Remy ..... No Regrets

Queens Park Rangers look doomed but Frenchman Loïc Rémy has no regrets over his move to Loftus Road
Loïc Rémy is talking PlayStation goals - virtual and real. The first came from an unlikely figure - Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes, when his ‘Argentina’ team scored against Rémy’s ‘Bayern Munich’ as the pair played on a video game console in the striker’s home in Cassis, near Marseille, in the midst of grappling over a real-life transfer.

By Jason Burt, Football Correspondent11:59PM BST 27 Apr 2013

The second was the reason Rémy “dreamt” of wanting to play in the Premier League in the first place. He casts his mind back to October, 2000, at Highbury Stadium, and the moment when Thierry Henry flicked the ball up and volleyed from the edge of the penalty area to beat Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
“Incredible,” Rémy said. “In French we say ‘instinct’, the same in English? He was instinctive. How did he do that? When you are a striker you do not have to think. You just do.”
Growing up in a commune of Lyon, Remy stuck a poster of Henry above his bed. It is the reason why he was an Arsenal supporter; the reason why he vowed one day he would follow his idol to England.
“I studied him,” Rémy said. “I studied lots of videos, films. His runs, the way he scores his goals, even his celebrations. He was someone I aspired to be.”
He also, remarkably, became a team-mate when Rémy was selected for the French national squad - aged just 21 - although, he earned his first-call up because Henry was injured. “When I met him I was like a child, a kid, he was my hero. He knew I liked him, he congratulated me - and then, the next time, he brought me two Barcelona shirts,” Rémy said.

The fascination with Premier League endured and the links to clubs began as Rémy’s reputation grew. In this, his first interview since joining QPR in the January transfer window, he explains why he chose the west London club ahead of Newcastle United and why he does not regret the decision even though they are set to be relegated - a fate that could be confirmed at Reading on Sunday.
“I heard that people said I only came here for the money but, for me, it was a choice because I knew the coach [Harry Redknapp] for a long-time, since he was at Tottenham,” says Rémy, a long-term target of Redknapp at Spurs.
“I chose this club because the coach wanted me, the chairman wanted me and he came to my house. There were two clubs interested - Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle United - and when I saw the situation between the two, where they were in the table, it was a small difference.”

Fernandes turned up for talks, and a bit of gaming to break the ice. “It was strange,” Rémy said. “I’ve never seen that before - the chairman in Marseille never came to my house. At the beginning it was just to talk to me and then he saw the PlayStation on my table, and said: ‘Do you want to play?’ I said ‘yes’. But I thought he wasn’t serious.
“But we played and he was very passionate - when he scored a goal he screamed. For me, the chairman is someone who is usually just serious but this was another reason for me to come to QPR because I looked him in the eye and saw that he was straight-forward, honest. After that, I signed.”

There are, the 26-year-old striker maintains, no reasons to regret the move, although Fernandes has admitted that Rémy, who signed for £8 million, has a release clause in his contract and is unlikely to stay. “It was not the wrong decision to come here,” Remy insists. “I make a choice in my life and I never regret it. It’s not the wrong choice. I’m sure that everyone on the pitch every week does give 100 per cent no matter what anyone else says. We don’t have frauds, liars in the team, or anyone who wants the club to go down.
“And there will not be anything to reproach me for. I would not let that happen. If I stay or if I leave here I want people to say: ‘When Loic Rémy came to this club he gave his best. He was not sloppy, he tried his hardest, he did his best right to the end, the very end.’
“It is almost finished, of course. But we have four games left and we need to play with the same intensity, we must be professional and do that for the supporters.”

Rémy recalls the match at Loftus Road against Wigan Athletic earlier this month when he scored: “The fans are so close, they touch you, grab you. It’s a small stadium, but the support is hot! There is a great atmosphere. For me, it is like a communion between you and the supporters.”

That game, agonisingly, ended in a draw - with Shaun Maloney equalizing 36 seconds into the fourth and final minute of added time. “We have been unlucky - unlucky against Villa, Norwich, Wigan. I could go on. But with an ‘if’ you can change the world, so there’s no point thinking about that,” Rémy says.
What he does dwell on, though, are missed chances. It hurts him not to score. “For me, when I missed that penalty against Fulham [a 3-2 defeat in the previous game] I did not sleep that night. We lost and I just imagined if I had scored. I take it very personally because it’s my job to score the goals.”
There have been five goals so far but, unfortunately, they have not been enough for QPR.
“When I came here, when I saw the squad I thought we would be OK,” Rémy admits. “I think we all did. I could not understand why we were at the bottom of the table.”
Former QPR midfielder Joey Barton - on loan at Marseille - told him to make the move, not just to the club but to England, something Henry had also suggested. “He [Barton] told me it would be the championship for me because of my style, because I am fast. He told me I would score many goals and I want to. But, although I know I can do much better, I will always give everything right to the end.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-no-regrets-over-his-move-to-Loftus-Road.html