QPR are back in action this weekend after a needless break and thank God for that, but not before another impending disaster in Croatia tonight.

Club v Country
“Jamie Carragher is a twat.” You can certainly never accuse our message board users of sitting on the fence. On the face of it Jamie Carragher is a bit of a twat - for those of you that have missed the serialisation of his auto biography, keep your snide comments about wax crayons to yourself please, he said that he recovered pretty quickly from the disappointment of missing a penalty for England because at least he had not done it in a Liverpool game.

Of course everybody’s immediate reaction to that comment is outrage. The money people spent getting to the World Cup and the pain our national team puts us through and how we all so desperately want them to do well - and then there’s this scally that doesn’t mind missing a penalty in a World Cup knockout match because, hey, at least it wasn’t in a crucial UEFA Cup group game for Liverpool. Makes you sick doesn’t it?

Then again, hands up everybody who muttered and chuntered about there being no QPR game at the weekend? Three weeks into the season and things are just starting to warm up nicely when suddenly we’re back in summer mode twiddling our thumbs and facing a seemingly endless wait to get back into action.

The fact that QPR could quite easily have played Southampton on Saturday, with neither team having much of an international between them, is lost on the authorities who force us to sit the weekend out while our brave boys battle to a mighty victory against an impressive Andorra side. Surely a time is soon to come where, like cricket and rugby union, teams have to battle on and play without their internationals every now and again. It would certainly cure the ridiculous situation where, after more than a fortnight of doing nothing, QPR are playing Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday morning over the next three weeks.

That’s not the point I set out to make though. What sprung to my mind as I read the “Jamie Carragher is a twat” thread that was mingled in with all the moans and groans about there being no QPR game last weekend is that had we been Liverpool fans we’d have been agreeing with him. I took a bit of stick from family, work colleagues and message board posters during the summer when I said I’d get more pleasure from one QPR goal at Sheff Utd than any gold medal we may win at the Olympics. I was rewarded for this heinous statement with a sound 3-0 defeat at Bramall Lane but I stand by it.

I fell the same about the England football team. Tonight I think England will lose in Croatia 2-1. The players aren’t bothered and are probably already looking forward to the weekend of crucial Premiership action hoping not to get injured, the tactics are poor, the attitude stinks and when you stand all that next to the fact that none of our so called super stars are anywhere near as good as they think they are it’s a lethal combination against a hard working, committed side like Croatia. The Croats haven’t lost in 25 home qualification games I’m told - bodes well.

But will I be that bothered? Sure I’ll shout at the television and rant on the message board and moan in the pub at the weekend about it all but I’ll be over it within an hour of the final whistle and back to looking forward to QPR v Southampton. I used to be a regular at England matches but stopped after the victory against Wales at Old Trafford when I realised I couldn’t stand nine of the 11 players I purported to support, I didn’t like Old Trafford, I didn’t like a massive chunk of the people who follow England and still sing about the bloody IRA, I didn’t like the ticket price, or the day out or anything really. It was a thoroughly miserable experience. Offer me now a QPR win on Sunday or an England win tonight and I’d take Rangers every time - despite the England game having far more riding on it.

This country is now firmly a club over England nation from what I can see. We’ll support England and be very upset when things don’t go well but when push comes to shove, given the choice, Mansfield fans would take a win at home to Eastbourne Borough over an England success every day of the week and who can blame them? Not me certainly. This situation will only be exacerbated by the ridiculous situation that means tonight’s massive match will only be seen by a tiny proportion of the population because it’s on an obscure pay per view channel that most of the pubs don’t even have.

By effectively giving up and sidelining England as just an unnecessary and unwanted distraction between club games English football fans are merely following the path trodden by the players several years ago. Ask Wayne Rooney if he would rather win the Champions League or the World Cup. It’s this attitude that means England are not only not going to win the World Cup any time soon, but the disappointment of not qualifying altogether is one that will be felt with increasing frequency over the coming years.

Postscript- 10pm – Well if ever you needed conclusive proof that this column is more an insight into a deeply disturbed and clueless mind rather than any coherent and well reasoned debate on the sport we all love then tonight’s Croatia v England game was surely it. England were set up well by Capello, with good balance in the team and every player playing his recognised position. They used Walcott cleverly, a move that clearly caught Croatia out, and though things could easily have been different had Croatia taken advantage of David James’ many, many errors on the night they quickly resorted to kicking and elbowing England players while they passed their way through the home side. Hats off to Capello, there may be hope for us yet. Hopefully this doesn't now mean we're going to lose to Southampton. See you next week for more nonsense!

I remember you...
The fixture list often throws up interesting little coincidences and combinations of games - QPR losing 3-2 at Carrow Road two seasons ago on the same weekend the same scoreline at the same ground cost us our only English championship 30 odd years earlier for instance - but it’s really excelled itself this week. QPR v Southampton, Norwich v QPR, Coventry v QPR in six days. Perhaps Richard Scudamore would care to join me on my travels around the Premiership grave yard this week?

For those that don’t know Richard Scudamore is essentially in charge of the Premier League, you know the division that gives you £30m for finishing last, about thirty times as much as you get for finishing one place lower as the top team in the Championship. He is up there with Alan Mullery and Bryan Robson in my eyes but I’ll refrain from insulting him just now and continue to extend my invitation to him.

You see my mate Scudamore loomed large on my television screen a few times during the summer. On one occasion he was telling the players off for shouting at referees and making them sign some form of document to say they wouldn’t - the authorities really put that agreement to the test by blindfolding Chris Foy and letting him referee Sunderland v Man City last weekend but that’s for another column. On the other he was babbling on during the play off final about just how much money a victory would be worth to Hull or Bristol City.

He ran through all the numbers with a big smile on his face as if it is a good thing and then came out with a comment that really made my blood boil. He said: “We encourage the clubs to spend the money… and be competitive.” Of course they do, why wouldn’t they? It wouldn’t be good for an increasingly bored television audience to see the promoted teams getting hammered 4-0 every week while banking the obscene amount of cash they’re given just for being there and securing the future of the club for decades to come. Of course Derby managed to do that and blow the money as well which is a difficult trick to pull off and not one that rewards those successful at it very well. No, the Premiership wants to see Stoke and Hull and West Brom heaving money at it this year in the hope of maybe finishing fourth bottom.

The problem you have with this is three clubs have to go down at the end of the season and after Scudamore has encouraged them to chuck all their money at players over the previous few months they suddenly find the kitchen scraps served up to teams a division lower are not quite enough to sustain their spending. I was told that Watford’s wage bill for their last promotion squad was little over five million and by the time they’d dropped back nine months later it was almost five times that – and the team they came back with was hardly different to the one they’d been promoted with in any way.

So we come to this week. Four founder members of Scudamore’s dream league all in various states of disrepair meeting a division lower over the course of a week. QPR of course seem to be back on the up after recent investment, it’s all about money these days, but Norwich, Coventry and especially Southampton are about as far away from a return to the top flight as they’ve ever been.

The Saints are so skint they’ve had to close parts of their vacuous, soulless, characterless stadium because they can’t afford to steward it, meanwhile you’d be forgiven for thinking Coventry have closed large parts of their similarly charmless warehouse such is the amount of empty sky blue seats there on a matchday. At Norwich the crowds are still strong, but the team is weak and the finances getting weaker. Delia is looking to sell, their Premiership campaign of just three short years ago seems a world away now.

Like I say maybe Scudamore would like to sit with me and watch our three matches this week - to see how damaging the idea of chucking money about in the top flight really can be to a football club. The Championship is currently made up of 16 former Premiership sides and really only Birmingham and possibly Sheffield United look to be coping reasonably well with not being there any more. It’s all very well him saying “we encourage the clubs to spend the money” because he wants his league to be competitive so the television companies will keep paying big money to show it, but like so many things the Premiership does it offers barely a passing thought to the consequences for the three relegated sides and the divisions below.

If and when QPR get promoted there will be few people cheering as loud or as happy as me and my family on the big day - but the more I see and hear of our top division the more I think I’m quite happy where we are now! Competitive in this division. Should we ever make it back there again lets hope that the money, and parachute payment should we be relegated, is used to secure the future of QPR rather than thrown at dodgy players like last time when it nearly drove us to bankruptcy.

QPR Official Website - first and fastest
In the spirit of slagging the Premiership off, I’ve done little else on this website over the past few weeks, here’s a few headlines we can look forward to when the three year plan culminates with promotion. Or perhaps not.

Exclusive - Rangers sign African star
QPR are proud to announce the signing of Burkino Fasso international winger Mbungo Dbongo. The 24 year old, who has one cap for his country, has signed a four year deal with Rangers and joins for a club record fee of £4.5m. Dbongo said: “It always my dream to play for the Park Rangers ever since I see picture of Des Ferdinand in Shoot magazine.”

Newcastle game moved
QPR fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see the R’s back in Premiership action. The R’s will now start the season at Newcastle 48 hours later than originally planned, kicking off at 8pm on Monday August 12. The game will be screened live on Setanta Sports 2.

Fulham ticket details
QPR have been allocated 4000 seats in the neutral stand at Craven Cottage for the derby clash with Fulham. These will go on sale to W12 and C Club members with 200 loyalty points and eight hoop jumps from Monday priced at £52 adults, £32 concessions. Five loyalty points will be awarded to supporters attending this match, six if you can keep ten plates spinning for three minutes outside the box office. A £3.50 booking fee applies for both ticket purchasing and plate spinning.

Coach travel for Everton game
QPR’s mouth watering trip to Goodison Park on New Years Day has been brought forward to a 9.30am kick off and will be screened live on Sky Sports. Coaches will depart Loftus Road at 2am on News Years Day - adults £35, children £20. Season ticket holders receive a 50p discount on coach travel when booked in advance. A £3.50 booking fee will be charged.

Benitez happy with Loftus Road point
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez praised the efforts of QPR, and declared himself happy with a goalless draw at Loftus Road. Liverpool failed to register a shot on target with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres both rested ahead of a crucial fifth match in the second group stage of the Champions League against Racing Club Genk on Thursday - Liverpool need a point from that match to be assured of progression to the third group stage. Benitez said: “We are still fourth and that is all that matters, the Genk game is the key focus of our week.”

The Friday Preview - Blackburn Rovers
Sky presenter Richard Keys said: “Everybody at Sky is really excited about this game with Blackburn still having an outside chance of making the coveted Intertoto cup positions and QPR breathing down the neck of West Ham in the quest for 15th position. It’s sure to be another cracker from the best league in the world and you’ll have the best seat in the house with Jamie Redknapp and myself from noon on Sunday.”

Exclusive - African star departs
Burkino Fasso international Mbungo Dbongo has today informed QPR that he no longer wishes to play for the club. The player failed to report for training this morning and instead travelled to Manchester to undergo a medical at Old Trafford despite QPR rejecting United’s bids and refusing them permission to speak to the player. Dbongo said: “It nothing to do with £90,000 a week, I love the Park Rangers with a thousand hearts but it has always been my dream to play for Manchester ever since I see Bruce Cantona in old Match annual.”

Supporter of the year announced
Massimo Repoliogio says being awarded the club’s Supporter of the Year trophy is the culmination of 18 months hard work. The investment banker, who sits in the W12 club, said: “I started following QPR in the dark days when we were down in fifth in the Championship in 2009 so to win this award now we’re in the Premiership is just the best feeling ever. The South Africa Road restaurant really is top notch - you won’t find better veal anywhere in London than the piece I had before the Tottenham match.”

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