Tale as old as time... — Preview Friday, 9th Dec 2016 19:23 by Clive Whittingham QPR travel to bottom of the table Rotherham on Saturday hoping to avoid making the same mistakes they’ve made a thousand times before on such occasions. Rotherham United (1-4-14, 24th) v Queens Park Rangers (6-5-8, 17th)Mercantile Credit Trophy >>> Saturday December 10, 2016 >>> Kick Off 15.00 !!! >>> Weather — Cold. It's up north what do you want from me? >>> New York Stadium, 161st St, Bronx, 10451 It’s somewhere less than a haunting but more than a niggle for Queens Park Rangers’ new (old) manager Ian Holloway, but it’s definitely still there. November 1993 (during the war), Gerry Francis’ QPR with their tanks parked on the Premier League’s lawn. They’d finished fifth in the league’s inaugural year the season before, top London club ahead of Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs. And 1993/94 had started nicely for them as well, recovering from defeats to Villa and Liverpool in the first two games to embark on a run of 11 wins and two draws from 15 games in all competitions. That sequence included games that are remembered today as classics of the genre: a 2-1 at Newcastle when Les Ferdinand destroyed the home side and Jan Stejskal saved a controversial injury time penalty; a 3-0 at home to Ipswich which included a goal of such sumptuous quality (from Devon White, in the end, ludicrously) that should a Pep Guardiola side score it now vast square mileage of this country’s coastline would be lost beneath the rising semen of sycophantic pundits; and a 3-0 at Everton with a hat trick from a young Bradley Allen. A 4-0 win against West Ham at Upton Park barely warrants a mention. Rangers, who’d finished 1991/92 in flying form that had seen them beat Leeds (who went on to be champions) 4-1, Man Utd (who finished second) 4-1 and Man City (third at the time, finished fifth) 4-0, and had basically been in red hot ascendency ever since could have gone second behind United on Wednesday November 24, 1993. With a brilliantly talented team, topped off by the form centre forward in the country at that moment in Ferdinand, who knows where they could have gone from there. A title challenge? Not out of the question. A European campaign, almost a formality. In their way? Well, nothing really. Swindon Town had been promoted to the Premier League two years later than they really should have been owing to financial irregularities and illegal payments to players which had seen their play-off winning side of 1991 actually relegated a division the other way instead. The inspirational, innovative player-management of Glenn Hoddle — who played himself sweeper, behind a back three, naturally — had seen them fly back but he’d jumped ship to Chelsea and left assistant John Gorman to oversee what turned out to be a disastrous first, and only, Premier League campaign for the Robins who were out of their depth from day one. They opened up with four defeats, conceding 14 goals in the process including a 5-0 home loss to Liverpool which was immediately followed by a 5-1 schooling on the coast at Southampton. The only win of their first 18 matches came against Wolves in the first leg of a League Cup tie. They lost the second league, squeezed through on aggregate, and lost to Portsmouth in the next round anyway — Wolves, Pompey, both lower divisions sides at that point. Their first 15 Premier League games showed a record of no wins, six draws, nine defeats, 13 goals scored and 35 conceded. Man Utd got four, Blackburn, Wimbledon and Man City all got three. They shouldn’t have had a prayer against the free-flowing, free-scoring, free-wheeling, high-flying, all-conquering Rangers. Especially as they went down to ten men with a sending off after 15 minutes. The Robins, as we know, won 1-0. Their first Premier League win. Later that season, to add to ignomy of it all, they won their first (and to date only) Premier League away game at Loftus Road, 3-1, as well. Five wins all season, two of them against a QPR side that is widely considered the best of the modern era. For the record, QPR only won eight matches out of the remaining 28 that season, got knocked out of the FA Cup by Stockport and finished ninth. It irritates Holloway to this day. Take it from somebody who saw him get angry about it all over again a week ago during a meeting at Loftus Road. Ollie can actually be quite scathing about that group of players — one we as fans consider to be our best since the Venables side. He wrote about it in his autobiography: a big-time attitude, an arrogance, a mental weakness that held that side back from either greater things. Incidents like Steve Yates referred to as “a bit ham and eggs” by the senior pros when the news of his signing broke — Holloway ran around training that day trying twice as hard as usual and shouting “how ham and eggs am I if I cost half as much?” Players being told “oh you can’t say that to him” if they complained to a Ray Wilkins or a Roy Wegerle about a pass or their work rate. “I could smell it on us” said Holloway of that night at the County Ground. Plot a graph from that day to this and, with very occasionally coughs, it’s a steady downward line. QPR will never have a better chance to go second in the Premier League than they did that night in Wiltshire, and there blew it through their own complacency. But this had been a QPR problem before that (Oxford in the League Cup final dare we mention) and has been a problem ever since. John Jensen is the famous example — one goal in 139 appearances for Arsenal, guess who that was against? QPR won 3-1 that day at Highbury, magnificent performance without Ferdinand in the team, Gallen, Allen and Impey with the goals, a very happy New Year for all in attendance — but still. Lloyd Doyley, two goals in 446 appearances for Watford, scored a spectacular diving header against Rangers — it was unfathomable what he was even doing in that position in that phase of the game, but there he was and there it is. Dean Bowditch, played up front for Ipswich for the thick end of 80 games without a goal — whopped one in at the School End. Jon Stead, built a bloody career out of it, one of them from 30 yards, again against a good QPR side. Wolves last week, no win from nine matches, don’t worry about it. I've wondered about the possibility of registering QPR as a charity. Ancient Chinese proverb — team on bad run look for QPR in fixture list. Rangers did manage to dodge this at Rotherham once before, with Ian Holloway in charge. In March 2005 the Millers were dead last in the Championship on a run of just three wins from 18 games. Improbably, all those victories had come away from home, meaning that at Millmoor they were without a win in eight, including a 3-0 loss in the FA Cup at home to Yeovil. It looked ripe for a classic QPR no-show, but Martin Rowlands’ second half goal re-wrote the script and QPR won 1-0. That was the strength of character in Ian Holloway’s team second time around. That steel and belief, missing from even the great QPR sides apart from Holloway’s first three years here and the 18 months under Neil Warnock. We can only hope and pray it’s there now, in his third coming, because this latest trip to this corner of South Yorkshire — Rotherham now playing across the railway lines at the New York Stadium, one of the (few) better examples of the new build genre around — looks so ripe the wasps have put off their winter dying/hibernation/whatever the fuck wasps do in the winter to feast upon it. Rotherham, bottom again. Rotherham, with 45 goals conceded, at least a dozen more than any other team. Rotherham, with only one win all season, and that way back on August 20. Rotherham with only six points. Rotherham without a win in 15. Rotherham on a third manager of the season already and currently under caretaker charge. Rotherham with former QPR striker Dexter Blackstock up front no doubt warming up for a late winner after 89 minutes of former QPR goalkeeper Le Camp channelling Lev Yashin at the other end. Honestly I hope I die peacefully in my sleep so I don’t have to sit through it all again. Lloyd fucking Doyley indeed. Failing that, see you all on the 10.03 tomorrow. Links >>> Long, hard winter — Interview >>> FA Cup draw live — Podcast >>> Simpson in charge — Referee Couldn't find footage of the Martin Rowlands goal at Millmoor, so you're stuck with this mere 3-0 win from this fixture last season when Junior Hoilett, Matt Phillips and Seb Polter got the QPR goals. SaturdayTeam News: Who doesn't fancy a freezing cold Saturday in Rotherham then? Let's be having you. Ah, rather a lot of hands there. Jamie Mackie hasn't quite made it in his bid for a long awaited return, Steven Caulker is still out, Jack Robinson is permanently knacked, Seb Polter has an open top bus tour booked and both Pawel Wzsolek and Ariel Borysiuk are still on some weird Polish version of Ramadan. Rotherham have captain Lee Frecklington available after his scheduled leg amputation was cancelled at the last minute in a case of mistake identity but Peter Odemwingie is once more left to merely bang on the doors outside a QPR match to no avail thanks to his three match grounding. Elsewhere: Right come on let's rattle through this, we've all got homes to go to. Although, of course, not everybody does have a home to go to, and at Christmas it's important we remember those less fortunate than ourselves and be thankful to the Lord (Shaun Derry) for at least providing them with fucking barrel loads of dross football all the live long day to distract them from their miserable lives at this time of year. Sometimes even on a Friday night — The Champions of Europe's local derby with Brighton is the pick this evening. Or you could watch Partick v Celtic, if you're in the mood for a serious cry for help. Speaking of which, this week's fixture between two sides beginning with B — Brentford and Nigel Clough's Burton Albion — is also our footballing equivalent of venereal disease for the weekend. Fear not intrepid Championship obsessive, there's much more better stuff besides. Derby day in Lancashire, with Preston Knob End hosting The Mad Indian Chicken Farmers. Derby day in Derby too as Derby Sheep host Nottingham Trees in the annual Brian Clough/Shteve McClaren grudge match. They're your other two televised games — enjoy, feast your eyes, you deserve it — leaving nine at the mythical 15.00 Saturday kick off time, including (for once) our own trip across the Atlantic. Reading v Sheffield Owls is about the worst of it, though I'm not sure we should expect too much of Borussia Huddersfield v The Wurzels either given their recent form. Nice of Champions Newcastle to keep things interesting with a shock defeat to the Chicken Cottage last time out. We'll find out if it's an aversion to teams beginning with B — quite a problem in this division if so — when Brum visit the North East this weekend. Barnsley's attack against Norwich's defence should mean goals, but not before a minute of silence which breaks out into spontaneous applause through the emotion of it all is held for Conor Hourihane's pet gerbil Fifi who has come down with tonsillitis. Marigolds on and nose plugs in for Tarquin and Rupert, slumming it up in Wolverhampton; lighters and phone lights in the air as the Seventh Annual Neil Warnock Farewell Tour reaches Ipswich; blood pressure meds on stand by for Steve Bruce as his Leddersford take on Wigan Warriors. That's it isn't it? Until Tuesday at least. Fear not, when the reckoning comes we'll cuddle together for warmth. Referee: Jeremy Simpson is the referee this week. Hasn't had much QPR action in his time but after the comedy stylings of Andy Woolmer at Ipswich and then that absolute wank pot in the Wolves game last week we're due a good one. Even one that just leaves the game alone for a bit might be nice. Come on Jeremy we've all had a drink. Stats and dat. FormRotherham: So here it is, in all it's soon-to-be-totally-irrelevant glory. Rotherham's only win of the season so far was on August 20 when they beat Brentford 1-0 at home. Since then they've lost 12 and drawn three of their 15 games, and overall they have lost 15, drawn four and won just the one of their 20 fixtures in all competitions. That includes Five defeats and three draws from nine home matches in the league where they have scored ten (same as us depressingly) and conceded 15 (four teams have equal or worse records). They come into this game on a run of four straight defeats, though the last two have only been 2-1 and the Leeds game really should have finished 2-2. They've already shipped 45 goals this season, a dozen more than the next worse defence in the league. Dexter Blackstock has scored one goal in eight appearances this season. Lee Camp is without a clean sheet in 14 starts. Groan. QPR: Rangers have lost four of their last six, failing to score at all in three of them and managing just four goals in the other three. Prior to that they'd been unbeaten in five, winning two, but overall it's not a pretty picture since five wins from seven fixtures in August. The R's have won just three of the last 15 games, drawing five. Away from home they've won three, drawn two and lost four overall — victories coming at Cardiff, Wigan and Fulham. Rangers do have a good record against the Millers though — one defeat in ten, three clean sheets in three visits here. Prediction: Our reigning Prediction League champion Dylan Pressman swoops in on a winged horse to tell us… "Bottom of the table Rotherham are just what the doctored ordered for a QPR team that has lost two in a row. Chery will light the fire with a first half goal to bring a smile to Ollie's ugly mug (meant with love, of course)." Dylan's Fanciful Prediction: Rotherham 1-2 QPR. Scorer — Tjaronn Chery LFW's Spoiler: Rotherham 1-0 QPR. Scorer — Dexter Blackstock. The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images, UKTV UKTV Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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