With just one win between them from the opening month and a half of the season QPR and Crystal Palace will not want to make any more slips when they meet at Loftus Road this evening.

Queens Park Rangers (13th) v Crystal Palace (19th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday September 15, Kick Off 8pm
Loftus Road, London, W12

I do find myself staring at Facebook sometimes wondering what the point of it all is. Without wishing to sound like a grumpy old man (again) I do read various people’s status updates that pop up on my page and think either ‘so what?’ or ‘is that really the sort of thing you should be sharing with others?’ I mean I’m sure your menstrual cycle is frightfully interesting, but do we really need to know it’s “blob week” first thing on a Monday morning as we all sit down at our desks? I think not.

The thing that really irritates me about it though is people adding you as a “friend” when they have never before shown any inclination whatsoever to be friendly towards you, and in fact in the case of some of the requests I have had actually went out of their way to be bloody horrible to you in days gone by. Why would I accept a friend request from some northern chav that once threatened to smack me at secondary school because he said I was Australian when I was, in fact, just southern? Yeh I’ll be your friend, you big thick oik. Still, often it’s reassuring to see that these people amounted to nothing at all – “Interests; smoking, poppers, maintenance payments, pulling doughnuts in my Corsa in the B&Q car park at night.” There’s always somebody worse off than you, and quite often they deserve it.

I hated my secondary school and everything about it. It was in Scunthorpe when I wanted to be in London, I started there on the day we moved house so it was a case of slinging everything in a van in West London at 4am and being plunged into a shithole 250 miles away four hours later left to sink or swim – I sank, but then in fairness to me a school that spends so much time being set on fire by its inmates can’t be the best place to be brought up. Needless to say I won’t be going to the reunions.

Instead I can just watch the Palace class of 2005 roll back the years at Loftus Road on Tuesday night. QPR now boast five of the Palace matchday squad from their last brief stay in the Premiership – and while Fitz Hall will miss this game through injury that still leaves Wayne Routledge, Mikele Leigertwood, Ben Watson and Gary Borrowdale likely to feature at some point for us against their old club. If Palace fans are planning on booing them as vociferously as we do some of our former charges there may well be a few asthma attacks in the away end as the teams are read out.

The natural reaction of a QPR fan to the sight of a former charge taking the field in opposition colours is to assume he will score against us. If Palace have that same annoying knack of conceding to their old favourites we could be in for a good night. Then again the natural reaction of somebody who knows something about Championship football would be to look at the players Jim Magilton has at his disposal and assume we should be doing slightly better than 13th, even at this early stage. Funny old business this life/football/Facebook nonsense.

Five minutes on Palace
Recent History: This is now the fifth season since the Palace side managed by Iain Dowie and containing so many of our current players were last in the Premiership. Palace, managed mostly by Steve Coppell on and off, yo-yod between this league and the one above during the 1990s, never once managing to stay in the Premiership for more than a season. With Andy Johnson in fine goal scoring form, albeit with the aid of several dubiously won penalties, they really should have accomplished that for the first time under Dowie in 2004/05 but choked on the final day, conceding a late equaliser at Charlton and allowing West Brom to escape instead. It was harsh on the Eagles, who had been consistently better than West Brom over the whole season, just not the very tail end of the run in.

Dowie did stick around (although with Simon Jordan as chairman should that be rephrased as ‘was allowed to stick around’?) after relegation and attempted to lead Palace straight back up. In fairness Dowie had done a splendid job since arriving from Oldham midway through the 2003/04 season. He took them on an incredible run in the second half of the season when 17 wins lifted the Eagles out of the relegation mire, into the play offs and then into the Premiership at the expense of Sunderland and West Ham in the play offs. With so little time to build a team in his own way Dowie did remarkably well to go as close to survival in the top flight as he did. Alas, he could not repeat the play off trick in 2006 as Watford pasted them 3-0 at Selhurst in the first leg of the semi final.

Dowie then upped sticks and left, apparently to be closer to his family in the north west, but turned up a week later back in the Premiership with Charlton. The fact that the Valley is technically eight miles further north than Selhurst cut little ice with Simon Jordan who launched a legal challenge against Dowie for breach of contract – and won. Back on the pitch Jordan appointed Peter Taylor, a former Palace player, as his replacement. Taylor seems to go from one extreme to the other – view the contrasting jobs he did at Gillingham and Leicester for example. Prior to joining Palace he had guided Hull City from fourth tier to second but at Palace, with the parachute payments coming to an end, his team stagnated and started to stink. He was fired within 18 months.

It seemed like a match made in hell when, midway through 2007/08, the notoriously fiery Jordan turned to everybody’s favourite pantomime villain Neil Warnock to lead his team. Warnock had previously walked away/been pushed from Sheffield United following their controversial relegation but both men insisted they were friends and the relationship would work. They seemed to be right as Warnock went on a Dowie like run with his team – winning seven and drawing five of the final 14 matches to take a play off spot before losing unluckily to Bristol City in the semi final despite being the better team over the course of the tie. Ben Watson’s penalty miss at Ashton Gate proved crucial.

Palace signed Nick Carle from City for last season and were many people’s outside bet to continue the form of 2007/08 and make the top six again. It never really happened though. Palace became dull and drab at times, despite the continued emergence and impressive performances of the club’s academy prospects such as Victor Moses, Sean Scannell and Nathaniel Clyne. They finished halfway down the bottom half of the league.

While the goal that never was from Freddy Sears at Bristol City has grabbed all the headlines there is no getting away from the fact that Palace seem to be worse still this season. Claims of unpaid transfer instalments and bonus payments to former players resulted in a transfer embargo being placed on the club and the team seems to be short of the necessary quality in a number of areas. Palace have just one win and two draws to their name so far and were hammered 4-0 on Saturday by a Scunthorpe side that was beaten 4-0 itself by Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff in its previous away games.

The Manager: What is there left to say about Neil Warnock? A success at most of his 11 clubs as a manager, but a constant irritant to fans of the other 91 league clubs wherever he has been. He won the Conference with Scarborough in 1987, two promotions with Notts County in the early 90s, one promotion with Huddersfield and another with Plymouth, FA Cup and League Cup semi finals and promotion to the Premiership with Sheffield United and then the play offs with Crystal Palace. He knows what he is doing, and his teams do not play bad football on the whole, but his constant chirruping away in post match interviews and at other managers and referees rubs most up the wrong way.

The thing you have to understand is it is never Warnock’s fault. Sheffield United’s relegation from the Premiership was almost entirely down to him in my opinion – the players he bought, the tactics he used, the things he said i.e. claiming United were safe after a home victory against West Ham. The whole Carlos Tevez affair since has clouded that issue and typified the blame game Warnock likes to play when things have not gone his way.

Warnock’s list of disputes is a mile long but just to give you a flavour he and Stan Ternant hate each other with a passion, Graham Poll is a regular foe of his, Warnock was filmed flicking a V at Norwich boss Nigel Worthington after he’d apparently refused to shake hands after a match, and he has even fallen out with Sean Bean. I actually find Warnock quite entertaining most of the time and often find myself chuckling away at his antics but sometimes he is a bit much and I am not sure how I would have coped had the rumours about him coming to QPR earlier this summer proved to be true.

Warnock is, by his own admission, coming to the end of his career now and won’t seek another job after this one. There is a danger of both him and Palace stagnating with that in mind, particularly if he announces that this is to be his last season, and although the pair are said to be friends chairman Simon Jordan is notoriously trigger happy. Warnock apologised to the supporter and branded the performance embarrassing after Saturday’s hammering by Scunthorpe – the television cameras cut immediately to Jordan in the stands but in fairness having worked under a transfer embargo for most of the summer when Palace’s cheques for bonus payments and transfer instalments didn’t clear and didn’t arrive it would be harsh, even for Jordan, to then turn round and fire the manager.

Scout Report: Against Peterborough before the international break Palace played with a very narrow three man midfield and big man little man strike force of Alan Lee and Freddy Sears. This seemed to be to accommodate Frenchman N’Diaye who, strangely in the usually highly disciplined world of Neil Warnock, who has the positional sense of an epileptic gnat and just seemed to amble around trying to involve himself all over the park. He did a decent job and showed some nice touches but not really enough to justify the sacrifices Palace had to make to cover for him – i.e. a tight, narrow, compact midfield including Shaun Derry in a holding role resulting in a total lack of width.

This narrow set up left Palace’s full backs quite exposed and Danny Butterfield had real problems keeping control of Boyd and Williams down the Peterborough left – if they’re going to play like this again getting people like Routledge and Taarabt wide, keeping them wide and getting them involved at every possible opportunity could be a recipe for success. Although the convention for a big man little man partnership is for the little guy to play on the shoulder of the last man and feed on flick ons and scraps against Peterborough Sears was actually playing deeper than Lee and N’Diaye (when he was up front) and disappeared from the game for long periods as a result.

Anything good Palace did seemed to come through Darren Ambrose. He struck a free kick at London Road from a position wide on the right when a cross was the more sensible option – Radek Cerny got caught out by Coventry’s Dan Fox from a similar position last year and must be on his guard against this. The former Ipswich man took all attacking set pieces, including out swinging corners for which defenders Clint Hill and Patrick McCarthy loitered around the penalty spot, and inswinging ones to the back post from which Alan Lee’s 100th club goal came in the second half. McCarthy was punished for a cynical performance at London Road that included several dives and nasty fouls with a red card for two bookings.

Palace looked steady but very slow at the back and regularly retreated back to their own penalty box when faced with extreme pace – this cost them a goal when Clint Hill backed off Batt too far and allowed him to shoot. They looked to play Peterborough forwards offside with a high line for any balls knocked through the middle or long from the back. Palace’s tactics would obviously be far different, with more width and ability, had Victor Moses been fit to start the game.

Three to Watch: The star turn at Selhurst Park these days is winger Victor Moses. An exciting prospect from the club’s highly successful academy set up and darling of the Premiership scouts. Moses is a fast, skilful, aggressive right winger who can also join the attack in a central role. He has got pace to burn and is a serious threat to every team in this league without exception. He has recently been suffering with a knee injury after falling victim to a crunching tackle in their televised League Cup game with Man City and was only fit for half an hour of action at Peterborough where he made little impact – the two week international break should have provided adequate recovery time and he will be threat in chief on Tuesday night at Loftus Road.

Much has been made of the role played in this season’s Palace team by Frenchman Alessane N’Diaye. He impressed enough in Palace’s pre-season campaign to win a three year contract at Selhurst Park but having heard a lot about him, and sat and watched him at London Road just over a fortnight ago, it really is hard to pin down exactly what he brings to the table. Fans of the old style Championship manager game may understand what I mean when I describe him as SW/CB/DCM/CM/ST. He basically just marauds up and down the middle of the pitch getting in the way of opponents and team mates alike, flicking the ball on if it comes near him in the air and showing a decent touch on the ground without much end product. He played for a year in Palace’s academy after signing last summer and is, apparently, more a defensive minded player even though he is currently being used mainly as an attacking weapon. A bit of a maverick, as Alan Partridge once said.

A more conventional threat in attack is West Ham youngster Freddy Sears who signed on a season long loan during the summer before the Palace transfer embargo was enforced. Sears chose Selhurst Park ahead of Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday for his season of first team football but has endured a tough start to life in a Palace shirt. He had a perfectly good goal disallowed at Bristol City when the match officials missed it hitting the net, and then missed a penalty against Scunthorpe on Saturday although with the score at 4-0 at the time it did not matter a great deal. Once again the old QPR trait of allowing strikers and teams in difficult runs to get back to scoring/winning ways looms large on the horizon. I have to say when I saw Sears against Peterborough he was playing deeper than his normal position on the shoulder of the last man and looked pretty low on confidence.

Links >>> Palace Official Website >>> Palace Message Board

History
Both games between these two sides last season finished in dire scoreless draws. At Loftus Road in April a high boot from Claude Davis on Sam Di Carmine that left the Italian striker badly cut and Paulo Sousa sent to the stand for his subsequent protests was the only incident of any note during the game. In the post match press conference Sousa revealed he had little say in the loan departure of Dexter Blackstock and then after comments to supporters after the match appeared on internet message boards his contract was terminated during the following week.

QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 7, Gorkss 8, Connolly 8, Delaney 7, Leigertwood 6, Routledge 6, Miller 4 (Cook 46, 5), Ephraim 6, Taarabt 6 (Vine 73, 6), Di Carmine 4 (Balanta 85, -)
Subs Not Used: Stewart, Alberti

Crystal Palace: Speroni 7, Lawrence 7, Davis 7, Clyne 7, Hill 5 (Jose Fonte 40, 6), Danns 6, Derry 6, Carle 6, Moses 8, Kuqi 6 (Scowcroft 83, -), Stokes 6 (Ifill 79, 6)
Subs Not Used: Hills, Rui Fonte
Booked: Hill (foul), Davis (high boot), Lawrence (foul), Moses (foul)

There were no goals between the sides at Selhurst Park in November either. The game was just the second of Paulo Sousa’s reign in charge and took Rangers’ run of away games without a goal to six. That wasn’t for the want of trying though, and for the second consecutive visit to this part of the world the travelling faithful were left to rue missed chances. Heidar Helguson was the most guilty party, he rolled a ball wide of an open net from 30 yards with one of his first touches after coming on as a second half substitute.

Crystal Palace: Speroni 6, Clyne 7, Fonte 6, Hill 7, McCarthy 6, Carle 8 (Derry 63, 6), Watson 7, Oster 7, Scannell 7 (Griffit 87, -), Ifill 6 (Kuqi 63, 7), Beattie 6
Subs Not Used: Lawrence, Moses
Booked: Carle (foul)

QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 5, Stewart 7, Gorkss 8, Delaney 6, Agyemang 7 (Di Carmine 90, -), Leigertwood 7, Mahon 6, Parejo 4 (Helguson 46, 6), Ephraim 7, Blackstock 6 (Rowlands 56, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Borrowdale
Booked: Ephraim (foul), Delaney (foul)

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 35
Draws – 28
Palace wins – 29

Previous results:
2008/09 QPR 0 Palace 0
2008/09 Palace 0 QPR 0
2007/08 QPR 1 Palace 2 (Stewart)
2007/08 Palace 1 QPR 1 (Sinclair)
2006/07 Palace 3 QPR 0
2006/07 QPR 4 Palace 2 (Smith 2, Gallen, Lomas)
2005/06 Palace 2 QPR 1 (Furlong)
2005/06 QPR 1 Palace 3 (Ainsworth)
2000/01 QPR 1 Palace 1 (Crouch)
2000/01 Palace 1 QPR 1 (Carlisle)
1999/00 QPR 0 Palace 1
1999/00 Palace 3 QPR 0
1998/99 QPR 6 Palace 0 (Kiwomya 3, Kulscar, Scully, Breaker)
1998/99 Palace 1 QPR 1 (Steiner)
1996/97 QPR 0 Palace 1
1996/97 Palace 3 QPR 0
1994/95 QPR 0 Palace 1
1994/95 Palace 0 QPR 0
1992/93 Palace 1 QPR 1 (Allen)
1992/93 QPR 1 Palace 3 (Penrice)

Played for both clubs: Gerry Francis
QPR 1968-79, 1981-82, 1991-94 (manager), 1998-01 (manager)
Crystal Palace 1978-81
One of the Superhoops’ favourite sons, Gerry Francis’ involvement with the club spans more then three decades as player and manager. If anyone is close to having the name Mr QPR then Francis is one of main contenders.

A product of Rangers’ successful youth team the clever midfielder made his debut for QPR as a 17 year old during a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool in 1968 and a year later made his first start in a 3-1 win over Portsmouth - marking the occasion with his first senior goal for the club. Manager Les Allen had tried to ease the youngster into the first-team but by the time Gordon Jago took over, Francis was too good to leave out and was given the number eight shirt. From then on he became a regular fixture in the first team as the main creative spark in midfield, striking up almost telepathic understandings with Stan Bowles and Don Givens. By the 1975/76 season Francis was a pivotal part of Dave Sexton’s free flowing attractive Rangers side. That season Francis and Rangers pushed mighty Liverpool all the way in the title race but agonisingly missed out on the championship by one point to finish second. By now Francis was an established England international too, earning 12 caps and captaining his country on eight occasions.

A back injury the following season then robbed Rangers of their midfield maestro and would only play 24 of Rangers next 84 games, and struggled to discover the kind of form that had made him a Loftus Road hero. In 1979 Francis ended a decade in W12 by moving across London to Crystal Palace . However he never settled at Selhurst Park, and despite making over fifty appearances for the Eagles he soon moved back to QPR. But the back injury was still taking his toll, and he soon moved on again to enjoy spells at Coventry, Exeter, Swansea and Bristol Rovers before moving into management.

Cutting his managerial teeth at Exeter after just a season at St James Park, Francis took over at Bristol Rovers and took a struggling Third Division side into a respected passing side a division above. It wasn’t before long the lure of Loftus Road was too much to ignore and he returned to QPR as manager in 1992 succeeding Don Howe. Having inherited a squad with talent such as Alan McDonald, Andy Sinton and Les Ferdinand, Francis got the best out of Rangers and brought the likes of Gary Penrice, Ian Holloway and Darren Peacock with him to mark his own stamp on the team. All of which paid benefit when he led the R’s to a fifth place finish in the newly created Premier League - their best position for 20 years and as London’s top club. Successive mid-table finishes followed and Francis un-earthed gems like Trevor Sinclair and Bradley Allen and made Ferdinand a Premier League star. Unfortunately a clash with the board over a possible appointment of Rodney Marsh above him led to him leaving Loftus Road in 1994 for Tottenham. At Tottenham he helped the club to seventh spot and an FA Cup semi-final but mid-table finished the following two campaigns saw the Spurs unconvinced as he resigned in November 1997.

A year later though he was back at QPR, who had slumped since his departure and were now in a relegation battle at the bottom of Division One. The Francis effect was enough for Rangers to pull off the great escape that season, sealing it with a 6-0 win over Palace on the last day. But with no money to spend and an ever decreasing quality of squad, he resigned from his post in February 2001 with relegation to the third tier imminent. Some had suggested his heart was no longer in the game and didn’t want to be responsible for relegating his beloved side - even his successor Ian Holloway couldn’t prevent it.

A further spell at Bristol Rovers before Gerry took a long break of seven years from the game. Now currently on the coaching staff at Stoke City and occasionally appearing as a pundit on Sky Sports. – AR

Links >>> QPR 0 Palace 0 Match Report >>> Palace 0 QPR 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Tuesday
Team News:
To follow.

Elsewhere: A full programme of Championship action this midweek with ten games on Tuesday night and another two on Wednesday. The early pace setters Newcastle have an awkward little trip to Blackpool on Wednesday and second placed West Brom have a home fixture against Doncaster Rovers. Two teams tipped for better than they have managed so far clash at Portman Road as Ipswich face Nottingham Forest. Cardiff City will hope to get back to winning ways at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on Wednesday night. The Championship returns on Friday with a clash between the two Sheffield sides Wednesday and United at Bramall Lane live on Sky Sports.

Referee: Yet again this season we have a referee taking charge of his first ever QPR game. Mick Russell has been on the list for five seasons though and had two palace matches last year – a win and a defeat. On Saturday at Cardiff we have Lee Probert and there is lots of history with him which should at last give us something to fill this section with.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Russell in charge >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: Rangers still have only one win and one defeat to their name in the league in a season so far dominated by draws. Blackpool were fortunate to leave with a 1-1 from Loftus Road on day one, Forest and Peterborough probably deserved more than the same scoreline in the subsequent matches. The only win so far has come at Scunthorpe, the only defeat at Bristol City, and there is another 1-1 draw at Plymouth thrown in there for good measure. QPR are a Pools player’s wet dream at the moment.

Palace:Like QPR Palace have only won once this season, and like QPR that win came away from home – a 3-1 win at fellow strugglers Ipswich in Palace’s case. Other than that they have been beaten at Bristol City (controversially) and drawn at Peterborough on the road this season. At Selhurst they have drawn with Plymouth and lost to Newcastle and Scunthorpe in the league, beaten Torquay and lost to Man City in the League Cup. Last season Palace won six and drew four of their 23 away games in the league, but prior to the Ipswich win they had lost four and drawn one of their previous five road trips. It is now 16 games since Palace lead a match at half time.

Prediction: QPR have a pretty poor record against Palace in recent times, two notable home wins 4-2 and 6-0 excepted of course, and these are usually drab, physical, tightly fought games. Both teams are probably a little low on confidence, neither has really clicked into gear yet, and I expect a small crowd and poor atmosphere to hinder their chances further. At the moment you’d be a fool to do anything other than back a 1-1 draw in QPR matches so that’s what I shall do. Remember you can win yourself W12 t-shirts courtesy of ilovemypostcode.com simply by guessing the score, first scorer and attendance of tonight's match. Either post your answers on the message board thread or e-mail loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.
Score draw

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