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- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007.
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- Marcelo Lippi Hints at Return to Football Coaching!
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- World Cup 2018: Russia vs England Update
- Malcolm Allison Funeral Held
- Ken Bates on Sky TV at Leeds and on some Leeds Fan Critics
- Richard Langley Coaching QPR U-12s?
- Ex-QPR Goalie, Peter Hucker Birthday
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Times of India - QPR and the other India mix - Saumyajit Basu, TNN, Oct 28, 2010, 02.23am IST
park rangers|lakshmi mittal|flavio briatore|bernie ecclestone
NEW DELHI: When friends get together, they make happiness. And when rich friends get together? Well, perhaps they buy a football club, which is rich in history but gone to ruins!
The story of Queen's Park Rangers, co-owned by India steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, goes on similar lines.
Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the brains that made Formula One and Benetton, household names around the world, got together once more in 2007 like two movie stars to chase a new dream, not on celluloid but on the green turf of Loftus road in West London.
They bought Queen's Park Rangers "an hour before bankruptcy would have been declared", as Briatore famously claimed. Their objective was to see QPR in the Premiership within four years. Three summers down the line, with the wealthiest man in Europe on its board, QPR are really pushing to make the EPL, currently placed second in the Championship. The biggest coup that Bernie and Briatore staged after the acquisition was to convince steel magnet Lakshmi Mittal to splash a few of his millions in the new venture.
Bernie wants QPR to challenge the status of their West London rivals Chelsea but not exactly in the Roman Abramovich way. They want to work their way up. They are not breaking any bank to buy stars, coaches and trophies in the process.
They are more into building it up slowly, bringing the fans back to Loftus Road along with their feelings.
The welcoming of Mittal is just one step towards that dream. Bernie told the Daily Telegraph, "Mittal is a mate of mine as you know. I told him he should come on board; he took my advice. We want this to work. This is a great old club they haven't always been where they are today. They were challenging Liverpool for the league title back in the Seventies. That is where we want to see them again, in the top flight."
When asked if Mittal's involvement was a statement of intent, Ecclestone, replied: "Absolutely."
The link with QPR and the current newsmaker Blackburn Rovers are starkly familiar. Sometime around the early 1990s, a metal sheet maker sold his company and got caught in that vicarious allure of sporting glory.
Money flowed, Ewood Park was spruced up for the club to carve a niche in the Premiership history under a certain Kenny Dalglish who forged a then English record of 3.5 million pounds for a young Southampton centre forward in 1992.
Alan Shearer scored 34 goals in 1995-96 season and along with another major signing, Chris Sutton, snatched the EPL title from the jaws of Manchester United.
That's what money does more often than not. The combined power of money behind QPR is staggering, even threatening for Roman the Russian, the Glazers from America or the Sheikh from UAE.
The status of QPR's northward journey will be clearer during Christmas. The January transfers may well turn out to be a bloody battle, but for a few pounds more.
Times of India
East Riding Mail - HULL CITY: Loan striker Vine keen to extend stay – and make an impact
Attitude and commitment: Rowan Vine.
ROWAN Vine is keen to extend his spell with Hull City and feels
ready to show the Tigers fans his best.
The 28-year-old QPR striker penned a one month deal with City on October 1, meaning Saturday's trip to Barnsley is due to be the final game of his stay.
But having featured in all four games since making his debut in the 0-0 draw with Coventry, the 6ft frontman is keen to remain in East Yorkshire.
"Rowan has been very positive about his time in Hull and there have been conversations about extending his loan deal," a source close to Vine told the Mail.
"Nigel Pearson called him aside recently and asked Rowan if he would like to stay at Hull longer and his answer to that is certainly yes.
"He is hopeful that Hull and QPR can come to an agreement as he feels he is only now getting back to match fitness.
"He feels he will be able to get back to his best and make an impact with Hull if he stays on.
"What you get from Rowan is a great attitude and commitment, and he won't stand by and watch other players not doing the same."
With Caleb Folan thought to have pulled out of last weekend's clash with Portsmouth on the morning of the game, manager Pearson will be keen to keep as many options as possible for his front line.
The City boss bemoaned having to change his team on the morning of the game in the post-match press conference, and he is thought to have been unhappy at Folan's late withdrawal, after a week of planning his team with the former Wigan man leading the line. Report
Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Dawes not open to defensive changes
AMIDST all the statistics churned up by QPR’s stampeding start to the season, their miserly defensive record is surely the most impressive.
Only four players have breached the Rangers back line during nearly 20 hours of Championship football – a rearguard that, apart from injuries to Fitz Hall and Bradley Orr, has remained unchanged.
And Ian Dawes, the ever-present left-back in the last QPR team to gain promotion to the top flight, agrees that a settled defence is an essential element for any successful side.
Dawes and goalkeeper Peter Hucker played in every single match as Terry Venables’ team stormed to the Division Two title in 1982-83, while right-back Warren Neill and central defenders Terry Fenwick and Bob Hazell missed just three games each.
“When you look at most of the best sides, they don’t change the back four that much and I think Neil Warnock’s doing something very similar at the moment,” Dawes told the Times.
“If they’re tinkering, it tends to be with the midfield and up front. It does help if everyone in defence knows what each other’s doing and detail was a big thing for Terry Venables – he was spot on with that.
“We were a youngish side, but we had a good manager – and I’d say QPR have the same now. Neil Warnock’s a good manager in that league, the best they could have at the moment.
“We used to do drills nearly every day in training, just on the back four, with seven, eight or nine players attacking us, and we got very good at defending.
“It also helped that a lot of us had played together for a while – Peter Hucker, Warren Neill and myself and Wayne Fereday – but you still have to gel as a team.
“We were a hard team to beat. We knew how to knuckle down and defend and we tried to play good football, although the pitches weren’t the best in the world – not like the carpets there are now.”
At that time, of course, Rangers’ own playing surface was regarded with suspicion and scepticism – they had installed the country’s first artificial, all-weather Omniturf pitch at Loftus Road the previous year.
Critics claimed that the Rs’ plastic pitch gave them an unfair advantage, tending to ignore the fact that they won 10 and drew four of their 21 away games that season.
After jostling for top spot with Wolves, Rangers finally began to pull clear in March and sealed the championship with three games remaining by beating local rivals Fulham 3-1.
“Your home record is imperative, but you need to do reasonably well away too if you’re going to win the league,” said Dawes. “No-one really spoke much about us that season, though.
“Even with six weeks to go, all the talk in the press was about other teams and I didn’t think we really got the recognition we deserved for becoming champions.
“It’s different this time – everyone’s expecting QPR to go up because of the start they’ve had and already they’re finding it harder because teams are treating it as their cup final. I fancy them to do it, though.”
Dawes remained a permanent fixture in the team the following season – and, incredibly, right through until December 1986 – as QPR adapted quickly to Division One and finished fifth to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
But the full-back, now 47 and working as a teacher in his native south London, admits it would be difficult to see Warnock’s team repeating that feat if they were to gain promotion at the end of the current campaign.
“We didn’t think too much about it at the time, but the gulf between the top level and the one below wasn’t as big then as it is now,” Dawes added.
“Realistically you’ve got the top 10 in the Premier League and everyone below is fighting each other, so to go up and stay up is a good season now. It’d be a big surprise for anyone to do what we did then.” Kilburn Times
QPR Official Site - KICK IT OUT!Posted on: Wed 27 Oct 2010
On Saturday, QPR will celebrating equality and diversity in football by supporting Kick It Out's One Game, One Community weeks of action campaign.
As well as all the professional Clubs, Kick It Out - football's equality and inclusion campaign - will be working with community groups, grass roots clubs, schools, colleges and places of worship to encourage all football fans to get involved in events, activities and celebrations in their local area.
We have dedicated Saturday's fixture against Burnley as our day of action in support of the campaign.
QPR defender Fitz Hall told Hoops: "When we play football, we play together as a team - our backgrounds don't come into it.
"People are discriminated against for many different reasons and as a society we have to realise that the population is always changing. We need to become more tolerant and accepting and work together."
Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out said: "Collectively, we continue to make strides in the fight for equality across the game. Clubs, however, have a unique power to act as the catalyst for this progress.
"The One Game, One Community weeks of action illustrates this perfectly, as clubs, along with players and fans, combine to send out the strongest message that football is our game, and there to be enjoyed by everyone."
The unified support of the campaign will be replicated across the continent too as the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network will ensure Champions League and Europa League fixtures communicate the message that discrimination and intimidation will not be tolerated within the game.
The One Game, One Community weeks of action is backed by football's governing bodies and is the largest sporting initiative of its kind worldwide.
To find out how you can get involved, or to learn about activities and events taking place near you, visit www.kickitout.org QPR
- Kick It [Racism] Out: Podcast Examines Anti-Semitism in English Football
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- Pele's 70th Birthday Celebration in New York...The Return of the New York Cosmos?
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