- Enlarged Photo-
For QPR and Football Latest Updates and perspectives throughout the day, visit the QPR Report Messageboard. All QPR and football perspectives welcome...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
_____________________________________________________________________________________
QPR Official Site RUSSELL DEPARTS
- Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm that Ali Russell is leaving his post as Deputy Managing Director in order to focus his time on his own consultancy business. He will continue to support the Club through his new business and as a Trustee of QPR in the Community Trust.
- Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk, Ali Russell said: "I have enjoyed my time at QPR but have an opportunity to start my own business which I cannot let pass. I am happy to be leaving the Club in such a good position and I wish the Club, its fans and partners all the best in the future."
- Chairman Ishan Saksena said: "Ali Russell has made a significant contribution to the Club taking over at the beginning of the current ownership and has helped to stabilise and position the Club. I am certain that if he brings the same drive and determination to his new business it will be a huge success."
QPR
- Three Year Flashback: Ali Russell Joins QPR
- Dave McIntyre Twitter "Warnock to meet with the owners on Monday. Wants 3-4 players. Two strikers and one, possibly two defenders." _ Twitter
- Austin Prepared to Leave Swindon
- Blackburn's Internal Investigation of Diouf
- Ex-QPR Trainer, John Harbin, Facing Flood
- Convicted Fraudster Tried to Buy Watford (Once involved in bid for QPR)
- Caliendo vs Briatore Updated - and "threat" to QPR
- Ex-QPR Jordi Lopez being released by Swansea
- Birthday For Ex-QPR Mark Bosnich
- Two Year Flashback: QPR's Lack of Transfer Ambition
- The Football Map of London (previously posted dot.org)
- Burnley Profiled and Perspective Preview
- Michael Platinini on Expanding the 2022 Qatar World Cup
QPR TWITTER CRACKDOWN
Daily Mail/Chris Twitter
"...boss Neil Warnock also took action over the controversy yesterday, clamping down on his players using Twitter after they wrote threatening messages aimed at Diouf.
Mackie criticised the Blackburn player in a tweet and Orr, Clint Hill and Paddy Kenny all warned Diouf that he would pay for his actions.
- But Warnock, who had branded him ‘a sewer rat’, fears his players could land themselves in trouble and has ordered them not to write anything related to the club on Twitter in future.
He said: ‘We don’t want charges of our own. I’ve had a word with the lads about this, and they can use Twitter all they want as long as it has nothing to do with the club.’
- Goalkeeper Kenny appeared to have closed down his Twitter account last night.
Daily Mail
Paul Warburton/Fulham Chronicle - Neil Warnock slaps QPR players with Twitter ban
- BOSS Neil Warnock has banned his players from using Twitter to write about QPR.
The Rs manager made it plain this morning that if those in hoops want to send messages on the social networking site – there has to be no mention of the Championship leaders.
Matters came to a head after defender Bradley Orr and keeper Paddy Kenny let rip through Twitter at El-Hadji Diouf following the Blackburn forward’s alleged abuse of Jamie Mackie on Saturday.
The Rangers player lay stricken with a double-fracture of his right leg during the FA Cup clash with Diouf standing over him, and his team-mates insinuated the Rovers man now faces retribution.
With the FA slapping Liverpool midfielder Ryan Babel with a misconduct charge after he posted a picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt to his Twitter account following defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday – Warnock declared enough was enough.
He added: "We don’t want charges of our own. And I’ve had a word with the lads about this, and they can use Twitter all they want – as long as it has nothing to do with the club." Fulham Chronicle
When Saturday Comes Jesse Whittock - Professional footballers tweet their way into trouble
- 12 January ~ The FA Cup third round and Twitter combined this past weekend to show why footballers should stay away from social media or risk the wrath of the FA. On Monday FA chiefs decided Ryan Babel's tweeted jibe that suggested World Cup final referee Howard Webb showed bias toward Man Utd in Sunday's tie warranted investigation. Babel could be in for a hefty fine if the FA decides the tweet, a hastily knocked-up pic of Webb sporting a United shirt, counts as improper conduct. (Good Photoshop job, by the way, Ryan; perhaps an alternative career in web design waits should he pack in football?)
Meanwhile, the toxic fall-out from Jamie Mackie's shocking leg-break during the drab Blackburn-QPR tie continues, with El-Hadji Diouf and QPR's Bradley Orr and Clint Hill set to face FA probes. However, the Rangers' duo (whose misdemeanours were made on Twitter) seem most likely to wind up guilty. Diouf – never the most popular of men thanks to his penchant for spitting, fighting and generally acting as though he's owed respect despite never truly earning it – was accused of a shocking tirade of abuse at the prone Mackie, who lay injured on the Ewood Park turf on Saturday after clashing with Gaël Givet.
- However, Diouf can be hopeful of a clean getaway from any charges the FA potentially brings. Blackburn's silence (as opposed to R's boss Neil Warnock who labelled Diouf "lower than a sewer rat") suggests they expect an investigation of some sort, but the letter of FA law suggests the striker will get off scot-free. The most likely charges (improper conduct, foul and abusive language, and/or bringing the game into disrepute) hinge on referee Peter Walton having collected on-field evidence, unless the FA brings in retroactive professional lip-readers. So far, there's no indication of any note made of Diouf's behaviour, so it's not easy to see how a charge would stick.
- The Rangers players, on the other hand, used the internet to blast Diouf, with Orr tweeting he was a "repulsive human being" and Hill using a more succinct four-lettered term. But the tweets, now deleted, also contained references to the Senegalese sulker getting "what's coming to him", alerting FA chiefs who seem certain to investigate. While it's unlikely Neil Warnock is preparing to send his first team up to Lancashire to root Diouf out like a fox in a hunt, the story shows that tweeted threats made in the heat of the moment can land you in seriously hot water.
Many people feel Diouf should have the book thrown at him – as much for his rap sheet as for the Mackie incident – but he was smart enough to make his play on the field, while Tweeters Orr, Hill and Babel all made the fatal mistake of using a public forum. As England cricketers Kevin Pietersen and Azeem Rafiq can vouch, an adrenaline-fuelled tweet about some perceived injustice is a sure-fire way to irk sporting authorities. And though you might think the FA would be better off thinking about technology in terms of goal-line cameras and those other crazy ideas progressives have, they seem set on using it to catch out players making silly, spur-of-the-moment statements.
-
Moral of the story, football world, this weekend proved you must delete your social network accounts – or risk the wrath of the authorities. Clint Hill has now done so, closing his Twitter account (aptly titled @angryhead28), but it's too little, too late for him. Jesse Whittock When Saturday Comes
Belfast Telegraph I want to bounce back as a manager, says Iain Dowie
By Steven BeacomThursday, 13 January 2011
Iain Dowie has a masters degree in aeronautics. I guess you could call him a rocket scientist then. He’s certainly intelligent enough — one of the smartest footballers I’ve interviewed down the years.
He’s like Solomon compared to most of them.
But in an interview this week with the engaging 46-year-old at Rathgael Gymnastics and Tumbling Club in Bangor, I did wonder if the big man had lost a few brain cells recently.
Reason? He wants to get back into the unstable world of coaching and management.
This is a guy, proving extremely popular with Sky Sports viewers, as one of their team of experts.
He’s making a good living sitting in a studio or in a stand giving his thoughts on various games and issues. No pressure, no abuse. And no chance of the axe from a foreign owner or chairman unhappy with results.
In the Premier League this season Roy Hodgson (Liverpool), Sam Allardyce (Blackburn) and Chris Hughton (Newcastle) have all lost their jobs already.
Go further down the scale and there seems to be a dismissal on a daily basis in the Football League.
An ice lolly salesman in the Antarctic has more job security.
Dowie, though, to use footballing speak, wants “back in”.
He says: “I’m enjoying the TV work. Sky have been good to me and I try to give them something different, like a manager’s perspective, but deep in my heart my biggest love is coaching and it always will be.
“I think my record stands up to scrutiny. I have taken on some tough challenges that didn’t quite work out, but I wouldn’t change anything. In any aspect of life the big challenges can be character building.”
Dowie has faced down challenges all his life, including helping his wife Debbie when she was diagnosed with breast Cancer. Happily she is recovering and has started a succesful charity called Boot out Breast Cancer.
He worked in a “real job” — as an engineer at a missile factory — before becoming a professional footballer at the age of 22.
He had a good career as a bustling in your face striker, scoring goals for Luton, Fulham (on loan), Southampton, Crystal Palace, QPR and at two spells with his beloved West Ham. He and the fans also enjoyed 10 years of passion filled displays for Northern Ireland.
Then came management with varying degrees of success at Oldham, Crystal Palace, Charlton, Coventry, QPR and Hull. His last job was as Alan Shearer’s number two at Newcastle in the season they were relegated from the Premier League.
Far from depressing him, the Newcastle experience enhanced his hunger for the game.
“Newcastle was a fabulous experience. I’m a West Ham fan and remain so but I have to say I’ve never been at a football club of that magnitude — probably because I wasn’t good enough,” he says.
“Alan Shearer said to me you will understand why I didn’t go to other clubs when you come here and he was right. I thought Chris Hughton did a great job when he came in and now Alan Pardew is there as boss. I hope he does well because really Newcastle should be a top fiive club.”
Dowie admits the game has changed so much since he started out. With fire in his eyes, he says: “Look at the Sam Allardyce and Chris Hughton situations. What else are both of them supposed to have done? Decisions like that are made which baffle everyone.
“Roy Hodgson was the Manager of the Year last season, and he’s gone after six months from Liverpool. I’m not saying Kenny Dalglish won’t give the place a lift, but only giving Roy six months invites questions because the short termism doesn’t tend to work.
“Chairmen and owners now are trigger happy. I do understand they are under pressure too. We live in a world of social media and when someone is critical about a manager’s decisions on radio or on the internet it virtually becomes seen as fact.
“Then serious pressure is generated from the fans very quickly and that’s why I think it is very important to have the players with you. The best managers have that. Jose Mourinho is the finest example of that. All his players, wherever he goes, love him.
“I like to think that I got on well with players when I was a boss.
“I’ve always tried to be honest with players and if they were ever out of line, I would sit them down and tell them.
“If I left a player out of the team I would look them in the eye and tell them why. It didn’t matter how big the player was. I remember doing that with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Charlton and he didn’t like it, but I am good friends with him now because I was honest with him.
“I may be a players manager but that doesn’t mean I am easy on them. I expect standards of the highest order.”
Dowie, whose sons Oliver (17) and William (14) are showing potential as players, comes to Northern Ireland any chance he can and returned this week to lend his support to the new Bouncebackability Fund which aims to help charities, community groups and sports clubs like Rathgael Gymnastics, that lost thousands of pounds when NTF, a company proposing to fund them, failed to deliver on promises.
Dowie says: “Bouncebackability means to have an ability not to be defeated by difficult circumstances.
“It is great to see local organisations who’ve refused to be knocked down by someone who has taken their money but has obviously not taken away their hope, resilience and drive to change their circumstances.”
Resilence and drive — qualities Dowie still has in abundance.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/local/i-want-to-bounce-back-as-a-manager-says-iain-dowie-15052927.h tml#ixzz1As4bdDO1
Sports Star Weekly: Brian Glanville - The Magnificent Mavericks
"QPR seems ready to rise again from the depths of the so called championship to regain a place in the premier division. Should they do so, much will be owed to the 21-year-old Moroccan, Adel Taarabt. Over to Brian Glanville.
FOOTBALL / KICKING AROUND
At Queens Park Rangers in West London there is a new, sometimes magnificent, maverick. The word “sometimes” is relevant because the classical thing about mavericks, however magnificent when on song is that they can also be so inconsistent, frustrating and irrelevant. But QPR's Moroccan international, born as it happens, in France and signed from Spurs who got him from Lens, is squarely in the grand maverick tradition at the Shepherds Bush Club of Rodney Marsh and Stanley Bowles, heroes of the past, when QPR were a power in the land, though now they do seem ready to rise again from the depths of the so called championship to regain a place in the premier division.
Should they do so, much will be owed to the 21-year-old Moroccan, Adel Taarabt and Tottenham Hotspur may already be regretting that they let him go, initially on loan, across London having offered him so few chances in their first team. Not that Taarabt, whom one might best describe as inside forward, rather than under the imprecise category of a midfielder, is everybody's cup of tea. Not even for his teammates or his own manager, Neil Warnock, at times an explosive enough fellow himself. Taarabt with his manifold skills can do the supremely unexpected, make goals out of nothing for himself or a teammate: yet at the same time madden his team and his manager with his sheer self indulgence. The more so that when his teammates express their exasperation, he can go sulkily into his shell and virtually disappear from a game for a subsequent period.
This season, however, he has been scoring goals frequently, by contrast with the recent past and making them too in moments of altruism and inspiration for his fellows. Warnock himself will smilingly admit at post match conferences that Taarabt, who stands 5 foot 11 inches tall and has the physique to resist tackles, can frustrate and baffle him too. It's something, he plainly feels, which he himself simply has to live with. In the meantime, Taarabt is one of the salient reasons why Rangers should at long last return to a Championship which once they so nearly won.
It was in season 1975-6, they, an unfashionable club with an unusually gifted team, came within an ace of pipping then mighty Liverpool to the title. Only a most untypical slip by their usually reliable goalkeeper, Phil Parkes, in their last league match at Norwich enabled Liverpool to pip them on the post by a single, agonising point. QPR have never come so close again.
The star of that QPR team was another splendid maverick, Stan Bowles, briefly with Manchester City, a northerner who would emphatically make his name in London. Bowles, taking over, where that other, supreme maverick Rodney Marsh had left off, had a glorious left foot, where Marsh had succeeded with his right. Bowles was endlessly elusive. A superb ball player, as indeed was Marsh, capable of scoring spectacular solo goals, but always ready to create them for his colleagues. He played only five times for England and alas it never really worked out. There was a notorious occasion when he was substituted at half time in a match at Wembley and walked straight out of the stadium, making for the old greyhound stadium at White City, just across the way from QPR's Loftus Road Stadium. There he was followed by a press photographer who was duly punched by one of Bowles's less reputable friends. For Bowles, betting was in the blood: he was constantly in and out of the betting shops around the QPR stadium in Shepherd's Bush. One of his teammates once told me that sooner or later, he expected he'd be found dead in a doorway. Fortunately, however, this hasn't happened.
Marsh by contrast was and is a Londoner though born a small distance away in Hatfield. Powerfully built, standing six foot and weighing over twelve stone, he had the strength to go with his exceptional ball skills. He'd begun at Fulham where those skills were evident enough but Fulham rashly let him move a few miles away to Shepherd's Bush where he truly flourished. He was another player who could conjure goals out of nowhere, had a fierce right footed shot and was a no mean competitor in the air. He made nine appearances for England, first when at QPR, then when he went to Manchester City. An ill-judged transfer effected by City's flamboyant ultra Londoner manager, Malcolm Allison. In enlisting Marsh he broke up the pattern of the team, excluding the popular and influential skipper and right half Mike Doyle. So Rodney never showed his best in Manchester, ironically enough Bowles' city of birth, where City had been his original club. Somehow or other, though, Marsh never showed his true talents with England.
http://www.tssonnet.com/stories/20110120505803600.htm
