Lofty Heights... 'Ohhh Bobby Zamooooora!!!'

A look at Queens Park Rangers F.C. through the eyes of the fans - follow us on twitter @loftyheights70, @LoftyQPR and @qprleeroy








Monday, July 25, 2011

QPR in Free Transfer Signing Shock


This afternoon the most shocking news came out of Loftus Road, QPR had broken the bank once again and signed another 'International' player for a massive fee of zero.

The QPR owners have really excelled in the transfer market during the close and pre-season by bringing in three players so far on massive transfer fees, really stating their intent for the club, spend nothing and pocket everything.
Having released a statement over the weekend stating that Adel Taarabt would not be sold to PSG and that we were never looking to sell him really does stink and just shows that you really cannot trust these two idiots that once again have had to state the claim that they saved our club, well thanks very much you saved us, well done but now you think you can fleece us of every penny and treat us like morons whilst you make a fortune out of our club, just do us a favour and sell the club to someone how actually cares about the football club and go and play with your toy cars.

Anyways, back to the real news.....

QPR announced this afternoon that Danny Gabbidon was signing on a free transfer on a one year deal.

Photobucket

Gabbidon was available on a free transfer having left West Ham at the end of last season.
Gabbidon spent a troublesome six years at Upton Park and made just 92 appearances due to a number of injury problems .

Before joining West Ham, Gabbidon was at Cardiff City for five years after he arrived in South Wales from West Brom.

Gabbidon spoke to the Official QPR Website and said the following.
"I'm delighted to be here.

"It's a good Club. Hopefully I can learn more about it in the coming weeks.

"I had a good week with the lads in Cornwall and I'm pleased to have signed.

"My agent spoke to the Manager and he said to come down and train for a week. It went from there.

"He was a big part in me joining the Club. I've been quite impressed by him.

"He's straight talking, which I like. If you're doing something right I think he'll be the first to tell you and, if you're not, he'll be the first to tell you again.

"As a player, that's what you want. I was impressed with what he had to say about the Club and what he wants to do this season.

"I think we can do well. The lads showed last season that they're already confident and hungry to do well in the Premier League."


Having heard good reviews from his time with us during the tour of Cornwall hopefully we have got ourselves a decent defender to be part of the team.


Welcome Danny, we hope you have a successful spell here at QPR.

U R'SSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lofty Heights Fantasy Football League


With pre-season well underway its the time of year that the fantasy football season begins for all us wannabe managers.

Photobucket

Lofty Heights has set up its own league on www.fantasy.premierleague.com
Simply register a team and then select to join the Lofty Heights league, just enter the code 62681-23735 when prompted and see if you can become the 2011/12 champion.


Good Luck!!!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Kumba-ya My Lord.


Friday evening saw our beloved R's take to the field for our pre-season friendly and get us on the road to the start of the Premiership season.
A few of the Lofty Heights gang made the trip to check out how things were shaping up.


For me it all started with a journey from Staines down the M25 to pick Jess up before heading back up the M25 and battle the nightmare rush hour traffic and make our way up to Harrow Borough.
Having arrived in good time, Jess and I made our way to the bar to meet up with Lofty, Jo and Charlotte for a pre match drink and catch up. We were later joined by the Bowen family, who at the last minute decided to make the long trip from Wales to see the game(that's dedication for you!).

The starting 11 were - Cerny, Orr, Hall, Trialist(Bruno Peroni), Hill; Derry, Faurlin; Trialist(Danny Webber), Vaagen Moen, Smith; Helguson.

The first half wasn't a great spectacle to watch but then again they never are during pre-season.
Harrow Borough looked the more threatening team to score and carved out five or six decent opportunities to opening the scoring but Cerny was proving difficult to beat and near the end of the first half he pulled off a truly fantastic save, flying to his left hand side to tip the ball around the post.
Rangers' barely threatened in the opening 45minutes and only had Vaagen Moen's dipping volley that flew over and a Tommy Smith curler from outside the box that got close but on the whole Rangers' would've gone in happy at 0-0 and look to press of when the substitutions were made at half time.
One shining light of the first half was the arrival of Sam and Luke fresh from a hospital visit which they were told they were going to be the parents of very healthy twin boys that are due to arrive in December.
Congratulations to them both!!!

At half time we made our way back to the bar for a distraction from the football and another excuse to have a quick drink.

We arrived for the second half about ten minutes late but luckily we had not missed a thing.

The second half team was - Cerny; Orr, Shittu, Gorkss, Trialist(Kumba), Ephraim, Connolly, Vaagen Moen; Trialist(Danny Webber), Hulse, Agyemang.

The first piece of action we saw as we reached our destination in the stand was a crunching tackle by Kumba right in front of us.
About 10 minutes later we witnessed our first goal, and what a cracker it was!
Rangers' were awarded a free kick about 35 yards from goal and the Trialist Kumba.
Kumba put his arm up as if he was setting up for a set piece rehearsed in the training ground but as he approached the ball he unleashed a thunderbolt that was only going in one place, the top corner! The 'keeper had no chance at all and didnt even move.
Rangers' did create a few more chances with Agyemang missing two relatively easy looking chances and Rob Hulse missing a chance or two also.
Peter Ramage and Michael Doughty came on for the final 10-15 minutes to stretch their legs.


All in all this was a good work out for the first pre-season friendly.
Harrow looked like a very decent team and in the first half they really did look like a good passing side and did create opportunities that troubled us at the back.
It's easy to see how Harrow have produced some really talented players over the last few years that have progressed on to play at Football League clubs.
It's early days yet and there's plenty more work to be done before the season begins.

Kumba looked like a decent left back and it well worth another look at when we are in Cornwall. He's got plenty of pace, is not afraid to get stuck in and has a mean free kick on him, watch out for the highlights on QPR World when they become available.


Harrow Borough: Jupp, Frempong, Marsh-Brown, Walters, Leech, Ijaha, Constant, McGonigle, Morlese, Orphanu, Delgado.

Subs: Fraser, Hall, Pither, Lawrence, Rowe, Chanda, Fenton, Mensah, James.

QPR: Cerny, Orr, Hill, Derry, Hall, Peroni, Webber, Vaagan Moen, Helguson, Smith, Faurlin.

Subs: Putnins, Gorkss, Ephraim, Ramage, Connolly, Hulse, Kumba, Agyemang, Shittu, Doughty.

Goals: Trialist (62)

Attendance: 1,688

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Dyer Decision Or Great Investment?


An even bigger shock this afternoon as a second arrival is announced, no surprise that its a free transfer, but the player in question definitely raises a few eyebrows.

Kieron Dyer signs for the R's on a one year deal having been released by West Ham.
Dyer has been working hard over the summer to prove his fitness and has been rewarded with Neil Warnock having enough faith to offer him a one year contract which makes the deal somewhat appealing given the amount of injuries Dyer has had over the last few years.

An hour before the news became official I received a text from Lofty Heights very own Lofty saying that the Dyer deal was sealed and was about to be delivered, low and behold just an hour later the news had broken. Well done Mr Lofty for the scoop.

Photobucket

Neil Warnock told the Official QPR Website -

"When a player of Kieron's ability becomes available, you'd be crazy not to be interested.

"As far as I'm concerned it's a gamble worth taking. He really impressed me in training and it looks like he has been working hard on his fitness throughout the summer.

"I instantly liked him when we met. You get feelings like that as a Manager.

"He's had a lot of problems, but he's got something to prove. He's a hell of a good player and I still think he's got an opportunity to impress with us."



Dyer started off his career at Ipswich and spent three successful years at Portman Road before moving to Newcastle for £6 million, which was a record fee received by the club (until this summer when Connor Wickham moved to Sunderland for £8 million).
In 2004 Dyer was famously had an on pitch fight with team mate Lee Bowyer which resulted in them both being sent off.
In 2007 Dyer moved back down south to West Ham for an undisclosed fee.
10 days after making a successful debut against Birmingham, Dyer broke his leg in two places following a challenge by Joe Jacobsen of Bristol Rovers in a League Cup match.
Having only made 22 appearances in three years at West Ham Dyer went out on loan for a month to former club Ipswich, where he made four appearances.
Dyer has also won 33 England caps during his career.


I feel that if Dyer can stay fit and get games under his belt for the first time in four years then this could prove to be a great signing for us and a real bargain.
With there only being a one year deal in place the club are not tied down to paying him to sit on the sidelines keeping our physios occupied. With this deal in place I believe we could see the Kieron Dyer that used to be exciting to watch and hopefully the promise that Dyer showed as a youngster can be brought back to life during his time here at Loftus Road.

Welcome to Loftus Road Kieron, we hope you have an enjoyable stay here.

U R'SSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jay walking into Loftus Road.


Finally after a long wait the R's have finally made a signing, yes its true!

After months of being linked with big money signings and high profile loanees possibly arriving like Joe Cole, Jermaine Jenas, Robbie Keane and Fabio Cannavaro, just to name a few.

Well today its finally happened, we have signed a striker, however no transfer fee is involved. Hardly a shock with the owners we have but let's get excited anyway shall we.


Jay Bothroyd becomes the first official summer signing for the R's and signs a 3 year deal with the club.

Photobucket

Bothroyd returns to the R's having been part of the clubs centre of excellence as a youngster before moving onto the Arsenal youth team.

Bothroyd moved to Coventry in 2000 and had 3 seasons there before moving to Italy and had a two year spell at Perugia before Blackburn came in and took him on loan in 2005.
Spells at Charlton, Wolves and a loan term at Stoke followed as Bothroyd struggled to settle at a club.
In 2008 Cardiff was the next destination for Bothroyd as they paid 300k for the strikers services.
It was this season that Bothroyd begun to show all the promise he showed as a youngster and had his best season to date.
With 20 goals to his name and an England call up in October behind his back in what was an eventful season in South Wales now Bothroyd is once again back in London and back home.

With Bothroyd back at his roots and now hitting the prime of his career we can be certain that Bothroyd will be doing all he can to let his talent be tested in the Premiership and hopefully add to the England cap he won last season.

Neil Warnock spoke to the Official QPR website and said the following.
"In bringing Jay in, we have managed to secure an excellent player which augers well for the forthcoming campaign.
"We have been chasing him for a number of weeks and it has been frustrating at times.
"We have had to have a lot of patience with this but, as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait."

Bothroyd is also the first England International that the R's have signed since Tony Currie in 1979.


Welcome to Loftus Road Jay and we hope you have a very successful time with us here!

U R'SSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're back in business!


Welcome back to Lofty Heights!
We are back after a nice relaxing break away from proceedings and now we return with just four and a half weeks until the start of the first R's Premiership campaign in over 15 years.


Myself and Lofty will do our best to keep up to date with all that is going on at Loftus Road and guide you through the pre-season until the big day when Bolton arrive at the R's on 13th August.

We hope you are ready for another rollercoaster ride and hopefully we will have more stories from our journey through the season and we hope you continue enjoying our views on all what is going on.

As always your views are always appreciated and you can share these by commenting on our page here or on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!