Adam Bolder has been told he can finally leave the club after being denied a move in the summer, Damien Delaney is the first QPR player to be banned this season and Martin Rowlands has apologised for his horror tackle at Swansea.

Rowlands has been heavily criticised in South Wales since Tuesday night’s match for his 25th minute challenge on Swans keeper Dorus De Vries that left the stopper nursing a broken jaw and depressed fracture of the cheekbone. It looked a poor challenge to me at the time and I was surprised he didn’t get sent off for it – Rowlands has now apologised to the goalkeeper.

De Vries told the Swansea Evening Post: "He wrote a letter after the game to apologise to me. He apologised to the gaffer as well and told him he meant to play the ball. I haven't actually seen the letter yet because I've been in hospital, but I accept the apology because there's nothing else you can do.

"I haven't seen what happened again yet so I can only go on what I remember from the pitch. I went for the ball, he went for the ball and unfortunately, he took me out. It might be one of those where as a keeper you're going in with your face and you think the other guy can just pull back a bit. But it's hard for me to judge until I see it again."

Swansea manager Roberto Martinez has been somewhat more frosty in his grudging acceptance of Rowlands’ apology.

Meanwhile in further fall out from Tuesday’s debacle at the Liberty Stadium goalkeeper Jake Cole, a QPR fan who has been with the club since the age of nine, has been forced to deny somewhat unlikely stories that he made an offensive gesture at the travelling fans after the final whistle. Certainly I didn’t see anything of the sort occur and Cole denied the claims on the official website this week.

Cole said: “I have no idea where this has come from. Making a negative gesture to the R's fans is the last thing I would ever do. I have been at this Club since I was nine and know what a great set of supporters we have here. I would love to know where on earth this has come from. Hopefully the fans will realise this is something that simply did not happen."

On the injury front it seems Rowan Vine is still someway off making a return to first team action – with just two goals scored on the road all season and not one serious shot on the goal at Swansea on Tuesday it’s clear QPR could do with him.

Vine told Sky Sports: “"There were a few pains in the leg a few weeks ago, so I went back to the surgeon to sort it out. I'm still aware of it, but I'm relatively pain-free at the moment, so that tells me that my recovery is going well.

"We've stayed away from setting return dates now because we've set targets before and failed to meet them, so the surgeon's going to give it another scan in a few weeks and check everything's going to plan. It's going to be five or six weeks till I know which avenue we go down really in terms of recovery.

"It has been really hard mentally for me, it was especially hard when I initially broke it and was in hospital, but going through the summer I was hopeful of getting back sooner so it drove me on whilst everyone went on their holidays. We did everything we could, but these last few weeks have been very frustrating and the toughest time for me because it's a question of not knowing when I will be back."

Someone we won’t be seeing in the starting eleven for some time is midfielder Adam Bolder, a key figure for QPR up to last Christmas but somebody who has vanished without trace in recent times. Bolder spent the end of last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and believed he would be allowed to move there on a free transfer in the summer only for QPR to change their minds at the last minute and demand £150k for him. That put Wednesday off and they signed James O’Connor from Burnley on a free instead.

Bolder was initially told by Iain Dowie in pre-season training that his performances had been impressive and he would be involved in the first team but now, without so much as a sub appearance to his name, the former Derby man has been told he can leave the club for nothing.

Bolder told the Kilburn Times: “I think if De Canio had still been in charge, I would have gone in the summer. But the new manager felt I'd done well in pre-season and didn't want to let me go. I had opportunities to go to three other Championship clubs, but QPR wouldn't let me go - and they wanted money for me as well, which was a stumbling block.

"Now I've been told I can go, but it's frustrating that I had a chance to play in the Championship and wasn't able to take it. I'd still prefer to play at this level, but if a League One team who were going for promotion came in, I'd look at it. For my part, it's been very frustrating, but it's a case of being patient, playing it by ear and seeing if we can get something sorted out quickly.”

Another holding midfielder, QPR have plenty, awaiting his first start of the season is Italian international Damiano Tommasi. Manager Iain Dowie told the Kilburn Times that he is still some way off making his QPR bow.

Dowie said: “Damiano hasn't played for a long time but he's a terrific pro and, as and when he's fit, I'm sure we'll benefit from his experience," said Dowie. He isn't quite ready yet, so we'll see how it goes. But central midfield is an area in which we already have so much competition."

Credit to Tommasi for travelling to Swansea to support the boys on Tuesday night along with Sam Di Carmine – despite not being involved. Good to see.

Damien Delaney became the first QPR player to reach five yellow cards this season on Tuesday night for his foul on Jordi Gomez, he is now suspended for the Birmingham home game with Matt Connolly the most likely option to fill in at left back. Finally youth team centre back Josh Ford has played in a reserve game for Cardiff this week, he earlier had a trial with Swansea City.

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 I wasn't at the Swansea game so cannot comment on Rowlands' clash with the goalkeeper and his subsequent gentlemanly apology. But, judging from the still-excellent Loft for Words match report, shouldn't Rowlands also be apologising as club captain to the fans for another very poor performance by the team. Sixty minutes with a centre-half in goal and they didn't offer one shot on target ? I hate criticising the team when the manager is at least as much to blame with his tinkering and apparent policy of hoofing it up the channels for Blackstock to look at and wonder, but I return to the thought that QPR seem to have become a side that wait for the opposition to make a move before they try and think of something to counter it. Where is the QPR master plan to set other teams thinking and defending ? -mike

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