Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

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.