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Saturday, September 01, 2012

QPR Report Saturday: QPR Return to Scene of Crime: Manchester City!...Sale re Bhatia...Green's Future...OTD: Ecclestone-Briatore Takeover...First Game on Plastic...Ray Wilkins Axed...Chairman Bill Power Exits






 Today: Manchester City: Past Results/Shared Players/Old Photos


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 QPR History: From the 1880s to the 21st Century: Bushman QPR Photo Archives



QPR REPORT MESSAGEBOARD

QPR in Video

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The Transfer Window is now closed (till January!)...Players can still be loaned out to League Clubs for a few more weeks...The Squad of 25 has to be handed in on Tuesday?


- List of Premiership Club Transfers

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 The QPR Squad of 25 of One Year Ago - Some 15 of those 25 have moved on or will be moving on!


-  Year Ago: SWP, Ferdinand and  Puncheon Join and the Squad of 25...Two Years Ago: Hulse and Smith Join....Five Years Ago: Leigertwood Joins....Seven Years ago: Langley and Lomas Join


- Five Years ago Today: The Ecclestone-Briatore Takeover of QPR Complete with Official Announcement and Takeover Statement


- On This Day:  QPR's First Game on its "ControversialArtificial Turf"....Ray Wilkins Axed...Chairman Bill Power Departs




QPR Official Site - Cameroon international Mbia arrives on two-year deal



The ambitions of the club and what the board of directors and the manager want to achieve here excites me greatly."



Stephane Mbia

QUEENS Park Rangers Football Club is pleased to announce the signing of Cameroon international Stephane Mbia.

The versatile Mbia – who can play in either defence or midfield – has signed a two year-deal in W12, after Rangers agreed an undisclosed fee with French side Olympique de Marseille for his services.

M’Bia was born in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde and began his career at the Kadji Sports Academy when he was 17 years-old.

He later signed for French outfit Rennes in 2004, scoring his first goal in professional football two years later against Lyon, before joining Marseille in 2009.

He has represented his country 36 times, scoring on three occasions.
Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk, R’s boss Mark Hughes said: “Stephane is a very good player, and is another who can play in a number of positions.

“He is very adept as a defensive midfielder but he has been regularly playing at centre back so we have got another player who can add to the flexibility of the squad.

“He is a big, strong guy with a strong mentality. He wants to win and is the type of player I want at the club.

“We have been talking about getting a centre back and he is in my mind for that role, but he is just as adept in midfield and I wouldn’t have any worries about playing him in either position.”

Mbia expressed his delight at the move, commenting: “It was an easy decision because this is an important move for my career.

“It has always been a dream of mine to play in the Premier League, which I believe is the best league in the world.

“The ambitions of the club and what the board of directors and the manager want to achieve here excites me greatly.

“I am so happy and enthusiastic about what the future holds here and can’t wait to be part of this exciting project.”

Mbia will wear the number 40 shirt at Loftus Road.   QPR


GUARDIAN/Press Association - 
Joey Barton joins Marseille on loan as Stephane Mbia goes opposite direction

• Midfielder thanks QPR after sealing loan move
• Cameroon international Mbia agrees permanent deal

Joey Barton thanked QPR for giving him the opportunity to join Marseille on a season-long loan on Friday night.

Barton launched a series of tirades against the club via Twitter after he was forced to train with the youth team, but he appears to be leaving the west London club on good terms after finalising a temporary move to the Ligue 1 leaders while Stephane Mbia has gone in the opposite direction in a permanent deal.

"I am now a player for L'OM. What a birthday present! Cannot wait to get going. #allezL'OM," tweeted Barton, who turns 30 on Sunday.

"Would like to thank [agent] Willie Mckay, [Marseille sporting director] José Anigo and [chairman] Vincent Lebrune aka Mr President for making it happen. I would also like to thank [QPR owner]tonyfernandes and [chief executive] Amit-Bhatia99 for making this possible. Good luck to everyone at QPR for this season."

Mark Hughes, who has endured a rocky relationship with Barton, said he would not rule out seeing the 29-year-old pull on a QPR shirt again after his loan at the Stade Vélodrome ends.

The QPR manager said: "We looked at him possibly coming back in January but now it seems he prefers to go out a little bit longer. He's still got two more years after that. We'll see what happens. He wants to play and needs to play and isn't going to take lightly to staying here and helping the development squad."

Mbia, a Cameroon international who can play in defence or midfield, has signed a two-year deal at Loftus Road, and is looking forward to testing himself in the Barclays Premier League after spending eight years in Ligue 1.

He said: "It was an easy decision because this is an important move for my career. It has always been a dream of mine to play in the Premier League, which I believe is the best league in the world.

"The ambitions of the club and what the board of directors and the manager want to achieve here excites me greatly. I am so happy and enthusiastic about what the future holds here and can't wait to be part of this exciting project."

Despite having a bid accepted for Michael Dawson last week, Rangers were unable to lure the Tottenham defender across London before Friday night's deadline.

The only other bit of business at the west London club saw Jay Bothroyd join the Championship side Sheffield Wednesday on loan until January. Guardian


Express/Tony Banks -ROB GREEN VICTIM OF THE TONY FERNANDES QPR REVOLUTION

Rob Green may see little game time at QPR this season

TONY FERNANDES promised to shake things up at Queens Park Rangers, to make them competitive in the Premier League when he breezed in and bought the club a year ago.
The Malaysian entrepreneur has certainly kept the first of those promises.

In 12 whirlwind months, Fernandes has transformed a Rangers side barely equipped to survive at the top level when they came up in the summer of 2011.

He has gone through one manager, signed very nearly two complete teams of players and catapulted the Hoops to the front of the news agenda almost on a daily basis.

There is a whiff of frenzy about it all, a sense that manager Mark Hughes is being presented with stars from all corners of the globe and being asked if he wants them.
But then maybe Fernandes knows that this is a building job that he has to do unseasonably quickly. Should Plan A fail, scrap it and turn to Plan B. Worry about the consequences later.

Nothing exemplifies that sense of chaos more than the situation that Robert Green finds himself in this morning.

I was told there was a possibility that Julio Cesar would look favourably on coming to QPR, so we tried to pursue it - Mark Hughes

The one-time England goalkeeper will be asked to stand between the posts at Manchester City tonight, because the man QPR signed on Wednesday to replace him, Brazilian international Julio Cesar, will not have had his work permit come through in time to play.
Green, signed only in June from West Ham on a �50,000-a-week contract, had kept goal for just two competitive games for his new club before he saw Inter Milan�s Cesar heading over the horizon.

Green�s blunder led to Michu putting Swansea ahead in a calamitous 5-0 opening day home defeat. Last night, Hughes all but told Green that if he did not like it, he could lump it. But not until after tonight�s game, please.

Hughes said: �We had a conversation, of which I won�t go into the details but it�s important that Rob doesn�t feel that this was a knee-jerk reaction.
�It was something that was presented to us only four or five days ago. I was told there was a possibility that Julio Cesar would look favourably on coming to QPR, so we tried to pursue it.
�We saw how far we could go with it without possibly believing we could even get near to bringing a goalkeeper of his quality to the club. We managed it and that will have some impact on Rob.

�He understands that. But he also fully understands the thinking behind what we have done, though it might have an affect him throughout the season.�

But, if Green was to ask to leave now? Hughes said tellingly: �That isn�t my concern. That may concern Rob in terms of his international standing, but I have got to make sure we�re strong as a club. If in the future any of my keepers came to me and said they felt their future lay elsewhere, then we can have a conversation and make a decision.

�The signing of Cesar makes total sense from a footballing point of view. He has such a standing in the world that it raises our profile as a club. Without a doubt that will help the business side.�

Green is, of course, not alone. Maverick midfielder Joey Barton yesterday completed his move to Marseille on loan for a year after also being displaced, in the notorious Tweeter�s case, largely for getting sent off in the final crucial game of last season at Manchester City and being banned for 12 games. Then there are players such as Luke Young and Shaun Wright- Phillips already on the margins.

Last summer, Fernandes brought in five permanent signings, in January three, and at the last count last night, an astonishing 13, with defensive midfielder Stephane Mbia arriving from Marseille.

The revolution never stops at Loftus Road. Those part of the original coup, last August, have no guarantee of keeping their place in this. But Green could be persona non grata quicker than any of them. Express



Charles Sale - Daily Mail: Bhatia's doubts about QPR's future

Talk in the QPR dressing room is that the big-spending club had to persuade their richest benefactor to stay on board this season.

QPR have bought virtually an entire team during the summer, underlining the importance of continued support from vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, who looks after the 34 per cent holding owned by his steel magnate father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's wealthiest individual.

However, it is understood the Mittal family, who had an option to withdraw their backing in the close season, needed plenty of convincing from chairman Tony Fernandes to keep faith with the money-no-object QPR project.

The Mittals had come close to ditching their shareholding a year earlier when they questioned whether their investment was worth it.

'We had the conversation when things got very difficult,' said Bhatia.

Fernandes heads the three-strong consortium with a 66 per cent stake.  Mail









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