The second coming of Warnock — Preview Saturday, 7th Nov 2015 00:37 by Clive Whittingham Neil Warnock will be back in the dugout at Loftus Road tomorrow for the start of his second spell in charge, almost four years after the controversial and harsh end to his first. Queens Park Rangers (13th) v Preston North End (16th)Championship >>> Saturday November 7, 2015 >>> Kick Off 15.00 >>> Weather — Pissing it down, wrath of God stuff >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 “Muck and nettles, headers and tackles,” it was like Neil Warnock had never been away. Apart from the hairline, now as far back as a Clint Hill and Richard Dunne defensive set up, you could almost close your eyes, listen to his interviews today and pretend that whole Mark Hughes-Harry Redknapp-Chris Ramsey period didn’t happen at all. What a glorious thought. No massive debt, no pathetic relegations, no Jose Bosingwa, no Mobido Maiga. Clint Hill and Jamie Mackie (aka Jairmi Macki) are still here. Maybe this is like Dallas and I’m going to step out of the shower tomorrow and it’s going to be 2011 again. Do it properly this time Rangers please for the love of all that’s good in the world. Problem is, by stepping back in Warnock is putting his legacy at QPR at risk. Ray Wilkins isn’t remembered nearly as fondly as he should be in W12 because of his poor spell as manager which now overshadows the fantastic service he gave the club as a player. Les Ferdinand, who dodged the bullet as a player when second spells were available to him, could also now go down the same road — “when is Les Ferdinand leaving?” asked one message board thread this week before calling one of the club’s greatest ever players a “chancer”. Warnock is currently remembered as the man who took over QPR when it was a shambles and got it back to the Premier League for the first time in 15 years. Shaun Derry, his captain in all but armband, is revered around Loftus Road. If they both come back now, when the club is saddled with debt and escalating issues at board level, and find what Hughes, Redknapp and Ramsey all found, is that memory going to be ruined or spoiled? Worse still, Ian Holloway is short odds for the job. Why not just feed me Bambi's mum for Christmas dinner? By the time he'd admitted he wasn't good enough to manage Palace in the Premier League and then been chewed up by the Millwall job he looked a hollow shell of the bright, bubbly, enthusiastic character who so inspired our club to better itself from its place in the gutter from 2000 to 2005. Christ knows what failing at QPR second time round would do to him - and he likely would fail, same as everybody else, given the set up here these days. Anybody else out there? I mean maybe we could get Phil Parkes in as the goalkeeping coach, then start coating him off in six months time when Robert Green still can't kick. Perhaps Tim Sherwood being such short odds for the job is no bad thing. Perhaps we should go out of our way to appoint managers we dislike. Rather than going around tarnishing the legacies of our club’s finest servants, let’s get Jody Morris or Steve Claridge in here or somebody of that ilk. At least the inevitable defeats to follow would come with some sort of sadistic pleasure. There are some indications that things might be a little different this time. One or two of the names backed into short odds — Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for instance — aren’t the usual big ego from a shortlist of one that has become the norm at QPR. Perhaps CEO Lee Hoos, who was involved in the appointment of Nigel Pearson at Leicester, Eddie Howe and Sean Dyche at Burnley, is having an influence. One can only hope. But then there are the usual headlines about QPR seeking a “quick appointment” to damage morale further. Simon Johnson in the Standard says Warnock himself, despite saying repeatedly he doesn’t want to manage anymore and having done a poor job at Leeds and second time round at Palace more recently, could get the job if he impresses this month. Now, Simon Johnson once wrote a story saying QPR were hoping to “cash in” on a sale of Stephane Mbia three days before his contract expired and he left for free, while the Standard once ran a backpage splash saying QPR were about to sign Roberto Baggio. But that would be a very QPR thing to do. Rangers have three games this month - two at home against teams they’d probably have beaten under Chris Ramsey, and one away they wouldn’t win under Alex Ferguson. If the Standard is correct, we’ll potentially make a permanent managerial appointment based on three results we would have got anyway. But after a week of analysis, handwringing, soul searching and blame game, it will be nice to get on with some actual football tomorrow. Neil Warnock will almost certainly provoke some sort of reaction from the players, and change the team around a little, but he’ll find the set up at QPR now is even less conducive to success on the pitch than it was when he was last here, when he did at least have Amit Bhatia and Ishan Saksena running things immediately above him. Nevertheless, he will lift the mood around the ground. After the toxic atmosphere of MK Dons and Brentford it will be nice, whatever the future holds, to watch a QPR game in more positive surroudnings. Links >>> Blackstock’s spectacular strike — History >>> Unlevel playing field — Interview >>> Lewis in charge — referee >>> Back Warnock to win on Rangers return — Betting Struggling QPR beat promotion-chasing West Brom 3-1 at Loftus Road in the first match of Neil Warnock’s last spell with the club. Goals from Jay Simpson, Matt Connolly and Akos Buzsaky, on a typically shambolic day for visiting keeper Scott Carson, sealed the win. SaturdayTeam News: James Perch’s long, exasperated sigh of a red card at Derby in the week means he serves his second one match ban of the season already. Nedum Onuoha moved to right back last time, but with Clint Hill injured and Gabrielle Angella nursing a foot problem it will be interesting to see what Neil Warnock does in his first game back in charge. Jamie Mackie is a long term absentee.Preston are without midfielder John Welsh who serves a one match ban for doing 37 in a 30 zone, just a mile away from a local school. Scum. Tom Clarke is close to a return from his wanker’s cramp but Jermaine Beckford and Chris Humphrey are out long term. Elsewhere: Fans raced onto the pitch at Nottingham Trees this evening to openly mock the Derby Sheep, let off flares and scream into the Sky cameras as their team dramatically moved up from nineteenth to fifteenth with a scrappy 1-0 win. Expect more of that sort of fuckwittery if Huddersfield happen to beat the Champions of Europe in the Saturday lunchtime game following the sacking of Chris Powell earlier this week. Then there’s a congealed mass of Championship gunk at 15.00 ahead of a merciful fortnight break for a round of crucial international friendlies. Let’s rattle through these shall we… Mad Chicken Farmers at home to Abacus whose manager who doesn’t want to be a manager has just won the Manager of the Month. Bolton v the Wurzels is a relegation six pointer, league leaders Brighton host the Franchise, Cardiff welcome Waitrose, struggling Charlton are at home to the Sheffield Owls. Breathes. Tarquin and Rupert host Birmingham for their Saturday book club, Tigers Tigers Rah Rah Rah have a top-of-the-table clash with Boro, Rotherham play Ipswich and Wolves host big-spending Burnley. Referee: It’s been a while since Rob Lewis made rather a mess of refereeing a 2-0 defeat for John Gregory’s QPR at Ipswich — way back in 2007 in fact — but after an intervening eight years spent mostly in the bottom two divisions he gets a first appointment at Loftus Road this Saturday. You may better remember him as the linesman who failed to spot Pedro Mendes’ 45-yarder over Roy Carroll at Old Trafford had crossed the line. For his case file and stats please click here. FormQPR: Chris Ramsey loses his job after a run of two wins from ten matches, and successive 1-0 losses on the road at Brentford and Derby. Rangers have tightened their defence, conceding just two goals in the last four games having shipped 20 in the previous 11, but it’s seemingly come at the expense of an attack that was the league’s most potent with 18 in the first 10 matches but has only managed four in the last five, and three of those were against lowly MK Dons. At home Rangers have won three (MK Dons, Bolton, Rotherham), drawn three (Sheff Wed, Blackburn, Cardiff) and lost one (Forest). Preston: With Jermaine Beckford injured and Joe Garner, as yet, failing to find his League One form at the higher level, Preston’s problem is obvious — lack of goals. They’ve only lost five of their 18 games in all competitions this season, but there have been eight draws among that lot. They’ve scored 11 goals in 15 league games so far — only Bolton have managed fewer with ten. They’ve failed to score on six separate occasions this season. Grayson’s side come into this one in good form, unbeaten in five with clean sheets in all, but they’ve failed to score in three of them and only scored once in the last three matches. That said, a 0-0 draw at league leaders Brighton is a decent result. So far away from home this year PNE have won two (Charlton, MK Dons), drawn two (Brighton, Rotherham) and lost three (Hull, Brentford, Sheff Wed). Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding tells us… “Well its back to supporting Warnock's Blue and White Army for the time being, and looking at the odds available for Saturday’s game, it looks like a win may actually be on the cards. “Preston are unbeaten in their last five games, including a creditable draw away at league leaders Brighton, but a closer look at their results shows they've only gained these points against the current division's whipping boys, Bolton and Charlton. Three scoreless draws make up the list. In fact, Preston haven't conceded in any of these games, so having not conceded in 450 minutes of football, it’s hard to rush to back QPR but I expect the Lancashire outfit will come across a hungrier Rangers side here, with the division’s best striker nearing full fitness again. “If this game had been priced a month ago, QPR would of been strong odds on favourites but recent scorelines for both teams mean that the current prices available of 13/10 QPR, 12/5 Draw and 12/5 Preston tells its own story. The prices seem to have gone too far to me and I think QPR are worth an interest. Let’s hope for renewed vigour both on the pitch and in the stands on Saturday.” Recommended Bet: QPR v Preston - QPR to win @ 13/10 (General) Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion isawqpratwhitecity says… Jim’s Prediction: QPR 2-1 Preston. First Scorer: Charlie Austin LFW’s Prediction: QPR 2-0 Preston. First Scorer: Charlie Austin 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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