A dozen peaks and troughs — Redknapp Wednesday, 4th Feb 2015 00:09 by Clive Whittingham LFW looks back at six amazing moments, and another half a dozen low points, that defined Harry Redknapp’s two years at QPR following his resignation earlier today. HighsChelsea 0 QPR 1, Wednesday January 2, 2013, Premier LeagueHope seemed lost. The new manager bounce hadn’t happened. Harry Redknapp’s arrival had only extended QPR’s record-breaking winless start to a Premier League season from 12 to 16 matches. An Adel Taarabt-inspired 2-1 home win against a Fulham side on the wane had sparked life, but the Christmas period had been especially dispiriting. A 1-0 loss at a poor Newcastle outfit just prior to the festivities, when several of the highly-paid big names of the Mark Hughes reign had created spurious reasons not to travel, preceded a 2-1 home defeat to West Brom and a 3-0 set back against Liverpool at Loftus Road which was about as badly as you’ll ever see a Premier League team play. Redknapp was reduced to bringing defensive midfielder Shaun Derry on at half time to shore things up while already 3-0 down. And then there was that night at Stamford Bridge. Taarabt playing as a lone striker turned in one of the best performances in the modern-day history of the club. The Blues, in open revolt at the appointment of Rafael Benitez as manager, ran up against Ryan Nelsen, Nedum Onuoha and Clint Hill in imperious form. A goalless draw looked possible, until Taarabt cushioned a perfect pass into the path of Shaun Wright-Phillips to slam in a winner. The little scrote, against his former club, refused to celebrate his only positive contribution to QPR for his £60,000 a week wage. The travelling fans who’d kept faith and forked over their £55 to be there cared little. They stayed long after the final whistle serenading Benitez and the long-departed racists. A result made all the sweeter by that cocky, thick-tongued wanker Chelsea wheel out to goad away fans at half time, and introduce the home crowd to pre-2003 players they’ve never heard of, being filmed sitting directly behind Redknapp, head in hands, as the goal went in. An amazing night. Chelsea: Turnbull 7, Azpilicueta 6, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Bertrand 5, Luiz 7, Lampard 6 (Ramires 79, 5), Oscar 6, Moses 5 (Mata 75, 6), Marin 5 (Hazard 60, 6), Torres 4 Subs not used: Hilario, Cole, Ferreira, Piazon Bookings: Marin 3 (foul) QPR: Cesar 8, Onuoha 7, Hill 8, Nelsen 7, Da Silva 8, Derry 8, Granero 7 (Park 90, -), Mbia 8, Mackie 7, Hoilett 6 (Wright-Phillips 15, 5), Taarabt 9 (Dyer 90, -) Subs not used: Cisse, Faurlin, Ferdinand, Green Goals: Wright-Phillips 78 (assisted Taarabt) Bookings: Hill 85 (foul)
Southampton 1 QPR 2, Saturday March 2, 2013, Premier League Harry Redknapp’s brass balls were a mile wide as he bemoaned somebody else leaking stories to the press on the eve of QPR’s trip to Southampton in March 2013. The Chelsea result had achieved nothing — six more Premier League games had been played without a single victory, and a 4-1 loss at Swansea felt like something of a nadir. Redknapp took his dysfunctional team to Dubai for “warm weather training” but on the morning of the game The Mirror published accounts from unnamed sources close to the club bemoaning a slap-dash attitude to work, lack of time spent on the pitch, and heavy drinking culture around the trip. The Southampton fans, resentful of Redknapp’s successful stints with bitter rivals Portsmouth and his expensive, failed rescue job at St Mary’s back in 2005, queued up to sling abuse his way. “Harry Redknapp, he’s taking you down,” they sang with glee. By full time a typically sizeable contingent of Hoops to the South Coast were returning the barbs with interest: “Harry Redknapp, he’s laughing at you.” Headline January acquisition Loic Remy had stormed through on goal before half time to open the scoring and although Gaston Ramirez equalised in the softest possible circumstances before half time — with occasional goalkeeper Julio Cesar feigning injury — the R’s won the game late on with an unlikely combination of Ji Sung Park crossing for Jay Bothroyd to slam home from close range. Southampton: Boruc 6, Clyne 6, Yoshida 5, Fonte 6, Fox 5 (Shaw 57, 6), Schneiderlin 6, Cork 6, Puncheon 5, Ramirez 6 (Ward-Prowse 74, 6), Lallana 6 (Rodriguez 43, 6), Lambert 6 Subs not used: K Davis, S Davis, Richardson, Do Prado Goals: Ramirez 45 (assisted Rodriguez) Bookings: Fonte 45 (foul) QPR: Cesar 4 (Green 74, 7), Bosingwa 6, Samba 7, Hill 7, Traore 6, Park 6, Granero 5 (Jenas 53, 6), Mbia 6, Remy 7, Hoilett 7, Bothroyd 7 (Fabio 90, -) Subs not used: Onuoha, Taarabt, Townsend, Mackie Goals: Remy 14 (assisted Hoilett), Bothroyd 77 (assisted Park) Bookings: Bothroyd 16 (foul), Mbia 22 (foul), Traore 44 (foul)
QPR 2 Derby County 1, Saturday November 2, 2013, Championship Alas, QPR were relegated. Redknapp, brought in as a saviour, seemed likely to leave. A knee operation was pencilled in for the summer, and the Match of the Day studio was calling. But Tony Fernandes hadn’t read the script. He insisted he wanted Redknapp to stay, and stay he did, even though he spent some of the summer in hospital, even though he wasn’t fit to go on the pre-season tour, even though he was recovering from major surgery while QPR were engaged in the not inconsiderable task of shipping half a squad out to reluctant buyers and building another capable of winning promotion straight back. Redknapp’s critics said the task was accomplished largely thanks to the arrival of former England manager Steve McClaren, who took the tour to Austria, oversaw the training sessions and set the team up in their shape and style. Rangers, with Redknapp on crutches on the touchline and McClaren in club suit in the background, went unbeaten for the first 12 games of the season. When Shcteve was, inevitably, offered the Derby County manager’s job it felt like a big moment. Redknapp would have to step back up and not only maintain the momentum already established, but now fend off advances from a rival managed by a guy who knew all QPR’s secrets. A victory at Loftus Road early in November, with two goals from Jermaine Jenas, put the doubters and upstarts in their place. The promotion push remained on course. QPR: Green 7; Simpson 7, Dunne 6, Hill 7, Assou-Ekotto 7; Faurlin 8 (Henry 77, 6), Barton 8; Hoilett 6 (Traore 80, -) , Jenas 7, Phillips 7; Austin 6 Subs not used: Johnson, Onyewu, Wright-Phillips, Chevanton, Murphy Goals: Jenas 11 (assisted Phillips/Austin), 63 (assisted Faurlin) Bookings: Faurlin 65 (foul), Hoilett 67 (foul) Derby: Grant 6; Wisdom 7 (Bennett 90, -), Keogh 6, Buxton 6, Forsyth 6; Ward 7, Eustace 6, Bryson 6, Hughes 7, Dawkins 6 (Sammon 72, 6); Martin 5 Subs not used: Smith, Jacobs, Freeman, Ball, Morch Goals: Dawkins 23 (assisted Ward/Buxton) Bookings: Martin 26 (diving), Wisdom 41 (foul), Eustace 45 (foul), Forsyth 61 (foul)
QPR 2 Wigan Athletic 1, Monday May 12, 2014, Championship Play-Off Semi-Final There was little to cheer after that game mind, of which more later. QPR ended up sinking out of the automatic promotion spots, behind Leicester and Burnley, and settling for the play-offs despite spending vast amounts more than any other club in the league. The mood had turned black, away ends were unpleasant places to be, Tony Fernandes admitted he feared his club wouldn’t even make the six at all. There was nothing to suggest that QPR had what it took to win through the end of season knock-out having lost to fellow qualifiers Derby and Brighton in the run in. In the semi-final they faced Wigan, resurgent under Uwe Rosler and cup specialists of several seasons standing. The R’s went for a goalless draw in the away leg and got it setting up a one-off tie at Loftus Road for the second game. This famous old lady of a ground, nestled among the houses and flats of W12, fizzed like rarely before. Rain teemed down, the pitch gleamed, the crowd bristled in anticipation. It was a magnificent night to be alive. QPR conceded first to James Perch, and only typically excellent refereeing from Mark Clattenburg — on the spot to realise James McClean had cheated trying to win a penalty when he crashed to earth in the box — kept them from going two behind. A footballing arm wrestle ensued between two teams refusing to yield, set against a back-drop of crowd and benches you’ll rarely see in the diluted modern game of football. The whole thing was magnificent. You could almost drink it in. On the pitch, the Wigan players milled around at both full time and half time in the extra period. Just little words on the run or to each other. They looked spent. QPR gathered together in the deluge, all soaked to the skin, and coaxed more from each other. Redknapp was right at the heart of it. Rarely had he looked so committed and interested to the hooped cause. Charlie Austin stabbed in a second goal soon after the restart. Richard Dunne recovered from several bad months of form to deliver a central defensive performance of epic proportions. The Loft rocked. QPR were back at Wembley for the first time in 28 years. QPR: Green 7; Simpson 7, Onuoha 8, Dunne 8, Hill 6 (Suk-Young 50, 8); Barton 8, O’Neil 6 (Morrison 69, 6), Doyle 6 (Zamora 65, 8), Kranjcar 8, Hoilett 6; Austin 8 Subs not used: Hughes, Henry, Murphy, Benayoun Goals: Austin 73 (penalty won Hoilett), 96 (assisted Zamora) Bookings: Barton 57 (foul), O’Neil 60 (foul), Kranjcar 63 (foul) Wigan: Carson 7; Kiernan 7, Caldwell 5 (Barnett 74, 6), Boyce 7; Perch 7, Gomez 7, McArthur 7 (Espinosa 36, 6), Maloney 6, Bausejour 6; McClean 6, McManaman 7 (Waghorn 71, 6) Subs not used: Crainey, Al-Habsi, Maynard, Collison Goals: Perch 9 (assisted McClean) Bookings: McClean 22 (cheating)
Derby County 0 QPR 1, Saturday May 24, 2014, Championship Play-Off Final By the open admission of their manager, QPR were playing for a penalty shoot-out at this stage. That was still half an hour away. The Chinese used to use this sort of thing to extract confessions from their prisoners. But do you know what? Football isn’t about making friends. In 1982 QPR came to Wembley Stadium as a Second Division team to play mighty First Division Tottenham Hotspur. They lost their top goal scorer Clive Allen to an early injury but forced a replay. They were without influential centre back Glenn Roeder for the next game because of a suspension triggered by a nonsense sending off in a league game at Luton Town. They dominated the second game and lost anyway, to a penalty. In 1986 they beat Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and the great Liverpool side of the era to get to a League Cup final against Oxford only to find their own manager — who’d left the U’s for Loftus Road just nine months beforehand — openly admitting he’d rather his current employers lose the game. They lost 3-0 and have never been back to this famous venue since. A whole generation of QPR support have only that abomination, and Jim Smith’s treachery, to remember Wembley by. In 1995 a team split between daft transfers and youth team graduates led Manchester United 1-0 into the eighth minute of injury time at Loftus Road in a game they desperately needed to win to help avoid relegation. Eric Cantona scored with the last kick, during the second reading of the classified football results. If he hadn’t, referee Robbie Hart would have continued playing until he did. Rangers were, indeed, relegated. They collapsed into administration, and the Second Division. QPR have been destitute and lost at home to Vauxhall Motors. They’ve had all the worst kind of con-artists and shady characters moving into their boardroom to try and make a fast buck. This is a football club that has been kicked, repeatedly, backwards and forwards. It’s been treated like shit. When it was on its last legs, in an eighteenth month of administration, with nowhere to turn, the Football League offered assistance by saying it wouldn’t issue a fixture list unless the club found a buyer double quick, forcing its hand into a crippling £10m loan at £1m per season interest from the ABC Corporation of Panama. For good measure, the league also imposed a transfer embargo. Thanks for that. The one constant has been the supporters. QPR have brought 15,000 people to Loftus Road every week regardless of whether it’s been Chelsea or Hartlepool in opposition. To the few inflicted, it’s their team, their club, and it’s not their fault if Flavio Briatore pitches up and starts charging supporters £45 to get in under some nonsense premise of a “boutique football club”, it’s not their fault if Tony Fernandes wants to spend £160m of debt on Jose Bosingwa and it’s not their fault if the club tries to buy success. All they can do is keep turning up. They can go to Wigan Athletic in the middle of November with a cake to eat on the train commemorating 12 months since the last away win. They can go all the way up to Newcastle by rail and road two days before Christmas for a 1-0 defeat only to hear afterwards that several players feigned injuries in the build-up because they didn’t fancy the flight. The flight! They can go to every match in a 38 game season when a team of players they hated won just four games, and they can respond by renewing their season tickets at a cost of £500 for the division below. Because it’s their club, and their colours, and their ground, and this lot making these decisions and turning in these abject performances will be gone eventually, and without the constant of the support, there’d be no club. What happened next was for them: the regulars, the occasionals, the ex-pats, the long distance fans, their friends, and their families. They came together, some from far flung foreign lands, in a congealed mass of 40,000 people, in colours to a man, at Wembley Stadium. Talk to me about QPR being everything that’s wrong with football… what happened next is everything that’s right with this wretched sport. After all those years, all those setbacks, all that pain, all that money you spent, all those midweek motorway miles, all those last minute goals you saw them concede, all those bloody refereeing decisions, all those Jose Bosingwas, all those Robbie Harts, all those Eric Cantonas, those five matches when Paul Hart was the bloody manager, those penalties against Vauxhall Motors, the bloody ABC Corporation of Panama, Mick Dennis and his fucking cup of tea… After all of that, the people who have QPR in their blood deserved this, however young and wonderful and good looking and unlucky Derby bloody County are as a result. On their first trip to Wembley Stadium in 28 years, QPR deserved this. There’d been a hint of a threat a moment before. Joey Barton seized on a loose ball on the edge of the Derby box and lashed well wide. To be honest, I’d almost forgotten there was a penalty box and a goal at that end of the field by this stage, but it just suggested that Derby’s defence had mentally clocked off due to their lack of stimulation during the previous half an hour. As the clock ticked to 90 minutes typically good work by Junior Hoilett and Bobby Zamora (not being sarcastic) down the right wing won a valuable throw in halfway inside the Derby half. A chance to relieve pressure on Dunne and Onuoha, and little more than that, we thought. Problem was, Derby seemed to think the same. The Rams switched off as the ball was delivered by Danny Simpson. Buxton came across to meet Hoilett but, oddly, seemed more interested in nailing the QPR man than clearing the ball — he hung back, waiting for a chance to execute a physical challenge, rather than simply clearing loose possession which he seemed favourite to win. Hoilett rode the tackle and cut the ball back into the area. Caught in two minds between controlling the ball and booting it away Richard Keogh did neither, instead turning a lousy touch straight into the path of Bobby Zamora. Zamora drew back a boot back and met the ball on the instep of his left foot. For such a clumsy player, the technique and execution was perfection. Lee Grant, so often a miracle worker against QPR, could only watch it. The ball curled exquisitely around the goalkeeper and into the far corner.
Behind the goal - pandemonium. QPR supporters who’d never met were grabbing each other, kissing each other, hugging each other, punching each other, throwing each other around, and screaming. It was like a mosh pit at a thrash mettle gig. They heard the noise back at the Crown and Sceptre in the heart of Shepherd’s Bush where the troops would decamp later in the night to drink and relive. The ground moved. It was an extraordinary outpouring. I landed — literally — five rows further down the stand from my actual seat, shirt torn, legs bleeding. I turned around to look at the people I choose to spend my Saturdays with and picked them out one by one, scattered far and wide having — just 30 seconds previously — all been sitting together. Everybody was in floods of tears. And people dare to talk today about QPR being everything that’s wrong with football.
QPR 2 Man City 2, Saturday November 8, 2014, Premier League Back in the Premier League, QPR had started the season poorly — hamstrung by Redknapp’s barmy summer idea that the newly promoted side would succeed with a back three led by Rio Ferdinand at the higher level. A pathetic 2-0 loss at West Ham, where Ferdinand followed up an incident where he was outpaced by Peter Crouch by being out-skilled by James Tomkins, felt like a big moment. Redknapp said the players weren’t fit enough, like it was somebody else’s job to get them fit. He bemoaned lack of options at full back, having sold Danny Simpson to Leicester to accommodate the back three nonsense he’d abandoned after three games. Rangers were abject at Upton Park and comfortably beaten. But rather than leave, QPR’s experienced boss dug his heals in and came up with a plan. Bobby Zamora was introduced to the attack from the start and the team went more direct. Yun Suk-Young was finally given a go at left back in a flat back four. Eduardo Vargas was introduced. The R’s caught Liverpool cold at Loftus Road, roughing them up and scaring them to death. Only a last minute own goal denied them a deserved point or more. Aston Villa subsequently beaten and a near miss at Chelsea to build confidence, Rangers welcomed reigning champions Man City to a saturated Loftus Road and gave them everything they wanted and more. In the end only Sergio Aguero, scoring twice either side of half time, offered the visitors a way out. QPR were fantastic: high-tempo, physical, intimidating. They were a team with a clear plan, executing it to perfection. Charlie Austin up front crawled all over his multi-million pound opponents, scoring once and having two others disallowed. A draw was the least the Hoops deserved. A plan had been formulated. The season had begun in earnest. QPR: Green 7; Isla 7, Dunne 6, Caulker 6, Suk-Young 7; Vargas 7, Sandro 7 (Barton 46, 7), Henry 7, Fer 6; Austin 8, Zamora 8 Subs not used: Hill, Phillips, McCarthy, Hoilett, Kranjcar, Onuoha Goals: Austin 21 (assisted Isla), Demichelis own goal 76 (assisted Austin) Bookings: Sandro 18 (foul), Isla 36 (foul), Dunne 39 (foul), Vargas 45+1 (foul) Man City: Hart 7; Sagna 5, Demichelis 5, Mangala 5, Clichy 4; Navas 6, Fernandinho 4 (Dzeko 64, - (Lampard 68, 6)), Fernando 3, Toure 6; Nasri 5 (Milner 74. 6), Aguero 9 Subs not used: Zabaleta, Milner, Caballero, Jovetic, Boyata Goals: Aguero 32 (assisted Mangala), 83 (assisted Toure)
LowsQPR 1 Newcastle 2, Sunday May 12, 2013, Premier LeagueSo ill-judged was the recruitment policy of Tony Fernandes and Mark Hughes prior to Harry Redknapp’s arrival, and so poor were the results that came from it, that Redknapp was deservedly given a free-pass for the 2012/13 season which he arrived into after 13 matches and won only five of the remaining 25 on the way to relegation. Rangers were confirmed as a Championship side with a 0-0 draw at Reading at the end of April. By that point they’d failed to win in six matches and not scored in four. Games at home to Newcastle and Arsenal, and away to Liverpool, remained and with thoughts firmly fixed on the following season fans started to look to Redknapp for signs of forward planning. None came. Despite being highly critical of the players he’d inherited, and repeatedly stated that nobody would be able to get anything out of the feckless bunch of wasters, Redknapp continued to pick them in the dead rubbers at the end of the season. Fabio and Andros Townsend, on loan and sure to return to parent clubs, continued to feature. No reserves or youth team players were used. QPR: Green 5, Bosingwa 3 (Fabio 46, 6), Onuoha 6, Hill 6, Traore 5, Townsend 6, Jenas 5, Mbia 4 (Derry 46, 6), Hoilett 4 (Taarabt 84, -), Zamora 5, Remy 6 Subs not used: Murphy, Park, Granero, Mackie Goals: Remy 11 (penalty, won Hoilett) Bookings: Mbia 36 (foul) Newcastle: Elliott 5, Debuchy 5, Coloccini 6, Williamson 5, Yanga-M’Biwa 5, Cabaye 6, Tiote 4 (Perch 52, 6), Guttierez 6, Goufran 6 (Obertan 77, 5), Ben Arfa 7 (Harper 82, -), Cisse 5 Subs not used: Simpson, Marveaux, Anita, Campbell Goals: Ben Arfa 18 (penalty, won Ben Arfa), Gouffran 35 (assisted Bosingwa/Guttierez) Yellows: Cabaye 10 (dissent), Williamson 29 (foul), Elliott 67 (time wasting), Elliott 80 (handball) Reds: Elliott 80 (two yellows)
Watford 0 QPR 0, Sunday December 29, 2013, Championship Harry Redknapp has had enough exceptional or unusual players in his career — Paolo Di Canio, Peter Crouch, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric — to back his assertion that it’s not tactics and systems that win game, it’s players. Who cares what shape you’re playing when Gareth Bale is rampaging in from the left side of it? Consequently, QPR fans became used to their manager using games immediately prior to transfer windows to pitch for yet more new players, more additions, more blood, to supplement his team. In January 2013 he memorably selected two goalkeepers on the bench for a game at home to Man City because “it’s all I’ve got” and was subsequently handed millions for Chris Samba. At Watford a year later, while QPR youngster Tom Hitchcock continued his prodigious goalscoring form on loan at Crewe with a goal at Colchester, Redknapp selected a team in a 4-6-0 formartion without a single striker. There followed the most boring 90 minutes of football you’re ever likely to see. An announcement that QPR fans would be held in after the final whistle sent the travelling thousands clambering for the exits to get away early. Redknapp was subsequently given his wish and used the funds to add first Will Keane, a terribly nice boy who looked like he’d never been tackled before in his life on the perfectly manicured academy pitches at Manchester United; Kevin Doyle, who did a half decent job as a fill-in target man while Charlie Austin was injured; and Mobido Maiga, a man so patently useless at everything other than standing up and breathing in and out that you wouldn’t trust the useless fuck to pack your supermarket bags if he was doing so to help fund his registered charity for useless fucks who need to eat. Watford: Almunia 6; Doyley 6, Cassetti 6, Ekstrand 7; Bellerin 6, Angella 6, Thorne 6, Murray 6 (Battocchio 87, -), McGugan 6; Deeney 6, Fabbrini 6 (Acuña 75, 5) Subs not used: McEachran, Iriney, Bond, O’Nien Bookings: Angella 38 (foul), Acuña 80 (foul) QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Dunne 6, Onuoha 7, Assou-Ekotto 7; Phillips 6, Benayoun 6 (O’Neil 73, 6), Carroll 5 (Johnson 71, 6), Barton 6, Kranjcar 6, Hoilett 5 (Traore 79, 6) Subs not used: Henry, Zamora, Murphy, Sendels-White Bookings: Phillips 61 (foul), Barton 65 (foul)
Charlton 1 QPR 0, Saturday February 22, 2014, Championship Despite the additions, QPR struggled in the absence of Austin. Consecutive defeats at Derby and at home to Reading in February had the push for automatic promotion under threat. Redknapp added West Ham bad boy Ravel Morrison on loan — always another player — and switched to a wing-back formation for a game at basement dwellers Charlton that saw crusty old Aaron Hughes, a centre back on loan from Fulham, asked to bomb up and down the right flank. Charlton picked Yohann Thuram-Ulien in goal. A Frenchman with a kit from the bargain bucket at a charity shop who couldn’t kick, catch, save shots, or apparently grasp the rules of the sport. He looked, sounded and played like Ademole Bankole’s remedial cousin the Bankole family no longer speaks to. QPR will never, ever, ever play against a worse goalkeeper than that guy. In 90 minutes, they managed not a single shot on target. Realising this might be the case, Thuram-Ulien collected a back pass after an hour and passed it straight to Mobido Maiga, in space in the penalty box. The Malian attempted to trap the ball but punted it straight out for a goal kick. When Johnnie Jackson headed home a last minute winner Redknapp headed straight for the tunnel, ignoring an away end packed with 3,000 QPR fans who turned their anger on each other in ugly scenes I’ve not seen in 25 years of following this club home and away. Charlton: Y Thuram-Ulien 5; R Wiggins 6, D Dervite 6, M Morrison 6, L Wilson 6; D Poyet 6, D Green 6 (A Ajdarevic, 64, 6), J Jackson 6, J Cousins 6; R Ghoochanneijhad 5 (M Tudgay, 64, 6), S Church 6 (C Harriott, 89, -) Subs not used: R Wood, M Sordell, B Hamer, M Fox Goals: Jackson 90+3 Bookings: Jackson QPR: R Green 6; C Hill 6, R Dunne 6, N Onuoha 5; A Hughes 5, J Jenas 3, T Carroll 5 (Y Benayoun, 81, -), A Traore 5, J Hoilett 5 (W Keane 59, 6); K Doyle 5 (M Maiga, 70, 5) R Morrison 6 Subs not used: K Henry, B Murphy, Yun Suk-Young, G O'Neil
Blackburn 2 QPR 0, Tuesday April 8, 2014, Championship There followed a spell of fixtures that, essentially, meant very little. QPR were too far behind Burnley and Leicester to catch them, but too far ahead of the pack behind the play-off spots to be concerned about dropping out altogether. It was a weird time which should have been used to blood youngsters, rest key men and experiment with potentially useful systems and set ups for the play-offs. Actually, Redknapp just tossed several of the games off altogether. There was a 3-0 defeat at sixteenth placed Sheffield Wednesday where the team obviously gave up after an early sending off for Richard Dunne; a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth who had a man sent off after an hour, and then there was the game at Blackburn Rovers. Now, QPR have young centre backs in their ranks — Max Ehmer, Coll Donaldson, Cole Kpekawa — and while you wouldn’t want to see a kid thrown at the feet of Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede and potentially ruined, would such a schooling really have been any worse than picking Luke Young to start? Young, a right back, without any action for two years prior to this, destined to retire at the end of the year. I rarely miss a match. When I do I find it, either through radio commentary or stream. That night, on a work trip to Cannes, I’d sacked off my evening engagements to follow the game. I heard the team and sat silently in my hotel room for ten minutes. I took it all in, shook my head, placed £20 on Gestede for the first goal, closed my computer and went out on the lash instead. The first QPR game I’ve completely missed for many a year. Gestede scored after eight minutes. Blackburn Rovers: Robinson 7, Keane 6, Hanley (c) 7, Kilgallon 7, Spurr 7, Cairney 6, Lowe 7, Williamson 6 (Etuhu 85’), Conway 7, Gestede 8, Rhodes 7. Goals: Gestede, Spurr QPR: Green 4, Simpson 6, Dunne 5, Young 5, Assou Ekotto 6 (Yun 77’), Hoillet 5, Henry 5, Benayoun 5, Carroll 5 (Maiga 68’), Morrison 7, Keane 5 (Austin 68’)7 Booked: Simpson
Man Utd 4 QPR 0, Sunday September 14, 2014, Premier League Things were always likely to be tough for QPR back in the Premier League. Newly promoted teams struggle, teams promoted through the play-offs especially so — Leicester knew what league they were going to be in from the first week of March, QPR still weren’t sure three days before June. Throw in a World Cup, which always delays transfer activity further, and the new TV deal which meant the fourth bottom team the year before took home more than £60m and this was never going to be a walk in the park. But the start Rangers, and Redknapp, made to the season was embarrassing. Having spent the entire summer talking about playing a back three, Harry abandoned that after two matches. That had knock-on problems. Rio Ferdinand, who Redknapp had sung praises of throughout the close season, was exposed in a back four that had to line up without full backs because Danny Simpson had been sold to accommodate the wing backs. Rangers were now lining up 4-4-2 despite having no wingers. Harry Redknapp has never won at Manchester United, and it wasn’t hard to see why here. Against a United side without a win from its first five games, including a home defeat by Swansea and 4-0 humbling at MK Dons, his team rolled over and died. Afterwards Karl Henry said QPR “weren’t really sure” whether to press or stand off, and ended up doing neither. Rio Ferdinand took time out from the immediate pre-match to collect a long-service award from the home club and take the acclaim of the crowd — then spent 90 minutes waving at their pissing strikers as well. Redknapp seemed happy to write it off as a bonus game, and simply say it was hard to win at Old Trafford. In the last 18 months Swansea (twice), Southampton, West Brom, Everton, Newcastle, Tottenham, Liverpool, Man City and Sunderland have all won at Old Trafford. Man Utd: De Gea 5; Rafael 6 (Valencia 67, 6), Evans 6, Blackett 6, Rojo 7; Blind 8, Herrera 8, Di Maria 8 (Januzaj 82, -), Mata 7 (Falcao 67, 7); Rooney 7, Van Persie 7 Subs not used: Shaw, Lindegaard, Fletcher, Pereira Goals: Di Maria 24 (free kick, won Herrera), Herrera 36 (assisted Rooney), Rooney 44 (assisted Herrera), Mata 58 (assisted Di Maria) Bookings: Van Persie 32 (foul) QPR: Green 5; Isla 4, Ferdinand 4, Caulker 5, Hill 4 (Traore 45, 6); Sandro 5 (Henry 74, 5), Kranjcar 5, Fer 4; Phillips 5, Hoilett 4, Austin 5 (Vargas 59, 6) Subs not used: McCarthy, Onuoha, Zamora, Taarabt
Burnley 2 QPR 1, Saturday January 10, 2015, Premier League The defeat at United was one of ten losses from ten games played on the road to start the new season for QPR — Premier League and club records. By some quirk of the fixture list, those trips had been to last season’s top ten minus Man City giving Redknapp the perfect excuse that the away games had been hard and results would pick up after Christmas. Following a festive period where the home wins had dried up, the R’s travelled to fellow bottom three dwellers Burnley for the first of the supposedly “easier” road fixtures. Defensive calamities had them 2-1 down at half time. To chase the point, Redknapp came up with the ingenious idea of slinging on Bobby Zamora and crowding all the other attacking players he could find around his target man. The result was a mess. An easy to defend against mess. Burnley coasted through to a 2-1 win that should have been far more convincing. “We’re trying everything” the manager insisted afterwards. A fortnight later at Stoke defensive calamities had QPR 2-1 down at half time. To chase the point, Redknapp came up with the ingenious idea of slinging on Bobby Zamora and crowding all the other attacking players he could find around his target man. The result was a mess. Stoke won 3-1. Afterwards Redknapp insisted his team had “battered” the Potters. It was getting to the stage where you wondered what he had to do to be fired. Mercifully, we’ll never find out. Burnley: Heaton 7; Trippier 7, Keane 7, Shackell 6, Mee 6; Boyd 8, Marney 6, Jones 6, Arfield 6; Ings 7, Barnes 6 (Vokes 73, 6) Subs not used: Duff, Wallace, Kightly, Reid, Gilks, Jutkiewicz Goals: Arfield 12 (unassisted), Ings 38 (assisted Barnes) Bookings: Marney 45+1 (foul), Barnes 52 (foul) QPR: Green 6; Isla 5, Caulker 4, Dunne 5, Hill 4 (Traore 75, 4); Fer 6, Henry 6 (Zamora 69, 4), Barton 5, Vargas 6 (Zarate 76, 5); Taarabt 7, Austin 6 Subs not used: Phillips, McCarthy, Onuoha, Mutch Goals: Austin 32 (penalty, won Austin) Bookings: Barton 44 (foul), Traore 75 (foul)
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