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Three-sy does it for new look QPR as fans honour Ainsworth
Three-sy does it for new look QPR as fans honour Ainsworth
Wednesday, 1st Aug 2012 22:12 by Clive Whittingham

QPR’s decent pre-season form continued on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win at League Two Wycombe who included Loftus Road legend Gareth Ainsworth among their number.

Adams Park is a strange place, where strange things happen.

Opened in 1990 when a crowd of almost 5,000 turned up to see Martin O'Neill's non-league Wanderers take on Brian Clough's serial cup finalists Nottingham Forest, it's a place I get the impression most of High Wycombe has probably forgotten even exists.

The club's former ground, Loakes Park , was right in the heart of the town next to the hospital, within spitting distance of the railway station. Adams Park is right in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere. Only the steady stream of people and cars, snaking through the sleepy residential streets and seemingly abandoned industrial park reassure you that it's there at all. On a non match day I suspect people who have gone looking for it have lost faith and turned back, or perished trying.

It may as well be the end of the world this place – walk beyond it and you'll find the appropriately named Hellbottom Wood, then the Great Wood, then Denham Wood and basically a whole load of woods over the course of 25 ball aching miles until you reach Didcot Power Station. With woods to one side, hills to the other, and little else besides it's the kind of place you often see sealed off with police tape, the kind of place dog walkers find rotting corpses.

For those, like me, who still like to think that football should in some way still be part of what a BBC News reporter might call "the community" in which the clubs reside it's hell on earth. For those who recognise and accept that football these days is about balance sheets Adams Park is what it is: a chance for a small club to sell an expensive plot of land and ramshackle ground in the middle of town and move onto a plot of land nobody wants next to a metal and plastics firm. Thankfully Adams Park's extreme location, ostracised on the very edge of the town like the old woman the village elders decreed a witch, means it hasn't yet been cursed with the Tesco Metros, Frankie and Bennies and KFC drive-throughs that surround the other loathsome new builds that blight the Football League.

Queens Park Rangers have history here. For a brief, inglorious period the London club sunk low enough to turn Wycombe away into a competitive league fixture rather than a staple of its pre-season calendar. To make matters worse, the division into which they'd descended saw fit to send perennial scourge of the Rangers Rob Styles along to referee an early visit with predictably riot inciting consequences – 90 minutes later Rangers had lost 4-1, had two men sent off including Marcus Bean on debut for the heinous crime of being punched in the face, and had two perfectly good looking goals disallowed for reasons Mr Styles explained at the time with a simple shrug of his shoulders. I still intend to attend that man's funeral in a colourful hat when the day comes. Tosser.

A season later and the third tier torture was almost over for the R's who were all set for the Championship under the management of Ian Holloway. Wycombe meanwhile were heading back from whence they came as their 20 years of yo-yo existence in the Football League threatened to take another dip. A banker away win seemed on the cards, until everybody woke up to discover the sort of wind usually found sinking ships out at sea had blown inland. The trains from London crawled at half pace, fearful of being derailed by the gale, but the football went ahead anyway in the name of farce.

And it was. Wycombe kicked with the wind in the first half and led 2-0 at half time, Rangers kicked with it in the second and drew 2-2 with the equaliser flying in on a powerful gust from a Martin Rowlands cross that originally looked set to land around the penalty spot. The far end of the pitch remained unused for the duration.

On Tuesday night QPR were back at Adams Park, backed by the thick end of 3,000 supporters who had fought their way through London Olympic transport Armageddon, and 70,000 people who have suddenly decided they give a toss about women's football, for want of something better to do with their time.

The natural order of things has been restored somewhat; Wycombe v QPR is now a pre-season fixture between a top flight team and lower division club once more. It appears now as if Rangers are going to go beyond that natural order in the other direction, suddenly adding household names to their squad at great expense with the intention of gate crashing the Premiership party from a base of League One standards in Shepherds Bush.

A new edition of A Kick Up The R's carried a straw poll of supporters who mostly seem to think tenth is a realistic aim for the new look QPR side this year and while in all likelihood that's only going to mean louder, angrier more vitriolic responses from the terraces when things don't quite go to plan it's indicative of the direction the club appears to be heading and the speed it's travelling. A year ago Rangers were losing to Luton and signing Bruno Perone for their first Premiership campaign in 15 years, now they turn up with Ji Sung Park in the starting line up, the national Korean broadcaster SBS forgoing their Olympic commitments to report live from behind the goal, and a backroom staff so vast the home club had to rustle up some extra chairs to spread out down the touchline to accommodate them all.

Park was tidy, rarely giving the ball away, and looked fitter than anybody else on the field. The Korean broadcasters hunted out fans with his name on the back of their shirts and interviewed them in pidgin English.

It wasn't only coming here for a friendly rather than a league game that brought home just how far QPR have come. Wycombe are managed by Gary Waddock, a very fine QPR midfielder for many years but less successful manager for Rangers at a time when they were being run in such an amateurish way it would have shamed an over 60s bridge club. He included former QPR juniors Nikki Bull and Dennis Oli in his starting line up for this encounter as well. Bull has developed into a steady lower league goalkeeper, and spent most of this game sending out unheeded messages to his centre backs and then shaking his head at the non-compliance with the world weary look of a man whose parents gave him a girl's name and sent him out into the English schools system. Oli, all bandy legs and youthful enthusiasm when he made his QPR bow at Wigan many moons ago, was anonymous. Waddock, Bull and Oli were once spoken of as Mark Hughes, Samba Diakite and Junior Hoilett are now – as hopes for the future at Loftus Road. Times they are a changin'.

Wycombe also have another former charge of the Super Hoops among their number these days, and Tuesday proved to be a perfect, belated, chance to thank him for the part he played in getting QPR to a point where supporters respond to the signings of Park and Hoilett not with orgasm, but queries about when Mark Hughes is going to buy a new centre half as well. Gareth Ainsworth played 113 times for Queens Park Rangers and scored 21, mostly spectacular, goals. He played each one of those 113 matches as if they were not only his last games in the sport, but in fact his final day on earth. Gareth Ainsworth once tried to "run off" a spiral fracture of the shin in a home victory against Luton Town – a fact so ludicrous it wouldn't even make it onto one of the spoof Chuck Norris lists that float around in people's e-mail inboxes. Ainsworth played for, coached and managed at QPR and spilt plenty of blood doing it. He loved the supporters at Loftus Road and they loved him. Which all made it rather a shame that, as he moved to Wycombe mid-season, the extent of his farewell stretched only as far as a quick appearance on the pitch at half time when most people were in the toilets or queuing for 3% bottles of Carlsberg at £3.70 a throw.

To make up for that Ainsworth's name was sung during the warm up here, he was cheered to the rafters when his name was announced among the Wycombe substitutes, and when he finally made it onto the field for the final 15 minutes of the game he was given a standing ovation by the QPR fans who'd occupied two and a bit sides of the ground. As the sun set on hell, it was almost poetic. Had he scored – and the Rangers fans encouraged him to shoot at every given opportunity – I'm not sure any of us would ever have gone home.

Ainsworth was wild and entertaining in a QPR team capable of beating the league leaders one week then losing to the whipping boys the next. He was fun at a time when QPR were fun to be around. The watch word in W12 these days seems to be professionalism.

People in the QPR dugout outnumbered Wycombe supporters in the stand two to one. When injury prone midfielder Kieron Dyer was told to prepare for a rare appearance in Hoops that warm up consisted of a rigorous 25 minute stretching and sprinting session in front of the away end with his own dedicated member of the medical staff – a bit of a far cry from days of yore when Kevin Gallen would touch his toes a couple of times while joking with the fans behind the goal at Kenilworth Road before coming on and pulling his hamstring within three minutes.

Rangers were efficient out on the field. Adel Taarabt was in the mood for dolling out ritual humiliation and the first half revolved around him making fools of various Wycombe players while his team mates scattered shots off target from the edge of the penalty area. Wright-Phillips – still enthusiastic, still crap – and Cisse both failed to find the target with a couple of attempts while Bull saved well down in the bottom corner from a Jamie Mackie header and then uncomfortably with his feet when Cisse drilled a low shot in his direction.

Mackie doesn't seem to understand the concept of a pre-season friendly. Despite an excellent start to his QPR career in the Championship, and outstanding debut Premier League campaign, plenty would still scratch him from the starting 11 before any of his team mates and his never ending quest to prove those people wrong, and unquenchable thirst for hard work, makes him a permanent pain in the arse for defenders hoping for a light run out ahead of the new campaign. After testing Bull with the header he ran 40 yards to chase after a ball that was clearly going out for a goal kick, and shoved a defender over when he arrived for good measure. Then, after an outrageous piece of skill in the middle of the park by Taarabt and pin-point switched pass from left to right, Mackie moved into the penalty box and finished into the bottom corner.

There were two sour points to note in the first period. The first came when Armand Traore – starting at left back and showing a good eye for a cross as usual – left the field with a tight hamstring that blighted his time with the club last season. Fabio, previously employed in the centre of midfield with Park, moved to replace him at left back with Nedum Onuoha, Anton Ferdinand and Clint Hill making up the defence ahead of Rob Green in goal. Hogan Ephraim came into the centre of midfield as a substitute and was - as usual - diligent, hard working and hopelessly lightweight.

The second came on the stroke of half time when Hill badly misjudged a bouncing ball and Wycombe broke in behind with numbers committed to the attack but Green saved well from Marvin McCoy as he bore down on goal.

The second half continued in much the same way, although there was renewed purpose about Wycombe and a little fitness-related lethargy about QPR initially. Losing heart through the lack of a goal, Wycombe shipped a killer second when Shaun Wright-Phillips rode a tackle more commonly used by scrap yard workers to demolish small cars and rounded Bull before sliding home from an acute angle.

Bull made good saves to deny Andy Johnson – who worked incredibly hard after replacing Jamie Mackie in the second half – and Bobby Zamora – who rather ambled about after coming on for Cisse - but was later replaced between the sticks by Matt Ingram. The newcomer saved well when Ephraim tried his luck from distance but was powerless to prevent Nedum Onuoha thumping home the resulting corner with a firm header.

Onuoha, incidentally, looked quicker, fitter, meaner, leaner and lighter on his feet than last season when he was plunged straight into a relegation battle after six months of not playing at all and often looked heavy legged as a result. I was impressed with him, Fabio and Taarabt in particular, less so with Zamora, but really it was a solid, professional and consistent performance across the park from all the players.

Press access to QPR on the forthcoming trip to Germany will be restricted, and challenging friendlies against Trabzonspor and Augsburg await. That seven days looks like absolutely ideal preparation to me, and key to our chances in the early games. Everything so far has been fitness and shirt sale orientated.

Ainsworth left the field to further applause, holding a QPR shirt. His reception, an encouraging performance from QPR, and the spectacle of tiny children in Hoops being cheered loudly during a half time penalty shoot out made it a rewarding evening.

And so back we went, through the industrial park, through the housing estate, into the town centre where once upon a time you'd have found Wycombe Wanderers plying their trade at Loakes Park. A LoftforWords team of four successfully sprinted 200 yards to make the two minutes past ten train home, only to discover that the one behind it was faster. Ten minutes on the platform at Beaconsfield followed as we corrected the mistake. Pre-season is good for the supporters to dust down their rusty edges as well it turns out. We're ready, and in just over a fortnight QPR will need to be so as well.

Links >>> Picture Gallery

Wycombe: Bull (Ingram 81), McCoy, Dunne (Wood 79), Doherty (c) (Basey 46), Stewart (Hause 83), Grant, Lewis (Spring 46), Bloomfield, Angol (Ainsworth 64), Oli (McClure 46), Logan (Beavon 46)

QPR: Green, Onouha, Traore (Ephraim 34), Ferdinand, Hill, Mackie (Johnson 62), Park (Derry 73), Fabio, Wright-Phillips (Doughty 90), Taarabt (Dyer 73), Cisse (Zamora 62)

Subs: Murphy, Ehmer, Connolly, Harriman

Attendance: 3,787

Tweet @loftforwords

Pictures – Neil Dejyothin

Photo: Action Images



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TacticalR added 22:46 - Aug 1
Great stuff. Pretty amazing looking at those pictures to see the quality players we now have against a backdrop of a ground we were playing at competitively not too long ago.

While your picture of Adams Park is not flattering, a few years ago Steve Hayes announced plans to build a 20,000 stadium, which would have turned Wycombe Wanderers into another Darlington. At least that's been knocked on the head.
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Northernr added 22:47 - Aug 1
The ground is actually very picturesque and more than adequate for Wycombe. It just couldn't be less accessible if it tried. I hate football clubs moving out of towns - I know why they do it, I know I moan about it constantly, but I'm right :-)
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qprmick added 23:05 - Aug 1
Enjoyable read. Illustrated graphically, how far we have advanced.
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simmo added 23:53 - Aug 1
Tesco Metros, Frankie and Bennies and KFC drive-throughs that surround the other loathsome new builds that blight the Football League. - Scunthorpe then

Also for this weeks genuine 'lol' statement

I still intend to attend that man's funeral in a colourful hat when the day comes. Tosser.

Cheers Clive

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isawqpratwcity added 00:18 - Aug 2
So Dyer survived 15 minutes playing time, did he make any impression on the game? Never mind, baby steps, yeh? I was starting to wonder if he was only being kept on in case one of the squad needed an organ transplant.

Nice report, Clive. Especially liked the stuff about Ainsworth's reception.

I can't bloody wait for this season to start.
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RBLOCKPAT added 00:38 - Aug 2
I really enjoyed the evening, I dont agree with your description of Wycombes ground I think its a beautiful little ground surrounded by hills and it has much more comfortable seats than in the R block. It took me back to the sixties where lots of the grounds we went to were similar and full of atmosphere. I used stand on a grubby terrace on the South Africa Road in the early sixties with my Dad before I got a junior season ticket to the Ellerslie Road Stand in 1966 before moving to the brand new South Africa Road Stand in 1968 so I saw Loftus Road changing into many different faces and atmosopheres and if I were a W W fan I would be more than happy going to my little ground. Clive it seems to me that you are grudgingly behind the rise of our club you seem patronising towards our new found proffessionalism under Mark Hughes Philip Beard and Tony Fernandes it is what we need after the farcical way the club was handled in the last few years I think they are going about things very well and to a high standard, yes I am a nostalgist as well and remember all of our good and bad times so if we want to see the Rs challenge for honours then lets embrace it all, on the pitch its interesting what is happening Hughes is obviously determined to change the way we play with high energy players all over the middle of the pitch: SWP, although still playing like a twelve year old at times has an incredible engine and I think Hughes still has a role for him, Park looks totally in control, Fabio really impressed me the way that he got around the pitch and when you think that Diakite, Faurlin and Hoillett are to come in we are going to be buzzing around all over the last two thirds of the pitch. There is obviously going to be rotation to a fair degree which when you think of the strong squad we are ammassing is a good thing, I am excited and if we can manage to bring in Samba, Defoe and possibly Bellamy I think that everybody is going to have to stand up and take notice of us. Good luck to Kieron Dyer I hope he comes through his fitness trouble because he is obviously still a quality player. So we have an abundance of midfield players but like you Clive I am not a fan of Zamora unless he turns me round by actually putting some effort in, yes he can hold the ball up but we are going to be playing high tempo football and he will have to roll his sleeves up if he is going to be a permanent item, Cisse needs to be fed he is hungry for goals but he will be in and out of the team so we need another sharpshooter like a Defoe or even Michael Owen would be good, so thats the middle and the front sorted now for the back Im afraid to say its a bit of a glass jaw, Hill, Ferdinand and Onuoha dont fill me with confidence and dont spell clean sheets, until we get a solid central defender and a strong right back then we are going to have to start scoring plenty of goals and watching Ryan Nelsen tonight doesnt strike me as quite what we need, still MH has got it all in mind I am sure so roll on the 18th and come on you Rrsss!
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Northernr added 01:41 - Aug 2
Pat - the ground itself is fine, it's a shame it's not right in the heart of the town of Wycombe. It's in the middle of bloody nowhere!
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themodfather added 07:37 - Aug 2
many grounds are remote! i can't believe so many new gaffs ( wycombe's ain't taht new..is it?) have poor transport...new brighton, coventry and mk dons come to mind..reading is a nightmare IF thye load one bus at a time!!!
STILL, GREAT AINSWORTH got a top reception and a deserved one from r's fans.
a very nice guy, a good player who gave all in the hoops shirt.
another win and clean sheet is good too.
this squad is coming together, expectation is high ...scrambles for tickets begin soon!
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QPRski added 08:24 - Aug 2
"Times they are a changin" in many (mostly?) positive ways for us. It is good that Gareth was correctly acknowledged for his part in the more difficult (better?) times. It must have been very emotional for him.

Pleased to see that Cisse is fit. Concerned why Diakité did not play. Suprised that Hoilett did no get a run out as sub.
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simmo added 08:33 - Aug 2
Really encouraged by your description of Onuoha too. I really like Nedum, not just his current/potential ability but he comes across extremely well. I hope this season with full fitness and preparation he dominates whichever position Hughes decides is his to keep.
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delhisuperhoop added 08:45 - Aug 2
I'm really curious to see who will be named Captain for the forthcoming season. Nelson seems the obvious choice, but has been absent from friendlies up to now due to Olympics commitments. Will it be him, or will someone else get the shout. Was Wright-Philips captain here?
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KevinPR added 09:35 - Aug 2
I remember going to Adams Park one August bank holiday weekend the day after boozing all day at Reading festival.

Dire match which we lost in the 91st minute if I remember rightly.

Surprised I found my way out of there with the hangover I had on board.
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Antti_Heinola added 10:51 - Aug 2
Clive, did you ever go to their other ground? Was that not the one with a slope along the width of the pitch that was so bad that if you were standing at the top end of the slope, part of the player's legs actually disappeared from view when at the bottom end? God, it was unplayable, that pitch!
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Northernr added 11:05 - Aug 2
They still have a hell of a slope on the pitch at Barnet - I know because I job up it twice a week.
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TacticalR added 12:21 - Aug 2
Perhaps it was your image of the ground being surrounded by rotting corpses that gave people the impression you were not favourably disposed towards Adams Park :)
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Northernr added 12:28 - Aug 2
Not favourably disposed towards its location.
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Lofthope added 13:52 - Aug 2
It may as well be the end of the world this place – walk beyond it and you'll find the appropriately named Hellbottom Wood, then the Great Wood, then Denham Wood and basically a whole load of woods over the course of 25 ball aching miles until you reach Didcot Power Station. With woods to one side, hills to the other, and little else besides it's the kind of place you often see sealed off with police tape, the kind of place dog walkers find rotting corpses.

....beyond Wycombe is the best area for cycling for miles, I regularly ride out from West London to cycle in the Chilterns, saw a few Willesden CC jerseys out there on Sunday. But then again you did say in a recent post that you didn't understand cycling.
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Nov77 added 14:03 - Aug 2
I found a picture of Clive at rob style's funeral:


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peakqpr added 16:56 - Aug 2
Wasn't it Yeovil that traditionally had the enormous slope?
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e1337prodigy added 19:42 - Aug 2
No offence, as I not read it yet, I will soon. But all these performances against lower league teams doesn't mean anything to me. Norwich had a friendly against Ajax and drew 1-1. We are playing league 2 teams, when it comes to 14th August we will be in for a shock if we don't play quality teams, players won't be use to it. Need to get use to not having all the possession. Although winning does build confidence, but they need a 2 or 3 quality games.
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SuffolkHoop added 09:41 - Aug 3
Excellent write up as usual. Also points to be taken off Adams Park for not selling any alcohol inside the stadium despite it being written on the price list by the counter..."Sorry mate, that's only for Rugby matches". Oh well.

Should I expect a fee for the back of my head making an appearance in a match report photograph?
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