A calm corner of the Championship mad house — Preview Friday, 18th Mar 2016 19:45 by Clive Whittingham Improving QPR go to one of the Championship’s unheralded success stories of the season, Preston North End, on Saturday hoping to win three consecutive games for the first time this term. Preston North End (10th) v Queens Park Rangers (11th)Championship >>> Saturday March 19, 2016 >>> Kick Off 15.00 >>> Weather — Cold and cloudy >>> Deepdale, Preston At the turn of the year, for example, you'd have got short odds on Middlesbrough (one defeat and ten wins from the last 12 games of 2015) and Derby County (one defeat from the final 19 games of the year) filling the top two places in the division. And so they should, after several years of steady building and some serious outlay on players for the final push this year. What's gone on at Boro - where manager Aitor Karanka appeared to have walked out last Thursday, and wasn't in the dugout for a weekend defeat at Charlton, only to return to the job on Tuesday — God only knows. Stories of a player revolt led by Stewart Downing over the Spaniard's persistent rotation of the starting 11 have done the rounds. It brought to mind that time Scunthorpe United sacked Brian Laws only to re-appoint him a fortnight later after a change of chairman. When Laws left the Iron after a third stint in charge more recently one bookmaker made him second favourite for the newly vacant position. But that, even allowing for a run of three wins from their last 13 games, pales into insignificance compared with the annual Derby County Collapse which has grown in recent years from the football equivalent of tripping over on the High Street to a full on nuclear reactor core melting into the earth. Having sacked their expensively acquired head coach Paul Clement early in 2016, saying promotion wasn't the aim this season — despite an outlay of £25m on players — and he wasn't doing things "the Derby way" the Sheep promptly promoted inexperienced Darren Wassall from their academy to run the first team. He, and his choice of captain Richard Keogh, said promotion was definitely the aim, but have embarked on a run of farcical results culminating in last week's blowing of a three goal lead at lowly Rotherham in the final four minutes of the game. The solution to this, or rather the solution they've come up with, is to bring in Harry Redknapp in a sort of director of football role. This despite Redknapp previously describing the director of football role as "rubbish" and "stupid", and the role itself growing in British football precisely to guard against the sort of things Redknapp likes to do the most — think too short term, ignore the club's youth set up, overspend on players, only sign from favoured agents, take large cuts of transfers for himself etc. Redknapp, who insists he has no desire to be the Derby manager (keep that one in your top pocket), will split whatever his role is at Pride Park with managing the Jordanian national team. This a man whose knee was so bad a year ago he couldn't stand and watch his grandson play football, or walk 200 yards to a restaurant with Martin Samuel, now commuting between Bournemouth, Derby and Jordan. This all seems rather like going away for the weekend and leaving your posh house in the care of your 15 year old son with the final instruction of "why don't you invite some of your Facebook friends over for a bit of a do?" Fuck only knows what will be salvageable from the smouldering wreckage once this is through. And there's Charlton, where the club's incompetent Belgian owners are digging their heels in after a day of protests turned their televised home win against Middlesbrough last weekend into a farce — at one stage a visiting player stopped when he had a shooting opportunity because somebody behind the goal blew a referee's whistle. Rather than take the hint, the nutters in charge of that particular asylum have put out a statement saying the fans seem to want the club to be relegated. Of course, there's also the omnipresent circus at Leeds with its megalomaniac Italian ringmaster. Three straight wins certainly don't cover what a state that club is in. Forest, too, have sacked manager Dougie Freedman this week for his “failure” to reach the play-offs in a season where the club has been under a transfer embargo, his best player was sold to West Ham and both his strikers have missed every game injured. Queens Park Rangers usually roll around in this sort of muck like a happy pig. Loftus Road feels like it should have one of those construction site signs outside ticking over each day since a major incident. Famous last words, but it's been a little while. Even the clickbait claim this week that CEO Lee Hoos wants to hack a third off the playing budget for next year as he moves Rangers towards a sustainable future seemed eminently sensible — particularly as Armand Traore, Sandro, Leroy Fer, Rob Green, Samba Diakite and Steven Caulker probably account for a third of the playing budget anyway and could all be shifted on making zero impact on the first team. Tougher than it sounds that mind — you've got to find a taker, and neither Sandro nor Fer are doing much in their respective loan spells to sell themselves for a permanent move. There's a sense of quiet, calm progress around the place — which no doubt a heavy defeat at Preston on Saturday would blow out of the water for some, despite this being a very difficult place to go for anybody in the division. With so much going on in the second tier you can perhaps forgive the lack of coverage Simon Grayson's team have had, but while the two teams promoted with them from League One last season have struggled they have soared up to tenth in the Championship. It’s a fine achievement, that has passed almost entirely without mention outside the town — next week’s game with Blackburn a very rare outing on Sky, particularly when compared to ourselves and Leeds. They based their campaign, initially, on a strong defence, led by square-arsed Bailey Wright and Peter Clarke. There have been eight 0-0 draws involving PNE this season, including the first meeting with QPR. That was understandable, with last season's hot shot strike force of Joe Garner and Jermaine Beckford out of form and injured respectively. But with Garner picking up a little of late, so goals have start to come. Four straight wins through February has moved North End to the edge of the play-off picture. So it's an interesting test for QPR, who haven't been able to really translate their improvements at Loftus Road into their away games.
Heidar Helguson turns to celebrate with assister Ishmael Miller after opening the scoring for QPR on their last visit to Deepdale. Although the relegation-haunted Whites equalised in the second half, Neil Warnock's team went on to be promoted as champions. SaturdayTeam News: Surprisingly, just two weeks after he left the field at MK Dons with a nasty looking foot injury, Grant Hall has responded well to treatment and is apparently available for selection. Whether that means an end to Clint Hill’s impressive one-legged salvo remains to be seen. Paul Konchesky isn’t travelling, apparently, so James Perch will continue at left back. Jack Robinson came through an Under 21 game today and will return to first team training next week. Preston have a growing list of absentees, including their three main strikers — Jermaine Beckford is a long term injury issue, Stevie May is now also out and Joe Garner completes a two match suspension. Add in Liam Grimshaw (Weil’s disease), Chris Humphrey (swimmer’s ear), Alan Browne (needless vowel) and Paul Huntingdon (can’t be arsed) and it’s one of ‘Arry’s old “bare bones” jobbies. Elsewhere: Hold me in your arms, don’t let me go, I want to play forever, home and away, football each day. Poor old Hull City eh? They’ve had to play every day this week, and twice on Wednesday. That’ll learn them for daring to have a cup run. Tigers Tigers Rah Rah Rah back in action tonight at Boro where Aitor Karanka is being unveiled as the new home team manager, replacing Aitor Karanka who resigned last week. A hyperbaric chamber awaits the Hull players tomorrow as they prepare for that crucial final 57 matches of the season after this stressful week, but there’s no rest for anybody else as a full programme of second tier filth is forced down the throat of unassuming bystanders. Derby Sheep v Nottingham Trees is the big East Midlands derby on Saturday lunchtime. Both clubs beset by issues of their own making, but they’ll set those aside to tear strips off each other and whine on about Brian Clough and how massive they both are for an afternoon. Ten matches follow that at 15.00 including our own, and Reading v Cardiff which I mention here merely to get it out of the way early. Some intrigue elsewhere, with the Reidy Reid revolution needing to get underway rather sharpish against fellow strugglers Bristol City — Bolton 11 points adrift of safety as it stands. Belgium’s Finest gave themselves some hope of survival with a win last week amidst a sea of protests, but Sheffield Owls should have too much for them at Hillsborough despite their recent slip in form. Neil Warnock’s remarkable Rotherham revolution stops in at Ipswich this weekend — much less cut and dried that one you would think. At the top, Big Spending Burnley and Brighton are the quietest, most stable clubs in the division this season and lo and behold they’re starting to move away in first and second place. Wolves are at Turf Moor this week while Chris Hughton’s side visit the Franchise. The Champions of Europe v Huddersfield is of no consequence whatsoever, but will no doubt be blown up into all manner of importance because they’re both from Yorkshire and Yorkshire is Yorkshire. Brentford v Blackburn is this week’s clash of two teams beginning with B, while Tarquin and Rupert and slumming it at St Andrew’s this weekend getting all of a fluster about a potential second relegation in three years and the apparent demise of the red trouser fashion in London’s posh west. FormPreston: PNE’s achievements this season are all the more remarkable given the injuries they’ve suffered to forward players. Suspension for Joe Garner and an injury to Stevie May, along with Jermaine Beckford’s continued absence, have derailed a run of four straight wins through February and they come into this one on a run of two defeats, a draw and a win. The victory came at bottom side Bolton, although given the other three games were away at Cardiff and Forest and at home to promotion chasing Brighton perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into any of that. Overall at Deepdale this season they’ve won seven, drawn seven and lost only four. They’ve scored the joint fewest goals in the league on their own patch (17) but have conceded only 15 which is bettered by only four other clubs and is the same as second-placed Brighton. Ipswich, Derby, Blackburn and Brentford are the four sides who’ve won at Deepdale this season, but they’ve lost only one of the last nine here and beaten sides including Hull and Sheff Wed. QPR: Rangers’ steady improvement in form and performance has largely been conducted on their own patch — they’ve won five of their last 11 games but four of those have been at Loftus Road. Consecutive wins to nil against Derby and Brentford mean the R’s could register three consecutive wins for the first time this season if they get over the line here, but the away form has not been hot all season. Rangers have only won one of nine away games under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink — at Rotherham — but have drawn five of those. Overall this season they’ve won four times away from home, the worst record by at least two in the top half of the table and a total equalled or bettered by all but three clubs in the league other than those in the relegation zone. The 23 points lost from winning positions this season is still the division’s worst record, but Rangers have kept opponents scoreless through the first half in 22 or the last 23 league games. Junior Hoilett’s six goals this season is more than the five he managed in the previous three years at the club put together. The R’s have not won at Deepdale in nine attempts. Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion isawqpratwhitecity tells us… "Preston have had a good 2016. The New Year saw them at the bottom of a seven team, three-point spread, mid-table log-jam. Four wins on the trot in February changed that and now we see them tenth, not seventeenth. But I think the form team here is us. Three good wins out of our last four has me tipping an upset. My caveat, Hall or Hill: our defence needs a keystone and either one of those is it." Jim's Prediction: Preston 0-1 QPR. Scorer: Tjaronn Chery LFW's Prediction: Preston 0-0 QPR. No scorer. 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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