 Friday, 2nd Dec 2011 20:58 by Clive Whittingham Neil Warnock has hinted at a recall for his mercurial and moody Moroccan for Saturday’s home match against West Brom. QPR (11th) v West Brom (14th)Barclays Premier League >>> Saturday December 3, 2011 >>> Kick Off 3pm >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 The QPR story of the last 20 years or so has been one made up largely of unmitigated cock ups and missed opportunities. The first 18 months of the Chris Wright era at Loftus Road counts as both – a chance to march straight back into the Premiership immediately after relegation just when the television money was getting serious turned into a series of events that threatened the very existence of our club. Wright initially spent big money as QPR chairman, but a combination of poor financial management from the board and bad choices from first Stewart Houston and then Ray Harford in the dugout meant it was not only completely wasted, but also a giant millstone to hang around the club’s neck for the next decade. Houston wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds on the likes of Lee Harper, Matthew Rose and Steve Morrow but to his credit he did find two excellent signings, down at Chelsea, in the form of Gavin Peacock and John Spencer. QPR spent the best part of £3m on the pair - a figure probably closer to £8m in the present climate and a significant sum for a second tier side. He then said that he would guarantee promotion if he could partner Spencer with Stoke’s Mike Shero, and Wright duly obliged. Houston had lied. As had his replacement Ray Harford who promised Wright a promotion if he could replace Houston and take over QPR’s strike force. The problem was Sheron wasn’t that good, and by the time he arrived John Spencer had the hump anyway after a falling out with coach Bruce Rioch. We ended up in the ludicrous situation of battling relegation to the third tier while Spencer, our best player, the best player in the division in fact, played a league higher on loan at Everton. This was a terrible waste. Spencer scored on his debut for QPR at Reading, memorably celebrating by running to the packed away terrace shouting “I’m the fucking man” and kept scoring – 18 goals in just over half a season including a memorable left foot, right foot, header hat trick against Barnsley. He was little, and niggly, and angry, and bloody brilliant at that level. I remember him bagging a fine goal at the Hawthorns in a game against this weekend’s opponents West Brom, a game in which QPR competed well for an hour before randomly losing 4-1 set to a backing track of my father loudly abusing Paul Peschisolido about his sexual antics with Karen Brady. Houston and Harford were made to look like fools for their promises because by the time the following season started Spencer didn’t want to be there anymore. A massive, gigantic missed opportunity from our point of view because he was the division’s outstanding player – a big money signing, a 13-14 goal a season Premiership striker, a fine goal scorer and leader. The QPR press boys have interviewed Spencer for this Saturday’s match programme (absolutely superb publication this season by the way, treat yourself if you haven’t already) and it will be interesting to see what he has to say from his present day coaching position in the US. As well as producing the best match programme in the league, the QPR media team has also begun to screen Neil Warnock’s pre-match press conferences on the official website this season. This seems to consist of lazy journalists asking Warnock his opinion on the issue of the day (racism, Sepp Blatter etc), then asking him about Adel Taarabt, and then going home. Warnock’s answers to the Taarabt questions were more positive this week than they have been for some time leading to suggestions that he may be back in contention this weekend. This can only be a good thing, because until this point the comparisons with Spencer have been clear. Last season Taarabt was not only the best player at QPR, with 19 mostly spectacular goals and 23 usually crucial assists to his name, but was also named as the outstanding player in the division by his fellow professionals. All the non-boardroom chat about QPR in the summer centred around the impact he could make in the top flight. Sadly Taarabt spent most of the summer courting a move to Paris SG rather than training, the results of which can be clearly seen hanging from his thighs. Newcastle at home and an hour against Chelsea apart he has not been at the races this season and so, as we did with Spencer, we’ve found ourselves just lately playing without our star attraction. The difference is Spencer’s absence made the team worse, Taarabt’s seems to have improved it. Now the international nonsense is out of the way, concluded with a farcical draw for the European Championships today, the Premiership gets down to serious business. December brings six matches in 28 days and while QPR can climb to eighth with a win on Saturday, their six point cushion from the bottom three can quickly be eroded during a hectic period of fixtures. Injuries are mounting, goalkeepers one and two are already out and Shaun Wright Phillips is a doubt for this weekend’s game with the Baggies. What QPR could do with is a slimmed down, fit, firing Adel Taarabt to emerge onto the Premiership scene. The thing is, that’s exactly what Adel Taarabt needs as well. Fees as high as £15m were touted in the summer but given his Premiership failure at Spurs and lack of action now I reckon we’d be lucky to get £1.5m as things stand. Warnock is refusing to indulge him any more, the new players are demanding higher standards of fitness and behaviour, and the opposition aren’t falling for his tricks like the cloggers at Coventry used to. This can now go one of two ways. Should he burst onto the scene this month then the moves he so often publicly coverts could all be there for him in January. If not he’s on a one way ticket back to the Championship or, fate worse than death, Scottish football. It’s in his hands. We shall see. Links >>> Opposition Focus >>> History >>> Referee >>> Betting >>> Weekend Tube Closures This SaturdayTeam News: Veteran goalkeeper Radek Cerny will start for QPR againwith first choice Paddy Kenny nursing a side strain and second choice Brian Murphy a torn calf. The other major worry is over Shaun Wright Phillips who thought he’d broken his foot at Norwich and remains a doubt despite a scan coming back all clear. Kieron Dyer and DJ Campbell are the long term absentees. Joey Barton will return to the midfield after a suspension at the expense of Shaun Derry. West Brom are taking a late check on striker Shane Long before deciding whether or not to risk his groin injury. Peter Odeminwgie, linked with a move to Loftus Road in the January transfer window by the gutter press this week, will lead the attack alone if he doesn’t make it. Zoltan Gera has been ruled out for the majority of the season after injuring his knee against Spurs last week – James Morrison and Chris Brunt can play wide in his absence but former Swindon hitman Simon Cox has been tipped to replace him in several columns today. Elsewhere: All eyes on Andre Villas Boas again this weekend as he squats on the touchline at Newcastle United – a defeat would bring the ‘crisis’ word into play in the Sunday press and given that the Magpies have only lost once this season and held Man Utd to a draw at Old Trafford last weekend it’s not beyond the realms of possibility. You can have Alan Pardew’s men at 11/4 with some bookmakers tonight, lump on is my advice. The 3pm kick offs look kind for QPR. Near competitors Norwich have an unwinnable game at Man City while the teams down the bottom of the table are either on a hiding to nothing (Bolton at Tottenham) or are playing each other and therefore taking points from one another – Blackburn v Swansea, Everton v Stoke, Wolves v Sunderland. Mind you, they’ll all be saying the same about our game with the Baggies. Wigan are losing at home to Arsenal and the Saturday evening kick off is Villa v Man Utd. The Monday Night Football this week is Fulham v Liverpool. Referee: International referee Martin Atkinson visits Loftus Road this weekend for the third time already this season. Both his QPR appointments so far this season have ended in defeats with extenuating circumstances – 4-0 against Bolton on day one with an inferior team at the end of Falvio Briatore’s reign, and 3-2 against the billion pound team from Man City when we actually played very well. Third time lucky? Check out his full QPR case file by clicking here. FormQPR: The problem for newly promoted teams is usually picking up away wins – Norwich failed to secure a single one in 2004/05 and Burnley only managed one in their lone Premiership season. For QPR, always the dissidents, the problem has been the other way around. They’ve won three on the road already and looked dangerous in all but two of the other while only picking up one home victory so far – albeit against Chelsea. It’s all gone a little bit Kevin Keegan at QPR just lately with a porous defence supplemented by a prolific attack. It doesn’t seem like two minutes since I was talking about our lack of goals but the recall of Heidar Helguson has changed all that – nine scored in the last six matches, 17 goals in total over the last four matches involving the R’s. Helguson is aiming to equal Les Ferdinand’s 1994 record of scoring in four successive home matches with a goal on Saturday. West Brom: The Baggies start well and fade – half their goals this season have come in the first 15 minutes, none of the 12 they’ve scored so far have come in the last quarter of an hour. They have the joint worst attack in the league with only Wigan and Stoke matching the piffly 12 they’ve managed so far. They are without a clean sheet in five matches and their shut out at Norwich earlier this season was their first in 21 matches. Their goals total isn’t helped by two missed penalties – one by Peter Odemwingie at Norwich (he’s missed two of the four he’s taken since arriving at The Hawthorns 18 months ago) and a farcical attempt by Chris Brunt at Aston Villa. Don’t despair too soon if we do concede a spot kick on Saturday. Roy Hodgson hasn’t won an away match against a London club since his Blackburn days (15 attempts) and West Brom have won just three of 30 Premiership visits to our fair city. Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding offers his opinion on the weekend’s sporting action. Crystal Palace’s monumental effort at Old Trafford on Wednesday night brought them a deserved League Cup semi final, but bizarrely they’re now playing on Friday night against derby just 48 hours later. That makes a Derby result the bet of the week as they look to take advantage – Palace looked out on their feet at the end of extra time on Wednesday and Patrick McCarthy and Anthony Gardner at centr back look especially vulnerable to the rigours of this demanding week. At Loftus Road, with West Brom back to full strength, a tight affair lays in store with plenty of nervous around. Bet of week - Derby 13/8 Draw No Bet (money back if Draw) v Palace with Betfred. QPR v West Brom - Recommend a bet on the draw 5/2 with Pinnacle seems too big for evenly matched sides. Prediction: Why do I have a bad feeling about this game? It’s one of those that for some time QPR fans have been targeting as an opportunity for three points, and yet when the day draws close you realise it’s not going to be that easy at all. West Brom are about four places lower than I expect them to finish, hamstrung by picking three losses out from their first three matches of the season when the fixtures were released. QPR may be attacking with real purpose, but they’re not defending well at all and Shane Long could have just as much of a field day here as Steve Morrison did last week. Luckily, the same thing can be said of West Brom who mysteriously saw a Premiership player in Gareth McAuley at Ipswich last season. I expect plenty of goals, and shared points. 2-2 draw, 14/1 widely available Tweet @loftforwords Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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