Wayne Routledge was rewarded for his fine performance and goal against Preston with a place in the Championship team of the week while another outstanding performer, Adel Taarabt, has revealed a worrying clause in his contract.
Routledge was the LFW man of the match on Saturday as he scored a fine fourth goal to cap an exciting performance in the 4-0 rout of Preston. He fully deserves his place in this weekend’s Championship team of the week, and in fairness some of his team mates can count themselves very unfortunate not to have made the cut as well. Former R’s Dexter Blackstock, who scored for Forest against Newcastle, and Jerome Thomas, who scored twice for West Brom against Reading, were also chosen.
Team: Steele (Barnsley), Gunter (Forest), Purse (Sheff Wed), Seip (Blackpool), Cohen (Forest), Routledge (QPR), Mulumbu (West Brom), McCann (Scunthorpe), Thomas (West Brom), Blackstock (Forest), Hayes (Scunthorpe)
Adel Taarabt also wowed the Loftus Road crowd with a sparkling goal and super performance. Taarabt had been abused by his own fans for failing to release an obvious pass in the previous match with Barnsley but was right back on form against North End. He may not stay for the full season as originally planned though, telling the Daily Mail there is a clause in his contract that allows for a January departure as part of the season long loan deal from Spurs.
Taarabt told the Daily Mail: “I am from Marseille, the city of Cantona and Zidane. They like to entertain the fans, I try to, too. I have a clause that if a Premier League club wants me, I can leave in January. Spurs wanted me to sign a contract (extension) in the summer but I wanted to go to Spain or Italy. They wouldn’t let me, so I went back to the Championship to show what I can do, and hopefully I’ll be in the Premier League soon.”
Elsewhere in the Championship today Chris Hughton has confirmed he is in talks with Newcastle to make his prolonged spell as caretaker manager a permanent one. Hughton has led Newcastle into the automatic promotion places after 12 games despite the shambles behind the scenes at St James’ Park. Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric has denied he is on the brink of selling the club to a mystery consortium. Peterborough winger George Boyd equalled a club record of 124 consecutive starts at Bristol City on Saturday, Boyd scored a last minute equaliser for Posh. Cardiff have said they will not by pursuing Michael Chopra’s claims that he was racially abused by Crystal Palace players at the weekend, Coventry have signed teenage striker Gary Medine on loan from Carlisle.