Perch arrival eases defensive shortage — signing Sunday, 2nd Aug 2015 11:53 by Clive Whittingham QPR have completed the signing of James Perch for £700,000 from Wigan Athletic, easing their shortage of defenders and adding a valuable dressing room influence to the squad. FactsPerch, 29, leaves Wigan after being voted the club’s Player of the Year for the last two seasons.He was originally a product of the academy at Nottingham Forest, starting life as an attacker before being moved further back. That versatility has continued throughout his career and he’s equally adept at full back on either side, centre half or central midfield. He’s likely to be employed at full back by Rangers after signing a three year deal at Loftus Road. He made 222 appearances and scored 14 goals for Forest before moving to Newcastle for £1.5m in 2010. The Geordies named him Perchino and he scored once for them in 79 appearances, roughly half as a substitute. He broke a Premier League record at St James’ Park in becoming the first ever player to be booked in his first five matches. Wigan paid £750,000 for his services in July 2013 and during his two seasons there he played 95 times and scored five goals. He was part of the Wigan team that reached the FA Cup semi-finals as Championship side, scoring as they knocked out hot favourites Man City along the way. Perch, who cost Rangers £700,000, scored on his last visit to Loftus Road as Wigan were beaten 2-1 after extra time in the 2014 play-off semi-final second leg. Reaction“It’s great to be here and to have my future sorted out. Les and the gaffer sold the club to me brilliantly. They showed a great desire to bring me here, and that helped make up my mind. I know players who have played here before and they spoke about the club in good terms, so it was an easy decision for me. I’ve played in the Championship for quite a few years now and I know what to expect. It’s a tough division; it’s Saturday-Tuesday a lot of the time; there are no easy games, but we’ll front up the challenge head on and compete as best we can.” — James Perch“James is a proven Championship performer, with great versatility across a number of positions. He can cover both full-back positions, centre-half and holding midfield, so he’ll be a real asset for us. He’ll add experience to a relatively young squad, so we’re delighted he’s put pen to paper.” - Chris Ramsey We’re really pleased James has agreed to join us. We know we’re quite light on numbers in the defensive third of the pitch, so James’ arrival is welcome. He’s got a wealth of Premier League and Championship experience, he’s in the prime of his career, and he ticks all the boxes in terms of his quality and character.” - Les Ferdinand Excellent, really pleased with this signing. I have always rated Perch, he's not the most glamorous of players so get's an unfair reputation as someone that's not very good, but you'd struggle to find a fan of the clubs he's played for with a bad word to say about him. I liked him at Newcastle and he's always played consitently well for Wigan. It helps he plays in about 4 positions too, which is lucky as he will have to cover them all as things stand! Good signing, good fee. - Simmo Should do well here. Very much in the Danny Simpson mould - solid and unspectacular, just quietly comfortable. - Jamie OpinionJames Perch continues a few trends we’ve seen from the QPR transfer activity so far this summer, but bucks one or two others.Firstly, unlike many of the new arrivals, he’s proven at this level. Jamie Mackie has been there and done it in the Championship before but Massimo Luongo and Ben Gladwin are both stepping up a division while Jay Emmanuel Thomas has failed in this division twice before at Cardiff and Ipswich. Tjaronn Chery and Seb Polter are preparing to play in English football for the first time. Perch on the other hand has nearly a decade of first team experience in the Championship and Premier League with Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Wigan. He was relegated last year with the Latics, and QPR have found with Steven Caulker, Leroy Fer and others that it’s not always the best strategy to take players who failed the previous year and give them a free pass out of the demotion. Caulker got that again last week when Southampton came calling, despite him being relegated twice in the last two seasons. “Steven wants to play in the Premier League,” we were told — should probably stop getting relegated then shouldn’t he? Given his performances in the second half of last season, and poor behaviour off the field, he probably deserved a season in the Championship more than most of his feckless team mates from last season and yet off he goes again. Serial relegation enthusiasts are best avoided but crucially Perch comes very well regarded by those who watched him regularly, whereas most Southampton fans asking QPR people about Caulker will receive a negative response. Wigan fans have been on social media lamenting Perch’s loss, praising his performances and attitude last season and rating him as their best defender. Good sign. He’s famed for his versatility — capable of playing anywhere across the back line or in midfield. He’ll need to be flexible, QPR currently need him to play right back and left back at the same time which may be a bit much to ask. It is - like Luongo, Gladwin, Mackie and Chery - a signing that gives real cause for optimism. Players the right side of 30, with plenty of legs and engine, at affordable prices, with good attitudes and unblemished fitness records — in stark contrast to the transfer policy of the last few years which left QPR with nothing to show for the thick end of £200m of Premier League money and £200m from the Tune Group as well over four years. But the rebuilding job taking place on the squad at Loftus Road is a considerable one. Even with Matt Phillips and Charlie Austin still in situ the team looks woefully short in key areas, particularly in defence. It may be that it needs another transfer window, or two, to get this squad looking how Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey envision it. In the meantime we’re a week away from a trip to Charlton, who have a new 6ft 7in Danish centre forward with a life-sized tattoo of an owl on his thigh, and little more than a fortnight from a Wednesday night against Kenny Jackett’s big, physical, quick, aggressive Wolves team. We’re currently facing up to the prospect of playing those teams with Cole Kpekawa and Darnell Furlong heavily involved — promising kids, but The Valley and Molineux will be no kind of crèche. Ramsey has been quite downbeat in his interviews — either a deliberate attempt to dampen any optimism and therefore expectations, or because he’s genuinely worried, or probably both. Patience is going to be the watchword. Patience from the board of directors is the obvious thing, given the money on offer in the Premier League and how much QPR has cost them so far how tempted would they be to chuck a blank cheque at Sam Allardyce or somebody similar if Rangers are the wrong side of midtable come October in an attempt to bounce straight back? Remember, for all their talk of lessons learnt and doing things the right way, they spent £8m on Matt Phillips and Charlie Austin last time Rangers were relegated and scraped back up at the first time of asking with a wage bill of £77m according to the accounts.
Patience from the fans, too, will be important but even more crucially patience from the players is needed. Perch is a good signing in the same way as Luongo, Gladwin, Mackie and Emmanuel-Thomas are because he owes Ramsey a debt of gratitude for picking him up. Emmanuel Thomas has been given a third chance in the Championship, Luongo and Gladwin a first crack, Mackie a return to the club he loves after an unhappy spell with Forest and Perch has now been rescued from a relegation. That should ensure they stick with the boss who brought them here and that will be crucial. I noticed somebody purporting to be Caulker’s cousin quoted on Twitter last week saying the player was desperate to leave because Ramsey is “a nightmare”. Ramsey probably thinks the same about Caulker, who spent the second half of last season setting up Hull goals, thumping people in VIP areas at the O2 arena and falling down stairs at Christmas parties. But the power now is all with the players. Ramsey gets the blame for QPR conceding goals while Caulker gets another move and another signing on fee. During the recent meeting with supporter websites Les Ferdinand spoke at length, and gave eye-opening examples from his time at other clubs, about how hard it is to discipline the modern millionaire footballer and police a dressing room. All you can do is try and populate it with the - to steal a phrase Redknapp grossly misused while signing tossers like Benoit Assou Ekotto — ‘right sorts’ who don’t need policing and won’t turn on the coach at the first sign of trouble. The modern footballer doesn’t accept responsibilities, they look for excuses and Ramsey is more vulnerable than most given his lack of experience as a number one. Perch seems like the type of signing he’ll need to not only improve the team in key areas, but also afford him that time he’s going to need because make no mistake this is going to be an incredibly tough few weeks to begin with and Ramsey needs to emerge from the other side with the players, fans and board still behind him. 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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