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- Premiership Attendances Up
- New FIFA Rules re Transfers
- Sheffield Wednesday in Big Trouble (Again)
- One Year Ago: Report that Amit Bhatia Prepared to Take Over
- Three Years Ago: John Gregory's Last Game in Charge
- Five Years Ago, Chairman Paladini Profiled (and seperately, Chairman Paladini Threatens Legal Action vs Evening Standard)
- Thirteen Years Ago: QPR Manager Stuart Houston Wins "Manager of The Month"
- Akos Buzsaky NOT Included in the Hungarian Squad for the 2012 Qualifying Games
- The Stan Bowles Quiz
- QPR Video from September 1972: Just two weeks after Stan Bowles Joined QPR, showing his brilliance
- "Leaders in Football" Conference Details
- "Wages" of a Football Administrator!
Southwark News/Jim Lucas - TRAVELLING LIONS BACKED
- 30 September 2010
- MILLWALL CHIEF Executive Andy Ambler has backed Lions fans following reported violence before, during and after the draw at Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday night.
- Media stories immediately after the game reported that police had made eleven arrests at the fixture, as well as publishing reports of two stabbings that remained unconfirmed as of yesterday afternoon.
- Want to read more? click to read our Southwark News digital edition
Southwark News
Herald Scotland/Richard Wilson - QPR’s Jamie Mackie ticks the right boxes for Craig Levein
Jamie Mackie will consider these rich days of acclaim as the return for some hard hours lost to the toil of his career.
He has been irrepressible since moving to Queens Park Rangers last summer and the latest reward, beyond the goals and the sense of esteem, is likely to be a call-up to Craig Levein’s Scotland squad today.
Although born in Surrey, Mackie qualifies through a grandfather from Kilmarnock. The goals – eight in nine Championship matches – are the flourish to a talent that has always been firmly earnest and gritty.
At 5ft 8in, Mackie is not physically imposing and managers have often demanded that he attack from wide positions, but his application is unstinting. Quick and industrious, the 25-year-old is a tireless figure and will bring the qualities that Levein so prizes of workrate and commitment.
“He’s hard-working, a good professional, doesn’t drink, takes good rest. Just because he works so hard, he’s getting better and better every year,” says Mathias Doumbe, the former Hibernian defender who played with Mackie at Plymouth Argyle, his previous club. “The supporters loved him, because at Plymouth they really like players who work hard for the team. I knew he would score goals this season. Knowing him and how he works, he can be a really big asset for Scotland. He’s quite young, so in two or three years he can be a really good player.”
Mackie’s scoring record this season is impressive and he struck twice on his debut for Plymouth. But he has never been considered prolific before – 19 goals in 87 games for Exeter City, 16 in 98 for Plymouth – and the wonder is if this sudden burst of effectiveness is temporary or the result of now performing alongside better players.
“Maybe sometimes he had difficulty with his finishes, but because he worked so much on it, I’m not surprised that he now finishes quite well,” says Doumbe. “Before, he was missing some chances just because of focus or quality, but now he scores a lot more goals than he used to. I thought he was ready to play at a higher level. In training, he was really annoying to defend against because he was always running after you and putting pressure on you. He’s quite fast as well.”
Mackie cost QPR £150,000 during the summer, a fee that will rise to £500,000 if the club is promoted, and manager Neil Warnock was keen to sign the striker after he caused his Crystal Palace defence to become angst-ridden when he was in charge at Selhurst Park last season.
Paul Sturrock once described Mackie as one of the “nuggets from the lower leagues” that he brought to Plymouth as an act of faith. It has taken the player, who began his career at Wimbledon, several years to become established, and although he may not be brilliantly inventive or refined, it is his worth as a solid, reliable player in the midst of a fine run of form that Levein covets.
With James McFadden injured and Kris Boyd likely to be dropped, the squad needs an option in attack. Warnock likened one of Mackie’s headed goals, against Leicester City, this season to one that Nat Lofthouse might score. The comparison is generous to the striker, but he will bring adaptability and a hard-earned spirit to the Scotland squad. They are not qualities that are lacking, but they will complement the current players. Herald
Daily Record/Gavin Berry
QPR striker Jamie Mackie is right man to lead line for Craig Levein, insists Scotland favourite who gave him big break
Paul Sturrock is desperate to see Jamie Mackie complete the remarkable journey from non-league football to facing world champions Spain in just three years.
And the Dundee United legend insists the workhorse striker will make life a misery for superstar stoppers Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol if he's let loose on them at Hampden next month.
It was Sturrock who spotted Mackie plying his trade for lowly Exeter City in the Football Conference League and gave him his break when he took him from the Grecians to Championship side Plymouth.
The 25-year-old frontman has since gone on to win a move to QPR where he has started the season in blistering fashion with eight goals to see him top of the scoring charts in England's second tier.
Now Mackie's incredible rise to stardom could hit a new pinnacle with Craig Levein expected to name him in his squad today for the crucial Euro 2012 double-header against Czech Republic and Spain.
Sturrock has promised that London-born Mackie, who qualifies for Scotland through a grandfather from Kilmarnock, won't let anyone down.
He said: "I signed Jamie from Exeter in the non-league and he's come a long way.
"It is some journey. To go from Exeter to the possibility of taking on the world champions at Hampden for Scotland is incredible.
"I could never have envisaged that happening when I watched him playing non-league football.
"But I'd be delighted for him if he's named in the Scotland squad because he's such a hard worker. Jamie has come from a working background into football. He appreciates the chance he's been given.
"We used to rib him in training about the fact he could play for Scotland. There were a few Scots boys at Plymouth so there was a bit of banter but he took it all in good spirit.
"Jamie's a Londoner but at the end of the day he's a model professional. He's got some great attributes that would benefit the Scotland squad. He realises that it's about work-rate and attitude first.
"He might not be the most technically gifted player but he makes up for that with team work. Jamie will run, chase and harry but he's also quick with a strong upper-body strength and he knows where the goals are.
Threat "He has all the tools to go to the top and I can tell you now if he does play against Spain then Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique will know they've been in a game after 90 minutes against him.
"He won't give them a minute on the ball. His fitness levels are incredible. Jamie will be a thorn in their flesh all night. He was the same playing for Exeter as he is now playing for the team at the top of the English Championship."
Of course, before that glamour clash with Vicente del Bosque's swashbuckling Spaniards, there is the difficult trip to Prague to face the Czechs who are without a point in Group I after an opening home defeat to Lithuania. And from what Sturrock is saying, Mackie could be used as a great outlet.
The Southend United manager said: "Jamie's a very good player away from home. He's good at running channels and working on his own up front.
"Jamie joined us as a centre-forward but I tried to put him on the wing for half of the first season he was there so he had two strings to his bow.
"When Scotland are under the cosh away from home it would be nice to know there's someone there who can get hold of the ball and give people a rest and be a pest - and still have a goal threat.
"He's a boy who makes his own goals. He can turn and drive through a wee space and the next minute he's shooting from 20 yards and scoring goals and that just might be something that's a benefit to the team.
"The players will love him - he's a players' player. I've been pleased to see Madjid Bougherra do well as I brought him through the ranks at Sheffield Wednesday and I'm pleased Jamie's done the business too.
"I always felt goals would determine how far he went. He came to a struggling Championship side when he joined us but he's in a better environment now for himself.
"He was always ambitious and said he'd get to the Premiership and he's ready to take that step up. He's always had confidence in his own ability and if he gets a call-up for Scotland there will be no stopping him." Daily Record
Guardian/Owen Gibson
QPR and Millwall face fines as FA gathers evidence after crowd trouble
• FA to study footage following 11 arrests around Loftus Road
• QPR manager criticises Football League over scheduling
Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 29 September 2010 22.35 BST Article history
The QPR manager, Neil Warnock, questioned the wisdom of an evening kick-off for the London derby against Millwall. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
The Football Association is gathering evidence about the crowd trouble before and after the match between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall last night before deciding whether to charge either club.
"We're in contact with both clubs and gathering footage and evidence," an FA spokesman said.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed there had been 11 arrests after outbreaks of disorder in two pubs before the match and on the streets surrounding Loftus Road after it as Millwall fans clashed with police.
"The Metropolitan police service has a great deal of experience in policing high-profile football matches in London," said the spokesman. "We liaised with all clubs [Chelsea were also playing at home] before the event and used intelligence to put into place an appropriate policing plan for last night's match."
QPR's manager, Neil Warnock, criticised the Football League over the scheduling of the match. "It doesn't make sense and you'll never get any sense out of them [football's authorities]," he said. "It will be a computer or somebody who has never kicked a football or thought about fans."
Of the 11 arrests two were for possession of offensive weapons, one for being drunk and disorderly, two for assaults on police, two for public order offences, two for affray, one for common assault and one for an immigration offence.
The FA would charge either club with failing to control their fans only if there was evidence that they had not done everything in their power to control them and assure their safety.
West Ham were fined £115,000 by the FA this year following violent scenes before, during and after a Carling Cup tie with Millwall the previous August that led to 64 arrests. Guardian