Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Very early in this game, a chant came up from the 1,404 Burnley fans which very succinctly summed up the atmosphere around Loftus Road.
‘It’s just like being in church’ they sang. The Rangers supporters couldn’t really argue and they didn’t bother either, preferring to wait for their team to raise the interest levels.

It was far from gloomy, although the autumn drizzle didn’t help to lift spirits, but for a top-of-the-table side there was a lack of buzz around the ground. The next chant from Burnley’s travelling supporters of ‘top of the league, you’re having a laugh’ was harsher.

If there was little in the way of give-and-take in the stands, there was plenty on the pitch, with a number of personal battles across the turf, particularly between Michael Duff and Rob Hulse, making his first start for Rangers.

They kept in extreme proximity to each other for most of the first half and both complained of overly physical treatment from their opposing ‘shadow’.

The Burnley defender was unwilling to give an inch across the pitch, diving in to expertly steal the ball from Jamie Mackie as he readied himself to pull the trigger on 16 minutes.

Another personal battle was played out at other ends of the pitch as Adel Taarabt and Chris Eagles made competing bids for the ‘most embarrassing dive of the game’ award.

Eagles went one better by performing two laughable attempts to earn a spot-kick in the first 45 minutes, the second of which, under the merest hint of a challenge from Kaspars Gorkss, put the ex-Manchester United player deservedly in the book.

Not that Eagles wasn’t proving a handful in other ways and a combination of his driving runs and Chris Iwelumo’s strong aerial presence and hold-up play was putting Rangers’ record of not conceding at home in the league this season under jeopardy.

Eagles pulled a fizzing low shot from the edge of the area which stretched Paddy Kenny in the Rangers’ goal to the full.

He could only parry the ball out into his area allowing Jay Rodriguez a simple tap-in, but Kenny flung himself onto his shot for a remarkable double save to keep the ball out.

Having rode their luck, Rangers took full advantage through Adel Taarabt who up until that point had flattered to deceive and been fairly woeful in his final ball.

The first point of a pre-game team talk for any visiting manager to Loftus Road should be ‘do not give Taarabt space on the edge of the area’.

Perhaps his wasted flicked passes beforehand lulled Burnley into a false sense of security or more fairly, perhaps his run was just too good to challenge.

He must have twisted Graham Alexander’s blood by the number of times he switched direction before drilling the ball into the top right corner.

A beautiful goal, another collector’s item for the Moroccan and another indicator that he is a name you would leave off the team sheet with great caution.

He was high on confidence after that, embarrassing Eagles with a staggering number of step-overs and drag-backs which drew a petulant push.

An arcing cross was inches from meeting the forehead of Hulse as well and a calmly planted pass in the area should have found one of Alejandro Faurlin or Hulse but they chose to tackle each other instead.

Rangers were also collectively showing their willingness not to surrender a goal at home.

Matt Connolly strode from the area to block a long-range shot by Danny Fox while from the resulting corner, Shaun Derry whipped Eagles off the ground with a heavy but fair challenge.

The Burnley midfielder was brought off for Ross Wallace at the break after a half in which he could have been sent off.

That was after Rangers finally succumbed to a league goal at Loftus Road after 585 minutes of football though.

Paddy Kenny, who Norwich and Swansea both failed to put penalties past already this season, was called to provide the last line of defence once more.

After Iwelumo rose to head the ball down, Matt Connolly unfairly checked the run of Dean Marney and the referee rightly pointed to the spot.

Graham Alexander then ran up to place an unstoppable penalty into the top corner as the half closed.

Eagles’ replacement was lively after the break and Burnley began to dominate in the middle of the park, pushing forward and Rangers looked stretched on their relatively few counter-attacks.

Manager Neil Warnock showed his willingness to re-arrange his pack to find another goal with Rangers looking increasingly faltering in the final third, particularly in comparison with their blistering home form at the start of the season.

He brought off Hogan Ephraim for Patrick Agyemang on 61 minutes.

Ephraim seems to be the first-choice to come off in most games and by extension, must feel his place in the starting line-up is far from assured.

Wade Elliott threatened on the break for Burnley, driving from his own half and nearing the Rangers area before he drew a late challenge from Gorkss which saw the Latvian go into the book.

Neither side could create as clear openings as they had in the first half, though Jamie Mackie, who had a quiet game by his standards, did come close to planting a beautiful cross onto the head of Agyemang.

Soon Leon Clarke, who has been a stranger to the QPR team for much of the season, was on for Hulse who had failed to get a firm grip on the game.

Iwelumo could have taken all three points for Burnley, racing across the Rangers area and working the space for himself before blasting acres over the bar.

Jay Rodriguez as well came within inches of diverting the ball past Kenny with an outstretched toe.

In response Rangers laid siege to Burnley’s goal in the final ten minutes and deep into the five minutes of injury time, with Tommy Smith also joining the fray in place of Mackie.

Smith scuffed a shot from the edge of the box when he should have worked Lee Grant but he was very close to making amends with a sensational curled effort from distance.

After the match, Warnock, who is very wary to criticise referees nowadays, said today’s official, Iain Williamson, had a ‘bad day at the office’. He did fail to control a bad-tempered encounter though I’m not sure QPR’s manager is right in his assessment of Burnley’s penalty.

Though the Rangers crowd did struggle to reach a state of any excitement, one supporter showed that they haven’t lost their sense of humour, despite the team now surrendering a six-point lead to trail Cardiff, who now lead by two.

Few supporters left before the end but one particularly wealthy benefactor, Bernie Ecclestone had seen enough with quarter of an hour to go. As he stopped for a spot of schmoozing on his way out, he was met with cries of ‘Sit down Bernie’. Not quite biting the hand that feeds you, but…

It was a result no-one could be too despondent about but as with previous home games against Milwall and Norwich, it seems that Rangers are hard to beat right now but lacking in inspiration themselves. The manager said his team now need to lose a game so that they can start winning again.

Despite a number of players getting themselves back into first-team contention, fitness-wise, over the international break, QPR manager Neil Warnock went with an unchanged side for the visit of third-placed Norwich - a game that few would have marked down as a promotion battle at the start of the season but which has taken on such a context in the proceeding months.

It was the usual suspects looking likely to break the deadlock for Rangers in a tight and nervy first half, in which the R's goal, still to be breached at home in the league this season, lived a charmed life. Adel Taarabt and Jamie Mackie were the brightest players in the opposition's half; Shaun Derry was tirelessly chasing down opponents in the middle and Kaspars Gorkss and Matt Connolly were ably dealing with the dual threat of the imposing Grant Holt and the nimble Simeon Jackson, but there was still something missing from the R's first half performance - the key ingredient to allow a sell-out crowd to lift the roof off.

Holt showed he would be a handful with less than ten minutes gone, forcing a point-blank range save from Paddy Kenny, though it was tame enough to not overly worry the R's keeper. Mackie showed his composure in the box to control and turn back a loose ball to Gorkss following a Taarabt corner just minutes later, but the defender's well-struck shot skimmed past the far post after taking a deflection. In truth, that would represent the best chance for the R's in the first half.

No match report on QPR is complete without a reference to Adel Taarabt's, how shall we diplomatically put it, 'tendency to keep the ball for extended periods of the game'? So often a major asset to the team, there remained moments in this opening half when the simpler option of a laid-off pass went begging and Mackie made his feelings clear when his team-mate decided to try and beat Norwich single-handedly rather than play him down the wing.

After a bright start for the home side, the visitors grew in confidence, patiently building from midfield or on other occasions, moving the ball quickly to Holt or Jackson who could both confidently hold it up until team-mates arrived. Rangers themselves were all too often trying to quickly play a cross-field pass which the two Norwich centre-backs, Elliott Ward and Leon Barnett could calmly mop up.

Having amazingly not conceded a goal at home so far this season, Rangers didn't look too likely to do so here until Clint Hill got a bit too personal with Holt in the area. Climbing over the striker like his life depended on it, it was far from surprising to see the ref point to the spot. Kenny took his time to move into the goal, waiting by his post to have a long swig from his water bottle. Up stepped Wes Hoolahan... only to lamely drag the ball wide of the goal. Kenny looked like he would have reached it had the midfielder been able to get in on target - this was one battle of wills firmly won by the Rangers goalkeeper. You started to wonder just how long the R's could keep their goal at Loftus Road unbreached.

After that though, the Hoops struggled to muster anything of their own in terms of a convincing goal threat - a situation not improved by Buzsaky limping off to be replaced by Mikele Leigertwood who, perhaps understandably considering the amount of time he has spent on the bench this season, looked off the pace of the game.

He improved after the break, without ever looking likely to play the type of killer pass that the game sorely needed. Not to say that it was ever dull, just that both sides were so well-organised and so tight at the back, that a consecutive goalless draw at Loftus Road was a safe bet. At least the Rs' fans would have little chance of facing the disgusting treatment they got when Milwall's 'supporters' celebrated their 0-0 draw just before the international break.

The options to score were slowly disappearing and being firmly reduced to either 'a moment of magic' or one of madness. Or just sheer blind luck. When the excellent Kyle Walker, a very smart loan addition from Spurs, smashed the ball goalwards, the wild deflection off the crown of Jamie Mackie was inches from resting in the top corner.

At the other end, Gorkss was playing out his own football cliche, that of the brave, bandaged centre-back. With his head heavily strapped, he was first to every long ball, most crosses and any attempt to have a shot in the area. A faultless display which is a big explanation for Rangers' resolute defending this season. Holt should have done better though as the game neared its conclusion, shooting well over the bar when afforded time and space on the edge of the area.

Gorkss could have capped his day with a goal and when Rangers are searching for a winner, he can often be relied on to get a head, foot or any body part to a loose ball and force it over the line. A bout of head tennis in the area was nearly won by the Latvian. His header back across goal was in turn headed off the line by (I'm 95% sure) Andrew Crofts.

A largely anonymous Hogan Ephraim made way for Patrick Agyemang. A tired-looking Taarabt was swapped for Tommy Smith. Neither could greatly influence the game though the latter did really well to chest the ball, bring it down and shoot on the turn to force a good save from John Ruddy deep into injury-time.

A minor blip then, two nil-nil draws at home on the trot. And just the four points clear at the top. Whatever next. In the history of QPR, that's still very far from a bad position to be in. The chance to equal their best-ever start is gone but with two away games over the next six days, the players have the chance to quickly find the net again.

Just what does it take to get promoted out of the Premiership? That is a question which QPR may find an answer to between now and next May, cast as they are as promotion certainties or at least favourites far and wide. Sufficient resources, in terms of wage bill, transfers paid and the infrastructure around the club, from the stadium to the commercial set-up, can not be ignored in judging a team's readiness to make the step up the league ladder. Two of last season's promoted sides - Newcastle and Blackpool - show the truth and error behind that statement though.

A smattering of top-class players, at least at the Championship level, certainly helps and this is an area where Rangers tick the right boxes. Adel Taarabt, though I spend most of my time moaning about him, is a serious candidate for the best player in the division; Jamie Mackie has been a revelation, a player soaring with confidence which came across even in his brief cameo for Scotland against Spain on Tuesday (why wasn't he on earlier in the game?) Akos Buzsaky on his day, though you never know when that will be, can outshine most Championship players.

Maybe though sometimes quantity trumps quality. If you have enough decent-to-good players, players with experience and with the professionalism to do what is required of them, without ever being the stars, you could have the seeds for a promotion-winning squad. Though Rangers haven't wowed the world with the type of big-name signings that were hinted at when money first flooded into this club, they have brought in players far more frequently than many of their rivals. In fact, Neil Warnock has built close to a new starting XI, with a number of his summer signings unable to even get a game whether it be through injury or through the improved form of others.

Today though he could suffer from a bizarre medical condition that only football managers seem to get - 'the nice headache to have'. Rather than a energy-sapping, nerve-wracking migraine built of worry, doubt and fear, this is just a gently gnawing pain as the boss surveys the many players on his squad sheet and realises that he just can't keep everyone happy. It's the 'type of problem you won't to have'.

With the vast majority of his squad afforded a two-week break because of international fixtures, Warnock has seen a trickle of players returning to fitness so that he now has a few of those difficult decisions to make across the pitch. With Bradley Orr returning to fitness, does he stick with loanee Kyle Walker at right-back? Does Alejandro Faurlin walk straight back into the R's midfield or did Buzsaky impress enough in a central role to warrant a further start? Should signings Leon Clarke or Rob Hulse get a look-in at the top-end of the pitch or is a front-line of Heidar Helguson, with Mackie and Taarabt at close quarters too potent to mess with?

The truth is that the manager is unlikely to make vast changes to his side. But with the fixtures now arriving in rapid succession, with trips to Swansea and Bristol City to come before next weekend, the changes could arrive soon and the real marker of QPR's promotion credentials could be how deep the well runneth - can players itching to break into the team or just coming back from injury quickly re-integrate themselves into the team when required and make up for the niggles and injury problems which will surely arise?

There are far too many questions here for one day and you can't expect me to answer them. Rangers are unlikely to give much of a pointer to how capable their whole squad is today either. But they will soon have to and over the next two months, the readiness of the club to step up a division will be called into question. Come back later today for a match report on the Hoops' sell-out game against third-placed Norwich and don't forget, two more wins and QPR will equal their best-ever start to a season. As Crazy Earl says in vastly different circumstances in Full Metal Jacket, 'these are great days we're living, bros.'

Just over a month of not posting on here and I’ve regrettably missed so much of QPR’s incredible start to the season.


Is incredible over-stretching the point? In the context of how this club performed last season on the pitch, the utter shambles of so much of the board’s actions off the pitch and the general feeling of inertia and discontent around the place, I don’t think it is.

In every department of their team, Rangers are performing way above expectations and what seemed possible last season. At the back, just two goals conceded so far with a settled goalkeeper as well compared to a team which shipped goals for fun and consistently put itself on the back foot throughout last season. In the midfield, a healthy amount of competition so that a player like Akos Buzsaky has sat on the bench for most of this season so that even when star players like Alejandro Faurlin are injured, as is currently the case, there is enough back-up in the squad to weather any resulting deficiencies. And in attack, a number of players scoring for fun, including Jamie Mackie who came to the club to a noticeable lack of enthusiasm from most quarters but who has shown himself to be one of the most exciting players to pull on the Hoops shirt in the last few seasons.

From all the excellent performances which I have completely failed to report on, the 2-2 draw at Derby County was perhaps the most enjoyable and most out-of-character, in comparison with last season once again. Knocked for six by two breakaway goals, Rangers showed such depths of character to keep knocking away at Derby and to finally be rewarded with two of the most thrilling goals I’ve seen them score in a long time.

Were they both pretty goals – far from it, though the technique Mackie showed to score the equaliser was unquestionable? What they did show though was an immense desire to get at the opposition, to almost literally batter them out of the way until the required result was achieved. When Patrick Agyemang, a player who refused to celebrate a goal last season such was his dismay at the direction the club was heading in, is busting a gut to run from the halfway line and score, you know a corner could well have been turned.

The reaction on the bench was the equal of the hard work on the pitch, a draw celebrated like a Cup win and another indication that whatever you would knock Neil Warnock for, it wouldn't be a lack of enthusiasm for football. The best managers give the impression that very little matters for them outside of the game, with the obvious exception of their families (and perhaps not even them). I’d put Warnock in that category and that is a quality which could drive this club to success.

Enough harping on about the Derby game then, which could be well forgotten amid the flurry of wins since, but in looking back at the season so far, it is still oddly the stand-out game for me. Rangers have played some eye-catching football at Loftus Road this season where they are still to let in a league goal, but in showing that they had a Plan B, that if need be they would resort to getting balls and bodies into the opposition’s box, I believe they showed some of the qualities needed to get promoted from this league.

That is still a long way off. Tonight another game, the visit of 'no-one likes us' Milwall, that might require them to win ugly, to be patient and be willing to fight for every minute of the match. What could have been a faintly depressing or just mediocre night could be another memorable mark in QPR’s upward rise. They remain the team to watch in the Championship right now and I hope, as ever, to not miss quite so many of their games on this site as well.

Rangers went into their second home game of the season against Scunthorpe knowing that a win would put them top of the pile come Saturday evening, after Milwall's early defeat against fellow promoted side Leeds earlier in the day. A blistering first-half performance though suggested they could make a reasonable stab at staying there for much of this season. Not to get carried away too early though...

A settled and organised looking line-up saw a back-line of Orr, Connolly, Gorkss and Hill start ahead of keeper Paddy Kenny. Alejandro Faurlin, who is now so famous that Lady Gaga released a song about him this summer and Shaun Derry sat fairly deep in the middle behind a free-wheeling attack of Jamie Mackie and Hogan Ephraim on either wing and Heidar Helguson partnered by Adel Taarabt, both captain and inspiration behind much of Rangers play.

Taarabt went close with a freekick which he almost passed into the net on just eight minutes and Iron keeper Joe Murphy did well to get down low and tip it wide. It served as an early marker of how much of a key role he would have in the afternoon's proceedings.

Just five minutes later, you got the both the best and worst of him in one move, which is so often the case and is one of the reasons managers often mark him out as an incredibly frustrating player to watch, as Neil Warnock has already done. He beat at my count at least three players, taking them out of the game with a cocky drag-back but then with a slight flailing hand from the Scunthorpe defender, he sunk to earth in search of a penalty. It was a blatant attempt to cheat the ref which was lucky not to earn a yellow card and was also completely unnecessary.

To his wide collection of skills, tricks and party-pieces (as well as yes, dives) he also demonstrated a near-perfect dead-ball delivery today which brought the R's opening goal. His whipped corner found new-boy full-back Bradley Orr running to meet it and his downward header nestled in at the far post. It was a deserved reward to an absolutely flying, confident start from the home side.

Their shape in the opening half was almost perfect, both full-backs getting forward frequently and looking more than comfortable in possession of the football which has not often been the case in the last two seasons and probably longer. Faurlin also looks like he can still improve and even get better at this level while Derry was a much-improved presence from the one I saw struggle against bottom-division side Port Vale.

And then there was Taarabt who is so head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch, at least in terms of natural talent and ability, that his every touch now sends a charge of excitement around the whole stadium. There was a moment halfway through the first 45 minutes, when he broke from the halfway line and you could sense not only the desperation in the Scunny back-line at how to deal with him but also a genuine expectation from the crowd that he could make a goal from such a position.

He tore away, exchanged passes with Faurlin, did a brilliant on-the-ball turn and was unlucky to see his shot deflect up off a defender for a corner. Now committed to the club for the foreseeable future he could become a genuine hero with the fans for years to come. Does he try to do too much on his own? Yes. Does he provide at least one embarrassing dive in most games? Probably. But he is hands down Rangers' best player.

Heidar Helguson soon squandered one of many chances, after a perfect cross from the impressive Orr found him free at the back post, a position he creeped into throughout the afternoon with little in the way of marking from the Iron. His fairly tame header though was pushed away by Murphy.

The away side were struggling to find a way back into the match though their one goal danger, Jonathan Forte, did break through on goal just after the half-hour, and would be afforded a similar opportunity in the second half. On this occasion he chose to try and chip Kenny from outside the area but scooped his shot well over the bar.

Scunthorpe needed him to be sharper when he had sight on goal and soon after, their task became much more difficult. Rangers doubled their lead with a truly great, great goal, one which summed up the quick passing moves of the first half and showed a team high on confidence. Taarabt (of course) clipped a fantastic pass to Helguson in acres of space in the area and this time there was no mistake from the Icelander. He calmly chested it and then dinked it over the keeper, who was running to meet the ball, and into the goal.

Within seconds, the other side of Taarabt looked to have reared its ugly head again, when the referee seemed to have given a penalty when the Moroccan went to ground in the area, only to then book him for diving. It was very hard to make out if there was any contact though so I'll reserve judgement on who was in the wrong.

Before the half-time whistle, there was another chance to increase the lead, Helguson again connecting with a header following an Ephraim cross and this time he forced another great save out of Murphy, who tipped the ball wide. It would be no exaggeration to say Rangers murdered Scunny in the first half here and the only criticism would be that they didn't more clinically take advantage of their superiority.

There was perhaps an inevitable slacking off in terms of the pace and intent of QPR's attacks in the second half, though they still remained the more likely team to score throughout. Taarabt's dead-ball delivery was causing mass confusion in the Scunthorpe box each and every time he was given an opportunity and one effort found Gorkss unmarked. His header back across goal bounced up off the bar to safety.

The visitors had the odd moment where they hinted they could get a goal back - Michael O'Connor driving a fierce low shot at goal which Kenny handled poorly and was lucky not to turn into his own net.

Helguson's mixed afternoon, at least in terms of finishing, continued. He should have claimed a hat-trick at least today, first glancing a woeful header wide after another fine cross from Ephraim before the same player found him unmarked in the area following a commanding run, but Helguson turned the ball way over the goal when it looked easier to find the net.

Taarabt came off to a standing ovation with less than 20 minutes to go, replaced by the only other man who can draw such acclaim from the Loftus Road crowd, Akos Buzsaky. The like-for-like swap was a sound move by the manager, both players flourishing in a free role off the striker, but it does beg the question of who will be spending their time on the bench this season. As Taarabt is almost certainly a guaranteed starter, how will Neil Warnock find a place for Buzsaky in the team?

Forte wasted another chance to get his team back into the game. Put through on goal once more, he looked nervous as he neared the goal and though he placed his shot well it didn’t have enough pace to beat Kenny, who tipped it forward before reclaiming the ball himself.

Buzsaky staked his claim for a starting place, calmly placing a shot to the far post from inside the area which drew another excellent save from Murphy. Again, it's no exaggeration to suggest that without him, Rangers would have won this at a canter. Further subs followed, Leigertwood and German replacing Derry and Helguson before the game was out and the chants of 'We are top of the league' soon started up. QPR have certainly laid down a marker for the rest of the season in these three opening games...

QPR showed two very different faces within just the first four days of this season, from a convincing victory over Barnsley in the league to put them top of the pile, to a dismal fall against lower-league opposition in the league cup which would have left the few who did turn up at Loftus Road questioning why they had bothered.

Hearing the words of assistant manager Mick Jones, who makes his return to Sheffield United today, (alongside his boss Neil Warnock and a hatful of players, most notably keeper Paddy Kenny who can expect a frosty reception following his summer walk-out) summed up pretty concisely the two extremes which Rangers provided their supporters this week.

First the excellent start to the league campaign, which Jones was clearly delighted with, despite conceding that Rangers had a stroke of luck in not conceding a penalty to Barnsley which could have made the game 1-1.

He said: "It was a fantastic performance. Once we went 2-0 up, it was game, set and match. It was not only a great performance, but there was some great football and of course a terrific performance from Adel Taarabt."

You get the feeling that Taarabt could often make the difference for Rangers this season and perhaps with his mind now fully on playing for the club, rather than fixated on auditioning for a move to a top-flight club in England or Spain, he will blossom into the truly exceptional player which he could be at this level. Neil Warnock has been quick to see the frustration inherent in watching Taarabt play and hinted that this was perhaps the reason he hadn't been able to find a big-club move, but he also showed against Barnsley how pivotal he is to QPR's creative options. It isn't stretching the point too far as well to suggest the club may have performed better against Vale had he been available for selection.

Jones, while speaking to the club's website, also revealed the quandary Warnock finds himself in when it comes to the first round of the league cup, something 'he doesn't like, never has and never will'.

For those who sat through the game, it's hard to stomach a less than committed approach to the game and looking at the personnel on the pitch, the team should still have been able to find a result, regardless of any lack of ambition for the cup. But now it is out of the way, it's back to the only competition that the manager and the players clearly want to be judged on.

It couldn't really be a tougher fixture, particularly when you throw in the number of personal grudges that could come to the surface. Warnock still speaks fondly of his time at United and enough water may have passed under the bridge to let him escape fairly unscathed, though he will have re-ignited some unpopularity by in effect poaching Kenny this summer and the keeper is likely to receive a very hostile welcome.

The defence ahead of him may be better well placed to cope though and provide a tougher challenge than the poor excuse for a defensive performance which was witnessed on Tuesday. Peter Ramage is available for selection again after serving a disciplinary ban and it will be interesting to see if he is considered a first-choice option. Likewise Kaspar Gorkss could also return, as Taarabt will almost certainly do.

That leaves Akos Buzsaky who should face a late fitness test to see if he has overcome the thigh problem which kept him out of the friendly between England and Hungary. If we are not going to judge Rangers on the league cup this season then, games like this afternoon's are the ones which will fall under scrutiny and which will decide if the club can mount a reasonable promotion challenge.

As promised before the season kicked off, I have been hoping to add my interview with Rodney Marsh, originally done for H & F News, for some time. I didn't get round to it before the first league game, but that shouldn't affect its relevance too greatly, especially as Rodney was willing to talk about pretty much anything Rangers-related. So below is an edited version of the article:

He's someone who can't get close to Loftus Road before the QPR faithful pay their respects in the only way they know how.

Chants of 'ROD-NEE' follow the Rangers hero whenever he is back in London and he's just as likely to be greeted by Fulham fans after two spells with their club as well.

That adoration is tested less frequently nowadays though, with media work in the US keeping visits to QPR down to four or five a season.

Marsh said: "You can't go anywhere without bumping into QPR fans. When I chat to them, they always seem to look back to that League Cup final win over West Brom."

That's hardly surprising. Rangers fans would kill to repeat the achievements of the late 1960s when a trademark Rodney strike helped them to a 3-2 win in that 1967 final, bringing what remains their only major honour.

Younger fans might know him better for his appearance on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here but he was a regular goal-machine with QPR, scoring 44 in his first full season and inspiring back-to-back promotions to reach the top flight for the first time in 1968.

Could the Hoops repeat such achievements today?

Marsh said: "That's a tough question. In the early 1990s, they were close to being a top club, to being in the top five. I don't care who you are though, you need a Les Ferdinand, you need a Rodney Marsh."

You could never accuse him of misunderestimating his own talents. After starting his career at Fulham, he made the short journey to Loftus Road aged just 21, scoring 134 goals for the Rs before moves to Manchester City and Tampa Bay Rowdies, long before David Beckham thought of popularising the game stateside.

He's still keeping Americans informed about 'soccer' today, having just finished his own World Cup show on NBC.

"If the World Cup final had been a game between Stoke and Hull, people would have been walking out. It was absolute dross.

"I'm on the internet every day, looking up QPR, Fulham and Man City. I've always considered myself a QPR man but Fulham do hold a place in my heart - I idolised players like Johnny Haynes and Bobby Keetch."

Tennis matches against Rangers director Gianni Paladini - 'a decent player' apparently - help him keep his finger on the pulse but news about the Rs has rarely been cheery recently.

That could change with a new manager in place.

Marsh said: "I've got a lot of time for Neil Warnock and have done for many years. He's not everyone's cup of tea but I think that a lot of that comes out of his passion for the game."

The two men share a straight-talking image and Marsh is releasing a book, Loose Cannon, in September in which he promises to lift the lid on some of his high-profile bust-ups, including one with former Rangers boss Gordon Jago.

For the current manager though, he is content to provide some tactical advice.

"I don't want to tell Neil how to do his job but I think they need to find a role for Akos Buzsaky. He is a quality player. They should adjust the rest of the team around him."

Perhaps only then will the club find themselves back at the top table of English football.

"It would mean the world if QPR could win the Championship," Marsh said.

I missed the first day of the season, something I was far from happy about and so only had the goals to go on in judging the Hoops' 4-0 win over Barnsley, which by all accounts wasn't as one-sided as the scoreline suggested. But it was fair to say that I had fairly high expectations for their performance on Tuesday night, built both on the start to this league campaign and the general improvements seen under Neil Warnock at the end of last season.

But amazingly (and perhaps it's cup competitions that bring this out of Rangers), they really were pretty shocking. In fact, it recalled the poor home display against Accrington Stanley in the same competition last season, when players looked confused, were often remonstrating with each other and the stadium was soul-crushingly quiet except for the odd howl of pain when another attack dwindled to nothing.

At least against Stanley the team somehow managed to labour through to the desired result; though I'd say Port Vale provided a sterner test with some brisk attacking moves of their own, it was still hard to contemplate how a team supposedly with promotion to the Premiership on their mind was so quick to capitulate and so lacking in ideas to get back in this game.

It's too early in the season to start singling out individuals, something every one says before immediately doing exactly the opposite, so I will actually be honest and say that you can pick out some poor performers from Tuesday night.

Fitz Hall, supposedly capable of playing in the Premiership, looked slow and cumbersome and injected an element of panic to the back-four which was all too reminiscent of his outings last season. Sadly, two of the other weak links were both new signings, though that does mean they should be afforded a degree of doubt which Hall is quickly using up. Shaun Derry struggled to get a grip on the pace of the match and to influence it in any meaningful way while Leon Clarke up front wasted his one good opportunity and then cut an increasingly frustrated figure for the 45 minutes he had to suffer, though the level of service to him was miserable. Even Paddy Kenny was having a tough time at the back as he struggled to deal with the frequent Vale shots on a wet surface.

Plus points? Jamie Mackie looked lively and had enough confidence, spirit and willingness to attack players to indicate that he could be an important player for Rangers this season. I also thought another new player Bradley Orr looked fairly assured at left-back and confident going forward and if memory serves correct, he was largely blameless for the defensive lapses though I could be wrong.

Apart from that, there was little else to take from a thoroughly miserable night, except the notion that the manager can't wave a magic wand and disappear away all the problems which have suffocated QPR for the last couple of seasons at least. If early defeats in the cup are the trade-off for improved performances in the league, most Rangers fans would take the deal in a heartbeat, but football rarely allows such simple trade-offs and the journey to Sheffield United this weekend has now been provided an extra layer of tension, as if it needed any more in the first place.

After a summer in which QPR have solidly added to their squad, with the potential re-addition of Adel Taarabt still to follow once a deal over his signing-on fee is hashed out, one of the most important new options for manager Neil Warnock could be midfielder Martin Rowlands. That's once he has finally recovered from the horrible injury which has kept him out for the last nine months.

I got the chance to speak to Martin at the end of last month for H & F News and I asked him about his recovery, his hopes for next season and his love for QPR.

He's been missing from the first team since last October, when he suffered torn cruciate ligaments while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland - after falling foul of a very similar injury earlier in the year as well - and that limited his league appearances in the last campaign to just six.

Having missed half of the previous season as well, Rangers' supporters will be itching to not only see the new players Warnock has brought to their club, but also the return of Rowlands, who will hope to quickly make a berth in the midfield his own.

What was most apparent to me when I spoke to him, was that he is absolutely itching to start playing football again and he pinpointed the end of August as a potential date for a return to first-team action.

He said: "“I can’t wait to get going. It’s a massive opportunity for the club to do something this year."

After returning to light training duties, he sat out the club's recent trip to Italy for a couple of friendlies, but in the last few weeks he was close to once again taking part in full contact training with his squad mates. He also said the whole squad was in high spirits ahead of the league campaign, which kicks off this weekend with Barnsley's visit to Loftus Road.

Martin said: "The mood has been brilliant. The new players have come in. We knew that the squad needed strengthening and I expect there will be further strengthening to come. Players come and go in football, you’re used to that, especially over the summer."

Shaun Derry was one of those signings, a tough midfielder who could easily fulfill the role that Gavin Mahon so expertly performed until a long-term injury curtailed his season as well. With the manager preferring a 4-3-3 formation in pre-season friendlies too, thereby limiting the midfield places available, will Martin have a fight on his hands to get straight back into the side?

He said: "Everyone needs that. The best teams in the world have more than one good player competing in every position. It means everyone wants to do better and try to get better."

Surprisingly, despite being born in Hammersmith, he didn't grow up as a Rangers fan saying that he didn't really have a team but he clearly does have close ties to the area. So it's hard to imagine him jumping ship, even if everything isn't plain sailing straight away in the club's latest attempt to get closer to promotion.

"My three children were all born at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital", he said, which is just a few minutes' walk from Loftus Road.



“You can’t get any closer to the club than that."

And he wasn't ready to start looking ahead to any games in particular, even if the club could have back-to-back London derbies against Milwall and Crystal Palace soon after the midfielder's return.

He said: "You just look forward to every single game. You can’t take your eye off that and start thinking about particular teams that are ahead. It’s a tough league, it’s the same for everyone and we all have to concentrate.”

Less than two weeks to go. As the opening day of the Championship season draws ever closer, QPR continued their 100% record in pre-season games with a 2-1 win over Ravenna Calcio in Italy last night, their second and final game of their tour there. Back at home, the club are also reported to be on the verge of signing Bradley Orr from Bristol City - a move which would add an extra layer of protection to what is already looking like a far more competitive defence for the upcoming campaign.

First to the game against the Serie C opposition, which going by the match report on the club's website, provided the toughest challenge yet in the games which Rangers lined up as part of their summer preparations.

The art of arranging pre-season friendlies is rarely given too much inspection. Many will argue that the games have almost no bearing on the season ahead, but they can't simply be about developing fitness. They also have to provide an opportunity to gel in new players, which Rangers have enough of and to restore the necessary match skills and ways of thinking which must grow rusty during the holiday break. More than that, there is surely a case for pre-season friendlies as exercises in building confidence and team spirit and turning again to the tour blogs on the QPR website, that appears to have been the case.

A part of building that confidence requires a level of opposition demanding enough to provide a realistic test while not so advanced as to crush the early optimism of the squad. It could be argued that the first two warm-up games which Rangers undertook, against Tavistock AFC and Bodmin Town were firmly in that category, leading to healthy winning margins but little in the way of testing occasions. But the last two matches, both on the Italian tour, have raised the bar, drawing from a pool of ex-Serie A and lower-league players who are much closer to Rangers' natural level. It could be that if this good form can be extended, the club will have pitched their pre-season just right.

The test posed by Ravenna didn't derive purely from their higher league position when compared to Tavistock for example, but also from their playing style. Again I can only go on the QPR website match report, but it sounds like last night's oppositon were more than happy to engage in heavy challenges (described by QPR as 'x-rated') and direct physical confrontation despite the game being a friendly. In fact, matters reached such a head that the returning Fitz Hall and a member of the Ravenna team were told to leave the pitch before tempers truly boiled over.

Before that, Ravenna took the lead through Piovaccari before strikes from Hogan Ephraim (again - his seventh of the summer) and new striker Jamie Mackie either side of half-time ensured the win. What I also took from the match report was the formation employed by Warnock - again a 4-3-3 though with slightly changed personnel, Ephraim pushed back into a roving midfield position and Mackie partnered by Heidar Helguson and Leon Clarke up front. It may be sad to get excited by formations but I would feel some twinge of excitement if Rangers went into the first games of the season offering such a confident set-up. Maybe that's just me. The manager is nothing if not a realist and wants to make the team as hard to beat as possible, which his signings confirm, but he has also spoken of his intention to entertain the crowd this season. I can't help but feel many supporters would welcome such an ambition. 

Adding Orr to the squad fits firmly back into the 'tough-to-beat', realistic way of thinking but as with all the summer signings so far, the logic to me seems pretty spot-on. Still only 27 and with 229 appearances under his belt, he has often been touted as one of the best right-backs in the division and should ensure that the club no longer needs to place players out of position on the right-flank.

I really think the defence could be in a lot better shape over this campaign - both in terms of how they are likely to perform and also in reference to the depth of personnel. Peter Ramage's performances at the tail-end of the last campaign showed that the manager, as so many say, is adept at pushing tried-and-tested squad members to new heights, while the fact that Damion Stewart is only now returning to match fitness shows that Warnock will also have plenty of options.

Three more fixtures to come before the first competitive test of this gradually growing squad - they face Blue Square Premier side Crawley Town on Wednesday. On this site as well, there is still plenty to come before the big kick-off, including interviews with a QPR legend and a man who could still become one, barring any further injury problems. And of course a season preview and some potentially laughable predictions. Get ready to head straight for the bookies.

How much you can ever read into pre-season friendlies can be hotly debated, but if you give the summer warm-up games any credence, you will have been pleasantly surprised by QPR's form at the moment. After successive routs during their tour of the West Country, blasting eight goals past Tavistock AFC and six without return against Bodmin Town, Rangers also saw off the more testing challenge of Torquay United with a 3-1 win last Friday.

Now enjoying the blazing sun in Italy, they continued their fine form with a 4-1 win last night against Equipe  Romagna, a team made up of released Serie A players looking for new clubs for next season. By all accounts, few in the Italian side will have staked a great claim to further football in the Italian top flight, but some in the Rangers starting XI are making better pitches to be included from day one in the Championship campaign.

It may not be too helpful to read greatly into the results QPR have achieved so far, even if the level of opposition they have played has got increasingly more advanced. But the personnel selected by Neil Warnock and their subsequent performances can give some pointers ahead of the opening game against Barnsley on August 7.

Two players in particular have risen to greater prominence in the Rangers team. Firstly, Hogan Ephraim, who has been consistently selected by Warnock since the manager's arrival and who now appears to be paying off that faith with six pre-season strikes so far, including the opener in last night's game, latching onto a Shaun Derry through ball to finish from 12 yards.

Perhaps even more surprisingly, youngster Josh Parker has played a notable role in the manager's plans and along with Ephraim, has also scored in every pre-season game so far. After signing a new contract with the club at the end of last season, which will keep him at Loftus Road until 2011, he is now enjoying his best run in the first team, even if it has come in non-competitive fixtures. Last night, he formed part of a roving three-man attack with Ephraim and new signing Leon Clarke, who also netted twice to seal a comfortable win for the Hoops. According to QPR's press officer the three players insisted on sitting together on the flight over to Italy. Whatever they were talking about on the journey, they are clearly forming a bond on the pitch. Could Warnock go with such an attacking formation once the team gets down to the nitty-gritty of Championship football?

One person the press team could do with having a word with is Bernie Ecclestone, though he doesn't strike me as a man who is used to being told what to say. While honesty is refreshing in any public figure, his comments, which many will have read in the Evening Standard yesterday, are truly bizarre. Clearly the co-owner of the club is no big football fan - for starters, he supports Chelsea and his appearances at Loftus Road have been rare to say the least, which may be no bad thing. Compared to Flavio Briatore, maybe it's better for the club if one of their wealthy owners is more than happy to take a back-seat.

Yesterday's interview showed the extent of his antipathy to QPR though.

He said: "QPR? I don't have a real passion for it at all.

"I got into it by accident. I got involved through Flavio Briatore. It's difficult not to buy into his enthusiasm for things. I took some shares, I don't care. It's just something I've done."

That much was well known already. But has a club owner ever publicly stated he wouldn't like his team to get promoted before. Later on in the interview, when asked if he dreamed of promotion to the Premier League, Ecclestone said:

"I hope not. That's just even more aggravation."

Hopefully he won't consider a pre-match team talk anytime soon.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, or as Scots poet Robert Burns originally said, feck fae bleurgh, something incomprehensible in Scottish. From having hoped to regularly update this site throughout June as I had so miserably failed to do in May, I've actually been even more lapse in my dedication to writing about Rangers. All I can do is blame the World Cup, which unlike Neil Warnock, I have actually been enjoying.

It also provided a much-needed opportunity to do some in-depth scouting for QPR. My own high-level analysis of each and every game in the tournament has revealed that the QPR board should be looking in the direction of David Villa, Diego Forlan, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil and they need to withdraw any bids for Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney immediately. If that fails, anyone from the squads of Ghana, Japan or Uruguay should be able to cut it in the Championship while the footballing feast in South Africa showed that it is wrong to overly rely on English players, as Fabio Capello learned the hard way.

While the England squad was finding imaginative new ways to embarrass themselves in the southern hemisphere, here is what QPR were up to...

New Faces

In the cut-throat world of football transfers, there is no point in being a shrinking violet and no-one could accuse Warnock of tip-toeing around the market this summer. He has been true to his word at the end of last season in making numerous additions to the squad, with the number of new arrivals jumping from two in May to a further three in June and also a further promise that more could be on the way. Prior to the players' return to pre-season training at the start of this month, their manager spoke of his happiness with his summer dealings so far, but also of a desire to add further 'icing to the cake' with two or three attackers possibly to follow.

So, after bringing Leon Clarke and Jamie Mackie in during May, QPR's transfer activity over the last month could best be summarised as 'better the devil you know'. Warnock has been dogged in his pursuit of three players who were formerly under his command while also coming very close, but failing, for now, in adding a fourth. He's also shown that he isn't scared to ruffle a few feathers to get his man.

Goalkeeper Paddy Kenny's arrival from Sheffield United on June 7 in a £750,000, three-year deal enraged supporters in the Steel City. They had given Kenny a standing ovation on his return to their team for the final two games of last season, after sitting out nine months following a positive test for banned substance ephedrine. His overtures of loyalty to United at the time now sound fairly hollow, but to look at it from a fairly cynical Rangers perspective, it's a deal that makes a lot of sense and should foster a healthy degree of competition between Kenny and Radek Cerny, who was much-improved at the end of the last campaign.

Alongside Kenny, the month saw Rangers linked with a multitude of names, wildly varying in ability and likelihood of actually signing, from Lee Hendrie, Roman Bednar and Tamika Mkandawire to continuous flirtations with Crystal Palace's Darren Ambrose. Two Palace players did make the switch though to join their former coach.

Midfielder Shaun Derry signed a two-year deal with Rangers on June 22 and joined up with his new team-mates once his Palace contract expired on July 1. The 32-year old who can point to spells at Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and of course Palace on his football CV is better-known for his ability to break up attacks and doggedly tackle the opposition over his attacking contributions and pace. It's not a transfer which had supporters rushing to Loftus Road to celebrate, but it could mean Rangers are a tougher team to beat next season, particularly on their travels.

Alongside him, another Palace escapee, Clint Hill, was brought in and again, it's hard not to commend Warnock for the reasoning behind his current deals. The clamour for big-name signings at QPR has surely now dissipated as supporters wake up to the reality of the type of players Rangers can attract. Even with money behind them and a well-known and respected manager on board, this is still a team which seriously flirted with demotion to the third tier of English football last season, which became a by-word for 'shambles' throughout the country and which played in a stadium which was close to half-full for much of that time.

In that respect, it's little wonder that the manager has to use his own cache with former players to finalise deals, because there are few other selling points around QPR at the moment. The attraction of promotion to the Premiership can hold little value with potential candidates until Rangers mount anything close to a serious promotion bid. So Hill is the type of player QPR can attract right now and though preferring to play at centre-back, he will provide the only does provide the club's only real option at left-back right now. The only real questions hanging over his and Derry's transfers, to my mind, would be firstly, why did the club let left-back Dusko Tosic depart following his loan deal and secondly, how great a wage bill will the club rack up if they choose to try and tempt players on free transfers? The suspicion being that often in transfers of that type, the savings made from the absence of a transfer fee are passed on to the players' monthly wage packages.

Another player unlikely to step onto the pitch for peanuts is Adel Taarabt and Warnock avoided spending all of the last few weeks in his garden or in front of the TV by heading to Morocco to try and secure a permanent move for the player to QPR. This one can be filed under 'works in progress' for now.

Goodbye... for now?

Another Warnock promise is that players will be heading through the exit door before the start of the season as well, with a number of candidates suggested in local and national press alike, including Rowan Vine, Gavin Mahon and even Lee Cook. One player who failed to feature in the manager's plans at the end of last season was Angelo Balanta and it was announced in June that he would be heading to MK Dons for a season-long loan. It isn't the best piece of news for his QPR career but it will be interesting to see how he fares because he has shown an ability to find the goals in the past.

The other 'departures' include players who were on loan at Rangers last season so who are no longer officially at the club. One such player is Jay Simpson, the R's top scorer last season and Arsene Wenger indicated that though he rates him highly, he won't stand in his way if he wants to leave for first-team football. If Warnock is serious in trying to find a consistent goal-threat for QPR, he could do a lot worse than bringing Simpson back to Loftus Road in my opinion, but he may not fit the manager's preference for a commanding, physically imposing centre-forward.

Any Other Business?

Just the announcement of the fixture list, no less, which always feels slightly weird in a World Cup year because you've not yet had the full symptoms of football 'cold-turkey'. Looking through it to plan QPR's season could be a good antidote to the no-football blues over this month and the first pre-season friendlies are just around the corner as well. Rangers start with a winnable home fixture against Barnsley but travel to Sheffield United just a week later - a fixture which could kick-start the R's season with a bang (..or a whimper). They also discovered the identity of their first-round Carling Cup opponent - Port Vale - and I can't be the only person who would like to see Rangers acquit themselves better in cup competitions next season, particularly the FA Cup in which their record has gone past embarrassing and now defies logic.

And pre-season training started again. And the manager still wants to bring in more players. And I hope, hope, hope, as always, to be writing on this site far more often from now on...

This has been the longest time  in which I've failed to update the blog since starting it, through a mixture of post-season complacency, QPR fatigue (a very real and prevalent condition for thousands who go to Loftus Road on a fortnightly basis) and also my having gained some other freelance work, which while very welcome, is non-QPR related .

I've been keeping my eye on Rangers of course and as should be expected for a club which could be on the precipice of major change, the last month, since that final game against Newcastle, has not been lacking in important news.

There hasn't been the flurry of  transfer activity that some anticipated, though if you take many papers at face value that is not for a lack of interest on QPR's part. I recall Neil Warnock indicating he was keen to tie up as much business as possible prior to the World Cup which gives him another two weeks to add to the signings of strikers Jamie Mackie and Leon Clarke and in what is looking more and more like a done deal, Darren Ambrose from Crystal Palace. That's not to rule out further transfer activity after that point, with Warnock and chairman Ishan Saksena looking to forge a harmonious working relationship in which the manager can suggest any number of transfer targets to his boss. That process could carry on right up to the start of the season and possibly beyond.

Which suffice to say means I hope to update here on a much more regular basis between now and the start of next season. With one month of the close season already gone and the World Cup to come, plus pre-season fixtures from July 12, including a tour of Italy, the new season will be here sooner than you think and a lot could happen in that time. As ever with Rangers, it should be interesting. Below is a round-up of the last 30 days with the odd prediction on what this last month could mean for the rest of the summer.

May News Round-Up

The first player to come into the QPR squad this summer was one who was already with the club. Patrick Agyemang returned to Loftus Road following a loan spell at Bristol City during the second half of last season. It was a pretty dismal time away from the club for Agyemang, though his stay with City came as their season floundered, but it does call into question his future with Rangers.

The main tabloid game in May, when it came to QPR anyway, was who will Neil Warnock sign from Crystal Palace? Because of a) Warnock's clear affection for the club and its players and b) Palace's absolutely hopeless financial position, it is possible for any combination of players to be suggested as Rangers' transfer targets. Only a week into the close season and The Daily Mail was suggesting that Neil Danns would be making a short move for £1.5 million. By the middle of the month defender Clint Hill was being touted as the most likely candidate; by the end and over the last week, Darren Ambrose has jumped to the head of the queue and this one looks to have the most validity. Though some sites may have jumped the gun in announcing his signing, it appears that Palace's administrators need to off-load Ambrose just to pay their wage bill for the last month. Keeper Julian Speroni has also been repeatedly linked with a move to QPR, though he should really be discussed in a whole new section on Warnock's unsuccessful courting of goalkeepers. 

At the same time as Danns was being rumoured to be on his way, the Ealing Gazette was reporting that Barnsley defender Rob Kozluk had also been added to the shopping list. The exit door was open this month, though surprisingly not for any of the playing personnel but for three members of the back-room staff, with head physio Paul Hunter, assistant physio Shane Annun and reserve team manager Keith Ryan all getting the chop. Youngster Josh Parker, who made four appearances at the end of last season, will remain at the club though after signing a one-year extension to keep him with the Hoops until next summer.

Into the third week of the month and Rangers were finally ready to do some business, though if it was big-name signings you craved, there was bound to be a slight tinge of disappointment. On May 13 the club moved for Plymouth Argyle attacker Jamie Mackie; by the 18th he had signed a four-year deal, though his goal-rate while in the South-West suggests he will have a point to prove next season.

Gavin Mahon was auditioning to be included as well next season - his contract expires this summer and a long-term injury over the last campaign prevented him from having any opportunity to impress his new boss. He's been talking a good game in the press though and if any player fits the Warnock-type of hard-working, tough-challenging battlers, Mahon is surely the man.

One player who has not been synonymous with graft during his career is striker Leon Clarke, but Warnock clearly sees some potential in this very, very rough diamond. The 25-year-old former Wolves, former Sheffield Wednesday man became the second signing of what is still shaping up to be a busy summer.

Over the last week, it's been a return to the hunting ground of Palace and the never-ending quest for a new keeper. As part of the former search, Ambrose now looks nailed-on to be the third summer signing. In the latter quest, The Mail was reporting that a £750,000 move for Sheffield United's Paddy Kenny had been rebuffed, while Speroni was weighing up his options and Peterborough were laughing off any suggestion that they will let Joe Lewis jump back up to the Championship.

Oh, and a former Rangers manager took a club on a much smaller budget than QPR's into the Premiership while supporters learned they would have another London derby next season, though probably not one they will look forward to with any great relish. On to June...

It has been a long and trying season for QPR. One that promised much in the early autumn but which also threatened unthinkable lows as spring came around. Now, with the first hint of stability which they've craved for so long seemingly in place, all eyes are already on next season.

In the meantime, the R's had a tricky final game against the champions Newcastle United, a side in need of just one further point to finish on 100 for the season. It provided the Hoops with an opportunity to show they can compete with the best teams in the league; conversely, it also threatened to mark up how far the gap is between the home side and that going into the Premiership.

The packed away end was suitably boisterous from the first minute, though they had little to cheer on the pitch in the opening exchanges. It was Rangers that forged the first clear-cut sight on goal after neat interplay between Akos Buzsaky and Jay Simpson left Tamas Priskin with the freedom to shoot just outside the area, but he ballooned his effort well over the bar.

Buzsaky wasted an even better chance not long after. The ball broke to him in the area but on the turn he too could only lift his effort high into the arms of the Geordies behind the goal. It was certainly the home side crafting the better opportunities inside the first twenty minutes though.

Alejandro Faurlin, a player with a very realistic chance of being awarded the club's Player of the Year award tonight, has brought much to the team, not least greater composure on the ball then many of his teammates can muster, but goalscoring is not a noted feature of his game. With just one strike to his name so far, he too went close, stinging a long-range drive at the palms of reserve keeper Tim Krul and Jay Simpson wasn't far off connecting with the rebound. Dusko Tosic could also have opened his account for QPR, cutting in from the left before curling a rather tame shot into Krul's arms.

Their fans weren't overly worried, singing through a roll-call of their team and past legends, including Bobby Robson throughout the half. The topless Northerner at a cold football game has been seen enough to border on stereotype, but one Magpies fan took it a step further, wearing a green "Borat" body-thong, which verged on the obscence. The sight below will not hopefully become too commonplace at football grounds around the country:

Up front, Shola Ameboi struggled to make any impact on the game, except for one shot on the turn which went comfortably over Radek Cerny's goal and he at one point so over hit his pass that he was taunted with "You're getting sold in the summer" by the Rangers fans.

Surprisingly, it was Rangers' top scorer who made the most wasteful intervention on the verge of half-time. Played through on goal, he had ages to compose himself and even take it round the goalie, but he chose to over-reach for the ball and shoot first-time, allowing his strike to limply land to Krul. You could tell this game wasn't to be taken too seriously when both sets of footballers stopped playing at the sound of a whistle which actually came from the Newcastle fans. The referee had to reconvene them to play a few more seconds.

One player will have wished the game could have ended there.

Few, if any, players have improved as much as Peter Ramage in the last few weeks as he has been shifted to his natural position at centre-back and few players will have had a greater emotional investment in this game, as a former Newcastle player. The switch in position meant it was Ramage who had to contend with Ameobi when he broke on goal straight after the break and in bringing him down on the edge of the area, he conceded a free-kick but most damagingly, was sent from the field of play. He looked distraught at the turn of events; some of the Newcastle fans sportingly sang his name.

It forced Neil Warnock into an earlier switch then he would have liked, bringing on youngster Josh Parker for Lee Cook. He went in at right-back, with Mikele Leigertwood moving to partner Gorkss at the back.

Amazingly, it was still QPR creating the better chances and a surging run and pass from Jay Simpson set up Tamas Priskin to lift the ball into the net, only to be judged offside.

Newcastle threw Peter Lovenkrands on but were still unable to make any advantage over the depleted Rangers side.

Simpson was threatening on the break but his decision-making had deserted him. Played into space on the wing by Hogan Ephraim, he chose to cut in and run at three players rather then attempt to find strike partner Priskin who was free in the centre of the box.

The lack of bite up front finally told when Lovenkrands opened the scoring. His ability in the top tier is still to be proven, but he produced a finish worthy of a higher stage, calmly clipping the ball over Cerny from a tight angle.

Simpson too could move up to a higher division, though it's unlikely to be with his own club Arsenal, but if this was his QPR swansong, he seemed determined to not mark it with goal. Within minutes of Lovenkrands' strike, he caught Fabricio Coloccini flat-footed and had a clear line to the net again, but struck the ball at Krul who was quick off his line.

The numerical advantage soon threatened to widen the gap between the two teams even further, Newcastle sub Harris Vuckic going close with a curled shot to the far post. Lovenkrands too could have doubled his tally with minutes to go, volleying on the turn but without enough power to trouble Cerny. A free header for Priskin at the other end should have levelled the game were it not for the commanding Krul, who was making a definite claim for more playing time.

A line of police prevented the pitch invasion that the Newcastle fans so dearly wanted on the final whistle but they could already turn their minds to a quick return to the Premiership. QPR too couldn't be downhearted about this result and a performance which showed that if they build on the early promise under Neil Warnock, they could yet follow Newcastle's path one day.

Both Neil Warnock and Peter Ramage said recently that they couldn't wait to get this season over and done with and they are unlikely to be the only members of the QPR dressing room to hold such opinions. That said, if any final day match could invigorate the squad, it would be the visit of champions Newcastle United.

In fairness, Rangers have maintained a professional approach to their games since learning they would definitely be in the Championship next season. Back-to-back victories followed that news, both by the same scoreline of a solitary goal which showed that at least in the back four, no-one is taking anything for granted between now and tomorrow night.

If ever there was a game to test that new-found resolve its tomorrow's fixture. Newcastle have pretty much been a revelation this season, which seems an odd thing to say when you consider their resources, massive fan-base and strong reputation, especially at Championship level.

Anyone witnessing their freefall from the Premiership though would have seen a club in crisis; horrendously mismanaged off the pitch and lacking in spirit and belief on it. I can't have been the only person who suspected their slide could continue and that a repeat of Leeds United's experience could have been on the cards. The togetherness of their season then was a surprise and off the back of their home record, they've been worthy and comfortable champions. They will be in full celebratory mood tomorrow and only the Hoops can put a small dent in their party.

QPR Team News

QPR will almost certainly be unchanged in defence, a consequence of injuries to other players (with Damion Stewart who suffered a fractured skull recently and Matt Connolly with an ankle injury both out) but also of the upturn in the backline's form. Ramage in particular has excelled in his natural position at centre-back and he has an extra motivation on Sunday of playing against his former side.

In the rest of the team, it could be time for the Loftus Road crowd to say a few goodbyes to the loan players in the squad. Though no-one's fate is sealed, Adel Taarabt could sign off on a mixed relationship with the home crowd, that's if he's fit after missing Rangers' last game against Barnsley. Jay Simpson was also left on the bench for that one and he could be given a place in the side for the last time to round off a successful season under very trying circumstances.

Newcastle Team News

QPR will welcome back Wayne Routledge tomorrow after the winger joined the North-east club during the January transfer window. It was a sale which raised a few eyebrows as though his form had been intermittent, he remained one of the few players offering pace and attacking intent in the side. Freed from some of the strains of working at QPR, he has improved at Newcastle, with three goals already in 14 starts.

Another player with an even closer connection right now to QPR is Fitz Hall, as his move to Newcastle was purely on a loan basis, although as with Rangers' own loan signings, it is far from certain what the next move for Hall will be. He is unlikely to take to the field though as he has a hamstring injury.

Fellow absentees could be striker Nile Ranger who has an ankle problem and Jonas Gutierrez has already departed the UK to join up with the Argentina squad ahead of the World Cup. Defender Steven Taylor could return though following a knee injury.

Form

Pretty peerless for Newcastle. They haven't lost since the start of February when they were on the wrong side of a surprise 3-0 defeat at Derby County. Of the subsequent 16 games, they've won all but four. Their successful and immediate return to the Premiership has been built on the back of a phenomenal unbeaten home record, with just 13 goals conceded at St James' Park but they're no slouches on the road either, with just four defeats on their travels - a record only bettered by fellow promotion side West Bromwich Albion.

QPR dream of such consistency but under Neil Warnock, there are a couple of signs that it could be achieved in the not too distant future. Firstly, compared with their form at the start of the year, they have undoubtedly become a much harder team to beat, with three defeats in 13 games, compared to eight in the 13 before that. Warnock's initial brief was to keep the team in this league and he should be commended for doing it. Secondly, they're much harder to score against with a solitary goal against in their last four outings.

Prediction

As the Geordies need just a draw to hit 100 points, I'd be stunned if they didn't achieve it. A final indicator that Rangers should be improved next season though has been their performance against the top-placed sides over the last two months. Starting off with their giddy trouncing of West Brom, they've also faired reasonably well against Swansea and Sheffield United and were unlucky to lose to Cardiff. As a result, I think both sides could end the season relatively happy with a share of the points.

SCORE DRAW

Not my words, but those of Neil Warnock, though it would be hard to disagree with his assessment of Mikele Leigertwood's bullet drive which earned QPR a 1-0 win over Barnsley on Saturday in a fairly tedious, end of season encounter.

"Mikele's quite capable of that and he produces a strike like that every now and then," said the manager.

That is certainly true. Leigertwood's goals come at fairly intermittent intervals but when they do, they tend to be in a similar vein, at least this season in which he has found the net on five occasions. Cutting in from the wing and steadying himself before shooting, the midfielder has produced more than one rocket into the opposition's net and when few of QPR's strikers can provide healthy goal returns, it can be an important weapon when games are tight.

"We were right behind it in the technical area and it was always going in from the moment he took aim," said Warnock.

I questioned to what extent Warnock would juggle his team around in these final games, especially as QPR only have respectability to now play for, but he is sticking to his word of ending the season in a professional manner and his starting line-up was as strong as it possibly could be, with the exception of Antonio German starting ahead of Jay Simpson and Josh Parker being handed his full debut at right-back. Adel Taarabt wasn't in the match-day squad due to an ankle injury and it could be that the Moroccan loanee has played his final game for the Hoops.

Peter Ramage also retained his place at centre-back and Radek Cerny continued his run in goal following Carl Ikeme's return to Wolves and though it could be simplistic reasoning, QPR have now managed three clean sheets in their last four games and were ten minutes away from achieving the same against Cardiff. Cerny in particular was instrumental in maintaining that record against Barnsley, expertly tipping a low drive from Iain Hume onto the post when the game was in its infancy.

Unfortunately for Antonio German, he was unable to make as big an impact in a rare start, failing to make a telling connection on a well-worked cross by left-back Dusko Tosic in the first half. As German has himself acknowledged though, there is plenty more work to go into his game and he deserves many more opportunities to add to his goal tally in the near future.

"It was a typical end of season affair," said the manager.

"It was very scrappy at times, but we stuck at it and the attitude of the players was very good. The goal came at a time when we were dominating, so it was perfect for us.

"I thought we were a bit sloppy in the first half defensively, but we tightened up and got the clean sheet we were craving."

Beyond the three points, that is undoubtedly the most pleasing aspect of this victory for the R's and Cerny, Ramage and even Gorkss are making a late bid to be regularly selected next season and Tosic is putting in the type of appearances to earn a permanent move to Loftus Road.

A final chance to cement their case comes next Sunday with the home game against champions Newcastle, a match with no significance for the league but an occasion supporters will enjoy all the same. After that, theories on how much QPR are going to spend this summer can take flight. The tabloids must be getting excited already.

Barnsley - Steele, Hassell, Moore, Colace, Foster, Hume, Butterfield, Macken, Potter (Dickinson 69), Hammill (Devaney 40), Doyle (Taylor 81)

Subs not used - Kozluk, Preece, Adam, Shotton

Bookings - Potter, Doyle

QPR - Cerny, Ramage, Leigertwood, Buzsaky, Gorkss, Faurlin, Ephraim (Cook 81), Tosic, German (Simpson 56), Parker, Priskin (Brown 90)

Subs not used - Vine, Balanta, Oastler, Putnins

Goals - Leigertwood (27)

Bookings - Buzsaky

Referee - Mr R Booth

Attendance - 11,944

This fixture is unlikely to feature highly on tomorrow night's The Football League Show, even if both sides can serve up a goal-scoring thriller - not when there remain unfinished stories at both the top and bottom of the table.

Firstly, the final make-up of the play-offs is still to be decided; Nottingham Forest and Cardiff are already in the hat for a Wembley visit, but two of Leicester, Swansea and Blackpool will make up the final foursome with an eye on the Premiership. That is a race QPR will be disappointed to have played no part in and all their preparations this summer will be geared towards being in contention this time next year.

A battle they are more than pleased to be free of though is that at the bottom of the table; Watford, Crystal Palace and Sheffield Wednesday could all still succumb to the drop and join Peterborough United and Plymouth Argyle in League One next season.

All of which means few eyes will be focussed on Oakwell tomorrow afternoon for this game. Many players in the QPR squad won't be, or shouldn't be, viewing it as a meaningless fixture though. Just as the World Cup acts as a shop window during the close season, so QPR's remaining fixtures give some of the playing staff what could be a final chance to get in Neil Warnock's good books. On top of that, with just a point separating these two sides and with a troublesome final game against Newcastle, this could be the last chance to add a hint of respectability to the club's league finish.

Barnsley Team News

For their final home game, Barnsley could be without on-loan defender Carl Dickinson, who was signed on a three month emergency loan deal from Stoke City and who has made 26 league appearances so far for Mark Robins' side.

The R's chances also receive a boost due to the likely absence of striker Daniel Bogdanovic, who has a hamstring injury, and midfielder Anderson Da Silva, who has a thigh complaint. The latter player stood out from his team-mates for me when these two sides clashed at Loftus Road earlier in the season, despite the 5-2 score line in QPR's favour.


QPR Team News

It's a safe bet that Warnock will use this game to get a look at some of his younger players, most likely Antonio German and Joe Oastler, but also possibly Angelo Balanta. Those changes could be borne of necessity as well; three key players for QPR, at least over the last month, could all be unavailable.

Adel Taarabt jarred his ankle in the 1-0 defeat against Cardiff last weekend and as a result, left the pitch early on against Watford so we may have seen his last game for the Hoops, a fact likely to provoke a mixed reaction from supporters.

Akos Buzsaky took a whack to the ribs in the Watford fixture and having already broken a rib during the 3-1 home victory over West Brom, may also also be in too much pain to play against Barnsley.

Finally, Alejandro Faurlin, reportedly on the verge of signing a new deal with QPR to fend off interest from Celtic, suffered a dead leg during Tuesday night's game and will receive a late fitness check ahead of the game.

Form

Barnsley can count themselves lucky not to be more closely involved in the relegation scrap. They're only one point behind QPR, but whereas Rangers have pulled off a number of vital wins over the last two months, Barnsley haven't won in their last eight.

The identity of their most recent scalp shows how tricky an opponent they can be though. Midway through March they beat Nottingham Forest 2-1, thereby putting a serious dent in that team's hopes of automatic promotion. Over the course of the season, they've also beaten Cardiff, Blackpool twice, Middlesbrough, Leicester City and they twice came from behind to earn a memorable 2-2 home draw with Newcastle. Though they haven't pulled as far away from the bottom of the table as they once promised, under Robins they are a tough proposition to beat.

For QPR, the home defeat to Cardiff just a week ago was a knock to their confidence and was the first loss at Loftus Road under Warnock. I still believe home form will be key in potentially underscoring a successful season next time around; I'm yet to see a side play better than QPR at their home ground under the new manager and if he can iron out the complacency and immaturity which sometimes means they get less at home than they deserve, Loftus Road will be a happier place from now on.

They at least followed that up with a win over Watford which adds up to a record of four wins, five draws and two defeats since Warnock stepped into the dug-out. Those two losses were by a solitary goal as well and in a season in which they've shedded goals, the Hoops can at least point to two clean sheets in their last three.

Prediction

The degree of tinkering in the QPR line-up could be crucial because if the starting eleven is too unrecognisable, the home side's greater experience may prove decisive. However, the motivation to play for a place next season is, I believe, real with QPR and that edge should fire them to an away win.

AWAY WIN

I wrote earlier in the week about Peter Ramage's reaction to the Cardiff defeat and his motivation for the rest of the season. As a player who was established in the QPR side but has recently had to battle to retain a starting place, Ramage was clearly aware of the need to win over manager Neil Warnock between now and the end of the season, with the summer likely to bring a flurry of activity in and possibly out of the QPR squad.

If it's true of Ramage, it is equally true of younger players starting out in their careers and waiting for their big break to cement a first-team place. 18-year old striker, Antonio German, has already travelled some way down that road this season by making 12 appearances for QPR and scoring twice. He and fellow forward Rowan Vine, who is also desperate to make an impression on Warnock due to a lack of playing time this season, were both preferred to Jay Simpson and Tamas Priskin in Tuesday night's 1-0 win over Watford and the manager may choose to give both players a further chance to stake their claim for tomorrow's visit to Barnsley.

Speaking to QPR Player, German said: "We have to pick up three points and the gaffer really wants to win that."

After the trip to Barnsley, there is just one fixture left for the R's when they get the chance to welcome champions Newcastle on the final day of the season. It was a game with the aura of a promotion six-pointer when the fixture list was drawn up but unfortunately for the R's, they've spent most of this season at the wrong end of the table. They won't be joining in the Geordies' celebrations then, but the draw of clashing with Newcastle should at least ensure a decent crowd and atmosphere as the curtain closes on a frustrating campaign.

Again, the young striker was looking at the game from a positive angle.

"Newcastle is the biggest game of the season, for me anyway, because actually I've got a chance of playing in that game which I didn't think I would have this time last season."

A desire to make a mark on these games is heightened by some of the manager's public comments, particularly on the need for new blood, most of all in the forward line.

"I can understand that though", said German.

"Next season we need, I'm not going to say get promoted, but we need to finish in a reasonable position. And the manager's obviously seen that we need strikers and I can understand that. Even though I am a striker myself, I still need to improve and work hard and see where that takes me."

One key requirement for Warnock when it comes to attackers seems to be physical strength and build and just as Ramage could be offering a late answer to his defensive headaches, German certainly ticks the box when it comes to the battling, hustle and bustle style of Championship football. Rarely knocked off the ball or cowed by more experienced players, his natural confidence and tireless work rate have won him a lot of fans this season.

"I can say that's one of my strengths - the physical side of the game. He (Warnock) likes that so I'm really happy that I've got that," he said.

Despite that, he remains fairly modest and realistic in his aims for next season.

"To stay in the first team," he said.

"In and around the first team. Even if I don't start the games, I'd rather be on the bench. It's better than nothing."

QPR quickly made up for the disappointment of their 1-0 home defeat against Cardiff City on Saturday by inflicting the same score line on relegation-threatened Watford last night.

It was a game with the potential to end as many home games have for QPR this season i.e after taking a one-goal lead, somehow contriving to let in an equaliser and lose two points. But though Watford applied the pressure in the second half, with Radek Cerny called on to clear the ball off the line, a strong rear-guard action from the Hoops was enough to earn them their second clean-sheet in three games; something they have rarely been able to point towards this season.

"We couldn't hold it up front for 20 minutes and that gave them momentum," said manager Neil Warnock in his post-match press conference.

"But I can't remember them having a shot on target to be honest. I thought we defended quite well and Peter Ramage was absolutely outstanding again. Gorkssy had a good second half, heading everything clear too.

"The centre-halves were vital and I thought we coped with what they threw at us very well."

After relying on another result (strugglers Sheffield Wednesday's 1-1 draw with city neighbours United) to assure their own place in the Championship, QPR did at least return the favour last night by beating the only other side, except for Crystal Palace, which could now go down.

Akos Buzsaky's first-half penalty, after Adrian Mariappa felled full-back Dusko Tosic in the box, left Watford just two points above the drop zone and needing some return from their remaining two games at home to Reading and at Coventry.

"I thought we were quite professional," said Warnock.

"It's tough when you're safe and you play against a team fighting for their lives. We didn't create too much, but I thought we deserved the win. We owed it to our supporters first and foremost and of course the other teams in the relegation fight.

"No-one can point any fingers at us tonight."
 
It also marked a real turnaround in fortunes for the Hungarian himself; when QPR made the return journey to Watford earlier in the season, Buzsaky was locked out of his team's dressing room and allegedly involved in a physical altercation with then manager Jim Magilton following a disappointing defeat.

Though it is unlikely to lead him to banish any players from his own dressing-room, Warnock may have some niggling concerns about the lack of goals in his QPR side at the moment. Nine goals in the last ten games isn't disastrous, but it has meant QPR are often in the position they were last night, holding on for a win rather than having the relative security of a two-goal lead or more.

Following the Cardiff defeat, Warnock spoke of the need to bring in more/new strikers to the club, especially if Jay Simpson leaves the club when his loan deal expires. That is a distinct possibility because the manager also made it clear he wants to have just one loanee at the club next season and will have failed in his job (or been undone by injuries) if he needs to call on more.

For now, the R's can still look forward to their final two games safe in the knowledge they don't have the same immediate concerns as last night's visitors. It will also give Warnock a further opportunity to test out players who have had less playing-time since he arrived, such as Rowan Vine and Antonio German, both of whom started last night.

"Every game I'm learning," said Warnock.

"We tried a few permutations and I gave a young lad his debut.

"That's what I've got to do now, but I still want to finish undefeated and if we could get another four points I'd be very pleased."

QPR - Cerny, Ramage, Leigertwood, Vine, Buzsaky (Oastler 71), Gorkss, Faurlin, Ephraim, Tosic, German (Simpson 73), Taarabt (Cook 41)

Subs not used - Putnins, Brown, Parker, Priskin

Goals - Buzsaky (pen 38)

Bookings - Buzsaky, Cook, Ephraim

Watford - Loach, Mariappa, Lansbury, McGinn (Sordell 46), Graham, Jenkins (Bryan 82), Harley, Bennett (Doyley 46), Taylor, Eustace, Hodson.

Subs not used - Lee, Hoskins, Henderson, Oshodi

Bookings - Mariappa, Eustace

Referee - Mr P Miller

Attendance - 13,171