Whichever it’s to be we shall know in the next seven days as QPR face their final two games of the season against Watford and Leeds, and an FA disciplinary hearing.
“Well if it’s in The Sun it’s got to be right,” was one of my grandfather’s most well worn catchphrases. Usually uttered, it should be added, while he was using a copy of it to line his cat’s litter tray. That’s all The Sun has ever really been good for - mopping up cat piss. A glorified comic book for thick adults - screaming about immigrants and paedos then offering you a topless picture of a Thai teenager on page three without a hint of irony.
But in this strange country we live in The Sun wields influence, and when The Sun decides it’s “FA source” is strong enough to publish a wildly speculative piece about QPR being docked up to 15 points people sit up and take note, and in many cases start to panic. Their story this morning is not what we needed on the eve of our big match at Watford on Saturday.
Points deduction not withstanding QPR are up. There’s no way Cardiff will overturn the goal difference even if they do overhaul our six point lead. There’s just the small matter of the title now, and we only need one more point to take that out of Norwich’s grasp. I use the word ‘only’ with a note of caution there, because our last two games are against two of the five teams who have beaten us this season already, and both did a damn fine job on us back in December as well. But having failed to win two home games against a Hull side with almost nothing to play for and a poor Derby side with absolutely nothing to play for QPR are hardly in a position to be wishing they had other fixtures to finish the season with.
Nor, given the tendency of a certain “club insider” who one suspects talks with an Italian accent when he constantly mouths off to the local papers and his chums on message boards about how it’s all going to be ok and we’ll only get a fine at worst for the Faurlin affair, can QPR really complain that the FA have somebody close to them who feels able to pronounce them guilty before the hearing has even taken place. The fans can though - it seems absolutely outrageous that an organisation that is supposed to be independently judging this case is briefing tabloid hacks on the result before it’s even been heard.
We hear today also that the panel judging the case will consist of a QC, a former manager or player, and “two members of the FA disciplinary panel” which doesn’t sound quite as “independent” as they’ve made out. Our own club’s short statement this morning contained a thinly veiled point about the Sun’s assertion that: “many at the FA are openly discussing the case and reckon QPR - five points clear at the top of the table - are in big trouble” saying: “both the Club and The Football Association agreed to make no comment on this matter until after the hearing.”
I said right at the beginning that I felt we’d have the book thrown at us and a load of points taken off, others have remained stoic throughout saying they expect a fine if that. There has been nothing said or done on either side since to change anybody’s mind as far as I can tell – certainly not an article in The Sun with lots of “possibly,” “maybe” and “Sun Sport understands” laced through it just so they can wash their hands of it all on Friday if it turns out to be nonsense.
Who’s losing out here? Well it’s us the fans of course. Half our support poured onto the pitch in celebration last week, the other half including myself disconsolately slunk away believing we’d blown another big chance to put it all beyond doubt. Having come this far, promotion isn’t enough for me, I want that trophy and the thought of Norwich City parading around with the bloody thing instead of us, either because we collapse on the pitch or get hauled over the coals off it, turns my stomach.
I’m miserable, just for a change. Absolutely miserable. All my life I’ve waited to see QPR win something, anything, and then when it finally looks like they might the whole thing becomes mired in farce. It’s going to be a long week.
Their first visit came in the 1999/00 season. Graham Taylor had returned as manager, having previously worked above Kenny Jackett as director of football, two years prior to this with the club languishing in the Second Division. Taylor is to Watford what Gerry Francis is to QPR and his third spell as the club’s manager proved to be a roaring success as the club enjoyed back to back promotions – champions in the Second Division, play off victors against Bolton in this league.
Taylor is a likeable and knowledgeable manager and pundit whose one big failure was with England, and even then his treatment by the British media was a disgrace. He fitted well at Watford in two spells but Premiership survival was beyond even his ability. Watford’s team for their play off success was Alec Chamberalin, Darren Bazeley, Peter Kennedy, Robert Page, Steve Palmer, Paul Robinson, Michel Ngonge, Micah Hyde, Tommy Mooney, Richard Johnson and Nick Wright with Chris Day, Alon Hazan and Allen Smart on the bench. Not exactly household names and when seven of those players made the starting eleven for their first game in the top flight the writing really was on the wall. Wimbledon beat them 3-2 on day one and they ended the season relegated with a whimper. They won six games all season and one of them came on the final day in a dead rubber against Coventry – Heidar Hegluson got that goal and you’ll already have recognised four other QPR connections.
In an attempt to make an immediate return to the top flight Watford handed their parachute payments to Gianluca Vialli who, ably assisted as always by Ray Wilkins (those connections keep coming) who knows a thing or two about blowing transfer funds on tat, bought people like Ramon vega and bankrupted the club while making the team worse.
Fast forward to the end of 2005. Watford had steadied the ship on the field and consolidated their position in the second tier once more with Ray Lewington at the helm. In the boardroom they’d just about managed to survive Vialli’s reckless and hapless reign, and the collapse of ITV Digital. Lewington was replaced in March by Aidy Boothroyd – an unknown reserve team coach at Leeds United who confounded low expectations and prophecies of doom by winning promotion to the Premiership in his first full season in charge. Again they needed the play offs, this time Leeds were the beaten finalists bringing children out onto the streets up and down the land to celebrate the hilarity of it all.
A few more QPR connections in their line up for an opening day defeat at Everton – Ben Foster, Lloyd Doyley, Addrian Mariappa, Danny Shittu, Chris Powell, James Chambers, Gavin Mahon, Damien Francis, Ashley Young, Marlon King and Darius Henderson with Jay Demerit, Hameur Bouazza and Tamas Priskin the used substitutes – but still a pretty lousy side by Premiership standards. Again they were relegated in bottom spot, this time hamstrung early by Marlon King’s ruptured knee ligaments and winning few friends with Boothroyd’s notoriously direct playing style, and again they were subsequently crippled financially. This time they won five games, again including a game so late in the season it hardly mattered when Gavin Mahon volleyed in from fully 35 yards (no, seriously) in a 4-2 home win against Portsmouth, but the contracts they gave out while there and were forced to extend by clauses in existing deals meant they were absolutely skint within a year of returning to this division.
Watford had initially looked good value to return to the top flight at the first time of asking with ten wins and a draw from their first 12 matches back in the Championship but their dire second half of the season, a clear warning against QPR getting too carried away with their current position, saw them beaten comfortably in the play offs by Hull. Cue a fire sale, financial problems, flirts with relegation and Boothroyd’s departure in 2008.
Watford stayed up in the 2008/09 season largely thanks to a creditable recovery under another rookie boss Brendan Rodgers. He had earned a good reputations coaching at Reading and Chelsea and having enjoyed success with an unknown before the Hornets overlooked Malky Mackay, a former player who had done a fine job as caretaker manager, and went for Rodgers instead. Not only did he keep them up with something to spare, he did it playing reasonably attractive football which was something of a relief from the Boothroyd days and actually made Tamas Priskin look like a player somebody might want to spend a seven figure sum on. The manager that did that was, to be fair, Roy Keane so don’t attach too much credit or weight to the signing but it was still an achievement on Rodgers’ part nonetheless.
He was then immediately picked off by his former club Reading for the long term rebuilding process required at the Madejski Stadium, a process he was sacked less than six months into, and Watford were left to shuffle awkwardly back to Mackay and ask if he wouldn’t mind awfully taking the job this time.
Mackay did, and showed canny use of the loan market last season with players like Henri Lansbury, Heidar Helguson and Tom Cleverley providing much needed guile and quality to the Hornets during yet another cash crisis that threatened to engulf the club around Christmas. They looked potential play off material in the end, but ultimately only just stayed in the league and were fortunate to do that with unwanted distractions behind the scenes.
With the loanees returning and a quiet summer in the transfer market Watford were the LFW tip for the drop this season but opened up with a 3-2 win at Norwich and muscled in among the early pace setters. They’ve fallen away to a midtable finish since then, but it’s a position they would have grasped with both hands if offered it in August and they have been superbly entertaining with it. Watford have scored 76 goals this season, QPR top the table with 68, but have conceded 66, Palace fifth from bottom have shipped one less. A glance down their results shows a plethora of 3-2s, 3-1s, 2-4s and so on. It’s like looking at the aftermath of a Kevin Keegan wet dream.
The Manager: Mackay the player was a man who knew his limitations, or more likely was made acutely aware of them by his managers. An uncompromising centre half picked up from St Mirren by Celtic in 1993 Mackay moved south in 1998 and thereafter enjoyed winning promotion from this league three times with three different clubs – all of whom immediately moved him on once they reached the higher level.
First there was Norwich under Nigel Worthington, then West Ham with Alan Pardew and finally Watford under Aidy Boothroyd. They all knew what he could bring – organisation, leadership, experience and gratuitous violence at the heart of the defence – but they all knew that he had the turning circle of a cruise liner and the pace of a piece of street furniture. Embarrassing exposure beckoned at the hands of Theirry Henry and company upstairs so he was shuffled aside with a firm handshake of thanks, but no thanks.
Mackay, being Scottish and hard, was clear and obvious management material and can probably count himself unfortunate not to have got the Watford job following Boothroyd’s departure in 2008 when he did a very decent job indeed as caretaker manager of a stricken side – picking up a League Cup win at Swansea and the now annual mauling of QPR at Vicarage Road. Brendan Rodgers did a very good job having been appointed ahead of Mackay but then walked out at the end of the season to join Reading. Watford were perhaps a little lucky that Mackay didn’t let his pride get in the way of accepting the job second time around.
The Scot has shown since taking charge permanently in the summer of 2009 that he’s more than capable of not only keeping Watford in this league, which is all they should really hope for in their current financial position, but also pushing them on into the top half of the table. They were in play off contention until a week or so ago and given the lack of resources and reliance on youth players brought up through the club system that is remarkable. Watford were heavily reliant on the loan market last year with the likes of Tom Cleverly, Henri Lansbury and our own Heidar Helguson providing much needed extra quality, but it’s good to see them doing it with a few more of their own players this year.
Three to watch: Watford’s cash flow and ownership situation means that Malky Mackay has to rely heavily on the club’s youth set up to supplement his team. When you consider that goalkeeper Scott Loach has been picked for England and pacey young forward Marvin Sordell has 15 goals to his name this season it doesn’t seem to be doing them much harm. But to recycle a phrase used on LoftforWords once before, this isn’t a case of all trinkets and no tree. There’s a strong spine to this team from which Mackay has been able to hang (in the nicest sense of the word) his younger and more inexperienced players with great effect.
At the very top of that spine is a man QPR fans will now need no introducing to. Danny Graham is the product of another prolific academy system up at Middlesbrough, and how Tony Mowbray must be wishing he’d been given the same chance on Teeside as the likes of Matthew Bates, James Morrison, Seb Hines and others. Graham, who has 27 goals and a place in the division’s Team of the Year ahead of Cardiff’s Jay Bothroyd to his name this season, was shipped off from Middlesbrough without ever really playing for the first team. QPR were linked with a loan move at one stage but he spent time with Derby, Darlington, Leeds and Blackpool before moving to Carlisle first on another temporary deal and then permanently.
Graham cut his teeth in what was an excellent Carlisle side for the level it was playing at, narrowly missing out on promotion to the Championship through the play offs two seasons ago, and to be honest it’s a surprise that it was Watford, given the financial constraints, who picked him up pretty much unopposed in the summer of 2009. He averages a goal every other start for the Hornets in all competitions (41 in 85 give me that one) and bagged two well taken goals at Loftus Road earlier this season. The two things to note about his goals are – firstly he always celebrates by revealing a vest with a message on, a trait which the Watford fans are planning to copy this Saturday, and secondly he seems to score in bursts. He scored four goals in his first two games this season, then four in three in September, then nine in seven in December, then seven in six in March. He’s currently in a bit of a lean patch, one in six, so let’s hope this Saturday isn’t the start of another run because once he gets on one he’s very difficult to stop.
He’s a confident, awkward lad to play against but Watford are vulnerable to cash offers for such players and may well find vultures flapping around him this summer. The way QPR set up with Taarabt flitting around the feet of a main striker makes me think Graham would actually be an ideal signing for us. In the many discussions about what we would need for the Premiership a recurring theme has been the need to find a player capable of doing the Heidar Helguson job at the top level, and Graham is certainly physical enough to do it.
After talking about the goalscoring prowess of Graham, and Sordell as well, it seems rather cruel to then turn attentions to full back Lloyd Doyley, but he’s another who QPR fans won’t remember with any great fondness. The legend goes that Doyley had never scored – not for Watford, not for Watford’s youth teams, not for his school, not for his junior teams, not even in training. Scoring just wasn’t Lloyd’s thing.
Lloyd Doyley has been at Watford for his entire career, 332 appearances stretching back to 2001 when he signed pro-terms for the first time. Post Flavio Briatore takeover, when Gianni Paladini was hoovering up whichever Base Soccer Agency clients he could get on a four year deal, Doyley was actually linked with a move to Loftus Road. In the end this limited player with a long throw stayed put, happy it seemed to spend his entire career being Watford’s consistent, non-scoring right full back.
Except of course QPR are quite good for situations like these. If there’s a John Jensen type who has never scored for a club, or a player on a barren run, or a team without a win in 12 games – QPR have always been a good side to look for on the fixture list. I’m not sure even Doyley himself could explain today what he was doing in the QPR penalty box last November. It was a passage of open play during which you’d normally expect to find the right full back a good 40 yards back down the field. But in the penalty box he was, and when Don Cowie mishit a shot across the face of goal Doyle hurled himself at it and connected perfectly with a diving header that flew into the back of the net. QPR conceding three in defeat at Vicarage Road is not uncommon, but Doyley goals most certainly are and will hopefully remain so.
And while we’re on the subject of players we almost signed, Martin ‘Tiny’ Taylor is likely to line up against us after rejecting a move to Loftus Road two years ago. Back then QPR signed Fitz Hall instead (groan) because Taylor, then with Birmingham, wasn’t convinced that he would not be dumped by Rangers as soon as they won promotion to the Premiership having met with Flavio Briatore – as it’s turned out he needn’t have been concerned as we’re still not there. Since then Taylor has become public enemy number one for clumsily shattering Eduardo’s leg into three million pieces and been forced to drop down a level and sign for Watford, while QPR have been in the Championship all along. He probably would have been better off at Loftus Road, and he certainly wouldn’t have done any worse than Hall has done in W12. If there’s a criticism, it’s that he should score more from set pieces given his height, although he managed one at Loftus Road back in December.
Links >>> Official Website >>> Watford Message Board >>> Travel Guide
QPR had been sweeping all before them prior to the first meeting of these two sides this season – top of the table by seven clear points and unbeaten in the first 19 matches of the season, a club record. The BBC popped down the road to see what all the fuss was about and inadvertently stumbled on a humbling that was not in the script. Watford, with Danny Graham in fine fettle up front, were magnificent on the night and surged into a three goal lead midway through the second half. QPR had several reasons to feel aggrieved – John Eustace should have been penalised in his own penalty box within four minutes and two of the Watford goals were clearly offside – but they weren’t good enough to take anything from the game despite a late goal through Tommy Smith and Watford deserved their win. Graham made the most of a deflection on Andrew Taylor’s cross to nip in and volley home the first midway through the first half, and then within four minutes after the linesman had incorrectly allowed Graham to play on Kenny made a leg save and Watford worked the ball back into the area through Mutch whose cross flew in off the slightest flick from Martin Taylor. Any hope of a second half comeback was extinguished when Graham, again at least a yard offside, stormed through to fire in a second for him and third for the Hornets.
QPR: Kenny 7, Walker 6, Gorkss 4, Connolly 5, Hill 6, Derry 5, Faurlin 4 (Orr 59, 6), Mackie 6, Taarabt 4 (Clarke 59, 5), Smith 6, Helguson 5 (Hulse 70, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hall, Rowlands, Ephraim
Booked: Walker (mistaken identity), Hulse (elbowing)
Goals: Smith 89 (assisted Mackie)
Watford: Loach 8, Doyley 7, Mariappa 6, M Taylor 7, A Taylor 7, Buckley 7 (Deeney 80, -), Eustace 7, McGinn 7 (Sordell 75, 6), Cowie 7, Mutch 8, Graham 9
Subs Not Used: Gilmartin, Hodson, Jenkins, Bennett, Massey
Booked: Buckley (foul), Andrew Taylor (foul)
Goals: Graham 26 (assisted A Taylor), Mutch 30 (unassisted), Graham 48 (assisted McGinn)
Such was the dramatic nature of the post match events at Vicarage Road when these sides met in December last season the game itself actually gets overlooked. Coming into the match just 48 hours after a 5-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough the R’s took the lead when Faurlin fed a cute ball through to Agyemang who hammered it home from the edge of the area. It was clear all was not well within the camp though when Agyemang made a point of refusing to celebrate after scoring and sure enough before half time the Hornets drew level when Lloyd Doyley scored his first goal in three quarters of a million appearances with a spectacular diving header. The impressive Tom Cleverley set up Cowie for an eye catching second ten minutes after the break and then rounded the scoring off himself deep into injury time with Rangers pushing forwards looking for an equaliser. After the match the inquest in the visiting dressing room became heated and Akos Buzsaky was allegedly headbutted by manager Jim Magilton, and later found wandering around at the side of the pitch still in his full kit. The manager was sacked and replaced, disastrously, by Paul Hart. QPR were in the play off places at the start of play but by the end of February had worked their way through two more managers and sunk to twentieth.
Watford: Loach 6, Hodson 6, Mariappa 7, Cathcart 6 (DeMerit 46, 7), Doyley 8, Cowie 8, Cleverley 8, Eustace 7, Harley 7 (Severin 82 -), Ellington 5 (Henderson 57, 6), Graham 5
Subs not used: Lee, Bennett, Sadler, Bryan
Goals: Doyley 43 (assisted Cowie), Cowie 56 (assisted Cleverley), Cleverley 90+4 (assisted Henderson)
QPR: Cerny 5, Ramage 6, Hall 5, Stewart 6, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 4 (Simpson 72, 5), Watson 4, Leigertwood 5 (Buzsaky 76, 4), Faurlin 7, Agyemang 6, Vine 3 (Taarabt 59, 4)
Subs not used: Taylor, Gorkss, Williams, Pellicori
Goals: Agyemang 33 (assisted Faurlin)
Bookings: Stewart (foul), Hall (foul), Borrowdale (foul)
Head to Head >>> Watford wins 32 >>> Draws 39 >>> QPR wins 47
Previous Results:
2010/11 QPR 1 Watford 3 (Smith)
2009/10 QPR 1 Watford 0 (Buzsaky)
2009/10 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2008/09 QPR 0 Watford 0
2008/09 Watford 3 QPR 0
2007/08 Watford 2 QPR 4 (Rowlands 2, Stewart, Buzsaky)
2007/08 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Moore)
2005/06 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Nygaard)
2005/06 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Shittu)
2004/05 QPR 3 Watford 1 (Gallen 2, Furlong)
2004/05 Watford 3 QPR 0
2000/01 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Ngonge)
2000/01 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Connolly)
1998/99 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Peacock)
1998/99 Watford 2 QPR 1 (Slade)
1987/88 Watford 0 QPR 1 (McDonald)
1987/88 QPR 0 Watford 0
1986/87 Watford 0 QPR 3 (Bannister 3)
1986/87 QPR 3 Watford 2 (Allen, Fereday, Bannister)
1985/86 QPR 2 Watford 1 (Fenwick pen, Robinson)
1985/86 Watford 0 QPR 1* (Byrne)
1985/86 Watford 2 QPR 0
1984/85 QPR 2 Watford 0 (Fillery 2)
1984/85 Watford 1 QPR 1 (Bannister)
1983/84 Watford 1 QPR 0
1983/84 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Stainrod)
* - League Cup
Played for both clubs >>> Steve Palmer
Watford – 1995 to 2001 >>> QPR – 2001 to 2004
The term ‘unsung hero’ was invented for people like Steve Palmer. Ian Holloway once memorably pointed out that at a concert you cannot have everybody playing the piano, you have to have somebody to carry the instrument onto the stage in the first place and in the nicest possible way Palmer was that piano carrier for QPR.
Palmer started his career at Ipswich Town in the late 1980s after graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in software engineering. He played mostly as a steady holding midfield player, getting and giving, winning and passing – an intelligent man on and off the pitch and very useful to Ipswich as they attempted to keep pace with the ever changing face of football around the dawn of the Premiership.
Watford, a team he had once scored an own goal against for Ipswich, paid £135,000 for him in 1995 when Glenn Roeder was the manager. The Hornets were struggling in the third tier at this stage but Palmer earned plenty of plaudits for his central midfield performances. In 1997 when Graham Taylor returned for one of his 137 spells in charge of Watford he found himself out of the team with Richard Johnson and Micah Hyde occupying the midfield roles but he acted as cover in a variety of positions and, when he started the final game of the season in goal, he set a unique record of starting in every shirt from 1 to 14 during the campaign. Palmer later went close to playing in goal for QPR in a game at Hartlepool before the last second signing of Lee Camp got us out of jail.
When promoted into the First Division for the 1997/98 season Palmer moved to centre half alongside Robert Page and formed a solid base for the Hornets. Palmer was voted the club’s Player of the Year and got a play off winner’s medal to go along with that after their Wembley success against Bolton took them into the Premiership. Palmer was ever present in the top flight but Watford were comfortably relegated and when Gianluca Vialli took over 12 months later, bringing the likes of Ramon Vega with him, Palmer was first sidelined and then transfer listed.
QPR meanwhile had seen their squad decimated by administration to such an extent that new manager Ian Holloway had just seven professionals signed up to start pre-season ahead of the 2001/02 season, and two of those players Richard Langley and Clarke Carlisle were out for many months to come with ruptured knee ligaments. Holloway embarked on a recruitment mission the likes of which has rarely been seen and, aided and abetted by assistant manager Kenny Jackett, Watford became something of a local convenience store for the R’s. Chris Day and Alex Bonnot joined Palmer in making free transfer moves to W12 and the veteran proved to be exactly what QPR needed. A mercilessly consistent performer and wonderful captain for a team that often had to be introduced to each other in the dressing room before matches.
He was superb in his first season – ever present and captain at centre half - but over the coming two campaigns his age and chronic lack of pace increasingly caught him out. At centre half there were few better performers in the Second Division however he was definitely a ‘manager’s player’ in that Ian Holloway would select him whenever he was fit enough to get out of bed when often supporters would have preferred to see somebody like Aziz Ben Askar given a run in the side. Holloway’s infuriating insistence that a 36 year old Palmer could still play in the centre of midfield in his last season with the club when all facts said otherwise meant that many QPR fans do not remember Palmer as fondly as they should. He was a terrific signing at just the right time at QPR and did a wonderful job with us in a difficult period.
He was offered a coaching role at the end of the 2003/04 promotion season but he turned it down to continue playing at MK Dons for a further 12 months before finally retiring. An incredibly likeable fellow and terrific pro he is now working in Tottenham’s academy set up.
Links >>> QPR 1 Watford 3 Match Report >>> QPR 1 Watford 0 Match Report >>> Watford 3 QPR 1 Match Report >>> Connections and Memories >>> Betting Preview
Watford lost Villa loanee Andreas Weimann to a foot injury early on in their defeat at Leicester on Monday. Young Marvin Sordell replaced him at the Walkers Stadium and is likely to do so again. Ross Jenkins is out for the rest of the season, Matt Wichelow could return to the fold.
Elsewhere: Should QPR lose at Vicarage Road, and given our recent record there it’s entirely possible, then the R’s must wait until Monday to find out if they are promoted anyway. That would be a nightmare scenario as firstly there is the Player of the Year dinner on Sunday which would be more like a wake if that was the case, and secondly both Cardiff and Norwich have winnable games one after the other live on Sky to ruin your Bank Holiday Monday. Cardiff go first, hosting Middlesbrough, before Norwich travel to Portsmouth. Both must win to stand a chance of overhauling QPR at the top of the table – though the goal difference is such that Cardiff have next to no chance at all regardless of what happens. Elsewhere issues are starting to be sorted all over the place. Preston have been officially relegated and Scunthorpe, six points and 17 goals adrift of Doncaster, are almost certain to join them. Sheffield United are also six points, but only eight goals, adrift so it looks like the bottom three is settled. Sheff Utd host Barnsley, Scunthorpe go to Forest and Doncaster play Leicester this Saturday. Swansea are the only other team at the top that can be automatically promoted – they need Norwich and Cardiff to lose their remaining games while they win both of theirs, they start at Millwall on Saturday. Below them the battle for the remaining play off spots encompasses five teams. Reading travel to Coventry with a six point cushion all but secure in the knock outs which leaves Forest (69 +12), Millwall (67 +17) Burnley (67 +5) and Leeds (66+9) to fight it out for the remaining spot. To add extra spice Leeds host Burnley in the Saturday lunchtime televised fixture.
Referee: Well the omens aren’t too bad with the match official appointment. Neil Swarbrick, a regular and unmemorable figure at QPR games in recent times, is the official selected for this game which, given the importance of it to QPR and the close proximity of the teams geographically, hints that he may be about to be considered for bigger and better things. He has refereed us once before this season, at Coventry where we won 2-0, and a similar result this time around would go down very nicely indeed. Watch out for female linesman Sian Massey on one flank, she is the official at the centre of the Richard Keys and Andy Gray sexism row and also ran the line for our away game at Burnley back in January. Click here for a full case file.
QPR: QPR have been held to draws in their last three games when, in the last two cases, victories were required to make certain of their promotion. The R’s have suffered just one defeat in their last eight games, and won four of those, but the last three have finished in stalemates keeping the title race alive right to the bitter end. Tommy Smith and Heidar Helguson return to their former clubs – Smith will make his 500th appearance and needs one goal to make it 100 for his career, Helguson needs two to bring up his century. Both are assured of warm welcomes. QPR have the best defence in the league, with 24 clean sheets, and have lost only five games all season. Watford are the only team to win at Loftus Road in the league this season.
Prediction: Another draw I reckon. Without ever dipping into the obviously fixed world of Italian football there is a tendency in this country for games where draws suit both teams to finish level. Watford won’t want to lose their last home game of the season, a draw puts QPR out of reach of the chasing pack, so I fancy a fourth consecutive stalemate. The whale inching closer to the sea with each passing week, with the FA playing the role of Japanese fishermen.
5/2 the draw, Victor Chandler