QPR hope to start writing some positive MK history - Preview Friday, 4th Mar 2016 20:58 by Clive Whittingham MK Dons may be a recent (unwelcome) addition to the QPR calendar, but it's a fixture that brings bad omens. Hopefully, in front of a huge travelling support, that will start to change on Saturday. MK Dons (21st) v Queens Park Rangers (11th)Championship >>> Saturday March 5, 2016 >>> Kick Off 15.00 >>> Weather — Cold, wet, windy >>> Ikea, Milton Keynes Despite MK Dons' history making an almanac of Chelsea pre-2002 read like the Doomsday Book, there's an ever-growing connection between them and Queens Park Rangers. Not least, of course, the idea that it could have been QPR, and not Wimbledon, making the move 50 miles up the M1 in order to hasten the planning permission for an out of town Ikea and ASDA. For those who were in the Adelaide that night, as Pete Winckelman put forward the idea that destitute Rangers could solve their financial woes at the time by abandoning Loftus Road, and London, altogether, even the idea of attending this match on Saturday is too much to stomach. There will be up to 3,000 QPR fans travelling, but there will be one or two regular faces who do not, and will not, ever. Gianni Paladini, in a typical moment of hyperbole, said he'd been forced to wear a bullet proof vest to work as club chairman each day after an "enemy within" had told him exactly what they thought of his idea to stage a pre-season friendly with the MK Dons when Gary Waddock was manager at Rangers and Dr Winckelman's Monster was temporarily based at the National Hockey Stadium. That match was cancelled almost as swiftly as it was arranged, and QPR travelled to Italy to lose 5-1 to Serie D outfit Sorrento instead. More recently, when an FA Cup draw forced QPR to play them for the first time, it proved to be the final match for Neil Warnock as Rangers boss. A poor display, a fortunate 1-1 draw, talk of a "lost dressing room" and one of the first of Tony Fernandes' now dreaded QPR-related Tweets talking about "lots to think about" preceded a hasty dismissal which the QPR co-chairman regrets to this day. Shabby treatment for a man who'd delivered a Premier League return to the club a matter of months before that. That sacking, and the appointment of Mark Hughes who won the replay 1-0 but not a lot else during his disastrous time in charge, rather overshadowed the first of Ale Faurlin's knee explosions, suffered late in the second half of the first game as he jumped for a header in midfield. Faurlin was starting to be linked with big moves after a sparkling start to life in the Premier League, and has ruptured his ACL twice more since. How different his career might have been had he sat that one out. The Dons wreaked more FA Cup havoc a season later when Harry Redknapp's inspid Premier League side crashed 4-2 at home to the League One outfit having, at one stage, trailed 4-0. An ultimate embarrassment at a time when the club seemed to fall over its own arse on a weekly basis. The clubs have shared players. Some good — Kevin Gallen, Steve Palmer — some bad — Leon Knight - and some who weren't footballers at all. Few who were there for Ademola Bankole's 30-minute QPR career, as a second half substitute for the injured Lee Harper against Tranmere in the late 1990s, will ever forget it. Seemingly on a mission to enliven a run-of-the-mill First Division fixture by wreaking as much havoc as possible, he started by springing from his line for a routine cross, missing the ball altogether and punching Danny Maddix square on the side of the head. Short of handing a rapid fire machine gun to a chimp and plonking it in the centre circle it's hard to imagine how Rangers could have caused more blind terror among their own supporters than introducing Bankole into that game that day. They continue to do so, although in a most un-QPR like piece of forward planning Jay Emmanuel-Thomas will not be able to play against his parent club tomorrow as part of the terms of his loan deal. Emmanuel-Thomas scored a fabulous goal for Rangers when these sides met at Loftus Road earlier this season, breaking the deadlock and a vile atmosphere that had seen QPR fans berating their own players and manager with increasing ferocity as the game went on to the point where MK Dons' boss Karl Robinson felt compelled to go and put an arm around Chris Ramsey as a show of solidarity. I still think what happened that day was absolutely shameful. The old Simpsons line about "on a pile of money surrounded by many beautiful ladies" comes to mind when you wonder how Emmanuel-Thomas sleeps at night. A player of undoubted talent, and therefore a reasonable punt from QPR on a free transfer last summer, but rather too fond of the "swazzy" footballer lifestyle than actually playing any football and therefore bombed out by an ever-increasing list of clubs he should be far too good to have been playing for in the first place. He's rich, and well-sexed, and seemingly doesn't care, but having seen brief flashes of his potential around that MK Dons game earlier in the season you do wonder if he's going to wake up in time to realise what a talent he's wasting, or come to regret it in his later years, or neither. Meanwhile, in what is largely a meaningless game for QPR, we can only hope this isn't to be that 'two steps back' moment that has often proceeded an apparent stride forward during this season. The Birmingham performance and result was excellent, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink seems to be making progress with his team, but it only needs a poor performance and result against a relegation-haunted team in front of a large travelling support and no doubt the "sky is falling" brigade will be out in force with their knives sharpened once more. Hopefully it's time to start writing some positive history around this fixture. Links >>> Don't Trust Your Gut — Podcast >>> QPR regular Stroud in charge — Referee Highlights from the first meeting between the sides this season as a fine goal from Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who has since swapped sides, broke a deadlock, and increasingly hostile atmosphere, on the way to a 3-0 win. SaturdayTeam News: Good news for QPR because, as Adam Johnson said when perusing the open-day brochure for his local secondary school, they're all fit. In a rare moment of sound forethought, QPR have remembered to include a clause in Jay Emmanuel-Thomas' loan deal that prevents him from playing against his parent club here. Goalkeeper David Martin has the plague and is a doubt. Elsewhere: The Championship "weekend" has already begun, with Sky obliging those many millions of people for whom all their Thursday night was missing was some mediocre dross from the most attritional league on the planet by making title chasing Tigers Tigers Rah Rah Rah travel through the snow to Birmingham last night for a 1-0 defeat. That QPR win at the weekend automatically looks even more impressive as a result. Going the other way tonight, Wolves are up at Middlesbrough whose recent wobble of two wins from eight games continued with defeat to the Mad Chicken Farmers on Tuesday night. Speaking of whom, their friendly rivalry with Big Spending Burnley is renewed on Saturday lunchtime. The Wurzels and The Red Dragons also can't be trusted to play each other at 15.00 so it's a lunchtime start for their annual cider drinking and violent nationalism festivities at Ashton Gate. All of which means just eight fixtures remain at the traditional kick off time including our own. Uncle Neil Warnock's latest trip to Hillsborough with Rotherham will surely be met with the usual hostility from the Sheffield Owls. Brentford are the latest to arrive hammer and nails in hand to have a bash on the lid of Charlton's coffin. Huddersfield will be testing just how easily spooked Derby Sheep are by peeping out from behind the advertising hoardings and shouting 'boo' every now and again. Tarquin and Rupert, mourning the news that sales of red trousers have reportedly plummeted owing to the stigma that only people called Tarquin and Rupert wear them, are slumming it among the single mums and down at heel residents of Reading this weekend. A planned competition between Preston and Brighton to build the most lifelike snow sculpture of Lisa Riley, in lieu of a football match, hinges on more snowfall overnight. The Champions of Europe (18th) are charging £42 for a ticket to see them play Bolton (23rd) at Elland Road, fresh from a mauling at Brighton on Monday where they were 4-0 down at half time thanks to a standard of defending rarely seen in a non QPR v Fulham context. Also, for want of something better to do with their time, Nottingham Trees v Ipswich. FormMK Dons: Only one win from seven league games prior to this one, but some signs of live from the Dons all the same and they're currently three points and one place outside the relegation zone. Earlier in the season long runs of consecutive defeats were common — indeed the 3-0 loss at Loftus Road was part of a run of nine defeats in 11 matches which eventually stretched to 14 defeats in 21 matches through to the end of the year. But they've more recently developed a handy knack or turning those defeats into draws — they've only lost two of the last six and three of the last eight in the league which isn't too bad for a team down the bottom of the league. They need to score more though — they've managed more than one just once in that seven match run. At home they're without a win in four in all competitions, with Bristol City and Chelsea winning here and Middlesbrough and Huddersfield getting draws — although Boro needed an injury time equaliser to avoid a surprising loss. Their most recent victory, four games ago, was at everybody's favourite headcases Derby County. At Ikea this season they've won six, drawn three and lost eight — no team in the division has lost more league matches on their own patch. Following this match the Dons have a trip to Charlton and a home game against Rotherham in their next six fixtures which will go a long way to deciding their fate. QPR: Rangers' four wins on their travels this season (Huddersfield, Wolves, Rotherham, Reading) seems like a paltry total, when you consider nineteenth-placed Bristol City have five away wins to their name. But then sixth-placed Sheff Wed also only have four and Rangers are at least proving more difficult to beat away from Loftus Road — unbeaten in five (four draws) coming into this. The R's have only lost one of their last nine games to climb back into the top half of the table, but have drawn five of those. Nine of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's 15 league games in charge have finished level. On 22 of their last 23 outings in the league Rangers have kept a clean sheet in the first half. Alex Smithies has kept four clean sheets in eight starts since he came into the team — compared to the six in 20 Robert Green managed before he was replaced. The 23 points dropped from a winning position this season is the worst record in the league, but MK Dons have only gained one point from a losing position this year, the Championship's lowest total. Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion isawqpratwhitecity tells us… "The Dons' form is like the Curate's egg - good in parts. They had a recent draw at Cardiff and a win at Derby, but other than that they've managed to produce the sort of results that we'd expect of their humble league position. Not trying to tempt fate or anything, but I reckon we're on for a double here." Jim's Prediction: MK Dons 1-3 QPR. Scorer: Seb Polter LFW's Prediction: MK Dons 0-2 QPR. Scorer: Matt Phillips The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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