QPR are finally back in action on Saturday as they take on Ipswich live on Sky Sports. This game is the start of a hectic run of fixtures that will decide Rangers' fate this season.

Queens Park Rangers (11th) v Ipswich Town (10th)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday February 21, Kick Off 5.20pm
Loftus Road, London

If you stand at the finishing post of the Owlerton Greyhound Stadium in Sheffield you cannot see the dogs coming round the final corner. You see them set off, you see them roar around the first two corners, fly down the back straight, turn again and then it’s all in the lap of the Gods. You stand and you clutch your betting slip and you listen to the roars from the back of the stand and you hope for the best. Then, in literally the space of half a second, they return to view, cross the line and it is all over. Nine times out of ten you are twenty notes lighter.

Now we have that hectic festive period and the FA Cup out of the way we are in the footballing equivalent of that home straight. The season really does zip past at a frightening rate from this point and before you know it you will be traipsing round Westfield in three quarter length shorts spending money you don’t have on things you don’t need again.

The Championship is a tough league to get out of for all sorts of reasons. Very few of them involve the quality of the teams in it. Reading are a good team, Wolves and Birmingham are not bad, Swansea are good to watch and Chris Eagles is an outstanding player but it quickly tails off into mediocrity and two teams for whom the word mediocrity was invented clash at Loftus Road live on Sky this Saturday hoping to further their fading hopes of making the play offs.

If QPR are to manage it this season, twelve months ahead of schedule, then they will have to overcome the main reason why the Championship is so tough. Its fixture list.

Thanks to a combination of other teams’ cup commitments and premature panic over a bit of snow QPR, who have done nothing for the last fortnight, now face nine games in 28 days. We were meant to be playing Cardiff last weekend but it was called off because we were told they absolutely had to play Arsenal in the FA Cup last weekend. Absolutely had to, that is, until Setanta Sports came calling at which point the match was suddenly able to be played on Monday night. It could have been played on Tuesday or Wednesday of course and no matches would have been called off, but Monday it was and now QPR fans have to go to South Wales this Wednesday night. And Barnsley on Saturday. And then to Loftus Road twice in a week. And then Doncaster on a Tuesday night. And so it goes on.

This is not just tough for the players but the supporters as well. Even the die hards that religiously attend every game are going to find this run tough and to make it even more frustrating, even more irritating, is at the end of it all we get another fortnight off for an international break. Presumably in case Fabio Capello spots anybody in the Doncaster Rovers squad that takes his fancy.

For many this ridiculous set of fixtures will be the footballing equivalent of the Owlerton Greyhound Stadium. Be it through Radio London, the internet, ceefax (does that still exist?) or word of mouth many are going to be left to keep up with this last turn and straight through means other than being able to see it for themselves. If you do hold out hopes of us making the six this season then hold onto your betting slips, see what you can, and hope that when we reappear for the final five matches in April and May in half decent shape. After yet another needless weekend off and fortnight break it all starts again on Saturday at 5.20pm.

Five minutes on Ipswich Town
In different circumstances QPR could very well have been facing an Ipswich side under the guidance of a caretaker manager this Saturday. The draw against Blackpool at Portman Road last Saturday, a Blackpool side that subsequently lost 4-1 at Derby during the week, proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for a group of supporters who gathered outside Portman Road before the Wednesday night game with Nottingham Forest to demand the sacking of manager Jim Magilton. Ultimately Magilton got a vote of confidence from club owner Marcus Evans and Ipswich just about managed to see off the challenge of Forest 2-1 so the Ulsterman gets a reprieve for this clash at Loftus Road at least.

On the face of it, to an outsider looking in, the criticism of Magilton is harsh but through family connections I see more of Ipswich than I do of many other sides and I have been saying for 18 months now that they are being held back by their manager and I am delighted he is still in charge for the game this weekend. It does not mean we will win, but I think we stand a better chance of beating an Ipswich side managed by Magilton than by somebody else.

Magilton was a decent player in his day. A product of the Liverpool youth set up and regular Premiership performer for Southampton before spending the best years of his career with Ipswich. He was calm and composed on the ball and a really classy performer, particularly in the second tier with the Tractor Boys where he always looked a cut above most of the opposition. His crazy river dance shin kicking routine on Gavin Peacock that earned him a red card against Rangers at Portman Road in a 4-1 win for the Hoops in 1999/00 apart he was a super player for Town.

Nevertheless it was a surprise when he was made manager in 2006 to not only the fans and players at Ipswich, but also Magilton’s former team mates. Matt Le Tissier often speaks of Magilton as a ‘class clown’ figure during their time together at The Dell and certainly not potential manager material. Magilton took on a tough job at Ipswich as well. Previous manager Joe Royle had built the best side in the First Division in 2004/05 but unfortunately found himself in an unusually high quality league that year and after blowing their place in the top two to Sunderland and Wigan they then proceeded, despite possessing the likes of Darren Bent, to lose in the play offs to West Ham.

That was their big chance really and with financial constraints following a Premiership relegation under George Burley continuing to weigh heavy on the Portman Road boardroom the more talented members of that team were sold on to pay the bills. Nine months later Town were languishing fifteenth in the league and won only one of their last ten games – a run that included humiliating home defeats against Stoke (4-1) and eventually relegated Brighton (2-1). Few tears were shed when Royle parted company with Ipswich that summer although in fairness to the former Everton boss he really should have been leading them into the Premiership.

Ipswich looked to over achieving Luton boss Mike Newell and Preston manager Billy Davies but both turned the job down. It’s a sign of how far Newell’s stock has fallen, or how unwilling chairmen are to employ a manager who may flag up dodgy practices at his own club should he come across them, that he has had to take a job at destitute Grimsby Town after a year of unemployment following his departure from Kenilworth Road. Davies went to Derby and we all know what happened there – he has been unemployed for more than a year himself before taking the Forest job and to be honest I think Ipswich missed a real trick not replacing Magilton with Davies in the summer.

Initially Magilton did well. He rebuilt an ageing and mediocre squad over the course of 18 months finishing first fourteenth and then eighth last season when only dire away form cost them a place in the play offs. However expectations have changed. Ipswich were taken over towards the end of last season by local billionaire Marcus Evans who made his fortune in corporate hospitality. He has insisted on remaining in the background but paid off the club’s debt and made money available for transfer. Far from a shoe string budget that many assume him to be working on Magilton has spent millions on his team, certainly at least as much in transfer fees as so called “big spending” QPR have done, and Ipswich remain steadfastly in midtable.

Their away form this year is good – six wins and four draws is right up there with the top three teams in the league and only Wolves have scored more goals on the road – in stark contrast to last season. However they draw too many games and are under achieving for the players they have at their disposal. Magilton has turned to players that are proven in this league like David Norris and Kevin Lisbie as well as a clutch of former Ipswich team mates like Richard Wright and Pablo Counago. He has however allowed a number of the club’s promising youngsters to leave on loan and it seems strange to me that while Jordan Rhodes and Billy Clarke are bagging hat tricks on consecutive weekends for Brentford and Northampton Town Ipswich struggle to find a combination of strikers still at the club that works consistently.

In my opinion Ipswich have the players to make the top six this season. Why people like Jon Walters are performing so far below par is open to debate but it appears to me that Magilton has gone stale, and he rarely looked like he had the experience and know how to crack this league even when he was fresh. As well as the signings he has made there have been seemingly hundreds of players he has insisted his team are close to signing that have never materialised – he talks about David Nugent more than I talk about QPR and yet there has never been any indication that Nugent has ever been anywhere close to signing for Town. His abrupt nature with the local media means he has few friends there now the pressure is on, one paper even went so far as to publish a plea for him to leave earlier this week under a headling “£250,000 to sack Jim” and an increasing number of Ipswich fans are growing disgruntled with his handling of team affairs.

Magilton did well to turn Ipswich around in his first ever management job, but it now appears increasingly likely that Town will have to turn to an alternative candidate if they are to progress beyond their current position. Sadly in my opinion they have left it too late with the man who would virtually guarantee a top six finish for their current group of players with no additions now safely in a management position at Nottingham Forest.

Men to watch
Magilton may talk a lot about players he never quite manages to sign but one player he did manage to nail down impressed the Portman Road faithful on his debut last weekend. While Ipswich only drew against Blackpool but debutant Luciano Civelli impressed and Town will be hoping he has that extra little bit of quality they have been missing. He lasted 70 minutes last Saturday and 75 minutes on Wednesday night against Forest. A dynamic midfield player with an eye for a pass, his move to Portman Road has not been without difficulties.

His departure from Argentinean club Banfield has caused ructions in the boardroom on the other side of the world – the chairman maintains that he has kept fifty per cent of the player’s registration but this has been rubbished by the other directors and Ipswich who say he has signed a permanent, three and a half year deal for a £1m transfer fee. To complicate matters still further Civelli’s brother, who plays in France, is having his papers looked at by the authorities across the channel calling into question the validity of Civelli’s own Italian passport which enables him to play football in this country. One to watch in every sense of the term then.

The man that did the damage to us at Portman Road was striker Jon Stead who climbed off the bench to head in two second half goals. Stead burst onto the scene when Blackburn paid £1m to take him to the Premiership from League Two side Huddersfield but his career has stagnated somewhat since an initially flurry of goals at Ewood Park and his move to Ipswich this season is the latest attempt to kick start it. Stead suffers from being average in too many areas. His work rate is second to none but he is not particularly tall, or well built, or quick or prolific in front of goal. Derby got some joy using him as a winger but nine goals in 30 appearances so far for Town is not particularly inspiring. A decent Championship player but little more than that.

He was partnered up front against Forest by Spaniard Pablo Counago who is now in his second spell at the club but is also one of those strikers that works hard but struggles for goals. He has eight this season too. Kevin Lisbie certainly did not struggle to find the net last season. The diminutive front man bagged 17 in a relegated Colchester side after stepping out of the shadows he had occupied for more than a decade at Charlton Athletic. He has six so far for Ipswich and is available again this weekend after missing Wednesday night’s match with a back strain. QPR fans may remember less than fondly his loan spell with us in the 2000/01 relegation season – he has certainly improved since then and a good job too, he would have suffered a similar fate as Shabazz Baidoo had he not. It’s a reasonable front line all in all – we’ll face better and worse this season but if we do harbour any hopes of making the top six we really should be keeping players like this under control.

The genuine quality in the Ipswich line up lies in the midfield area in my opinion. Civelli made a good start last week and another lesser known foreign player Velice Sumulikoski always looks like a tidy player when I see him – rarely giving the ball away cheaply when in possession. David Norris may have made more headlines this season for his ill advised goal celebration in support of his friend Luke McCormick, currently doing time for killing two young boys while driving home over the drink drive limit from Norris’ wedding, but once you get past that moronic streak in him he is obviously a good player. Always impressive when we faced him in a Plymouth shirt he perhaps has not quite hit those same heights since moving to Portman Road but he is one of this league’s best midfielders on his day.

Likewise Owen Garvan who continues to blossom into a very solid and impressive midfielder after graduating from the famous Ipswich academy. He is a box to box, high energy type of player and always impresses me when I see him. Jon Walters completes the line up although after a summer of injuries and potential moves to Stoke he has yet to recapture his super form of last season and has gone back to looking like the overweight, one paced, mediocre player I branded him a year ago. He made me look stupid then by playing magnificently for Ipswich all season but it will need a dramatic turn around in form for him to do so again.

Ipswich also have former Bolton veteran Ivan Campo although that signing has been seen as a mistake by many and he was almost off loaded to the Charlton basket case at Christmas. Former Sheff Wed man Alan Quinn is steady but little else – a pretty uninspiring Championship journeyman. That’s him scoring first then now I have said that.

At the back Magilton prefers Richard Wright in goal although he is a shadow of the goalkeeper he was during his first spell with the club. It amazes me that the agile and impressive young Shane Supple has to go out on loan to find first team football – I’d have him in ahead of Wright given the choice. Whoever is in goal plays behind Gareth McAuley, a summer signing from Leicester to replace the imperious Jason De Vos at centre half. He is not too bad at this level but not great and Magilton has urged him to have more confidence in his own ability when bringing the ball out from defence – Ipswich may well rue missing out on Kaspars Gorkss last summer if he continues his awesome recent form on Saturday night.

Alongside him Steve Bruce’s son Alex is available – I cannot recall ever seeing him play well live and it seems ridiculous that he is leaving a contract offer from Ipswich unsigned while ludicrous stories about Fiorentina and others being interested him are peddled by God knows who. If he’s good enough to play in Serie A then I’m not coming to the match on Saturday, I’m going to sit here by the phone and wait for my England call up to come through on the fax. A bog standard Championship defender at best.

A man everybody loves to hate Ben Thatcher plays full back on one side while David Wright plays the other. Wright is a product of the system at Crewe and always strikes me as being one of this division’s best wide defenders whenever I see him. In a position QPR are sorely lacking in Rangers could do worse than ask Ipswich to name their price for him.

Previous Meetings
QPR were comfortably beaten 2-0 at Portman Road in November with Gareth Ainsworth in caretaker charge. Coming off the back of a 1-0 home victory against Birmingham on Tuesday night QPR would have been confident of taking at least a point from this match at kick off but they rarely looked capable of doing so once it had kicked off. Ipswich won the match courtesy of two soft goals from substitute Jon Stead. He needed two attempts at the first after Cerny had initially denied him in a goal mouth scramble but the second was as clean as a whistle after he was left unmarked at a corner. Rangers rarely looked like scoring.

Ipswich: R Wright 7, Volz 7, McAuley 6, Naylor 7, David Wright 8, Norris 8, Shumulikoski 7, Garvan 8, Quinn 5 (Counago 59, 6), Walters 7, Lisbie 4 (Stead 68, 8)
Subs Not Used: Supple, Bruce, Miller
Booked: Garvan (foul)
Goals: Stead 73 (assisted Counago), 75 (assisted Garvan)

QPR: Cerny 7, Delaney 4, Stewart 7, Hall 6, Connolly 6, Parejo 6, Rowlands 6, Tommasi 7, Cook 6, Di Carmine 5 (Blackstock 57, 4), Buzsaky 4 (Ledesma 68, 4)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Mahon, Gorkss
Booked: Di Carmine (foul)

Match Report

Rangers last took on Town at Loftus Road in October 2007 with Mick Harford in caretaker charge. Ipswich struggled to pick up points on the road throughout last season but took the lead just after half time with a quite sublime 25 yard volley from French midfielder Sylvain Legwinski. QPR fought their way back into the game though and a crisp finish from Marc Nygaard at the Loft End levelled things up with 20 minutes left to play – this turned out to be the Big Dane’s last goal for QPR.

QPR: Camp 7, Mancienne 6 (Nygaard 55, 7), Stewart 7, Cranie 8, Barker 5, Ainsworth 6 (Moore 67, N/A), Bolder 6, Leigertwood 8, Rowlands 6, Ephraim 6, Vine 7
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Jarrett
Booked: Vine (foul)
Goals: Nygaard 73 (assisted Vine)

Ipswich: Alexander 7, Wright 7, Wilnis 8, De Vos 7, Harding 6, Walters 5, Garvan 6, Legwinski 8, Miller 7 (Roberts 32, 7), Clarke 7 (Haynes 80, 7) Lee 7 (Counago 85, -)
Subs Not Used: Supple, Bruce
Goals: Legwinski 53 (assisted Garvan)

Match Report

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 21
Draws – 18
Ipswich wins – 25

Past Ipswich v QPR results:
2008/09 Ipswich 2 QPR 0
2007/08 Ipswich 0 QPR 0
2007/08 QPR 1 Ipswich 1 (Nygaard)
2006/07 Ipswich 2 QPR 1 (Furlong)
2006/07 QPR 1 Ipswich 3 (Gallen)
2005/06 Ipswich 2 QPR 2 (Moore, Furlong)
2005/06 QPR 2 Ipswich 1 (Rowlands, Gallen)
2004/05 Ipswich 0 QPR 2 (Furlong, Shittu)
2004/05 QPR 2 Ipswich 4 (Furlong 2)
1999/00 QPR 3 Ipswich 1 (Peacock, Koejoe, Kiwomya)
1999/00 Ipswich 1 QPR 4 (Steiner 2, Peacock, Wardley)
1998/99 Ipswich 3 QPR 1 (Kiwomya)
1998/99 QPR 1 Ipswich 1 (Gallen)
1997/98 QPR 0 Ipswich 0
1997/98 Ipswich 0 QPR 0
1996/97 Ipswich 2 QPR 0
1996/97 QPR 0 Ipswich 1
1994/95 Ipswich 0 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1994/95 QPR 1 Ipswich 2 (Ferdinand)
1993/94 Ipswich 1 QPR 3 (Impey 2, Ferdinand)
1993/94 QPR 3 Ipswich 0 (White 2, Barker)
1992/93 Ipswich 1 QPR 1 (White)
1992/93 QPR 0 Ipswich 0

Team News
Rangers may well welcome back Heidar Helguson and Radek Cerny after the pair resumed full training on Monday. Cerny has been suffering with a hamstring injury since the win at Derby but should return in place of Lee Camp this weekend. Helguson missed the draw at Forest with a calf problem but should also return to replace Sam Di Carmine who was stretchered off in that match. We are finally talking about Rowan Vine’s potential return in weeks rather than months and years – but not this week. Akos Buzsaky and Martin Rowlands are long term absentees. Patrick Agyemang has stepped up his training but is still several weeks away from a return. Paulo Sousa must decide whether Jordi Lopez is fit and sharp enough to be considered after signing for QPR on Tuesday.

Ipswich will be without striker Danny Haynes with a hamstring strain although scans have revealed he has not suffered a tear. Former QPR loanee Kevin Lisbie missed their win against Forest on Wednesday with a back strain but is expected to train on Friday and travel to London in the squad. Centre back Gareth McAuley injured his calf denying Forest a late equaliser at Portman Road and is rated as no better than 50/50 to make the game.
Injury List

Referee
For the second time this season QPR have the much heralded “youngest ever Premiership referee” Stuart Attwell in charge of a game at Loftus Road. He is the man that awarded that goal at Watford v Reading and disallowed those goals at Derby v Forest and sent Mikele Leigertwood off when he did QPR v Birmingham before Christmas. It is fair to say it has not been a good season for him but like Jeremy Clarkson shouting power and accelerating to cure the problem of an out of control car the authorities have decided to continue throwing Attwell in over his head and hoping he eventually finds some form and stops cocking up. We are the latest unwilling participants in this social experiment on Saturday night.
Details

Elsewhere
After not meeting competitively for several years Forest and Derby seem to be going at it most weeks at the moment – their lunch time clash at the City Ground is the third in as many weeks and fourth of the season. There have been two draws and a Derby win so far although if it was not for our referee this weekend that would be two wins for the Rams. The other fixture that sticks out on the list is title chasing Reading’s visit to in form Bristol City. Barnsley and Charlton is a six pointer down the bottom while Swansea and Doncaster may well pass each other to death at the Liberty Stadium.
Tony’s Championship Preview

Form
QPR come into this game unbeaten in nine matches although using the term ‘the perfect ten’ on the official website seems to be stretching it a little bit considering six of those games have been drawn. That includes the last three at Loftus Road in the league against Reading, Watford and Coventry – plus an FA Cup stalemate with Burnley. Overall Rangers have only lost twice at home all season – only Swansea and Reading have a better record than that and six of the ten teams above us have lost more. Only two teams, Cardiff and Reading, have conceded fewer goals than ourselves at home (twelve) however poor away form that has only recently started to improve means we are currently eleventh – four points off the play offs with games in hand on every team between us and sixth. On Sky this season we have beaten Wolves (1-0), Southampton (4-1) and lost at Birmingham (1-0).

Ipswich may only be one place five goals ahead of us on the table but their away form is in a different league to ours and makes them a threat at Loftus Road on Saturday. They have six wins and four draws from 16 matches played on the road – for comparison we have won just three times away, Birmingham have won six and Reading have won five. They score plenty as well – 22 is better than anybody else in the league apart from Wolves. They did lose 3-0 at Swansea in their last away trip though and, to borrow/steal a phrase used on our message board this week, in that game their defence looked about as mobile as Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

Both teams are in the top six of the form guide for results over the past six matches. Ipswich’s midweek win against Forest moved them to a three, two and one record while QPR are currently two and four. Town have a good recent record at Loftus Road with two wins and a draw from their last four visits. Between them these two teams have drawn 22 of 64 matches they have played this season.
Form Guide

Prediction
Ipswich fans may be protesting against their manager but their away form is as good as anybody’s in this league and they will be difficult to beat. QPR look solid and impressive now Paulo Sousa has got to grips with his squad and added Liam Miller and Wayne Routledge to the ranks but the R’s still look like they may struggle to score at times. Therefore a draw is also a good bet when the R’s are playing and that’s what I am going for here.
QPR 1 Ipswich 1

Prediction League >>> League Calculator >>> Connections and Memories >>> Betting Preview

Photo: Action Images

Macclesfield Town Polls