Post by QPR Report on Mar 5, 2009 11:43:33 GMT
Doncaster Free Press - Expert corner: Rufus Brevett
Doncaster's recent form has been unbelievable
Rufus Brevett
AFTER making his Rovers debut as a 17-year-old in 1987, speedy full back Rufus Brevett made 118 appearances for Doncaster before being forced to leave when the cash strapped club accepted a club record £275,000 bid from QPR in 1991.
Seven years at Loftus Road were followed by further spells in the Premier League with Fulham and West Ham. Surrey-based Rufus, who retired in 2007, is currently studying for his coaching badges and is aiming to return to the game in the near future.
I ONLY played for Doncaster at Saturday's opponents Cardiff once - early in the 1990-91 season - but to be honest I can't remember much about that game!
But I do remember that we enjoyed a really good start to the season.
We had a fantastic set of players and a wonderful manager in Billy Bremner, who pulled all the players together and got us playing for one another.
It is important when you start a new season to get off to a flyer and we certainly didn't like losing.
That all came from Billy - because he was a winner.
Although Jean Tigana at Fulham was also different class, Billy was one of the best managers I played under in my career and some of the stories he told us about his playing days were brilliant!
I played at Ninian Park a few other times in my career and it is a tight, tight ground.
Cardiff normally get good vocal support from the crowd down there - which means it can be quite intimidating for visiting teams.
With the top two sides losing games, Cardiff are looking at grabbing one of the automatic places and, at the moment, it seems as though none of the leading sides in the Championship want to win promotion!
When it gets to this time of the season teams cannot afford to go on a poor run but both Wolves and Reading are dropping points - so Cardiff have everything to play for.
But Doncaster's recent form has been unbelievable - especially looking at the start of the season when they couldn't win a game for love nor money.
The manager stuck to his beliefs - and if you continue to believe in your methods the results will come.
On Tuesday they play my former club QPR and, although things turned out very well in my time there, I was gutted to leave Doncaster.
I thought we had a real chance of doing something in the 1990-91 season but I ended up leaving because of the situation at the club.
My only regret in football is that I didn't have the chance to come back to Doncaster later in my career.
Although I've only seen QPR a few times this season the impression I get is that there is too much expectation among the fans.
With the owners and the new manager now in charge there is a lot of pressure because the fans expect them to steamroller teams.
But when a new manager comes in they want to get their new ideas across - and that takes time.
When he arrived everyone was saying that they would get into the play-offs but I don't think it will happen this season.
The summer is when we will see him make his mark.
And, like Manchester City in the Premier League, everyone who plays QPR wants to beat them because of their owners.
It was a similar situation when I was at Fulham and Mohamed Al Fayed took over.
We were known as the League One millionaires and everyone would raise their game against us.
So it's going to take time for QPR and they need players that can handle the expectation.
Prediction: Doncaster will earn a 1-1 draw at Cardiff before beating QPR 2-0 at home.
Free Press prediction: The run continues - 2-2 at Cardiff and a 2-0 win over QPR.
www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free-press-sport/Expert-corner-Rufus--Brevett.5042123.jp
Doncaster's recent form has been unbelievable
Rufus Brevett
AFTER making his Rovers debut as a 17-year-old in 1987, speedy full back Rufus Brevett made 118 appearances for Doncaster before being forced to leave when the cash strapped club accepted a club record £275,000 bid from QPR in 1991.
Seven years at Loftus Road were followed by further spells in the Premier League with Fulham and West Ham. Surrey-based Rufus, who retired in 2007, is currently studying for his coaching badges and is aiming to return to the game in the near future.
I ONLY played for Doncaster at Saturday's opponents Cardiff once - early in the 1990-91 season - but to be honest I can't remember much about that game!
But I do remember that we enjoyed a really good start to the season.
We had a fantastic set of players and a wonderful manager in Billy Bremner, who pulled all the players together and got us playing for one another.
It is important when you start a new season to get off to a flyer and we certainly didn't like losing.
That all came from Billy - because he was a winner.
Although Jean Tigana at Fulham was also different class, Billy was one of the best managers I played under in my career and some of the stories he told us about his playing days were brilliant!
I played at Ninian Park a few other times in my career and it is a tight, tight ground.
Cardiff normally get good vocal support from the crowd down there - which means it can be quite intimidating for visiting teams.
With the top two sides losing games, Cardiff are looking at grabbing one of the automatic places and, at the moment, it seems as though none of the leading sides in the Championship want to win promotion!
When it gets to this time of the season teams cannot afford to go on a poor run but both Wolves and Reading are dropping points - so Cardiff have everything to play for.
But Doncaster's recent form has been unbelievable - especially looking at the start of the season when they couldn't win a game for love nor money.
The manager stuck to his beliefs - and if you continue to believe in your methods the results will come.
On Tuesday they play my former club QPR and, although things turned out very well in my time there, I was gutted to leave Doncaster.
I thought we had a real chance of doing something in the 1990-91 season but I ended up leaving because of the situation at the club.
My only regret in football is that I didn't have the chance to come back to Doncaster later in my career.
Although I've only seen QPR a few times this season the impression I get is that there is too much expectation among the fans.
With the owners and the new manager now in charge there is a lot of pressure because the fans expect them to steamroller teams.
But when a new manager comes in they want to get their new ideas across - and that takes time.
When he arrived everyone was saying that they would get into the play-offs but I don't think it will happen this season.
The summer is when we will see him make his mark.
And, like Manchester City in the Premier League, everyone who plays QPR wants to beat them because of their owners.
It was a similar situation when I was at Fulham and Mohamed Al Fayed took over.
We were known as the League One millionaires and everyone would raise their game against us.
So it's going to take time for QPR and they need players that can handle the expectation.
Prediction: Doncaster will earn a 1-1 draw at Cardiff before beating QPR 2-0 at home.
Free Press prediction: The run continues - 2-2 at Cardiff and a 2-0 win over QPR.
www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/free-press-sport/Expert-corner-Rufus--Brevett.5042123.jp