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- VOTE for the Best QPR Fanzine, Blog, Editor, Writer. (Voting Ends Friday)
- Visit the "Boutique" QPR Report Messageboard. With a focus solely on QPR and football (no politics; no world affairs; no "social/cultural" discussion permitted); and with an abundance of posted articles ("Macmoish-style") including today: The Morgan Twins Remembered and Paul Furlong Update; this messageboard aspires to be different (as suggested by the Messageboard's Honorary Moderators). Visit the board. Judge for yourself! All perspectives welcome! [Brief, one-time Registration required to post).
- No Arrivals or Departures: Messageboard predictions and rumours notwithstanding, there were no QPR Players signed or sold yesterday at transfer deadline arrived.
- Not noted elsewhere (including the Official Site): QPR's Damien Delaney made the Football League Championship Team of the Week.
No QPR Goal in the top 20 goals of 2008 (but one scored AGAINST QPR!)
Football League - TOP 20 GOALS OF 2008 REVEALED
- Soccer AM have revealed the top 20 Football League goals of 2008 and are now giving viewers the chance to vote for their favourite goal to help them narrow down the selection to five shortlisted goals. The scorer of the winning goal will be presented with the Mitre Goal of the Year Award at the 2009 Football League Awards.
- All 72 Football League clubs were asked to submit their best goal of 2008. These have been reduced to the following 20 contenders - to vote for your favourite please visit www.socceram.com/top20goals
1 Ched Evans (Norwich City) v Cardiff City
2. Darren Carter (Preston North End) v Leicester City
3. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers) v Charlton Athletic
4. Jamie Ward (Chesterfield) v Shrewsbury Town
5. Stephen Gleeson (Stockport County) v Wycombe Wanderers
6. Nicky Bailey (Charlton Athletic) v Wolverhampton Wanderers
7. Albert Adomah (Barnet) v Morecambe
8. Kevin Ellison (Chester City) v Grimsby Town
9. Adam Lallana (Southampton) v Queens Park Rangers
10. Ferrie Bodde (Swansea City) v Preston North End
11. Drewe Broughton (Rotherham United) v Bury
12. Kalifa Cissé (Reading) v Bristol City
13. Jo Kuffour (Bristol Rovers) v Leicester City
14. Jordan Stewart (Derby County) v Sheffield Wednesday
15. Adam Boyd (Leyton Orient) v Crewe Alexandra
16. Paddy McCarthy (Crystal Palace) v Derby County
17. Darren Anderton (AFC Bournemouth) v Chester City
18. Joe Garner (Nottingham Forest) v Southampton
19. Martin Woods (Doncaster Rovers) v Nottingham Forest
20. Grant Holt (Shrewsbury Town) v Rochdale
- Alongside the vote, visitors to the Soccer AM website also have the chance to win a pair of tickets to the ceremony, which takes place at the prestigious Grosvenor House on Park Lane on Sunday 29th March 2009. Awards will be presented to winners across 20 categories . Football League
- re Sousa's Nomination of Championship Manager of the Month: Winner will be announced on Thursday
Football League - THE CHAMPIONSHIP NOMINEES IN PROFILE
- Chris Kamara and his fellow panel members will face a tough task when they have to choose their winners of the Coca-Cola Manager of the Month awards for January.
- First up we'll look at the nominees from the Championship where it has been another excellent month of action but there has been a shift in power over the last few weeks with no Mick McCarthy, Alex McLeish or Steve Coppell amongst the nominees.
Dave Jones heads the list after seeing his side go through January unbeaten and that includes an FA Cup tie against Arsenal!
The month started with a 1-0 win over Plymouth Argyle before the Bluebirds progressed in the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Reading. A 1-1 draw at Birmingham City followed, before the FA Cup draw with Arsenal at The Emirates Stadium. The month ended with a 2-0 win at Coventry City which sent City up to fourth in the table.
Jim Magilton's Ipswich Town are another team who have been in good form since the turn of the year, winning two and drawing two of their four games. Their wins have come at Crystal Palace and Barnsley, while home games against Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth ended in draws. They also beat Chesterfield in the FA Cup before bowing out at Stamford Bridge, losing 3-1 against Chelsea.
Paulo Sousa is up for his first managerial award in England after seeing his Queens Park Rangers side go unbeaten throughout January, winning two and drawing two, while they also progressed in the FA Cup, beating Burnley in a replay. In the league a 1-1 draw against Coventry was followed by wins at Derby County (2-0) and Blackpool (3-0) before ending the month with a 0-0 draw at home to Reading.
The final nominee in the Championship is Swansea boss Roberto Martinez whose side who finished the month with five wins and one draw.League wins against Burnley, Reading and Preston, were followed by a 2-2 draw at Southampton on Saturday. While in the FA Cup the Swans won at Histon before knocking out the holders Portsmouth on their own turf.
We'll take a closer look at the League 1 nominees on Tuesday and don't forget the winners will be announced on Sky Sports News from 1.20pm on Thursday.
- Emanuel Ledesma's Supposed QPR Departure has been noted by posters on various QPR Board (including QPR Report Messageboard). This now from Vital Football QPR - "Ledesma on the Move?" from an Italian newspaper.
As noted yesterday:
QPR Official Site: Vine Given All Clear
- R's front-man Rowan Vine has today (Monday) been given the all-clear by the specialists to resume full training.
- The 26 year-old, who fractured his leg during a freak training ground incident at the end of last season, has suffered a frustrating waiting game over the last few months, but today's news is a huge step in the right direction, as Head Physio, Paul Hunter, explained. "This is great news for Rowan and the Club," Hunter told www.qpr.co.uk. "The final X-Rays showed a fully healed tibia and he will resume full training as and when we see fit over the coming weeks."If Rowan shows the same effort and desire he's shown over the last few months, I am in no doubt that he will be back and available for selection soon." QPR
- QPR Youth Going Abroad: QPR's Italian Viareggio World Cup Tournament Schedule
- Ex-QPR Defender Darren Peacock, Turns 41: Born February 3, 1968. - Signed by Don Howe/Bobby Gould from Hereford in December 1990 for 200,000 pounds. Sold to Newcastle by Gerry Francis (Richard Thompson!)in March 1994- almost fifteen years ago! - for £2,700,000. Career - Peacock/Wikipedia
- Dani Parejo Update:
Real Madrid Official Site - Real Madrid return home after the Christmas break to host Villarreal in matchday 18 of La Liga. Huntelaar and Lass may see their first action as the newest members of the squad, while Dani Parejo is unavailable after spraining his knee in training. The two title candidates are tied in points in the league table.
- Real Madrid kick off the new year by hosting Villarreal on Sunday at 17:00 CET. The Whites hope to extend their win streak after knocking off Valencia in the final match of 2008.
- Dani Parejo was a last minute scratch after spraining his knee in training. Gonzalo Higuaín is also out battling a bout of tonsilitis, and Miguel Torres will remain home with the flu. Jordi Codina, Marcelo and Javi García were not included on the squad list, but Lass and Huntelaar may be given the green light to debut as Madridistas...Real Madrid
Goal.com -Real Madrid Register Lassana Diarra For Champions League
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will not be playing in the Champions League this season as Real Madrid have chosen Lassana Diarra...
Real Madrid have made their choice for the Champions League this season and Lassana Diarra will be the one who plays, rather than Klass-Jan Huntelaar.
Following the deadline on Sunday, UEFA have announced that the midfielder has been chosen by Madrid, and Huntelaar is not in the squad.
The Spanish club were told by the European governing body that they were not allowed to include both in the squad, as this was against the rules.
Despite the fact that Madrid launched plenty of appeals to try and reverse the decision, they were not successful, and Huntelaar, who said recently he knew nothing about the laws, will not now play.
One man who will be playing though is Julien Faubert, who has joined Real Madrid this weekend on loan, and is in the Champions League squad.
Faubert has joined from West Ham until the end of the season, with an option to buy for Real Madrid after that.
A surprise inclusion in the squad is youngster Adam Szalai, Hungarian reserve team player, who apparently has a bright future at Real Madrid.
Mahamdou Diarrá, Rubén De La Red and Ruud Van Nistelrooy are all not in the squad due to injuries, whlst Dani Parejo has reportedly been called into the Real Madrid B team.
The youngster returned from a loan spell at Queens Park Rangers early last year, but is yet to play for the club. Goal.com
DANNY DICHIO INTERVIEW
Joe O'Connor, National Post (Canada)- Dichio happy to finally call Toronto home
'My Future Is Here'; Hopes to coach in North America when he retires
Those "ice-hockey guys" really know how to skate. Danny Dichio understands that now. He did not always. Really, how hard could it be?
- "I think the term is Bambi on ice," Toronto FC's veteran striker says with a smile, recalling his initial effort. "It is a lot harder than I thought, and I give a lot of credit to those ice guys -- them ice-hockey guys -- the way they skate around on the rink."
- To be truthful, Dichio is not all that crazy about hockey. He does not watch it on television. Being from England, he does not get it the way most Canadians do.
- He and his wife, Claire, and their three kids have been skiing at Blue Mountain near Collingwood. They have embraced most things Canadian. Dichio even bought himself a proper winter coat -- something he did not do last winter -- plus boots and a toque, because Toronto is not just the place where he works: It's home now. Dichio hopes it will be for a long time yet.
- "My future is here," the TFC forward said yesterday at the first day of training camp at BMO Field. "We got our Permanent Residence [application] accepted, and as a family, we were really happy with that. We have done all our medicals, so we can't be kicked out of the country."
- John Carver, TFC's coach, duly noted the change in his fellow Brit and started "taking the Mick" out of Dichio, and calling him a "proper Canadian" when he saw the 6-foot-5 soccer giant clad in full winter garb.
- "That's one of the reasons we came over as a family," Dichio says. "It wasn't only just for the soccer, it was a new life."
- It was a family adventure with a soccer theme. Major League Soccer is often where European playing careers come to die. Superstars do not move to North America in their prime. They come to play out the string, and Dichio, who started his time with Queens Park Rangers in England's Premier League in 1993, was no different than the rest when he showed up at TFC's maiden training camp in 2007.
- But a funny thing happened on the way to the scrap heap. On May 12, 2007, Dichio scored the first goal in TFC franchise history. Ever since then, the team's boisterously vocal fans have been serenading him with the Danny Dichio Song at the 23:13 mark of every game.
- Dichio, like Doug Ault, the late Toronto Blue Jays first baseman who swatted the first two home runs in franchise history, etched his name in TFC lore with one swift kick. And no matter what the future holds, the 34-year-old Londoner will always be TFC's first true hero.
- Dichio says coming to Toronto has been like a "second breath" to his career. But now, coming off a season where he suffered a concussion and seriously contemplated retirement, Dichio may be down to his last gasp.
- "I spoke to players and I spoke to coaches back home in England, and they said you will regret when you retire too young," he said. "While you still got a bit of life in your legs, you got to keep on playing."
- Dichio hopes to coach in North America after his playing days are over. Maybe even in Toronto. It is not the English Premiership. But it is home.
- "We have family coming over from England, and they say what a wonderful life we have got over here, and we appreciate that we have got this now, and we don't want to take it for granted," Dichio says. "My family keep calling me back home, and they'll say, 'You're an immigrant!' and there is nothing wrong with being an immigrant, nothing wrong with it." National Post
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