On This Day in Football: March 4, 1967 - QPR Win The Cup...(Also On This Day: Rodney Marsh and Mark Kennedy's Last games for QPR.....Video of 1967 (All five goals + Trophy Award &Victory Lap) - (Scroll down to Clip #12)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
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- Gary Borrowdale May be Returning to QPR
- "Spot The Ball, #3 (Final Day)
- A Leicester Perspective of Leicester Behind the Scenes
- Leicester Previews
- QPR Continue to Lose Millions: The Complete QPR Accounts for Year Ending May 31, 2010
- To offer views/or pose questions, click on this thread
- Flashback: The QPR Accounts of 2000
- Financial Issues at West Ham, Cardiff, Plymouth, Gillingham...Northampton Axe Their Manager
- Routledge Fee Agreed? (If Promoted)
- QPR-Bahrain Flashback
- Set to be Announced: Divisional Manager of the Month and Player of Month
Fulham Chronicle/Yann Tear - Chimbonda is not being frozen out of QPR - Warnock
NEIL Warnock says there is no question of Pascal Chimbonda being frozen out at QPR.
The Frenchman has made only one substitute appearance for Rangers snce his January arrival - the 1-1 draw with Forest last month – and has not started a game since November when he played in the Blackburn side routed 7-1 at Manchester United.
Chimbonda did not even travel up to Middlesbrough last week.
But there is no question of the QPR boss falling out with the 32-year-old full-back.
"I wanted extra forwards at Middlesbrough and he was unlucky really," Warnock said. "He's not done anything wrong.
"I just felt I needed an extra forward or midfield player in there and I didn't want to take him up to Middlesbrough to have five minutes. I felt Matt Connolly could do that job if he had to, which he actually did in the end.
"He [Chimbonda] might not be happy because he's not playing, I don't know, I've not spoken to him. But I explained to him why I was leaving him at home."
Chimbonda is on a short-term contract until the end of the season and Warnock says he won't start thinking about whether to retain him until the season is out. Fulham Chronicle
QPR midfielder eyes Millwall stay - By Jacob Murtagh/Fulham Chronicle Mar 4 2011
MARTIN Rowlands wants to stay at Millwall for the rest of the season.
The QPR midfielder made the switch to the Den last week - initially for a month - after being given the green light to leave Loftus Road by boss Neil Warnock.
But the 32-year-old admits it was big wrench to leave the Championship leaders.
He said: “Leaving QPR was not easy. I have been there a long time and it is a club that is very close to my heart.
“But I am really desperate to be out on a pitch playing football. I have been fit more or less all season.
“I have not been in the team and their results have been really good. So I cannot complain.
“Being here gives me the chance to play. Initially it will be for a month. And we will wait and see what happens after that.
“But I am looking to get back onto the pitch, then I would want to stay until the end of the season and push on.
“There’s a lot that can happen between now and the climax of the campaign.”
http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/london-qpr/2011/03/04/qpr-midfielder-eyes-millwall-stay-82029-28275781/#ixzz1FcHldpdb
Fulham Chronicle/Yann Tear - Akos Buzsaky makes QPR vow
AKOS Buzsaky says QPR can cash in on the fact he feels as fresh as a daisy after four months on the sidelines - and guarantees he will treat each game as a Champions League final.
The Hungarian made his first start since October in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Middlesbrough and came through 70 minutes unscathed. Now he expects to have a major impact on the promotion push.
"I have got the hunger," Buzsaky told the Chronicle.
"Maybe some of the players will be a little bit tired after playing 30 matches, but for me it is like the season just started. It means maybe I can bring something new, some freshness.
"There are 12 games to go and yes, I feel I can play a big part in the final weeks.
"It looks at the moment that I will hopefully be starting the next game as well and then for me, every game is the Champions League final.
"I want to improve my fitness and form in every game and if I do that, I could be a big help for the team."
Buzsaky says he never once thought he might fail to get back into the side once fit, even though the team continued to do well in his absence as he recovered from cartilage surgery.
"Why would I think like that?" he said.
"I’ve already proved I can play for QPR, I can score goals and can be an important part of this club. I believe in myself and my ability and I knew if I got fit and could train properly again, I would be playing. I wasn’t really worried about that.
"My time out was made better because we were doing well. If you are not playing and the team isn’t doing very well, it feels frustrating because you cannot help.
"But if you are injured and the team is doing really well, it at least gives you a good feeling. You can see everything going well.
Buzsaky added: "It was really great starting against Middlesbrough. Of course I’m not in top form, but nobody would expect me to be yet.
"I think I’ve made good progress and I’m looking forward to the next game. I had no bad reaction after the game and the knee feels normal.
"I felt I could have played longer on Saturday, but we were winning 3-0 and I don’t think the gaffer wanted me to take any risks with the knee with the game already won."
http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/london-qpr/2011/03/04/akos-buzsaky-makes-qpr-vow-82029-28275686/#ixzz1FcIKtUpf
Yann Tear/Fulham Chronicle - QPR winger suffers injury blow
LEE Cook has had a set-back in his attempt to get fully fit for the final months of the campaign with a recurrence of swelling in his knee.
Cook has played just 10 minutes this season – as a late sub in the FA Cup at Blackburn in January.
"Lee's got a bit of swelling, so we've had to calm him down a little bit," said QPR boss Neil Warnock.
"I think it's related to the problems he's had before."
http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/london-qpr/2011/03/03/qpr-winger-suffers-injury-blow-64767-28274785/
Evening Standard - My drugs ban was a blessing in disguise, says in-form Paddy KennyJulian Bennetts 3 Mar 2011
Paddy Kenny returned from holiday 18 months ago reeling from the shock news he had failed a drugs test but expecting little more than a "slap on the wrist".
The keeper was told to expect no more than a three-month ban after testing positive for ephedrine so when the authorities hit the then Sheffield United No1 with a nine-month punishment, Kenny feared his career might be over.
However, the 32-year-old is now closing in on a return to the top flight with new club Queens Park Rangers and even claims the suspension was a "blessing in disguise".
Speaking for the first time since his life was torn apart by the ban, Kenny said: "I was in Egypt when I got a call from the chairman at Sheffield United and then from my agent, telling me I had failed a drugs test.
"We remembered I had taken some tablets when I had a chest infection. They told me I would get a slap on the wrist, maybe a three-month ban at the most and that would be over the summer. To be banned for nine months - you just start thinking, 'that's it, my career is over'."
For a lesser character, it could well have been. But yesterday marked the first anniversary since Kenny returned to training and the keeper feels he is playing better than ever.
That has been to QPR's benefit. Deciding that he needed to leave Sheffield in the aftermath of the ban, Kenny was reunited with Neil Warnock for a third time after the Loftus Road boss spent £750,000 on him in the summer.
So far it has proved a wise decision, with Kenny starting every game this season as Rangers moved five points clear at the top of the Championship.
A new club, a new lifestyle and a new outlook on life are the results of testing positive for ephedrine, which was contained in medicine that Kenny took after the Championship play-off semi-final in May 2009.
He said: "If you had told me on the day I was banned that within 18 months or so I would be 12 games away from getting back to the Premier League then I would have said, 'you are joking'.
"I know how close I came to messing up my career and my life but I'm a stronger person now.
"It gave me the chance to sit down and think about everything and I promised myself I would come back fitter than ever and better than ever. It's no coincidence that I have played as well as I have.
"I couldn't train with United, so I hired a personal trainer and spent five days a week in the gym. I wasn't allowed to go and watch them, either, unless I went as a paying fan and I didn't fancy that, so I went to the gym every single weekend, watching Soccer Saturday.
"Every day I would play golf and go to the gym. I got my handicap down to about 12, though I'm back up to about 14 now I'm playing [football] again."
What made it even more difficult for Kenny to take was that there was never any question he had taken a performance-enhancing drug. He said: "People were shocked at the amount of time I was banned for as they knew I had made a genuine mistake.
"It was shown that for these tablets to have had an effect on my performance I would have had to have taken 50 of them 10 minutes before kick-off. I took two tablets two days before a game.
"All I know is that I won't be taking anything like that ever again. Every professional has to check, check and check again."
Kenny is back in the spotlight for all the right reasons, celebrating his 500th professional appearance in last month's draw with Nottingham Forest.
The Republic of Ireland international remembers little of his first game but he is well aware of what promotion would mean some 12 years on.
"My first game was for Bury against Gillingham in 1999 and I was knocked out within two minutes," he said proudly. "I got up, played on and then went to hospital afterwards for an X-Ray on a suspected fractured cheekbone.
"They say goalkeepers are mad and we do get smashed but I love it and I wouldn't change it for anything. Even I think I'm crazy sometimes but I've calmed down a bit now.
"The highlight so far was getting promoted with Sheffield United in 2006 but I've never won anything in my career and I want us to go up as champions this season. We have 12 games left and starting with Leicester this weekend we just want to keep ticking them off until there are no games left and we are back in the Premier League."
And if Rangers do go up then Kenny believes Warnock - who celebrated a year in charge at QPR on Tuesday - deserves all the credit.
He adds: "I really can't thank him enough for what he has done for me and my career."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23928462-my-drugs-ban-was-a-blessing-in-disguise-says-in-form-paddy-kenny.do
QPR's New (Unannounced-by-QPR) Striker Troy Hewitt
Kilburn Times/Ian Cooper - Troy story isn’t the end for Borough
Thursday, March 3, 2011
MANAGER David Howell insists Troy Hewitt’s transfer to QPR will not derail Harrow Borough’s challenge for the Ryman League play-offs.
Hewitt netted 20 goals in all competitions for Borough, forging a potent partnership with the experienced Rocky Baptiste, before his switch to Loftus Road following a successful trial.
The 21-year-old striker becomes the third Borough youngster to make the step up to the Football League in recent years, following the departures of Robin Shroot to Birmingham City and Albert Adomah, who has since moved from Barnet to Bristol City.
“We’ll cope fine without him,” Howell declared. “I was asked the same question when Albert left – people thought the club was going to fold. But no single player makes a team and we have to move on.
“Troy was a leader, not so much vocally but certainly in his actions, and he and Rocky had a good partnership going. The two of them struck fear into any team, they fed off each other.
“One week Troy would score a couple, the next week Rocky would – but we have to adjust without him. Now Rocky has to stand up and take on a bit more responsibility.
“With 10 or 12 games left to go this season, we know anything can happen. As for the play-offs, at the moment in terms of form you would have to say we’re outsiders, but there will be a lot more twists and turns yet.”
Details of Hewitt’s move have yet to be made public, but it is understood that the deal includes a compensation package to Harrow and the promise of a strong QPR side to visit Earlsmead in pre-season.
Rs boss Neil Warnock has indicated that the young forward will be in contention to play a part in his promotion-chasing side during the remainder of the Championship campaign.
And Howell is confident that Hewitt, who averaged two goals every three games for Borough after his move from Ilford last summer, is capable of bridging a gap of five divisions.
“It’s a great move for Troy and credit to him, he’s put into practice what we’ve been teaching him, and I think there’s no stopping him now,” Howell added.
“He has the raw ability, but his biggest asset is his temperament, the way he’s handled himself throughout the move has been first-class. It is a massive step up for him, but he’ll be ok – ultimately, he’s a good footballer...” Kilburn Times
