- QPR Stalwart, Ian Watson (1965-1974) Turns Sixty-Eight. (At QPR before Rodney Marsh Still at QPR, after Rodney!)-
- 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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- FA Youth Cup: QPR Youth Drawn AWAY in the FA Youth Cup Fifth Round. (Assuming QPR somehow manage to beat Everton in the Fourth Round at Loftus Road, next week)
Chairman Tony Fernandes Tweeting Yesterday left fans and Media confused about what he was actually saying. (Different people and press came to very radically different conclusions!:
"- I will leave no stone unturned to make qpr a success. But if I fail I have to go. I will give it 150 percent effort.
- Its important to note no one job is safe. Results are key. If I don't deliver I would be the first to step down as chairman. We owe it to all the fans. Good money is paid and results are key.
- Guys at qpr. There is no freeze of cash. Don't listen to ambiguous press reports. We are disappointed where we are in the league. This is a journey not s sprint. Along the way we learn. But we continue to develop and along the way hard decisions need to be made. But we never stop moving. Never. Tony Fernandes
- A Fan Case for Sticking With Neil Warnock
- Raymond Snoddy/Sabotage Times: The Case for Not Sticking With Warnock
- Jim Magilton off to Manage in Australia
- Jason Puncheon Apparently not wanted by Southampton
- Ex-QPR Player/Coach Gary Penrice Update:
"...I also remember being at QPR with Ollie and getting knocked out by Vauxhall Motors. "To be honest, I thought they were just a factory side and didn't even know they were a football club!..."
- QPR Stalwart, IAN WATSON (1965-1974) Turns Sixty-Eight. (At QPR before Rodney Marsh Still at QPR, after Rodney!)...WAYNE ROUTLEDGE Turns 27
- On This Day: Six Year Flashback: FA Cup 3rd Round Exit at Blackburn. (A few weeks later, Ian Holloway was placed on Gardening Leave)- Damion Stewart Joins Notts County on Loan
- One of the Sons of Dave Clement (RIP) Leaves Blackburn for PSG Coaching Job
- MK Dons Preview: MK Dons and Ex-QPR Coach, John Gorman Looks forward and Looks Back
- QPR's Horrendous FA Cup Run: 11 Years and 12 Managers since QPR Won in the FA Cup!
- Five+ Year Flashback: QPR Schedule & Then Cancel Friendly vs MK Dons
Daily Mail/Matt Barlow
QPR's Mackie is back in FA Cup action exactly a year after his horror injury
Jamie Mackie disagreed with Neil Warnock. Queens Park Rangers, firmly on course for promotion, were at Blackburn in the FA Cup third round and Warnock thought his striker ought to sit this one out.
Mackie, however, was desperate to play. ‘I was playing every week, every minute of every game and I didn’t want to miss this one,’ he says. ‘It was a chance to play against Premier League opposition.
‘The manager said I needed a rest but I convinced him I should play. You think you’re invincible sometimes when you’re flying. His words were, “Well, you’d better not get injured”.’
Looking back: Mackie was flying in the Championship before getting injured last year
Mackie broke his right leg in a collision with Gael Givet, an injury which achieved notoriety because Blackburn’s El Hadji Diouf spat insults at the stricken player as he lay on the turf. That was one year ago. For Mackie it was bad enough without Diouf’s brainless contribution. Here he was, making up for lost time, speeding towards the Premier League. Then, crash.
‘I was absolutely devastated,’ he says. ‘It took me a while to get my head around it. I’d never had any sort of injury. I was lying on my mum’s sofa feeling sorry for myself. I had a cast on for quite a long time. What carried me through was the lads doing so well and getting promotion.
‘I knew if I did my hard graft there might still be a chance and, after nine-and-a-half months of rehab I was back, playing in the Premier League against Manchester United, playing well, scoring my first Premier League goal and playing for Scotland again. It’s another chapter in quite a long story.’
Mackie left school at 16 with no job and not much of a plan yet navigated a route to the best league in world football via Milton Keynes and Devon.
What better time for an uplifting tale of the underdog than FA Cup third-round day with QPR at MK Dons?
Horror injury: Mackie lies injured as Diouf (right) gets involved
After unwinding following one of his regular yoga sessions, 26-year-old Mackie is ready to rewind. Born and raised in Dorking, Surrey, he played for Leatherhead in his final school year. Professional clubs scouted him and Millwall invited him to train but no-one offered a scholarship deal.
‘I always wanted a career in football and I never thought of anything else,’ he says. ‘When I didn’t have a club at 16, people at school were saying, “You’re never going to play football for a living, you need to think of something else”. But I never did. I’ve always believed in myself. I knew I was good enough. I knew I’d get a chance and that when it came along I wouldn’t let it go.’
Leatherhead boss Alex Inglethorpe - later manager of Exeter and now coaching in Tottenham’s academy - had faith too. He called Wimbledon and persuaded them to take a chance.
‘I went into Wimbledon’s youth team,’ says Mackie. ‘But I wasn’t on a contract because they’d filled their quota of YTS kids. They gave my mum a bit of petrol money to drive me up in the mornings and I kept my head down, worked hard and didn’t rock the boat. It wasn’t long before the manager Stuart Murdoch wanted me to train with the first team. I was 17 and they were talking about a debut. As soon as that happened there was a pro contract.’
Long road to the top: Mackie hasn't trodden the tried and tested path
Mackie made his debut on Boxing Day in 2003 but six months later Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes and the dynamic changed. The club invested in older players and he did not start a league game in 2004-05. Then he was released by boss Danny Wilson.
‘I remember it really clearly, even now,’ he says. ‘On the day it was really hard. I had to call my family and friends and say, “I’ve been released”. It’s hard to say that.
‘Everyone had been so proud of me and I almost felt embarrassed. It was like I wasn’t good enough. Maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I needed coaching. But it helped to have that low point because I never wanted it again. I didn’t sulk. Alex was down at Exeter and I trusted him, so I went there.
‘They had a good side in the Conference. The club were buzzing. Alex and Steve Perryman had saved them from going out of business and they’d just played Manchester United in the FA Cup.
Devon spent: Mackie resurrected his career at Exeter and Plymouth
‘I wouldn’t swap my path to the Premier League for anything. I’ve got good morals and they stand me in good stead. The academies are where you really learn football. I missed those years and had to catch up.
‘At Exeter I had good coaches like Alex, Paul Buckle and Paul Tisdale, and they worked hard to get me to a higher level. I knuckled down and worked on my hold-up play, scoring goals, finding the right places to be on the pitch. I dedicated everything to getting back into the Championship and I did it with Plymouth.’
From Plymouth to QPR and, less than four years after leaving non-League, Mackie made his Premier League debut, albeit in a 6-0 defeat at Fulham.
‘I get the chance to play against Patrice Evra and Ashley Cole and I think, these are the best, let’s see how good I am,’ he says. ‘A lot of people said I’d never have the chance. It might be a different route to other people but I’m here on merit.’ Daily Mail
Neil Warnock's weekly column - Independent
Neil Warnock: My lifelong love for the Cup has always gone unrequited
I fell in love with the FA Cup as a boy, but the competition has not been kind to me.
As a player I never got past the fourth round; as a manager, in nearly 30 attempts, I've reached one semi-final, two quarter-finals and five times went out in the qualifying rounds.
Obviously, much of that has to do with the clubs I've managed. Just getting to the third round with Burton Albion, when they were in the Northern Premier League, was a fantastic achievement. When I reached the semi-final with Sheffield United in 2003 we beat two Premier League teams, including a very good Leeds United, and were very hard done by against Arsenal in the semi-final. That was the match in which my good friend Graham Poll was their best attacker – he provided the assist for the only goal of the game. It still hurts.
I've got a good team now so I'd love to have a real crack at the competition this year, but again the fates haven't been kind. We've been given a difficult draw, away to MK Dons, who are doing really well.
We're also struggling for players. I want to field my strongest team but that's always dependent on who's fit and available and, having had two tough games, we have quite a few knocks to overcome. There's also Joey Barton suspended and two players with African Cup of Nations involvement. On the plus side we can play Federico Macheda, who's done well in training this week and will be hoping for a start today. He's got a lot to play for while on loan to us and I believe he can make an impact.
I'm expecting a cracking atmosphere and I'm sure the dressing room will be in good spirits and looking forward to having a break from the League. Mind you, our fans will probably travel in trepidation. I'm told QPR haven't won an FA Cup tie since 2001, not even when they were in the third tier and playing in the first round.
2. Knockout memories – in more than one sense
One of my early memories is of playing football in the street in Sheffield when all the buses of Norwich City fans came past. It was 1959, Norwich were a Third Division team at the time, and they'd reached the sixth round. All these double-decker buses full of fans hanging out of the window with yellow and green scarves on came past. They waved at us and we waved back. It was amazing. It seems like something out of a book now.
They got a draw at Bramall Lane and when the replay came around we all sat round a table while my dad fiddled with the old wireless. It was all crackling as he turned the dials, then we heard the commentator at Carrow Road. It was 10 times more exciting as a kid listening to it on the wireless than watching it on TV. The game went one way, then the other, until Terry Bly got the winner for Norwich. I remember going to bed that night so disappointed.
A few years later I was at Bramall Lane when we played Burnley, who were a wonderful team at the time. They still played cricket at Bramall Lane then and we were in the corner, about third man in cricket positions. We were full of hope, then the blond head of Ray Pointer scored for them.
Although I've never had much luck in the competition it was the FA Cup which first got me noticed as a manager, at Burton in 1985. We played five matches just to get to the first round proper, in which we beat Staines. We drew Aldershot away and I can remember being on the pitch when the football special came along the adjacent railway line with all the Burton fans on it. We won 2-0 and they made the draw straight afterwards. We were thrilled to get Leicester, who were First Division and a local derby – we even had the same sponsors. They had Gary Lineker and Alan Smith, who scored five goals between them in a 6-1 defeat. But at 1-1 our goalkeeper Paul Evans had been hit by a chunk of wood. He was wobbling about and even sick on the pitch, but the ref said we had to play on. There was a big fuss afterwards, and we got a rematch played behind closed doors at Coventry's Highfield Road. It was a really weird atmosphere but we had a right go and only lost 1-0.
As non-Leaguers you've nothing to lose in those situations, but it's not much fun for the League team. I've never been knocked out by a non-League club, but I've had some close shaves. Telford took us to a replay when I was at Huddersfield and at Plymouth we only beat Kingstonian 2-1, but the season of living dangerously was 1999-2000.
I started it at Bury, where I wasn't very popular, and it looked as if it would get a lot worse when we met Tamworth in the Cup. They play Everton today and David Moyes certainly won't want to be taken to a replay. The atmosphere was fantastic at The Lamb Ground, but it was a really hard, sloping pitch and we had to change in a shed. Twice we led, twice they equalised. Back at Gigg Lane they led with four minutes left but Chris Billy levelled before winning in extra time. Bury's luck ran out in the next round when Cardiff beat us in the last minute of the replay, but I got a second chance with Sheffield United. One of my first matches was against Rushden & Diamonds, then going great guns in the Conference. We drew 1-1 at home, and when Shaun Derry scored in extra time at their place I thought we were through but it went to penalties. I've never prayed so much. A new manager needs a good start, not going out to a non-League club. Fortunately we won.
3. Joey's red card gave pundits ammunition
As you will have read in yesterday's Independent, I'm very disappointed the FA have not rescinded the red card given to Joey Barton against Norwich. You know the officials have got it wrong when Graham Poll and Dermot Gallagher come out and say it. I just can't understand why play went on until Joey was clattered. What if Joey had scored, would the goal have counted? It was interesting to read the experts saying they didn't think the linesman had seen the incident and had gone by the reaction of Bradley Jones throwing his head back and Grant Holt going straight towards the linesman.
At least it gives some columnists a chance to have a dig at me and Joey this week. Having said after the game that Joey wouldn't have reacted the same way, I was quickly reminded of his escapade with Gervinho when Newcastle played Arsenal earlier this season.
One aspect that unsettled me was a conversation I had before the Norwich match with Phil Dowd, the fourth official. The referee was Neil Swarbrick, who I thought had had a poor game one time in the Championship. When I marked him I gave him 100, and added the remark: "I hope this will get him into the Premier League." Little did I know that would come back and haunt me when I also got into the Premier League because it turned out Swarbrick had remembered this, and mentioned it to Phil, which suggets he had it on his mind.
4. Kids have cheered me up over rotten New Year
When you get two defeats, like we had over New Year, it is hard on families as, while everyone else is enjoying the holiday, you can't be cheerful and feeling on top of the world.
The kids have been brilliant, putting up with me and cheering me up, so I showed them some of my vintage card tricks, which I remembered while watching Dynamo on TV. He had been at Amit Bhatia's Diwali party and we kept on saying, "How on earth did he do that?"I taught William a trick, but he keeps on doing it and I've had to remind him if you do it too often people will suss it.
The family came to the Arsenal game. I went on the pitch to wave at them and looked up and saw the big clock. My mind went back to the time when my dad smuggled me on the bus from Sheffield, and into his hotel room, when United played at Highbury. I remember getting to the ground, looking up and seeing that huge clock then. They tell me it's not the same clock, but it looks the same.
On Thursday I came downstairs to find my wife and daughter watching Celebrity Big Brother. Is that sad or what? I couldn't even take them to task as I've had 20-odd stitches inserted in my mouth for a bone graft and talking is not easy. It should be OK by kick-off today, though. Independent
- One of QPR's greatest-ever managers, brilliant captain, innovative free-kick expert (as player, coach and manager) TERRY VENABLES Turned Sixty-Nine yesterday! (QPR Flashbacks)
- "On This Day" FIve Year Flashback: QPR & Witney United Announce would be playing Friendly...And then...And then! (Also On this Day: Two FA Cup Draws vs Luton Town!
- New Commemorial 50-pp Coin Supposedly Explains Offside Rule Incorrectly!
- Darlington in Trouble: Having Laidoff most staff, don't have enough staff to host home Game
- QPR Official Supporters Club (OSC) AGM & EGM was held Wednesday Evening
- UPDATE: Alessandro Pellicori Mentioned re Italian Football Scandal
- QPR Report (Brief) Mid-Season Assessment of QPR "QPR blogger Mike from QPR report gives Metro Sport his view on the season so far and discusses his hopes for the January transfer window"