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Monday, August 08, 2011

QPR Report Monday: QPR Season Previews...Taarabt Stay Questioned by Warnock...Rodney Marsh Ban? & QPR's New Strips...Egyptian Winger Bid?

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- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general....Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- For those who missed it this weeekend: QPR's New Shirts "Revealed" and the Rodney Marsh QPR Controversy (Banning Claim)!
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- Lotto's Other Clubs/Shirts

- Reported QPR Bid for Egyptian Winger

- Luton Match Reports, Comments, Photos, Video

- Birthday for Phil Parkes and Damion Stewart

- On This Day...Six Years Ago: Mauro Milanese Joins QPR

- Five Year Flashback: Rehman Joins QPR and Baidoo Gets Last-Minute Equalizer...Also OTD Season Openers versus Blackpool and Sunderland

- Bumped article: Clubs Warned not to Exploit Fans


The Guardian - QPR Premier League 2011-12 team guideDespite going up as champions, supporters are unhappy about rises in ticket prices at Loftus Road

The club
We are QPR

A club where fans and financiers come together as one. So long as they actually are one, of course. For supporters without high-falutin' city jobs the message is clear: remortgage or relocate.

Bonus culture or EU bailout?

Co-owner Flavio Briatore's £125m fortune looks positively Lilliputian when compared with the considerably less pocket-sized, er, pockets of Lakshmi Mittal (who has £17bn in the bank) and Bernie Ecclestone (£1.4bn). For all that money-making nous they still declared a £13.7m loss in their 2010 accounts – nothing a bit of Premier League slush money and £72-a-ticket gate receipts won't sort out. Ecclestone has admitted he is in talks about a potential sale of his 69% stake.

They'd bite your hand off if you offered them …

A way to get rid of that nasty, lager-swilling, ill-fitting-polyester-hoop-shirted mob who have traditionally called themselves QPR fans and replace them with Boden-clad brogue-wearing blokes who would think nothing of blowing their ludicrous banking bonuses on tickets priced at Chelsea-shaming levels to watch a team desperately try to come 17th. Briatore describes this vision as a "boutique club".

Reality check

Thousands of fans who can't afford to buy tickets any more adopting the first syllable of "boutique" and repeating it at great volume from the car park, which is suddenly as close to the action as they can afford to get.

What the fans sing

Nasty things about Chelsea.

What the fans should sing

Money (Barrett Strong).

One to follow on Twitter
Daniel Shittu is @danshittu

"Just watched two pointless movies. What a waste of time"

The players
This is England

Already with an unusual number of English accents in the dressing room, QPR added a couple of genuine internationals in the shape of Jay Bothroyd and Kieron Dyer, who Neil Warnock acclaimed as having "something to prove". Such as whether he can still walk.

Overseas aid

Adel Taarabt was the Championship's fourth highest scorer, the top assist-maker and had more shots on and off target than anyone else. He was also wildly stroppy and substituted more than any other player in England. His success is all down to Warnock: "He has been like a father."

Heart and soul or captain caveman?

Experienced goalkeeper Paddy Kenny can be relied upon to safely grab anything that comes his way, including an enormous variety of player-of-the-season awards.

Teenage kicks

The Portuguese midfielder Bruno Andrade scooped the young player of the season award in April, which given that he made just two substitute appearances, of which the only one at Loftus Road lasted for two tiny minutes, suggests that there wasn't a lot of competition.

Mad, bad and dangerous to know

Warnock recalls the night when as Bury manager he first scouted Kenny, "a porky lad" who seemed "a likeable rogue". That was 1998 – Warnock snapped him up then and 13 years, two further transfers, one failed drug test and a famously bitten-off eyebrow later, the pair remain inseparable.

The manager
Paid the cost to be the boss

Over 30 years, seven promotions and a host of discip-linary flare-ups have moulded Warnock into the jocular manager of the people he is today, and provided him with the wisdom and patience to control (some of) the manic snarling rages of the past.

Clogger or tiki-taka?

Last season's title was won by a combination of defensive discipline and the unfettered creative talents of Taarabt in attack. The Moroccan remains, but whether Premier League strikeforces will be as cowed by Kaspars Gorkss and Matthew Connolly as their Championship brethren has got to be doubtful.

On his to-do list

Convincing the bosses that the right man to create the cultured club of their dreams is a burly 62-year-old with a Yorkshire accent and a slightly menacing mien. Should invest in a sun bed, a facelift and some things made from cashmere.

The advice Sepp Blatter might give to your club
"You're trying to trick me and I claim my £5. Cash is fine. As long as the Queens Park Rangers refrain from any sexual activities if some guys make Qatar 2022 then everything is hokey cokey."

Rule change

Two Scottish teams masquerading as one English club should mean the end of the home nations' independent status.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/08/qpr-premier-league-team-guide


Louise Taylor/The Guardian -Norwich City and QPR back in the Premier League after time awayAs the Premier League begins its 20th season, two newly promoted teams have good cause to remember its first

History is bunk. History repeats itself. We ignore the lessons of history at our peril. As Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers return to English football's promised land they could do worse than study a memorable period of their own pasts and learn that, to some extent, all three adages are true.

Back in 1992-93 both clubs were thriving founder members of the inaugural Premier League; 19 years on they arrive for its 20th season in rather more fragile guise, fully accepting the virtual impossibility of repeating their feats of almost two decades ago.

In the spring of 1993 Mike Walker's Carrow Road side finished third and Gerry Francis's QPR fifth. Since then, the dramatic changes in the domestic game's financial, demographic, scientific and cultural landscape have left the Premier League almost unrecognisable.

"The biggest difference between then and now is the influx of foreign players. In 1992-93 the only senior overseas player at QPR was Jan Stejskal, our Czech goalkeeper," says Les Ferdinand, the former England striker who was part of that Rangers team. "Our dressing room was a very happy, united place."

Quite apart from being overwhelmingly British, the prevailing culture was fairly forgiving. "Attitudes towards alcohol – and other things like diet – were certainly more relaxed," says Ferdinand.

"Footballers attracted a lot less attention and weren't generally treated as stars. There was less pressure; you could get away with a bit more than today. Not that we ever did anything untoward, of course … Things were different for us; we enjoyed a lot more freedom."

Yet if Russian oligarchs, oil-rich Arabs, expensive imported players, suave continental coaches and something called Prozone have effected a shift so profound that the early 1990s sometimes feels like a piece of remote football history, former glories are not necessarily irrelevant.

At Norwich Ian Culverhouse knows he can never recreate the past but, instead, uses aspects of it as a template to help shape a bright future. Now Paul Lambert's assistant at Carrow Road, he served as Walker's impressively incisive right-back in 1992-93.

At a time when the long-ball game still enraptured many coaches, a playing philosophy based on building from the back proved Norwich's hallmark under Walker who, like Francis, presided over a tight-knit, harmonious dressing room.

Two decades on Culverhouse draws on those experiences as he helps evolve the current team's pleasing, memory-provoking possession game. The big difference is that, these days, he and Lambert trust their diamond formation will stave off relegation rather than secure European football.

"We're under no illusions about how tough it's going to be," says Culverhouse. "Survival is going to involve a hell of an achievement. People must realise the magnitude of the challenge. We've gone from League One to the Premier League in two years. That's an enormous jump."

Pride and excitement is tempered by a little trepidation. "If you can't enjoy being in the best league in the world you're in the wrong game but there are pros and cons," he says.

"Things change quickly. Chris Hughton and Roberto Di Matteo did fantastic jobs after promotion last year and then, suddenly, Newcastle and West Brom were looking for new managers."

If burgeoning wage bills do little to promote boardroom patience, spiralling incomes have heralded a new, intensely professional era. The price of such progress includes the disappearance of "renaissance man" polymath managers in the Francis mould.

Not content with establishing a high-quality QPR side as London's top team, the former England captain, now assisting Tony Pulis at Stoke, enjoyed a rich hinterland involving antique collecting, pigeon fancying and even film production.

"At QPR we didn't even have a fitness coach and Gerry did the coaching himself," says Ferdinand. "Pre-season involved running up hills. Prozone had not been invented; if anyone had told us about it we'd have thought they were talking science fiction." Dressing-room camaraderie was generated by English humour. "Foreign players have improved the Premier League dramatically but when people speak different languages you inevitably get cliques," says Ferdinand.

The greatest divisions at Loftus Road this summer have occurred upstairs, over transfer policy. "It seems a shame when QPR have waited so long and worked so hard to get back to the top division that this [boardroom] wrangling might prevent them making the most of their chance," says Ferdinand. "But Neil Warnock will treat staying up as a crusade. Unlike Paul Lambert, who is one of the new breed of young, scientific, "laptop" managers, Neil is very much old school. But his methods work.

"It's encouraging that QPR don't just play one way. At times last season they played some very good football but at others they went direct. In the Premier League you have to find the right formula for your players but you also need a Plan B."

Nineteen years ago, a combination of brainy football and locker-room brio paid rich dividends for Norwich and QPR. Their parochial predecessors' pre-season and refuelling routines may now look prehistoric, but the classes of 2011 at Carrow Road and Loftus Road would be foolish to forget history's lessons. Guardian


Guardian/Henry Pearson - New generation of Premier League club owners are a breed apart

The latest generation of club owners are more like Victorian fairground curiosities than the blazer-wearing directors of old

It is common among fans of a certain age to lament the fact that there just aren't the characters in the game any more. On the playing side this may well be true (though whether Eddie Kelly doing the chicken strut and Terry Mancini baring his bottom to the crowd is genuinely indicative of an era of fun and frolics I will leave for you to judge). When it comes to the directors' box, however, it is plain we are living in a golden age.

Some rheumy-eyed nostalgists will dispute that claim, naturally, pointing to the glory days of Bob Lord, Louis Edwards and Peter Swales ("He was a little man with a scrape-over hairdo and a blazer with an England crest on it. I knew straight away we wouldn't get on," recalled Malcolm Allison). Swales explained the sacking of manager Mel Machin by saying: "He didn't have any repartee with the crowd."

On this topic I am not about to let the past lend disenchantment. No, the new boardroom big beasts are a breed apart. Not since the days when Victorian fairground showmen toured the land with pipe-smoking oysters, fortune-telling pigs and cats that played the dulcimer has such a collection of weird and extraordinary creatures been assembled for the public to gawp at in awe and wonder, and remark: "That thing isn't real. It's just a person dressed up."

Take, for example, the glistering Flavio Briatore, co-owner of new arrivals QPR. The former head of the Renault Formula One team has at various times been banned for life by the FIA, convicted in the Italian courts of gambling-motivated fraud and spent months living in the Caribbean as a fugitive from justice. Not content to rest on his laurels Briatore also got involved in a bizarre paternity rigmarole with the supermodel Heidi Klum and the pop singer Seal, and got Fernando Alonso to drive his wedding car.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, his time at Loftus Road has not been without incident. Lately he has proclaimed a desire to turn Rangers into a "boutique football club". This suggests that, like the boutique hotels that inspired the idea, Loftus Road will become expensive, luxurious, perfumed and generally the sort of place provincial middle-aged couples will spend the weekend at in an attempt to rekindle the romance in their relationship now their kids are all at secondary school. How Neil Warnock fits into such a scenario is anybody's guess; possibly he will be tasked with lighting scented candles around the grotto Jacuzzi.

Despite having made a fortune from the chicken meat processing industry (four words that are to glamour what Tony Pulis is to kitten heels), the Rao family were initially expected to inject a bit of IPL-style glitz into Blackburn Rovers. Unfortunately, when brothers Venkatesh and Balaji turned up they were dressed less like Bollywood movie stars than conveners at the annual Trades Union Congress. In 1976. In Bulgaria.

The Rao clan promptly did what all the better sort of new overseas owners do: fire the manager (at which point Sven-Goran Eriksson throws his hat in the ring) and issue a list of transfer targets apparently generated by going to a primary school fours years ago, asking the kids to shout out the name of the first footballer that came into their heads and then writing it down. David Beckham and Ronaldinho featured.

The same raising and then dashing of expectation occurred when Briatore and his co-owner Bernie Ecclestone took charge of QPR with rumours circulating that Zinedine Zidane was on his way as player-coach. As it was they replaced incumbent John Gregory with Luigi De Canio and then Iain Dowie – pretty much the football coach equivalent of mechanically reclaimed meat. More recently the previously sensible Villa owner Randy Lerner got in on the act, apparently bowing to fan pressure over appointing Steve McClaren as Gérard Houllier's successor, and then handing the job to the stratospherically more unpopular Alex McLeish instead.

When it comes to directors' box theatrics, though, nobody has outshone the splendid Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim. When the Abu Dhabi consortium took over Manchester City, up popped Fahim to claim that the club would be tabling a £134m bid for Cristiano Ronaldo in the January transfer window and proceeded to reel off a list of starry transfer targets so extensive it was a surprise it didn't include Ferenc Puskas, Lev Yashin and Julia Roberts. Sadly, the good doctor is no longer in Manchester – indeed there seems to be some confusion over whether he ever was.

We English are often too modest about our own achievements, so take a bow Mike Ashley, one of the few multimillionaire sporting figures who actually looks glummer than Tiger Woods. Ashley has proven that our nation – not just the USA – can produce men of real flair when it comes to finding new ways of antagonising supporters. His reign at Newcastle – which includes allegations that he had a particularly loathsome away shirt designed just to get his own back on truculent fans – calls to mind the Atlético Madrid owner Jesús Gil y Gil's famous remark about the Real Madrid striker Hugo Sánchez: "He is about as welcome in this city as a piranha fish in a bidet."

Mention of the late, lamented Gil inevitably prompts the question of whether our Premier League owners really have the quality to match their continental counterparts. While it is true that the English leagues are yet to produce anyone of the calibre of the former Perugia owner Luciano Gaucci – who recruited Colonel Gaddafi's son and tried to sign a Swedish female international, among other antics – let alone anybody who looks likely to celebrate winning a trophy by parading down the high street mounted on an elephant, as Gil did, I feel that the current crop prove that when it comes to crazy boardroom tomfoolery the Premier League need fear nobody. Though they might need to be a bit wary of the taxman, obviously. Guardian


Daily Mail - Grayson eyes Bertrand after Leeds' opening day horror show
- Leeds are rivalling QPR for Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand. Manager Simon Grayson was stung by his side's poor performance in their opening 3-1 defeat at Southampton.
- And that has prompted him to look to add some more pace at the back.
- England U21 left-back Bertrand spent last season on loan at Nottingham Forest...
Mail


TALKSPORT/Anton Stanley - Exclusive – Warnock: 'I can’t say Taarabt is definitely staying'
- QPR manager Neil Warnock has admitted the club may struggle to hold onto Adel Taarabt if he starts the season strongly.
- It had looked like the enigmatic Moroccan would be staying at Loftus Road after PSG failed in their bid for him.
- But despite reassurances from the Rangers’ board Warnock has revealed he could still leave the club before the transfer window shuts.
- Warnock told the Sunday Exclusive: “I can’t say Adel Taarabt is definitely staying. With three games to go before the end of the window if he does well in those games anything can happen but I’m optimistic he’ll be staying.
- “I think he needs a season in the Premier League, we don’t know for definite yet that he can do what does every week in the Premier League because you’ve got to have a certain system to play with Adel and we might find that we get turned over in certain situations when he’s playing for us.
- “It’s going to be a learning curve with him, if you look at what he’s good at rather than what he’s not so good at it’s worth a shout at getting him into [our] system and we’ve been doing that in pre-season.
- “I think everyone’s looking forward to it now, we started off quietly on the signings front but to get [DJ] Campbell this week on top of Bothroyd, I’m delighted and Keiron Dyer I’m excited about and I think I can get more out of Danny Gabbidon.
“And with a couple of signings hopefully this week I think we’ll be ready for it.”
- The Super Hoops’ defence was a major reason behind their title win after they conceded only 32 goals in 46 games.
And Warnock has hailed Paddy Kenny as one of his key players for the season.
He added: “I’ve got to say, I think I’ve got the best goalkeeper in the country in Paddy Kenny, I’ve always thought that but now I think he’s getting better.”
CLICK TO LISTEN:

MAIL/Jamie Redknapp - My 10 players to watch in the 2011-12 Premier League season
These are the 10 players I am especially excited to be watching this season.

In some cases, they may be players who are breaking through or settling in and I have tried to mix it up with newcomers as well as established players; but all are challenged to make an impact at their clubs. It's a group of players who really make you realise the season is close. I will be watching to see how they develop.

My 10 last season worked out OK. I wonder if these will live up to the expectation.

Phil Jones (Manchester United)

This lad is quick, covers the ground well and is happy holding in front of the back four as well as playing as a central defender. Manchester United weren't the only club to be watching him - he could have had a pick of five or six - and I am excited about him. He could become a mainstay for England quickly too and looks to be a potential future England captain.
Big potential: Phil Jones has all the attributes required to be a future England captain

Big potential: Phil Jones has all the attributes to be a future England captain

Sir Alex Ferguson has now signed Jones and Chris Smalling to challenge the mighty Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. What I like about Jones especially is that he is confident without being arrogant. He will back himself to find a way into the team and, with Rio missing a number of games through injury last season, Jones may well make a push for being a regular, once he deals with the demands of playing for a big club. He is strong in the tackle, mobile and a modern central defender who is also comfortable on the ball.

David de Gea (Manchester United)

He is a terrific goalkeeper, who arrives with a big fee (£17.8m) and a big reputation - but they are giant gloves to fill at Manchester United, where Edwin van der Sar's footwork was as important as his shot-stopping. At least De Gea will have Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand on guard in front of him but his concentration will be vital.
Big gloves to fill: David de Gea has the unenviable task of replacing Edwin van der Sar

Big gloves to fill: David de Gea has the unenviable task of replacing Edwin van der Sar

When you are Manchester United's goalkeeper, there are often long periods of doing nothing. Then, when you are called into action, you have to be ready. The English league will be different from the Spanish, where he seems to have conceded a lot of goals from distance. In that respect he had the worst record in La Liga last season, but that may be deceiving. He is agile, exciting and has huge promise. How he deals with the mistakes will be crucial, like all young goalkeepers.

Luis Suarez (Liverpool)

I know the Liverpool dressing room really fancies him and he has what it takes to be a big star in the Barclays Premier League. He is a dynamic match-winner; a goalscorer who looked to have settled quickly after his move from Holland and the Liverpool fans have taken to him. Unlike Andy Carroll, who is still trying to fit in at Anfield, Suarez looks at home.
King Luis: Suarez settled quickly at Anfield last season

King Luis: Suarez settled quickly at Anfield last season

A long Copa America campaign for Uruguay might require some rest - and means he has missed Liverpool's pre-season campaign. But it didn't take long for him to look a typical Kenny Dalglish-type signing last season, so his absence from a disappointing pre-season programme shouldn't knock him out of his stride. He's quick, direct, can dribble and finish. What's not to like about him? If Liverpool are to have a big season he will be critical to their chances of progress.

Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham)

Using a bit of inside knowledge from the Tottenham camp, I can share with you that he has looked the part during the pre-season build-up. My dad, Harry, is very happy with the Dutchman's progress; he is flying. He showed glimpses of genius last season and finished as top scorer, but he struggled to last 90 minutes in the dash and crash of the Premier League. Was it a fitness issue or was there a lack of steam? He always seemed like he was touch and go to play in matches and needs to build up his fitness for the season ahead.
Crowd pleaser: The Tottenham faithful took Rafael van der Vaart to their hearts last season

Crowd pleaser: The Tottenham faithful took Rafael van der Vaart to their hearts last season

An eye-catching player, who hits a great free kick. His popularity at The Lane, where they have enjoyed entertainers over the years, is evidence of his ability. He has also played for big clubs throughout his career and knows what it takes to be a winner. A second season can always be more demanding for a player, but he has what it takes to cope with the extra attention and remain a matchwinner.

Scott Sinclair (Swansea)

He's been on loan here, there and everywhere without finding a home - until now. Manager Brendan Rodgers has worked on his confidence and given him a platform to use his explosive pace, coming from the left side, where he is told to hug the wing and wait for openings. The problem will be that those openings don't come very often in the Premier League and, against better defenders who will be more comfortable with dealing with his pace, he will have to take his chances when they arrive.
Key man: Scott Sinclair (right) scored a hat-trick for Swansea in the play-off final (above)

Key man: Scott Sinclair (right) scored a hat-trick for Swansea in the play-off final (above)

Put him in a red shirt and he would remind you of Theo Walcott and, like Theo, he can run down blind alleys, so he will have to be selective and more versatile. When confident and in form, he is a threat. He covers the ground quickly with a short and explosive stride pattern. He scored a hat-trick in the Championship play-off final, despite rarely being in the game. His frightening pace will be Swansea's biggest weapon in what will be a hard season ahead.

Connor Wickham (Sunderland)

Big, strong, powerful boy who is quick for his size and is a direct, old-fashioned centre forward. A lot of bigger clubs looked at him and some scouts were undecided; I've seen him on good and bad days too. But when he is good, he looks a talent and I am looking forward to seeing him stepping into the Premier League after his time in the Championship with Ipswich.
Powerful: Connor Wickham could prove to be a bargain for Sunderland

Powerful: Connor Wickham could prove to be a bargain for Sunderland

The responsibility of leading the line for Sunderland (and stepping into Darren Bent's boots) is a tough challenge for the teenager, but his capture is an exciting one and decent value for money (£8million) too when you consider how much Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll (£35m). I like what Sunderland have done this summer; they have been positive in the transfer market when other clubs have been ponderous. The board have supported Steve Bruce, who I like as a manager. Now his signings have to deliver for him and Wickham's goals will be important.

Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

To put it simply: if he stays fit, he wins the golden boot and Arsenal enjoy a fantastic season. I know I often write about him in my regular Sportsmail column, but that is because he is a sensational footballer and one of the Premier League's poster boys. He plays on the edge with an arrogance and a swagger. His goals-per-game ratio is excellent, he can score from distance and executes chances with a range of finishing. He strikes the ball cleanly and is lethal all around the box. Arsenal have endured another difficult summer, but he is still there and can be their talisman.
Talisman: Arsenal are a much better side when Robin van Persie is fit

Talisman: Arsenal are a much better side when Robin van Persie is fit

Sorry to return to it, but his fitness is so important. He doesn't play enough games. Get him out on the pitch more and Arsenal will win more games. Broke the record last season for scoring in successive away games (nine in nine), which shows us all what he can do... when fit.

Charles N'Zogbia (Aston Villa)

Look at his goals record from last season when he scored 10 in a struggling side. He's the reason Wigan stayed in the Premier League. His strengths are that he is quick, dynamic and is an old-fashioned dribbler. Remember the two goals he scored against West Ham in a crucial game at the end of last season that condemned them to relegation. It showed he can perform in pressure games. The next challenge will be to prove he can step it up, deal with the big fee Villa have paid (£9.5million) and continue to run matches.
Full of tricks: Signing Charles N'Zogbia may prove to be a shrewd bit of business by Alex McLeish

Full of tricks: Signing Charles N'Zogbia may prove to be a shrewd bit of business by Alex McLeish

I like his direct style and he can step into Ashley Young's boots and prove to be an astute signing by Alex McLeish. He can sometimes be moody, which affected him at Newcastle and, at times, during his stay at Wigan. It may explain why bigger clubs than Villa considered him too risky. But he is maturing, exciting and will give Villa fans those edge-of-the-seat moments.

Adel Taarabt (QPR)

He will polarise opinions, but Adel could be the most skilful player in the Premier League. He is the playmaker extraordinaire for newly-promoted QPR and Neil Warnock has done well to get the best out of him, allowing his daring play not to be a negative influence on the team pattern.

Sometimes they will need two balls; one for him and one for the rest of the team and he will get subbed after 30 minutes one week, then win a match single-handedly the next. How will Warnock incorporate such a maverick into his team, especially away from home where you need to keep it tight?
Only a handful of players can do what he can do with a ball. Frustratingly brilliant.
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

Manchester City's new Mighty Mouse. Once Kevin Keegan's nickname at Hamburg, now Aguero is the new big-name arrival in the Premier League and all eyes will be cast in his direction. A stunning volleyer of the ball, he loves to hit it on the full and reminds me of the technique and expertise of Mark Hughes with that skill. He also loves to get the ball into the box with his back to goal and can hold up the play, or spin and run at defenders.
Signing of the season? Sergio Aguero is a great addition to the Premier League

Signing of the season? Sergio Aguero is a great addition to the Premier League

How City play him will be fascinating. They have so many strikers and Roberto Mancini seems to prefer a 4-3-3 formation with two wide, allowing Yaya Toure to gallop through the middle to support. Aguero has played in a 4-4-2 for Atletico Madrid, alongside Diego Forlan, so how will that work with Balotelli and Dzeko; not to mention Tevez, Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Bellamy...? Aguero will be first pick, that's for sure. And he is the most exciting addition to the Premier League for years. Surely City must finish in the top two. Mail


- QPR Report Poll Question: Will QPR's Promised "Pre-Season Celebration" Be Held?
Flashback: QPR Official Site - May 11, 2011 - CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT (No Parade...But Pre-Season Celebration)
"Regrettably, the Club can confirm that, for a number of reasons, we will not be holding an end of season parade following our promotion to the Premier League. We know this will be a huge disappointment to our fans who have been fantastic this season and everyone at the Club shares this view. ....However, plans are already afoot for a pre-season celebration, once the players return to training in July. We will, of course, keep you - our supporters - updated with any developments in due course. QPR Official Site: May 11 2011

And along the same lines: - VANISHED WITHOUT NOTICE! The Club's Official Messageboard

- Still No QPR Offical Site Update re the Status of the Official Supporters Club (OSC). Despite Committee Resignations.

- Bookies and Pundits Favour QPR for Relegation

- Press Versus Football Clubs Dispute. Lock Out

- Two Year Flashback: "Top-Flight Clubs Losing Lustre for Sponsors"

- Luton vs QPR: Match Reports, Comments, Photos & Video

- An Early Preview of QPR vs Bolton

- A Statistical Guide to Points Needed to Stay Up

- Five Years Ago: QPR Chairman Gianni Paladini "Living in Fear"...Bullet Proof Vest..."Enemy Within"...Training Ground Not Closed

- Seventy Years of Supporting QPR: A Longtime QPR Supporter Remembers

- Some Great Old QPR Videos: QPR's 1975/76 "Championship" Season Final Game vs Leeds + Some Videos From Early 1990s

- Flashback: "40 Factoids About QPR"

- Two Hundred Percent: Pre-Season Previews: Queens Park Rangers Assessment of QPR

- 2010/11- Championship Attendance Stats (Including Club-by-Club Stats re Travelling Fans)

- Parliamentary Committee Issues Report Calling for stronger FA, Control over Club Ownership and stronger, implemented "Fit and Proper" Rule, and So Forth

- Guide to Football Grounds... Guide to Loftus Road

- Home Ticket Price Information

COST OF WATCHING FOOTBALL:
- BBC/Stuart Rowson: Clubs reveal all in BBC Sport Price of Football survey