QPR host Barnsley on the opening day of the season this Saturday, a re-rerun of the first fixture from the 2008/09 campaign which QPR won 2-1.

Queens Park Rangers v Barnsley

nPower Championship

Loftus Road, London, W12

Well that wasn’t very imaginative was it? Football fans up and down the land sitting eagerly by their mobiles, laptops and television sets waiting for the release of the fixtures, one of the most eagerly anticipated dates in the football calendar for some, and for the QPR fans at least it turned out that we were just going to start in exactly the same way we did two years ago. It’s like they forgot to do ours and only realised at the last minute, so just bunged us the list we’d had previously and hoped we wouldn’t notice.

Such is the power of the archive search on the new look LoftforWords, welcome back by the way, that I was able to quickly locate the preview I wrote prior to our opening day fixture against Barnsley two seasons ago. On that occasion Iain Dowie was in charge, fans had coughed up record amounts for season tickets, and expectations were high to the point of being unhelpful to the team. Radek Cerny copped abuse within ten minutes of his debut beginning and Fitz Hall was the unlikely goal hero with two, and a missed penalty.

To be honest I expected to be embarrassed by what I’d written pre-game. I remember being thoroughly embarrassed with my behaviour at the game, barracking Dowie and the team from virtually the first whistle for not immediately sweeping the Tykes aside and justifying my £600 outlay on a season ticket, and presumed that the preview would have been full of hype and over optimism. As it turned out it wasn’t really, although the idea that Danny Parejo would be “a super addition” turned out to be a load of old bollocks. I predicted a 2-0 win and we won 2-1.

How things have changed since then. Briatore has moved aside, or at least we think he has, after Dowie, Paulo Sousa, Jim Magilton and Paul Hart were all dismissed under his stewardship. We now have Neil Warnock in charge – and I’m pretty sure if you’d said to people going into Loftus Road two years ago that by 2010 we’d still be a middle of the road Championship side and Warnock would be our manager few would have believed you.

One thing I was right about two years ago was that “we’re missing a genuine goal threat in attack” and now, two years on, we still are. Neil Warnock was working hard on Friday to add a striker to his arsenal, but having said at the end of last season that he didn’t want loan players and any loan players would be a sign of failure on his part, it seems it’s the temporary market we’re surveying once again for that lethal hitman who could fire us up through the league.

There has been justifiable excitement about the resigning of Adel Taarabt and the prospect of him, Faurlin and Buzsaky teamed up fully fit and ready to go – but all three were here last season when we finished 13th, and we’ve since lost the striker that scored 13 goals in that team without replacement. This is the weakest this division has been for years, it’s there for the taking, I’m just not sure we have that talisman in attack to enable us to take it.

Five minutes on Barnsley

Recent History: Mark Robins is gearing up for his first full season in charge of Barnsley after a successful rescue mission last season. Faced with the worst squad of players in the league, sitting rock bottom of the table after six matches, the protracted negotiations between Barnsley and Robins’ previous club Rotherham meant he had no summer transfer window left to work with and plenty of improvements to make.

Personally I thought Robins didn’t get the praise he deserved in the media and wider footballing context for hi achievements at Oakwell. Although the season rather tailed off for them, culminating in a home defeat by QPR in April, Barnsley looked dead and buried when he took over and stayed up with something to spare on a meagre budget.

Many instead focussed on the perceived harsh treatment of his predecessor Simon Davey, who was sacked less than 18 months after leading the Tykes to an unlikely FA Cup semi final appearance, knocking out Chelsea and Liverpool en route to Wembley. Barnsley are never going to be anything other than a lower Championship/upper League One side without a serious injection of cash and having managed a tight budget and enjoyed some memorable cup runs during his time in the hot seat Davey probably felt badly done to. However speak to anybody from Barnsley and they will tell you that few tears were shed when he left the club.

Davey’s ideas had become tired, his transfer activity last summer weakened the team, they hadn’t been playing well for a good 18 months – a fact covered up by the cup runs – and they were destined for relegation. Of course people like Chris Kamara sticking up for their mates by using their media commitments to lambast every board that dares to dismiss its manager as reactionary and not providing enough time cloud the issue. The work done by Robins since his arrival, and Davey’s bizarre year out of the game that included him taking over at the league’s bottom club Darlington and then resigning after a month to go to the mighty Hereford United, justify the Barnsley’s board’s decision.

Robins did a superb job in difficult circumstances at Rotherham – taking a club playing in a half closed ground, in administration and about to be relegated to the bottom division and turning them round into the League Two promotion chasers they are today. He showed a canny eye for a player in the transfer market and terrific tactical knowledge. It was wonderful to see both the job he did there, and a Championship club taking a chance on an English manager from the lower leagues and reaping the rewards. Robins won five and drew one of his first seven games and had Barnsley in play off form through the winter.

The test now is maintaining that progress in his first full season in charge. Barnsley have lost some experienced and talented players this summer – Darren Moore and Rob Kozluk the former, Daniel Bogdanovic the latter – and look seriously short of firepower in attack unless one of the latest clutch of unknown foreigners to arrive in South Yorkshire succeeds. To me the Barnsley squad doesn’t look a great deal better than it did this time last year when I thought it was the worst the division had to offer. It’s Robins’ job to mould that squad of players into a competitive force. .

The Manager: . Robins the player was the man who apparently saved Alex Ferguson’s job at Man Utd with that famous goal at Nottingham Forest and is one of several former United players now making a name for himself as a manager in his own right. While not immediately striking as ideal management material the fair haired striker, who also enjoyed great times with Norwich City as a player, did a superb job in difficult circumstances at Rotherham United and no earned a shot at Championship football as a result. Robins arrived at Rotherham as a player initially in 2000 at the journeyman stage of his career that had also seen him play for Bristol City, Man City, Burton Albion, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading, Walsall and others. He assisted boss Alan Knill prior to his sacking in February 2007.

Rotherham were in a mess at this stage. The brief glory period under Ronnie Moore when they climbed into the second tier and upset big teams in cup competitions had given way to financial uncertainty and relegation. Rotherham were 13 points adrift at the bottom of League One, playing in a ground with an unfinished main stand and had supporters protesting against Ken Booth the chairman. Inevitable relegation and administration followed and Robins dealt with it all in his first full management role. Rotherham moved away from Millmoor to the Don Valley, away from Booth, and although they were deducted 17 points at the start of last season for their financial position Robins uncovered talent like Reuben Reid (now West Brom) and led them on a campaign of league and cup success that claimed the Championship scalps of Wolves, Sheff Wed and Southampton and would have resulted in at least a play off place but for the deduction.

Rotherham looked a good bet for promotion last season as Robins picked up Rochdale’s 17 goal striker Adam Le Fondre in the summer transfer window but, sadly from a Millers point of view, Robins’ work had not gone unnoticed and he was the top man in the frame for the first Championship job to become available in 2009/10 at Barnsley. Robins joined in September after a protracted battle over compensation between the two clubs and won his first match at Derby 3-2. Rotherham subsequently made the play offs, with Ronnie Moore returning for a second spell at the helm, but they rather fell over the line and were beaten by in form Dagenham at Wembley.

Whether he has made the right decision or not only time will tell - he left a club where he was loved and probably had a job for as long as he wanted, a club back on the up it seems, for one that will always be fighting to stay in the Championship rather than looking to push out of it through the top end. Barnsley get through managers at a decent rate, not a Flavio Briatore rate of course but 11 bosses including caretakers since 2000 all the same. Whether Robins would have been better furthering his reputation under little pressure at Rotherham rather than trying to do that at Oakwell remains to be seen. It will be very interesting to see how Robins does in his first full season in charge after a summer to bring in his own players – Barnsley can ill-afford to yet again win the sack race at the start of next season and have to appoint somebody else in the first three months of the season.

Three to Watch:

Of course it would be very tempting to go down the rather childish route of saying we should all watch out for Jeronimo Neumann simply because of his name, but he is a total unknown along with another summer capture Foran Lovre. One of them will have to fire this season though because they look short of goals if not.

Last season’s player of the year at Oakwell was central midfielder Hugo Colace. The Argentinean really came into his own at the heart of the Barnsley midfield last season, scoring eight times. He was widely tipped for a move elsewhere this summer with Paulo Sousa showing an interest before he left Swansea and Crystal Palace also keen. Colace actually left Oakwell at the end of his contract in June only to return a month later electing to stay after all. A former Newell’s Old Boys player Colace has caps for Argentina at under 17 and under 20 level and has recently signed a new two year deal with Mark Robins’ men. His typical South American hair cut makes him hard to miss, and he’s taller and more powerful than you would normally expect of a ball playing central midfielder. Barnsley will rely on the 26 year old to guide them around the park.

Liam Dickinson is one of the new arrivals this summer who will hope to profit from Colace’s fine service from deep. This is Dickinson’s second crack at the Championship after an unsuccessful spell with Derby and it will be interesting to see how he does as he’s shown little so far to suggest he can play at this level. After leaving Blackburn’s academy as a teenager Dickinson knocked around the Manchester non-league scene with first Irlam, then Swinton and Trafford and finally Woodley Sports. It was from there that Stockport County picked him up for a £2,000 fee in 2005. He scored within five minutes of coming on for his debut against Cheltenham and kept scoring for the Hatters thereafter. He scored 21 goals in 32 appearances in 2007/08, including a crucial winner against Wycombe in the play off semi final. He also scored at Wembley as they beat Rochdale 3-2 in the final.

That prompted Derby to pay over the odds for Dickinson, £750,000, at a time when Paul Jewell was racing around signing anything that moved at Pride Park and bloating the County squad to ridiculous levels. Dickinson rarely played for Jewell or his replacement Nigel Clough and has spent most of his time since out on loan with Huddersfield, Leeds and Blackpool during which time, to be fair, he did manage a goal every other game. He signed a three year contract with Brighton last summer after a £300k move but flopped on the south coast and was loaned out to Peterborough for a time last season. Barnsley represents another fresh start for Dickinson, and another chance to prove he can score goals higher than League Two level. He’s built for success, a tall, powerful, pacy striker who should worry defences simply with his mere presence, but so far it hasn’t quite happened for him in this division. With a similarly big, physical partner in Andy Gray to shoulder some of the responsibility maybe this will be the season he finally clicks.

Along with Colace and the ever impressive Adam Hammill in the Barnsley midfield, Robins has moved to add Scottish right sider Jim O’Brien to his options. While most of the moves from north of the border this summer have gone the way of Middlesbrough O’Brien could yet prove to be a canny acquisition for the Tykes as his form with Motherwell last season earned him a place in the SPL team of the season. O’Brien represented the Republic of Ireland at Under 21 level but recently switched allegiances back to Scotland.

Links >>> Barnsley Official Website >>> Barnsley Message Board

History

Recent Meetings:

Rangers were in flying form when these sides clashed at Loftus Road last season. Mikele Leigertwood got things underway early with a powerful run and shot from long range and Akos Buzsaky doubled the lead with a soft shot that goalkeeper David Preece really should have done better with. The keeper had no chance whatsoever with Buzsaky’s second, and Rangers’ third, before half time when the Hungarian drew his foot back and buried a sublime effort in the top corner from the thick end of 30 yards out. Rangers seemed really in the mood but Stephen Foster quelled the premature celebrations when he headed in a free kick five minutes after the break and when Andy Gray buried a penalty a few minutes later hearts were in mouths all around Loftus Road. Luckily Preece came to our aid again, letting a routine shot from Ben Watson squirm away from him and into the net in amateur fashion. That re-relaxed the home side who completed the rout with a scrappy fifth from Jay Simpson that Kaspars Gorkss attempted to claim after coming up from the back for a late corner.

QPR: Cerny 7, Leigertwood 8, Gorkss 6, Stewart 7, Borrowdale 7, Routledge 7 (Faurlin 69, 7) Rowlands 8, Watson 8, Buzsaky 9, Vine 7 (Taarabt 69, 6), Simpson 8 (Pellicori 80, 6)

Subs Not Used: Heaton, Ramage, Mahon, Ephraim

Booked: Borrowdale (foul)

Goals: Leigertwood 7 (unassisted), Buzsaky 15 (assisted Watson), 39 (assisted Simpson), Watson 67 (assisted Buzsaky/Vine), Simpson 79 (assisted Buzsaky/Gorkss)

Barnsley: Preece 3, Butterfield 5 (Kozluk 57, 5), Foster 6, Dickinson 4,Shotton 4, Colace 6, De Silva 7, Hammill 7, Doyle 6, Hume 7, A Gray 6 (Campbell-Ryce 76, 6)

Subs Not Used: Rusling, Bogdanovic, Devaney, J Gray, Thompson

Booked: Shotton (foul), De Silva (foul), Kozluk (foul)

Goals: Foster 51 (assisted Hume), Andy Gray 56 (penalty)

QPR completed a rare double at Oakwell last season with a 1-0 win in a meaningless fixture. Neither side had much to play for but QPR went in front midway through the first half when Mikele Leigertwood cut in from the right flank and fired an unstoppable 25 yarder in off the underside of the crossbar. Antonio German missed a great chance to make it 2-0 before the break but the R’s were indebted to goalkeeper Radek Cerny who made three fine saves in one on one situations to secure the victory.

Barnsley: Steele 6, Hassell 6, Foster 6, Moore 7, Potter 6 (Dickinson 64, 6), Hammill 5 (Devaney 40, 6), Colace 6, Doyle 6 (Taylor 81, -), Butterfield 6, Macken 5, Hume 7

Subs Not Used: Preece, Shotton, Adam, Kozluk

Booked: Doyle, Potter

QPR: Cerny 8, Parker 6, Ramage 7, Gorkss 6, Tosic 7, Priskin 5 (Brown 90, -), Leigertwood 6, Faurlin 7, Ephraim 6 (Cook 80, -), Buzsaky 6 , German 5 (Simpson 56, 5)

Subs Not Used: Putnins, Vine, Balanta, Oastler

Booked: Buzsaky

Goals: Leigertwood 27 (assisted Ephraim)

Head to Head:

QPR wins - 22

Draws - 10

Barnsley wins - 14

Previous Results:

2009/10 Barnsley 0 QPR 1 (Leigertwood)

2009/10 QPR 5 Barnsley 2 (Buzsaky 2, Leigertwood, Watson, Simpson)

2008/09 Barnsley 2 QPR 1 (Delaney)

2008/09 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Hall 2)

2007/08 Barnsley 0 QPR 0

2007/08 QPR 2 Barnsley 0 (Agyemang, Vine)

2006/07 Barnsley 2 QPR 0

2006/07 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Rowlands)

2003/04 Barnsley 3 QPR 3 (Furlong 2, Kay og)

2003/04 QPR 4 Barnsley 0 (Gallen, Rowlands, Ainsworth, Thorpe)

2002/03 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Pacquette)

2002/03 Barnsley 1 QPR 0

2000/01 QPR 2 Barnsley 0 (Kiwomya, Crouch)

2000/01 Barnsley 4 QPR 2 (Kiwomya 2)

1999/00 Barnsley 1 QPR 1 (Rose)

1999/00 QPR 2 Barnsley 2 (Darlington, Steiner)

1998/99 Barnsley 1 QPR 0

1998/99 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Langley, Gallen)

1996/97 QPR 3 Barnsley 2 (Peacock, Spencer, Sinclair)

1996/97 QPR 3 Barnsley 1 (Spencer 3)

1996/97 Barnsley 1 QPR 3 (Perry, Barker, Dichio)

Played for both clubs:

Kevin Gallen

Barnsley 2001

Gallen and his magic hat were at QPR so long it’s hard to forget he played for two other teams in between his two spells at Loftus Road. A product of the QPR youth system and R’s fan, Gallen scored an amazing 153 goals in 110 games for the youth team, breaking Jimmy Greaves long term record. He also memorably partnered Robbie Fowler in impressive England U18 and U21 teams that also included Paul Scholes and Sol Campbell. He was soon knocking on the Rangers first-team door and made his debut on the opening day of the 94-95 season at Old Trafford before scoring on his first senior appearance at Loftus Road against Sheff Wed three days later.

That year he formed an impressive partnership with Les Ferdinand scoring ten goals. That summer however Ferdinand was sold and the pressure on the team and Gallen was too much and saw Rangers relegated the following season. Much was expected of Gallen though and everybody thought he would be the key to Rangers making an instant return to the Premier League. But disaster struck in the second game of the season against Portsmouth when Kev injured knee ligaments whilst scoring a goal in the 2-1 win. It meant Gallen was out for almost a year and half and once he returned looked a shadow of his former self.

Slightly overweight and a pace slower Gallen found himself behind Chris Kiwomya, Rob Steiner and even Steve Slade for a place in the R’s frontline. Although there were some highlights Rangers let Gallen go in the summer of 2000 and he joined Huddersfield Town. Gallen never really settled at Town, and although he scored on his return to Loftus Road with the Terriers he later missed a penalty and his stay at the McAlpine lasted just one season.

That summer Rangers now under Ian Holloway and in League One, let Gallen train with the first-team as cash-strapped Rangers tried to bring the former hero back to the Loft. Nothing was sorted on time unfortunately and he joined Barnsley at the start of the 2001-02 season. Gallen scored two goals in ten games for the Tykes but again was never really happy and in November his wish come true and he re-joined the R’s. Over the next five seasons Gallen played a key part in Rangers promotion back to the Championship, forming a lethal partnership with Paul Furlong and being named club captain. He finished his Rangers career last summer joining MK Dons as QPR’s sixth top scorer in their history. Every R’s fan has a place in his heart for Super Kev and his magic hat, he was one of our own.

Links >>> QPR 5 Barnsley 2 Match Report >>> Barnsley 0 QPR 1 Match Report >>> Connections and Memories >>> Match Report Archive

This Saturday

Team News:

QPR are without defender Peter Ramage who was in great form at the end of last season but was sent off against Newcastle on the final day and will consequently miss the first two games this season through suspension. Martin Rowlands is back in full training but still some weeks away from a return, just as happened last season another recurrence of his knee injury means Lee Cook will miss the first two months of action at least. QPR have six players awaiting debut, and Adel Taarabt is set to make his first appearance since joining the R’s permanently. At the time of writing Neil Warnock was working hard to add a striker to his line up, with Blackburn’s Jason Roberts and Cardiff’s Michael Chopra mentioned by the rumour mongers.

Barnsley are likely to be without the splendidly named Jeronimo Neumann as the paper work for his move from Argentina has yet to be finalised. That will probably mean a physical looking front line of Andy Gray and Liam Dickinson starting together on the opening day. New signing Jason Shackell has been awarded the captain’ armband after arriving from Wolves. Jim O’Brien, Goran Lovre and Jay McEveley also await their debuts.

Elsewhere: The 2010/11 nPower Championship season gets underway this evening with newly promoted Norwich hosting relegation favourites Watford live on Sky Sports. Norwich sold their full allocation of 20,000 season tickets upon their return to the second tier so there is sure to be a fine Friday night atmosphere at Carrow Road. The second televised game of the weekend is on Sunday and sees cash strapped Cardiff facing Sheffield United in what could turn out to be a battle of the great underachievers this season. The pick of the Saturday fixtures sees last year’s losing play off semi finalists and one of the favourites for promotion this season Nottingham Forest visit newly relegated Burnley who are managed by Forest stalwart Brian Laws. The other team tipped for the title, Middlesbrough, host Roy Keane’s Ipswich. David James makes his Bristol City debut at home to Millwall while a third televised game sees Leeds meet Derby on Saturday evening.

Referee:

Isle of Wight official James Linington starts his third season on the Football League list at Loftus Road on Saturday. Linington has taken charge of the R’s once before, a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest last August when Mikele Leigertwood scored and nobody was booked. His last Barnsley game was their 1-0 defeat at Reading at the end of January when a player from both sides saw yellow. Click the link below for more details. .

Links >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Isle of Wight official takes charge >>> Referee League

Form

QPR: The R’s were beaten six times at Loftus Road last season, and won just eight of their home matches. They won just one, against Watford, of their final six home matches although that run did include draws with Swansea, Derby and Sheff Wed. QPR haven’t lost on the opening day of the season since a 2-0 set back at Burnley in 2006. The last time they lost their first home game of the season was 1995/96 when Wimbledon came to Loftus Road and won 3-0 in the Premiership. Rangers were relegated that season.

Barnsley: Probably the biggest positive in QPR’s favour this Saturday is Barnsley’s record at Loftus Road, which is abysmal. It just seems to be a ground on which the Tykes cannot win regardless of circumstance, they even lost here 2-1 in 1998/99 when Gerry Francis had jut become the QPR boss for a second time and the R’s were in such a bad state they tried to water the pitch and get the game called off. Richard Langley scored his first goal for QPR that night. Rangers have drawn three and won 18 of the last 21 meetings between the sides here, going back to 1949/50 when the Tykes won 5-0 in West London. Barnsley’s away form last season actually wasn’t that bad, they won six and drew five on the road which is a better record than anybody else in the bottom half apart from Palace who were only there because of the administration points deduction. Their wins came at Derby, Doncaster, Peterborough, Blackpool, Preston and Cardiff but they didn’t win any of their last seven road trips last season. They were beaten 5-2 at Loftus Road in September.

Prediction: A dangerous fixture to start off with as Barnsley have a good manager and have added some quality over the summer, nevertheless the QPR fans will be expecting nothing less than a win. We saw two years ago when these sides met in the first match of the season that the Loftus Road faithful are not afraid to jump on their own team fright from the first whistle if a confident performance and comfortable win is not forthcoming against the Tykes. I think it could be quite a similar game to last year’s opener when we scraped a draw with Blackpool in the Bush but such is Barnsley’s awful record at Loftus Road I’m going to go for a QPR win, narrowly. Don’t forget to register your prediction for this game on the LFW Prediction League before the big kick off on Saturday.

QPR to win 2-1, Adel Taarabt to score first, 40/1 with Bet365

Photo: Action Images via Reuters