Old timer Shaun Derry is defying expectations at QPR Richard Jolly Shaun Derry's attributes are his reading of the game and sensible range of passing. Getty Images Go to photo 0 next photo previous photo When clubs are taken over and embark on ambitious spending sprees, there tend to be victims, often long-serving individuals who no longer suit the image or the aims of the new regime. When such men are proven performers at lower levels but untried among the elite while in the autumn of their careers, it is a logical assumption they will be put out to grass. Shaun Derry, however, is confounding expectations, including those of his manager. Rather than dispensing with the midfielder, who turns 34 in December, after signing Joey Barton, Neil Warnock has tailored his tactics to accommodate both newcomer and old-timer. The partnership of Derry and Alejandro Faurlin, a crucial factor in Queens Park Rangers' promotion to the Premier League last season, has been turned into a trio, with Warnock saying: "If you look at Derry in training and the difference in his game since we signed Joey Barton, he's been a revelation. "He [Derry] won't play every game, but you don't in the Premier League. I honestly wouldn't write him off." So far, he has complemented Barton, with the anchorman doing much of the donkey work that allows the former Newcastle United player a freer role. Derry's contributions are more understated, but his has been a career marked by unselfish work, often conducted outside the spotlight. Sunday's game against Aston Villa should be a landmark occasion, with Derry now on 599 first-team appearances. He helped QPR win the Championship but individual acclaim have been rarer: his last goal came almost five years ago. While Derry has twice come close to ending the drought this season, perhaps it is best if it continues: the ever quotable Warnock has promised to strip on the touchline should he score. Indeed, there have only been 13 goals in his entire career, lending a sense of symmetry. Interrupted only by seven top-flight games for a Crystal Palace team who were to be relegated, he had spent 13 successive seasons in the Championship. After coming through Notts County's youth system, he signed for Sheffield United in 1998, beginning a long spell as a stalwart of the second tier. His travels took him to Portsmouth, Palace, where he first won promotion to the Premier League, Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Palace again before he followed Warnock to QPR last summer. The 62 year old can get misty eyed about the unsung, romanticising anyone who, as Derry does, provides solidity and commitment. While their relationship dates back a dozen years and manager and senior professional can seem inextricably linked, Derry is quick to point out that Warnock inherited and sold him during their time at Sheffield United. They were reunited in 2007, signalling a revival in Derry's career after an unfortunate brush with infamy. After a relegation-threatened Leeds United team beat Crystal Palace 2-1, Dennis Wise, the Leeds manager, announced a mole in the camp had leaked his line-up to the Londoners. Derry, as a former Palace player, was fingered - incorrectly - and never played for the club again. "I still hold a grudge against Dennis," he said. Since then, he has surprised Warnock, among others. The manager said: "I signed Derry from Leeds and remember saying to Simon Jordan [the Palace owner]: 'Let me take Derry for two years. He'll keep us up this year, but then we'll get rid of him because his legs have gone.' But he just keeps getting better and better." Using astute positioning, sensible passing and his reading of the game, Derry captained Warnock's Palace team and, while the mercurial Moroccan Adel Taarabt wore the QPR armband last year, there was a sense that he was the unofficial leader, the manager's voice on the pitch. During his frantic recruitment at the end of the transfer window, Warnock found time to extend Derry's contract to keep him at Loftus Road until 2013. As he joked: "I've been replacing Shaun Derry now for the best part of five years." Yet for all Warnock's additions, none are natural holding players like Derry. He also has his eyes on another job. "It's no secret that I want to get into coaching and then hopefully management when my playing career finishes," he said. Moreover, while Tony Fernandes, the owner, has made headlines with his talk of bringing David Beckham to Loftus Road, he has also noted the value of the more down-to-earth Derry. "Tony has been so impressed with Shaun since his arrival at the club," Warnock said. "At a club like ours, where the new owners have got so many long-term plans, there will undoubtedly be a role for him. But he has still got a massive impact to make as a player here first and foremost." [email protected] http://www.thenational.ae/sport/football/old-timer-shaun-derry-is-defying-expectations-at-qpr
So much for the soothsayers predicting he'd be at Palace this season, he's not going anywhere and seems like he's here to stay...
599 appearances can only prove what a quality player he is. In some ways, he reminds me a bit of Ray Wilkins - that old head in the middle of the park that reads the game and dictates play, and has the respect of the younger players around him. I only hope that he can help keep Barton on the straight and narrow.
Exclusive: Rs midfielder on Faurlin, Premier League survival and the ‘new QPR’. - QPR - London 24 Shaun Derry Exclusive: Rs midfielder on Faurlin, Premier League survival and the ‘new QPR’. Ian Cooper Wednesday, September 21, 2011 12:00 PM Veteran Derry hails his team-mate and believes Rangers can now attract a different calibre of player Shaun Derry believes the midfield partnership he struck up with Alejandro Faurlin last season is going from strength to strength in the Premier League, and says the Argentinian will soon be a ‘complete player.’ Derry and Faurlin formed an effective understanding to help guide Rangers to promotion from the Championship last season, and they have started the new campaign in a similar vein, helping Neil Warnock’s side keep three clean sheets from their first five matches. While new signings such as Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips have drawn most of the plaudits in QPR’S bright start to life under new owner Tony Fernandes, Warnock has also singled out Derry, Faurlin and keeper Paddy Kenny as three key players in the side. And Derry, who was handed a one-year contract extension earlier this summer, says Faurlin has all the right attributes to become one of the best midfielders in the country. “In all the years I’ve been playing I’ve not played with a guy like Ali,” Derry told the Times. “He’s young, he appreciates his job and he’s a pleasure to play with. “He brings instant balance to the side; he’s got a wonderful left foot, I think it’s imperative that you have a left-footed player in central midfield. “He’s got a great eye for a pass and he brings creativity to the side. I think we saw in the last part of last season and early this year that he’s on his way to becoming the complete midfielder. “Me and Ali have a great partnership: he’s creative and I’m destructive. Throw in guys like Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton, while Tommy Smith is also a great outlet, and we have options there for passes. “We needed decent players of a Premier League level, but we can’t forget the guys that got us here, who all want to establish themselves in the team.” Derry also insisted that the side which was promoted last season could have survived in the Premier League this campaign without any summer signings, although he concedes the wealth of new faces have given everyone a huge lift, and have enabled the club to attract a different calibre of player. But he also warned against unrealistic expectations, stating that, even if QPR defeat Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, the prime target this season will still be to avoid relegation, with anything else a bonus. “I call it the ‘new QPR’, it’s been a massive boost seeing the sort of players who have come through the door, and the sort of players we can attract to the club,” added Derry. “When you go through that transition from being a Championship club to a Premier League club, it’s often hard to attract top players, but we’ve done that. The likes of Joey Barton, Luke Young and Shaun Wright-Phillips are all top English players. “It has a knock-on effect for the fans as well, there’s a feel-good factor to the club, we’ve moved on to a different level. I still think that the club that got promoted last season could have survived, 100 per cent. If you look at the likes of Swansea and Norwich, I think we were as strong if not stronger. “But we’re in the same bracket as them, fighting for survival If we beat Aston Villa on Sunday, that’ll be seven points from nine, the expectation levels will rise and the pressure will be even more. “People will be expecting us to really push on up the league.” Follow Ian Cooper on Twitter @QPRTimes iReader
Remember the Palace fans gloating he was finished pre-season last season? Jokers. Well done Derry, really taken his chance at this level, speaks really well as well. Top lad.
"the side which was promoted last season could have survived in the prem....".....but for some reason warnock chose not to play that side for the first three games?!
To extend this (and possibly risk repeating earlier threads) is the current line up of Derry, Barton, Faurlin and Wright-Phillips up there among the best QPR midfields ever?
The guy's 34 - you have to wonder if he wasn't grey and receding but had a full head of glossy hair whether they'd still push the old timer bit Will they say the same about Beckham?
