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-Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- Compilation of QPR-Related Videos "Not Available on Youtube!"
- Buzsaky Returns for QPR Reserves vs Spurs (McIntyre & Kosky
- Next Nottingham Forest: Stats & Previews
- The Parliamentary Inquiry on Football
- On This Day in Football...Year Ago, Another QPR Loss...Four Years Ago, QPR Humiliated at Southend
- Year Ago: QPR Plummeting Towards League One (Division Three)
- Gary Borrowdale Joins Carlisle on Loan...Flashback to Borrowdale Joining QPR
- "Ladies Only"! Preston vs QPR
- Vote For Championship Player of the Year: Voting Closes February 15
QPR REPORT OFFERS THE NOTTINGHAM FOREST FAN PERSPECTIVE OF NOTTINGHAM FOREST ON AND THE FIELD
Question and Answer with Vital Nottingham Forest's Guinless. Very many thanks to Guinless for agreeing to do this Q&A
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Starting simply: How long have you supported Nottingham Forest? And how long have you been involved with the Vital Nottingham Forest Website?
I've been a Forest supporter for nearly 35 years and have been priveleged enough to have seen the unbelievable highs, as well as the unbearable lows during that time. I have been the editor of Vital Forest since 2007 and a member since 2006.
(How do you get on with the other Nottingham Forest fan sites: Are there any serious inter-Nottingham Forest Messageboard conflicts (as there certainly are between certain QPR boards!)?
Yes. Thay all hate Vital Forest.
Do Nottingham Forest have one (or two) special rivals? (Notts County and Derby County I'd imagine) If so, Is it a mild dislike or a visceral hatred? (and do supporters of those clubs feel the same way about Nottingham Forest)?
Notts County hate us much more than we hate them in my opinion. I look upon them as an annoying little brother. Leicester City would love us to consider them rivals, but they are little more than near neighbours, who happen to play in the same division. The real rivalry/hatred is reserved for the Mutton Molesters down the A52.
- Forest v Derby is probably the first fixture fans of both clubs' look for when the lists come out each year and there's no love lost on either side of the divide. Forest supporters are currently lapping it up, having done the double over them this season. Games in recent times have become pretty feisty affairs, probably not helped by the fact that both managers, many of the players and even the coaching staff have had connections with both clubs in the past. "Hatred" might be too strong a word, but on the day of a game between Forest and Derby, you'd struggle to find one more apt.
What do you think of your current manager, Davies? What did you think of his various predecessors?
My opinion on Billy Davies, is that he's the best thing to happen to this club in the past 10 years. I'll be honest and say, I thought his appointment was wrong at the time it was made and never wanted him anywhere near our place. As things have turned out, he's been a breath of fresh air. His footballing style has been a revelation. Entertaining football, the way it should be played, has been served up in the main and he's turned both the clubs' fortunes and prospects around. When he took over from Colin Calderwood in 2008, we were taking the fast route back to League 1. He not only stopped the rot, he saved us from certain relegation, took us to the brink of the Prem in his first full season and is on course to do at least the same again this time round. Much like Warnock, he's brash, obnoxious, hated by the opposition and even by a section of his own clubs' supporters. I love the guy! When you consider some of the dross before him (Megson and Platt), Billy Davies is a football genius.
What do you think of the current Owners and Board? WHY are they involved with Nottingham Forest? What do you expect? Could they realistically have done more to boost your promotion effort?
A delicate subject amongst Forest fans this, because opinion on our Chairman, owner and lifelong Forest fan Nigel Doughty, (whose Son is on the books at QPR) is split. He's been in charge for 11 years and whilst it can't be argued that he has single handedly kept us afloat, he is responsible for the decline into League 1 and some of the most Godawful and disastrous managerial appointments the world of football has ever seen. He does bankroll the club, pays the wages and pays for transfers out of his own pocket, but has he done enough? My opinion is that he has not, but like I say, you can argue for ever and a day on this subject and never get a happy outcome. Nigel Doughty has undoubtedly done much good for NFFC, but it's a mute point as to whether the harm has outweighed the good over the years.
Are you a little surprised with how Nottingham Forest are doing this season? In your heart of hearts, did you really expect promotion this season? Do you expect to improve? Or are you just grateful to be in existence?
Last season was the real surprise from my point of view. Whilst we made some good additions to the squad over that summer, I only expected a mid table finish and would have viewed that as good progress. We were 2nd behind the Geordies before Christmas, but failure to add to a very small squad in the January, meant we ran out of gas and couldn't finish. We were deservedly beaten by Blackpool in the Playoff semis and the thoughts were that we would strengthen over this past summer and have a real go this year. With the exception of Ryan Bertrand on loan from Chelsea for 6 months, we didn't really strengthen at all. We had a slow start, but have generally done well due to some very impressive results at home. We now look to have arrested the away form that was hampering us and after a couple of signings (Tudgay and Konchesky), have gathered some real momentum now. I still think we need just a couple of extra bodies, but it has to be said that we actually look in better shape than we did this time last year.
Who are you Dangermen/Most valued/most overrated/most underrated players?
(Lee Camp/Dexter Blackstock Injured) Earnshaw
Lee Camp has been one of the best signings made by us in recent years and IMO, the best keeper in the Championship at present. He's consistently good and rarely makes a mistake ( I hope that isn't the kiss of death for Sunday). I must admit to being gobsmacked when you let Dex go, but I understand that boardroom rifts may have had something to do with that? Needless to say, we're glad to have him, but it's such a shame he's out for the season. He will be missed. Marcus Tudgay has filled his boots well and for £400,000, he could prove a real bargain. Everyone knows about Earnshaw and after a slow start to the season, looks to be back to his goalscoring best. He's often given a rest by the manager in away games, so it's debatable whether he'll start. One player missing for us on Sunday will be Frenchman Guy Moussi. He's also out for the foreseable future and has been immense for us this year in midfield, up until getting injured last week. His form was instrumental in our success so far. Predicting Billy Davies' team selections is difficult at the best of times and this week will be no different. If he plays, keep an eye on our young Polish midfielder Radoslaw Majewski. He stands at 5ft and a fag paket, but is as tough as old boots and also has an abundance of skill.
Your Prediction for season promotion/relegation places - And how would that compare with pre-season prediction?
I'm useless at predictions and thought Pompey would have done better. I thought Hull would struggle, but they look to be sorting themselves out and are now my outside bet for promotion. Norwich have been the surprise package for me and I think they'll be there or there abouts. Leicester are making a go of it now and could creep up. Come the final run in, I think it will be any from QPR, Forest, Swansea and Cardiff. I'm really hoping Cardiff screw up big time, simply because I consider them cheats.
As for the drop. To me, it looks pretty much sorted already. As much as I'd like Derby to be in the mix, I think they'll survive.
What is your view and the general reading view of QPR (If we even feature in your consciousness)? Over the years: Quite a number of shared players including of course Lee Camp, Blackstock, Quashie, Bowles, Hodge, Cullip, Needham, Woods, etc.
Richest club outside the Premiership apparently, but you've never appeared to spend like it. However, you do seem to be buying/loaning well under the guidance of Warnock. Although I don't think the Championship is as strong as it was last year and it's anyone's to win, I do think the two strongest teams (on the evidence I've seen) are the two in the top spots right now. I watched your game with Reading last week and whilst it wasn't a classic, you showed the sort of grit and character, that is required to last the pace.
There have been a few player exchanges over the years. Needham did well. Bowles was a legend for you guys, but had seen his best by the time we got to see him in a Red shirt. Cullip, whilst not particularly good, was the type of player we needed at the time. You must have pissed yourselves laughing when we took Gino Padula off your hands. We've had our fair share of dog shit over the years and he's right up there with the best on that front. As for Hodge, he was a bit of class for us.
It would be easy to pick Stan Bowles as a fav player, but I always thought Gerry Francis was an excellent midfielder and would have done well with us under Cloughie.
What are your past Encounter Memories - Best Memory/Worst Memory of Past Forest-QPR Encounters? Who is your favourite QPR Player over the years? (And your least favourite)? Ditto any view of Neil Warnock?
Best memories are Camp at the City Ground when he went back to you after being here on loan. I'm sure he deliberately had a stinker that day and some would say was even our 12th man. I was at Loftus Road the day we were relegated to L1 and have to say it was one of the sorriest days of my Forest supporting life. We were absolute dog shit and that game was a perfect example of life under Megson. Painful to watch and still painful to think about.
As for Sunday. My main worry is Adel Taarabt. If we can keep him quiet, then I think we'll control the game. It will also be worth keeping an eye on the touchline, because there's no better pair of characters in the game to make sure everyone's on their toes. that could prove as entertaining as the game itself.
Are you happy with how your club treats the fans? Do you think your ticket prices are fair? What other clubs in the Championship (or elsewhere) do you admire/wish Nottingham Foest could emulate? Bottom line: Do those running Nottingham Forest make you proud?
I suppose we get treated much the same as any club treats their fans, which is cough up and shut up from Forest. We pay £27 for a match day ticket, which is pretty expensive in my book to watch football. The stewards at the City Ground are amongst the most over zealous in the land and not just with away fans. NFFC could do a helluva lot more to improve relations with fans, but I dare say the same could be said for many clubs. I can't say there is another club I admire for the way they treat the fans, but the lower down the football ladder you go it does seem to improve. That maybe down to the fact they need your money so much more.
Are you looking forward to playing QPR?
Can't wait for this one to be honest. For some reason, I expect it to be better than the dullfest served up at our place, when we both showed each other too much respect. We're all feeling very confident, as we all should given the position we're both in.
SCORE PREDICTION for QPR-Nottingham Forest?
You wont like this. QPR 1-3 Forest.
Where, realistically, do you think Nottingham Forest will be in five years time?
Impossible to say. I'd like to think we're holding our own in the Prem.
Do you have any advice for QPR fans, in the event that we do go up? (Spend more/spend less; keep the manager; change the manager, etc)
I could ask you the same question. It's been such a long time since we were there and it's changed an awful lot. Love him or loathe him, I'd percevere with Warnock. He has the experience and knows what it takes to survive in that league. The one advantage you do have, is that you will have to spend and if you get there, it's the last of your worries. Isn't it?
Very Many thanks to Vital Nottingham Forest's Guinless.
- FLASHBACK:! Brian Clough's Notorious Fan Hitting at QPR game
David McIntyre Blog - Memory of Harold Winton who died a year ago
Memories of Harold Winton - By davidmcintyre
A year ago tonight I was in a very sombre mood indeed.
I was contacting various people connected with QPR to give them very sad news about Harold Winton’s condition, and asking them to think about what they might like to say the following day when, sadly, I would probably be putting together a tribute to him.
Harold’s sons, Matt and Alex, had agreed that I should do this in preparation for the inevitable news that would follow. Harold had been suffering with cancer for some time.
Perhaps the person most synonymous with the Wintons is Dan Shittu, who was number one on my list that evening. But Shittu was on international duty with Nigeria and I was unable to get hold of him in time.
Shittu later paid his own tribute to Harold, who funded the player’s move to Rangers from Charlton and took a keen interest in his career after that.
Harold also agreed to help Rangers with the signing of Marc Bircham, who was sad to hear the news about him and said some nice words. Nick Blackburn had his differences with Harold while chairman but was sincere in his tribute, as was another former Rangers chairman Bill Power, who had great affection for him.
One person Harold always had a particularly soft spot for was Gary Waddock, who also paid him a nice tribute.
A sign of the esteem Harold was held in was that, after the news that he had passed away, so many others – some of whom I didn’t even know knew Harold so well – were keen to add their own tribute. He was known to many more former QPR players than I realised.
Harold is most known for his involvement in the Doudou, Bircham and Shittu deals, and it’s for those that he was invited to join the board and later given the title of honorary president.
But he also worked tirelessly behind the scenes during some incredibly traumatic times for QPR. I had a ringside seat for the battles that were fought during that awful period, and can vouch for the fact that Harold was at the forefront of the daily fight for the club’s survival.
He was later joined by the likes of Power, Kevin McGrath, Gianni Paladini, Dave Morris and others, but for a time he was the club’s leading firefighter.
Bringing in players was the fun – and the public – part. There was plenty more going on away from all that. There were bills to be paid and battles to be fought.
I liked Harold a lot. I never told him so, because I’d never tell a bigwig at QPR something like that. Plus we had our differences. He would sometimes be unhappy about a story of mine, never more so than one that suggested Ian Holloway was looking to replace Doudou, which Harold took great exception to.
But like Holloway, Harold didn’t tend to bear grudges. On one occasion, in 2006, I was banned from the press area at Loftus Road because of a falling out with the regime. Harold, who was poorly at the time, didn’t know about this and in any case was unhappy with me about something.
When he found out a few weeks later, he insisted that he would “sort it”. I didn’t say at the time because I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but I didn’t want him to get involved, as I was worried this would leave me owing him something. The Wintons are good people, but they knew how and when to call a favour in. I didn’t want to be in that situation.
A few months later, Harold and I had a disagreement over a story I’d done. I waited for him to remind me that I owed him one and was an ungrateful so-and-so, but he never did. Not then, or other times when we were on opposite sides.
He was always fantastic and engaging to speak to. Mad as a hatter at times, often touting some idea he’d come up with, and almost always with a plan to get this or that player to QPR by hook or by crook. The return of Lee Camp, for example, was something he had tried to bring about several times before a deal was eventually done.
There was also conflict. Harold was hugely supportive of Holloway and Paladini, but fell out with them for very different reasons. His relationship with the latter was affected by the boardroom coup of 2005, which Harold was deeply unhappy about. Later, the sale of Dean Parrett and other issues caused real acrimony.
Harold wasn’t perfect but there were some misconceptions about him. More recently, Paulo Sousa’s problematic reign opened many eyes to how the internet can be used to influence opinions. People seem wise to it now. But previously, Harold was a messageboard target in a way that made the Sousa debacle look tame.
For some time there was an implication that, among other things, Harold was responsible for various leaks and negative stories about QPR, was hell-bent on self-promotion, and couldn’t stop talking to the press.
Harold let that go without comment. As did I – the person who wrote 99% of the stories in question, and as such was the only person who knew the truth, while fiction was being presented as fact on messageboards.
It was a sad time. Harold and I had had our differences, but this was a sick and elderly man who’d done a lot for the club and was being demonised unfairly.
Ironically, Harold worked tirelessly to prevent leaks and worked to uphold the club’s reputation at all times. He could talk for England, but was actually very reluctant to comment on anything on the record, and was constantly putting the squeeze on me in various ways to try and prevent things getting into the public domain.
Far from being a sneaky leak, what Harold actually did was take the bull by the horns and speak publicly about something when he felt the need to. But these occasions were in fact very few and far between.
After Harold died it wasn’t appropriate to dwell on these things. But a year on, maybe it’s the right time to reveal that, actually, there were only five occasions when Harold sought publicity. In all five cases he initially tried to get his way via private persuasion.
The first was after the promotion in 2004, when there were divisions behind the scenes and Harold had fears about where things were heading.
The second and third occasions were over attempts to replace Holloway with Ramon Diaz, and later the 2005 boardroom split that led to Power and Mark Devlin being ousted. In both cases Harold was unhappy with me because he felt I should have written something sooner than I did.
The fourth was after Power and Devlin were removed, and Harold was unhappy that Paladini and the Monaco group were in sole control. He took his position as honorary president seriously, and felt that he should say publicly that he was concerned, and pointed to examples at Wimbledon and Stoke of what can happen when a club comes under foreign control.
The fifth and most controversial was Harold’s public call for Holloway to be replaced.
For his role in Holloway’s exit, Harold perhaps won’t be judged favourably by some. But he had his reasons, and it’s also the case that he had fought tooth and nail to keep Holloway in the job on several occasions when he was close to the sack. He had also backed him financially.
Once the club’s president and a former key ally made it known he wanted him out, the game was up for Holloway and he knew it. But that was Harold. One afternoon my phone rang and Harold’s number appeared. I knew from experience it wasn’t a good sign. He said what he had to say about Holloway and told me to do what I wanted with it. I warned him that the fans may never forgive him, sarcastically thanked him for wrecking my relationship with the manager, and that was it. That’s how Harold operated. In that respect he was as far removed from sneaky as you can get, so whispers that he was behind a series of leaks couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Whether he got the Holloway issue right or wrong, one thing is for sure: Harold loved QPR and had its best interests at heart. I also have no doubt that his involvement in Rangers took its toll on him, and on Matt and Alex.
Top of the league and owned by billionaires, it’s easy now to lose sight of what a mess Rangers were in a few years ago, and Harold’s role in getting the club to where it is today.
In May, if Rangers are promoted, Neil Warnock and the players will rightly bask in the glory. So will the owners and board. But Harold will have played his part too.
He was mad, yet when it mattered he was the voice of sanity. That was the great Harold paradox. And no matter how bleak things were – and boy were they bleak at times – Harold always had a Del Boy-like enthusiasm and belief that if we could just get this player or win that battle, then this time next year we’ll be millionaires.
In the end, it turns out he was right.
The likes of Briatore and Ecclestone may not remember him, but that wouldn’t have bothered Harold. He would, though, have wanted to be fondly remembered by QPR fans, who were always most important to him.
And, for what he did for his club during its darkest days, he ought to be remembered. Not just on this, the first anniversary of his passing, but always.
David McIntyre Blog
- Year Flashback: Memories of Harold Winton
QPR ON VIDEO - REPOSTED FROM YESTERDAY
A number of old QPR-related Video clips (mostly not available on youtube)
Click to View
- News Report of Martin Allen Fined after his baby was Born
- Training at Loftus Road: 1948
- News Story: Bruce Rioch in at Loftus Road
- Wilkins as next QPR Manager?
- Brian Clough's Notorious Fan Hitting at QPR game
- QPR's New Artificial Turf
- QPR FA Cup Tie in 1948
- Gordon Jago as Charlton Player receiving a shot
- Mark Dennis sent off vs Spurs
- Venables returns to QPR with Spurs
- Vinnie Jones Sentenced
- Docherty and Vennables Boxing Day
- Video Remembering Dave Clement
QPR In SOME GAMES
- John Byrne winner vs Man Ut
- 1989 Norwich 11
- 1988 West Ham
- Gary Linneker Hatrick for Spurs against QPR
- Arsenal QPR
- QPR Crushing Southampton
- QPR Watford
- QPR Yeovil
- QPR under Harford lose to Oxford
- Chelsea beat QPR at Loftus Road snow
- Spurs beat QPR in 1995 at Loftus Road
- Crowd Trouble versus Portsmouth
- 1986 Beating Liverpool
- Beat Everton 2-0 in 1986
- 1981 Swansea QPR
- First Win on Plastic in First Division
- Reaching League Cup Final with Anfield Draw
- Clive Allen hatrick for Spurs vs QPR
- 1980 West Ham 3 QPR 0
QPR VIDEOS From ITN
- QPR History Update From The Son of The Man Who Built Loftus Road.
- Remembering Andy McCulloch
Flashback: Stan Bowles Makes His QPR Debut Versus Nottingham Forest!
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