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








Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Fab R's Secure Easy Friendly Win


€€€€€€€€Rangers played their first and only domestic friendly tonight as they travelled down the M40 to Adams Park to take on Wycombe Wanderers.

With Jess, Sam and Luke in my car we set off at just past six o'clock for the 12mile journey up the road.
Once we arrived Luke made heavy work of deciding whether or not to have food, ten minutes later he finally got in the queue and made us wait an extra twenty minutes before finally getting in the ground to see all the new faces on show.

The first half team was as follows -

Green; Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore; Park, Fabio; Mackie, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips; Cisse.

Rangers started the first half strongly with Mackie testing former R's goalkeeper Nikki Bull with a near post shot which was beaten away for a corner.
Cisse also came close early on, firing just wide after good work from Park and Mackie.
This set the tone for the R's as their progressive build up play was troubling the Wycombe midfield and the R's began to dominate the game.
Park and Fabio in the holding midfield role looked very comfortable with Park putting in his usual industrial effort in the midfield as Fabio looked exciting and promising with his bursting runs in the midfield whilst also doing his fair share of hard work in the middle of the park.
On the half hour Rangers took a deserved lead. Taarabt shook off Matt Bloomfield and played a delightful ball through to Mackie on the right hand side of the penalty area and the Scottish International made no mistake and drilled his shot in at the near post leaving Nikki Bull with no chance.
The R's continued to press for a second goal with Shaun Wright-Phillips having a host of chances but not managing to beat Nikki Bull and his defence.
Armand Traore came off in the 35th minute as a precaution. He was replace by Hogan Ephraim. Fabio moved to left back as Hogan moved to centre midfield with Park.

At half time we were treated to a penalty shootout contested by the mascots with some of the younger R's supporters taking penalties in front of the away support. Some of the celebrations were brilliant as we were treated to an array of cartwheels and the right at the end a rather brilliant slip by one of the young female mascots after her penalty, seemingly having the body fitness and body strength of Mr Muscle, she seemed to hurt herself and didn't take part in their procession around the pitch.

The second half begun with the same team taking to the field as the first half.
The R's continued in the same fashion as the first half with Taarabt and Fabio continuing to impress with their attacking play and cause the Wycombe defence all sorts of problems.
Wycombe begun to create a few chances but nothing that really troubled Rob Green of the Rangers defence as we looked really comfortable when defending.
Entering the fray in the 60th minute was none other than R's legend Gareth Ainsworth. Gaz was given a huge reception from the 3,000 R's fans in attendance as we paid homage to a man that bled blue and white for many years and will always have a special place in all our hearts.
The first lot of changes were made on 62 minutes with Zamora and Johnson taking the place of Cisse and the hard working Mackie.
Shaun Wright-Phillips has in the thick of it once again as he had one cleared off the line five minutes before successfully giving the R's a two goal lead. SWP rounded a defender and then the goalkeeper  before slotting into the empty net for a very well taken goal on 71 minutes.
Further changes were made as Derry and Dyer took to the field in the place of Taarabt and Park.
Rangers were at ease and the movement of Johnson and Zamora coupled with good play by Dyer showed the strength of the squad we have as the R's closed the game out.
With three minutes left to go we were treated to a rare goal by Nedem Onuoha. Kieron Dyer took the corner and Onuoha was on hand to head home into the bottom corner and you could tell how pleased he was to score by his celebrations, you could tell he wanted to do a lap of honour to crown the moment off but unfortunately it only a friendly so it's not really the done thing.

On the whole this was a very comfortable workout for the squad with some valuable playing time completed and confidence gained from scoring some tidy goals against a decent League Two outfit.
Taarabt and Fabio really stood out for me as Park just worked his socks of in the holding midfield role, things really are beginning to look promising, especially when you consider that we still have the likes of Diakite, Hoilett and Faurlin still to come into this team.

Just as we were leaving Gareth Ainsworth managed to get Hogan Ephraim and he took the number 11 shirt off Hogan's back and took it as a souvenir for all the good times he shared with us. Ainsworth 11 is a special shirt for a very humble and great player that is full of desire.



Wycombe Wanderers: Bull (Ingram 81), McCoy, Dunne (Wood 79), Doherty (Basey 46), Stewart (Hause 83), Grant, Lewis (Spring 46), Bloomfield, Angol (Ainsworth 64), Logan (Beavon 46), Oli (McClure 29).
QPR: Green, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hill, Traore (Ephraim 36), Mackie (Johnson 62), Park (Derry 73), Fabio, Wright-Phillips (Doughty 90), Taarabt (Dyer 73), Cisse (Zamora 62).
Subs: Murphy, Ehmer, Connolly, Harriman.
Goals: Mackie (30), Wright-Phillips (71), Onuoha (87)


Monday, July 09, 2012

Park's Not a Queen, He's a Ranger!


Today the R's unveiled another new signing, with this one being one that will help become more recognised in the Far East as Park Ji Sung became the latest new addition.

Park, 31, has enjoyed a lot of success at Manchester United in recent years with four Premier League titles, three League Cup winners medals, a Champions League winning medal and a FIFA World Club Cup medal to his name, however he has always found his chances limited to impress. Park has often been selected for the big games at United and always put in exceptional performances for the Red Devils in those games, yet for some unknown reason he then always slipped back to the bench as the likes of Anderson, Fletcher and more recently Scholes stepped in to replace him in the starting XI.
Park has a fantastic record and has scored in three World Cup Finals for South Korea and is a huge favourite in his native country.

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It is fair to say the the capture of Park, for a fee believed to be in the £2million bracket on a two year deal, will ensure that the QPR 'brand' will rise from the virtual unknown and become one of the more popular teams for the South Korean's to follow and support.

Park spoke to the Official QPR Website -


 "I am delighted to be here and be a QPR player.
"QPR is a Club with huge history and tradition, and a great ambition to achieve at the very highest level.
"Tony Fernandes and the Board are striving to accomplish big things at QPR and I wanted to be part of that.
"This project was simply too good to resist, and I am excited about getting started in pre-season and going on our tour to Asia in the coming days."
 "I am joining a Club that is very much on an upwards curve - a Club that has a very bright future.
"The infrastructure is in place, with a new training ground and plans for a new stadium, for us to achieve in the short and long term.
"The Manager has a proven track record at Premier League level and I am looking forward to working with him and the rest of the squad to help take this Club to the next level."

With this signing and the rumoured arrivals of Junior Holiett and potentially Matt Jarvis in the pipeline this in a hugely exciting time for us all at the club and I cannot wait to see what further arrivals are on their way.

Also with the potential news of a new 45,000 seater stadium to be built in White City, which will not be a 'bowl shaped' stadium, with two sites being investigated and agreement being sought after, these are exciting times that even the most optimistic QPR fan would never of dreamed of!

I cannot wait to get this season underway as I feel this really could be a season that we all enjoy without too many dramas on or off the field.

Welcome to QPR Park Ji Sung and we hope you enjoy your time with us here in W12!!!!

U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!