QPR Report Twitter Feed

Monday, March 31, 2014

On This Day: #QPR CRUSH #Chelsea...QPR Fan Marks 75 Years of Supporting Club...Flashback: Jim Gregory Becomes QPR Chairman

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- From the 1880s and on! - The Bushman QPR Photo Archives (including the above)

- QPR Report Messageboard

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Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
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- 28 Years Ago Today: Crushing Chelsea




- 49 Years ago this Month: Jim Gregory Becomes QPR Chairman

- QPR Birthdays: Hogan, Palmer and Ben-Haim

- Previous Encounters: Bournemouth

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QPR to pave the way for Malaysian footballers


- Park Royal Development


             75 Years of Supporting QPR: John "Gramps" Clifford


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             75 Years of Supporting QPR: John "Gramps" Clifford


   QPR Fan,  John "Gramps" Clifford recently marked a truly amazing Milestone: 75 Years of Supporting QPR. From the days of QPR in the Old Division III South - to the 1948 Promotion...and 1952 relegation; the years in the wilderness; 1967 and on...and so forth

  Johnvery first game was at Loftus Road pre-World War II: February 25, 1939. In the words of John " QPR 1 Torquay United 1. Our goal scored by inside right (number 8) Harry Lowe. As usual, we were 0-1 down before getting the equaliser (nothing new there) and Alec Stock played in that game. Attendance: 7,783."

Since then John many hundreds - if not thousands of player- have worn the QPR shirt and more than 40 QPR Managers and Acting Managers over this period (although just four manager - Ted Vizard, Dave Mangall, Jack Taylor and Alec Stock for the first almost 30 years of John's supporting days!)

- Flashback to  John Clifford's Very First Game: February 25, 1939 (from Bushman Archives)

 For details of these early years of John's QPR-following years see his Book "QPR The Old Days"

 

You can contact John at john@qprtheolddays.com or call 01 621 858 090 or 07957 245281.

75 Years of Supporting #QPR: Congratulations to John "Gramps" Clifford


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             75 Years of Supporting QPR: John "Gramps" Clifford


- From the 1880s and on! - The Bushman QPR Photo Archives (including the above) -

- QPR Report Messageboard

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Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
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_____________________________________________

75 Years Following QPR

   QPR Fan,  John "Gramps" Clifford recently marked a truly amazing Milestone: 75 Years of Supporting QPR. From the days of QPR in the Old Division III South - to the 1948 Promotion...and 1952 relegation; the years in the wilderness; 1967 and on...and so forth

  Johnvery first game was at Loftus Road pre-World War II: February 25, 1939. In the words of John " QPR 1 Torquay United 1. Our goal scored by inside right (number 8) Harry Lowe. As usual, we were 0-1 down before getting the equaliser (nothing new there) and Alec Stock played in that game. Attendance: 7,783."

Since then John many hundreds - if not thousands of player- have worn the QPR shirt and more than 40 QPR Managers and Acting Managers over this period (although just four manager - Ted Vizard, Dave Mangall, Jack Taylor and Alec Stock for the first almost 30 years of John's supporting days!)

- Flashback to  John Clifford's Very First Game: February 25, 1939 (from Bushman Archives)

 For details of these early years of John's QPR-following years see his Book "QPR The Old Days"

 

You can contact John at john@qprtheolddays.com or call 01 621 858 090 or 07957 245281.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

#TonyFernandes Talks #QPR...New 27 Million Pound Loan....#Blackpool...Mark Hughes "Dont Judge Me"...Gerry Francis Debut On This Day Flashback...Langley Hatrick...Shittu on Playoffs

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- 45 Years Ago Today: Gerry Francis Makes his Loftus Road Debut (coming on as a sub)

  Just to  note  that even when this site is not updated, the latest QPR Report Tweets with QPR news and nostalgia can be read on the twitter feed on this site (or at the QPR Report Twitter Feed). And of course, the QPR Report Messageboard and Bushman History Archives.

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- Tony Fernandes Talks re QPR (10 Minutes Video/Audio)



- The New QPR 27 Million Pound Loan - Report & Club Explanation

- Past QPR vs Blackpool - Photos, Reports, Video




- 11 Years ago Today Flashback: Richard Langley Hatrick (away To Backpool!)

- 45 Years Ago Today: Gerry Francis Makes his Loftus Road Debut (coming on as a sub)


 - Year ago: 
Diary of a depressed, discombobulated QPR fan! And where’s the player of the year dinner?



- Note Massive gap between the handful of Twitter Leading Club (QPR have the best in the Championship 



- QPR Kits Over the Years




DANNY SHITTU WARNS

Get West London - Former QPR favourite fires play-off warning

Danny Shittu knows all about play-off agony and says the current QPR crop must draw on all of their experience to ensure they don't face the same fate he suffered 11 years ago.
With Rangers 10 points behind second-placed Burnley with just eight games to go, it looks increasingly likely Harry Redknapp’s men will have to settle for a place in the end-of-season lottery.
And Millwall defender Shittu, who was part of the Rs team which lost the Division Two play-off final against Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium, says there is nothing worse than losing a game with so much significance riding on it.
He recalled: “I remember that game at Cardiff like it was yesterday. It was a game we went into full of confidence, so that extra-time winner really cut us up bad. It was a career low point that’s for sure.
“If QPR want to get promoted this time around their big-name players have to step up to the plate, be that in order to achieve promotion automatically or through the play-offs, because believe me they don’t want to go through what me and my team-mates did all those years ago if they got to the final and lost.”
 
Former Ranger: Shittu clocked up almost 200 games for QPR
The 33-year-old has happier memories of the play-offs with Blackpool, another of his former sides, who the Rs face in W12 this afternoon.
After impressing on a short-term loan spell at Bloomfield Road, Shittu became an integral part of Steve McMahon’s side, who eventually gained promotion to Division Two following a 4-2 final win over Leyton Orient.
However, it was a bittersweet moment for the towering centre-half as he was ineligible for the 2001 final, although he admits he was just happy the Tangerines were promoted.                                                                                                                                                                                                             
He added: “I remember speaking to Alan Curbishley (then Charlton manager) a few weeks earlier to see if we could work something out but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

"It was obviously really disappointing that I didn’t get to play in the final but at the end of the day we won, which was the most important thing.
“I had a fantastic time at Blackpool and I can't ever stop thanking everyone at the club for what they did for me.
"I certainly wouldn’t have made the step-up and gone and signed for QPR if it wasn’t for my spell there."
Shittu's current employers could do with some of his experience and fighting spirit as they find themselves embroiled in a relegation dogfight, three points shy of fourth-bottom Charlton but having played three games more.
But the Nigerian will play no further part this campaign after effectively being ruled out for the season with an Achilles injury. Time will tell how critical a blow that will be to the Lions' survival hopes. Get West London



MARK HUGHES - THE TELEGRAPH

Mark Hughes: Please don’t judge me on 12 games at QPR

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes says that other people can decide if he has restored his good name by his impressive work in the Potteries after being sacked at Loftus Road

This is, quite frankly, bizarre. Mark Hughes, hardbitten product of the Goulbourne Estate in Wrexham – a town whose present Labour MP swept into office by a margin of more than 9,000 votes – is giving an interview over tea and cocktail sausages at Manchester’s Winston Conservative Club. He is here to deliver a £100,000 grant to help revitalise the local amateur football teams. For in the game’s top-heavy pyramid such sides are an endangered species, although not half as much as a Tory in Wythenshawe.
A sense prevails that for the firebrand Hughes, a fiercely loyal working-class son of North Wales, this quaint setting is not a natural milieu. But one habitat where he does appear increasingly settled is Stoke City, whose triumphs this season over Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United have suggested a team dramatically rejuvenated under his aegis.
Their most recent statement of intent, a free-wheeling 4-1 win at Aston Villa, has even kindled talk of a first top-half finish in the Premier League. Somehow, despite the seething rancour and recrimination that disfigured his stay at Queens Park Rangers, Hughes is legitimate top-flight stock once more.
From the aesthetic poverty of Tony Pulis’s tenure – five straight seasons in the Premier League, but an average of less than a goal per game – Hughes is on course, provided his players successfully navigate the first of their seven final games against Hull City on Saturday, to steer Stoke to the highest position, greatest points total and most home wins in their six years at this level. Dare one say it, but he has also, to judge by the thriving strike partnership between Peter Crouch and Peter Odemwingie, made them a touch easier on the eye, too.
He is not about to deny, however, his part in the unravelling at QPR, whose dressing-room culture was described by Ryan Nelsen as “the worst I have ever seen”, or the blemish it left upon his reputation.
“When you have a situation like that, it’s something that stays with you for a long time,” he says, reflecting upon his eventual sacking in November 2012. “Three weeks ago it was my 300th game as a Premier League manager, but for a long time yet at Stoke I will continue to be judged on the basis of 12 games at the start of last season for QPR. Twelve games out of 300 – it’s a little bit hard to take, because I feel I do understand what it takes to win at this level. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, we couldn’t get the right dynamic at QPR. A lot of people put a great deal of effort and finance into it, but it didn’t work. It was very difficult, but thankfully the owners at Stoke looked beyond this, to what I had done at my previous clubs. They didn’t see only those 12 games.”
Hughes has every reason to feel more content in the Potteries, given that Stoke chairman Peter Coates, who appointed him last summer, lives locally and has been a fan of the club from the cradle. Quite a contrast, then, to QPR owner Tony Fernandes, who divided his attentions at QPR with his business interests in Kuala Lumpur. “I have been taken aback by the warmth of feeling at Stoke,” Hughes admits. “Subconsciously, you sense perhaps that some people are expecting you to fail. I have never had that this season. Stoke are a stable club who understand that there are peaks and troughs in football, that you can lose games even if you do everything correctly.”

While Hughes’s accomplishments at Blackburn, whom he led to three successive top-10 finishes, would withstand the sternest scrutiny, there is a suspicion that he is still downplaying the extent of the QPR aberration. He can point to the foolishness of Fernandes in lavishing an absurd salary upon Jose Bosingwa, but the bald truth is that this most fastidious of managers – one who takes pride in his nuanced knowledge of nutrition and sport science – left QPR a basket-case of a club. Take an excerpt from the memoir by his successor, Harry Redknapp, in which the attitude of first-team players is portrayed as “arrogant and contemptuous” and where a “culture of decay” is said to have taken root.
He sighs at the reminder, acknowledging: “Maybe I spread myself too thinly.” Asked for extra detail, he explains: “An awful lot of things weren’t in place at QPR. The training ground wasn’t ready and we were trying to address that – we needed to create the right environment. But if you become too wrapped up in all of that you can lose a grip on your players and what they are doing on the pitch. I suppose I was being dragged into areas where I needn’t have bothered.”

Plainly, Hughes is embarrassed by this chapter of his work. By turns wary, brittle and circumspect when his QPR failures are raised, it appears he would far rather dwell upon his recent rehabilitation. On the surface, his methods at Stoke have evolved little: he has retained fellow Welshman Mark Bowen as his ever-present deputy, and sources close to him confirm that the 50-year-old has lost none of his passion for vast screeds of ProZone data. But results, as underlined by a sequence of only one defeat in eight, have been emphatically revived.

Hughes risked derision when he declared that he would bring a more dynamic, progressive brand of football to the Britannia Stadium, but he has since found himself vindicated. “To begin with we were probably overdoing the passing game, but Odemwingie has given us a little more of a cutting edge,” he says. “We used to find it difficult to dominate games, but now we carry a proper threat. We can be more direct, more quickly, but still have the capacity to retain possession. The balance is where it needs to be.”

He defends his forensic approach, and his indulgence in such coach-speak as “key performance indicators”, arguing that the “only reason I go into that is because I believe it can make a difference in the Premier League. Here it is about fine margins. You need to understand that or you’re not doing the best by your team”.
Attempts to elicit what key texts might feature in his private library, or whether he searches beyond sport for his inspiration, prove fruitless but Hughes does offer his own intriguing slant on leadership. “I probably have hundreds of books that I never read, but I just pick key sections from them to use in the role I have. I wouldn’t say I am one for Churchillian speeches, but they can be interesting to study.”

Hughes is uneasy about any intimation of criticism of his predecessor Pulis, but he realises that any depiction of Stoke as one-dimensional, long-ball brutes has been rendered redundant under his tutelage. “I was always impressed by the technical ability of these players – that’s why I felt that we could be a little different, that they could achieve more. We haven’t spent much money, though. Of the bottom 10 clubs this season, eight have smashed their transfer records, but we haven’t been anywhere near ours. We have paid only £5 million on two players [Odemwingie and Marko Arnautovic]. We have changed, and yet we have kept the qualities of the best Stoke teams, being difficult to beat and to break down. We have just added more strings to our bow.”
For all his scrupulousness as a manager, not to mention his gifts as a player for Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Hughes does continue to make some peculiar decisions. It is odd in the eyes of many that a man of considerable erudition would, for example, keep Kia Joorabchian as his representative, aware of the agent’s controversial past and accusations that he was influencing player contracts at QPR. “Kia’s just a friend and an adviser,” he says, bristling slightly. “He hasn’t been involved at Stoke, he’s just a guy whose company I like.”
Hughes can be acutely conscious of his public image. So as for whether he has restored his good name in the wake of the QPR debacle, he resists sounding too triumphalist. “I was quite prepared to allow others to take a view on it,” he concludes. “I kept my own counsel and waited for the opportunity to change people’s minds about my abilities. At Stoke, I’m allowed to work how I want. All I hope is that people will now see I’m not too bad at what I do.”

TELEGRAPH

Sunday, March 23, 2014

#QPR-#Middlesbrough....Zamora's Goal...Lauding Rodney Marsh and Mike Keen: This Day in 1968: Crucial Promotion Game with Blackpool...Robbie James (RIP) & Gary Penrice Birthday

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 Just to highlight that even when this site is not updated, the latest QPR Report Tweets with QPR news and nostalgia can be read on the twitter feed on this site (or at the QPR Report Twitter Feed)


Zamora's  QPR Goal makes top US Sports Blog - "Goalkeeper Blows Game With Enormous Boner In Added Time"  (Video)



- On This Day in 1968: QPR Crucial Promotion Game vs Blackpool...

Geoffrey Greene (The Brian Glanville of his Day)

"...As for Marsh himself he remains the individualist and the entertainer he will always be. Hooked up a number of times in full artistic flow he always managed to turn the ire of others to laughter in the fluent manner of his falling. He should be a tumbler or a clown in a circus.

Let as a footballer he is no clown. He may not suit the planners or those who worship method. But he makes the crowd purr and it was now only the howling gale, two great saves by Taylor and those illegal last ditch obstructions that kept him out of the score line.

But if Marsh raises the cry of "Rod-ney, Rod-ney!" from the terraces, the steady pulse of this Rangers` side beats in their captain, Keen. Unhurried, long legged, deep thinking and one-paced not unlike Crerand, of Manchester United - he prods his men on week after week from no man`s land. Quiet but keen, he is well named."


- Waddock Appointed Oxford United Manager


- Flashback 5 Years: Chairman Briatore on Sousa's Future at QPR



- Birthdays for Robbie James (RIP) and Gary Penrice


MIRROR/Dave Kidd - QPR boss Harry Redknapp faced an angry backlash from players after bungling Sheffield Wednesday travel plans


Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora are understood to be among players who travelled separately from the rest of the team

Michael ReganQueens Park Strangers: Some of the players travelled separately
Harry Redknapp is facing growing opposition from inside QPR amid criticism of the team’s preparations for last Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, according to sources.

Club insiders say the Rangers boss suffered a player backlash after making the unusual decision to allow his men the option of either travelling to Sheffield by team bus on Monday or of heading up by train on the morning of the match.

The issue is believed to have come to a head in the dressing room at Hillsborough when players reacted to Redknapp’s post-match criticism by voicing anger at what they saw as poor travel arrangements and ­preparation for the game.

Redknapp’s grip on power has become increasingly tenuous since Sunday Mirror Sport revealed a fortnight ago that he will leave Loftus Road by mutual consent this summer if the club fail to win promotion to the Premier League. The 67-year-old travelled to ­Sheffield by train on the morning of the match with the majority of his team – although around six of them, including Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora, had gone by up coach the previous day.

Michael Regan
Players including Bobby Zamora travelled separately to the match
The rest of the players met either at the club’s Harlington training ground on Tuesday morning or at St Pancras station for the train journey.

Club insiders say that when Redknapp ripped into them after the defeat, he received an angry response from some players.

Owner Tony Fernandes is determined not to sack Redknapp before the end of the season, despite a sharp slump in form which has seen their automatic ­promotion hopes vanish.

But other directors are believed to have advised him to remove Redknapp sooner rather than later.

QPR recently announced losses of £64.5million for last season’s Premier League relegation campaign. Under fair-play rules, they could face a huge fine if promoted back to the top flight or a transfer embargo should they remain in the Football League.

Many Rangers players are believed to be unimpressed by training sessions since the departure of first-team coach Steve McClaren.

Joey Barton and Clint Hill had a heated exchange after Richard Dunne’s sending-off, although the two players insist there is no ill-feeling.

QPR chief executive Phil Beard admitted on Twitter that the performanace at Wednesday had been ‘simply not good enough’ and ­apologised to the club’s ­travelling fans.

“The players were given the option of travelling up the night before or on the morning of the game,” said Redknapp after yesterday’s 3-1 win at Middlesbrough.

“The club doctor and physio said it was ­important that some of them who have had injury problems, such as Junior Hoilett, Bobby Zamora and Richard Dunne, travel up the night before.

“They were keen to do that anyway, and the team coach was laid on to take them up.”

Mirror



Middlesbrough-QPR Match Reports


UPDATED TABLE

Position Team Played Goal Difference Points
1 Leicester 36 35 81
2 Burnley 37 31 76
3 Derby 37 22 66
4 QPR 37 14 66
5 Wigan 36 15 62
6 Reading 37 16 59

7
Nottm Forest 37 9 57
8 Brighton 36 9 56
9 Ipswich 37 6 54
10 Blackburn 36 -1 50
11 Bournemouth 37 -7 49
12 Watford 36 10 48
13 Leeds 36 -2 47
14 Middlesbrough 37 4 45
15 Sheff Wed 37 3 45
16 Huddersfield 37 -4 44
17 Bolton 37 -6 41
18 Blackpool 37 -20 41
19 Doncaster 37 -21 40
20 Birmingham 37 -9 37
21 Charlton 34 -19 32
22 Millwall 37 -31 32
23 Yeovil 37 -22 31
24 Barnsley 36 -32 29

Friday, March 07, 2014

Chairman #TonyFernandes Responds to #QPR's Massive Loss - "Qpr fans sleep easy. Uncle tony, amit din, ruban all around for a long long time..."

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- From the 1880s and on! - The Bushman QPR Photo Archives (including the above) -

- QPR Report Messageboard

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Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
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- The QPR 2012-13 Accounts have been filed  and the press have all focused on QPR's massive losses and what they may mean.

 THE 2012-2013 QPR ACCOUNTS


UPDATE: CLUB HAS NOW ISSUED A STATEMENT


QPR OFFICIAL SITE - CLUB STATEMENT


10:19 7th March 2014

Chairman Tony Fernandes issues statement on behalf of QPR Shareholders …

Tony Fernandes, speaking on behalf of the QPR Shareholders, has today issued the following statement in relation to the club’s latest statutory accounts.

‘When we took ownership of QPR in August 2011, our initial objective was to secure Premier League stability and to establish the club in the top flight.

While we worked hard to achieve this, we were always mindful that relegation was a possibility, just as it is for the majority of clubs competing in the top division of English football.

While relegation was not part of our strategy, it was something we were prepared for.

Every great endeavour needs support in the short term. Every business requires capital to get off the ground. When we bought this club there were no assets. We had to build from the ground up.

Now we have great assets and we are in a position where we can use this asset base to develop our squad, without the need to invest new capital.

Relegation wasn't part of the plan and it has cost us financially and emotionally, but I and my fellow Shareholder are fighters. We are committed and here for the long term.

With regards to the debt it is important to understand that this is through shareholder loans.

The debt in the club is owed TO the Shareholders BY the Shareholders.

We are all fully committed to QPR in the short, medium and long term and are 100 per-cent focused on delivering our vision for the club.

Promotion back to the Premier League is a major challenge, but one we are committed to.

Achieving promotion this season is not critical to our long-term strategy, but it remains our short term goal.

If we fail in our bid for promotion, the support is there and there is no need for any more advances to build a squad.

We are now in a position where we can work with what we have, and raise capital to invest in the squad by selling players who are not part of the manager’s plans.

We would like to reassure the QPR supporters that our commitment is unwavering and we remain passionate about our club.’  QPR



EARLIER....

From the Club Chairman a couple of tweets:

Tony Fernandes         @tonyfernandes

Staement will come out once we have seen all press so we can answer. Club is fine weather we in premier or championship. support continues.


Tony Fernandes         @tonyfernandes

Qpr fans sleep easy. Uncle tony, amit din, ruban all around for a long long time. Journey continues. Let's focus on Birmingham

Fascinating Dave Mcintyre on QPR Losses and Tony Fernandes "Huge losses is old news – what happens next is important"


- On This Day in 1967: Supposedly Rodney Marsh's Greatest Game for QPR!


- Two Years Ago: The Official Supporters Club (OSC) Report


- 32 Years ago Yesterday: QPR Reach the FA Cup Semi-Final

 

Thursday, March 06, 2014

#QPR Lost More than 64 Million Pounds in 2012-13

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- From the 1880s and on! - The Bushman QPR Photo Archives (including the above) -

- QPR Report Messageboard

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Follow QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
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- The QPR 2012-13 Accounts have been filed

- UPDATE: THE ACTUAL ACCOUNTS

Shout out to 
3m If you haven’t seen it already, here’s a link to QPR’s latest accounts:



According to...The Tweets of....Niall Rogers
51s

This is interesting, there is a breakdown of the income. The year we signed Park (Becks of Korea) commercial revenue fell from£4.5m to £3.6m
  1. So highlights Turnover £60.6m, Costs £114.6m, profit from player sales £433k, operating loss after interest etc, £65.381m
  2. Shareholder financing of £72.7m to buy £41.1m of players that could not keep us in the premier league.
     
    For a club not in debt net debt it £177m up from £91.4m last year.
  3. Wow, that's huge. loss for the year 2012 - 2013 £65.4m !!! Turnover was £60.6m so spent twice as much as earned.

  Tweets

- 32 Years ago: QPR Reach the FA Cup Semi-Final

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