Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

QPR Team News

QPR still have a surprising number of absentees considering how well they are currently doing, which suggests that their squad is stronger than suspected - the form of Gavin Mahon since his return to the side has been a glowing indication of this and has settled a lot of nerves about the loss of their captain Martin Rowlands. He is, and will remain for the rest of this season a long-term absentee. The Daily Star have gone so far as to say he will soon announce his retirement but I think that's very premature and they sneak it in at the bottom of a report about Magilton supposedly eyeing up a move for Nathan Ellington so on all counts I don't think it's particularly credible: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/105929/Magilton-eyeing-ell-of-a-signing-/.

The other absentees are Lee Cook who recently underwent surgery on his knee, Hogan Ephraim who also underwent a minor keyhole operation on his ankle at the start of October and who could be out for at least another two weeks, Matt Connolly has glandular fever and there's been no indication when he will come back and strikers Angelo Balanta (groin) and Alessandro Pellicori (knee).

Who does that leave? Well, a pretty decent side who haven't struggled with any of those absences with still enough cover on the bench. Rowan Vine and Patrick Agyemang still can't get a game even with Balanta and Pellicori out as manager Jim Magilton (pictured above) now sees Wayne Routledge as the solution up front.

QPR welcome Leicester City tomorrow night with both club's pulling a few surprises in their ascent of the Championship table.

Team news and all that malarkey on QPR to follow, but first, a minute on their opponents who sit one point and two positions above QPR in fifth.

Nigel Pearson has the luxury of a close to full squad to call on with no recent injuries or suspensions to speak of. The only current absentees are defenders Aleksandar Tunchev and midfielder Stephen Clemence.

The biggest bit of team news for Leicester could be the arrival of Edgar Davids. Unlikely as it sounds, Leicester have been 'wooing' (for want of a better word) the former Milan, Inter and Juventus player for the past couple of weeks. Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric has had his fill with David's procastinations and has given the player until midday tomorrow to make a decision. The Mail reckon that Portsmouth have gazumped Leicester though: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1221448/EXCLUSIVE-Dutch-star-Edgar-Davids-make-surprise-return-English-football-Premier-League-strugglers-Portsmouth.html. Their current transfer embargo doesn't apply as the player is a free agent.



Formed in 1884 by the pretty wonderfully named Old Wyggestonians. Wander from ground to ground looking for a home. Apply to join the Midland League in 1891 but their plans are nearly scuppered by the shadowy Leicester Corporation who decide to close the club’s Mill Lane ground. By 1891, the club finally reach their promised land at Filbert Street. Oh yeah, at this time they’re not even called Leicester City but Leicester Fosse. Finally make it to the Football League, beat Notts Olympic (?) 13-0 but football wasn’t very good then was it?

Not much happens, times are hard, Leicester Fosse are no more but come back to life as Leicester City in 1919. Things look up now, and the club, with record goal-scorer Arthur Chandler finish as runners-up in the top-flight in 1929. Up, down, up, down. Brian Clough’s mate, Don Revie, as a player, then guides the club to their first-ever FA Cup Final in 1949 with two goals in a semi-final against Portsmouth. Watch the highlights here on British Pathe: https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=26598. Best bit of commentary: “Leicester were given two chances – a dog’s chance and no chance at all” – it puts Clive Tydlesley to shame. 

Lose the final and Revie misses the game because of a nose-bleed (Wikipedia so possibly not true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Revie#As_a_player) which has to be the worst excuse for missing an FA Cup Final in history.

The 60s are less about short-skirts and more about losing Cup Finals in Leicester – three in the space of eight years, though they do win their first League Cup in that decade and have a World Cup winner between the posts in the form of Gordon Banks and they clearly know how to pick their keepers because Banks is replaced with Peter Shilton, still England’s most capped player.


Up, down, up, down with nice football in between, arise Gary Lineker who starts his career with Leicester in 1979 and winds up as joint top goalscorer in Division One in 1984/85. Lineker buggers off but he does wind up playing for Barcelona so you can’t really blame him. Up, down, up, down, lots of trips to Wembley with Brian Little and Mad Martin and a further two League Cup wins. The quality of the managerial dug-out dips slightly with the dual appointment of Micky Adams and Dave Bassett, new stadium, down, administration, Gary returns to save the day, up, down, down to the third (first time ever), back again, in the play-offs.


Surely the second of those League Cup wins in 1997. Leicester debatably reached a historic peak under boss Martin O'Neill who oversaw three successive top-half finishes in the Premiership and three League Cup final visits to Wembley. The second ended in defeat against Spurs, the third was a wonderful send-off for O'Neill as they beat Tranmere, but that first one, against the unpredictable madness of a Middlesbrough side containing Juninho, Emerson, Ravanelli and current Leicester boss Nigel Pearson, will surely take some beating. It took two attempts as well, Steve Claridge scoring an extra-time winner in the replay.


You don't have to go too far back for this. For all their to-ing and fro-ing throughout their history, Leicester held proudly to the honour of never having played in England's third tier. Sadly for them,  general decline throughout much of this decade culminated in relegation to League One just two seasons ago under former Hoops manager Ian Holloway. 

I can remember Ian Holloway sounding like a genuinely broken man on the day Leicester succumbed to the third tier but I can't currently find the clip anywhere. Below though is his famous 'pulling' analogy whilst as QPR boss when he channelled the spirit of David Brent (not for the last time). Everyone will have heard this before but I'd never heard the bit after when he suddenly craps himself when he thinks what his wife will make of it:

QPR took their goalscoring run on the road on Saturday, scoring four goals for the third consecutive match, not to mention recovering from a two-goal deficit. If the wins over Barnsley, Preston and Reading were relatively comfortable, this victory showed a new spirit and resilience which could be vital over the next few months. All the action can be seen below courtesy of the BBC iPlayer, click to 24.12 for the highlights (though only until this Saturday; after then, try the BBC website if you want to see a flurry of QPR goals: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8316395.stm):

Manager Jim Magilton was rightly thrilled, though he did confess to a few nerves as Derby took a 2-0 lead against the run of play. Rangers dominated the early exchanges, only to then concede a sloppy goal. A quick free-kick from Robbie Savage played in Paul Dickov to slot past Radek Cerny. The Welshman then made his mark from a deadball again, lifting a free-kick over the QPR wall and into the net.

Up to that point, Adel Taarabt had been guilty of a few wasteful moments but the case for leniency with him has now been firmly made and he handed the away side their lifeline, audaciously beating the Derby keeper at his near post with a free-kick just before the break.

The second half was then a textbook lesson in how to seize a game by the scruff of the neck. Gavin Mahon grabbed a highly deserved goal, finishing off a sweeping counter-attack and by the 60 minute mark, QPR were ahead, Jay Simpson with a cooly-taken goal which was the mark of a player high on confidence. If he can inch towards the twenty goal mark this season, promotion could be his reward.


Buzsaky's penalty added a gloss to the fight-back, though it arose from a blatant dive by Wayne Routledge which was unnecessary in the circumstances and is the only black mark on his form-book at the moment.

Magilton felt his side 'have skipped under the radar' and though more and more people are now taking note of QPR's form, that's pretty spot-on. They are now in an unusual position; for the first time since Flavio Briatore's arrival (and for some time before that as well) it is not ridiculous to speak about promotion, though it may be premature. That will bring added pressure from the fans, the chairman and everyone around the club though and so the player's response to that could define their season.

I'd say I've underestimated the challenge Leicester City could pose on Friday night as they've also ghosted up the league, but I'll be looking at them in a bit more detail before the game. The Championship is definitely not a league suited to great reflection as the games come so thick and fast, but the way QPR are playing at the moment, that could be a godsend.

HIGHS: Team-spirit in clear supply; Jay Simpson continuing his scoring form; Gavin Mahon's goal and performances since Martin Rowland's crushing injury.

LOWS: Not too many for once - sloppy defending early on and Routledge's blatant dive were the only low points (and QPR fans probably aren't too upset about the latter. 

Derby County - Bywater;  Connolly, Barker, Moxey, Stoor (Livermore 62), Croft, Savage, Teale, Hughes (Pearson 68), Hulse, Dickov (Davies 68).

Subs not used - Deeney, Buxton, Hendrie, Mills.

Goals - Dickov (10), Savage (36)

Bookings - Connolly

QPR - Cerny, Ramage (Leigertwood 60), Stewart, Gorkss, Borrowdale, Mahon, Routledge, Buzsaky, Faurlin, Taarabt (Agyemang 75), Simpson (Vine 75).

Subs not used - Heaton, Hall, Alberti, Ainsworth.

Goals - Taarabt (40), Mahon (47), Simpson (59), Buzsaky (90+1)

Referee - Mr M Haywood

Attendance - 30,135 (QPR - 733)

I clearly chose a poor time to stop writing about QPR to try and sort out the look of this blog. After spending the start of the season struggling to liven up Rangers' succession of dull 1-1 draws at home, I go and miss their transformation into England's form team. The 5-2 win over Barnsley, which I reported on, hinted at what was to come. Since then, they've scored a further 15 goals in just 4 games and now sit inside the play-off spots with a game in hand which could potentially place them in the top two. For any team, this would be pretty remarkable but for a team which scored the lowest number of goals in the Championship last season, it's an astonishing turnaround.

There doesn't seem to be too much point in going over games from a month ago in too much detail, especially when the fixtures come so thick and fast in the Championship (QPR have two eminently winnable home games in quick succession now - against Leicester City on Friday (30th) and against Crystal Palace next Tuesday (3rd). Suffice to say, since I was so rudely interrupted, the following has happened.

Newcastle 1 QPR 1 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8269649.stm

Completely out of sync with recent results, but this is to test if I can put BBC footage onto the blog. Looks like I can, though slightly jerky footage. God praise the Beeb, despite their growing fondness for the BNP.

Click to 15:55 to see QPR demolish Preston and surely a goal that will be hard to better this season from Adel Taarabt (who I have spent most of this season slagging off thereby showing unrivalled levels of prescience).

Need to try a few new things for the site. Back soon.