Congratulations to Queens Park Rangers on gaining promotion, bar a disaster on goal difference to the Premier League ending a fifteen year wait to rejoin the top tier of English football.

QPR were expecting confirmation of promotion to win today, however failure to win and victories for Cardiff and Norwich mean that theoretically the West London side can be usurped on goal difference.

After a few years of battling with their own lofty expectations the West London club have finally found the right formula to escape the Championship, combining consistency and flair to clinch a promotion that has seemed imminent for most of the season.

The road back to the Premier League has been a rocky one over the years, with relegation, financial difficulties/administration and managerial instability dogging the club at various points.

The financial aspect may have been steadied by the arrival of Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal in 2007, yet this did not bring immediate success or stability to the club.

In the last four years the club has had six permanent managers as the club tried to produce performances that matched  the high expectations of the club’s owners.

Having taken over in March 2010, Neil Warnock has however delivered. This is due in no small part to his ability to harness the ability of Championship Player of the Year Adel Taarabt, who with more than 20 goals has provided creative flair and continous excitement.

There may be a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the club, due to an FA charge that relates to the club’s transfer dealings, however today is not about the if’s, but’s and maybe’s but about celebrating an impressive achievement.

I hope that Queens Park Rangers enjoy their promotion party as points deductions, goal difference or worrying about how to stay in the Premier League can wait until tomorrow.

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Watford pulled off a massive shock in the Championship last night beating Queens Park Rangers by three goals to one in a televised Friday night encounter.

This defeat means that QPR lose the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the table and fall agonisingly close of equalling the clubs record unbeaten run, falling just one short on nineteen.

Watford were impressive as they took hold over the game with a blend of counter attacking football and deadly finishing particularly from the hero of the last two matches Danny Graham who completed a brace inside fifty minutes.

The twenty five year old striker opened the scoring on twenty six minutes guiding the ball past Paddy Kenny from eight yards out.

The Hornets went two goals up through Jordan Mutch who has been instrumental in the turnaround in Watford’s fortunes in the last two games. He crossed the ball with his left foot and his effort alluded everyone including goalkeeper Paddy Kenny to nestle in the bottom corner and ensure the visitors went to the half time break with a two goal advantage.

The third Watford goal came within minutes of the resumption of play with Graham completing his brace by taking advantage of QPR’s inability to clear their lines controlling the ball deftly and then coolly slotting the ball past the Rangers keeper.

The scoreline however was an unfair reflection on the game in which although ultimately poor QPR had a fair share of the game often bemoaning refereeing decisions and becoming increasingly frustrated.

A level of consolation and respectability to the score was added when former Watford trainee Tommy Smith scored in the eighty ninth minute with the tie beyond doubt.

A fantastic result and seven days for Malky Mackay’s side who have recorded back to back victories against tough opposition in response to a seven game barren run.  

As for Queen Park Rangers this is a disappointing blip but they have the firepower and confidence to turn it around in their next fixture and will continue to be the favourites for the league title.

Due to the weather it was a much reduced Championship fixture list with Doncaster, Hull, Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth all unable to host a match due to pitch and safety concerns.

This did not stop this weekend being action packed with each fixture averaging three goals per game.

Those that battled the sub zero temperatures included Swansea who made the trip to East Anglia and were able to beat Ipswich courtesy of a Craig Beattie brace that will heap more pressure on Roy Keane as the Tractor Boys extended their losing streak to five games.

Second placed Cardiff scored late to deny Preston a shock victory; however the draw will be seen as an opportunity lost to close the gap on leaders QPR who were not in action.

Around the play off places Coventry and Leeds took advantage of half the league not playing by putting points on the board with Leeds creeping into the play off places after looking to be heading for defeat before a late double from Luciano Bechhio cancelled out Neil Danns opener.

Whilst in the midlands Derby were shocked as Norwich made a blistering start to go two goals up after just fifteen minutes and the Rams were only able to get one goal back meaning they dropped out of play off places as Norwich surged to fourth.

The takeover talk at Watford seemed to buoy confidence as the Hornets took advantage of the condensed Championship table with a late winner in an action packed 3-2 victory that moved the club five places to tenth.

Finally in the late kick off Steve Morison scored twice to help Millwall thump Scunthorpe by three goals to nil.

Queens Park Rangers extended their lead at the top of the Championship with an important come from behind victory over second placed Cardiff City.

The game did not start the way the London side would have hoped as Craig Bellamy gave the Welsh side the lead after thirteen minutes, as Jay Bothroyd capitalised on a slip by Kaspars Gorkss slip to provide an assist to the on loan Manchester City striker.

However Gorkss made amends for his mistake just five minutes later by converting Tommy Smith’s cross to draw the London side level.

The scores remained level until well after the hour mark as both sides probed and created chances in a tense encounter.

In the end it was poor defending that allowed the deadlock to be broken, with Cardiff failing to deal with a 68^th minute corner that Adel Taarabt was able to smash home.

Cardiff however will feel that they deserved an equaliser and a point after Jay Bothroyd was brought down by Matthew Connolly with five minutes to play, however the referee did not concur and Taarabt’s goal turned out to be the winner.

This victory extends QPR’s unbeaten run to nineteen games and puts them within one game of their previous record run, however the key statistic for Ranger’s fans will be the five point lead they now hold at the top of the table.

The season is far from over and there are plenty more twists and turns but this is a morale boosting victory that has put the club right back in the promotion driving seat.

As for Cardiff this was always going to be a difficult game and with a three point advantage over fierce rivals Swansea, this will be just a speed bump in their challenge.

Queens Park Rangers started the season in sparkling form winning 8 of their first 10 games in the Championship, however in the last month or so this challenge has faltered.

However like Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers can both boast that they are unbeaten in the league so far this season. However despite this impressive record neither club currently occupies top spot in their respective leagues.

Normally you would expect a team unbeaten three months into a season to be racing away with the title but this unbeaten record takes attention away from disproportionate number of draws both sides have recorded this season.

Manchester United

Played 13

Drawn 7 (54%)

Queens Park Rangers

Played 17

Drawn 8 (47%)

So far this season QPR have drawn around half of their games this season dropping 16 points or the equivalent of 5 defeats in the process.

These draws have slowly chipped away at the early lead QPR took at the top of the Championship, allowing Cardiff to overhaul the London side in the league, after a start that made it seem as though Premiership football would be a certainty next season QPR risk their season fading away.

A run of 7 draws in 10 games is far from promotion form and although late equalisers such as those against Bristol City and Portsmouth may create a feel good factor after the match it should still remembered that the club dropped two points in the game.

As Queens Park Rangers face bottom of the table Preston on Saturday it will be imperative that they take advantage of Preston’s poor form and get their promotion challenge back on track.

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We have just passed the quarter mark on the season and it’s time to take a look at how the clubs are faring.  This is the first of three installments covering each of the 24 clubs in the nPower Championship.  I hope you will feel free to add your comments to each club.

First up?  Queens Park Rangers.  Neil Warnock has led QPR to the top of the table with 29 points and a goal difference of 21.  Last weekend’s come-from-behind draw at Bristol City showed great spirit and the club has to be considered a favorite for promotion.

Even with QPR on points but behind in goal difference is Cardiff City.  The high flying Welsh team is looking to roar into the Premier League next season led by recent loan signee and hometown product Craig Bellamy.  Manager Dave Jones has his team looking strong after an impressive 4-0 win away to Leeds United.

Sitting third in the table is the other Welsh side playing in the league, Swansea City.  With 23 points, but only a +5 goal difference, Swansea City has been inconsistent so far.  They have put consecutive league wins together only once this season.

Also sitting in the playoff position at fourth is last year’s League One Champions Norwich City.  Having spent only one year outside of the top two flights of English football in the last 50 years, Norwich City made wholesale changes to club management which saw them bounce right back and have them right in the mix for promotion to the Premier League.  They are even with Swansea City on points with 23 and only one behind in goal difference.

At fifth is Watford on 21 points and +7 goal difference.  A club with pedigree going back almost 130 years, and even playing in the UEFA Cup in 1983, Watford has struggled to stay at the highest level, having been promoted to the Premier League and bounced right back the following season twice in the last ten years. Watford’s fine run of form came to an end at home in a 2-0 loss to Scunthorpe United.  Watford will look to get back on track away to Derby County this weekend.

Coventry City is currently holding the final promotion playoff spot even with Watford on points but with only a  +4 goal difference.   A 3-0 defeat of visitors Barnsley this past Saturday saw Coventry City climb into the sixth spot, although it took the entire 90 minutes to put away a struggling Barnsley side.

Burnley is just one point off of a playoff spot, relinquishing that spot due to a 4-0 defeat at home to Reading.  With a trip this weekend to top of the table QPR, Burnley must be looking for at least a point, as there are several teams right behind them in the table.

The team immediately behind them in the table, and our final club for this first article is Reading.  They are the first of four clubs with 19 points and lead that pack due to their +7 goal difference.  The aforementioned 4-0 win on the road at Burnley propelled them to shouting distance of a playoff spot.  Hosting Doncaster this weekend, another of the clubs on 19 points, could help clear up the logjam a little.

Your comments are welcome and encouraged.  I read about these clubs, watch highlights when I can, and occasionally get to see the actual matches, but your opinions count at least as much as mine.  What do you think about these eight clubs?

Several teams have managed to put together some pretty decent runs in the Championship this season. All of them, though, are susceptible to poor form and bad results. This is partly because this is a tight league with little difference between top and bottom – especially compared with the Premier League – but also because few teams have the resources to really cope with injuries or suspensions.

Newcastle apart, it’s Queens Park Rangers who have probably received the most praise and media coverage over the last couple of months. Goals have been flying in from all angles, Derby were humiliated on terrestrial television and the passing style insisted upon by Jim Magilton has led to the club being dubbed ‘The Arsenal of the Championship’ on more than one occasion.

QPR, though, have problems. First of all they failed to find much flow against Leicester live on Sky and their winning run came to an abrupt end. A few days later they were denied again by a hard working Palace side who held them to a 1-1 draw. Even Rangers’ recent victory at Sheffield Wednesday needed a late winner to patch over a lack of fluency.

The cliche is that the top teams win even when they are playing badly, so in that respect the win at Hillsborough was an encouraging sign. Yet despite the individual brilliance of Akos Buzsaky, Adel Taraabt amd Wayne Routledge, QPR fans harbour concerns about how far their team can go this season.

The reason for this is The Captain Curse. Five separate players have already led the team out this season. Four of those players are currently injured. If Mikele Leigertwood was to be crocked in training this week, the chances are a sixth name would be added to that list. It’s only November!

Rangers are currently chronically low on genuine leadership. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of endeavour. Defender Peter Ramage has a tremendous attitude. Wayne Routledge’s work ethic is outstanding for such a creative footballer. Jay Simpson is a tireless worker up front. But it feels like a quiet dressing room. Teams going for promotion need defiance, they need players in the team that will drive them forward when the going is tough. Sometimes, just playing great football isn’t quite enough.

It all started when poor Martin Rowlands suffered a second cruciate injury in a year while playing in a friendly for the Republic of Ireland, ruling him out for the rest of the season. It was a cruel blow for the QPR captain and also for the team because his energy, his drive and his snappy tackling add an extra dimension to the squad. Gavin Mahon took over the armband and the matchday programme notes as Rowlands prepared for a season watching from the sidelines. Mahon will have been with the club for two years in January and during that time he never missed a game through injury – until about a fortnight ago. He’s now out for four months following knee surgery. While not always a first team regular, Mahon is nevertheless a real leader and was captain of Watford the last time they paid a brief visit to the Premier League.

With defender Fitz Hall seemingly unable to put together a run of games in a QPR shirt without suffering injury, Rangers are certainly lacking a genuine captain. The possible signing on a permanent deal of current loan player Ben Watson in January would help (not least because QPR’s central midfield is now looking a bit thin), but ideally Rangers probably need something extra.

If the club is still in the top six after Christmas, it seems likely that Jim Magilton will be asking Chairman Flavio Briatore for a little more investment (Russell Martin of Peterborough is one name that has already been rumoured in the press). A couple of wise additions in January may well be enough to push Rangers over the line and back into the top flight for the first time in 14 years… unless The Captain Curse continues to strike down QPR’s leaders.

How much time will Jim Magilton be given at QPR?

Of the 24 teams that kicked off the Championship just under a year ago, eleven now have new managers. In the majority of cases, the manager was removed due to perceived failings. Being a Championship manager is like being a duck at a shooting gallery. It’s a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’, no matter how dumb the man holding the gun might be.

It’s a truism, but it all comes down to expectations. Two teams can be promoted automatically, another four can reach the play-offs. Yet by my reckoning seven clubs will expect to finish first or second and nine others will believe they can make the play-offs.

With kick-off still a few weeks away, two-thirds of the managers in this league are now giving optimistic interviews about challenging for the top six. Disappointment for most of them is therefore inevitable. And disappointment leads to jobless managers.

Here’s my top five managers most at risk as teams start their pre-season preparations:

1. Jim Magilton, QPR: The Rangers owners can dress it up any way they like, but the turnover of managers (or head coaches) at the club since Flavio Briatore arrived has been startling even by the bizarre standards football sets itself. QPR have now turned to Jim Magilton, deemed not good enough for Ipswich only a few weeks before his appointment at Loftus Road.

A spat with the Chairman or a poor start to the season could easily see Magilton disappear from his post within a matter of months.  He has to be the favourite to go first.

2. Malky Mackay, Watford: Another new manager who could potentially be at risk early in the season. Watford seem destined to lose talisman Tommy Smith to Sheffield United, and even though the surprisingly high £1.8m fee will be welcome, his departure will be a real blow.

Watford are now a far cry from Boothroyd’s big, dangerous side of a a few years back and if they start badly the club may decide to cut their losses and, against recent practice, opt for a more experienced hand.

3. Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough: If Southgate had been in charge of any other established Premier League club and turned in the results he did last season, he would be out of a job.  Famously, he belittled Sven Goran Eriksson after England’s 2-1 World Cup defeat to Brazil in 2002, claiming that the team needed Winston Churchill at half time, not Iain Duncan Smith.

I wonder if he recalled those words when his team lost 3-0 to rock bottom West Brom, 4-1 to Bolton or 5-0 at home to Chelsea. The management game, he must now realise, is more than spouting a bit of loud rhetoric at half time.

Steve Gibson always backs his managers but if Boro fall towards mid-table (or worse, as Sunderland did a couple of years back), Gibson may have no other option than to advise Southgate to go back to the pizza commercials.

4. Roberto di Matteo, West Brom: This was truly an appointment out of the left-field. It was as if the West Brom board were so flush from receiving £2m from Celtic for a manager that had just relegated their club, that, like a gambler who believes he’s on a roll, they decided to bet high on a pair of deuces. I mean, the Albion job is a big job these days.

Di Matteo did well at MK Dons, but in truth he was managing a team already built by Paul Ince and one that had a significant financial advantage over most clubs in League One.

It’s a brave decision, but West Brom fans are used to yo-yoing. They’ve had their spin down and now they will be expecting the corresponding spin up. Di Matteo is under significant pressure.

5. Chris Coleman, Coventry: As with the Premier League, there will always be one surprise who’ll go early. I’ll plump for Coleman. He has had time to consolidate at Cov and the board will be expecting something much greater than last season’s finish of 17th.

Only four teams won less home games than Coventry last season and Cookie must somehow find a way to turn that cavernous stadium into an intimidating place to visit.

Now it’s over to you. Who do you think will be first to go? Maybe Shearer won’t be able to take the heat? Or perhaps Gary Johnson will be poached by the Premier League. Let us know below.

Supporting QPR requires a person to be able to switch emotions between exasperation, anger, incredulity, despair and, on rare occasions, joy on an almost daily basis.

1st September 2007. I stood outside Loftus Road looking in silence at the memorial laid by fans for our young striker Ray Jones who had been tragically killed in a car crash. As I turned to enter the stadium a vehicle pulled up and from it emerged then Chairman Gianni Paladini along with the man about to buy the club, Flavio Briatore.

For years Rangers had been struggling with finances, seemingly always only days away from a second spell in administration (unlike most clubs, QPR emerged from an administration period worse off than when they went in). Now, just as the club had reached the lowest possible point with the death of a young striker, there was just a semblance of hope. As Briatore crossed the road the silence was broken by an ovation. No cheers, just clapping hands, a sign of thanks and appreciation.

For a while, things were actually pretty good as the club turned to an Italian none of us had heard of, Luigi De Canio. Along with a slew of signings including Fitz Hall, Matthew Connolly, Patrick Agyemang and most importantly the sublime Akos Buzsaky and the mercurial Rowan Vine, De Canio dragged us up the table pretty quickly. There was an annoying penchant for conceding late goals and the away form was shaky, but at Loftus Road fans were treated to the best football in years. Two 3-0 thrashings against promotion-chasing sides Stoke and Bristol City in particular were an absolute joy. We were rich. We were scoring goals. We loved the manager. All was right with the world.

But since April of 2008 very little has been right with the world. Buzsaky and Vine both became injured and between them have played less than five times in the last 12 months. The cultish De Canio left the club under uncertain circumstances, no one quite sure whether he was homesick, whether the players were frustrated by his lack of English or whether he was always only a stop-gap to stave off relegation.

In addition, despite boasting a Board worth billions of pounds, season ticket prices shot up – in some cases by as much as 50% when taking into account discounts for the previous season. There were grumbles, but fans conceded that if we wanted success and more good players then perhaps we should have to pay for it.

There were all kinds of rumours about who the next manager might be (the most outlandish being Zinedine Zidane) but in the end the man chosen was a decidedly unglamorous Iain Dowie.

In a blaze of publicity, QPR managed to sign Real Madrid starlet Daniel Parejo on a one year loan deal, a player Arsenal were rumoured to have offered £10m for only a few months earlier. There were concerns about the lack of a top class striker at the club, but otherwise hopes were high.

A decent start soon went sour. Emmanuel Ledesma, a loan signing from Italy, scored one of the most perfect hat-tricks I have ever seen against Carlisle in the League Cup, but soon lost form and never recovered. Parejo showed flashes of brilliance, but struggled to adapt to the English game. Both have since left the club early. Dowie’s initial expansive football quickly gave way to a more defensive game, causing rows with Briatore. By October he was gone.

Paulo Sousa’s time in charge has been mixed. Some excellent results – a scintillating 3-2 home win against Preston and a 3-0 destruction away at Blackpool – have been enjoyable, but with Buzsaky and Vine still injured, Agyemang joining them and new signing Heidar Helguson seemingly unsure of fitness from one week to the next, the problem of scoring goals has persisted, resulting in some very dull 0-0 draws.

About a month ago, the club trumpeted the return of the Early Bird Discount Scheme whereby existing season ticket holders and members could buy a season ticket for next season at the same price as last season as long as they bought it by mid-April. How the word ‘Discount’ was allowed to be in that offer has been discussed at length, because there was no discount. In fact, because of the VAT reduction, it was actually an increase on last year’s prices. Having sat through a fair amount of turgid football (although at least for once we have been top half for a whole season) fans were furious.

Revolution has been brewing for some time and the whole sorry mess regarding the sacking of Paulo Sousa for apparently revealing ‘secrets’ about the club to a fan has brought things to a head. Sousa may not have set the club alight, but he has had just six months. He is not responsible for buying players and Sporting Director Gianni Paladini has failed badly in this regard to acquire strikers of an ability to make us into a team worthy of promotion. He continues to appear to wield a disproportionate amount of power at the club despite being a former agent who has never coached, never managed and has been responsible for bringing a number of sub-standard players to the club on big contracts.

Indeed, it seems possible that Paladini’s signing of Gary Borrowdale in January precipitated the current crisis. Borrowdale was signed on loan in November with a permanent signing also agreed. Sousa was not impressed and Borrowdale never started a game and has been shipped out to Brighton on loan. In retrospect it appears possible that this may have caused something of a power struggle between the coach and the sporting director.

Sousa was an outstanding footballer and a man of honour. A few years ago QPR could never have dreamed of attracting a man of his standing to the club, and now it has booted him out on an embarrassing technicality. He deserves better.

The PR machine at QPR has quickly gone into overdrive, relegating the story of the sacking of the manager to the fifth item on its news page only hours after the initial announcement (where Sousa, bizarrely, was referred to as Paulo De Sousa) and proudly crowing about a 5% reduction in season ticket prices, as if that makes everything okay.

Of course, it makes nothing okay. QPR fans are in a terrible situation. We were desperate for a takeover, for someone with money to have faith in the club. Now we have it and the club is a circus, a shambles, an embarrassment. It is starting to make Newcastle look like a well-run ship.

And who is going to manage this club now? No one seems capable of lasting more than around six months in the job and even a minor run of poor results could mean the sack, as could a disagreement with Briatore or Paladini. Some people have mentioned Darren Ferguson or Gary Johnson but neither have any reason to risk their good names. At the QPR circus, the coach cannot be the Ringmaster, which usually makes him the clown.

I go to football for entertainment. On Monday when Rangers will undoubtedly lose to Sheffield Wednesday, I am dreading the ugly atmosphere that will flood the stands.

Glen Roeder was the latest Championship Manager to be sacked joining the growing ranks of the unemployed. Watford, QPR, Charlton, Derby, Nottingham Forest and now Norwich have all made changes in the managerial department. Here are who were the managers and who has replaced them. The bookies have Aide Boothroyd as the man who may replace Roeder at Norwich but as of now there is no permanent replacement named.

Norwich City- Glen Roeder: No Replacement

QPR: Ian Dowie replaced by Paulo Sousa

Watford: Aide Boothroyd replaced by Brenden Rodgers

Derby County: Paul Jewell replaced by Nigel Clough

Nottingham Forest: Colin Calderwood replaced by Billy Davies

Charlton: Alan Pardew replaced by Phil Parkinson