An Interesting Read ..........

Here is an interesting read ................ some comments really do hit home.
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http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/662548336?-294:802

Queens Park Rangers v Ipswich Town
nPower Championship
Saturday, 17th August 2013 Kick-off 15:00
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QPR pass time with Ipswich visit while waiting on Parker – preview
Friday, 16th Aug 2013 23:21 by Clive Whittingham
QPR are back in action at Loftus Road on Saturday with Ipswich Town the visitors. Pesky transfer window remains open in the meantime…

Queens Park Rangers v Ipswich Town
Championship >>> Saturday August 17, 2013 >>> Kick Off 3pm >>> Loftus Road, London, W12



................ QPR and Ipswich were founder members of the Premier League back in 1992, before it became a detestable behemoth. Those were the days when Sky were trying things like sending cheerleaders to a Monday night match at Oldham, but clubs like QPR were still able to discover one of the greatest striking talents in a generation down at Hayes, buy him for the cost of a new club house, and then sign an electrician from Nottingham to cover for him when he was injured. I always thought having Devon White in reserve to Les Ferdinand was a beautiful, typically QPR thing to do. It was one of the early reasons I followed my dad and granddad in falling in love with the club. These days bargains are found in bits of Europe that used to be Russia.

One of White’s finest moments in QPR colours came in this fixture back in 1993 when he scored two thumping headers at the Loft End in a 3-0 win. One in particular was an absolute pearler, screaming into the top corner of the net from 15 yards harder than most people can kick a ball after David Bardsley had picked out his cumbersome team mate with an inch perfect 50 yard cross. The papers a day later reported that Ipswich were so poor they made Devon White look good – slightly harsh on a player who possessed almost zero natural ability for the game but nevertheless boasted a goals per game record up with some of Rangers’ best.

If it was typically QPR to cover somebody as good as Les Ferdinand with somebody as uniquely skilled as Devon White back then – and it certainly was given that Karl Ready deputised for Alan McDonald, Tony Roberts for Jan Stejskal, Michael Meaker for Andy Sinton and so on – it’s hard to pinpoint anything creditable or loveable that you would say is typical of the modern day QPR.

Paying big money and handing out a lucrative contract to an ageing player long past his best who has zero sell on value? Loaning said player out 12 months later because nobody else is stupid enough to make the same mistake and, even if they were, the multimillionaire sees no reason why he should go from earning £45,000 a week to a measly £30,000 just to play regular first team football at the highest possible level? One does wonder what 11 year old Julio Cesar, who presumably lived for football and thought £10 was a hell of a lot of money, would make of the decisions he’s now making. Always buying another player rather than working on one you already have? Sacking managers? Yes, all typical of the modern day QPR sadly.

The recent trait has been to talk about transfers before they’re actually concluded. Rangers have always been fastidious about this sort of thing in the past but the arrival of first Tony Fernandes and his Twitter account and then Harry Redknapp and his car window has made rather a mockery of the club’s media team and their persistent attempts to remain silent on rumour and speculation. Redknapp spoke openly about Yann M’Vila, Joe Cole and Gary Hooper before they’d signed and none of them ended up at Loftus Road, and earlier this week he was at it again with Scott ‘Scotty’ Parker, head boy in Redknapp’s School for Triffic Lads but surely keen to exhaust all Premier League options before electing to drop down a division at a time when he may still harbour lingering hopes of going to the 2014 World Cup.

If you believe that Harry winds that window down and talks openly about his transfer targets because he’s a lovely fella who won’t say no to any person or journalist then move along there’s nothing to see here. It’s not like West Ham, Norwich, now potentially Fulham, and wherever the hell M’Vila ended up were suddenly alerted to the player’s availability because they heard Harry Redknapp talking about him on Sky Sports News is it? Only in the case of Hooper, where Norwich were probably keen to wait late into August and pick up an unsettled player at a lower price only to be sparked into action by QPR suddenly making a break for it, could Rangers’ slack tongued policy have been seen to have done any damage.

But if you’re of the mind that Redknapp is a damn site more canny, experienced, intelligent and wily than he lets on then you’re probably wondering why he’s choosing to shoot his mouth off about players he hasn’t yet signed, and then when they go elsewhere shove all the blame onto this mysterious “they” at QPR who he says should get the transfer deals done quicker to stop other clubs nipping in and stealing the player. Particularly as none of the four transfers he’s done this with, particularly the Hooper deal, were ever really that likely to go QPR’s way as all four players were always likely to wait for better offers before picking a move to Loftus Road as a last resort. Who, specifically, is Redknapp hanging out to dry here and why? An intriguing subplot.


QPR’s Chris Plummer tracks David Johnson’s run during QPR’s 3-1 win against the Premier League-bound Tractor Boys at Loftus Road in 2000.

Saturday
Team News: QPR are without three key first team players for this fixture. Andy Johnson lasted three games into the season before he picked up his first knock and his absence leaves Harry Redknapp with an attack of Charlie Austin and Bobby Zamora that pretty much picks itself. Ale Faurlin is also still out with a groin complaint and with Esteban Granero leaving this week Redknapp must decide whether to bring in Gary O’Neil for a debut, or move Joey Barton inside as he did late on at Huddersfield last week and select Shaun Wright-Phillips wide on the right. Armand Traore remains in a permanent state of almost leaving s Yun Suk-Young is likely to continue at left back.

Ipswich have no fresh injury concerns and are likely to pick the same side that beat Millwall 3-0 at Portman Road last weekend.

- See more at: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/footba...ing-on-parker-–-preview?#sthash.TLQPmup9.dpuf

 

Well written piece. Would like to read more from this guy.

 

You get the feeling Clive's reading between the lines, something's not quite right still at HQ...

 

........... and or we are doing some things all over again in hope of going up first time around.
In saying that, I still think we are heading in the right direction, little steps at a time, cutting our losses, getting rid of some driftwood, purchasing players who are known to have more purpose to them .............. yes, new buys being 30+ but it is not a perfect world.

If we want a player who is, talented, committed to himself & the club, in may cases, all these things come with experience and over a period of time, hence, a player who is 30 or above.
I understand that there are arguments for and against but apart from Harry talking up a player before we actually get them, we seem to be piecing a decent team together.

My view on Parker is that will won't get him ................. if he was up for it and had a genuine interest in rekindling his relationship with Harry, I'm thinking that he would have already signed on.
Who knows????????

 

We said the same about Hooper, they'll always want the PL ahead of the Championship and being a World Cup year all the moreso...