The ticket prices saga continues to rumble on as Man Utd claim QPR rejected their offer of reduced tickets for the Carling Cup clash – meanwhile there’s news of Lee Cook and a possible new arrival up front.

It seems somehow apt that as QPR stumble from one PR disaster to another the latest smash at the box office is titled “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”. Rangers are certainly doing plenty of that at the moment, and their insistence on making people pay through the nose to watch what is still a pretty ordinary QPR side continued this week with the announcement that our 6000 Old Trafford tickets for the big cup match in November will be priced at £40 for adults, and £20 concessions.

For cup matches ticket revenue and allocation is split more equally which means QPR could be entitled to as many as 9000 seats at this match if necessary, and will get 40% of the gate receipts. Of course the Carling Cup is traditionally a poorly attended competition and for this reason Premiership clubs often like to discount tickets for early round games, particularly when facing lower league opposition. However this reduction can only be brought in with the agreement of the away side and according to communications from United today QPR have said no. Man Utd will now be forced to charge both sets of fans Premiership prices to see this match.

There were rumours that Rangers had done something similar at Villa Park in the last round, rejecting the home team’s plans to sell tickets at £10 for adults and eventually compromising on £15. That was never confirmed, though widely reported in the press, however an e-mail from Manchester United to the QPR 1st Supporters trust has confirmed this time that: “For any Carling Cup match we put to the away club that cheaper ticket prices are set. You are right in saying that we put the cheaper price to the board at QPR but they declined.”

To make matters worse QPR fans are not allowed to buy tickets for this match from Loftus Road and instead have to post their application off or phone in when, after a lengthy wait, they will again be forced to deal with our old friends at Ticketmaster. True to form they have already made an error today and sold multiple tickets to season ticket holders despite it currently being only one per client reference number – the club has been forced to ring supporters to inform them of the mistake and withdraw and refund the additional tickets they have bought, others though are yet to hear back and have had e-mails confirming their order of multiple tickets.

Of course the £3.50 booking fee applies as does a £4.25 recorded delivery postage charge which you must clearly state you are opting out of if you do not want to pay it.

On the pitch Iain Dowie has singled winger Lee Cook out for praise for his performances against Blackpool and Birmingham – Cook was the LFW man of the match in both games. Dowie told Teamtalk “I thought he was terrific - he was our best player in the first half. In the second half he did not get the ball quite so much but he was terrific."

Cook for his part told the Kilburn Times: “People have had to be patient with me. I knew it was going to take a while to get into my stride but, in the last three or four weeks, I've been feeling back to my old self in training, doing some sharp, quick turns. I feel good now and I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things and do what I do best."

Rangers have a break this weekend of course for internationals but one or two of our players will be heading off to represent their countries. Damien Delaney is in the Ireland squad, but unlikely to make the starting eleven, as they face Cyprus next Wednesday. Kaspars Gorkss is away with Latvia for games with Switzerland and Israel while the in form Damion Stewart is away on his travels again as Jamaica face Mexico and Honduras.

With the boys scoring just three goals in their last six games it’s no surprise to see the rumour mill linking us with a couple of strikers this week. The local West London press has tipped a loan move for Fulham’s out of favour American attacker Clint Dempsey and Reading’s Leroy Lita who is on loan at Norwich until the end of the month. Meanwhile sources have told LFW that Rangers are also eyeing up a loan move for Bolton’s Heidar Helguson.

Dempsey is a midfielder by trade but an eye for goal and height advantage has seen him used more as a striker in recent times at Craven Cottage – he has seven goals in 36 starts and 20 sub appearances since arriving on these shores. Helguson has struggled in the Premiership with both Fulham and Bolton but enjoyed great success in the Championship with Watford where he scored 20 goals in the 2004/05 season.

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