Derby Confirm Bolder Transfer...Ian Evatt Critiques John Gregory...Birthdays for Ex-QPR Mark Stein & Steve Yates

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Derby Official - BOLDER FOR QPR
Derby County midfielder Adam Bolder is to join Coca-Cola Championship side Queens Park Rangers today.
The 26-year-old has agreed personal terms at Loftus Road and will put pen to paper on a permanent move to West London for an undisclosed fee.
He will be re-united with former Derby boss John Gregory, who saw Bolder as an intergral part of his team during the 2002/03 season following relegation from the Premiership.
Bolder joined the Rams from Hull City - who had also expressed an interest in re-signing him - in March 2000, and has made more appearances for Derby than any other member of the current squad.
In all competitions Bolder made 121 starts, 60 substitute appearances, and scored 11 goals. Derby Official

IAN EVATT The Times Evatt proves to be Wise signing Ian Whittell
Blackpool 1 Norwich City 1
"...Meagre amenities notwithstanding, the 9,491 supporters on hand played their part in making this tie a competitive and entertaining affair. As did Ian Evatt, the Blackpool central defender. Badly at fault in failing to clear for Darren Huckerby’s opening goal for Norwich City in the first half, the 25-year-old, who was recently signed permanently from Queens Park Rangers after joining Blackpool on loan in the summer, rose magnificently to meet David Fox’s 52nd-minute free kick and head a deserved equaliser for the Coca-Cola League One club.
Evatt personifies the resurgence of Blackpool, who have reached the fifth round only once in the past 48 years. Simon Grayson, the club’s promising young manager, and Valeri Belokon, the millionaire owner from Latvia, have helped to revitalise the club using many players who, like Evatt, were unwanted elsewhere. “QPR bought my contract out at the start of January, I’d had a good loan spell here and was more than happy to sign,” Evatt said. “But I was disappointed and felt let down a bit by how QPR treated me, especially towards the end.
“You just have to hold your head up and keep battling away and I’ve proved today I can play at Championship level, most of the lads have done. Going for promotion, as we are, that has got to give you confidence...”
Times

Dail Mail Leveller Evatt sends message to Gregory - By COLIN WOOD - Blackpool 1 Norwich 1
Ian Evatt clearly hopes his rescue act for Blackpool will come to the attention of Queens Park Rangers manager John Gregory and everyone at Loftus Road.
Norwich already know to their cost that they should have paid him more attention in a tie at Bloomfield Road which demonstrated that the FA Cup doesn't have to feature the glamour teams to be exciting.
Ian Evatt clearly hopes his rescue act for Blackpool will come to the attention of Queens Park Rangers manager John Gregory and everyone at Loftus Road....
The visitors also had reason to be grateful to Evatt for the defensive mistake that helped set up Darren Huckerby to shoot the opener after the three minutes added by referee Chris Foy had already been played at the end of the first half.
But seven minutes into the second period, they were cursing Evatt as he went forward to head the equaliser.
The tall, 25-year-old central defender feels he has no cause to be grateful to Gregory and QPR, who paid him off before he made his loan to Blackpool a permanent move this month.
Evatt played under Gregory for more than a year at Derby and admitted that he felt his old boss had treated him with "a lack of common courtesy".
Speaking of the latest parting, Evatt said: "He got sacked at Derby while I was there. Having known him a while it's disappointing that I didn't even get a phone call. I felt let down, the way I was treated at QPR towards the end. A few players will say the same thing. I did not speak to John Gregory, full stop."
But after netting his first goal for Blackpool - "the most important I've ever scored" - he doesn't intend to let that bitterness stop him enjoying his time ahead.His sights are set on promotion to the Championship and a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup - a stage the club last reached 17 years ago.
"I think I've proved against Norwich that I can play at Championship level and I think most of the lads have, as well," he said. "It will be nice to play on a better surface in the replay at Carrow Road. We've got some good footballers who like to pass the ball. We have to go there, test ourselves and see where we go."...
Mail

Guardian -Evatt settles the scores of a season Louise Taylor at Bloomfield Road
At half-time Ian Evatt felt absolutely wretched. The Blackpool centre-half had just made a hash of an attempted clearance and presented Darren Huckerby with a goal that, rather against the run of play, put Norwich ahead.
As Simon Grayson, Blackpool's manager, offered consolation, Evatt was probably imagining the expression on John Gregory's face when the QPR manager watched television highlights of his gaffe. "I hold my hands up for the goal but I'm proud of my defending and knew I just had to go back out and play my game," explained a man badly bruised by the way Gregory bundled him out of Loftus Road, but who exorcised his frustration by meeting David Fox's floated free-kick and heading a deserved second-half equaliser.
It earned Grayson's attractive League One side a replay but afterwards Blackpool's villain-turned-hero displayed greater enthusiasm for deconstructing Gregory than discussing the rematch. "I was bitterly disappointed by the way it ended at QPR; I felt a bit let down," said Evatt, who joined Blackpool, where he spent the early part of the season on loan, for nothing this month after QPR terminated his contract. "I didn't get one phone call from anyone at QPR to explain what was happening. And John Gregory didn't speak to me, full stop. That hurt but I've just got to hold my head up and try and get back into the Championship with Blackpool," added the 25-year-old who, although already borrowed by Grayson when Gregory took charge at Loftus Road, believed their earlier association at Derby County entitled him to a debrief, if not a second chance.
Things went badly wrong for the centre-half almost from the moment QPR's former manager, Ian Holloway, paid Chesterfield £150,000 for him and said he was the club's "new Glenn Roeder". Evatt's decent distribution failed to compensate for a lack of pace and a string of mishaps. Grayson, though, detected potential and Evatt has vindicated this by playing an important role in Blackpool's emergence as promotion contenders....
"We're disappointed not to have won," admitted Evatt. "But we'll enjoy the replay. The lads here all love the FA Cup; it definitely hasn't lost its shine for us." Guardian

Evatt - Telegraph Evatt proves worth to Blackpool peers - By Peter Gardner
Iain Evatt summed up the spirit when he declared: "These lads just don't know when they are beaten. We are on a great run in the league and go into every game expecting to win."
Evatt, initially on loan from Queens Park Rangers but secured permanently earlier this month, was punished for his injury-time error that enabled Darren Huckerby to give Norwich a half-time advantage. Evatt atoned seven minutes into the second period, his powerful header following David Fox's free kick evading visiting goalkeeper David Marshall, who kept his team in the competition with splendid saves in his first game of a loan-spell from Celtic.
Evatt admitted: "I hold up my hands for their goal. But my equaliser was the most important goal I have ever scored."
Evatt, who felt let down by his treatment from QPR, added: "Hopefully I'll get back to the Championship with Blackpool. I think I proved against Norwich that I can play at that level as most of the lads have and this type of performance will give us a lot more confidence." Telegraph

BIRTHDAYS: Steve Yates and Mark Stein

STEVE YATES TURNS 37
Steve Yates - Born January 29, 1970. Signed by Gerry Francis from Brisol Rovers as a replacement for Darren Peacock. Spent several years with QPR - Yates

Mark Stein Turns 40
Signed by Jim Smith in 1988 from Luton for 300,000 pounds (at the same time Simon Barker joined QPR) Played for QPR from 1988-1989. Was a great scorer for subsequent clubs Stoke and Chelsea!
Stein Stein