Hulse & Smith Join QPR - "Subject to Clearance and Approval From the Football League"...Roberts Maybe Next

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- No QPR Players in Championship Team of The Week! (First time this season)

ROB HULSE

QPR Official Site - EXCLUSIVE: HULSE AGREES DEAL
- Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm a deal has been agreed with Derby County for the signing of Rob Hulse on a three year deal for an undisclosed fee.
- The deal is subject to clearance and approval from the Football League.
- The Club will provide an update on this deal tomorrow (Wednesday). QPR


DERBY COUNTY OFFICIAL SITE - Rob Hulse Statement
- Derby County can confirm that a deal has been agreed in principle for the transfer of Rob Hulse to Queens Park Rangers.
-The deal is subject to approval and clearance from the Football League. Derby


TOMMY SMITH

QPR Official Site - EXCLUSIVE: R'S AGREE SMITH TRANSFER
- Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm a deal has been agreed with Portsmouth for the signing of Tommy Smith on a three year deal for an undisclosed fee.
- The deal is subject to clearance and approval from the Football League.
- The Club will provide an update on this deal tomorrow (Wednesday).
- QPR


Portsmouth Official Site - Smith Joins QPR Subject To Clearance
- Tommy Smith has joined Queens Park Rangers for an undisclosed fee, subject to clearance from the Football League.
- The 30-year-old striker made 22 appearances for Pompey after arriving from Watford last August.
- His only goal for the Blues came in a 3-2 Premier League victory over Hull at Fratton Park back in March.
- Smith began his career at Watford and rejoined the Hornets in 2006 after spells with Sunderland and Derby.
- In his second spell at Vicarage Road he scored 28 goals in 139 appearances. Portsmouth



Dave McIntyre Blog - Two in - and the door's still open

No big surprises on deadline day then with the signings of Tommy Smith and Rob Hulse. But the biggest development – or non-development – of the day could be regarding Jason Roberts.

Unless Roberts got himself a move to a Premier League club very late in the day, he should now be easy enough for Rangers to pick up if they want him.

Much has been made of his supposedly massive wages at Blackburn, but Rangers have always had a fair chance of signing him on a permanent basis, even if it turns out to be on an initial loan deal before an eventual transfer.

The stumbling block has been less about money and more about whether Roberts might get an offer from a Premier League club, which would have made it very difficult for QPR to sign him.

There was some talk of Wigan wanting him back, but that may have been more about him being touted to them. For a player perhaps looking to stay in the top division, trying to hook-in Wigan – a place he knows and is popular from his time there – was an obvious thing to do. But, barring a very late development, it seems they haven’t gone for it.

That potentially leaves Roberts available for a loan move, so I wouldn’t bet against him ending up at Loftus Road one way or another - and still being there at the start of next season.

Hulse is an interesting signing. I’ve always believed Neil Warnock would sign one of Hulse, James Beattie or Darius Henderson before the transfer window closed.

With Beattie having gone elsewhere and Henderson out injured, there was only one of them left as Warnock looked to bring in the target man he’s craved for a long time.

In terms of style, Hulse isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He’s certainly not mine. In terms of substance, he’s definitely a top player by Championship standards. The same can be said of Dave Kitson, who Rangers also asked about.

Hulse has some good attributes and is a goal threat. Derby were always a much better side with him in it. The problem was that injuries meant he was in it pretty rarely.

Rangers say his signing is subject to Football League approval. That should be a formality. I’m not sure why the move went through so late in the day. During the afternoon I even got calls saying there were rumours he’d failed a medical, which was news to me.

I also don’t know why the Smith signing was sorted so late in the day, because during the last few weeks, while Rangers have been linked with loads of players, that one's looked to me to be the easiest of deals for them to do. But no matter, they got there in the end and both transfers should be rubber-stamped when the League open for business tomorrow.

Smith’s a tidy player and a much better signing than Jon Walters would have been in my view.

All in all, Warnock will be pleased with his work. Rangers have signed yet more players – probably enough to tide them over for a whole fortnight – and he’s got the target man he wanted.

Personally I think one of the biggest issues facing Rangers has not been the lack of a big man up front or even an obvious goalscorer, but that the team is possibly a bit one-paced.

I don’t think these signings will do anything to change that, but there’s still the loan market and Rangers being Rangers, there’ll be more players arriving soon. Dave McIntyre Blog


Excerpt from Mihir Bose/Standard Article re Warnock
- "...Warnock has spent around £900,000 although he says: “My budget is a lot more than that.
- “But I doubt if I will spend a lot before the transfer window closes. I think we're going to have to use the loan market until Christmas and then look at exactly what we need.”
- So why has he not spent more? “There are one or two things that are going on behind the scenes which should come to fruition shortly,” he adds in reference to the impending takeover of the club by Bhatia.
“It is a subject Warnock is somewhat reticent about but admits that it has cost him a couple of players."
Despite this Warnock shares Bhatia's ambition to bring Premier League football to Loftus Road.
“Yeah, that's what I said to Amit, I want to try my hardest to get you in the Premier League',” insists Warnock.
“I want to go up this year. I haven't got time on my hands to wait two or three years.
“I wanted to retire at 55. Now at 61 with two young kids, I want to spend a bit of time with them. And I hope it's with QPR.”


Complete Standard/Mihir Bose Article - London is perfect for my family, says Neil Warnock
- There is one only weakness that Neil Warnock readily confesses to as he makes me a brew at his home in Richmond. “I only use one teabag, just dip it in mine, then my wife has it.”

It is not the only thing that Warnock shares with his family, who remain the most important part of his hectic life.

The manager is widely seen as one of the most controversial in the English game with a career littered with clashes with opposing players, managers and referees, yet he smiles as he says: “I tell my children they must have good manners. I'm okay except between five to three and 10 to five during a game. Then somebody else takes over. People say why don't you change? But it's difficult to at my age. To be successful I have to be what I am.”

Yet Warnock has changed. He may still look for his home town Sheffield United's result first but now, he insists: “I absolutely love London. I never thought I'd ever say that.

“I used to think you needed a passport to go south of Watford. But when I came to London the people were fantastic, so good, right down to earth, my kind of people. Palace and QPR fans have been fantastic. I see a lot of rival fans in London every time I go out but it is all good banter.”

Part of this zeal for the capital comes because his family, both his second wife Sharon and his two children William and Amy, feel very at home in their rented Richmond house.

“In 20 minutes we are walking around Covent Garden and it is just lovely,” he says. “The park is just round the corner. We bike round it for two hours three or four times a week, it's absolutely fabulous.”

This means a lot for the nomadic 61- year-old — QPR being his 12th club as a manager, having started with Gainsborough Trinity back in 1980 — because of the disruption it has meant for his family.

“My son William is only nine but he's had four public schools so far, one in Cornwall, one when I was at Sheffield, one in Beckenham when I was at Palace,” he adds. “Then, coming here after moving to QPR, William went to Kings House, his first all boys' school. I felt so sorry for him the first day. There he was in his new uniform with his bag and the tears were flooding down his cheeks. But he's such a fighter, within two days he was fine and he loves it.

“People just do not realise what a football life can be. Since 1968 I've never had more than a few weeks out of work, when I left Sheffield United and I have not had a Christmas.”

All this makes him very keen that William should not follow him into a football career. “No, a cricketer, maybe a golfer,” hopes Warnock. “He's a good batsman, a decent off spinner and a good golfer. It really bugs me, he beats me at golf, it's embarrassing really. But he is such a bad loser, he takes after me.”

His family is so important to Warnock that he took them along for his interview with Queens Park Rangers vice-chairman Amit Bhatia.

“Yeah, Sharon and William went with me. And, during the two hours at Amit's house, he didn't just interview me, I interviewed him as well. It was a joint interview.”

Warnock's departure from Palace was marked by much acrimony with chairman Simon Jordan calling him “disloyal” and the club's administrator alleging Warnock did not have the “stomach for the fight”.

“I don't really take much notice of people like him [the administrator], they don't know anything about football.” His view of Jordan is different. “Simon's comments hurt me deeply,” he reveals. “In the two-and-a-half years I was there, I never said anything about the board not giving me any money.

“You pick the paper up and you read these managers saying, I need three more players and they've got to give me some funds'. But that's has never been my scene.

“Simon apologised to me once. He said, I haven't been able to give you the money that I've given some of the other managers'. And the last 15 months at Palace were as hard as I have ever worked in my career. The situation gradually got worse and Simon didn't know half the things that we had to cope with behind the scenes because the money was not there. I never told him as he had his hands full trying to save the club.

“But he is still the best chairman I've ever had and Sharon loves him as well. People who don't know him think he is arrogant, always in Spain, tanned and all that. But when you know him, he's soft, the most kind person you can meet and like a younger brother.”

There are no such sentiments for Kevin McCabe, the Sheffield United chairman who claimed he regretted letting Warnock manage the club in the top flight after they were relegated from the Premier League in 2007.

“McCabe was not only disrespectful but he ignored what I'd done, building the club following up from 8,000 to 25,000 fans and leaving them with a good training ground and academy instead of the botched-up one they had. That cost £5.5million and other managers would have used that money to buy players. I got 38 points that year in the Premier League.

“That, and my evidence to the commission helped the club get £25m from West Ham over the Carlos Tevez affair. I had a staying-up bonus in my contract. He hasn't even considered paying it or given me a word of thanks. So my allegiance is gone from there.”

The animosity between the two is now so sharp that Warnock believes that QPR's victory at United two weeks ago led to the manager Kevin Blackwell losing his job.

“If it hadn't been my team he wouldn't have gone. The chairman didn't like me winning three-nil.”

The other person who will never get a Christmas card from Warnock is Graham Poll, whose refereeing of Sheffield United's 2003 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal led to a Warnock outburst and a £3,000 fine.

“I got upset because Poll should've got out the way of Michael Tonge,” he recalls. “The lad was making a straightforward pass to one of our lads in midfield and this referee runs in his way, knocks him over and the ball goes to the Arsenal lad who carries on playing, crosses it and they score. That was the winning goal. For a top referee his positioning was a disgrace. He could've stopped the game. The worst thing was at half-time Graham Poll is laughing his head off coming off the pitch.”

Warnock had to wait three years for his revenge. Then during the 2006 World Cup he got a call from a friend, “You'll never believe it, Poll has just given three yellow cards'. I've got to say it was one of my happiest days.”

But for Warnock real happiness will come, and pain of relegation with Sheffield United cease, when he fulfils his one remaining ambition — to become a Premier League manager again.
And with unbeaten QPR top of the Championship, the moment must be approaching soon.

“No,” argues Warnock. “We have exceeded expectations. We've had seven new players and as any manager will tell you it takes a couple of months to bed them in.

“We're nowhere near a top of the League side. We are really only a sixth to 10th position team with the people we've got. We've got so few forwards. If we lost two then we're right down to the bare knuckle. By Christmas, you'll see who the top sides are and I'd be very surprised if we are top then.”

By then he expects Cardiff, Middlesbrough and Ipswich to be near the top. “Cardiff have just got all the money haven't they? Bellamy, Boothroyd, Chopra, Koumas, they've got so many good forwards, seven or eight. And Middlesbrough have spent nearly £10million.”

Warnock has spent around £900,000 although he says: “My budget is a lot more than that.

“But I doubt if I will spend a lot before the transfer window closes. I think we're going to have to use the loan market until Christmas and then look at exactly what we need.”

So why has he not spent more? “There are one or two things that are going on behind the scenes which should come to fruition shortly,” he adds in reference to the impending takeover of the club by Bhatia.

“It is a subject Warnock is somewhat reticent about but admits that it has cost him a couple of players."

Despite this Warnock shares Bhatia's ambition to bring Premier League football to Loftus Road.
“Yeah, that's what I said to Amit, I want to try my hardest to get you in the Premier League',” insists Warnock.

“I want to go up this year. I haven't got time on my hands to wait two or three years.

“I wanted to retire at 55. Now at 61 with two young kids, I want to spend a bit of time with them. And I hope it's with QPR.” QPR