As a traumatic season for QPR begins to draw to a close the R's welcome Cardiff City, succeeding on the pitch despite a desperate situation off it, to Loftus Road for the final Saturday home match of the campaign.

Queens Park Rangers (18th) v Cardiff City (4th)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday April 17, Kick Off 3pm
Loftus Road, London, W12

Where does the time go? One minute I'm sitting here trawling through the LFW Season preview for typos, the next I'm penning this look ahead to our final Saturday home game of a tumultuous season.

For Cardiff the season has panned out much as many thought it would - a play off push on the pitch, financial strain off it. With a decent manager like Dave Jones, quality players for the level like Michael Chopra, Peter Whittingham and Chris Burke, and a chairman as terminally incompetent as Peter Ridsdale that scenario was always likely. They're not as good as Forest, and will struggle to overcome them in the end of season play offs.

We had of course hoped that QPR would be involved in that shake up at this stage. Home games against Cardiff and Newcastle to end the season looked a mouthwatering prospect when Rangers climbed to fourth in the table in November. Sadly one implosion after another has meant that it was only last week at Palace, when the team finally started to look something a bit more like it, that we started to breath a little easier and stop looking over our shoulders so frantically. We thought last season was bad - this year we've been through one more manager (four), used more players and we're going to finish lower in the table. The only positive we can take is that it became so ridiculous Flavio Briatore had no choice but to step away, and has subsequently been replaced by a board who seem to understand what QPR is about much more and have already taken many positive steps in righting the wrongs of the past two years - the appointment of Neil Warnock in a traditional English manager's role is the most positive move of all.

To be honest I think we've been very lucky. A team with our turnover of players, management and chairmen over the last nine months could easily have been relegated regardless of the talent within the team, and really but for a six week run in October and November that we thought would be the catalyst for a play off push at the time, has kept us in the division at all. That, and the appointment of Warnock, because we would surely have been doomed anyway had either Hart or Harford stayed on until the end of the season - such was the lack of passion, commitment, ability, organisation, confidence, belief or anything at all other than apathy and malaise during their respective times in charge. At Palace last week they started by knocking long balls at Andrew, then when he went off the knocked them at John, then Alan Lee, then John again. None of it to any positive effect whatsoever. And yet still Hart stood there, pointing long - longer, higher. Is there a worse manager working in our league at the moment? I doubt it. He may yet take Palace down, he certainly would have done with us. Last week brought back a lot of memories.

Warnock says the future looks bright, and I hope he's right. Hopefully the ascent to 51 points will relax the players sufficiently to play a bit more like they did at Palace and less like they did at Leicester. The fact that a win against Cardiff this week or Barnsley next would give us our first double in two years is an extra incentive for the team.

Five minutes on Cardiff
The Story so far: While Cardiff have become famed in recent seasons for collapsing spectacularly at this time of the year, it seems that with just three games left to play and a seven point cushion between them and seventh placed Blackpool that this is finally going to be the year when they compete for a place in the Premiership through the play offs. It’s a success built against a backdrop of financial uncertainty and protests from supporters off the field, which makes Dave Jones’ management of the team all the more impressive.

Many Bluebirds fans were calling for Jones to go at the end of last season when they beat Derby (4-1), Burnley (3-1) and Palace (2-0) at Selhurst Park in consecutive games at the start of April to seemingly seal their place in the play offs only to then spectacularly blow it with three defeats and a draw in the final four games – including a 6-0 thrashing at Preston that made a crucial alteration to the goal difference between the two sides and a 2-1 defeat at a poor Sheff Wed side on the final day that allowed North End to sneak in courtesy of a victory against QPR at Deepdale. Both teams finished on 74 points and plus 12 goals, Preston got the nod courtesy of a single goal scored. Had Cardiff lost 5-0 at Preston, in a game where the sixth goal was scored just three minutes from the end, they would have made the play offs regardless of the late collapse.

The Bluebirds lost Roger Johnson to Birmingham in the summer and replaced him on the cheap with square arsed former Palace man Mark Hudson. Michael Chopra returned in attack, ostensibly for £4m but the majority of the fee came from writing off the remainder of the debt Sunderland owed them for the original transfer, and City started the season well with three big wins and a draw in August. September brought wobbles, and defeats at Newcastle, Doncaster, Sheff Wed and of course QPR, but Cardiff have what so many teams lack at this level – plenty of goals in their team. Despite our 2-0 win at the new Cardiff City Stadium earlier this season the potency of a Bothroyd/Chopra/McCormack strike force is certainly not lost on QPR fans who have seen our club play at success in this league with a pitiful forward line ever since Paul Furlong ended his time at Loftus Road. Cardiff have scored three goals in a game five times this season, four goals five times and six goals against Bristol City in a single game. They’ve been suspect defensively and mentally, they were 4-0 up at half time at Peterborough over Christmas and drew, and less potent of late, no goals in their last two games, but the fact that there are plenty of goals in this team has so far staved off their usual wobbles.

Off the pitch the picture is less rosy. If the hard luck story of the 2008/09 season wasn’t enough to inspire a little twinge of sympathy in you for the Burberry clad nobodies who invade Loftus Road once a season in progressively angrier states for no reason at all then perhaps you can at least offer a patronising “awww never mind” for fans who have seen their club owned by first Sam Hamman and Peter Ridsdale. It’s a bit like getting to the cup final and hearing that your club song is going to be recorded by Ant and Dec, employing Harold Shipman as your club doctor or waking up to the news that your new manager is Bryan Robson. You wouldn’t wish Hamman, or Ridsdale on your worst enemy. Well, you might, but you shouldn’t.

Cardiff have been to a cup final of course, and they’re all but assured of play off football this season meaning they could be in the Premiership next term. They have a shiny new stadium and are, at the very least, secure in the Championship after languishing in the bottom two divisions for years before Hamman arrived. What’s not to like? What are they moaning about?

Of course when Leeds United were playing Champions League quarter finals in Valencia with a team dominated by English players the thought of league games with Hartlepool United probably didn’t figure in the thoughts of too many supporters. Likewise when Wimbledon were in the top ten of the Premiership and roughing the big boys up did any of their fans ever envisage that the club would very quickly be in the bottom division and playing 70 miles north in Milton Keynes? Ridsdale and Hamman have records of short term boom, followed by very long term bust. They will spend money the club doesn’t have on transfer fees and huge wages chasing dreams the club cannot afford.

Cardiff, who have been bringing in and paying wages to the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink, Trevor Sinclair, Michael Chopra and so on over the past two or three seasons are absolutely skint. The owe Hamman tens of millions of pounds, because while he was throwing money around left right and centre to get them this far none of it was ever a gift, and have been issued with several winding up orders by HM Revenue and Customs this season. Hamman himself tried to bring forward the agreed date of repayment on his loans to the club at the start of this season but the High Court found in City’s favour. That money does still have to be repaid though. In January Ridsdale, and do stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before, offered to sell the supporters season tickets for future campaigns at a fixed price rate only available if they bought them right there and then. The money, he said, would go on new players in the January transfer window. It didn’t - wouldn’t you just believe it - it went on settling the mounting bills and interest payments threatening to cripple the club. The fans were furious and marched on the ground.

Had Ridsdale said the deal was to finance debt not as many fans would have taken it up, but some would. During QPR’s promotion season a plea from the club for money from supporters to help keep administration at bay and the promotion charge on track quickly yielded £80,000. In a strange role reversal on what’s happened at Cardiff that money then went on bringing Jamie Cureton to the club.

Cardiff’s situation would be helped massively by promotion to the Premiership and the estimated £60-£70m in revenue that would bring in overnight. Were they to ‘do a West Brom’ and go up, pocket most of that, accept that they’ll probably come straight back but secure the future of the club in the process ensuring that any future trip to the top may last a little longer then they could solve their problems in one fell swoop. But this is Ridsdale though. If they do go up expect signings galore – foreign players, British players, young players, old players, players you’ve never heard of before, players you’ll never hear of again. He cannot help himself. He’s like the boy who starts a game on Championship Manager by taking over Manchester United, buying all the shit players from the team he actually wants to manage at a great mark up, and then immediately resigning so he has a big transfer kitty to play with. He operates in a tear in the fabric of reality. It would be no surprise at all to see Cardiff back here the season after next after one year in the Premiership, somehow in an even bigger mess financially than they are now. If they don’t go up at all, and I wouldn’t back them against Forest in the play offs, then heaven only knows what state they’ll be in when next we meet.

And as you watch the Burberry clad warriors being frog marched around W12 on Saturday at our club’s expense, hurling bottles and anti English insults as they go, you may afford yourself a little smile at their situation, their eight bedroom mansion built on quicksand foundations. And I wouldn’t blame you. But when the chavs have gone home and the game is over allow yourself a moment to reflect on what kind of sport this is when a man who chased impossible dreams with a famous name of English football and bankrupted it in the process, is simply allowed to move into another club 200 miles away and start doing exactly the same thing again.

The Manager: Dave Jones is now one of the most experienced managers in the Championship but the noises coming out of Cardiff following their dramatic collapse at the end of last season was that he might no longer be considered the best man for this job. Personally I would not envy any manager working for Peter Ridsdale and the financial situation at City looks to be a recipe for future disaster so Jones seems to be doing a sound job to me, and he seems to have finally persuaded the players to see the job through to the end of a 46 game season – although with three left to play don’t count your chickens just yet.

Jones cut his managerial teeth at Stockport and after winning two promotions with them also did well at Southampton until revelations about his private life, which he tackles with great honesty and anger in his recently released autobiography ‘No Smoke, No Fire’ saw him take leave of his position and then eventually get replaced by Glenn Hoddle. He won promotion with Wolves after returning to football and has done a good job at Cardiff so far. It looked like Cardiff may have missed the boat by not getting promotion last season when Roger Johnson went on without them to join Birmingham City but the expected exodus of players has not materialised with Joe Ledley and Ross McCormack staying put and Michael Chopra signing on a permanent basis. Realistically Jones only has one more shot at this before patience in South Wales starts to wear a bit thin and so far all the signs are good – Cardiff must shed their recently acquired reputation as chokers to keep their gaffer employed into next season.

Three to Watch: While all the headlines in South Wales are often about Michael Chopra and Joe Ledley, Cardiff have picked up some real quality players for this level elsewhere in their team as well.

Peter Whittingham may slip under the radar slightly and that would be a very dangerous thing as I believe (no family bias here I assure you) that he is pivotal to the way Cardiff play the game. An Aston Villa trainee as a youth Whittingham has 17 England Under 21 caps to his name and a sweet left foot that creates a lot of the openings for Chopra and Bothroyd in attack. He has maybe suffered in the past through not having a proper position – not really defensive enough to play left back, not quick enough to be an out and out left winger, and crowded out of the centre of City’s midfield by Ledley and McPhail among others. He seems to have blossomed this season though – never really renowned as a goalscorer he has bagged 22 in all competitions this year from 46 appearances, three more than Chopra, and has become a feared set piece taker in the Championship. I’ll be honest and say I never saw this sort of form coming from him in a million years. If Cardiff don’t go up expect interest from elsewhere.

Chris Burke keeps tight to the touchline wide right meaning that Whittingham can come infield and influence the game with a fine passing game without making the play or the Cardiff side too narrow. His set pieces can be lethal as well. Burke himself provides a different kind of threat from wide on the right. While Whittingham is a more thoughtful player, Burke is a Wayne Routledge style kick and rush winger who loves to get the ball at his feet and drive at the heart of a defence at speed whenever possible. He scored a fine goal in victory at Selhurst Park a couple of weeks ago when I last saw City play. Burke joined Cardiff earlier last year after making just shy of 100 appearances for his boyhood club Rangers north of the border and he too likes to take corners meaning City always have an option to outswing or inswing all set pieces depending on the opposition .

The focal point of the attack, the man Whittingham, Burke and Ledley feed into and the one Chopra feeds off, is Jay Bothroyd who is a useful target man at this level while never really fulfilling the early potential he showed at Arsenal that persuaded first Coventry to take a £1m gamble on him and then Perugia to give him a chance to prove himself in Serie A. Bothroyd has yet be a real success anywhere and is probably best remembered for a horrendous hack on Norwich’s Mattias Jonson while playing on loan for Blackburn Rovers in 2004. He goes down injured a lot when often there turns out to be little wrong with him, a bit like Emile Heskey, but having said all of that he is important to the way Chopra and Cardiff like to operate and if QPR can cut service to him in the first place, or pick up the second balls from him often enough, they will have one a long way towards stopping the Bluebirds causing us problems.

Links >>> Cardiff Official Website >>> Cardiff City Message Board

History
QPR’s excellent run of form that carried them to fourth in the table by the start of November began with a 2-0 win at Cardiff City in September. On their first visit to the new Cardiff City Stadium Rangers were absolutely excellent, with Watson and Rowlands pulling the strings at the heart of midfield and Routledge and Jay Simpson running amok in attack. The R’s were two goals up before half time as Simpson buried his first for the club from a suspiciously offside position then took advantage of a surging Routledge run to receive the ball in space and drill it home. Buzsaky struck the Cardiff post and Vine curled a chance fractionally wide of the post in the second half as Rangers dominated from start to finish.

Cardiff: Marshall 5, Kennedy 5, Hudson 5, Gerrard 5, Quinn 5,Whittingham 6 (Magennis 54, 6), Burke 7, Ledley 4, Taiwo 6 (Rae 54, 5),Bothroyd 5 (Scimeca 67, 5), Chopra 5
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Capaldi, Comminges
Booked: Quinn (foul), Chopra (foul)

QPR: Cerny 7, Leigertwood 7, Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Borrowdale 7,Routledge 7, Rowlands 9, Watson 8, Buzsaky 7, Simpson 8 (Pellicori 77, 6),Vine 6 (Agyemang 82, 6)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Ramage, Mahon, Faurlin, Ephraim
Booked: Stewart (foul), Pellicori (handball)
Goals: Simpson 19 (assisted Vine), 40 (assisted Routledge)

Rangers have a decent recent record against Cardiff at Loftus Road, and beat the Bluebirds 1-0 on this ground last season thanks to a late header from Gavin Mahon. Rangers were below par though and probably owed much of their success to Cardiff’s indiscipline as the visitors were reduced to nine men by the end. Darren Purse was sent off before half time for a lunging tackle on Lee Cook that could easily have been given a yellow card and then deep into the second half Comminges also got to sample the early bath water after arguing with a linesman. In between the red cards Mahon struck, sending a good cross from Peter Ramage sailing over Heaton’s head and into the corner.

QPR: Cerny 8, Ramage 6, Stewart 8, Hall 8, Connolly 7, Ledesma 5 (Buzsaky 55, 7), Rowlands 5, Tommasi 5 (Mahon 67, 7) Cook 5, Blackstock 4, Di Carmine 5 (Agyemang 71, 7)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Delaney
Booked: Agyemang (foul)
Goals: Mahon 80 (assisted Ramage)

Cardiff: Heaton 6, McNaughton 7, Purse 5, R Johnson 7, Comminges 6, Rae 6, Ledley 6 (Gyepes 29, 7), Whittingham 6, McPhail 6, Eddie Johnson 5 (Parry 72, 5), Chopra 5
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Blake, Brown
Sent Off: Purse (28) (dangerous tackle), Comminges (87) (two bookings)
Booked: McPhail (foul), Comminges (foul), Comminges (dissent)

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 31
Draws – 11
Cardiff wins – 24

Previous results:
2009/10 Cardiff 0 QPR 2 (Simpson 2)
2008/09 Cardiff 0 QPR 0
2008/09 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Mahon)
2007/08 Cardiff 3 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2007/08 QPR 0 Cardiff 2
2006/07 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Blackstock)
2006/07 Cardiff 0 QPR 1 (Jones)
2005/06 Cardiff 0 QPR 0
2005/06 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Nygaard)
2004/05 Cardiff 1 QPR 0
2004/05 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Shittu)
2002/03 Cardiff 1 QPR 0 (Play Off Final)
2002/03 Cardiff 1 QPR 2 (Furlong, Langley)
2002/03 QPR 0 Cardiff 4
2001/02 Cardiff 1 QPR 1 (Pacquette)
2001/02 QPR 2 Cardiff 1 (Thomson 2)
1999/00 QPR 1 Cardiff 2 (Peacock)
1999/00 Cardiff 1 QPR 2 (Langley, Fowler og)

Played for both clubs:
Wayne Routledge Cardiff (loan) 2008
QPR 2009-2010
Routledge has become one of football’s nomads with eight clubs already to his name while still only 25 years old. Clubs six and seven on that list were Cardiff and QPR – he joined the Bluebirds on loan from Aston Villa and then reneged on a permanent deal to join QPR for more money instead. He only stayed at Loftus Road for a year though, starting very slowly in his first six months with the club before excelling in the first half of this season and earning a £2m move to Newcastle.

Routledge burst onto the scene as a 16 year old across London at Crystal Palace and marked his full starting debut in dream fashion with a goal just a minute into the game. Over the next few seasons Wayne would become a more regular fixture in the Eagles’ starting XI and tasted play-off success in 2004 when Iain Dowie took Palace all the way to the Premier League after taking over at Selhurst earlier that season when they were fighting relegation. Routledge went on to be an ever present in Palace’s Premier League campaign chipping in with eight assists but could not stop the South London club from going straight back down.

Wayne had done enough though to impress the big boys and that summer was snapped up by Spurs for £1.25 million. A move that Palace chairman Simon Jordon would later criticise Routledge for making too early in his career. His life at Tottenham started frustratingly as a foot injury on his debut kept him out of the side and once he’d recovered Aaron Lennon was establishing himself in his position on the right flank. To build up his fitness and get some first-team action, Wayne joined Portsmouth in the January transfer window and enjoyed a successful spell under Harry Redknapp helping the club avoid relegation. Back at White Hart Lane he impressed in pre-season but still saw himself down the pecking order so moved to Fulham on a season-long loan as part of the Steed Malbranque deal. Once again the nippy winger was a hit and made 28 appearances in his one season at Craven Cottage but Fulham couldn’t make the deal permanent.

Once again Wayne found himself in a third year at Tottenham still struggling to get into the first team picture no matter what he did, so in January 2008 he moved to Aston Villa on an 18 month deal, after making just five appearances for Spurs. At Villa Park though it was a case of déjà vu as he struggled to break into Martin O’Neil’s settled Villa team and only appeared once for the remainder of the season. He did feature in Villa’s early Intertoto Cup games at the start of the following season but with the signing of James Milner limiting his chances even more, he moved on loan to Cardiff City.

Back in the Championship Routlegde was an instant success at Ninian Park setting up a goal for Michael Chopra on his debut and netting himself a game later. A further strike against Burnley and four more assists had the Bluebirds preparing a £300,000 bid for the midfielder as soon as the transfer window opened. However Routledge’s displays hadn’t gone unnoticed by other Championship clubs and although Villa reportedly accepted Cardiff’s bid, Wayne rejected the offer and moved instead to Paulo Sousa’s QPR on a three-year contract. He came into his own under Jim Magilton at Rangers but was clearly frustrated by the constant managerial changes and upset many supporters with his ‘mini gansta’ routine at the club’s player of the year dinner last season. In the end a deal that took him to Newcastle at a £1.5m profit for QPR made sense for all concerned. It remains to be seen whether he can finally crack the Premiership in a Newcastle shirt next season.

Links >>> Cardiff 0 QPR 2 Match Report >>> QPR 1 Cardiff 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Saturday
Team News:
Rangers’ list of players out for the season is growing ever longer. Damion Stewart is the latest name, still in hospital a week after the Palace match after suffering a fractured skull and bleed into the brain following a sickening clash of heads with Calvin Andrew in the very first minute of the game. The noises coming out of the club seem to suggest he will play again next season which is a huge relief and we continue to wish him well in his recovery. Gavin Mahon it now seems will play no further part after his knee surgery before Christmas that was initially only due to keep him out until the beginning of April. Matt Connolly’s persistent ankle injury has brought a premature end to a stop start season for him and Martin Rowlands has long since been ruled out of any sort of football until next season. With options running out for Neil Warnock expect a home debut for Dusko Tosic at left back after an impressive first appearance at Selhurst Park, a first ever start at centre half in a QPR shirt for last week’s man of the match Peter Ramage, a switch to right back for Mikele Leigertwood and potentially the dream central midfield pairing of Akos Buzsaky and Alejandro Faurlin.

Cardiff by contrast are in fine fettle ahead of this game and, presumably, a play off campaign. Gavin Rae is out for the season with an ankle injury and Miguel Comminges is ruled out although he rarely starts anyway. Mark Hudson is back in training after his ankle op and Michael Chopra (neck), Kelvin Etuhu (calves) and Joe Ledley (hamstring) have all recovered sufficiently to travel to West London.

Elsewhere: No doubt the Cardiff fans have enjoyed Swansea’s recent wobble and Paulo Sousa’s men have brought Blackpool, and possibly Middlesbrough, back into the hunt for the six. They should have enough about them to beat Barnsley at home this weekend although with nerves starting to fray in South Wales and Swansea struggling to score goals throughout the campaign the longer that one stays 0-0 the better the chance for Blackpool, who have Forest at home, and Middlesbrough, who are live on the BBC at West Brom in the evening. Bristol City’s post Gary Johnson run of form has probably come too late for them, six points adrift with nine left to play for, but they will be difficult opponents for Scunthorpe at Glanford Park – the Iron are desperate for points in an increasingly intriguing relegation battle. Sheff Wed are the team in possession of the third relegation spot and they could be four points adrift of safety by the time they play Sheff Utd on Sunday at Hillsborough – a Palace win at Derby on Saturday and Wednesday defeat along with any kind of positive result for Scunthorpe could be curtains for the Owls, although they will be eyeing a final day clash at home to Palace as their salvation if they can keep the Eagles in touch until then.

Referee: Young referee Michael Oliver is in the middle for this one. He has been fast tracked through the leagues recently, and briefly refereed in the same league as his father Clive until his retirement in the summer. His only QPR experience so far came in a defeat at Preston last season that cost Cardiff their play off place, and his biggest haul of cards in a single game this year came in Cardiff’s September defeat at Sheff Wed where Joe Ledley was sent off. More details at the link below.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Michael Oliver details >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: The victory at Palace last week was Rangers’ first in eight matches although five of those had ended in draws. It was the R’s first away win in 15 attempts, and their fifth road success of the season. At home things have been better – Rangers are unbeaten in six on their own patch since a 2-1 defeat by Ipswich in February but have drawn their last three home games 1-1. Rangers have won four of the last five encounters between these two on this ground 1-0, although Cardiff scored six without reply in the two victories they have here since 2002. The R’s have not completed a double against a team for nearly two seasons now, since a 1-0 home win against Charlton almost two years ago to the day at Loftus Road under Luigi De Canio. This match, and the trip to Barnsley next week, are our last chances to chalk one up this season.

Cardiff: City are unbeaten in their last eight matches approaching this game, winning five and drawing three including their last two 0-0. They have conceded more than one goal in a match on only one occasion in their last eleven outings and have seven points from their last three away games at Palace, Forest and Coventry. Prior to that run it looked like their regular end of season collapse was well underway with six defeats and a draw from eight matches through February into March. Away from home this year City have won nine times, as many as champions elect Newcastle and five more than Nottingham Forest in third, but have also lost eight times. They have scored 35 goals on their travels this season which is more than anybody else in the league except West Brom in second place who have 40 and have lost only three away games all season.

Prediction: The result and manner of the performance at Palace last week should have given QPR a much needed confidence boost. The injury to Damion Stewart probably necessitates Mikele Leigertwood moving to right back and anything that gets him out of the middle of our midfield is a good thing, particularly if Faurlin and Buzsaky are now going to be paired together there. The spectre of relegation before lifted will also help out players to relax while Cardiff are always tense and nervous at this time of year and have a poor recent record at Loftus Road. I’ll go for a score draw, but I’m actually quietly confident about this one.
1-1

Links >>> Championship Table >>> Total Form >>> Home Form >>> Away Form >>> Prediction League >>> Fantasy League

Photo: Action Images

Colchester United Polls