 Friday, 10th Feb 2012 19:08 by Clive Whittingham Having contributed to the departure of the England manager in midweek could QPR finally be the team to crack the resistance of Steve Kean and the mad chicken farmers at Blackburn? Blackburn Rovers (19th) v QPR (16th)Barclays Premier League >>> Saturday February 11, 2012 >>> Kick Off 3pm >>> Ewood Park , Blackburn Back in the days when QPR were allowed to play Chelsea with a mid-afternoon kick off (i.e. October) the English game was a very different thing indeed. The pair hadn't met in a Premiership fixture for more than 15 years, during which time Chelsea had grown from just another London team bobbing around in the middle of the table to a powerful force in the British and European game. The pre-match talk, even from Chelsea 's official website, was essentially a pointing and laughing exercise at how worked up QPR were getting about the match. To Chelsea , Rangers were an irrelevance in their ongoing pursuit of the Manchester giants and Europe 's most prestigious club trophy. We were just another fly, buzzing around their head, waiting to be swatted aside. There was already a feeling of change in the air that afternoon. Fans of both clubs had packed the pubs around Shepherds Bush to take in the extraordinary spectacle from Old Trafford where Manchester City triumphed six one. "Not arrogant, just better" reads the infamous pitchside banner at the Theatre of Pretentious Tosspots – not any more mate, not by a long chalk. And so we set off for Loftus Road with that spirit of "what if…" in our hearts only to happen upon a gentleman on the corner of Loftus Road and Batman Close who I still remember to this day. He was at least 6ft tall and weighed the best part of 18 stone, his shaven head revealed an assortment of neck tattoos and he was wearing a t-shirt similar to one you might keep under the bar at a backstreet pub to wipe the urinals down with at the end of the day. There he stood, alone, his eyes betraying the vacant space that lurked behind, with his arms in the air causing a hairy stomach to hang out underneath the shirt and over the top of his paint stained jeans. "Fuck em all," he barked, like an infected beast from one of those low budget horrors where an army experiment goes wrong and infects a rural town's water supply. "Fuck em all," he repeated. Then he began to yell: "Terry, John Terry, Terry, John Terry, Terry, John Terry." This wasn't a song or a chant it was just a monotonous, never ending, wall of noise erected at the top end of Loftus Road to frighten the women and children as they walked past. He broke off briefly to ask my (then) girlfriend what her "fucking problem" was and then returned to the Terry barking. You only see these kinds of people at football, and possibly at English Defence League rallies: always bald, always overweight, always thick, always loud, always objectionable. Where are these people the rest of the week? How do they earn money to eat? What do they do out there in general society? "I wasn't really bothered whether you won or lost this game until now, now I really hope you win," Lindsey told me. And we did. And nothing has been the same since. The façade of green t-shirts and their worthy but ignored "Kick it Out" message has been swept aside, the English game now seems inherently racist after all. No longer does a week go by without news of an arrest or accusation of a player being racially abused by another player or supporter. In the face of irrefutable television and witness evidence managers continue to leap to the defence of their objectionable players that engage in such behaviour, issuing club statements condoning and supporting racist behaviour and actions concluded with a line about the club in no way condoning or supporting racist behaviour and actions. We are now treated to middle aged women with shopping on their laps captured on people's mobile phones using the Croydon tram system and Central Line as forums for their views on "benefit claiming Pakis". Was this happening before? Is this new? We require a new England captain because - whatever he, his club or his arrogant incompetent manager says and thinks – the existing one was caught on national television calling a QPR defender a "Fucking black cunt." Joey Barton, the QPR captain, has Tweeted much the same thing and been referred to the Attorney General who, rightly, pointed out to hysterical sports reporters that it's hard to prejudice a magistrates court case in such a way and they should stop bleating about it.. We now also require a new England manager because having finally come to the long overdue conclusion that it couldn't really complain about the racist abuse of its players while away on international duty in Eastern Europe if it then, on the other hand, allowed John Terry to captain the side with the allegations hanging over his head the FA removed the armband from him. And Fabio Capello resigned. After nearly two years of impasse between a national team manager who wanted out but didn't want to go without a pay off and a Football Association that wanted him out but couldn't afford the money it would cost one little QPR fixture did the trick for them. Maybe if the England team ride the crest of Harry Redknapp's wave to European glory this summer QPR fans can bleat on about how they "won the European Championship" for the next half century as West Ham have done about the World Cup. In fact, I'm struggling to think of a major football story that has broken this season that can't be quickly worked back to QPR in some way. Even the Carlos Tevez stand off at Manchester City seemed to come close to a Hoopy outcome in January as his former manager Mark Hughes and advisor Kia Joorabchian turned up at Loftus Road . The stories and debate about racism in the game and in society in general comes back to that Chelsea game, questions about the use of Twitter among footballers immediately focus on our captain, Mark Hughes' decision to walk out on Fulham through lack of ambition only to then pitch up at QPR, the Tony Fernandes takeover, even the Harry Redknapp story is coming back to us now Capello has left as a result of what happened in the QPR Chelsea game… and so it goes on. It was always going to be like this. QPR have, for more than a decade now, never been shy of hurling themselves headlong into the eye of a media shit storm. Even as a Championship and League One club the sheer amount of column inches that flowed forth from our corner of West London was staggering: Rangers have been bankrupt and then almost bankrupt again; they've secured a £10m loan from the ABC Corporation of Panama before offshore accounts named after dogs became trendy in football; they've lost their best youth team prospect in a generation under the wheels of a bus and had another stabbed to death outside his school gates; they've become the richest club in the world through a takeover that for a good while actually seemed to be making the team worse; they've worked through scores of managers and removed them for bizarre reasons such as an accusation that one headbutted his own player in the changing room and another who apparently chanced upon a supporter on South Africa Road and then henced forth with details on dodgy transfer and medical practices at the club that immediately made their way onto a message board; said message board also received a constant stream of leaks from a chairman who claimed that he had to wear a bullet proof vest to work because supporters were so upset that he'd arranged a friendly with MK Dons they wanted to kill him; he also claimed that somebody did try to kill him in his office which resulted in a farcical criminal trial; this was because he'd previously ousted the club's board in a coup that required the casting vote of Brazilian World Cup winner Dunga to go through and so it goes on and on and on and on. QPR are a ludicrous club at times, and absolute gold dust for Premiership football writers who must be wondering quite how they ever did without them. Whether they get to keep them depends largely on the outcome of the next four games, starting at another crisis club Blackburn Rovers this Saturday (weather permitting). The Venkys/Steve Kean debacle in this part of the world is the one ongoing story of the season that QPR haven’t waded into brandishing the trusty flame thrower just yet. Kean and the mad Indian chicken farmers may think they can survive anything, given the calmness with which they've ignored the club's collapse on the field and the resulting blazing fury in the stands., but they may, like Terry and Chelsea, about to be caught on the blindside by the one club wrecking ball that continues to swing freely through the English game. Our train leaves at 08.30. Links >>> Opposition Focus >>> History >>> Referee >>> Travel Guide
This SaturdayTeam News: Adel Taarabt's return to form in the defeat against Wolves last weekend is likely to earn him another start, but he may well be selected up front alongside Bobby Zamora with Djibril Cisse paying for his moment of madness last Saturday with the first of a three match suspension. If Hughes goes down that road – and with DJ Campbell and Heidar Helguson both injured and out it's highly likely he will – then expect Armand Traore, or possibly Jamie Mackie, to replace Taarabt on the left wing. Elsewhere it's touch and go for Akos Buzsaky who will replace Shaun Derry in midfield if he can recover from his ongoing Achilles trouble, but curtains for Luke Young who is ruled out with a hamstring injury that will see Fitz Hall recalled at centre back in the continued absence of Danny Gabbidon and Nedum Onuoha moving to right back. Samba Diakite's continued participation in the African Nations Cup with Mali means his debut will have to wait for another week at least. Blackburn are likely to be without centre back Chris Samba who caused QPR so many problems in the previous meeting this season but is now refusing to play or train in protest at being kept at the club through the January transfer window. His fellow defender Gael Givet starts a three match suspension to further weaken their backline but the strike force is boosted by the return of top scorer Yakubu from his three game ban. Jason Lowe is struggling with an ankle injury. Elsewhere: All eyes on Old Trafford this Saturday lunchtime as Liverpool visit, with Luis Suarez in tow, and warnings about behaviour ringing in both clubs' ears. I can't help but think this one is going to get really nasty again over the next couple of seasons – certainly as long as Suarez is around, he proved against Tottenham on Monday in a half hour cameo that he simply cannot help himself. At 3pm it becomes survival Saturday with our game at Blackburn clashing with a local derby between fellow strugglers Wigan and Bolton up the road. There's a battle between the two successful newly promoted teams Swansea and Norwich in Wales and in form Sunderland hosting Arsenal looks like a potential cracker. Other than that, with Chelsea at Everton and Fulham facing Stoke, it's slim pickings. Spurs host Newcastle in the Saturday evening ESPN game then on Sunday there's a big derby game and six pointer at the bottom of the league as Wolves welcome West Brom . Villa, without a win in six home games, host Man City in the 4pm Sky game to round off the weekend. Referee: If you like refereeing QPR then screw them over as often as possible. Neil Swarbrick was dropped down to the lower divisions for several weeks after his controversial handling of our festive home match with Norwich but when they did see fit to recall him, his first Premiership appointment was another QPR game at Aston Villa. That followed hot on the heals of an FA Cup defeat against Chelsea which had been settled by the ridiculous award of a penalty in the second half when everybody in the ground could see that Daniel Sturridge had dived trying to win it. QPR were justifiably furious with referee Mike Dean, and so eyebrows must surely have been raised in W12 this week when the league responded to their protests by immediately appointing Dean, who hadn't refereed QPR in four years prior to that Chelsea game, back to Rangers for this trip to Blackburn . If you're into conspiracy theories, linesman Dave Richardson who played more than a part in the scandalous sending off of Joey Barton against the Canaries will run the line here as well. All we really need now is for them to haul Rob Styles out of retirement for our run in. Anyway, a recap of Dean's QPR history is available here. FormBlackburn: Rovers offloaded Ryan Nelson on deadline day and have Gael Givet (suspended) and Chris Samba (got the hump) out of this match which is not ideal defensive news for a team without a clean sheet since April last year – 32 league and cup games since they shut Bolton out on April 30 last year. The 54 goals conceded this season is five worse than anybody else in the division. The spin from Steve Kean and the Ewood Park PR machine is that their form has improved, and indeed the win at Old Trafford and draw at Liverpool a month ago were impressive, but they were beaten 7-1 at Arsenal last time out and have won just one of their last six. They have lost four of the last five home matches. QPR: For all of QPR's January transfer activity the collapse against Wolves last week made it one win from 12 games, and just two league wins at home all season. They've faired better away, with triumphs at Everton, Wolves and Stoke and came close to making that four when they went 2-0 up at Aston Villa in their last road game before being pegged back. They are now without an away win since November – lost four and drawn three on the road since then. The R's haven't kept a clean sheet for 15 games which is their worst top flight run since 1991 when they went 16. Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding recommends… Well once again the QPR faithful are left to rue another poor reaction from one of their players which both cost us three points and, in my opinion, gave Mick McCarthy a stay of execution. Suffering from self imposed problems seems to be a weekly occurrence and I for one am starting to get a bit tired of it. This week we go to another struggling side, Blackburn Rovers. The loss of Samba and Givet from the Blackburn defence this week cannot be underestimated. A rejuvenated Taarabt could shine here if playing the expected just off Zamora role. Blackburn will be stronger with return of Yakubu but I think Coral have overpriced Adel to score first here. I would like my bet of the weekend to be for a vastly overpaid footballer to cost us the game with a childish reaction as there is plenty of form for this, but I really fancy an away win and am backing Taarabt to score first at Coral's big 11/1. Prediction: No more predictions until further notice. This is getting too important to jinx now and I'm sick of being abused in the pub. Tweet @loftforwords Pictures – Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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