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QPR return to action at Waddock's Aldershot - full match preview
QPR return to action at Waddock's Aldershot - full match preview
Friday, 10th Jul 2009 10:05

QPR fans get a first chance to see Jim Magilton's team in action this summer on Saturday as the R's travel to meet a team managed by one of his many recent predecessors, Gary Waddock.

Aldershot Town v Queens Park Rangers
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday July 11, Kick Off 3pm
Recreation Ground, Aldershot


The idea that QPR fans enjoy being miserable and looking for something to moan about has been tested to the absolute limit this week with the £3.5m capture of Alejandro Faurlin. Nobody has ever seen the lad play, nobody even knows what position he plays in exactly, but the mere thought of QPR spending such money on a player with an exotic sounding name has had the feel good factor and season ticket renewal promises picking up across all message boards this week.

It is a common trait of football fans to look for the positives in every signing the club makes regardless of circumstance. All we have to go on with Faurlin are grainy YouTube clips where it is hard to pick out exactly which player he is and vague talk of exactly who went to scout him and who has made this decision. That and a story about him turning up to train for the first time on Monday in borrowed boots and him tearing the place apart. It seems to have whetted the appetite of some though and calmed the criticism of the board for this week at least - a cynic may suggest that was the intention of suddenly departing from the policy of not disclosing fees, but then it would be a bit much even for me to get cynical in the first match preview of the new campaign.

This Saturday we get a first chance to see Jim Magilton’s QPR side, still largely the same as Iain Dowie/Paulo Sousa/Gareth Ainsworth’s QPR side Faurlin apart - and international clearance may yet prevent him from featuring at the Recreation Ground. The first thing I would say is as far as I am concerned QPR still have the same problems they did last year - weak at full back, embarrassingly toothless up front. Whether Jim Magilton’s influence and particularly his style of play, the return to fitness of Akos Buzsaky, Martin Rowlands and Rowan Vine, or Faurlin’s introduction is enough to cure these problems won’t be apparent for sometime - certainly not by 5pm on Saturday.

As exciting as it is to be leaping out of bed and braving the rail network in the name of football again pre-season friendlies, particularly the early ones, are often wastes of time as spectacles, littered with substitutions and used as little more than an open training session by most teams. Still, as I say, it is exciting to be back on the wagon even though it only seems two minutes since I slumped off it tired, weary and glad to see the back of 2008/09 after the Preston defeat.

Five minutes on Aldershot
Recent History:
Aldershot are infamous for being the club that went out of business completely in 1992. They were in the fourth tier of the league at that stage, as they are now, but when reformed they had to begin all over again AFC Wimbledon style in the third tier of the Isthmian League. The Shots were the first team since Accrington Stanley in the 1960s to go bust completely, although Maidenhead quickly followed suit, and the two clubs have in recent times followed similar paths in securing memorable returns to the Football League. Under the guidance of Steve Wignall, who went on to manager Colchester, Steve Wigley, of Southampton disaster fame, and then george Borg the club rose up through the non-league levels to the cusp of the Conference league. They moved into that top level of non-league in 2003 with Terry Brown as manager but twice they were denied promotion into the Football League after penalty shoot out defeats in play off matches - first against Shrewsbury, and then Carlisle.

It seemed that a new man was required to force the Shots, by now a professional outfit, over that finishing line and two years ago almost to the day the club handed the task to our former boss Gary Waddock following a disappointing 2006/07 campaign. In 2007/08 Waddock’s team amassed 101 points in what turned into a lengthy procession to the league. Despite a miniscule budget for players and rumours that Waddock was interesting Huddersfield Town the Shots were able to consolidate their league position last season with a fifteenth placed finish in League Two. They won their opening game of the season, ironically away to their northern equivalent Accrington Stanley, and secured nine home wins over the course of the campaign. In preparing for that ‘difficult second season’ the Shots already have two friendly wins under their belts against local non-league sides, however they fielded teams made up almost entirely of trialists on both occasions as Waddock again faces up to the task of maintaining league status without a transfer budget.

With Waddock admitting this week that there have been no offers for his current players even the option of wheeling and dealing is currently being denied to him and so the Shots are left to tackle another 46 match season with one of the division’s smallest squads. QPR fans said their job was too much too soon for Waddock who needed to go down the leagues and cut his teeth a bit more first - the task of progressing the Recreation ground outfit through the choppy waters of the Football League is certainly a tough ask for the rookie boss but one he is taking to well.

The Manager:
Waddock will certainly be a familiar figure to the QPR fans travelling to Aldershot this weekend. A Rangers star as a player between 1979 and 1987, and then again briefly in the early 1990s, Waddock was a product of the QPR youth set up who formed a central midfield partnership with John Gregory that saw both players called up for international honours - Gregory for England, Waddock for Ireland. After 203 appearances and eight goals for the R’s Waddock enjoyed spells with Chaleroi in Belgium, Millwall, Swindon and bristol Rovers but struggled with injuries later in his career. A 153 game Indian summer at Luton Town between 1994 and 1998 brought the curtain down on a career that then progressed into coaching. Waddock was involved with the youth and reserve teams at QPR before progressing to first team manager in 2006 when Ian Holloway was controversially placed on gardening leave.

While Waddock would clearly have been a fool to turn the position down when offered it the whole situation was geared towards him failing and it is such a shame that a well liked former player of the club went through what he did at Loftus Road in a troubled eight months in charge. Waddock did not exactly help himself, promising an immediate change to the style of play at Loftus Road that was perceived by Holloway’s critics as being too direct, predictable and poor to watch. certainly Holloway himself disputes this and admits in his autobiography that Waddock’s comments angered and hurt him. Having promised that Waddock then had the task of delivering it on a budget barely bigger than that of his family weekly shop, at a club working its way into deeper financial trouble with each passing day. The early signs were good with a 1-0 win against Millwall in his first match and a thrilling 3-2 success at Sheff Utd shortly afterwards. However QPR failed to win any of their last 15 matches, including calamitous defeats such as the 3-2 set back at Norwich where Rangers led 2-0 with less than a quarter of an hour to play.

Waddock had only been appointed as a caretaker while Holloway was on gardening leave and that seemed to leave the door open for Gianni Paladini and the QPR board to say ‘thanks but no thanks’ at the end of the season. However, either through stubbornness or lack of financial clout to do anything else, Waddock was confirmed as permanent manager that summer anyway. His second key mistake was to blame the players completely for the bad run at the end of the season and promise supporters things would be different when he got his own men into the squad. That summer his own men included such football luminaries as Egutu Oliseh, Adam Czerkas, Armel Tchakounte and the singularly unfortunate Nick Ward who rather than being given time to settle after arriving from the Aussie A-League was heralded as a super star by QPR and thrust into the limelight with the weight of the club on his shoulders. Those players that could have brought experience and ability to Waddock’s teams - Marc Bircham, Steve Lomas, Ian Evatt, Marcus Bignot - were ostricized, transfer listed and left back in England as Rangers embarked on a farcical tour of Italy where their first friendly was played on a plastic pitch where Waddock was so worried about the potential for injury he played his assistant Alan McDonald instead of a senior player. The second game was played in a Naples slum on grass so long the players’ boots sunk without trace whenever they picked them up to run.

Those players that Waddock had pushed aside then had to come back into the team through necessity come the big kick off and this fractured and awkward looking QPR side won just one of its opening matches. Waddock was replaced by John Gregory after a poor defeat at Colchester and Port Vale in September. The feeling was one of sympathy for Waddock - an inexperienced but bright manager who had made mistakes but ultimately was plunged into an unwinnable situation that only a miracle eight months under Gregory, with help from numerous contacts of the more experienced man in the form of loans, saved the R’s from the drop they were surely destined for under Waddock. QPR fans said he needed to drop down the divisions and cut his teeth and he has certainly succeeded in doing that at Aldershot - romping to the Conference title in fine style in his first full season and then securing Football League status with a consolidating campaign last term.

Working well and producing attractive football on a shoe string budget Waddock is sure to attract interest from higher up, and was linked with League One Huddersfield last summer following promotion as he negotiated a new contract with Aldershot. A man everybody at QPR has a lot of time for and a manager in my opinion destined for bigger and better things in a more secure environment than QPR could offer him.

Three to watch:
QPR fans may recognise the name of Aldershot goalkeeper Nikki Bull should he be selected on Saturday. A product of the QPR youth set up who never made a first team appearance at Loftus Road but subsequently carved out a reputation as one of the non-league’s best goalkeeping talents at Aldershot. Since joining the Shots in 2002 he has been named the club’s player of the season twice, the non-league goalkeeper of the year and the non-league footballer of the year. For a time it seemed that he was becoming frustrated with the team’s inability to secure Football league Status and a move to Leyton Orient was mooted when he stated publicly that he would not sign a new deal at the Recreation Ground. he eventually relented and signed when waddock took them into League Two and he made 35 appearances for them in all competitions last season. Slightly smaller than your average keeper and a good shot stopper - he could easily be compared to the recently departed Lee Camp in looks and playing style.

With last season’s top scorer Scott Davies now back with Reading following the culmination of his season long loan deal all eyes will be on striker Kirk Hudson for goals this season. Hudson is a product of the system at Bournemouth and signed for the Shots after a successful loan spell in 2006. He scored 13 goals last season as they finished 15th in League Two. Hudson will need decent service to make a go of it and in former QPR man Scott Donnelly Waddock could potentially have unearthed just the thing. Donnelly stood out at QPR in the juniors and reserves with some outrageous skill and touch that impressed Gary Waddock enough to give him his first team debut at Loftus Road when he took over as manager. Donnelly though started to pag on weight, a lot of weight, with tales of snooker halls and packets of crisps doing the rounds among the supporters. Donnelly was, by the end of his time at QPR and for want of a better word, fat. He drifted into non-league with Wealdstone but has been given a second chance with Waddock at Aldershot and will undoubtedly stand out in league Two if he can get and keep his weight down. An immensely talented player who can turn a game on his day and, as things stand now, a bit of a waste of ability so far.

Travel Guide

This Saturday
Team News:
A slightly truncated preview than we are planning for the league fixtures this season, and a pretty pointless section here in what is likely to be a substitute dominated first friendly of the summer with everybody being given a run out on both sides. QPR fans may be denied a first look at new signing Alejandro Faurlin while the club waits for his international clearance and the game could come too soon for long term injury victim Martin Rowlands but Akos Buzsaky is expected to play some part. Damion Stewart is in America playing in the Gold Cup for Jamaica and Lee Cook is out with a knee injury. The lack of a reserve goalkeeper at Loftus Road may press Elvis Putnins into his first senior action for the club after impressing for the juniors last season.

Aldershot have already player two pre-season friendlies this summer but both featured teams made up entirely or trialists so this will be a first chance for his 16 senior players to enjoy a run out this summer. Only one of the trialists featured in the first two games is likely to be pursued further by the club.

Elsewhere:
Several Championship sides get their pre-season campaigns started this Saturday with some eye catching fixtures amongst them. Barnsley welcome Turkish side Ferencvaros to Oakwell while Derby County make the short trip to newly promoted Burton Albion, from whom they poached manager Nigel Clough midway through last season. West Brom are certain of a physical work out at John Beck coached Conference outfit Histon while Nottingham Forest will relive glory days of the past when they face Sporting Lisbon. Coventry are at Wrexham and Leicester City travel to Tamworth fresh from completing the signing of Richie Wellens from Doncaster.

Injury List >>> Discipline

Form
Aldershot:
Aldershot’s summer so far has consisted of a 3-3 draw with Camberley and a 2-1 win at Alton Town - although on both occasions the team was made up entirely of trialists and this is essentially the first outing for their first team ahead of the new League Two season. Last season the Shots won nine and drew ten of their 23 home league games - Exeter City finished second and were promoted having lost one more game at home than Aldershot who finished 15t, 16 defeats from 23 away games cost them dear. Despite that they did finish the season with a 2-0 win at Lincoln having failed to win any of the previous nine.

QPR:
Rangers too were let down by poor away form last season, recording just three wins on the road in the whole campaign - at Norwich, Derby and Blackpool. Rangers finished the campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Preston but goals were the main problem all season - only Plymouth scored less than the R’s who drew 0-0 on eleven occasions, failed to score in 23 of the games they played, and drew a blank in four of their last six matches. With no strikers signed yet this summer the return of Akos Buzsaky looks to be QPR’s best hope of turning that around.

Prediction:
The only thing worse than the QPR attack last season was this part of my match previews - not one score right all season. Consequently I’m planning on being a little bit more vague with the predictions this season - using terms like ‘score draw’ or ‘Rangers by one’ to cover my incompetence and give me a better chance of being right. This being the first friendly the result is completely academic, I think QPR will probably win by two clear goals and by the end everybody will be heartily sick of multiple substitutions and wondering just why on earth they bothered. Still, it’s football and it’s back.
Rangers by two

Form >>> Home Form >>> Away Form

Photo: Action Images



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