Although Watford have far more to play for at Loftus Road on Tuesday night they are in terrible form away from home and QPR may well fancy their chances of finishing their season on a reasonably high note.

Queens Park Rangers (18th) v Watford (20th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday April 20, Kick Off 8pm
Loftus Road, London

I had to feel sorry for the guy QPR charged with ringing around people who went to last season's Player of the Year dinner asking them why they hadn't booked to attend this year's event. He was excellent, very polite and helpful, well spoken and good at his job. But he was a flogging a dead horse with me I'm afraid. Plymouth have cancelled their event following their relegation and the sale of only 15 tickets for the event and to be honest I'm surprised ours hasn't gone the same way. Even if you get over the lamentable behaviour of our players at last year's even where they arsed about in the bar while the food was served, decided not to give acceptance speeches after receiving awards, and then buggered off to nightclubs at the first possible opportunity (a complaint my cold caller said he'd heard from several people and promised would not be repeated this year) why would you want to go and celebrate anything about this season whatsoever?

Will there be a parade of all the loan players we've used? Will all five managers we've had at one stage or another be there? Will Adel taarabt throw his arms around in the air and demand a taxi be rung for him if the main award is given to somebody other than him? No I think I'll be spending my post Newcastle time down the pub with my mates, taking a drink and thanking God that the bloody campaign is over. Bring on the summer I say, it cannot come soon enough. Sadly we have three games until that drink, starting tonight against Watford at home. They still have plenty to play for, needing another win to secure safety, and while you would normally think a team coming into such a game on the back of 17 away matches without a win wouldn't stand much of a chance - we know full well how charitable QPR normally are to players and teams on bad runs.

One thing that may make the last three games more worthwhile, and any charity shown to Watford and Barnsley more bearable, is if Neil Warnock follows through with his promise of ditching the loan players in favour of our own youngsters once safety is confirmed. Sheff Wed's draw at the weekend means Rangers can lose all three remaining games and still be guranteed off their spot in this league so with Simpson off form, Priskin not very good in the first place and Taarabt winning few friends with his histrionics on Saturday I would personally love to think that people like Antonio German, Angelo Balanta, Josh Parker and Joe Oastler will be given a chance over the next week and a half. The clubs around Watford at the bottom of the table would probably cry foul at such a tactic, but then had they sat and watched the "efforts" of the majority of our temporary signings this year they'd probably be glad to hear they'd been bummed off in favour of youngsters with something to prove.

Warnock says a similar influx of loans next season would represent a failure on his part, and I think you'd struggle to find anybody disagreeing with him on that.

Five minutes on Watford
The story so far: Watford and cash problems go together like Ashley Cole and dodgy behaviour with mobile phones. Still at least he has been texting with it this season, rather than inserting it into himself I suppose. Anyway, yes, Watford. This season has been much like several others in the life of the Hornets – struggling against relegation on the pitch while completely collapsing off it.

The cash crisis has been coming, quite clearly and obviously despite denials from chairman at the time Graham Simpson, since the club was relegated from the Premiership after a one season stay in 2007. Despite getting the thick end of £10m for Ashley Young when he moved to Aston Villa Watford found their wage bill impossible to support in the Championship and an eighteent month fire sale of anybody they could shift from their books ensued – Danny Shittu, Hameur Bouazza, Clarke Carlisle, Marlon King, Gavin Mahon, Darius Henderson and others were all flogged off while Nathan Ellington was sent out on loan to Derby.

Prior to the start of this season they did sign Carlisle striker Danny Graham who initially settled really well and scored seven goals but is has only managed three since Christmas - his form mirrors the team, a promising first half of the season has given way to a desperate slide down the division in the second. They have played the loan market better than any other team in the Championship, giving them a fighting chance of beating the drop despite the money worries. Malky Mackay brought in bringing in Craig Cathcart and Tom Cleverley from Man Utd, Henri Lansbury from Arsenal and Heidar Helguson from QPR. Those players have boosted them sufficiently to push for the play offs before Christmas, and keep their heads just above water until now, with three games to go. For a while it appeared that one of the great QPR farces was going to play out as the R's, bereft of a physical presense in attack, were relegated while Watford stayed up thanks to goals scored by a physical front man loaned to them by Rangers. Luckily we are now safe, but I maintain that Helguson should have been used more readily at Loftus Road this season although his constant injury battles make him difficult to rely on - and make stories of Watford signing him permanently (a done deal according to Neil Warnock) despite being skint even harder to fathom.

The threat of administration has been omnipresent. The Russo brothers who own the club and spoke passionately to Sky about their intentions for the future at Vicarage Road before the game between these sides in December pulled their money out a fortnight later and suspended the cub’s shares on the stock exchange. The Russo resignation promoted loans totalling nearly £5m to be called in and the club said it could not survive beyond Christmas – so far administration has been avoided somehow though rumours of a sale and relet at Vicarage Road, the second time such a measure has been taken in recent years, have surfaced in recent weeks.

Lord Ashcroft (of 39 Acacia Avenue, Belize in case you're a tax man looking in) owns 37 per cent of the club, but is said to be a private person (probably because he doesn't like answering difficult questions about tax) and will not speak to deny fears that he intends to profit from the sale of the ground and lease back to the club. Not only will he not speak to the pres or the fans, but he will not speak with the Russo’s either. Former Watford and England manager Graham Taylor is now the interim chairman and says after a recent meeting with Ashcroft that the answers he gave to his questions were “truthful”. It’s another Championship club in a bit of a mess maintaining its position in the division by spending money it doesn’t have basically – and unless you’re a Scunthorpe or Doncaster fan looking in on this preview don’t you dare look down your nose on them for that.

The Manager: Malky Mackay was an uncompromising centre half best known for his 200+ game spell in this country with Norwich City after a playing a bit part role at Celtic during the 1990s, Mackay was brought in to replace Brendan Rodgers last summer when he defected to Reading. Towards the tail end of his career Mackay found a niche for himself in captaining sides to promotion to the Premiership and then immediately moving on – doing so with Norwich, Watford and West Ham. He sensibly recognised, or perhaps had it recognised for him, that he was never going to be quick enough to play the likes of Thierry Henry but for experience and leadership in the Championship he was ideal. He looks set to be succeeded in this role by Wayne Brown who was promoted with Hull City 12 months ago, hardly played in the Premiership and is now at Leicester.

Mackay was unfortunate not to be appointed as Watford manager just over a year ago when they went for Rodgers instead. He won two and drew two of five matches in charge and seemed to galvanise the Watford side. It was no real surprise, despite his lack of experience, when they turned to him this summer. personally if watford stay up in spite of everything that has happened this season then it's a successful season and one Mackay can proudly put on his CV. However reading watford message boards there seems to be some disquiet against the manager, and I suppose having gone from a play off push to a relagtion fight either side of Christmas with ostensibly the same playing squad questions are bound to be asked. Watford have had the look of a club in decline, and struggling for money, for some time so this is a tough baptism for him but he has shown a canny ability to pick up good signings both temporary and permanent and the Hornets should just about stay in this division with Palace and Sheff Wed ready to slay each other on the last day.

Two to Watch: Watford were pushing for the play off places when they beat us at Vicarage Road but went ten games without a win through the Christmas and New Year period and started to concede goals at an alarming rate. They are on an unenviable run of ten away games without a win, during which time they have conceded 27 goals. To solve that problem manager Malky Mackay has again turned to the loan market to secure the services of a ball busting centre half in his own mould – step forward Birmingham City man Martin Taylor.

Taylor almost joined QPR from Birmingham shortly after the takeover by Flavio Briatore but was not convinced that he would not be dumped the minute the club reached the Premiership (ho ho ho chortle chortle isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing) so stayed put while we have suffered two years of Fitz Hall instead. Taylor probably wished he’d gone through with the move as he became public enemy number one just a few weeks after the transfer window shut when he almost crippled Arsenal’s Eduardo with a crude tackle that left the Croatian striker’s leg hanging by its nerve endings.

Taylor, harshly written off as a pub footballer in a league of players with ability in the ensuing media frenzy, featured heavily in Birmingham’s promotion campaign last year but has hardly been seen since and with Alex McLeish enjoying tremendous success in the Premiership this season with two centre halves bought from this division in the summer, Scott Dann and Roger Johnson, Taylor has had to drop back down to the Championship to look for action.

Since time began QPR have always prided themselves on providing charity for teams and players in poor form. Haven’t won for 20 matches? Get yourself down to Loftus Road. Haven’t scored in 80 appearances? Step right this way Mr Bowditch. The famous example is Arsenal’s John Jensen who bagged his only Gunners goal against us on New Year’s Day 1995 – a fact that totally eclipsed our impressive 3-1 win that day in the press the day after. I was there when Jensen scored – and Gallen, and Allen, and Impey.

The latest player to break his duck against Rangers is Watford right back Lloyd Doyley who, as a Base Soccer client, was targeted by QPR in the first January after the takeover but stayed put in the end. A right full back with a prodigious long throw Doyley found himself in the QPR penalty area two minutes before half time in the corresponding fixture this season for reasons known only to himself and hurled himself at the ball to divert it into the net. That’s one goal in 279 Watford appearances and counting.

Links >>> Watford Official Website >>> Watford Message Board

History
Recent Meetings:
Such was the dramatic nature of the post match events at Vicarage Road when these sides met in December the game itself actually gets overlooked. Coming into the match just 48 hours after a 5-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough the R’s took the lead when Faurlin fed a cute ball through to Agyemang who hammered it home from the edge of the area. It was clear all was not well within the camp though when Agyemang made a point of refusing to celebrate after scoring and sure enough before half time the Hornets drew level when Lloyd Doyley scored his first goal in three quarters of a million appearances with a spectacular diving header. The impressive Tom Cleverley set up Cowie for an eye catching second ten minutes after the break and then rounded the scoring off himself deep into injury time with Rangers pushing forwards looking for an equaliser.

Watford: Loach 6, Hodson 6, Mariappa 7, Cathcart 6 (DeMerit 46, 7), Doyley 8, Cowie 8, Cleverley 8, Eustace 7, Harley 7 (Severin 82 -), Ellington 5 (Henderson 57, 6), Graham 5
Subs not used: Lee, Bennett, Sadler, Bryan
Goals: Doyley 43 (assisted Cowie), Cowie 56 (assisted Cleverley), Cleverley 90+4 (assisted Henderson)

QPR: Cerny 5, Ramage 6, Hall 5, Stewart 6, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 4 (Simpson 72, 5), Watson 4, Leigertwood 5 (Buzsaky 76, 4), Faurlin 7, Agyemang 6, Vine 3 (Taarabt 59, 4)
Subs not used: Taylor, Gorkss, Williams, Pellicori
Goals: Agyemang 33 (assisted Faurlin)
Bookings: Stewart (foul), Hall (foul), Borrowdale (foul)

The last meeting between these sides at Loftus Road was at Christmas 2008 and was one of 11 0-0 draws fought out by QPR last season. The R’s had been beaten 3-0 at Vicarage Road so avoiding defeat was a bonus but Rangers dropped two points here and at Charlton on Boxing Day as a result of too many team changes following an impressive 3-2 home win against Preston.

QPR: Cerny 7, Delaney 6, Ramage 5, Hall 7, Stewart 6, Cook 6 (Blackstock 46, 6), Rowlands 6, Mahon 5 (Leigertwood 84, -), Ephraim 6, Agyemang 6, Helguson 5
Subs Not Used: Connolly, Ledesma, Alberti
Booked: Ramage (foul), Rowlands (foul), Helguson (foul)

Watford: Loach 6, Doyley 7 , De Merit 6, Mariappa 8, Harley 6, Bridcutt 6 (Bromby 89, -), Williamson 7, Jenkins 6, Smith 6, McAnuff 5, Priskin 6 (Rasiak 62, 5)
Subs Not Used: Lee, Hoskins, O'Toole
Booked: Mariappa (dissent), Rasiak (off the ball incident), DeMerit (deliberate handball), Harley (foul)

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 46
Draws – 29
Watford wins – 31

Previous Results:
2009/10 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2008/09 QPR 0 Watford 0
2008/09 Watford 3 QPR 0
2007/08 Watford 2 QPR 4 (Rowlands 2, Stewart, Buzsaky)
2007/08 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Moore)
2005/06 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Nygaard)
2005/06 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Shittu)
2004/05 QPR 3 Watford 1 (Gallen 2, Furlong)
2004/05 Watford 3 QPR 0
2000/01 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Ngonge)
2000/01 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Connolly)
1998/99 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Peacock)
1998/99 Watford 2 QPR 1 (Slade)

Played for both clubs:
Devon White
QPR – 1993 to 1994
Watford – 1996 to 1997
Regular readers of A Kick Up The R’s and our fine message board will know that Devon is, strangely, one of my all time favourite QPR players despite his time with us only being brief and his unconventional style often being confused with a lack of ability.

Devon made a big impression on me as a youngster. You see when I was ten years old QPR were a bloody good team, fifth in the Premiership, and they had international players like Les Ferdinand who would rip the teams all my school friends supported to pieces so I could go to school on Monday not only sporting a big smile because we’d just beaten Spurs again, but also because I had been there to see it. Every now and again though Les would get injured - usually his big toe as I recall, an injury often attributed by my father after a couple of drinks to a lady called Danni Behr. If only I’d known then what I do now.

Anyway when Les was at home having his toe rubbed by whoever this Danni Behr woman was QPR would wheel out Devon White – once memorably described by The Times as being “as tall as a lamp post and about as mobile.” Needlessly cruel I thought, especially as it was a report of a victory at White Hart Lane, a victory Devon had set up by helpfully wrestling goalkeeper Erik Torsvedt to the ground and then laying on top of him until Trevor Sinclair had stuck the ball into the empty net. Devon was a tryer and he seemed to make everybody laugh so I liked him. He also scored his fair share of goals for Rangers.

Plenty of people laughed when I wrote a feature entitled ‘top nine goals every scored for QPR by Devon White’ for AKUTRs because I had originally planned a top ten only to realise he never quite made it into double figures. Still, as unconventional cover for the best striker in the country at that time and a man whose background was more in re-wiring plugs than playing Premiership football he did bloody well.

After QPR Devon played for Notts County and won them the Anglo Italian Cup (the campaign to bring that competition back starts here by the way) with a bullet header at Wembley against Brescia. This was enough for Watford to splash £100k on him in 1996 but despite two goals on his debut the Vicarage Road fans never took to him as much as those at QPR had done and he moved back to Notts County 12 months later. He finished his career touring the lower leagues and non-league pyramid with the likes of Shrewsbury and Ilkeston and now works as a leccy again in Nottingham.

I don’t care what anybody says, Devon is a cult hero in my eyes and a breath of fresh air compared to some of the over paid tossers currently playing in our top flight, and indeed our first team. A record of 126 goals in 417 goals when he was ostensibly a target man speaks for itself – Kevin Davies would kill for it.

Links >>> Watford 3 QPR 1 Match Report >>> QPR 0 Watford 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Tuesday
Team News: The QPR team picks itself to a large extent with injuries dictating Neil warnock's thinking over the remaining three games. Martin Rowlands (knee), Gavin Mahon (knee), Matt Connolly (ankle) and Damion Stewart (fractured skull) are all out for the rest of the campaign. Warnock has intimated previously that once safe he may give youngsters a chance so the likes of Antonio German, Angelo Balanta, Josh Parker and Joe Oastler will be hoping for a chance while the loan players who probably won't be here next season, such as Adel Taarabt and Tamas Priskin, may be vulnerable to the chop.

Watford cannot play Heidar Helguson under the terms of his loan agreement from QPR, and are also without the man who pulled all the strings against us in the first game Tom Cleverley whose absense for the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury explains much of Watford's recent dire form.

Elsewhere: For the first time this season Scunthorpe United seem to finally believe they may survive after their 3-0 win against in form Bristol City at the weekend. One more point will do it for them, although whether Gary Hooper who scored three at the weekend will be there for next year's inevitable relegation fight remains to be seen. Hooper and his team mates battle Reading in their game in hand at Glanford Park this evening - The Royals looked destined to be in the ugly shake up at the bottom of the table themselves in the first half of the season but have climbed away as Watford have sunk towards them. Victory for Scunthorpe and the final relegation spot is down to a battle between three teams, victory for Watford at Loftus Road and it's Palace or Sheff Wed for League One next season.

Referee: Pat Miller from Bedfordshire is in charge of this one – his first QPR game since New Year’s Day 1998 when he took charge of our 3-1 home win against Leicester with Luigi De Canio at the helm. Prior to that he had us for a crucial 1-0 win at Coventry in a relegation battle under John Gregory and a 3-2 cup win at home to Northampton with Gary Waddock in the dug out – so three games and three QPR wins, long may that continue. More details of his record at the link below.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Miller in charge >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: It's now no wins in four home matches for Rangers, although conversely it's only one defeat from seven. Not being able to take chances when on top (rangers have scored one goal or less in their last four at home) has meant too many draws throughout the season and really the R's should have taken a point from a 1-0 defeat by Cardiff on Saturday. Our form against sides around the bottom of the table has been poor at Loftus Road - Scunthorpe and Ipswich (who have since climbed away) won here, Peterborough, Sheff Wed, Derby and Palace all got a point. In fact eight of the eleven teams in the bottom half of the table as it stands have come away from W12 with at least a point with, of course, Watford still to come..

Watford: The Hornets have been on a dreadful run over the past few months winning onyl four of 24 games since beating us at Vicarage Road. They were picking up slightly at the start of this month, denied a victory against promoted West Brom only courtesy of a last second Chris Brunt equaliser, beating Plymouth and drawing with Preston, but they were trounced 4-1 at Leicester at the weekend and we certainly know how that feels. They've crawled to within a win of safety but with Reading at home and Coventry away to finish the season this game looks like their best hope of getting that victory. You have to go all the way back to October 17, 17 matches ago, to find their last away win though - that was at Middlesbrough and although they have won at Plymouth and impressively at Nottingham Forest as well all three successes came in the early part of the season and they have been awful on their travels ever since.

Prediction: Watford are obviously a poor side without Cleverley, and they're really bad on the road. The question is do QPR have enough about them to get all three points here? Watford have more to play for but QPR have played reasonably of late without often getting their rewards for that. If we play like we did against Palace and Cardiff I don't think we'll have too many problems, but for some reason this just doesn't feel like a game we're going to win to me.
Bore draw

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