If QPR are to win for the first time in Mick Harford’s second spell in charge on Tuesday night they must not only overcome the division’s form side Nottingham Forest but also an ever lengthening losing record at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest (2nd) v Queens Park Rangers (11th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday January 26, Kick Off 7.45pm
City Ground, Nottingham
‘I have never’ – the staple drinking game of flagging parties in student cities throughout the land. Try “I have never won at Nottingham Forest” and see how drunk everybody gets next time you get the chance to play. Everybody has won at Nottingham Forest at some point, they’ve had some fantastic teams and managers but they’ve had some woeful ones as well. It’s not that difficult a place to go surely.
QPR first played here in 1934, lost 4-0 and have fared little better since – 27 times they have tried, 27 times they have failed. “QPR have never won at Nottingham Forest so a draw there is always a good result,” says Tony Incenzo on the 1991/92 season video. That was getting on for 20 years ago now and we’ve had another eight cracks at it since. There’s the occasional draw thrown in there, including three of the last four, but mostly it’s bad defeats – 4-0 on four occasions, a 5-2 and several three goal maulings.
What price a record breaking win on Tuesday night then? Well QPR are already onto their third manager of the season, they’re down to Jay Simpson as their only recognised centre forward, they have won just one of their last eleven games and haven’t won an away game in six attempts. There was some pride, and decent football, for the first time in a few weeks in the performance at Blackpool last time out and Mick Harford has taken a risk on Nigel Quashie and added intelligently with Matt Hill since. But you get the impression that this somewhat fragile QPR side is ripe for the slaughter here and probably should just look ahead to the more manageable Scunthorpe fixture on Saturday.
You see in none of the previous 27 attempts at winning here have we ever come up against a Forest side in quite such white hot form. Billy Davies has this side absolutely flying. Their last league defeat was in September, 18 matches ago, against Blackpool and they even battered them in that game. They have shot up to second in the league and are taking on all comers. With two former QPR players, no doubt keen to impress upon Flavio Briatore exactly what a mistake he made in selling them last summer, in top form at the heart of it all QPR’s task on Tuesday is a massive one.
In Quashie and Harford Rangers have a couple of old Forest men who will be keen to make a point too but really all QPR have going for them here is the idea that they will have to win here one day, and Forest won’t go on unbeaten forever.
Five minutes on Nottingham Forest
The story so far: You know when Briatore, Ecclestone and Mittal breezed into Loftus Road to start with I was one of those fools who trotted out lines like: “know what it takes to succeed,” “not used to failure”, “won’t hang around” and so on without ever really acknowledging that football is not a business like any other. Certainly it’s nothing like the steel industry that the Mittals have made millions in, or even the motorsport world where Bernie and Flavio have shot to fame.
Flavio Briatore has maintained that he did not get rich by allowing other people to spend his money and he certainly won’t be allowing football managers to run around throwing it about but sadly for him, in this country, that is the best way to achieve success. History shows the trick is in finding the right man to do that throwing and then leave him to it. The more interference from the board and chopping and changing of managers the worse teams in this country seem to get. It is certainly no coincidence that the two most successful teams in the top flight since the Premiership came into being are the ones with the two longest serving managers. No surprise either that Tottenham are better than they have been for decades after ditching a Director of Football system and employing an old fashioned wheeler dealer manager and leaving him to get on with it.
One thing Flavio did have in his favour to start with, something that backed up the claims that despite lack of football experience hy knew what he was doing, was his first two managerial appointments. Finding QPR bottom of the table the board went out and found a coach in Luigi De Canio with a quite remarkable record of taking over teams mid season and guiding them to safety. With that job successfully completed the club then found a boss with a recent record of promotion from this league and had we kept faith with Iain Dowie we probably would have gone a lot further than we have subsequently.
What Briatore and his chums need to do now is allow their egos to rest for a moment and take advice and hints from a success story elsewhere. One thing football and business do have in common is it is prudent to learn from other people’s mistakes, pick a successful model from elsewhere and apply it to your situation. Last season, when struggling against relegation after promotion from League One, Forest went out and got a manager who has consistently achieved top six finishes in this league. Promotion with Derby, and two play off campaigns with Preston in his previous three full seasons of Championship management. An enviable record, and a decision Forest have never once regretted. Billy Davies became a victim of his own success at Derby, promoting them 12 months into a three year plan and enduring a torrid season in the Premiership as a result, and he is again insisting that his Forest side is probably not ready for the big time just yet. They may well have to be ready in six months time.
One thing Briatore has insisted upon since arriving, as well as having people other than the manager bringing in the players, is that signings will be loans, free transfers, or nominal fee purchases. He will not be held to ransom on transfer fees. That’s all well and good, but QPR pay massive wages to these players meaning we are paying big money to other people’s cast offs. Forest meanwhile have not been afraid to spend some money if a player is available who the manager believes will be a success. Chris Gunter for £2m or Gary Borrowdale on massive wages and a three year contract. Now who’s wasting money there?
That Forest have profited from two players Briatore did not want at QPR, Dexter Blackstock and Lee Camp, only serves to highlight further the stark difference between these two clubs. Blackstock has stayed true to his 12-15 goal a season par while Camp is in the form of his life. No doubt the more moronic element of our support will boo both players on Tuesday night, with absolutely no idea of the circumstances behind their departure.
For all of that Forest started the season very slowly and lost their first two home league games against West Brom and Watford. QPR probably would have been thinking of sacking Davies under similar circumstances but Forest are yet to lose away from home this season and have only been beaten on one other occasion in the league since that poor start. They’re second, quickly approaching first, and are a fine example of how to achieve success in this league. If only we could have a look at how they’ve done it and follow their lead.
The manager: Billy Davies once infamously introduced himself to the Derby based media by describing himself as “a bit of a c***” and while few would argue with him on that, I would say he is the best manager in our division. Davies took Preston to the play offs twice, Derby to the Premiership at the first time of asking, and kept Forest up comfortably last season. I know Rodney Marsh has a theory that English clubs should not be afraid to sack managers that lead them to promotion in favour of a new man more experienced and adept at consolidating a side in the higher division – a policy employed frequently in Italy. Davies’ Derby promotion was followed by a record breaking season in the top flight for all the wrong reasons where they won just once and he was sacked and replaced by Paul Jewell. I often wonder if Davies regretted the way he behaved and went about his business that summer when he spent the post play off final interviews and subsequent weeks moaning about not being allowed David Kelly as his assistant and his own contract situation rather than building a side for the top flight. In fairness to him, even Davies admitted that Derby had been promoted in the first year of what was supposed to be a three season programme and it was harsh on him that he was out of work for so long, with such a poor public image, because he took a team up too soon. Forest really dropped on with this appointment and are now reaping the rewards..
Three to Watch: Obviously QPR eyes will be drawn to our two old boys in the Forest ranks. Lee Camp is certain to start with six clean sheets in his last nine matches and playful chants about an England call up reverberating around the City Ground in recent weeks. A former England Under 21 stopper who played in the first ever game at the new Wembley for his country, Camp came through the ranks at Derby and endured a tough loan spell at Burton Albion before a better spell on loan with QPR.
His move to Loftus Road on loan came just hours before a crucial match at Hartlepool in the 2003/04 promotion season under Ian Holloway. First choice keeper Chris Day had been ruled out after he and physio Prav Mathema attempted to lance a growth on his shin themselves with predictably gruesome consequences. Chief scout Mel Johnson’s little black book came into pay and Camp was collected by the team coach on the way to the north east where Rangers won 4-1 with Camp in inspired form. He kept his place in the team through to the end of the season, becoming a cult hero with the QPR fans who were desperate to see him return that summer on a permanent deal.
Ultimately he spent the following season as first choice in George Burley’s Derby side, excelling as the Rams pushed for the play offs. High profile mistakes started to creep into his game though and when Billy Davies moved in with Stephen Bywater as his number one Camp was surplus to requirements and signed, after another successful loan spell, for QPR when John Gregory was the manager. Camp was runner up in the vote for the club’s Player of the Year in 2007/08 but was not rated by chairman Flavio Briatore who has admitted he told Iain Dowie to pick Radek Cerny instead after signing from Tottenham the following season. Camp spent a successful spell on loan at Nottingham Forest, saving a last minute penalty against Derby to earn immediate hero status, but returned to Loftus Road for a brief return to first team action in January. It had been made perfectly clear to Camp that he stood no chance of being picked at QPR again, and even when Radek Cerny pulled his hamstring in January 2009 he still travelled with the team to Blackpool and trained at Oldham the day before to see if there was any chance he could play instead of Camp. He couldn’t and Camp played a handful of games culminating in a 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest where he was at fault for the second goal and committed the crime of the century by waving to the Nottingham Forest fans during the game. Camp was not as good as Cerny last season, but that isn’t the reason he left and with Cerny now completely out of form and Camp excelling in a side gunning for promotion after a permanent move in the summer we are again being made to look rather silly.
Dexter Blackstock is another who left Rangers not rated by Mr Briatore. Some papers have gone so far as to suggest Briatore actually withdrew the offer of a contract extension from him at Loftus Road last season. I said at the time of his sale that it was only good business if we replaced him adequately – I would rather have Jay Simpson than Blackstock, who has never scored more than 14 goals in a season at this level, but Simpson is only temporary and Rangers are short of quality strikers. Blackstock meanwhile has had to fight for his place with a plethora of striking talent available to Davies and has managed eight goals so far – including two in his last four.
Polish midfielder Radoslaw Majewski is also catching the eye this season and scored a thunderbolt volley in a recent 3-1 win at West Brom. He showed what he was capable of at the beginning of last season when he gave Michael Mancienne a torrid time in an Under 21 match between Poland and England at Molineux. It was seen as something of a coup when Forest secured him on loan for the whole of this season from Polonia Warsaw in his homeland and he scored with virtually his first touch of the ball in a Forest shirt in a pre-season friendly with Rushden and Diamonds. Forest have apparently paid £130,000 to get him here just for this season with a future payment of £1.5m due if they want to make his stay permanent. Has four Polish caps and four Forest goals to his name so far – very small in stature but an absolute bag of tricks from wide midfield areas.
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History
Recent Meetings:
Both sides made sluggish starts to the season and shared a point apiece from a dull 1-1 draw at Loftus Road in August although in truth Forest were unfortunate not to have won. Mikele Leigertwood curled a trademark long range shot past Lee Camp to give QPR the lead before half time but Rangers were terrible in the second half, conceding a soft equaliser to David McGoldrick and going close to losing the game on several occasions.
QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Hall 5 (Gorkss 46, 6), Stewart 6, Borrowdale 6,Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Faurlin 7, Pellicori 5 (Vine 61, 5), Helguson 5,Taarabt 6 (Buzsaky 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Mahon, Agyemang, Connolly
Goals: Leigertwood 25 (assisted Routledge)
Nottm Forest: Camp 7, Gunter 6, Morgan 6, Lynch 6 (McCleary 46, 6), Cohen 7, Chambers 6, Majewski 8, McKenna 7, Garner 6, Adebola 7 (Blackstock 71, 7),McGoldrick 7 (Tyson 75, 6)
Subs Not Used: Smith, Anderson, Earnshaw, Davies
Goals: McGoldrick 57 (assisted Adebola)
QPR will have few better chances to end their infamous run on this ground than a year ago, almost to the day, when these two met in the Championship. Rangers were the better side for long periods and although Matteo Alberti showed his inexperienced in conceding a penalty to give the home side a first half lead against the run of play the Italian scored twice either side of the break to put QPR in front. R’s goalkeeper Lee Camp had spent a successful period on loan at the City Ground earlier in the season and received a great reception from the Forest fans which he acknowledged. That irked some QPR supporters who were singularly failing to get a similar reaction from Paulo Sousa at the time and the keeper incurred further wrath when he got caught under a back post cross that Chris Cohen nodded into the unguarded net. Many Rangers players named that match as their biggest disappointment in the entire season and the play off push died on its arse thereafter with a run of seven further matches without a win.
Nottm Forest: Smith 6, Chambers 7, Morgan 7, Wilson 6, Moloney 6, Heath 6, McGugan 8, Cohen 7, Thornhill 6 (Breckin 90, -), Tyson 5 (Newbold 15, 6), Garner 5 (McCleary 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Gamble, Byrne
Booked: Moloney (foul), Newbold (foul), McCleary (foul), Morgan (foul)
Goals: McGugan 45 (penalty) Cohen 67 (assisted Chambers)
QPR: Camp 5, Connolly 7, Stewart 7, Gorkss 8, Delaney 7, Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Miller 6 (Ephraim 70, 6), Mahon 7, Alberti 7 (Balanta 83, 6), Di Carmine 6 (Blackstock 59, 6)
Subs Not Used: Hall, Rose
Booked: Alberti (shirt pulling)
Goals: Alberti 45 (assisted Connolly), 48 (assisted Routledge)
Head to Head:Forest wins - 24
Draws - 17
QPR wins – 14
Previous results:
2009/10 QPR 1 Forest 1 (Leigertwood)
2008/09 Forest 2 QPR 2 (Alberti 2)
2008/09 QPR 2 Forest 1 (Balanta, Buzsaky)
2004/05 QPR 2 Forest 1 (Bircham, Curtis OG)
2004/05 QPR 0 Forest 3 (FA Cup)
2004/05 Forest 2 QPR 1 (Santos)
2000/01 Forest 1 QPR 1 (Wardley)
2000/01 QPR 1 Forest 0 (Crouch)
1999/00 Forest 1 QPR 1 (Ready)
1999/00 QPR 1 Forest 1 (Kiwomya)
1997/98 QPR 0 Forest 1
1997/98 Forest 4 QPR 0
1995/96 Forest 3 QPR 0
1995/96 QPR 1 Forest 1 (Sinclair)
1994/95 QPR 1 Forest 1 (Barker)
1994/95 Forest 3 QPR 2 (Allen, Ferdinand)
1992/93 QPR 4 Forest 3 (Ferdinand 3, Wilson)
1992/93 Forest 1 QPR 0
1991/92 Forest 1 QPR 1 (Sinton)
1991/92 QPR 0 Forest
Played for both clubs:
Gary Bannister
QPR 1984-88
Nottingham Forest 1992-93
Born in Warrington in 1960 Bannister was one of the most consistent goal scorers of the 1980s, especially at Loftus Road. A product of the Coventry youth system, Bannister broke his way into the first team to make his debut in May 1978. To gain some first-team experience he was sent on loan to American side Detroit Express impressing with a goal every other game in a three month spell. Once back at City he found it difficult to break into the team and decided to drop a division, joining Sheffield Wednesday for £100,000. At Wednesday, Bannister started to show his predatory instincts and was top scorer for the club in each of his three seasons at Hillsborough, and helped the Owl’s gain promotion to the First Division. However Gary never got to play for Wednesday in the top flight as he was snapped up that summer by QPR who bought him to fill the void left by Clive Allen.
He made an immediate impact on the R’s faithful by scoring on his debut against West Brom and went on to have steady first campaign in the hoops, with most of his strikes coming at Loftus Road. But when Jim Smith took over the R’s in 1985 things really took off for Bannister and he flourished on Rangers plastic pitch and formed a formidable partnership with John Byrne. Their goals led R’s to Wembley, in their first League Cup Final since 1967, beating Liverpool in the semis on route. Sadly the final was a day Rangers would rather forget, as Oxford runaway with it winning 3-0. Bannister’s finest hour however came on Easter Monday 1986 when Rangers entertained local rivals Chelsea, who were within a shout of the title at the time. Many expected them to rollover Rangers but on a day that’s gone down in R’s folk law, QPR hit Chelsea with six without reply – Bannister getting three of them.
He stayed at the Loft for another season until the arrival of Trevor Francis and Marc Falco saw him pushed out the picture and he moved back to first club Coventry . Spells at West Brom and Oxford followed before he joined Nottingham Forest in time for the inaugural season of the Premier League. But despite scoring against Rangers, the season at the City Ground was a disappointing one as Forest were relegated. He moved to Hong Kong side HK Rangers and played for Stoke and Darlington before retiring in 1996. Now owns a holiday apartment business in Cornwall .
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This Tuesday
Team News: Mick Harford will include new signings Nigel Quashie and Matt Hill in his squad for the match against one of his former clubs. Lee Cook is fit enough for the bench but nothing more owing to a lack of reserve team football, the same can be said of Rowan Vine post stomach operation (keep your gastric band jokes to yourself thank you). Changes will have to be made to the team that drew at Blackpool with Patrick Agyemang since moving to Bristol City – expect Jay Simpson to be recalled in attack.
Forest are without former Reading full back Nicky Shorey who is on loan from Aston Villa but was sent off against Reading last time out and must serve a suspension – James Perch will deputise.
Elsewhere: There are a couple of stand out fixtures in this midweek Championship round of fixtures that are spread out over two days. Bristol City v Cardiff is always a fiery affair and City have strengthened their hand this week with the additions of Patrick Agyemang from QPR and Jamal Campbell Ryce from Barnsley. Ipswich are in better form than their league position suggests, too many draws are holding them back from a real push up the table, and they will present tough opposition for West Brom who may struggle to keep pace with Forest if Billy Davies’ men keep up their recent run. Scunthorpe v Sheff Wed on Wednesday has the look of a six pointer while it’s getting towards do or die time for Peterborough, nine points adrift at the bottom of the league, and they host Preston.
Referee: For the first time in two years and only the second time in his refereeing career QPR have Tyne and Wear official Eddie Ilderton in charge of their game on Tuesday. The last time he refereed Rangers in 2007, was the night of the great earthquake and the R’s drew 0-0 at Barnsley. They’d snap his hands off for a similar result here, though it may take an act of God to achieve it.
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Form
Nottingham Forest: Imperious. Uneaten in 18, won their last five at home and their last three overall, second in the table three points off leaders Newcastle who they have already beaten this season and beaten by only Blackpool, West Brom and Watford at the City ground this season. Strangely yet to score a penalty this season though.
QPR: When we went to Sheffield Wednesday and won at the start of December that gave us four away wins in the league already and gave me a chance to say that this was more than we managed in the whole of the previous season. Sadly we are still stuck on four nearly two months later and have since lost three and drawn two of five away fixtures. Rangers have won just one of their last eleven games in all competitions, at home to Bristol City on Boxing Day. Rangers have the longest run without a clean sheet in the league, 16 matches, and have only beaten teams from the top half of the table twice so far – Cardiff and Bristol City.
Prediction: Well Forest have to lose at some point, and QPR will win here one day, but unless Forest have really just got so big for their boots that they can hardly get their heads through the dressing room door then the very best we can hope for here is a draw and it will need a miracle to get even that. We have a kinder looking fixture list to come over the coming weeks that hopefully Mick Harford can attack with a little more hope in his heart than he probably has going into this match.
Forest by two
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