QPR have issued an official statement today distancing themselves from Flavio Briatore's assertion that he wants veteran Italian coach to be the new manager at Loftus Road if QPR are promoted.

News

Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone have made a worrying return to the QPR scene in the past couple of weeks, coincidentally just as the team has started to do well and there has been talk of them selling their shares to Vijay Mallya. Earlier this week Briatore told Italian magazine Chi that he dreamed of making Marcello Lippi the QPR manager if the club reaches the Premiership. This ignores the fact that QPR already have a very good manager in place, who is putting together a fine QPR side and topping the Championship table after an unbeaten start to the season.

An official statement by Rangers earlier today read: "Following speculation in today's press, we would like to confirm that stories linking Marcello Lippi with Queens Park Rangers Football Club are completely unfounded. The board of directors - including Bernie Ecclestone, Amit Bhatia and Flavio Briatore - are 100 per-cent behind Neil Warnock and will continue to be so in the future."

Current manager Neil Warnock told the Fulham Chronicle today: "I take this with a pinch of salt if I’m honest. Worried? My stock’s never been higher. And I get on well with Flavio when we chat once a week or so. He has given me his views on the team but he understands I make the decisions – and he’s happy with that."

The QPR boss was a good deal happier on Tuesday night when his team maintained their unbeaten record with a 0-0 draw at fourth placed Swansea. Warnock told the club's official website: "We came to win the game. I don't think you can go anywhere now and not do that. I thought we did well in the first half - we had the better chances. It was a good advertisement for the Championship. I thought it was a very harsh penalty. If it was a penalty, I don't know how the linesman has seen it. It was an old-fashioned shoulder charge. I thought justice was done in the end. You've got to have a bit of passion, and resolve. They'll not come up against much better than they have tonight. I think there are eight teams above the rest. We're 11 games down - a quarter of the season. I love having a team that can win every week - that's how I feel at the moment. I'm very proud of them at the minute. I've loved every minute of the season so far."

His Swansea counterpart Brendan Rodgers said afterwards: "QPR are a very good side and that's why they're at the top and obviously we're very strong here at home. Therewere not many chances in the game. We had good possession and good control, but there were very little chances of note. But I'm still very pleased. We've been very, very good up until now - it's just the type of game we have to get used to It's a point against a very good side and keeps a clean sheet here as well - we've only conceded one goal in all competitions here, which is a terrific record and with a wee bit more luck we probably would have won the game. We've shown over the course of 12 games that we can be up there, it's just keeping that mental pace and that ambition and if we have a wee bit of luck and steer clear of injuries then I think we can be there or thereabouts along with QPR. The position we're in at the moment is excellent. We want to grow and keep performing and moving up the table, but we're happy."  

Warnock has also been talking to the Metro about QPR's fine start to the season and the difficulties they faced against Norwich on Saturday following the injury to Akos Buzsaky. Warnock said: "We were a bit unlucky to lose Akos and we could not play Ali, so we lost a lot of creativity in midfield on Saturday. Akos is a big loss, he’s done extremely well. We had enough opportunities to score anyway, though, and should have done against Norwich. The squad is a lot better now. We have Rob stepping up his training this week after injury. Tommy has not been able to start a game and there are one or two others to come back. We may even have a full squad this weekend. The board have been great, they’ve really backed me. I have to get to Christmas and see where we are then, and what the situation is."

The gaffer has also shed some light on the ongoing Lee Cook injury situation. He told the Fulham Chronicle: "He was let down a little bit at the end of last season with different medical opinion of his knee and he shouldn't have played. He obviously wanted to impress me, but he must have been in pain and it was obvious from day one when we came back in for training that he wasn't right. The new surgeon said he shouldn't have been playing because his knee was so weak and he's had to spend the best part of ten weeks building that knee up now. I feel a bit sorry for him though, because we didn't pick that up. It's no wonder that he's been in pain. He's lost ten weeks of his career through negligence really. There's no timetable for his return, but He's doing very well at the minute. He's training very hard now. He's put on nearly an inch of muscle in his knee.”

Looking ahead to Friday night and the televised clash at Bristol City striker Tommy Smith told the Kilburn Times: "It’s quite a tough time to go there and play Bristol City, I think. Of course they’ve had a bit of turmoil with the manager situation and, no matter what you say, as a player, that certainly affects the whole atmosphere around the club. But they’ve got good players and they’ve been in the top half of the Championship for the last few years, so I’m sure they’ll come back and get stronger as the season progresses. Everyone will be expecting us to win, so the pressure will be on us. When you’re at the top the pressure’s on pretty much every game, but teams are starting to get an idea of our strengths and weaknesses. If I’d been starting, I’d feel like I deserved to keep my place and I understand that – it’s about biding your time. It’s not just me, there are quite a few of us who need to be patient and that’s the way it goes, but hopefully once we get our chance we’ll keep our places.”

Ashton Gate was not a happy hunting ground for Neil Warnock, Clint Hill or Shaun Derry last season. Their Crystal Palace side had a perfectly good goal by Freddy Sears ruled out when the referee failed to see it hit the back of the net. Shaun Derry told the Bristol City website: “It was a ridiculous decision by the officials, but that was the officials, not Bristol City. I wouldn't blame them one bit for anything. It was not down to them to say it was a goal and I would have behaved exactly the same. It has been tough going down at Ashton Gate in the past for me, but this a completely new team on so many levels and I'm hoping it won't be another hard luck story. I don't think it's right to think of revenge, because sometimes if you think only about that, it can get in the way of what you are trying to achieve. Even to this day, that play-off defeat sticks in my throat, but I just want to go there and do a job for QPR to keep us on top of that league."

Finally youngster Romone Rose has spent this week on trial at League Two side Torquay. Rose played alongside his QPR team mate Joe Oastler in a 3-2 reserve team win against Plymouth on Tuesday - Oastler scored one of the goals. Gulls manager Paul Buckle has told the BBC he is hoping to tie up a loan deal for Rose on Friday. He said: "I'm excited - Ramone will be a great addition to the squad. It's that time of the season now where I feel the squad needs a bit of help and that's where my efforts have been this week."

Rumours

Rangers have today been linked, admittedly in the totally unreliable Daily Mail, with a loan move for Arsenal youngster Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. The 19-year-old was captain of Arsenal's FA Youth Cup winning side in 2009 and enjoyed successful loan spells in the Championship last season with Blackpool, one goal in 12 appearances, and then Doncaster, five goals in 14 starts.

Former R's

Centre half Danny Shittu has ended his three month exile from the game by signing a short term contract with our Championship rivals Millwall. Shittu was released by Bolton Wanderers at the end of his contract in the summer but looked like an attractive option on a free transfer for clubs when he returned from World Cup duty with Nigeria. He was linked with a move to Blackpool where he would have been re-united with his former QPR boss Ian Holloway and trained with Crystal Palace for several weeks. But it's another of his former coaches Kenny Jackett who has secured his signature on a three month deal. Shittu said: "This move ticks all the right boxes for me. I'm excited to be coming here and I hope to help Millwall push up the table."

After a bright start to the campaign on their return to the Championship, Millwall have won just one of their last nine and recently conceded six at home to high flying Watford. Jackett will be hoping Shittu's physical presence will shore up his leaky back line.

Defender Matt Hill has joined Barnsley on loan from Wolves. The former Preston left back endured a torrid three months on loan at QPR last season after signing in January and will be hoping for more success at Oakwell after signing a one month loan deal. Manager Mark Robins told the Barnsley official website: "Matt is an experienced Championship defender and that is what we need at the moment following Jay McEveley's injury. I'm delighted to be able to bring him to the club."

Midfielder Adam Miller says he is hopeful of returning to the Cambridge United side before the end of the season after an ankle reconstruction. Miller signed for the U's from Gillingham in June but suffered a bad injury at Eastbourne in August and has not played since. he told the BBC: "I think early signs are showing that it's going really well given it was pretty much an entire reconstruction. They've got movement out of it and they've cast my foot at 45 degrees, which is great. I've said to the boys, 'you do the rest and I'll come on and make a cameo at Wembley in the play-off final. But I'm not too sure, as although I'm quick healer I don't think I'm that quick. Nobody wants to have to wait a year to show what you can do at a club, but there's nothing I can do about that. It's a killer to let down a new club, a new manager and new fans, but I will eventually do well for Cambridge."

Championship Shorts

- Sven Goran Ericsson's temporary rebuilding of his Leicester side continued today with another loan deal. Man City left back Greg Cunningham joins until January following Curtis Davies, Darius Vassell and Kyle Naughton through the Walkers Stadium entrance on short term deals since Ericsson took charge. Veteran striker Steve Howard has signed a new contract until the summer of 2012.

- Preston manager Darren Ferguson believes his job is safe despite North End languishing second bottom of the table. Ferguson said: "It's not a case that if we're beaten on Saturday I'll be sacked. We're all in this together and it's a long term project." Preston face third bottom Crystal Palace at home this Saturday.

- Ipswich boss Roy Keane says the top two is beyond his Ipswich side after successive defeats to Coventry and Watford sent them plummeting down the table. Keane said: "That was always going to be hard for us and that's not me being defeatist. When you look at the squads QPR and Cardiff have, if I were a betting man, I'd say they're the two red hot favourites to go up."

- Former AZ Alkmaar manager Ronald Koeman says he is interested in managing in England, but not at Middlesbrough. Koeman said: "I would love to work in England, preferably at the highest level or at a club with potential. I do not see that at Middlesbrough." Gary Megson and Tony Mowbray are the bookies favourites for the vacant Riverside Stadium post.

Photo: Action Images

Myke added 23:35 - Oct 21 the Lippi story was rediculous but I think it's a sign of the new regime that it was OFFICIALLY refuted at the earliest opportunity -that wouldn't have happened previously when rumour and innuendo were allowed to fester. Dissapointed we didn't pick up Shittu as I feel it's an area were weak in numberswise with Ramage out for the season and Hall injury prone. Similarly to Mahon, I feel Shittu would give us estra strength in depth. Very significant, I feel, that Legs went from playing to not even making the bench - I can see him being released, if not in January then at the end of the season. Surprised if we sign JET, fine player, but we have so many attacking mid-fielders

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Rs4life added 10:02 - Oct 22 Emmanuel-Thomas is a quality player and would do much better than Leigertwood as a backup midfielder. Glad if we get him
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