Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Goalkeepers

Radek Cerny, 47 appearances (42 league), 19 clean sheets.

One of few players to come out of QPR's season with no question marks against his contribution. In his debut season, Radek Cerny, despite being welcomed to Loftus Road with less than open arms, was close to getting a clean sheet every other game in a decidedly average team. His final record was the best for QPR since David Seaman in 1990 but there the similarities end. Seaman was a man at the start of his career who quickly went on to bigger and better things with Arsenal. What is important about Cerny for QPR fans is that he is nearer the tail-end of his career and is unlikely to be agitating for a move elsewhere. He has now found the first-team opportunities that he couldn't get at Tottenham and made the most of them. I'd be very surprised if the player or the club did not want this to continue and his contribution, along with his back-four, could be the base off which a potential promotion challenge is built.

He had his critics throughout the season, at times looking nervous on crosses or set-pieces and not always having the command of the penalty area which a top goalkeeper needs. In fairness though, Cerny was clearly finding his feet and became a more settled and confident presence as the season progressed.

What struck me on first going to Loftus Road, particularly for that opening game against Barnsley, was the high regard that the previous incumbent between the QPR posts, Lee Camp, is held in. This led to the not particularly edifying experience of seeing Cerny abused by his own supporters during that match and the crowd loudly proclaiming their support for Camp. The merits of Camp as a keeper are hard for me to judge with just one season's experience watching the Hoops but Cerny deserved a fairer jury than he received in the season's opening weeks.

It was also apparent that Cerny was a Briatore signing (though which players at QPR aren't?) and rumours persisted that Iain Dowie preferred Camp. This could be one of the rare occasions when Briatore should be commended for sticking to his guns then. Camp ended up making just 4 league appearances and was soon loaned out to Nottingham Forest where he has now moved permanently. Cerny went on to make more appearances than any other QPR player and notched up that commendable clean sheet record, a league record alongside Sheffield United's Paddy Kenny (playing in a side which made it to the play-off final).

Cerny's greatest talent is his shot-stopping. On numerous occasions he pulled off some remarkable saves; he can quickly get across his goal and possesses enough jump and reach to ensure that Rangers were rarely beaten from distance. He also showed excellent concentration; QPR were a side who had to weather a barrage of attacks and shots from some of the division's better sides and Cerny seemed to revel on such occasions. The wins over Wolves, Birmingham and results against Reading, Sheff Utd, etc, would have been unlikely without his contribution. This is one area of the team that the new manager Jim Magilton should not worry too much about except to find Cerny a decent understudy. He definitely ranks as QPR's best signing last summer and possibly their player of the season.

Lee Camp, 5 appearances (4 league), 3 clean sheets.

The person who suffered most from Cerny's excellent season was Lee Camp, who only made 4 league appearances and had much more success on loan at Notttingham Forest, playing a significant part in their bid to survive (including a last-minute penalty save at Derby County). As mentioned above, it was apparent on first going to Loftus Road that Camp was a popular player and so many thought the signing of Cerny to be unnecessary. That's been shown to be a fallacy but Camp remains too good a player to sit warming the bench and showed that in the few games he played. He made the right decision then to leave the club and will still be remembered fondly. Expect a stellar performance from him when QPR and Forest meet as early as August 22nd.

It says a lot about QPR's season that all the plaudits must go to the men at the back though that's not to belittle the importance of a solid defence. Along with Cerny, QPR's relatively miserly defensive record had a lot to do with Damion Stewart, who was close to being an ever-present in the side. In his third season with the R's, Stewart flourished into a confident and ever-dependable centre back who could be called upon whether partnering Fitz Hall or Kaspars Gorkss.

His work-rate is one of his key assets, along with his undoubted physical attributes. His prowess in the air was called upon on many occasions and he seems ideally suited to defending the type of attacking football most frequently found in the Championship i.e a tendency to pump balls into the area if all else fails. His crowning moment, supposedly, was unfortunately a game I missed – the Carling Cup victory at Villa Park in which he scored the only goal and led the line resolutely. That performance also hinted that he might be able to cut it if QPR do ever make it to the Premiership. A deserved recipient of both the Players' and Supporters' Player of the Year awards.

Kaspars Gorkss was perhaps not the most glamourous signing for QPR last summer and highlighted again the wide gap between the public image of Rangers as big spenders and the more restrained reality. At the same time, keen students of Championship football would argue that Gorkss was exactly the type of signing they needed.

Having impressed over two seasons with Blackpool, he was no stranger to the league and was well versed in the physical, quick-fire nature of football in England’s second tier. It was surprising then that he looked so harried and so lacking in confidence in the R’s opening games, though he may not have been in peak condition for the start of the season.

The managerial roundabout at Loftus Road did little to help him settle into his new club and doubts must surely have formed in his mind about what he had let himself in for. Following an unimpressive opening month, including a 3-0 rout at Sheffield United which served as a wake-up call for the whole team, Gorkss' appearances were relatively sporadic until the start of December and the arrival of Paulo Sousa in the dug-out.

The period on the sidelines seemed to be of great benefit – from that point on he was rarely out of the team, despite further managerial changes and looked far closer to the assured player that had tempted QPR in the first place. He was composed and far more confident in coming forward and this helped to push QPR further up the pitch and to press onto the opposition, particularly at home. For me, he has now nudged himself above Fitz Hall in the pecking order.

Entering into his first full season with QPR, Fitz Hall got his campaign started with a bang, grabbing both goals in the R’s opening day 2-1 victory over Barnsley including an over-the-shoulder volley from the edge of the area demonstrating a deftness which belied the common consensus on his attacking abilities. That opening day victory though, accompanied as it was by fireworks before the game, was a false dawn for QPR and for Fitz himself. His partnership with fellow centre-back Kaspars Gorkss looked far from solid during that game, though a degree of that could be put down to Gorkss finding his feet in a new team.

Hall was soon paired with the more reliable Damion Stewart but a groin injury to Hall in late August dampened their momentum as a partnership. He returned to the side in late September for that memorable League Cup victory over Aston Villa in which he, as much as goalscorer Stewart, provided the heroics which left QPR with a significant scalp.

The second half of the season was a nightmare for him though as injury and the emergence of Gorkss put him in the stands near to Flavio rather than on the pitch. As one of few QPR players with significant experience of the Premiership with Wigan Athletic and Crystal Palace, Hall will be disappointed that he didn't contribute more to a campaign which was supposed to end in promotion. A large part of that was down to injury but what will worry him now is that Gorkss appears to have supplanted him in the side. Hall is supposedly one of the top earners in the squad and will have to justify that in the upcoming season. Gorkss, for me, deserves a lengthy run in the side, but with all the players back at Ground Zero in the eyes of the new manager, Hall still has a chance to impress Magilton if he can stay injury-free.

Despite their defensive solidity for much of the season, I would still argue that both full-back positions were problem areas for the Hoops. Peter Ramage at right-back, an arrival from Newcastle United, took a greater degree of flak than his teammate on the other flank, Damien Delaney, but the Irishman's performances were rarely more convincing. It's not a massive surprise that he has now moved on to Ipswich Town, especially as Roy Keane's main transfer policy is to try and buy every living capped Irish player.

Defensively, Delaney is a competent player but it is going forward where his problems grow. For much of the season, particularly at home, QPR looked to build their attacks down the wings, despite poor support from the full-backs and the indifferent form of Lee Cook. When Delaney found himself, as a result, in advanced positions, his delivery was often woeful. He will probably flourish now under the chilling glare of Keane but this is not a loss that QPR fans should mourn too greatly. The big question is who will now replace him, with Gary Borrowdale, still to make a league appearance for the club, being tried out on the left in a number of the pre-season friendlies.

For Ramage, read much the same as Delaney, except he will be hanging around for this season. If anything Ramage should have been afforded a greater degree of leniency from his own supporters as he settled into his first season with the club but this was rarely forthcoming. It would be over-the-top to describe Ramage as a boo-boy for the R's followers and an improved second half of the season probably saved his bacon, but he wasn't a particularly popular signing and did little to wow in the season's opening months.

In a rare away match for me, an abysmal 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park, which ranks amongst the worst games I've ever been to, some of the away support were so frustrated with Ramage's ineffectual display that they began to scream for him to be given the ball, out of either masochistic punishment towards themselves or sadistic impulses towards Ramage. The cries of 'Give it to Ramage' will stay with me for some time.

His frequent tactic on receiving the ball could firmly be put in the 'hit and hope' category and his crossing was worse than Delaney's. A spell out of the side in the New Year helped as when he returned for the final eight games of the season, he looked greatly improved. He still has a long way to go though to win over his own fans and cement his position in the QPR defence.

What Connolly brings to the QPR squad more than anyone else is his versatility which has however prevented him from playing consistently in one position for the Hoops. His preferred position must be at centre-back, but often last season he deputised on the left. With strong competition in the middle and with Damien Delaney now departed for Ipswich, Connolly may still find himself fulfilling this duty next season as well.

His performances rarely steal the plaudits as do those of Stewart and Gorkss, but his work-rate and reliability is the equal of both players, while technically it could be argued that he surpasses them. His upbringing within the Arsenal youth system is hard to miss and he is a player QPR should do their best to hang on to. He is undeniably ambitious and may not settle for a place on the bench or out of position, so an early task for Jim Magilton will be how to accommodate his three best defenders.