| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning 08:12 - May 3 with 11474 views | LunarJetman |
‘I’ll make my own pathway’: QPR’s Luke Freeman sets his sights high as he considers the future
Exclusive interview: The 27-year-old, who has spent his senior career in League One and the Championship, tells The Independent that he wants to play for a club with upward ambitions.
Luke Freeman has been the best thing about Queens Park Rangers for the last two seasons but Sunday's game at Sheffield Wednesday could well be his last for the club.
Freeman has just won fans', players' and Junior Hoops' player of the year, a reward for a season of brave, skilful performances, the heartbeat of a struggling team. It is worrying to imagine where they would have finished without him driving them on.
Because a season that briefly threatened to be a success - with QPR two points off the play-offs on Boxing Day - ended in a familiar decline. They have won two of their last 21 games, a run that cost Steve McClaren his job and sees them likely to finish the season just two places above the relegation zone.
Rest of article at this link...
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/football-league/luke-freeman-interv
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:24 - May 3 with 8305 views | flynnbo |
" I think we have had eight letters apologising for decisions that have cost us a point or three". Simply unacceptable, |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:24 - May 3 with 8305 views | davman |
Can't argue with any of that.
Be prepared to go apoplectic at the transfer fee though - I suspect it will be closer to £4m than £10m...
Will it actually be worth competing next season? Why don't we either ask the EFL for a one year sabbatical, go travelling and come back in League One the following season, or sell the entire playing squad and auction places out to the fans for a season? Any other ideas?? |  |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:25 - May 3 with 8300 views | PlanetHonneywood |
Letters apologising for poor decisions!!
As for Luke, good luck to him. He owes us nothing and is the type of player we need: hungry to push on and has always put a shift in. Hopefully he gets the right club; we get a proper fee; and we invest wisely in whom ever we try to bring in. |  |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:28 - May 3 with 8287 views | bosh67 |
Good luck to him. Great talent. We paid £260K for him so I guess anything north of £4m after 2-3 years isn't that bad, knowing that clubs pay low for our players. |  |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:37 - May 3 with 8245 views | CiderwithRsie |
When The Indy covers us they do seem to do it much better than any other paper. Shame it's not a real paper any more. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:38 - May 3 with 8241 views | PunteR |
Top lad. Wish him nothing but success.
Also "street footballer".? Haven't heard that expression in while. |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:45 - May 3 with 8220 views | Toast_R |
Pitty we didn't sell him in January when he was playing out of his skin, he's form dropped off alarmingly with the rest since. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:54 - May 3 with 8194 views | DejR_vu |
Good luck to him. He's been absolutely outstanding from the moment he signed. The other 'flair' players could do with taking a leaf out of his book. Should be the template for all future signings. | |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:59 - May 3 with 8176 views | DejR_vu |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:24 - May 3 by davman |
Can't argue with any of that.
Be prepared to go apoplectic at the transfer fee though - I suspect it will be closer to £4m than £10m...
Will it actually be worth competing next season? Why don't we either ask the EFL for a one year sabbatical, go travelling and come back in League One the following season, or sell the entire playing squad and auction places out to the fans for a season? Any other ideas?? |
We're a wounded animal and everyone knows it. The vultures will be circling to pick the last scraps from the carcass. I suspect that, coupled with our stellar negotiating team, will see us get nowhere near your lowest estimate, but spun to look like a higher number with a few ridiculous add-ons. | |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:59 - May 3 with 8176 views | simmo |
£4m is an odd mix of still good considering what we paid, but really annoyingly low considering how similar talents elsewhere in the division go for much more. With Smithies undersold at the same amount, it's frustrating that our position stops us being able to maximise value. |  |
| ask Beavis I get nothing Butthead |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:03 - May 3 with 8158 views | Northernr |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:37 - May 3 by CiderwithRsie |
When The Indy covers us they do seem to do it much better than any other paper. Shame it's not a real paper any more. |
The guy that wrote this, and the other interviews at Rangers, always gets in touch with us beforehand asking how things are going, anything he should be specifically focusing on with whoever he's interviewing. That sort of attention to detail shows in his work. I would never presume that I could walk into Bristol City, say, and know everything to ask their best midfielder, so you get in touch with people with local knowledge and sound them out. Yet he's the only one that's ever done so with LFW. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:06 - May 3 with 8134 views | Northernr |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:24 - May 3 by flynnbo |
" I think we have had eight letters apologising for decisions that have cost us a point or three". Simply unacceptable, |
What's really unacceptable about it is one of those letters was almost certainly about the penalty we should have had in injury time at Wigan where the bloke chucked himself off to the side and saved the shot with two hands. Fine, blatant mistake made, sht happens, write to us an apologise, fine, we'll suck that up.
But then they take that referee (Scott Duncan) and keep giving him Championship games, including Villa v Bristol City where he makes another horrendous call over a penalty that presumably they wrote to Bristol City and apologised for. And he's had us twice since as well, at Norwich, and then again last week against Forest where he once again failed to award us a penalty for a blatant handball.
So it's all well and good writing to us and apologising, but what the fcking hell are you doing about it? Duncan's the same referee that gave that nonsense penalty to Sheff Utd in our first home game. He's been at it all season, three times against us. The apology rings a little bit hollow when you've got the same useless cnt still getting a fcking game again the following week. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:11 - May 3 with 8106 views | blacky200 |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:59 - May 3 by simmo |
£4m is an odd mix of still good considering what we paid, but really annoyingly low considering how similar talents elsewhere in the division go for much more. With Smithies undersold at the same amount, it's frustrating that our position stops us being able to maximise value. |
Not looking forward to the meltdown when he is sold for a lower fee than some on here expect to get. Going to be lots of abuse aimed at the board. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:25 - May 3 with 8053 views | NW5Hoop |
Can I make a plea, as a journalist?
When you post an article from a publication that is not behind a paywall —Â one anyone can read by clicking a link —Â can you please just post the link rather than the entire article? Every time you post an article in full, you deprive a title of readers. They need the readers to survive.
Thanking you in advance. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:27 - May 3 with 8028 views | stevec |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 08:59 - May 3 by DejR_vu |
We're a wounded animal and everyone knows it. The vultures will be circling to pick the last scraps from the carcass. I suspect that, coupled with our stellar negotiating team, will see us get nowhere near your lowest estimate, but spun to look like a higher number with a few ridiculous add-ons. |
Absolutely, if this club is being run well I must be missing something.
Good luck to Freeman though, he deserves better than this. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:34 - May 3 with 8001 views | jonno |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:06 - May 3 by Northernr |
What's really unacceptable about it is one of those letters was almost certainly about the penalty we should have had in injury time at Wigan where the bloke chucked himself off to the side and saved the shot with two hands. Fine, blatant mistake made, sht happens, write to us an apologise, fine, we'll suck that up.
But then they take that referee (Scott Duncan) and keep giving him Championship games, including Villa v Bristol City where he makes another horrendous call over a penalty that presumably they wrote to Bristol City and apologised for. And he's had us twice since as well, at Norwich, and then again last week against Forest where he once again failed to award us a penalty for a blatant handball.
So it's all well and good writing to us and apologising, but what the fcking hell are you doing about it? Duncan's the same referee that gave that nonsense penalty to Sheff Utd in our first home game. He's been at it all season, three times against us. The apology rings a little bit hollow when you've got the same useless cnt still getting a fcking game again the following week. |
Exactly right. A lot of the refereeing I've seen this season has been very poor, even worse than usual. Standards have definitely gone downhill in our division. |  | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:35 - May 3 with 8001 views | TheChef |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:06 - May 3 by Northernr |
What's really unacceptable about it is one of those letters was almost certainly about the penalty we should have had in injury time at Wigan where the bloke chucked himself off to the side and saved the shot with two hands. Fine, blatant mistake made, sht happens, write to us an apologise, fine, we'll suck that up.
But then they take that referee (Scott Duncan) and keep giving him Championship games, including Villa v Bristol City where he makes another horrendous call over a penalty that presumably they wrote to Bristol City and apologised for. And he's had us twice since as well, at Norwich, and then again last week against Forest where he once again failed to award us a penalty for a blatant handball.
So it's all well and good writing to us and apologising, but what the fcking hell are you doing about it? Duncan's the same referee that gave that nonsense penalty to Sheff Utd in our first home game. He's been at it all season, three times against us. The apology rings a little bit hollow when you've got the same useless cnt still getting a fcking game again the following week. |
I didn't even know referee apology letters were a thing. Hilarious! |  |
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| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:37 - May 3 with 7996 views | kingshill |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:06 - May 3 by Northernr |
What's really unacceptable about it is one of those letters was almost certainly about the penalty we should have had in injury time at Wigan where the bloke chucked himself off to the side and saved the shot with two hands. Fine, blatant mistake made, sht happens, write to us an apologise, fine, we'll suck that up.
But then they take that referee (Scott Duncan) and keep giving him Championship games, including Villa v Bristol City where he makes another horrendous call over a penalty that presumably they wrote to Bristol City and apologised for. And he's had us twice since as well, at Norwich, and then again last week against Forest where he once again failed to award us a penalty for a blatant handball.
So it's all well and good writing to us and apologising, but what the fcking hell are you doing about it? Duncan's the same referee that gave that nonsense penalty to Sheff Utd in our first home game. He's been at it all season, three times against us. The apology rings a little bit hollow when you've got the same useless cnt still getting a fcking game again the following week. |
This is exactly the point. Never mind the fcking letters, what are the PGMOL doing about these referees and their appalling decision making? | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:37 - May 3 with 7996 views | blacky200 |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:27 - May 3 by stevec |
Absolutely, if this club is being run well I must be missing something.
Good luck to Freeman though, he deserves better than this. |
If a player wants to go and there is a club that wants him then the club is stuck with what is being offered. What other option is there? Stop the player moving and potentially have a player not committed and running down their contract to leave on a free? And lets be honest, while he is our best player he is not premier league quality so the 10 Million being banded about by some is a ridiculous figure. I just think that supporters need to take off the blue and white tinted glasses at times. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:41 - May 3 with 7975 views | Northernr |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:25 - May 3 by NW5Hoop |
Can I make a plea, as a journalist?
When you post an article from a publication that is not behind a paywall —Â one anyone can read by clicking a link —Â can you please just post the link rather than the entire article? Every time you post an article in full, you deprive a title of readers. They need the readers to survive.
Thanking you in advance. |
Seconded. I'm going to edit the original post so it's first few pars and a link. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:43 - May 3 with 7961 views | stevec |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:37 - May 3 by blacky200 |
If a player wants to go and there is a club that wants him then the club is stuck with what is being offered. What other option is there? Stop the player moving and potentially have a player not committed and running down their contract to leave on a free? And lets be honest, while he is our best player he is not premier league quality so the 10 Million being banded about by some is a ridiculous figure. I just think that supporters need to take off the blue and white tinted glasses at times. |
Totally agree, but as dejaR intimates, if there's a bad deal to be done, we'll probably do it.
'We'll give you £4m for Freeman'
'We want £2m'
'£2m? You sure? We'll give you £1.75m'
'Done' | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:46 - May 3 with 7938 views | PinnerPaul |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:06 - May 3 by Northernr |
What's really unacceptable about it is one of those letters was almost certainly about the penalty we should have had in injury time at Wigan where the bloke chucked himself off to the side and saved the shot with two hands. Fine, blatant mistake made, sht happens, write to us an apologise, fine, we'll suck that up.
But then they take that referee (Scott Duncan) and keep giving him Championship games, including Villa v Bristol City where he makes another horrendous call over a penalty that presumably they wrote to Bristol City and apologised for. And he's had us twice since as well, at Norwich, and then again last week against Forest where he once again failed to award us a penalty for a blatant handball.
So it's all well and good writing to us and apologising, but what the fcking hell are you doing about it? Duncan's the same referee that gave that nonsense penalty to Sheff Utd in our first home game. He's been at it all season, three times against us. The apology rings a little bit hollow when you've got the same useless cnt still getting a fcking game again the following week. |
Hard to argue with much of that.
I don't know, but presume, the marking, and therefore the matches officials get at this level is based over a period of time and not just on one (or more!) 'bad' decisions.
Back to the article - 8! letters IS surprising - less so the players support of McClaren despite the usual nonsense mentioned about him 'losing' the dressing room. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:47 - May 3 with 7924 views | PinnerPaul |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:37 - May 3 by blacky200 |
If a player wants to go and there is a club that wants him then the club is stuck with what is being offered. What other option is there? Stop the player moving and potentially have a player not committed and running down their contract to leave on a free? And lets be honest, while he is our best player he is not premier league quality so the 10 Million being banded about by some is a ridiculous figure. I just think that supporters need to take off the blue and white tinted glasses at times. |
Yep - spot on | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:47 - May 3 with 7923 views | Northernr |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:46 - May 3 by PinnerPaul |
Hard to argue with much of that.
I don't know, but presume, the marking, and therefore the matches officials get at this level is based over a period of time and not just on one (or more!) 'bad' decisions.
Back to the article - 8! letters IS surprising - less so the players support of McClaren despite the usual nonsense mentioned about him 'losing' the dressing room. |
Keith Stroud is still considered by the PGMOL as not only an adequate referee, but a referee that can be trusted with big games at this level. Forgive me if I don't place too much stock in their marking system. | | | |
| Luke Freeman article in the Independent this morning on 09:48 - May 3 with 7921 views | Gloucs_R |
That article was clearly vetted by the QPR PR team....
Remind fans:
We only paid £500k
Expect £4m so if we sell him for £4.5m (which is the rumour) then we've done a great job
Remind fans that we have no money at all |  |
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