Neil Warnock today confirmed the very welcome news that disgraced striker Marlon King will not be signed after a week of speculation.
News:
King is currently on the look out for a club after being released from prison nine months into an 18 month sentence for attacking a girl in a nightclub when she rejected his advances. It was the 14th offence of a prolific career in crime, certainly more prolific than his recent goal scoring record, and QPR fans were largely disgusted at the thought of him being signed by Rangers.
A fortnight ago Neil Warnock confirmed to the Victoria Derbyshire programme on Five Live that he was not interested in signing the striker but then seemed to be backpeddling somewhat when he told journalists at the post match press conference on Saturday that he needed to keep his cards close to his chest. The message boards filled with talk of the King signing when Warnock was quoted as saying: “We haven't got a 20-goal-a-season man and you do need one. He has served his time and we live in a country that we say when they have served their time give them another opportunity. He is a good player and I think he will score goals.”
Today Warnock re-affirmed his original position, saying King would not be coming to Loftus Road. Warnock told the BBC: “All I said was that I believe he deserves another chance. He won't be coming to QPR but I'm sure he'll get a club. We're a bit thin on the ground and depleted regarding back-up so we will try to get a couple more in. I think most teams in the Championship are like that this season where they go with quality instead of quantity."
One cannot help thinking that none of this controversy would have blown up had Warnock given a straight answer to a straight question on Saturday, but it is a great relief to hear that King won’t be coming to QPR.
Warnock also said he was looking forward to welcoming back Martin Rowlands after hs lengthy lay off with a knee injury. He said: “I had a chat with Martin and he is still as enthusiastic as he's ever been, I told him he must not get frustrated with himself and end up lunging into tackles where he might pick up another injury. He has looked sharp in training and is eager to get back into the first team squad."
But with his efforts to bring in strike power largely frustrated, and the potential signing of Luke Varney (see rumours below) hardly inspiring it could be that Warnock is forced to return to the loan market that QPR plundered regularly with little success last season.
Assistant manager Mick Jones told the Kilburn Times: “There's the opportunity of loans outside the window and that'll be a massive part of my job. I'll be checking out the 'big' clubs to see who's available, particularly in London. They've all got big squads and they want to keep an eye on their players when they go out on loan, so it makes sense to go to clubs that aren't too far away. With that said, we have to try and work less with loan signings because they're not your players and you never know when they might have to go back. But I'm a big believer that the January window is far more important than this one - after about six games you know where you're at and you can deal with those things in January.
“The door's still wide open for anyone who wants to push it. People can surprise you. When we first came to the club, there were two players we felt wouldn't be our type of player and both have proved us massively wrong.”
Both Jones and Warnock will be grateful to get some of the first teamers missing from the team on Tuesday night against Port Vale back for this Saturday’s trip to Sheffield United. There were mixed fortunes for the R’s who went away on international duty – Adel Taarabt played 50 minutes for Morocco in their 2-1 win against Equatorial Guinea, Kaspars Gorkss played a full 90 minutes for Latvia who lost 4-1 to the Czech Republic, and Heidar Helguson also got another full 90 minutes under his belt as Icelend drew 1-1 with Liechtenstein.
Finally Port Vale’s reward for knocking us out of the League Cup on Tuesday is a second round tie at our West London neighbours Fulham.
Rumours:
The Luke Varney story has gathered pace today with the Uxbridge Gazette and others reporting that QPR are set to secure the former Crewe man on a half season loan deal from Derby after beating off competition from Millwall and Sheffield United. Other, somewhat more promising, stories linking Rangers with Blackburn’s Jason Roberts and Cardiff’s Michael Chopra have cooled today. Roberts is reportedly looking for more than the two year deal on the table at QPR, and a similar wage to his £30k a week pay packet at Blackburn, while Cardiff have priced QPR out of the running for Chopra with a £4m price tag.
Former R’s
Dean Parrett will play his football away from Spurs this season after joining League One newcomers Plymouth Argyle on a long term loan deal. Parrett was picked up from the QPR youth set up for a seven figure sum by Spurs during John Gregory’s time with Rangers and QPR were said to have first option on a loan deal for the player once he had developed in the Spurs academy. However he spent time on loan at Aldershot last season and will now play for the Pilgrims for the whole of 2010/11.
Plymouth boss Peter Reid said: “Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood have helped me out - Dean's a young attacking midfield player who has played for England so it's a good prospect for us. I just feel we need somebody to open things up in the middle of the park and I'm hoping Dean will be the man and I'm sure he will be. I'm excited to be working with the boy and hopefully he can get on the pitch and do the job for us."
Championship Shorts:
- The big news in the Championship today is the shock resignation of Bristol City manager Steve Coppell after just two matches in charge. Coppell, who once left Man City after less than a month in charge earlier in his career, said: “I have made my decision after very careful consideration and I believe that it is in the best interests of both the club and me personally that we go our separate ways. Bristol City is an excellent club, with brilliant support and a chairman with great ambition for the club's future. Whilst I was looking forward to the challenge of leading the players in this season's campaign, unfortunately, it has become clear over recent weeks, that I found I could not, for whatever reason, become passionate about the role and give the commitment the position demands.” Keith Millen, who achieved impressive results as a caretaker manager at Ashton Gate last season, has signed a three year deal to replace Coppell.
- Ipswich manager Roy Keane has confirmed that winger Jon Walters has requested a move away from Portman Road in the face of increasing interest from Stoke City. Keane said: “Jon made it clear a number of weeks ago he wanted to leave the club. That's OK as long as we get the right offer and we haven't yet. The offers we've had don't meet our evaluation." Town have already moved to replace Walters with Spurs’ Andros Townsend on a season long loan deal, and have had a £750k bid accepted for Wigan’s Jason Scotland.
- Burnley have signed Chelsea midfielder Jack Cork on a season long loan. Cork previously spent time with Scunthorpe and Reading.
- Matthew Lawrence has left Crystal Palace and signed a one year contract at Gillingham.