With less than ten games left  until the end of the season neither QPR nor their opponents on Tuesday Derby County would appear to be in any immediate danger, but both need a couple more wins just to be sure.

Queens Park Rangers (17th) v Derby County (18th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday March 23, Kick Off 8pm
Loftus Road, London

I was told it would get easier not going to matches once I'd stopped - it's not. Having not missed a non-televised league game involving QPR for a good three or four years I have had to sit the recent clutch of midweek fixtures out due to a lack of money. I've got to be honest there was a moment last Tuesday when I did breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn't battling back to Derby at 3am after being screwed over by a referee at Reading, but then I would still rather have been at the Madejski Stadium hanging over an advertising hoarding and giving Mr Ward a piece of my mind than sitting at home and trying to make my mind up whether the referee really was that bad or whether the commentator was exaggerating.

I'm a swine for not delegating jobs when I should. I'd much rather do it myself so I know a proper job has been done or, of if it hasn't, that I can blame myself for it. I like to go to a match and make my own judgements, I hate sitting at home and relying on the BBC London commentators. Don't get me wrong, the guy commentating on the Reading game was actually very good other than his instance that Mikele Leigertwood was actually called Lie-gert-wood and Hogan Ephraim is pronounced E-Frame. But we're not always so lucky. During the Plymouth game you could hear the commentators who had travelled with the visitors getting excited about a move on the field in the background while our commentator either sat silently and then mumbled something about a near miss afterwards or, worse still, told us how Arsenal were getting on over and over and over again. If I want to know how Arsenal are getting on I'll buy a bloody ticket and go and watch them myself.

And that's without even mentioning the first ten minutes of the game during which we were all actually listening to commentary from Carlisle v Millwall because some incompetent arsehole somewhere along the line forgot to flick the switch when our game kicked off. I mean as if it isn't frustrating enough that the BBC cut all their online coverage as soon as the match kicks off to force you into buying the 'Player' packages from clubs, but they then give you commentary on a different game from a different division for ten minutes while you pay £35 for the privilege.

Anyway I had hoped to go tonight, but a letter dropped through my door this morning reminding me that my car tax is due so that has put paid to that. I hate having no money, and I hate being one of those football fans that makes excuses and doesn't go to games. It's not me, and it's not getting easier not seeing my Rangers. Nine games left this season and I am, rail strikes permitting, hoping to get to seven of them. Hopefully in that time we'll see our team pulling away from the drop zone - a win against a mediocre Derby team on Tuesday would go a long way towards that.

Five minutes on Derby
The story so far:
I have actually interviewed Nigel Clough this season for my day job. He was launching a community football initiative at a shopping outlet between Derby and Mansfield and signing copies of a new book on Derby County, I was dispatched by a Forest supporting sub to find out about that and, cringingly, get “Cloughie’s Christmas message for the fans.” Now I know it’s hard to feel sorry for people in football with the money they earn but I actually did feel sorry for Clough that night. He’d been in Sheffield in the afternoon watching Derby’s reserves and had had to make a special trip back down the motorway for half an hour of photographs and talking to idiots like me before going back to the Steel City to scout a Rotherham United game. Having spent the last three years of my life commuting M1 junctions 33 to 28 and back again he had my sympathy.

When it became clear that Clough, polite but clearly tired, would rather I took the community football bits from the press release and was certainly not in the mood for delivering naff Christmas messages I poked him for a bit about our game at Pride Park. He grudgingly admitted we were the best side they’d played to that point, while saying at the same time that he felt they’d caught us at a bad time, which has turned out to be pretty much spot on. Rangers haven’t been as good since and Derby probably haven’t been as bad.

Every question I asked quickly worked its way back to Derby’s injury crisis at the time when it was answered. After taking over a squad so vastly over inflated and over paid Clough had to split training sessions into two to cope and spend his whole summer offloading players to slim the wage bill the last thing he needed was for ten of his first choice players to suddenly drop down injured but that’s what happened in the first half of this season.

It’s been a frustrating campaign overall for the Rams who, even without the injuries, would struggle to have bettered their current position of 18th in my opinion. It’s a unique club in a unique one team city and that makes Clough’s life difficult. BBC Radio Derby carries a nightly phone in on the club which seems to revel in bashing the team it’s meant to follow – twice captain Robbie Savage has gone live on air this year to argue with presenter Colin Gibson. In the first instance Gibson had stated live on air that he’d heard the players were not getting on with the coaching staff, an allegation he could not back up but one that had been doing the rounds in the city for several weeks before he dared to air it. On the second he criticised the Derby players for brawling with their Swansea counterparts of Pride Park. On the face of it the moral high ground was all Gibson’s but if you haven’t seen the tackle by Gorka Pintado, easily the worst challenge I’ve ever seen in a football game, then look it up on You Tube and remind yourself of Paulo Sousa’s comments about Neil Warnock while you do. Frankly I'd have been disappointed in my team had they not gone mental over it and Gibson's criticism of them for reacting, which he said set a bad example and could have provoked crowd trouble, smacked of somebody desperate to have a go at the Rams about something - anything!

On top of the demanding local media Clough has to contend with a farcically large home support base that regularly tops 30,000 for a rank team in the Championship. They seem to be quite understanding of the situation he inherited and willing to give time, but patience only stretches so far and they were fuming when we won at Pride Park in October.

There is the proud history of the club that often weighs heavy on the present generation of players at many clubs that have done well in the past but since fallen on hard times and then of course there is the Forest factor. The rivalry between the two teams is as fierce as anything anywhere in the country and the fact that Forest are pushing for promotion with former Derby boss Billy Davies and former Derby players Dexter Blackstock and Lee Camp to the fore only serves to add to the pressure on Clough – or ‘Non League Nigel’ as a small but growing band of detractors have dubbed him. There were brawls between the Derby and Forest players in both fixtures this season, the home teams won on both occasions.

This is a huge job for Clough, who spent ten years rebuilding Burton Albion. Personally I cannot see them being much better than they are now this time next year and it will only be in two or three years time that we really start to see the fruits of his labours. Whether he’ll get that much time remains to be seen – they’ll miss relegation this year but not by much in my opinion and the natives may get restless if next season starts in the same vein.

The Manager: Nigel Clough, in case you have been on the moon, is the son of the legendary Brian who won the league championship with Derby County and European cup twice with Nottingham Forest. Where Clough senior loved the limelight and controversial outbursts Nigel is a quiet, family man who built his managerial reputation in ten years at Burton Albion during which time he promoted them into the Conference, oversaw the move to a new stadium, took Man Utd to a replay in the FA Cup and ultimately built a side that took them into the Football League despite the best efforts of his replacement Roy McFarlane last season. Clough has stressed since his arrival that the job of rebuilding Derby is a massive one that will take time – having inherited a squad so large he had to split training into two sessions to accommodate them all Clough has spent the summer mostly clearing players out rather than adding new ones and I’m sure, if you asked him, he would say it is likely to be three seasons minimum before they are in a position to challenge in this league again. If he thinks Derby County will give him the ten years he had at Burton, or even the three years he needs here, then he may end up being sadly mistaken and only results at Pride Park have kept the wolves from his door this season, and there haven’t been many of them to be fair. May be able to trade on his family name to keep him in the post longer than others may get, and he’s played the ‘too many injuries’ card plenty of times this season. To an outsider looking in I would say Derby need to stick with him and give him his three to five years to reshape a club that was obviously in a serious mess when he arrived.

Three to Watch:
Derby’s squad is still just several layers of signings made by three or four different managers – the three players I’m looking at here were bought by Billy Davies, Paul Jewell and Nigel Clough.

The Clough signing I’ve picked out is a loan from Arsenal’s youth set up. In motor racing the say ‘if you want to win, get a Fin’ and in football in this country the same could well be applied to the Arsene Wenger school of talent at the Emirates Stadium. Show cased in the League Cup and then loaned out to the benefit of teams like us and Derby, Arsenal are producing a constant source of technically gifted, strong young players. Jay Simpson should return for us on Tuesday, he scored at Pride Park in October, but since that game Derby have brought in their own Gunner Giles Sunu. Leggy, athletic, technically good and already off the mark with a goal from midfield in a heavy defeat at Reading Sunu will be worth watching as all graduates from North London usually are.

The Billy Davies signing to look out for is centre half Dean Leacock if only because he really should have been an R. Brought up through the Fulham system he was signed by Derby at the same time, from the same club and for the same money we spent on Zesh Rehman. At the time Gary Waddock told me he doubted Leacock’s strength but as he impressed in derby’s promotion that year while Rehman became a figure of fun at Loftus Road and was eventually bummed off to League Two at a loss of a quarter of a million pounds plus wages I’m sure he’s changed his opinion since. Leacock struggles to make the Derby team himself at the moment, he was a second half sub at Hillsborough at the weekend, but with Clough believing his former Burton charge (and that’s pretty much all he does) Jake Buxton is a Championship quality centre half his judgement on that position must surely be in question.

Up front Derby boast another one of those players that is always highly sought after by Championship clubs but never quite cuts the mustard in the higher league. When Rob Hulse first came through the ranks at Crewe he partnered Dean Ashton in a lively attack and I actually thought at the time Hulse was the better player. Although injuries have sadly curtailed a career that took him all the way to the England squad it is clear now that it was Ashton who had the Premiership quality rather than Hulse who has, like so many Derby players, struggled to make an impact in the top flight while always doing a steady job in the Championship. Not steady enough to justify the money spent on him in transfer fees down the years, some £5.8m, or the interest in him during the summer from Middlesbrough and then ourselves in January. But the Paul Jewell signing will be a threat to Rangers all the same and has eleven goals to his name this season so far.

Links >>> Derby Official Website >>> Derby Message Board

History
Recent Meetings:
QPR have never lost at Pride Park and kept up that record in spectacular fashion back in October. Live on BBC television the Rams surged into a two goal lead as slack defensive play from Gorkss allowed Dickov to steal in for a soft opener, then Robbie Savage curled home a brilliant free kick. However the R’s came roaring back with a fine Adel Taarabt free kick halving the deficit before half time and Gavin Mahon equalising straight after the break after some superb approach work. There was only one team in it for the last hour of the game – Jay Simpson slammed in a third and Akos Buzsaky bagged a late penalty. It was the third time in as many games that Rangers had hit four goals and at that stage it looked like nothing would stop us.

Derby: Bywater 5, Stoor 6 (Livermore 62, 6), Connolly 6, Barker 7, Moxey 5, Croft 6, Savage 7, Hughes 6 (Pearson 68, 7), Teale 6, Dickov 6 (Davies 68, 7),Hulse 6
Subs Not Used: Deeney, Buxton, Hendrie, Mills
Booked: Connolly
Goals: Dickov 10 (assisted Savage), Savage 36 (free kick)

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 7 (Leigertwood 60, 8), Gorkss 7, Stewart 7, Borrowdale 7, Routledge 8, Faurlin 8, Mahon 8, Buzsaky 8, Taarabt 8 (Agyemang 75, 6), Simpson 7 (Vine 75, 7)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Hall, Alberti, Ainsworth
Goals: Taarabt 40 (free kick), Mahon 47 (assisted Routledge), Simpson 59 (assisted Buzsaky), Buzsaky 90 (penalty)

Rangers lost comfortably at home to Derby in September last season amid bad tempered scenes off the pitch. A snap decision by the QPR board before the match to introduce a category system of ticket sales meant tickets for the match with the Rams suddenly went up to £40 for adults in most parts of the ground and fans leafleted outside the ground before the match while the Derby fans took great delight in branding the home team’s owners ‘greedy bastards’ throughout the match. On the field QPR suffered in the negative atmosphere, turning in their worst performance of the season to this point and losing 2-0. Derby took 80 minutes to take the lead, Albrechtsen headed in from a corner, but they sealed the win with a last minute strike from Emmanuel Villa.

QPR: Cerny 5, Connolly 6, Stewart 8, Hall 7, Delaney 6, Mahon 5 (Leigertwood 70, 6), Parejo 5, Rowlands 6, Ledesma 5 (Agyemang 77, 5), Buzsaky 5 (Cook 56, 7), Blackstock 5
Subs Not Used: Camp, Ramage
Booked: Ledesma (dissent)

Derby: Carroll 6, Connolly 7, Leacock 8, Albrechtsen 8, Stewart 7, Barazite 7 (Davies 84, -), Green 8, Addison 8, Pearson 7, Ellington 6 (Villa 76, 7), Hulse 7
Subs Not Used: Bywater, Kazmierczak, Nyatanga
Booked: Leacock (foul)
Goals: Albrechtsen 80 (assisted Barazite), Villa 89 (assisted Barazite)

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 12
Draws – 15
Derby wins – 16

Previous Results:
2009/10 Derby 2 QPR 4 (Taarabt, Mahon, Simpson, Buzsaky pen)
2008/09 Derby 0 QPR 2 (Routledge, Leigertwood)
2008/09 QPR 0 Derby 2
2006/07 Derby 1 QPR 1 (Rowlands)
2006/07 QPR 1 Derby 2 (Smith)
2005/06 QPR 1 Derby 1 (Nygaard)
2005/06 Derby 1 QPR 2 (Ainsworth, Gallen)
2004/05 Derby 0 QPR 0
2004/05 QPR 0 Derby 2

Played for both clubs:
Dean Sturridge
Derby County 1991-2001
QPR 2005-06
Ian Holloway did many good things as manager of QPR and he will always hold a special place in my heart for what he did for this club, but the signing of Dean Sturridge will not go down as one of his finest moments.

Born in Birmingham, Sturridge signed pro forms at Derby County in 1991 and made his debut a year later in a 1-0 defeat to Southend United. Still only a young man Sturridge had to bide his time to get a run in the County team, so spent time on loan at Torquay in 1994 - scoring five goals in just ten outings for the Gulls. Back at Derby he looked a more confident player and became the Rams first choice striker for the 1995-96 season. His twenty goals that year helped Derby to second place in the First Division and promotion to the Premier League for the first time. Sturridge and Derby made a strong Premier League debut the following campaign, with the Ram’s finishing a creditable twelfth and Sturridge netting 11 goals and impressing so much he was linked with a big money move to Arsenal. He stayed with the Rams in the top-flight for another five seasons, scoring 53 goals in all for Derby before manger Jim Smith left in 2001 and Dean found himself out of the first-team picture.

He joined Leicester City in a £350,000 deal however he couldn’t capture the same kind of goal scoring form at Filbert Street , dropping behind heavyweights Trevor Benjamin and Ade Akinbyi in the pecking order. Injuries meant he left after just ten months to join Wolves on initial loan deal. His four goals in just two outings led to a permanent move on Christmas Eve 2001.

Two successful seasons followed, where his goals helped the club to reach the play-offs in both campaigns, wining promotion the second time around with a 3-0 win over Sheffield United. The striker didn’t enjoy much of Wolves’ season in the top-flight though as injury and new signings limited him to just five appearances and he spent time on loan at Sheffield United. Sturridge never regained his place at Molineux and in March 2005 joined QPR on a free transfer.

Although injury had taken its toll on the player, Rangers manager Ian Holloway believed he had picked up a bargain who, if he got fit, could be a secret weapon in his team’s Championship campaign. However over the eight short months that Dean was at Loftus Road he spent more time in the treatment room than any other player in the history of the club. So much so that the injury column on this very website is named in Dean’s honour - link. He played just 11 games for the club without scoring before his contact was terminated – not before time. A subsequent interview by LFW with Gianni Paladini revealed that the medical tests done when Sturridge first joined the club were less than strenuous - link.

A short spell at Kidderminster followed before he retired last season to become a pundit on BBC Radio. Now working on his coaching badges, with hopefully a physio on stand by. -AR

Links >>> Derby 2 QPR 4 Match Report >>> QPR 0 Derby 2 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Tuesday
Team News: QPR have Damion Stewart back from suspension and having missed his physical presence on Saturday against Shefki Kuqi I would think he is likely to walk straight back in to combat Rob Hulse in the Derby attack. Jay Simpson had a knock that kept him out of Saturday’s game – he is expected to return tight hamstring pending. Whether Tamas Priskin will be given another run in the face of increasing opposition to his presence from supporters and impressive performances in cameo roles by Antonio German remains to be seen. Martin Rowlands and the star of the corresponding fixture at Pride Park Gavin Mahon are the long term absentees. This could be the last game for Rangers for Carl Ikeme – his loan expires at the beginning of April but the deadline for loan signings is this Thursday and if Neil Warnock wishes to make temporary additions to his squad then one of the current loans must make way and Ikeme, despite impressing lately, may be the easiest to shift. Radek Cerny has recovered from a back injury and is fit to return.

Derby have no fresh injury concerns with Stephen Bywater (back) and Stephen Pearson (hamstring) both coming through the 0-0 draw at Sheff Wed on Saturday without any ill-effects. Miles Addison is a long term absentee and Kris Commons is still a couple of weeks away from returning from a hamstring injury. Captain Robbie Savage was left out at the weekend, replaced in midfield by Michael Tonge, and it remains to be seen whether he is recalled on Tuesday.

Elsewhere: There is a full programme of Championship action spread over two nights this week and at the bottom an ideal chance for Sheff Wed and Scunthorpe to cut Crystal Palace adrift would seem to be there for the taking. Palace blew a two goal lead at Blackpool on Saturday and now travel to high flying Nottingham Forest while Wednesday and Scunny host fellow strugglers Watford and Peterborough respectively. At the top end it’s all threatening to get rather dull with Forest in third eight points adrift of second placed West Brom who have Coventry on Wednesday, and sixth placed Cardiff going into their Wednesday night match with Sheff Utd five points clear of the Blades. A win for Dave Jones’ team and you would think that is that – the chasing pack isn’t exactly chasing very hard.

Referee: For the second time this season we have Mike Russell in charge of a Tuesday night match at Loftus Road. Previously he postponed our game with Crystal Palace at hideously late notice because of a water logged pitch, then refereed the rearranged game and awarded both sides a penalty. His record with Derby has the Rams winning one and losing one. More details at the link below.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Referee Preview >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: The first thing Neil Warnock seems to have done since taking over is making the R’s difficult to beat at home again. Saturday was the fourth home game without defeat, three of them won, after a run of one win from nine in W12. Rangers have never lost at Pride Park in four visits but it is a different story at Loftus Road where the Rams won 2-0 last season and have not been beaten in 28 years since QPR won here 4-1 in September 1982 – the Rams have won five and drawn three of eight since then. Rangers have only failed to score against Scunthorpe at Loftus Road this season but have only managed to prevent Plymouth and Preston from scoring on this ground.

Derby: The Rams seemed to be pulling away from the relegation whirlpool through January and February with a season best run of five wins from eight games including an impressive home success against Newcastle and 5-3 win against Preston. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised, in their record low Premiership points total of eight four of them, and the only three point haul, came from fixtures against Newcastle. That run included a 1-0 win at bottom of the table Peterborough on January 16 but they have only won at Watford apart from that on the road this season and have lost four and drawn two of six away games since then. They have lost four and drawn two of their last seven games and are currently 18th, a point behind QPR and five clear of the relegation zone.

Prediction: I always think QPR are never more lethal to themselves than when going into a game they think they should win, and this is certainly one of those. Looking at the players we have I would say we are in an artificially low league position courtesy of the complete farce behind the scenes for the last six months. Derby though, roughly a year into a three year rebuilding programme, are about right and are terrible on the road. While I’m risking cursing the result by saying this I think we showed against Plymouth a new found steal and professionalism to get jobs done against poor teams at home and I’d expect and hope we will do the same on Tuesday. Against my better judgement and for the first time in ages I’m going for a Rangers win.
QPR by two

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