Monday Diary — Warnock left praying for takeover after Bolton rout
Monday, 15th Aug 2011 19:38 by Clive Whittingham

Neil Warnock says he hopes to bring in three new players before the transfer window slams shut, but much will depend on the impending takeover by Air Asia boss Tony Fernandes.

News

After Saturday's 4-0 reverse against Bolton at Loftus Road Warnock told the club's official website and other press: "I can't fault the lads for the first hour. I think that we more than held our own. We had some great chances in the first half. I think it was our naivety that cost us in the end, especially when you're playing the likes of Kevin Davies. He knows what it's all about in the Premier League. You've got to come into the Premier League and grow up quickly. I've just said to the lads not to get carried away with a result like today. I didn't like the way we conceded the second goal, we were very naive in our defending. Once you're two down in the Premier League, it's very rare you can come back, which is disappointing. We're going to get a few of them this season and I think we've just got to do the best we can.

“The only things I’ve heard about what’s going on behind the scenes have been very positive. I expect to bring two or three players in during the next fortnight and that’s what I’m working at, to do my job as best I can.”

One of those players could be Man City's young Swedish striker John Guidetti who Sky Sports say could be set for a loan move to W12. He signed a new three year contract in July after a successful loan spell at Burnley.

Warnock hopefully won't have to wait too long to get his wish. The Financial Times and Sky Sports both report that Malaysian airline entrepreneur Tony Ternandes, who also controls the Team Lotus F1 team, is set to complete a deal for 55% of the club this week after attending Saturday's game. The better news is Amit Bhatia and Lakshmi Mittal may well be upping their stake to 45% according to reports.

Fernandes even went so far as to tell Sky Sports that he intends to back Neil Warnock in the transfer market. He said: " I am in discussions. I think over the next two to three days, one way or another, they'll be some sort of announcement. That's for sure. I think the manager should get what the manager wants. I think Neil is a super guy and he's done extremely well to have got QPR to where they are. If I were to get involved, he'd have my full support. But let's see if I do get involved."

Fernandes' first job as new owner would be to see off the threat of legal action by former Brazilian World Cup winning captain and QPR director Dunga who says he will sue the club for a £750,000 he previously made and has yet to have paid back. Dunga was a board member when Gianni Paladini and Antonio Caliendo ran the club together, infamously flying in for one board meeting in order to force through the removal of Bill Power. Dunga, like Caliendo, now claims QPR owe him money.

He told the Guardian: "I loaned my money to QPR in good faith when they needed it and I am very disappointed that the new owners, who are very wealthy, are now refusing to pay it back. I am fully confident in the English system of justice and that the court will help me recover my loans."

In other news from Saturday scans have confirmed that Kieron Dyer's leg will not need to be amputated after all despite the initial suggestion. He has suffered a "soft tissue" injury after his fourth minute clash with Martin Petrov. Clint Hill, foolishly sent off late in the game for a headbutt on Petrov, faces a three game ban for violent conduct unless Rangers press ahead with an appeal which Warnock seemed tempted by on Saturday evening. Hill later apologised to the QPR fans on Twitter, blaming "pure frustration" for his actions.

Striker Jay Bothroyd told the Ealing Gazette afterwards: " We're disappointed with the result and scoreline but for 60 minutes we were the better side. We showed we can play in this league, we controlled the game and were very positive. Obviously, they scored a second and our heads might have dropped a little bit - we weren't defending how we were in the first half. We should've had a pen when DJ [Campbell] scored the offside goal and the defender cleared one off the line. If we had got the rub of the green maybe it would've been a different outcome. It wasn't to be and we have to take the positives from it. We have to learn from it and hopefully we can go to Everton and get the right result."

Elsewhere the continued attempts to offload the copious amounts of big earners who have no hope of ever featuring in the first team at QPR floundered again this week. League Two Swindon had shown an interest in Leon Clarke at the end of last week but admitted then that his wages were, in the words of Paulo Di Canio, "amazing, even for League One". Following their 1-0 defeat at Cheltenham at the weekend Di Canio confirmed to the Swindon Advertiser: " “That deal is off. The wages are too high, I don’t want to say what they are but it is too much."

Finally, although you probably already know, our game at Wigan a week on Saturday has been brought forward to 12.30pm to allow the home fans to watch Wigan Warriors play in the Challenge Cup final later that day. QPR agreed to Wigan 's request, and defended themselves today by saying the other options were a Friday night or Sunday lunchtime switch (or just saying no of course) and say they will refund any pre-booked train fares. The majority of QPR fans travelling by train, on a day already beset by engineering works, would have been due to arrive at 12.21 or 13.21. Whether that refund will then stretch as far as paying for supporters to rebook the journey at a cost of £60 on the earlier train LFW would be interested to hear….

Loan Watch

Angelo Balanta played for an hour before being replaced by goal scorer Dean Bowditch in MK Dons' 2-0 win at Exeter on Saturday. Max Ehmer recovered from his foot injury sufficiently to play a full 90 minutes for Yeovil as they beat Oldham 3-1 at Huish Park. Michael Doughty also looks set for a loan move, he told his Twitter followers earlier that he was looking around a new club today and had been impressed with the facilities.

Former R's

Ishmael Miller has completed a £1.2m move from West Brom to Nottingham Forest . Miller spent three months on loan at QPR last season and while his first team opportunities were limited he did score a crucial last-gasp winning goal against Leicester at Loftus Road in March. A cruciate knee ligament injury restricted his career at West Brom and he made just six substitute appearances for the Baggies last season. Forest boss Steve McLaren said: "Ishmael is still a young player but has loads of experience and a lot to prove. He wants to play. He's the type of player we want. He's young and ambitious and fits the criteria perfectly."

Premiership Shorts

- Arsenal have sold Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona for £35m. Nothing more can possibly be said on the most over hyped, long running, boring transfer saga of all time so let's leave at that.

- In much more hilarious news under pressure Blackburn boss Steve Kean will need to hire a driver if he is to continue scouting future opponents and potential signings. The Scot was today banned from driving for 18 months after being caught at twice the legal limit speeding on the M6 after a match last season. Kean is listed as living in Weybridge, Surrey , quite a commute. The judge rejected his defence that his drink had been spiked. Still, not as criminal as Blackburn 's advert for Venky's chicken.

- Joey Barton says he is "not proud" of his part in Gervinho's debut red card after the pair clashed in Newcastle's opening day 0-0 draw with Arsenal. Barton reacted angrily to Gervinho's clear dive in the penalty area, picking the Arsenal striker up off the ground by the throat and then collapsing theatrically to the ground when Gervinho struck out at him.

- Man Utd seized the opening weekend initiative from their rivals by winning 2-1 at West Brom Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all drew, Man City play Swansea tonight.

- Bolton have had a £400k bid for Rangers midfielder Greg Wylde rejected. Gers boss Ally McCoist said: "The bid from Bolton was not accepted and I don't want Gregg Wylde to go anywhere. He is a good young talent and we feel he has done very well."

Photo: Action Images

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Spiritof67 added 20:17 - Aug 15

I was at Crawley Town for a pre-season friendly, and I thought that our defence were pedestrian for the two goals that Crawley scored, something that we will certainly be punished against higher opposition. For the Bolton game, we allowed Cahill far too much space to score his goal. At this level if we canâ€™t make a defence splitting pass then we must certainly try to keep possession.

Yes, a wide player would help and certainly having full backs with more pace, but in the short term i.e. before the Everton game, then NW and Co will have to learn from the mistakes of our first home game and tactics will have to be improved on the training field to cope with our potential limitations at this level.

Very surprised to see the heads going down when Cahill scored; something we did not see much of last season, with two examples that come to mind being, when the team kept going to snatch a point away to Derby and also with a man sent off early in the game at Reading and still going on to win the game.

OK, the quality of teams in the Premiership are far superior to both those teams mentioned above, but itâ€™s the first game of a long season ahead and looking through blue and white glasses, WBA lost 6 â€“ 0 for their first game of last season, and stayed up.

It the purchase of the club by the new owner stalls and If transfer funds are still in short supply, then we may be able to gain a few loan signings as teams start to name their 25 man squads. I agree with one of your earlier posts Clive, it would be great if we could start, by getting Ryan Bertrand on a seasonâ€™s long loan.