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Reply | Summer transfer rumours 2026
at 17:24 14 Aug 2026
I think Varane went into reverse last year in his development, dominated by his infuriating habit of passing backwards all the time. For those with longer memories, he did look very promising in his first season and, more recently, against a good Fiorentina side, he showed that he can progress the ball forward well, in addition to his "stopper" role that we see more often from him. I'd like to give him more time to see whether that Fiorentina match was just a flash in the plan or whether, like Madsen, he can blossom in the longer term. However, if we were offered guaranteed money of £5-8 million, it would be hard to resist. |
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Reply | End of Term Report 25/26 - Strikers, and final part of the Patreon podcast
at 17:31 6 Jun 2026
Clive, your match reports are a huge and positive part of, for want of a better description, my "QPR experience". Your analysis is always well-argued and insightful, and your articles manage to be very funny as well. I always look forward to them and keep checking for their arrival. But your end of term reports are on another level, both the icing and the cherry on the cake. No matter how organised you are, the analysis and statistics must take you an absolute age to compile. I find it hard to believe how you are able to support your arguments with mention of, not just specific matches but of specific incidents in those matches. At my age, unless it's a 1-7 away to Coventry, I struggle to even remember results, despite being at most of the home matches.
Look, I don't want to blow smoke up your a**e but I know your contribution to this site must be a mammoth undertaking and I wanted you to know how much you would be missed if ever you decided to take a rest. Thank you so much for immeasurably improving that "QPR experience" and doing it so well.
Enjoy your short break. |
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Reply | David Seaman - Joe Walsh
at 17:53 20 May 2026
I have seen in a couple of places statistics quoted (by Clive, I think, and elsewhere) that in terms of "Overall Goals the Keeper Cost You", Walsh is at or near the bottom of that table. I recall a figure of -7 but I may be wrong in that.
However, you're right, he has made some good saves and, given his age and inexperience, he has potential to improve and the defence may be partly culpable but, if he were nearer the middle of that table in his first season, I'd have more hope for the future.
Nevertheless, based on that half-remembered stat, I would bring in a better keeper who might give our defence more confidence. |
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Reply | Laois Opinions
at 21:23 4 May 2026
Yes, the beaches were in Vietnam and we stayed on one of the Cambodia islands, can't remember the name. |
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Reply | Kingmakers (again) – Preview
at 19:29 1 May 2026
Thank you, Clive, for another season of great reports, previews etc. It can't have been easy but your analysis and humour are much appreciated. |
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Reply | Laois Opinions
at 15:17 30 Apr 2026
My wife and I went there as part of a trip from Laos (where we met Michael Buerk doing his own tour), through marvellous places in Vietnam and finished up in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Throughout, the food was great, the people friendly, lovely beaches and all very good value. I rate it as one of our best ever holidays and we've done a lot of travelling to some wonderful places. You'll love it but stay off the hooch, it's a killer (literally). |
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Reply | Most despised Rs players
at 16:02 16 Dec 2025
I have always resented the fact that we got that cart horse Iain Dowie (plus, plus....very little) in part exchange for the hugely gifted Trevor Sinclair. It was absolute daylight robbery but I'm not sure it's right to despise the man himself for that. Besides, he's not in the same league, or same planet, as Barton. |
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Reply | Déjà vu all over again for Stéphan’s resurgent Rangers – Report
at 14:17 6 Oct 2025
A very enjoyable report, thanks.
I laughed out loud at "the midweek Hayden-Field combination who wouldn’t have passed the ball forward if you’d fitted them both with shock collars and stuck 1,000 volts through their brain every time they played it sideways or back".
So very true. |
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Reply | Released list
at 11:13 28 May 2025
I came round to liking Colback and felt that he proved his value, particularly in the second half of last season. I would give him another year.
I would give Dunne the extra year that he apparently wants. Of course.
The proviso on both is that the wage demands are reasonable and affordable.
I can't understand why we are still talking to Anderson and Fox. Thank you and goodbye. |
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Reply | The QPR summer transfer rumours thread
at 11:08 28 May 2025
With, seemingly, one year to run on his contract, I can't imagine the circumstances in which we would NOT offer Kelman a new deal this Summer. It is the only way to protect the value of our asset. He has proven his potential and, given our need for an reliable goal-scorer, it would be madness to sell him. However, it would also be madness to let him run his contract down. Therefore, if he won't sign a new contract, I would, with gritted teeth, sell him because he may well be at his peak transfer value for QPR. Of course, offering a new contract is a risk because not all successful League One strikers can deliver in the Championship but the opportunity to effectively "sign" the League's top scorer on a "free" would normally have us salivating. Take the risk, lock him in now (provided his demands are reasonable and affordable). |
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Reply | Marti on today's defeat
at 19:59 22 Apr 2025
Marti must have been happy enough on 30th September when he signed a new contract, although I'd be the first to admit that 7 months is a long time in professional football. [Post edited 22 Apr 2025 20:02]
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Reply | Hot Cross Buns
at 12:15 19 Apr 2025
My wife bought some Belgian Chocolate hot cross buns from Waitrose this week. Words fail me to describe how disgusting these were. |
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Reply | Schools
at 19:15 6 Mar 2025
No-one else on here from Isleworth Grammar? 1964-71. |
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Reply | Beatles..your favourite track..
at 20:35 5 Mar 2025
They certainly made some crap songs, often from Paul's "granny" catalogue. Others, especially the early singles, haven't aged well. But the best track? There's so many to choose from. My personal favourite is Strawberry Fields Forever which, to my mind was extraordinarily inventive, especially for its time. I was outraged when Englebert B****y Humperdinck (Release Me) prevented the SFF double A Side (with Penny Lane) the first Beatles single since Please Please Me from being a No.1. [Post edited 5 Mar 2025 23:01]
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Reply | Tannoy at the stadium
at 16:31 10 Aug 2024
It's no better in S.A. Road. I recall Amit saying that it's not the speakers, which would be a relatively easy fix, it's the wiring which is more difficult and much more expensive. Whatever: it's annoying, embarrassing and unprofessional. |
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Reply | John Mayall RIP
at 09:40 25 Jul 2024
The obituary is in The Times today and it's a fitting tribute. You'll need a subscription to read it and it's too long to copy and paste here. Worth the cover price on its own, though. The length of that obituary says it all.
I was late to the John Mayall fan club and it was "Blues From Laurel Canyon" (The Bear... Walking on Sunset... etc) that hooked me. I saw him just a few years back live in a memorable concert at the Hexagon in Reading. He would have been in his eighties and he was still awesome.
A sad loss but a life well-lived. |
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Reply | Heston training ground visit
at 18:42 10 Jun 2024
I'm assuming they will get around to all of us eventually. As a bond-holder, I got an email inviting me and I went at the end of March. There were 15 or so of us in that group and it was interesting, although I was a bit disappointed we didn't get a chance to interact with any of the players - not even close - although I did glimpse Rayan Kolli in the treatment room, where he has been a bit of a fixture! |
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Reply | Man City - "Tryanny of the majority"
at 12:27 6 Jun 2024
Personally, I am flabbergasted by Manchester City’s claim to be suffering under the “tyranny of the majority” (misusing John Stuart Mill’s memorable line). Having just won the latest of four consecutive Premier League titles, if they can’t see the irony in that assertion, then they occupy a different planet to me. And if the poor lambs see four Premier League titles as some form of persecution, I’d like a little dash of that persecution for QPR, please. I’m hoping that a clear-minded judge will summarily laugh them out of court. What City want, of course, is to make sure they win the next four Premier League titles and the next four after that and….
Clearly, City’s greedy owners and their myopic supporters want even more money and even more dominance. Whilst this may suit Abu Dhabi’s underlying objective of sports-washing their autocratic and cruel regime, it does nothing for the competitiveness of the Premier League. FFP, for all its faults and under which QPR have rightly suffered, does tend to ensure that we generally have a competitive Premier League rather than the monopolies, or oligopolies, that dominate most of the other European leagues.
Unlike some on this forum, I cannot even remotely share the glee that Manchester City winning the title at least deprives some other hated clubs from doing so. Despite being a QPR supporter since 1967, I have none of the tribalism that would condition me to hate the likes of Man United, Leeds, Chelsea etc. Instead, I wanted Arsenal to beat Man City in the season just gone. I want teams like Leicester to be able to pull off the surprise win of 2015/16. And I have delighted in the success of underdogs like Brighton and Brentford. I dream that QPR might have that same success one day, although I rather confusingly maintain that the Championship increasingly seems to be the home of real football nowadays rather than the Hollywood drama that is the Premier League. To stymie all those upstarts, Manchester City now merely want to cement their position at the top of the pile. Money talks.
If City’s protestations were not so serious, they would be laughable. I’m tempted to think this is just a smoke screen, or rather a negotiating tactic, to help them to deal with the 115 alleged breaches that have been hanging over them (for far too long, thanks to their own disingenuous and delaying tactics). Like playground bullies, they have employed the nuclear option of a hugely expensive legal action to defend the indefensible.
The Premier League is itself a club of clubs. It has rules decided by a democratic majority. If Manchester City don’t like the rules, they should leave. Or be thrown out. |
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