- Olympic Torch Passes Loftus Road
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Dave McIntyre/West London Sport - Coaching chief hails ‘massive step’ for QPR
Hodges is assessing the set-up at Rangers following his recent appointment as head of coaching.
And he says securing the use of the Park Club on East Acton Lane for the club’s youth teams – who previously trained at Harlington along with the first team – could turn out to be a watershed moment.
“It’s a massive step. For starters, there’s an indoor area that means on the dark winter nights we can get the boys in there when otherwise they wouldn’t be able to train,” he said.
“There are great facilities there. There’s an astroturf pitch and everything else to give the boys what they need.
“It ticks all the boxes and it’s exciting that things are now in place to take the club forward.”
Camden New Journal/Steve Barnett - Learn with Premier coaches
YOUNGSTERS are being invited to show off their soccer skills this summer with the help of top coaches from a Premier League club.
The West Euston Partnership have teamed up with Queens Park Rangers to host daily sessions at the Cumberland Market Sports Pitch in Regent's Park Estate.
The soccer school will give boys and girls the chance to sharpen their skills and practise their passing before taking part in a series of competitive matches.
Anyone interested should email Tony Louki on tony@westeuston.org for further details. Camden New Journal
YOUNGSTERS are being invited to show off their soccer skills this summer with the help of top coaches from a Premier League club.
The West Euston Partnership have teamed up with Queens Park Rangers to host daily sessions at the Cumberland Market Sports Pitch in Regent's Park Estate.
The soccer school will give boys and girls the chance to sharpen their skills and practise their passing before taking part in a series of competitive matches.
Anyone interested should email Tony Louki on tony@westeuston.org for further details. Camden New Journal
Bucks Free Press/Andy Carswell - Life's a Gaz for coach Ainsworth
MISSING out on the dressing room banter is the biggest difference between playing and coaching that Gareth Ainsworth has noticed.
He says his team mates have made his transition from player to staff less painful than it could have been after being made player-coach at Adams Park.
Previous experience in the dugout at QPR gave Ainsworth the management bug but he admits his relationship with some of the players at Loftus Road suffered as a result.
The 39-year-old said: "At QPR when I was a player and I went on to manage it was really difficult. One day you're a team mate of the lads, the next day you're telling them what to do.
"I'm missing out on most of the banter because I'm upstairs in my office doing some session plans with Richard Dobson."
But life as player-coach with Blues is a different prospect, he says.
Ainsworth said: "I'm always going to be Gaz to the lads. They'll always respect me for what I've done throughout my career and how I play. They're a great set of lads and they've made it easy for me.
"I've been taking sessions as well as joining in. The gaffer's trusted me with coaching the first team. We all do it together, we try to keep it structured and work on a specific topic if we need to.
"It's a good learning curve for me and I've got two great people to learn off."
Ainsworth has never hidden his desire to get into management but said: "At the moment being a coach under Gary Waddock and Richard Dobson is more than enough for me. I'm learning plenty and I'd be stupid to think I could go straight in and become manager of a Premier League side like QPR. You start small and hopefully get there in the end.
"I'm really happy at Wycombe, it's a great club and it's where I want to be."
Adjusting to the longer days as a coach is another big difference he's noticed since changing roles.
He was in the dugout for Wanderers' friendly at Luton on Wednesday night, having put the non-playing members of the squad through their paces on the training ground in the morning.
Ainsworth said: "You don't realise as a player how easy it is and how well you're looked after. It's not easy as a coach. You're well looked after as a player but you can't go on forever as a player. I do want to be a coach and also a manager one day. This is my first step." Bucks Free Press
MISSING out on the dressing room banter is the biggest difference between playing and coaching that Gareth Ainsworth has noticed.
He says his team mates have made his transition from player to staff less painful than it could have been after being made player-coach at Adams Park.
Previous experience in the dugout at QPR gave Ainsworth the management bug but he admits his relationship with some of the players at Loftus Road suffered as a result.
The 39-year-old said: "At QPR when I was a player and I went on to manage it was really difficult. One day you're a team mate of the lads, the next day you're telling them what to do.
"I'm missing out on most of the banter because I'm upstairs in my office doing some session plans with Richard Dobson."
But life as player-coach with Blues is a different prospect, he says.
Ainsworth said: "I'm always going to be Gaz to the lads. They'll always respect me for what I've done throughout my career and how I play. They're a great set of lads and they've made it easy for me.
"I've been taking sessions as well as joining in. The gaffer's trusted me with coaching the first team. We all do it together, we try to keep it structured and work on a specific topic if we need to.
"It's a good learning curve for me and I've got two great people to learn off."
Ainsworth has never hidden his desire to get into management but said: "At the moment being a coach under Gary Waddock and Richard Dobson is more than enough for me. I'm learning plenty and I'd be stupid to think I could go straight in and become manager of a Premier League side like QPR. You start small and hopefully get there in the end.
"I'm really happy at Wycombe, it's a great club and it's where I want to be."
Adjusting to the longer days as a coach is another big difference he's noticed since changing roles.
He was in the dugout for Wanderers' friendly at Luton on Wednesday night, having put the non-playing members of the squad through their paces on the training ground in the morning.
Ainsworth said: "You don't realise as a player how easy it is and how well you're looked after. It's not easy as a coach. You're well looked after as a player but you can't go on forever as a player. I do want to be a coach and also a manager one day. This is my first step." Bucks Free Press
FLASHBACK: Dave McIntyre/Evening Standard - July 26, 2001
Council promise to stop QPR move
Council promise to stop QPR move
Hammersmith and Fulham Council are to support the campaign to prevent Queens Park Rangers moving out of Loftus Road.
Former director Andrew Ellis, a Knightsbridge property developer, is poised to buy the club, who are in administration, and his eventual plan is to move them to a new stadium near Heathrow Airport.
But a consortium of supporters have tabled a rival takeover bid and pledged to keep the club at the ground which has been home since 1931.
Now councillors have also vowed to do all they can to stop the Loftus Road ground from being sold. Ellis is in talks with owner Chris Wright and has until 6 August to finalise his offer.
But Mayor Andrew Slaughter said: "The overwhelming majority of QPR fans say that the club is associated with the ground. We aim to see QPR survive and thrive at Loftus Road."
Councillor Wesley Harcourt said: "The Council is committed to keeping Queens Park Rangers in the borough. If Andrew Ellis gets control of QPR, our planning policy is such that we can make it very difficult for the ground to be sold at a profit.
"This Council fought the redevelopment of Chelsea's ground and gave planning permission for Fulham to develop theirs. It's about time QPR had the same amount of air time."
Parading the back page of Tuesday's Evening Standard, which revealed that a consortium of Rangers fans had tabled a bid to rival Ellis's, Councillor Stephen Burke told last night's Council meeting: "If QPR leave for Heathrow, it would be disastrous for the club and the borough. It would be the death knell for the club and the fans do not want it."
Tory councillor Greg Hands added: "When clubs have moved, those that have been typically successful have been based in a city or town where there is only one club, like Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
"Moving to Heathrow is not obviously going to work when there are 12 other teams in London competing for children to aspire to them. I very much support attempts to keep QPR in the borough."
Meanwhile, QPR manager Ian Holloway has offered defender Matthew Rose and trialist Alex Bonnot threemonth contracts. The short-term deals have been put in place while QPR sort out their financial future.
But Rose is disappointed that he has been unable to secure a move to a club in the top two divisions.
Rose said: "I played for QPR in a friendly against Watford on Saturday and I was twice as good as most of their players, but I have only heard of some interest, nothing concrete." ... Standard