QPR interim boss on his special Sunderland reunions
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FOR QPR stand-in boss Kevin Betsy, Saturday's game at Sunderland was special for two reasons. Firstly, he was delighted to see Rangers pull off a surprise win at the end of what has been a turbulent week following the exit of boss Marti Cifuentes.
But Betsy will now be supporting Sunderland in the play-offs, for the former England coach knows several of the Black Cats stars well and loved the chance to briefly catch up with them at the Stadium of Light on Saturday....
"I've coached a lot of Sunderland's players, some of them when they were 12,13," said Betsy, who has no interest in taking charge of QPR on a permanent basis.
"Pat Roberts I had at Fulham at the club, we signed him from Wimbledon and he went on to sign for Man City for a lot of money. It was great to see him. I had Dennis Cirkin at England, Jobe Bellingham as well - lovely boy, really good footballer. Dan Ballard at Arsenal as well.
"I've watched Sunderland for years, fantastic club. The passion, support. I used to come to the training ground a lot, I came to watch Sam Greenwood when he was in the England set up, it's an amazing place.
"I was actually on loan at Hartlepool as a player, so I know a bit about the area. It's a great football club and I hope they do well in the play-offs, they have been one of the best teams in the division and that's been shown over a 46-game season. I'm sure they'll do well.
"You always care about the players you coach, forget about the tactics. You coach some of these players when they are 12,13 - to see them realise their dream is beautiful for a coach. I'm a fan of a lot of these players."
Betsy had to put that connection to one side on Saturday and was thrilled with QPR's performance and result, with Nicolas Madsen's early goal securing all three points for the visitors.
He said: "We weren't sure what kind of team Sunderland would select today, we thought there might actually be more rotation today with those play-off games coming up.
"It's a really strong team, squad, and the way they play is a credit to the club. But you have to come with a game plan and we didn't want to just come and defend, we wanted to be a threat and to get creative players on the ball while being really resilient out of possession.
"We knew the areas where Sunderland like to attack, their main threats - they can open you up within a second but each and every player applied themselves.
"The goal was really good creativity, we wanted to give them freedom in the final third. We picked Ash [Harrison Ashby] to play on the right - some people would look at that and say he's a full back but he's trained extremely well and he's shown quality in the final third this season in flashes....
