#Warnock on John Terry Incident and Taarabt...Birthday for #QPR's #LakshmiMittal....Give #Redknapp Transfer Control: QPR Legend...DJ Campbell?.....Flashbacks: MK Dons Cancelled..."Bournemouth Star" Signs
Birthday Today for QPR's Lakshmi Mittal! (Hopefully long-associated with the club)
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- Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
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- QPR's 1969-1970 Season in Photos - Bushman Archives
- Flashback 7 Years: QPR Announce Friendly with MK Dons...Next Day: QPR Cancel Friendly with MK Dons!
- 13 Year Flashback: " Bournemouth Star Signs" for QPR
- Bothroyd Faces Driving Ban
- Rupert Murdoch Plans Summer Football Competition for Top Clubs
- Guardian Q and A With Neil Warnock
- Year Flashback: Tony Fernandes on New QPR Stadium (Unlikely to GroundShare and re Staying up)
- Year Ago: Funeral of Dennis Signy
- Six Years Ago: QPR Owners (Paladini and Caliendo) Prepared to Sell QPR
- Flashback: Jim Gregory's Reply to Tommy Docherty
- BBC: Recalling Robert Maxwell's 1983 effort to merge Oxford and Reading into "Thames Valley Royals"
- Guardian/Ian Lynam - In the era of Financial Fair Play clubs must pay smart, not pay more
- QPR Summer Key Dates
- Paulo Sousa Takes over at Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Warnock/Independent
Wanock's 'The Gaffer' exclusive extract: Anton Ferdinand has not been the same since the John Terry storm
In
excerpts from his new autobiography The Gaffer, Neil Warnock lifts the
lid on the explosive episodes of his QPR career and their effects
Neil Warnock Author Biography
Friday 14 June 2013
I
was looking forward to playing Chelsea. I’d been told at the start of
the season if we beat them QPR director Amit Bhatia’s father-in-law,
Lakshmi Mittal, the steel billionaire, would give me a million pounds.
That was quite an incentive.
Our build-up was difficult.
Training had not been very good. The players had heard Adel Taarabt was
out the night before the games against Fulham and Blackburn and they had
a meeting among themselves that had come to my attention. Adel said he
wasn’t out. He doesn’t drink anyhow so even if he was it wasn’t the
issue it would be with some. You have to give him the benefit of the
doubt, but all week it had been festering.
Then there was
selection and tactics. We were a bit at sixes and sevens. Joey Barton
and Dezza [Shaun Derry] wanted to play three in central midfield and one
player wide. I felt we needed Adel or someone putting his foot on the
ball or doing something to stretch Chelsea. Curly [coach Keith Curle]
wanted wide players to stop their full-backs pushing on but I thought
we’d then just end up in our own half and get beat anyhow.
I
decided to pick Adel and have a go at Chelsea. I’m the one responsible
for results after all, but I had to convince the players it would work. I
started with the full-backs. They like to stay out, but Chelsea’s
wingers like to come in and Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge would cause
problems if we allowed them to do so untracked. So the full-backs had to
come with them and the spare centre-half would cover the space.
Then
I brought in Joey (below) and the midfielders and we had a really good
morning running through how we were going to play. I decided to bring
Clint Hill back from Forest as I wasn’t convinced either Danny Gabbidon
or Armand Traoré would be fit. Armand had an adductor strain and he’s
the type that if he sneezed he felt he had flu or pneumonia.
We
started well, the plan with the full-backs worked, we won some great
tackles and headers and Chelsea began to show signs of panic. That was
underlined when David Luiz made a stupid challenge on Heidar Helguson.
The ref gave a penalty and Heidar tucked it in. Then Adel put a great
ball through for Shaun Wright-Phillips and José Bosingwa pulled him down
and got sent off. They were just rejigging their line-up when Didier
Drogba made an horrific lunge on Adel and got a straight red. They were
down to nine and a goal behind. It seemed unreal. Watching it from the
bench it seemed like Drogba’s dismissal was in slow motion.
Then a
minute before the break they pulled off Juan Mata and put on Nicolas
Anelka, which I couldn’t understand. Not only was Mata the player I
thought could rip us apart, doing it then meant we knew how they would
play in the second half. I thought they would have given themselves a
bit more time and decide what to do during half-time.
At
half-time I said to my lads: “We can’t sit back because of the quality
of their passing, be positive.” But it was difficult. We let them have
the ball and their players are so good technically they kept it, even
with nine men. We were chasing shadows.
I substituted Adel with
Tommy Smith with about 25 minutes to go to give us fresh legs. Once
again he stormed off down the tunnel. He never shook any hands, not mine
anyway as I didn’t even look at him – I could see what he was going to
do. There was a tense finish and I saw John Terry having a set-to with
Paddy Kenny, and another with Anton Ferdinand, but it didn’t seem like
there was anything out of the ordinary given it was a competitive derby
match. We held on to gain a fabulous result.
I went out on the
pitch to savour the atmosphere, which was deafening, and immediately had
Adel coming up to me for a moan. “Gaffer, why you substitute me, blah,
blah, blah.”
“Look around you,” I said, “this is not about Adel
Taarabt, this is about Queen’s Park Rangers. Queen’s Park Rangers are
more important than you. A lot of people would not even have picked you.
You should be thanking me for picking you instead of having a go at
me.” I think he’s a lovely lad, and he is unique, but he hasn’t got any
idea sometimes as he only worries about himself. Most players do.
Joey
and Anton lingered on the pitch with me. I said to them: “Just take in
the atmosphere, I’ve never heard anything like it.” I drank it in. A lot
of our fans had never seen a victory against Chelsea – it had been 16
years – and they were revelling in it.
When the three of us got
to the tunnel all hell had broken loose. The tunnel was compacted with
bodies; there was shouting and screaming. Chelsea weren’t very good
losers to say the least and, as our players had to go past their
dressing room to reach ours, there was plenty of opportunity for
confrontation. I screamed at our lot: “Get in the dressing room.” They
did.
Mick Jones, my assistant manager, who had come down earlier,
said the referee must have sensed what was going to happen, as he got
off quickly, into his room, and shut the door behind him, leaving the
players to sort it out themselves like in the old days. I thought it was
a good move. The police were there too and one of the officers said to
Mick: “Keep your lads in check and this won’t go any further.” These
things normally last a minute or two and are then forgotten, and with
neither the ref nor the police looking to pursue the matter, that is
where it would have ended. But, of course, there was another aspect this
time with the Terry–Ferdinand incident. That would take almost a year
to play out.
We weren’t aware of anything out of the ordinary
when we left the ground and I drove home still feeling elated. I’d just
got in the front door when I received a text telling me there were these
scenes on YouTube of John Terry shouting “you black c...” or whatever,
towards Anton. There was a link and even viewing it on my phone I
thought it looked pretty obvious.
Anton hadn’t seen it at the
ground because I don’t let them have phones in the dressing room. So
when John had pulled him after the game and asked, “There’s no
problem?”, Anton agreed because he hadn’t seen it. But when he did see
it he was furious. I spoke to him and told him not to say anything to
the press. Then I spoke to [QPR owner] Tony [Fernandes], who said he
would ring Anton and give him the club’s total backing. The previous
week the Luis Suarez–Patrice Evra affair had erupted and I realised this
had the potential to become a big issue – but I had no idea how big the
ramifications would be long term.
That night John Terry made a
statement saying he was just repeating what Anton allegedly had said,
and that was why he said it. That confirmed he had used the words. He
should have just kept his mouth shut, as Anton never heard anything.
The
police were probably the first to appreciate how things might escalate,
as the following day they called Mick Jones (why they chose him neither
he nor anyone else knew) and told him Anton’s home had to be secured,
and would he go along with them to the house to help them do that. Then
they rang him and said they wanted Mick to be responsible for Anton’s
safety getting into the ground at the next home match – they needed to
know where to take him to minimise the risk of anyone attacking him.
Mick’s my assistant manager, not a security expert, so he replied: “You
must be joking, that’s your job.”
We were off Monday, but matters
continued to develop. Anton was still very angry, so the club made an
official complaint to the FA. The Met Police also got involved more
formally after someone made a complaint to them.
On Tuesday the
FA announced, in response to our complaint, they would investigate. We
trained as normal, but FA people came to the ground in the afternoon to
talk to Anton and myself, plus Shaun Derry and Clint Hill, who the
cameras showed were nearby when the incident happened. But what could we
say? None of us had heard anything.
I wanted to carry on as
normally as possible, so at lunchtime we had a couple of presentations. I
gave extra Championship winners’ medals I’d had struck to reward some
of the unsung staff, and we had birthday cake for Shaun Wright-Phillips,
but we didn’t really enjoy that buzz you get at the training ground
after a great result because it was overshadowed by the controversy.
The
FA came back on Friday and interviewed Anton again, for two hours. It
wasn’t the best preparation to face Tottenham and it showed. Anton was
poor and continued to be so. I don’t think he ever played well for me
again. His mind was affected – understandably given he even had a type
of bullet sent to him in the post – and I don’t think he has ever been
the same player. His concentration levels were poor and he had that many
meetings with solicitors, the police (who by Tuesday after the Spurs
game said they were launching a formal investigation), the FA and PFA
that he missed a lot of training and his sharpness dropped. It didn’t
help the team’s preparation either because you need your centre-half,
especially if working on defending set pieces.
Shortly before
Christmas the Crown Prosecution Service said they were charging Terry
with racially abusing Anton. By the time Terry appeared in court to
plead not guilty I had left QPR, but I followed events from afar. When,
in September, the FA found him guilty of racially abusing Anton and
banned him for four matches it finally seemed to indicate a line could
be drawn under the events of 23 October, 2011.
Actually, there is
still one outstanding issue. I’m still waiting for that £1m bonus from
Amit’s father-in-law for beating Chelsea. I’m sure it’s in the post.
QPR couldn’t sign campbell – they didn’t have any money
On
trying to make signings as QPR prepared for their return to the Premier
League, I was finally allowed to bring in a player who actually cost
money, verbally agreeing a £1.25m fee with Blackpool for DJ Campbell.
He’d not only scored goals for them in the top flight, he was a QPR fan
as well. Crucially co-owner Flavio Briatore rated him and wanted to sign
him too. I had DJ round the house, he agreed terms, he passed a
medical, he even trained with us. It was a done deal, or so it seemed.
Then, before a press conference, the media guy told me not to talk about
DJ and when I asked what he meant, he said: “We can’t put it through
yet, we haven’t got enough money.” We hadn’t sent the letter to
Blackpool making a formal bid because we couldn’t pay if they accepted.
It turned out there was no money in the pot until we got the first
payment from the Premier League.
‘I’ll ram that bottle down your throat’
It
is QPR’s promotion run-in. The players are due back in Saturday ahead
of a televised Monday-night match against Derby County, but Adel Taarabt
fails to turn up.
I found out he’d been with his Moroccan friend
from Arsenal, Chamakh. Then he rang up and claimed I’d said “come in
Sunday”. He’d put weight on as he was not training and it was not good
enough. I had a one-to-one with him on the Sunday and told him what I
expected of him.
When the game arrived, Adel’s lack of sharpness
showed. Robbie Savage, who’s more than a decade older, man-marked him
and Adel didn’t work hard enough to lose him. I had to pull him off
after about 65–70 minutes. When he came off Coxy [Nigel Cox], like a
stupid physio, gave him a bottle of water that he deliberately threw
down in disgust. All the while the TV cameras were on him.
I
didn’t say anything at the time but later in the week, during a staff
meeting, I said to Nigel: “If you ever give another bottle of water to
Adel when he’s been substituted I will ram it down your throat.” I think
he understood. We laughed about it later.
Arsène has the final word
At
the Emirates the technical areas are a long way apart. When I went
there with Sheffield United for my 1,000th game as a manager, I stood
with Arsène Wenger (above) in the centre circle and turned towards them.
I said: “Look at the dugouts, Arsène, they are miles apart, you’ll
never hear me.”
He pondered, looked down at me from his great height, smiled wryly and said: “You will find a way.” Independent
Express
QPR manager Harry Redknapp must be given control of transfers, insists club legend
QPR manager Harry Redknapp must be given control of transfers, insists club legend
QPR
legend Ian Morgan believes Harry Redknapp must be given freedom in all
transfer dealings if the club intend to compete for promotion back to
the Premier League.
By: Nick Lustig
Published: Fri, June 14, 2013
Former-R-s-player-Morgan-believes-Redknapp-must-be-given-control-of-transfers-at-the-club
Former R's player Morgan believes Redknapp must be given control of
transfers at the club
The club's failure to sanction the transfer
of key target Wayne Bridge, who subsequently joined Reading, brought
Redknapp's future as manager into doubt.
And Morgan, who played
alongside his twin brother Roger during his time at Loftus Road, feels
the owners must back the former Tottenham manager in the transfer
market.
He exclusively told Express Online: "Harry has got a
proven track record and knows the market inside out. The club must give
him the support and trust that he wants.
"There has to be a trust between manager and chairman. But Harry is experienced and has been a very successful manager.
"I think they should give Harry a free role to select the players he wants. It is a must for the club."
QPR, Harry RedknappThe relationship between Redknapp and the QPR hierarchy have strained the club's transfer policy
Redknapp
took over from Mark Hughes mid-way through last season, however was
unable to stop the club's slide out of the top flight.
But the
former winger, who was part of club's 1967 League Cup triumph, is
adamant that the R's have got the perfect man for the job.
He
said: "There is not a better man-manager to motivate players than Harry.
I think he is probably one of the best around in getting the most out
of his players.
"If he left it would be a tragedy for the club
because he is the right person for the job. If he went I would not know
who would replace him."
QPR, Harry RedknappQPR suffered relegation in May after only two seasons back in the top flight
I think they should give Harry a free role to select the players he wants. It is a must for the club
QPR legend Ian Morgan
Star players such as Julio Cesar, Christopher Samba and Loic Remy are all expected to depart in the summer.
And
the QPR legend believes the club need to bring in proven Championship
players as they seek promotion back to the Premier League.
He
said: "You need to have players that are experienced in the
Championship, know what it is about and will give 150% for the club.
"QPR
need players who are desperate to play in the Premier League and can
deal with the pressure of expectation as the Championship is a very hard
league to get out of.
"If there in contention after half-way through next season than I would expect Harry and the team to push on.
"I expect them to be in contention for promotion." Express
- Flashback: Roger and Ian Morgan
West London Sport/Dave McIntyre
QPR yet to make final decision on Campbell
QPR have yet to make a final decision on the future of DJ Campbell, who looks likely to leave Loftus Road this summer.
The striker’s contract is about to end and he has not been offered a new deal.
He
is therefore free to join another club, but if he does not he could yet
be given a chance to impress during pre-season, especially if Rangers
have not signed another forward by then.
Campbell’s name was
included on a list recently published by the Premier League of
‘released’ players from each club, as his contract is expiring and he
has not been given another one.
A number of clubs have shown an interest in the 31-year-old, who is considering his options.
Having scored 10 goals in 17 appearances during a loan spell at Ipswich last season, he ended the campaign on loan at Blackburn.
Signed
from Blackpool for £1.25m in 2011, Campbell has made only 11 first-team
appearances for Rangers, nine of them as a substitute.
Last month he told West London Sport that he would like to stay at the club.
Meanwhile,
Rangers appear to have made progress in their attempt to sign Danny
Simpson despite top-flight clubs being made aware of the full-back’s
availability.
Talks with Simpson, 26, are ongoing. He has not
been offered a new contract by Newcastle and will soon be available on a
Bosman free transfer. West London Sport
QPR OFFICIAL SITE
BUTTERWORTH JOINS SCOUTING NETWORK
Ian replaces outgoing Kevin Cruickshank as Scouting Coordinator …
My job will be to search for players, identify players, and then present them to Harry"
Ian Butterworth
IAN BUTTERWORTH has joined QPR as the club’s Scouting Coordinator, replacing the departing Kevin Cruickshank.
Butterworth,
a former defender who represented Coventry City, Nottingham Forest and
Norwich City, is looking forward to his new role.
“This is a big
challenge and I hope I can assist Ian Broomfield (Chief Scout) in
bringing the right type of player to the club,” Butterworth told www.qpr.co.uk.
“There are good people at the football club, and you can’t get a better manager than Harry Redknapp.
“Everyone
will be pulling together next season and my job will be to search for
players, identify players, and then present them to Harry.
“I
have a team of scouts that I will need to organise. At the moment there
are six or seven involved with the club who are based across the UK and
some parts of Europe. We’ll be looking to put them in the right areas to
cover the games and players that we want to see.
“There are good
people behind the scenes and good players already at the club. Let’s
hope we can build a team to challenge next season. That’s what the
manager wants and he is working around the clock to do his best, and
we’ve got to make sure we back him up.”
The 49-year-old, who has
enjoyed assistant manager spells with Darlington (1998 – 2000), Cardiff
City (2000 – 2004), Hartlepool (2006 – 2009) and Norwich City (2009),
believes the arrival of Financial Fair Play has placed greater
importance on teams to have a successful scouting system.
“If you
look across all the clubs now, there’s a strong scouting network in
place,” he adds. “Players cost a lot more these days but you don’t have
to spend lots of money because there are players out there who can
develop under the coaches at the club.”
Butterworth says player acquisition is a difficult business where as much research as possible is vital.
“Obviously,
to a certain extent, every signing is a gamble,” he admits. “But what
you’ve got to do is your due diligence. That’s the important thing. If
you do that, it’s more a calculated risk than a gamble.
“When a
club gets relegated there is obviously a turnover of players and the
team has got to be rebuilt. That’s football, players come and go.
Hopefully we can find the right ones for the manager and he will be
presented with a list to pick from.
“You’ve got to look into
every aspect of a player. And if the manager wants a ‘certain type,’
then we’ve got to make sure we find players who have those qualities.”
Redknapp,
and Chairman Tony Fernandes, have spoken on a number of occasions about
bringing the ‘right sort of player’ to Loftus Road. And Butterworth
fully understands the requirements they’re after.
“We all love to
see the artist who can thread a pass through and the great goalscorer,
but you need experienced soldiers in the Championship,” he says. “And
that’s got to be sprinkled with youth and athleticism. You’ve got to get
the right balance.
“But character is vital. You want people who want to play for the club and who want to be successful.” QPR
