Marc Bircham and Steve Gallen are at the helm this Monday as QPR’s latest, and perhaps greatest, farce to date plays out in front of a live television audience at the home of West Bromwich Albion.

West Bromwich Albion (2nd) v Queens Park Rangers (14th)
Coca Cola Championship
Monday December 14, Kick Off 7.45pm
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich

A poster on Football365 said last week that QPR are “a club that seems to exist solely to make fans of other sides feel better about their own situations”. A commenter here on LFW offered congratulations on the formidable achievement of overtaking Newcastle United as the biggest joke of a club in the country. That probably sums up our latest implosion better than I ever could.

Wouldn’t you just know it, we finally (it seems) get Flavio Briatore to back off and leave the manager alone a little bit and that manager then completely self destructs, losing a dressing room and team that just a month ago was fourth in the league and sweeping all before it. As a football manager Magilton has probably gone some way to advancing a somewhat meagre reputation he built for himself at Ipswich despite only being here for six months, but his apparent failings as a man manager mean he is unlikely to work again if the investigation into his conduct at Watford last week decides that the version of events proffered by Akos Buzsaky and the players holds more water than the defence given by Magilton and his coaches John Gorman and Keith Ryan.

I maintain that Magilton’s defence, and the whole story about the head butt in the first place, misses the point to some extent. The fact is that Magilton was only annoyed and angry with the players because we were soundly beaten by Watford and hammered by Middlesbrough last weekend after poor results against Doncaster and Coventry as well. The reason we started losing those games in my opinion is because Magilton could not leave well alone. He found/stumbled across/concocted a winning formula and then abandoned it. Had we kept the same team we would, in my opinion have kept winning and none of this would have happened. He has essentially made all the same mistakes he did at Ipswich – needless team tinkering, regular fallings out with players, favouritism. He could have been a demi-God with us had he kept up the form of October over a prolonged period of time, and had he left the team well alone we’d have been in the top four com May I’m sure, instead he’s just another notch on the bed post for our once proud club, another fine mess we find ourselves in.

That our latest self destruction comes as a result of problems after a televised game and immediately before another Monday night Sky adventure means it’s all being played out in the public eye more than ever. No doubt we’ll be treated to the sight of a rather sheepish looking Marc Bircham getting off the team coach at the Hawthorns on Monday evening - he and Steve Gallen effectively handed the caretaker job as the last two remaining people at the club with coaching badges.

Their first game, against high flying West Brom, goes one of two ways as far as I can see. If our collapse in performance level is purely down o Magilton losing control of his dressing room then with the Ulsterman gone there is a chance the players will simply start playing again as they were before and if they do, even second placed West Brom may have trouble holding onto our coat tails. The much more likely option though is that after another week of complete farce at Loftus Road our precious over paid players simply roll over and die on their arses, and Roberto Di Matteo's side have the look of an unforgiving bunch should we dare to do that. A memorable night or sound thrashing lay in store here and we’ll probably have a good idea of which it is to be inside the first ten minutes.

Five minutes on West Brom
Recent History: The Baggies are this decade’s Crystal Palace - constantly yo-yoing between this division and the top flight. Since being turned around from the brink of a spell in the third tier and rebuilt by Gary Megson at the end of the 90s and early part of the new millennium Wes Brom have graced the Premiership on three separate occasions, but only ever succeeded in staying in the league for more than one season once. Finding a former Premiership team in the Championship is not unusual, 15 of the 24 sides have been in the top league since the change in 1992, but it is less common to find one for whom relegation hasn’t brought about complete financial collapse – Southampton, Norwich, Leeds and Bradford City stand lower down the league ladder still like warning beacons of just how badly things can go.

West Brom fans would probably enjoy their trips to the top flight a little more if their club lashed out a bit of the television money on making a real good fist of staying there, especially after running away with this division playing splendid football two seasons ago only to look out of their depth and return inside 12 months. However since Megson arrived at the club in 2000 the Baggies have perfected the art of not over stretching themselves and always ensuring an immediate return can be theirs if and when relegation strikes.

Northern the Elder always used to tease me a bit about West Brom. It is fair to say that the pair of us didn’t much enjoy our trip to The Hawthorns because firstly it’s hardly a tropical paradise, secondly it’s not exactly blessed with friendly pre-match pubs for away fans and thirdly we don’t get a result there very often. In 2000 West Brom came to Loftus Road two games before the end of the season locked in a relegation battle with Walsall. QPR had nothing to play for and a pretty desperate 0-0 draw ensued in a downbeat atmosphere. I wasn’t really bothered about not winning that game but Stuart would always remind me about it because that point and a victory on the last day against Charlton preserved their status and meant that Walsall, a more pleasant trip in terms of points to be won and pubs to drink in, were relegated never to return. West Brom were promoted two years later under Megson and have never been outside the top two divisions since – maybe if we’d cheered a bit louder that day at Loftus Road it could all have been different.

When they were promoted, second behind Man City in 2002, they did it conceding just 29 goals in a season that included 16 1-0 wins and seven 1-0 defeats. Fast forward to more recent times and with Tony Mowbray at the helm a very different West Brom side won promotion two seasons ago with a 2-0 win at Loftus Road on the final day of the season. That team played the best football seen in the Championship, probably since Jean Tigana’s Fulham side swept to the title with similar panache in 2000, and captain Paul Robinson emotionally shouted into any camera he could get near at the end of the game that it was all down to Mowbray and he was the reason that they could make a proper go of Premiership football in 2008/09.

In between the Mowbray and Megson spells Bryan Robson had taken over and miraculously kept them up at Southampton’s expense in 2005, before resorting to his time honoured failed relegation battle a season later. In fairness to Robson West Brom were completely adrift at Christmas when he first took over and astute loan signings like Kieran Richardson turned it round for them but I’m afraid he’s still a complete twat and has still been relegated at every club he’s managed for a full season or more.

Mowbray, and his side, were infinitely more likeable but passing though the likes of QPR is somewhat less taxing than taking on the likes of Arsenal at their own game and although a couple of late wins against Sunderland and Wigan threatened an unlikely revival Mowbray admitted that they were somewhat out of their depth long before the end of the season and they finished rock bottom – although only three points adrift of safety.

Celtic came calling for Mowbray during the summer leaving newly relegated West Brom, with Swindon Town striker Simon Cox already on board, looking for a new man to tackle the Championship.

The Manager:Despite relegation Tony Mowbray had built a sufficiently good reputation with the Baggies and previously Hibs to attract Scottish giants Celtic and they paid £2m for his services in the summer and another £500k for his backroom staff although he hasn’t exactly torn up any trees at Celtic Park since the switch. That left West Brom searching for a new gaffer and although former playing favourite Derek McInnes was heavily tipped after his excellent work with St Johnstone in the end the Baggies went for Roberto Di Matteo. Now Di Matteo was undoubtedly a superb player in his day winning most of the game’s major honours and 34 Italian caps, despite being born in Switzerland, however as a manager he has only got one full season of experience. Last year he led MK Dons to the play offs where they lost on penalties in the semi final to Scunthorpe. That is reasonably impressive and a good start, but he inherited a good side at MK from Paul Ince and ultimately achieved very little with it and was in my opinion, fortunate to get such a good opportunity so soon.

When it was announced I couldn’t help but think back Sam Allardyce’s assertion that he would be considered for the top jobs more often if he was called Sam Allardici – would West Brom, or anybody else for that matter, have paid much attention had MK Dons got to the play offs and lost under the guidance of Bob Matthews? Nigel Adkins, for instance, has twice won promotion from League One on a tiny budget with Scunthorpe and never gets a mention for anybody's job. Anyway Di Matteo is young, he’s ambitious, he plays football in a way West Brom fans have become accustomed to and he inherited a good squad, sound financial situation and large average attendances in the West Midlands so it’s no real surprise to see him doing very well so far.

Three to Watch: One man many QPR fans would have liked to see at Loftus Road in the summer was Swindon Town striker Simon Cox. The product of Reading’s youth set up bagged 32 goals in a mediocre Swindon side last year saving them from would otherwise have been certain relegation. That record had scouts, including our own, flocking to the County Ground to see what all the fuss was about. In the end, despite being between managers, it was West Brom that took the plunge with a bid that could yet add up to £2m. A risk, almost certainly, but with an attractive and attacking style of play and the likes of Ishmael Miller and Roman Bednar to provide the height and muscle for Cox to play off (he thrived next to a perennial League One lump Billy Paynter last season) it looked like a shrewd bit of business to me.

It would be fair to say that things have started slowly for Cox who was in and out of the team to begin with and had to wait seven Championship games for his first goal. Since getting off the mark against Watford though he has scored five times in six matches and will pose the biggest goalscoring threat to QPR on Monday night. Looks like he might be a really good signing after all.

Last time the Baggies were in this division they beat a number of clubs to the signature of another terrific player at this level - Chris Brunt. A former Middlesbrough trainee who earned his stripes in this league with Sheffield Wednesday before moving to the Hawthorns three years ago and just about, along with Boro’s Adam Johnson, the best attacking wide midfielder in this league at the moment. Brunt isn’t just brilliant at getting to the byline and delivering balls for his strikers, he scores plenty himself as well including a superb effort at Middlesbrough earlier this season and two in his last four outings. QPR simply have to get a good hold on him on Monday.

Finally, probably a bit of an odd one this, but goalkeeper Dean Kiely will play on Monday and where it would normally be a good thing for an opponent if a team lost its first choice keeper in favour of some grizzled old veteran because of suspension I am not convinced that this is the case for us. Scott Carson starts a three match ban for head butting Michael Chopra (in fairness who wouldn’t have liked to have a bash at Michael Chopra at some point over the past few years?) and that means Kiely will keep goal on Monday. Now for me Carson is highly erratic, and prone to an extraordinarily high number of very bad mistakes for a goalkeeper with his number of appearances at the highest level and England caps. He just doesn’t look confident, or inspire confidence in those around him. I’d be much happier with him keeping goal against us rather than Kiely who, while certainly getting on a bit, is much calmer, more assured and has a history of playing well against QPR.

Links >>> West Brom Official Website >>> West Brom Message Board

History
Recent Meetings:
QPR’s last trip to The Hawthorns was a bit of a farce as well. Rangers were firmly ensconced in the bottom three after a terrible start to the season but had just been taken over by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Fans assumed that this would mean better times ahead, and that was always likely to be without the inherited manager John Gregory who, incidentally, I feel deserves more recognition for the miraculous job he did keeping a terrible QPR up in 2006/07 than he ever seems to receive from our fans. Gregory sent out a rank Rangers side against promotion chasing West Brom and then stood and laughed on the touchline as they were torn asunder with embarrassing ease live on Sky Sports. Gareth Ainsworth provided brief hope by pulling the score back to 2-1 but in the end the Baggies got five and could have had many more. Gregory was sacked a day later.

West Brom: Kiely 7, Albrechtsen 7, Hoefkens 7, Barnett 7, Robinson 7, Koren 8, Greening 8 (Gera 67, 7), Teixeira 8 (Brunt 63, 7), Morrison 8, Miller 8 (Beattie 67, 8), Phillips 9
Subs Not Used: Steele, Pele
Goals: Phillips 17 (assisted Miller), Miller 18 (assisted Phillips), Phillips 39 (assisted Greening), Koren 57 (unassisted), Greening 66 (unassisted)

QPR: Camp 8, Rehman 2 (Curtis 46, 3), Cullip 3, Stewart 4, Barker 2 (Bignot 60, 5), Ainsworth 7, Bolder 4, Rowlands 4, Moore 5, Blackstock 4, Sahar 4 (Ephraim 60, 5)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Timoska
Booked: Curtis (repetitive fouling), Rowlands (tackle from behind)
Goals: Ainsworth 24 (assisted Blackstock)

The teams met again at Loftus Road on the final day of the season. Things had changed beyond all recognition at Loftus Road already, as you can see by comparing the team line up below with the one above, and the game was preceded by a firework display, legends parade and new badge unveiling. West Brom sealed the title with a 2-0 win but QPR were more than a match for the Baggies on this occasion and may well have taken something from the game had referee Paul Taylor not very harshly sent off Martin Rowlands for a late tackle before half time.

QPR: Camp 7, Delaney 5, Mahon 6, Mancienne 6, Blackstock 6, Ainsworth 8, Rowlands 5, Connolly 6, Ephraim 6 (Rose 80, -), Rehman 7,Balanta 6 (Leigertwood 39, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Barker, Lee
Sent Off: Rowlands (37) (late tackle)

West Brom: Kiely 7, Hoefkens 7, Barnett 6, Clement 7 (Albrechtsen 53, 6),Robinson 5 (Moore 72, 5), Koren 7, Gera 7, Brunt 7, Greening 8, Bednar 6 (Kim 46, 7), Phillips 6
Subs Not Used: Miller, Morrison
Booked: Clement (foul), Robinson (foul)
Goals: Kim 53 (assisted Gera), Brunt 77 (unassisted)

Head to Head:
West Brom wins – 15
Draws – 12
QPR wins – 7

Previous Results:
2007/09 QPR 0 West Brom 2
2007/08 West Brom 5 QPR 1 (Ainsworth)
2006/07 QPR 1 West Brom 2 (Blackstock)
2006/07 West Brom 3 QPR 3 (Stewart, Gallen, Nygaard)
2000/01 QPR 2 West Brom 0 (Plummer, Koejoe)
2000/01 West Brom 2 QPR 1 (Kiwomya)
1999/00 QPR 0 West Brom 0
1999/00 West Brom 0 QPR 1 (Wardley)
1998/99 QPR 2 West Brom 1 (Ready, Peacock)
1998/99 West Brom 2 QPR 0
1997/98 West Brom 1 QPR 1 (Dowie)
1997/98 QPR 2 West Brom 0 (Sheron, Peacock)
1996/97 West Brom 4 QPR 1 (Spencer)
1996/97 QPR 0 West Brom 2

Played for both clubs:
Clive Clark
QPR 1958-61 & 1969-1970
WBA 1961-1969
Clive’s greatest achievement was scoring West Brom’s two goals in the 1967 League Cup final against Rangers, possibly making him the biggest connection between the two sides. The son of a boxer, Clive was a fast, direct and courageous left winger with a keen eye for goal. He started his career with home town club Leeds United then moved onto Rangers in August 1958. Clark made nearly seventy appearances for the R’s in three seasons before moving to the Hawthorns. It was at West Brom that Clark really made a name for himself, forming formidable attacking partnerships with Tony Brown, Jeff Astle and Bobby Hope. Most fondly remembered for scoring in every round of the 1967 League Cup and he was an ever present for the Baggies netting almost 100 goals for the club. He briefly returned to Rangers in 1969 in a ten game spell before moving on to Preston and eventually spells in the US. - AR

Links >>> West Brom 5 QPR 1 Match Report >>> QPR 0 West Brom 2 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Monday
Team News: After the farce of the last couple of matches and the team selections that went into them good God only knows what caretaker managers Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham will do with their talented but beleaguered squad this Monday. Definitely not available are long term absentees Gavin Mahon, Lee Cook and Martin Rowlands. Angelo Balanta is almost ready to return but not quite, Matt Connolly will have a late fitness test on a pelvic injury that kept him out of the Watford game. What has happened in the past in these situations is the next game has seen a change of team towards more of what the fans have been asking for so I’d be surprised to see Fitz Hall start and would expect to see something along the lines of Cerny, Ramage, Gorkss, Stewart, Borrowdale, Routledge, Faurlin, Leigertwood, Taarabt, Buzsaky and Simpson starting, possible even Agyemang in a two pronged attack.

There seems to be a head butting theme developing in football at the moment and West Brom’s own Stag style offender Scott Carson starts his three game ban on Monday for sticking one on Michael Chopra last week. Anyway West Brom have a more than able deputy in keeper Dean Kiely with Ryan Allsop taking his place on the bench. Youssouf Mulumbu has recovered from a twisted knee and Jerome Thomas and Luke Moore are both fit again after missing the Cardiff defeat. Robert Koren, James Morrison, Ishmael Miller and Neil Clement are all medium to long term absentees.

Elsewhere: The big news in the Championship this weekend has been the departure of Sheffield Wednesday boss Brian Laws after their 3-0 defeat at Leicester plunged the Owls into the bottom three. Cardiff won at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest at Swansea to maintain their respective promotion pushes. Leaders Newcastle were held to a draw at Barnsley leaving a window of opportunity open for West Brom against QPR on Monday. At the bottom Peterborough came from two down to draw level at Coventry only to lose 3-2 anyway, and Paul Mariner’s first game in charge at Plymouth ended in defeat at Preston. Reading were held at home by Scunthorpe.

Referee: Manchester official Anthony Taylor is in charge on Monday, the third time he has taken charge of both these teams. Taylor seems to be developing a habit of turning up whenever QPR’s attentions or focussed on off the pitch events having refereed last year’s home game with Derby amid rows about increased ticket prices at Loftus Road.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Taylor in charge at West Brom >>> Referee League

Form
West Brom: While QPR cut loose and scored for fun in October, West Brom did the same in November – beating Watford 5-0, Bristol City 4-1, Sheff Wed 4-0 and winning 2-1 at Leicester. Like Ranger though the Baggies have since been brought back down to earth slightly – Leicester ended our run with a 2-1 win at Loftus Road, Cardiff won 2-0 at The Hawthorns last Tuesday night. Di Matteo’s side has already been beaten three times at home this season, Swansea and Palace both also won here 1-0, so they’re certainly not infallible but 21 goals from six wins and a draw is the most prolific home scoring record in the league – better than Newcastle who are top and equal with Watford and, yeh you’ve guessed it, QPR.

QPR: Rangers are now without a win in four matches since beating Sheff Wed 2-1 at Hillsborough in November – a result that moved us as high as fourth in the league at the time. Since then we have lost three and drawn one conceding 12 goals in the process, a defensive record to rival even that of Durham City who conceded five goals or more in each of their games last month.

Prediction: Well in all seriousness this was going to be our most difficult game since Newcastle away even when we were playing well and all getting along. Now we’ve hit the big red self destruct button and come into this game in lousy form and without a manager it is, in theory, a hiding to nothing and a bloody good hiding is what we will be subjected to in all likelihood. There is a very slim chance that if Jim Magilton’s loss of control in the dressing room was the sole reason for our recent poor performances that with him removed our team will once again cut loose and show what it’s capable of, catching West Brom off guard in the process, but I’d only give us one chance in ten, if that.

West Brom by at least three clear goals

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Photo: Action Images via Reuters