QPR Report Sunday Update....QPR's Prospects and Loans

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Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER

- Game Time "Live Chat" on the QPR Report Board for QPR versus Coventry
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- On This Day in Football: January 23

- Chelsea Youngster, Josh McEachran on loan? (according to his supposed Tweet.Of course if it's the twitter's not real McCoy...!)

- Five Year Flashback: QPR Fail to Sign Non-leaguer Jeremy Beckford

- Four Year Flashback: No QPR Friendly against China at Loftus Road

- Year Flashback: Sunil Chhetri Wishes He Was QPR

- Flashback: Pascal Chimbonda Joins Blackburn...Spurs...Sunderland...Spurs from Wigan

- Holloway's Weekly Column...Summer Football Switch Starting?...A Mystery Footballer writes about Tweeting

- Changes to Premiership Youth Development and Teams...Raheem Sterling Highly Rated

- "[Tony] Roberts howler hands Dons the win"

- Video Flashback: Cambridge United vs QPR

- QPR vs Coventry: Coventry Fan Perspective


SUNDAY PEOPLE/Dean Jones - Loan Ranger Warnock tops the bill for QPR billionaires
-NEIL WARNOCK works for one of the richest clubs in the world – but has faced up to the fact he is leading QPR to the Premier League on a shoestring.
- In a week when Darren Bent joined struggling Aston Villa for a fee which could rise to £24million to try to steer them away from the threat of relegation, the boss of Championship leaders QPR has been working tirelessly on cheap loan deals to ensure his promotion dream does not blow up.
- Rangers’ owners, the Mittal family, are worth an estimated £20billion, yet the board told their manager last week he hasn’t got a penny to spend on transfer fees in this January transfer window.
- That might come as a surprise to fans who were expecting a Roman Abramovich-style attitude on their journey towards the promised land when they landed in west London 11 months ago.
- But for Warnock, old habits die hard.
- He added Pascal Chimbonda and Wayne Routledge on Friday, and Ishmael Miller from West Brom yesterday, but said: “My squad still costs less than Michael Chopra. I haven’t had much money to spend in my career. I remember spending a couple of million on Rob Hulse when I was at Sheffield United, but that’s been one of my most expensive signings.
- “People might have thought I’d be spending big money at QPR, but five or six million on one player? No chance!
- “I’ve never had money like that. I’m always the one who arrives to put fires out.
- “I went to my board last week and said, ‘look, we need three or four players in’. And even though they said there is no money to spend on fees, they did agree to let me bring some in on loan.
- “This is the way the owners think is right to run the club – and I like to think me and my staff are showing them we have a lot to offer. We’re not doing a bad job.
- “When I arrived, the bosses just said to me to make sure I avoided relegation. It was nerve-racking at times, believe me.
- “But some of the football we are playing is bloody brilliant, and we are top – I never expected us to be there at this stage.”
- Coventry boss Aidy Boothroyd admits he’s agonising over whether to recall bad-boy striker Marlon King at Loftus Road.
- King is available after a three-match ban but Boothroyd has been impressed with Freddy Eastwood, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Clive Platt in his absence.
- Boothroyd said: “I am thinking of bringing Marlon back in, but there is a temptation to stick with the same side because of how well they have done.” PEOPLE


Telegraph/Oliver Brown - Queens Park Rangers reluctant to be new Manchester City - for now
Oliver Brown examines the prospects for Queens Park Rangers, who are funded by Britain's richest man.

Could Queens Park Rangers be called the Manchester City of the Championship?

Not yet. Amit Bhatia, the QPR vice-chairman and son-in-law of club benefactor Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s richest man, has intimated a commitment to earning promotion with restraint and respect for any Championship rivals.

Manager Neil Warnock has yet to enjoy the cushion of Mittal’s £20 billion fortune, being forced instead to patch up a limited squad with free transfers. He recently estimated the combined cost of his starting XI at around £2 million.

Will promotion this summer give Warnock licence to splash the cash?

Difficult to say. Bhatia, perhaps having seen one too many headlines about meddlesome foreign owners, is eager to ensure that neither Mittal nor his fellow stakeholders, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, are seen in the same light. Mittal might have a budget to challenge even Sheikh Mansour’s at Manchester City, but caution is the watchword.

For the short term, at least, QPR have identified the Champions League as an ambition, should they win promotion this year, while Bhatia has signalled a willingness to confront City by admitting: “My father-in-law didn’t get to where he is by settling to finish fourth.” He should know; his wedding to Vanisha, Mittal’s daughter, was rumoured to have cost £34 million.

How do Warnock’s prospects look?

Remarkably healthy for a man who, barely 18 months ago, appeared at his wit’s end at Crystal Palace. Mittal et al have disclosed a desire to capture the quintessential Englishness of QPR and they could not have chosen a man better equipped to achieve this than Warnock, who cut his teeth in management on Notts County’s quagmire of a training pitch — all the while absorbing any advice that Brian Clough, across Nottingham at Forest, had to throw at him.

Warnock, normally the league’s most combustible manager, has been more diplomatic of late. That is, if we discount his contretemps with Blackburn’s El-Hadji Diouf, whom he likened to a “sewer rat.”

Where do Warnock’s squad’s need strengthening?

Such is QPR’s reluctance to spend extravagantly, the scope for improvement is considerable. Adel Taarabt, the engine of the attack, has been a revelation, but elsewhere Warnock has tended to rely on his favourite stalwarts: namely, Paddy Kenny, the goalkeeper whose gifts he cultivated at Sheffield United, and Clint Hill, once an ever-present midfielder for Palace.

The club owe much to the vibrancy injected up front by Jamie Mackie, acquired last year from Plymouth, and Tommy Smith. Alejandro Faurlín has added an extra dimension in midfield, while defender Matthew Connolly has flourished under Warnock’s guidance since his release by Arsenal.

But in so competitive a division, where QPR lead Swansea at the top by three points with a game in hand, complacency is lethal. Warnock has sought to shore up his side ahead of this lunchtime’s home game against Coventry by signing striker Wayne Routledge on loan from Newcastle and former Blackburn right-back Pascal Chimbonda.

How significant would QPR’s return to the top table be?

Neutrals should view QPR’s ascendancy in the Championship with relish. The club experienced four seasons in the Premier League between 1992 and 1996, but cemented their reputation in the Seventies, when they were perceived as one of the most technically advanced teams in the country.

Dave Sexton’s squad contained seven England players, Gerry Francis chief among them, with Dave Thomas and Don Givens the linchpins in their expansive play.

The significance of QPR’s restoration is not lost on Warnock. Betraying a nostalgic affection for Loftus Road, he acknowledges: “A whole generation haven’t seen Chelsea and Man Utd. That’s what we’re striving for, to let little junior Hoops see what the top teams are all about.”

That moment may not be long in arriving.

Six of the biggest bargain buys

Cheik Tiote

Few had heard of the Ivorian from his time in Holland, but he has proved a snip at £3.5m, helping Newcastle re-establish themselves in the top flight following promotion.

Rafael van der Vaart
The Dutchman always looked a canny acquisition from Real Madrid at £8m and his sublime range of skills have illuminated the Premier League.

William Gallas
Arsenal might not have felt the French defender was worth a hefty new contract, but Spurs were thrilled to snaffle him on a free transfer. He has even taken on the captaincy.

DJ Campbell
Few thought Campbell had top flight prowess prior to him joining Blackpool on a permanent basis for £1.25m in the summer, but eight goals represent a fine return.

Marouane Chamakh
Arsenal did not pay a penny for the French striker so this deal was a no-brainer for Arsene Wenger. Ten goals already show he was a shrewd acquisition.

Javier Hernandez
Not necessarily the cheapest buy for Man Utd at £7m, but the Mexican has already shown he is destined for big things, scoring nine goals. Telegraph


- Flashback from Early January: Routledge Linked to Liverpool in 8 Million pound move!
- Year Flashback: Routledge Leaves QPR for Newcastle and Talks re Move
- Two Year Flashback: Routledge Joins QPR (for the first time!)

- Video Snippet from last week's Burnley vs QPR

- Year Flashback: Nigel Quashie Returns to QPR(Played four games for QPR)

- Bucket Collection at Loftus Road, Sunday for 7 year old, Grace Murphy