get left behind.

In the last few weeks, the front positions have been shared by Paul Furlong, Marc Nygaard and Dexter Blackstock, and they've played out of their skin. Stefan Moore has come through and gone ahead of Ray, and I'm still waiting for Ray's reaction to that.

He's got lots of ability and did everything so quickly, he performed so well and scored a few goals, he didn't have to think twice about it. Now he's got to think about his next move. He scored two for the reserves the other night, and that's a really good sign. He'll be banging on the first team door by the start of next season.

Why are we changing our kits so frequently? It's very expensive for families to keep kitting their children out every season in a new strip.

GP - The kit manufacturer decides, it's the same with every club. After this year, we can get a new contract and say to them 'Please keep it the same for two or three years'.

If and when we get into the Premiership, does the board feel that the size of Loftus Road presents a problem to progress?

GP - This is something that I already enquired about - can we expand the ground, can we lift Ellerslie Road higher to match the rest of the ground? It was refused. We cannot go anywhere else. If we go into the Premiership, we will pay the wages with the money we make. I can't see where else we can go, there's no room around here to relocate. In my time here I can't see us moving elsewhere.

The atmosphere here is outstanding, people are scared to come here and play, other players don't like it. It's a wonderful atmosphere, I'd like to thank the fans for the support given to the team, they are like a twelfth man.

I do apologise for misunderstandings in the past, to say things about fans is not my intention, if I have offended anybody, if people are upset about what I have said before, then I apologise.

The last few games show the club is going forwards, it looked like we'd won promotion. If we do the right things next season, with the supporters we've got, I'm proud to be associated with the club and these people. The atmosphere in my first games when I came here was outstanding and the last four games have been fantastic. I hope it carries on and we build a team that will make the fans happy.

Everybody's got that feeling about the play offs next season after the last few games, and that brings extra expectation. Do you say bring it on or calm down? We are where we are in the league for a reason. How far off a play off team are we?

JG We're obviously a long way off where I'd like us to be and there's lots of rebuilding to be done. We need some concrete in the foundations, the club has had a very difficult period towards the end of last season and literally all of this season. On the opening day we lost at Burnley, and we've had 44 matches of backs-against-the-wall since then.

A change in infrastructure is needed. There's a massive gap between youth and first team at the club and a lack of what I would consider a back up team - a regular reserve side with one or two experienced players and eight or nine real quality kids to push into the first team. That's what I want to build over the next couple of years. The club needs a bloody good kick up the a**e in many departments. I wanted to do so much straight away last September, but the most important thing was to get the first team winning matches. There's so much to be done around the place.

Dave Whelan at Wigan had a dream many years ago when they were at Springfield Park. I don't know if any of you ever went to Springfield Park but it was not a particularly pleasant place to play. He had a dream about getting Wigan to the Premiership. When he told people they laughed, but he never let go of that dream and with a large amount of money they got there and realised his dream. They've built a new stadium and a fantastic football club. There's no reason why we can't dream of one day getting into the Premiership.

I do say bring it on, the expectancy this season was to keep us in the Championship and my neck was on the line, but we got there. It's taken lots of very hard work but we got there. Next season the pressure's on me, Gianni, Marcus if he's still here, and everybody else to push for a play off position. There's no reason why we shouldn't be expected to get there. I revel in that, I'm looking forward to it, bring it on.

About a month ago we played Preston out here. I sit on the side, we all sit on the side under no pressure, the players go out on the pitch and actually have to go out there and do it. I asked them at half-time, 'Have you got the ability to hang on in this second half?' Not a problem. I looked into their eyes before we went out for the second half and there's no way Preston would have scored. They've come further than I ever thought they could, they've amazed me this season. I know looking at them that there's no way this lot would ever have thrown the towel in, I had confidence in this group of lads, they've been brilliant.

Is there a feeling that this group of players can now move on to a different kind of challenge?

JG - We need to add certain parts and improve in certain areas but the nucleus of it all and the spirit in that dressing room is there already. I will make sure I don't allow that to leave over the summer. I know what they're capable of. Given the right circumstances and right additions there's no reason these guys can't move us on to the next level.

MB - When you go to a game, people go to the pub afterwards and talk about the game, people aren't mugs and players aren't either. Back in the summer, it wasn't a happy dressing room, the back end of last season we were nose-diving and that was the feeling in the dressing room. We had a losing mentality. I honestly feel things have changed around, the general consensus is that there are good times ahead.

Under this gaffer, with the signings he's going to bring in this summer, it's going to be a bright future. We will not be in this situation again under this gaffer, I can smell it in the dressing room, in the body language, the way everybody goes about their business. We want to enjoy what we've achieved, but we need to finish on a high in the last two games because the momentum carries on into next season.

Supporters in the pub and players in the dressing room talk about the same thing. We talk about what went wrong on a Sunday morning. The atmosphere is so positive now it's not true, half of us might not be here but we're all singing off the same hymn sheet. The club will not be in this position next season, it was a crying shame and I dreaded what might have happened. We nearly undid all that hard work. We know it won't happen again.

The dressing room at the moment is so positive. One of the players said the other day, 'Don't bother coming back pre-season lads if you're not ready to get promoted.' That's the way we need to be, ultra positive.

A ten-minute break was followed by questions from the floor…

If you take the last game we played, how many of those players will be on the pitch at the start of next season?

JG - about 60%.

A couple of seasons ago Kenny Jackett would come into our box and ask what we thought and he was somewhat more forthcoming with that question - he said it would be this player and this player and so on.

JG - Well we are on GLR! I know who's staying and going and I'm the only one who does know. Even the chairman doesn't know. The first people to know will be the players. It's right and proper that the players find out if they're getting a deal first. I will not impart this information at all until I sit with each player and let them know. There have been various assumptions on the websites, which is understandable but nobody knows for sure, I don't tell anybody anything until I tell the people themselves. People will know if they get a new deal before the Stoke game.

It's difficult for a lot of them, Marcus is testament to that, they will all know before we take to the field against Stoke.



We've had a high proportion of players on loan this season. Do you want fewer players to be loaned next season? Some of them have been really good but do we need a smaller proportion?

JG - Ideally we'd have no players on loan at all but even Man United have loaned Henrik Larsson this season, so even the best do it. If I say to my best striker at the club I'm replacing you with a loan signing and he comes in for a month or two, then gets recalled I have to turn to the guy I left out for two months and tell him I'm sticking him back in, he's going to tell me where to go.

People I've brought in to play for us on loan this season were better than the ones that they replaced so the ones replaced can have no complaints because the loans have done a better job than they did. It's a difficult balancing act. I'd love to be in a position when we have enough quality that belong at QPR and we don't have to go and bring in loan players.

How many new players are coming in and in what positions?

JG - 40% I'd say. (laughter) We want to strengthen all over. If there's a better keeper than the one we have, then we'll go for him if he's available. We are light in the full-back positions. Biggy is a right back really, he's more comfortable there and he's done an amazing job at left back. I've used Michael Mancienne there who's a centre half, Zesh Rehman who is a centre half, Sam Timoska and Pat Kanyuka. They all ended up playing full-back. We need to try and bring in a right full-back if we're not able to get Michael next season.

But all over the pitch, if there are players available that fit the budget and will improve the team, we'll go and get them. Mancienne came in as a central defender but he's such a good player he could do a good job at right back, it's a bonus he can play both positions.

I've always said to players don't pigeon-hole yourself. If you say, 'I play there and that's it', if you can say you can only play left back and I sign a better one then you, then you can't play anywhere else. Players need to be versatile and play anywhere. I know that doesn't answer your question very well. I just want to improve what we already have. I think I did that this season with Danny, Bolder, Camp, Timoska - to a lesser extent because he's still learning - but those three were better than those they replaced.

What do we have arranged for pre season? There have been rumours circulating about a trip to Ireland.

JG - The only definite is Brentford on August 4. I like to do pre-season at home, I don't like 10, 12, 14 day trips abroad. Supporters love it but the players sit around all day bored and the staff have to baby-sit them. Players don't like being stuck in a hotel, boredom sets in quickly. At home the guys finish training and go home to their family, they rest in a proper manner and come back the following day ready for work. I do quite like the idea of going to Ireland, maybe for a weekend, flying in, having two quick games and coming back again. We have a big fan base in Ireland. It would suit us, if the timing is right.

But most of the time will be spent at Harlington getting ourselves up to speed. It's a mega-important period of the year. After a good pre-season you get a good season, it often goes hand in hand.

The players didn't have it this season, we've had to come in and change habits mid-season. We've had seven months at it and by the time they come back the guys will know what's expected of them.

How can an increased budget for better players and solving other problems be supported with the season ticket prices dropping?

GP - Obviously the board has to support improving the team, they have to come up with money like they have done up to now. Hopefully we'll get more season ticket holders than last season. We had 7,000 this season, which was 1,000 down on the previous year and 3,000 down on the season before that. The 10% discount is for everybody, and it's 20% in the first month with the early discount.

We had to do something like that to bring people back. Especially the way they've supported the team in the past four games. We need maximum people in, but if the board have to put more money in, they have to put money in.

We had so many players this year to sustain, and it was very expensive to do. When you change manager you always have this situation, hopefully we've solved that. We want 25 players instead of 40, and to bring the budget down.

If you have 40 players you have to pay them, and pay tax on top of that, everything goes up. John fortunately started to cut down on players, and do a deal to get rid of players. If someone is earning £100k you have to do a deal and give them £50k. We'll work with John on the budget next season and have no more than 24 or 25 players, they'll be a better quality even if we have to pay a bit more. It's the way forward.

The programme, at £3 a week, is a standing joke. There's an error on the front every week. Our facts are meant to come from there. We're bitterly disappointed with it.

Ian Taylor, the new Editor, stepped forward at this point to answer the lady's (Sandra from the Lower Loft) question. Gregory cracked a joke about him being the ex-editor.

IT - I've only been in charge for three months. Myself and Paul (Morrissey, QPR World) are the media department. When you compare our department to other sides in this league, we're only a two man team when most clubs have six or seven. We're short staffed but doing our best on limited resources.

Gregory made a gag about poor excuses but Sandra said it was embarrassing.

JG - Nobody had noticed until you brought it up. (laughter) Those two do a fantastic job, they do a brilliant job. QPR World is something else, it's brilliant. Ian and Paul together do a brilliant job and are very close to the players. Paul Morrissey is based at Harlington, he's there at 8am until late in the afternoon, working tirelessly. We have a fantastic relationship with them and love having the guys around. Information they have from us remains in the confines of Harlington and we're very proud to have them here, they'll certainly be here in ten days' time.

IT - We were runners up in the programme competition for the whole of the football league.

JG - first is first, second is nowhere.

IT - There have been errors in the past, we're doing our utmost to improve the programme.

Alan Barnes congratulated the youth team for their league success and asked about the future of Prav Mathema and Warren Neill

JG - Prav is leaving for a new post, it's a big career move for him, financially it's a lot more rewarding. He's been here for eight years, and been a fantastic servant. He'll get a big send off before the season is finished. He thought about it long and hard, and we had a long chat with him. He's going to Wasps.

We wish him all the best. I'd have loved him to have stayed, I've only been here seven months and during that time his work has been outstanding. He lost his best customer Matthew Rose (laughter) which saw his work reduced 98%, so he's bored now. It's what he wanted to do. He needs a change of scenery for his own sanity. Eight years is a long time to stay in the same place.

Wally has come in and done a tremendous job. He's very unassuming, but was a great player for the club, he's QPR through and through. He's a cabbie and he comes to work in his black cab. We had a reserve game with Bournemouth here last week and afterwards he got dressed and went to work with the light on after the match in the West End.

He's been marrying the two jobs, working with us four or five days a week and I'd like him to stay with us next season, providing it's what he wants. We've only had a quick chat about it so far.

There's no job too small for Warren, he's never too proud, if I want him to be a corner flag he'll be a corner flag. He wants to keep being a cabbie because it brings in extra income for him, he's a grafter and I want him round the dressing room. He'll go that extra mile for the team and the club, and I'm anticipating him being around. You can't overlook his part in us keeping out of trouble.

The youth team has won the league, can you see any players there that could do a job in a few years? It's great for them to be successful but is it actually going to be a source for talent?

JG - There was so much last September that I wanted to do straight away. I wanted to try and get into the school of excellence and do something about that, I wanted to do something about the reserve team, reorganise the training ground and office staff, but I didn't want to get distracted. So I haven't paid a great deal of attention, I see the lads every day, one or two are starting to show great ability and do well in the reserve team. Given the right education over a couple of years, one or two could threaten the first team. I want to overhaul the whole team. I took away one of Joe Gallen's staff, John O'Brien, and he hasn't been replaced.

We had 35 full-time pros apart from kids, and that was a tremendous drain on resources. We've paid a lot of people to leave the club, and we could have done with that money to help the youth set up, allow the coach to have another couple of coaching staff. He's worked alone all season, and I've got to commend him on the results he has got. Those people have now finished being paid, which gives us a few more resources to put into the youth set up.

During my time here the youth set up was vibrant. Chris Gieler was running it, Warren Neill was a product himself and Kevin Gallen. We produced a lot of very good players. I'd like to be in that position again, and it's something I'll spend a lot of time on during the summer.

QPR has always had a good youth set up, we've always produced our own players, and sold them at various times and made large profits on them. This is a fantastic catchment area to attract kids at youth level, they like to come here. Dean Parrett wanted to be at QPR because he had a better chance here, rather than getting lost in the system at Chelsea. Parents are happy with their kids coming here. I will spend time and make sure we have equipment to bring in quality young players.

The conversation then turned to BirminghamCity. John Gregory told somebody to ask him a question. Bignot said he thought McSheffrey was a slightly better player than Cook because of his goal scoring and that he'd told Cook that.

MB - In a situation like Birmingham, anybody would do a good job with that amount of money so I go back to the gaffer. He's our most important signing. The gaffer hasn't spent the money the previous manager did and look at the players he's brought in. At QPR it's so important to have the right manager because you're competing with Birmingham, who can go and spend £4m on a player.

The youth team is an area that can save you money and hopefully one or two players can come through and help the first team. We have a manager who managed a club in the Premiership that I hate, I refuse to even name them, they finished in the top six every year and got to a cup final when he was there. It did my head in. Then he left and we were top dogs in Birmingham. I loved it when he left.

It is a big task seriously, the management and players will come back pre-season, I don't know about my future obviously, looking for promotion and if we don't get it, it won't be for want of trying.

Premiership managers seem to have thrown away their UK road maps. There are players in the Championship where anybody who watches them knows they're good enough. How many times do you have to watch Cook, or David Nugent to know? How many times did Moyes look at Tim Cahill? Do you, John, look in Leagues One and Two or look above you for the ones that weren't quite good enough?

JG - We look at all of them, the one market we don't look at is the foreign market because there is the financial side of getting a player from abroad. Generally they come into the Premiership and there are not so many at our level. We look at the Premiership and we've been linked with one or two, like Lee Hendrie. The type of people not quite cutting it at Premiership level and not playing regularly, coming to the end of their contract, they may be able to come and drop down a level and get it together at this level.

We do look at our own division, players who are out of contract this summer, may not be playing particularly well at the moment but given right circumstances they may do well for us.

Like Cullip - for some reason Colin Calderwood didn't see him in his team after he played the first 23 games. Colin wanted to change his back four and saw Danny elsewhere. He came to us and was just the kind of player we were looking for.

Adam's the same. Derby is a big club that has started throwing money around. Billy Davies, in his wisdom, thought Bolder had been there too long and wanted all his own men in there, he didn't want the ones he inherited.

He's brought all his own staff and physios from Preston and wants his own players as well, so Adam became surplus. My scouting network of one has basically highlighted those out of contract, at a club that don't pay as much as we do, we're pretty good payers in this league. There's something special about this club and it does attract players. People want to come and play here, the fact we're in London helps. People have played here and know what the atmosphere is like. It's not hard to convince people to come.

What plans are in the pipeline to remember Kiyan Prince?

MB - I've spoken to Gary in the Commercial Department, and me and Gareth Ainsworth are doing a documentary on the issue. Hopefully in May. We've had preliminary talks with Rio Ferdinand and others about putting a documentary together with awareness in mind. That's a road to go down and hopefully one or two more.

We're moving towards May and Gaz and me are really looking forward to doing it and putting it together. Rest assured there will be something.

What's the latest on the ABC loan situation? Since the last forum we've heard very little.

GP - We're working on it every day and it's not easy to do, I'm confident we can do something about it very soon. I can't say more than that, we're working on it and will announce something when the time comes. It shouldn't have happened in the first place and we have to do something about it. I'm confident we'll have a new investor by the start of next season to help us move forward and that will help with ABC. I'm confident we'll have new people joining for the beginning of next season.

Two years ago I sat here with a petition against the season ticket price rise, I'd like to thank the club for seeing sense and doing what they've done with the prices this summer, thankyou for that.

GP - The reason we wanted to reduce prices was to thank the supporters. Tracy and Vic, and the people who came around the table and met and discussed about next season. We listened to fans and you were a big help with the group of fans that came to see us. Thank you for the time you dedicated to the club. Thank you from the club to you. QPR








- Average Championship Gates...Percentage of Grounds Filled

- A Couple of old QPR Team Photos - Photo I .... Old Photo II

- Video Highlights Bristol City vs QPR

- Ex-QPR Goalie Matt Pickens Thriving This Season in the MLS

- Flashback Four Years: QPR's Gianni Paladini "Vs" AKUTRs

- The Demise of Boardroom Family Dynasties

- Kenny Jackett Praising Danny Shittu

- Bradley Orr Praising Bristol City

- Manchester City Spending Continues - Spending/Plans Examined

- re Iain Dowie's Wife: Cancer Survivor
- Paddy Kenny Makes Championship Team of The Week

- Next: Burnley - QPR vs Burnley Flashback Videos

- Kick It [Racism] Out: Podcast Examines Anti-Semitism in English Football

- Five Year Flashback: Q&A With Then-QPR Manager Ian Holloway

- Club-Fan Meet Flashbacks: QPR Loyal Supporters Association (LSA) - Club Meeting Reports (From 2002 and 2003)

- Almost Two-Year Flashback: Report of Club-Fan "Reps" Meet

- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE

Blog Archive