Paul Taylor is back at Loftus Road for the first time in almost four years this Saturday as the R's welcome West Brom
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion
Referee – Paul Taylor (Hertfordshire)
Assistants – Cooke (Nottinghamshire) and Naylor (Nottinghamshire)
Fourth Official – Melin (Surrey)
What a massive weekend it promises to be in the Football League. Upwards of thirty different teams across the three divisions still have an eye on something with only the top three and bottom two in League Two already settled. That means a lot of pressure on a lot of different match officials this weekend so rather than doing this at the end I thought we’d start by having a look at what’s going on elsewhere as far as the appointments go.
The biggest game of the weekend is undoubtedly at Stoke City where the home side is looking to seal promotion, and the Championship, and face a final day encounter with Leicester City who need to equal Southampton’s result against Sheff Utd to stay in the league. It doesn’t look good for Holloway’s men in my opinion. No surprise to see a Premiership official on this one – Mike Dean has got the nod and I have to be honest he’s a little card happy for my liking. Two direct and combative teams both with volatile men in charge and with it all on the line – the last thing you need is a card happy referee. Having said that Dean has been one of the best referees we’ve had at QPR over the past couple of years – I just hope this doesn’t blow up in his face.
That’s the main televised match at the weekend, the red button game is Ipswich v Hull with one team chasing the play offs and the other hoping for a top six finish. Another Premiership official for this one – Andre Marriner has got the nod and he’s certainly improved markedly over the past 18 months. Used to be a liability. Graham Laws has Blackpool v Watford with both teams still involved at both ends, risky appointment for my money, but Mark Clattenburg looks like a safe appointment for Sheff Wed v Cardiff. Phil Joslin, who sent off Damion Stewart at Norwich last week, has Southampton v Sheff Utd with a win for the home side imperative to their survival.
In the league below Premiership referee Colin Webster has Doncaster’s trip to Cheltenham while promising up and coming official Mike Jones has Carlisle v Bournemouth – two teams fighting against relegation the other fighting for promotion, and I don’t like either ref!
Of course there are still things to be settled at Loftus Road. Rangers were safe before anybody else in the Championship this season and looked to be in wind down mode at Carrow Road last week – no danger of that from West Brom who got a nervous point at home to Southampton on Monday to all but seal their much deserved promotion. Now they’re looking for the title and Paul Taylor from Hertfordshire is the official.
Taylor has shown 102 yellows (2.615 a game) and eight reds in 39 matches this season. 16 of those matches have been in the Championship, including West Brom’s 4-2 home win against Charlton in December where three Charlton players got yellow cards and no West Brom players. Last season he showed 117 yellows (3.16 a game) and nine reds in 37 matches. His last QPR game was four seasons ago, our first season back in this league, when he was in charge of a memorable 1-0 victory over West Ham at Loftus Road. Three players were booked that day, Bircham and Rowlands for QPR and Rebrov for West Ham.
Prior to that he was a pretty frequent figure at QPR games. We’ve won our last four matches with this official without conceding a goal – 5-0 and 2-0 against Blackpool in League One and 1-0 at Gillingham in our relegation season from the Championship, the only away win we mustered all season.
Many of you probably saw him recently take charge of the Huddersfield Leeds derby match where two very questionable red cards were handed out, one for each side.
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