Good. I never understood the idea of having an U23s team AND a B team. A B team worked for Brentford because they got rid of their academy altogether. U23s teams work for clubs investing in developing younger players. Having both never quite seemed to make sense to me.
Just spent an age trying to buy tickets for the Brum game on 28th. Kept on failing to login in to ticketing account due to ‘too many redirects’. When I switched from Safari to Chrome all went well. Might be user error, but a watch out just in case.
Gives all our World Cup stars an extra few hours rest. ****s up the weekend a bit though, high chance of train engineering delays on Sundays and lots of pubs won’t be open that early on a Sunday.
We can host a Not606 p*SS up on Shepherds Bush Green, if we get there early doors. I'll bring the beer
Every season ticket holder and member can vote for 5 QPR legends on the Official. The chosen 5 players will be featured at HQ I gather. Stan already done and is ineligible. Hard to chose just 5, there were more I'd have liked to vote for, but I went with Marsh, Adel, Dave Thomas, Francis and Les.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...RMED-QPR-Championship-promotion-hopefuls.html Free-flowing football, innovative recruitment and a Brazilian flavour... how Steven Gerrard's 'special' former right-hand-man Michael Beale has TRANSFORMED QPR into Championship promotion hopefuls, with the Hoops sitting in third place in the second tier Michael Beale was appointed as QPR manager ahead of the 2022-23 season Beale was previously Steven Gerrard's assistant at both Rangers and Aston Villa He has thrived at Loftus Road, as the Rs sit in third place in the Championship Meanwhile, Gerrard is under pressure at Villa and struggling without Beale Sportsmail takes a look at how Beale transformed QPR into promotion hopefuls By DAVID COVERDALE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 18:13 AEDT, 15 October 2022 | UPDATED: 18:13 AEDT, 15 October 2022 As the master’s stock has fallen, the apprentice’s has soared. It was said that Steven Gerrard and Michael Beale could not work without each other. But while Gerrard has struggled since his assistant left Aston Villa in the summer, Beale is flourishing in his first senior managerial position at QPR. After almost a third of the campaign, the Rs are level on points with top two Sheffield United and Norwich and dreaming of a return to the top flight. please log in to view this image +9 View gallery QPR manager Michael Beale is flourishing at the club having been appointed in the summer please log in to view this image +9 View gallery The Rs sit in third place in the Championship, but are level on points with the top two RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next please log in to view this image QPR 2-1 Reading: Lyndon Dykes double sees the Hoops beat... please log in to view this image Steven Gerrard has struggled to stamp his mark at Aston... please log in to view this image 'I need these players to step up and be headline writers for... please log in to view this image 'He's a shadow of the player we know... a MILLION MILES off... So just how has Beale turned things around at Loftus Road? A LEAP OF FAITH From the outside, it appeared a gamble. Replacing the experienced Mark Warburton with a 42-year-old who had never played professional football and had only coached youth teams or worked as a No2. Likewise for Beale, it looked a risk to leave his relatively comfortable role with Gerrard in the Premier League to move to the Championship and take charge of a club who had been through seven managers in as many years. But as Beale told talkSPORT this week: ‘I didn’t see it as a gamble, I saw it as fulfilling a dream and an aspiration to become a head coach. I have had 250 games as an assistant, so I felt like I was overly equipped for the job.’ please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Beale had previously been Steven Gerrard's assistant at both Rangers and Aston Villa please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Aston Villa and Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez hailed Beale's coaching abilities Ask any player at Rangers or Aston Villa, and they would have told you Beale was ready for the step up. Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez once said: ‘It’s the first time in 14 to 15 years of my career that the assistant coach does all the talking. He does all the training sessions, he takes all the important meetings. ‘He knows so much about football, it’s just incredible. With Michael, we felt him and Stevie G are both the managers.’ BARGAIN HUNTING Beale overhauled QPR’s squad in the summer without spending a penny. He made seven new signings, all on free transfers or loans, while shipping out 14 players from last season’s squad. Two key additions have been at full back. Ethan Laird has impressed on loan from Manchester United, while Dutch left-back Kenneth Paal appears a real find from PEC Zwolle. Beale was also able to keep hold of QPR’s key men, including forwards Chris Willock and Ilias Chair. please log in to view this image +9 View gallery QPR's squad is full of young talents such as Morccan attacking midfielder Ilias Chair please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Chris Willock is also shining, with the former Arsenal youngster netting six times this season ‘They had some players that really excited me from afar, that I felt I could almost see some of my own ideas in the team,’ said Beale. ‘Ultimately it’s a young group and I am used to working with young groups of players.’ That might be the case, but Beale also added experience in the form of 34-year-old centre-back Leon Balogun from his old club Rangers. In the four matches he has started, QPR have kept three clean sheets. JUST LIKE WATCHING BRAZIL After Warburton’s safety-first approach, QPR are much more free-flowing under Beale. He has ditched the back three from last year and switched to a 4-3-3 formation, like he deployed with Gerrard at Rangers and Villa. Under his system, his frontline is flourishing. Willock, who was injured at the end of last season, has scored six goals in nine games. please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Beale was Gerrard's right-hand-man on the coaching pitch when they worked together Beale’s attacking philosophy, though, should surprise no one. After all, he began his coaching career teaching children to play futsal – a South American game which uses a smaller, harder ball and places emphasis on control and creativity. He later moved to Brazil to be Rogerio Ceni’s assistant at Sao Paulo and he appears to have brought the Samba influence to his work in west London. ‘It would take me 15 to 20 years to become as good as Michael Beale as an on-pitch coach, delivering sessions on a daily basis,’ said Gerrard on The Robbie Fowlers Podcast earlier this year. ‘A lot of people won't have a clue what Michael Beale does on the training pitch, but what he does is really quite special.’ FEELING AT HOME ‘I AM a London boy so I am aware of QPR and what Loftus Road can be when it’s at its best,’ said Bromley-born Beale this week. He even has family connections with the club, as their late former manager Ray Harford is a cousin of his grandmother. ‘My nan lives in Kent and we’re really close,’ Beale told Sportsmail in the summer. ‘When I told her I was coming to QPR, she said, “Raymond worked there, he’ll be looking down on you”.’ please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Beale has family connections with the club, as their late former manager Ray Harford is a cousin of his grandmother, while he also grew up in London please log in to view this image +9 View gallery Manchester United loanee Ethan Laird has impressed since his move to the club this summer Well, things are certainly now looking up for QPR, but Beale is keen not to get carried away. He recalls how last season they were fourth until March before falling away and finishing 11th. Even still, Beale is ambitious and will not rest until he is taking on his old mentor Gerrard in the big league. As he told Sportsmail when he first took charge: ‘This is the challenge to push to the Promised Land.’
Giles Coren piece from The Times yesterday...... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...5?shareToken=fc3b73d99febb88678b3d0eba8879764
From Facebook today. It got to me, as it is true When you become a QPR fan, or more likely inherit the privilege, you join a family through a kind of informal adoption process. You then look out for each other, moan and complain about each other, and yet you step in when you’re needed. It’s an unwritten contract. You see the same old faces, many of whom you have never spoken to, but you still somehow know they’re your people, and that they’re on your side. Every day I see Facebook posts reaching out to people about their mental health, their personal struggles, their bereavements, their health or financial difficulties, but also praising their achievements, welcoming their newborn children, new jobs, acknowledging other life changing events, and more besides. It’s about football, of course, but it’s also about being common emotional shareholders in the same club, too. I just wanted to put this out there, because l am reminded of it daily, and because to me and thousands of others, it actually matters. And I really appreciate being a small part of it…….
Want to get tickets for Cov away in a few weeks time but put off by the fact they may not even be able to play at the Ricoh by then. Anyone know he latest about what's going on/ where it will be played?
I was thinking the same didn't want to get a ticket then to be told its being played somewhere obscure
