QPR's Search For a Striker....Magilton Remains Positive About QPR

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Dave McIntyre/BBC 606 - QPR's search for a striker
- Would either of these men be the solution to Rangers’ supposed need for a goalscorer?
- Malta international Michael Mifsud (right) is a free agent after being released by Coventry at the end of last season, while former Watford and Sheffield United striker Danny Webber (left) is also without a club.
- Mifsud, 28, has been offered a trial by QPR but seemingly has other options lined up.
- Webber, still only 27, has Championship experience but - despite showing glimpses of real quality - has flattered to deceive during his career and had various injury problems before leaving Sheffield United this summer.
- Many Rangers fans seem convinced that signing (yet another) striker has to be a priority for the club, who for its part have made numerous attempts to sign a forward.
- This week Rangers made an enquiry about Jermaine Beckford, but Leeds do not want to sell. One or two clubs went a step further and made an actual bid for the player, and they too were given short shrift.
- Enquiries have previously been made about Portsmouth’s David Nugent, who is apparently not keen on the move.
- Ched Evans was a long-time target for Rangers and many other clubs.
- But for players who already have reputations, the likes of Sheffield United are currently a much better proposition than QPR, who are constantly barking up the wrong tree in the belief that they can attract top players because of the wages they offer.
- A year or so of stability and giving the impression of being a well-run club might put QPR in a position to attract that kind of player in the not too distant future.
- But then again, it would probably also make Rangers capable of spotting emerging players rather than chasing ones who have gone elsewhere, done well and, as a result, would cost big money.
- Before last January’s transfer window, I thought Scunthorpe’s Gary Hooper might be one such player. His value has since shot up, partly because his club managed to get promoted.
- After Rangers belatedly had him watched, it was decided he wasn’t as good as Simon Cox, who joined West Brom from Swindon after QPR had failed with a £1.5m bid for him.
- Other strikers were targeted - including Leroy Lita, who also wasn’t interested – and reserve forwards from top Premier League clubs like Manchester United's Danny Wellbeck were wanted on loan.
- Targets have almost always been players who are well known or have already started to make a name for themselves – the type of fringe player who would be known to anyone who tuned into Match of the Day on a Saturday night.
- Competition for these players is always fierce and other clubs are better placed than QPR to snap them up.
- All this, plus of course the sale of Dexter Blackstock, has left them considering their options ahead of the transfer deadline.
- One of those options – assuming Watford’s Tommy Smith doesn’t choose QPR over the other clubs interested in him – is now to look at someone like Mifsud, who has scored goals at Championship level and would not cost a fee.
- While Rangers have made contact with Mifsud, the only club that seems to have expressed a firm interest in Webber is Swansea.
- For some time now I’ve thought that if he could prove his fitness (a pre-requisite QPR must not compromise on for any player), then Rangers should seriously look into signing Webber, if only as a worthwhile squad player rather than the goalscorer many fans are crying out for.
- Like his scoring record, Webber’s form in recent seasons has been patchy to put it politely. Perhaps he will never fulfil the potential he showed soon after moving from Manchester United to Watford, where he was an instant hit and tore QPR to shreds at Vicarage Road five years ago.
- He is unlikely to be a 20-goal forward but for a club not blessed with out-and-out strikers, he could be worth a go.
- Unless injuries have taken their toll, he has pace and is still young enough to get his career back on track.
- He has shown talent and goalscoring ability earlier in his career and given his current situation, he would in some ways be a no-risk signing.
- Rangers have certainly taken worse gambles on players in recent years.
- Mifsud, too, has faded having previously shown he can score goals at Championship level. And like Webber, he is blessed with raw pace.
- But if he will not even take up the offer of a trial, then that one’s dead in the water.
- As recently as the season before last, Mifsud netted 17 goals – including braces against Manchester United and Blackburn in cup matches - and came second to Jay Tabb for Coventry’s player of the year award.
- But only 11 of those goals were in the league, with nine of them coming before Christmas 2007. After that he went on a long run without a goal.
- Still, just a year ago he was to join Bristol City for £1.5m – a sign of the player’s ability and true market value.
- But City boss Gary Johnson pulled out of the deal, criticising his attitude and saying: "I will not sign people who aren't the right personality.”
- Johnson, who had also stalled over the signing of another player, added at the time: "If the fans were with me when I talked to our last two targets they'd have agreed - leave them and look for the next one."
- Rangers' problem is that they've been continually looking at the next one for a long time.
- And as their options decrease, the chances of them signing someone for the sake it increase - and that could be a costly mistake.
- One option could be to consider one of numerous players Rangers have been offered in the last 12 months and decided they didn’t want.
- Marcus Bent, for example, is surplus to requirements at Birmingham and QPR were given the chance to sign him last season, but were not interested.
- It may be that the kind of striker many fans want simply isn't available.
- But if Jim Magilton were to pull a rabbit out of the hat at this point, his job security and chances of building something at QPR would probably increase 10-fold.BBC


QPR Official Site - GAFFER: LET'S GET THE BALL ROLLING
- Jim Magilton is adamant victory against Nottingham Forest tomorrow (Saturday) will set the ball rolling on the R's Championship challenge.
- Rangers have played some fantastic football during the opening fortnight of the campaign, but have taken just two points from a possible nine.
- Yet despite that statistic, the R's gaffer is confident his charges are on the verge of kick-starting their season against Billy Davies' side.
- "One win will get the ball rolling, I'm confident about that," he told www.qpr.co.uk.
- "I think I've seen enough in the games so far to suggest we're a very good, improving side.
- "If we can take the lead and go on and enforce the game on the opposition, we won't be too far wrong.
- "It's a results driven business, I know that, but for three games so far the margins between a win, a draw and a defeat have been very, very small."
- Magilton, who is again set to be without skipper Martin Rowlands for the visit of The Reds to Loftus Road, added: "We're all going through a learning process - every minute of every day we're learning things about each other.
- "They're getting to know what I demand of them and vice-versa.
- "We've got to stay positive and we'll be going all-out for the victory." QPR

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