The summer so far: Queens Park Rangers JUL 24 Posted by Headers & Volleys by Edar Mullan You’d think that promotion to the Premier League, especially as Champions and after a wait of fully 15 years, would lead to a summer of unbridled joy and anticipation for any football club and its fans. Not so QPR. TheWest Londonteam has a knack of doing things differently. The disappointing summer began with fans learning that they would be the only promoted team unable to celebrate with their players in a open-top bus parade or official shindig, as the ultra-rich owners maintained that it was too complicated and expensive to arrange. This decision came in spite of the parade enjoyed by innumerable thousands following promotion back to the Championship in 2004 when the Club was flat broke, with the full blessing of the police and Hammersmith & Fulham Council. It transpired that worse was to come after the board (with Flabbio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone’s hatred of ‘the £20 punters’ in evidence) decided that a massive hike in season ticket and walk-up prices would entice the fans in to watch us get tonked by the likes of Everton and Stoke. It then became apparent that no money would be outlaid on reinforcing the playing staff and that our team would in fact likely be weakened through the increasingly likely sale of talisman Taarabt. At the time of writing, the club has blocked any such move – we’ll see. Along with this the board refused to re-sign Wayne Routledge permanently for a comparatively meagre £1.8M. All of this in spite of the sacks of cash coming in from promotion and the colossal price hikes. Those players who remain have been made to look a laughing stock, playing pre-season games in last season’s third kit with the sponsor gaffer-taped over. Yep, no new sponsor or kit arranged with less than a month until the big kickoff. And to think back a mere couple of months, how ecstatic we all were after the FA finally concluded its ballsed-up hearing into the Alejandro FaurlÃn transfer just an hour before our final game of the season with an £875,000 fine and significantly, no points deduction. Ah well, as we Rs fans have had cause to say countless times down the years, it wouldn’t be QPR if things ran smoothly…and think; at least we don’t have Georges Santos at the club anymore! The first news of comings and goings at the club, following the victorious saunter to the Championship title, was far more to do with outs than ins, as at the start of June manager Neil Warnock released eight players. It was then well over a month until the Rs finally managed to actually bring any players in, the men in question being Jay Bothroyd and Kieron Dyer. In between times, Rangers had been linked with 179 different players at the last count, initially including the likes of Joe Cole and the now retired Fabio Cannavaro, until the press finally cottoned on that our parsimonious benefactors had well and truly padlocked the purse strings.. Both signings to date have been free transfers, Bothroyd from rivalsCardiffand Dyer from the treatment table at West Ham. The main thinking behind the signing of Dyer seems to revolve around giving the QPR physio a much-needed change of scenery after dealing with ‘One Size’ Fitz Hall every other week last season. Most Rangers fans are in agreement that if Dyer can keep himself fit then it’s a no-lose situation for the Club. This is a player, after all, who boasts 33Englandcaps. With 32 less caps for his country, ‘Betty’ Bothroyd is no more of an unknown quantity, and scored a blinding goal in the last (ever?) meeting between his old and new clubs back in April. Rs fans generally believe that he is an improvement to the squad in the department where it was most sorely needed- up front. QPR’s Player of the Season, which may surprise some, was formerIreland‘keeper Paddy Kenny. He was quite simply outstanding between the sticks in every department and I can genuinely only remember him making a couple of mistakes throughout the entire season. His back-up, Radek Černý, is a vastly experienced (read old) former Czech international who joined from Spurs a couple of seasons ago, although I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him. The Superhoops are well-stocked at the back but prepare for the arduous season ahead with one thing in abundance- a desperate lack of pace. Left and right-backs, Clint Hill and Bradley Orr, are two Scousers signed last summer from Crystal Palace and Bristol City who enjoyed solid debut seasons on their respective flanks. Their main problem, as outlined above, will be the speed of the Bestest League in the World™, although seeing as they rarely foray past the halfway line they may not get exposed too badly. The same problems persist with their backups, Peter Ramage and the mythical Gary Borrowdale, who must be either lost or completely imaginary. At centre-back, QPR legend Big Danny ****tu signed an extension to his contract, which will see both him and his excellent chant stay on atLoftus Roadfor another season. Arsenal graduate Matt Connolly andLatviainternational Kaspars Gorkšs were the most regular pairing last season and will in all probability stay that way as ‘One Size’ tussles with Dyer for a regular place on the physio’s table. Neil Warnock’s favoured formation during his successful tenure as QPR boss has been the 4-2-3-1 popularised in the last World Cup and as such his defensive midfielders are an important cog in the machine. Midfield general Sean Derry joined from Crystal Palace last summer and proved to be an inspired piece of business. He was paired with the excellent but shot-shy Alejandro FaurlÃn last season. If anything, the Premiership will suit the talented Argentine even better than the Championship as he will have longer to pick out killer passes. Ahead of those two QPR have an array of attacking midfielders, with the jewel in the crown being sublimely talented game winner/sulky cry-baby Adel Taarabt. Courted, if he and his Mr. 10% are to be believed, by the likes ofLiverpooland PSG, Taaaaarabt undoubtedly has the skill to play with the best of them. The only thing letting him down is himself. He can be as infuriating as he is amazing to watch. However, Tarbs has scored more astounding goals and brought more pleasure to the Loft than possibly anyone since Rodney Marsh or Stan Bowles, despite his negative points. Basically, if QPR are to avoid relegation, we need him to stay. Of course, one player doth not a great team make, and he was surrounded by willing runners last year. Chief among these was Jamie Mackie, whose blistering goal-scoring start to the season and Duracell batteries got him into theScotlandteam in spite of his Beckhamesque voice. Tommy Smith was another, a player the Rs had been chasing for a couple of years. Neither is overly blessed with skill, but their determination will hopefully give them the edge over opposing full-backs in the coming months. If Tarbs is indeed sold, the man to replace him behind the striker must be ‘the White Pele’ Ãkos Buzsáky. However, injuries suffered againstChelseaand Manchester United in cup competitions over recent seasons ruled him out for a long time, so it is to be hoped that he is not so allergic to all top flight teams. Behind him in the pecking order areNorwayinternational and as-yet unknown quantity Petter Vaagen Moen and infuriatingly weak wing scuttler Hogan Ephraim. Up front, ‘Betty’ Bothroyd is a sure starter, although if (when) he gets injured,Iceland striker Heiδar Helguson will hope to carry on from a productive year. Finally, some light relief comes in the form of sometime-round ball kickers Rob ‘Goal Machine’ Hulse (2 goals in 21 last season) and Patrick ‘Dave’ Agyemang (2 goals in 19), who both somehow independently believe they can rip asunder the very fabric of reality and become first-choice striker at a Premiership club. In view of all this, QPR are staring down the barrel of a long, arduous season back in the Big Time, even if they do somehow manage to keep hold of Championship Player of the Year Taarabt. If any manager can inspire this team to beat those around them in a relegation dogfight however, then it is surely Neil Warnock. The main hope though for all QPR fans, must surely be that Tango and Cash finally sell up and leave West London. Edar Mullan was unfortunate enough to be born a QPR fan but doesn’t hold a grudge. His all-time hero is Alan McDonald and he still wakes up in a cold sweat at memories of Georges Santos. Edar doesn’t have a Twitter yet, but if anyone’s interested in his opinions, stick your head out the window – on a quiet night you can hear him when all is still. http://headersandvolleys.co.uk/2011/07/24/the-summer-so-far-queens-park-rangers/#more-996
