QPR's Win at Luton - Further Reports & Comments

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Sunday Times - Alex Fortune
Luton 2 QPR 3: Newell wants ban on women

Mike Newell launched a scathing attack on assistant referee Amy Rayner and said female officials should be banned from the game after his team’s defeat by QPR at Kenilworth Road. The Luton manager said that the presence of Rayner — in her second year as an official — amounted simply to tokenism and political correctness.
He said: “She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that.
“We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom. It is beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble. It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems.
“This is Championship football. It is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots.”
QPR defender Marcus Bignot, who used to manage the Birmingham women’s team, attacked Newell for his remarks.
The Luton boss believed his team should have been awarded a penalty when Carlos Edwards tangled with Bignot, but the QPR man insisted Rayner and referee Andy D’Urso had made the right decision.
Bignot said: “Comments like those will stop female officials from trying to make their way in the game. Amy Rayner is a role model, and full credit goes to her. What would he have said if it had been a male assistant referee making that decision? “It’s easy to blame officials, and Mike Newell is entitled to his opinion, but remarks like that do not help the game.”
Rayner was not Newell’s only target. Chairman Bill Tomlins also came under attack from his manager, who believes the club have gone backwards since Tomlins took over two years ago. With a proposed move to a new stadium sseemingly stalled, Newell said the chairman would soon be leaving Luton.
“I have not spoken to the chairman for month,” he said. “I can’t understand what he is doing. The club has gone backwards off the pitch. He has not made any decisions, and he has contributed nothing. Everything he has got involved in he has messed up. I am not considering my own future because, apparently, he is going. I will not suffer fools. I never have and I never will. When people give you bulls**t for two years, I can’t suffer it. There are players out of contract at the end of the season, but nothing is being done.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly since Luton also run a women’s team and have a female secretary in Cherry Newbery, Newell’s remarks were omitted from the club website last night.
QPR boss John Gregory declined to attend the post-match press conference, despite his team’s victory.
Rangers had trailed 2-1 at the break after stoppage-time goals from Adam Boyd and Ahmet Brkovic had cancelled out Jimmy Smith’s opener — his fifth since his loan move from Chelsea — for the visitors.
But an own goal from Markus Heikkinen in the 51st minute brought Rangers level, and Dexter Blackstock struck the winning goal three minutes later.
This win extended Rangers’ unbeaten run to four matches and eased their relegation worries, but these are difficult times for Luton, who have conceded 17 goals in their past five games in all competitions.
Star Man: Dexter Blackstock (QPR)
Player ratings. Luton: Brill 6, Foley 6, Barnett 6, Heikkinen 5, Emanuel 6, Edwards 6, Robinson 6 (Morgan 85min, 5), Bell 6, Brkovic 7, Vine 6 (Feeney 85min, 5), Boyd 6
QPR: Royce 6, Mancienne 6, Rehman 6, Stewart 6, Bignot 6, Ainsworth 6, Bailey 6, Smith 8, Cook 6, Blackstock 7 (Gallen 80min, 5, Ward 89min, 5), Nygaard 6
Scorers: Luton: Brrkovic 45, Boyd 45
QPR: Smith 33, Heikkinen og 51, Blackstock 54
Referee: A D’Urso
Attendance: 9,007
Sunday Times

Sunday People/Chris Davies report
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QPR: Royce 6 - Mancienne 6, Rehman 6, Stewart 7, Bignot 7 - Ainsworth 6, *SMITH 8, Bailey 6, Cook 6 - Blackstock 6, (Gallen, 80mins' Ward, 89mins), Nygaard 7.
People

Luton Rivals/Dan Collier - Match Report
Rivals