Post by QPR Report on Sept 5, 2009 7:41:58 GMT
His one, bright, shiny Season 
QPR Official Site - September 2, 1999
[WARDLEY WORTH THE WAIT
GERRY FRANCIS has revealed the unusual story of how he unearthed the raw talent of Stuart Wardley, who was plying his trade five divisions below the Nationwide Conference in the Essex Senior League with Saffron Walden Town FC.
Gerry said: "A lot of credit goes to our scouting staff. We knew we had no money so it was my decision to scout the non-Leagues.
"We've spent many hours watching a variety of games below the Conference in all sorts of weather. We found Jermaine Darlington, Ross Weare and Stuart and that's excellent.
"In Stuart's case, we primarily bought him as a centre-half, but I just like the way he gets into the box from midfield.
"It reminds me so much of Bryan Robson. I put Stuart in midfield in the reserves and he scored, so I felt it was time to put him into the first team at Forest.
"He played ever so well there and nearly scored two or three times, especially when we were down to 10 men, and then he got two against Port Vale.
"I think people will find it difficult to stop Stuart because he's a determined young man, he's strong, he gets across the front of people and he's a great header of the ball.
"He's so enthusiastic - he's up and down the pitch and he can pass the ball well.
"We first brought Stuart in last season to play in the reserves and it was at Cambridge. I think we'd been away somewhere and I was a bit tired and I thought 'I don't want to go over to Cambridge to watch this trialist'.
"Then I thought 'I might not be able to see him again', because he was at such a low level below the Conference.
"So anyway I went up to Cambridge and Stuart went in for a tackle in the first five minutes and he went down injured.
"I thought 'Great! I've come all the way out here and he's off after five minutes.' Anyway, Stuart played the 90 minutes and I said to my scout Steve Burtenshaw 'He runs funny doesn't he?'
"But Stuart had done very well and I decided to look at him again despite the fact that he ran strangely.
"Then we discovered that he had actually fractured his ankle at Cambridge but played on for the full 90 minutes. He didn't play for his own club again for another six months.
"We kept in touch and he came back in the summer, playing in a couple of friendlies where he did even better and of course we signed him."
QPR Official Site - September 1, 1999
WARDLEY EXCLUSIVE
STUART WARDLEY was the first Rangers player to mark his full home debut with two goals since Mark Kennedy notched a couple in the 3-2 win over Crewe on February 7 1998.
However, as Kennedy was only on loan at Loftus Road, the last QPR registered player to score two on his home debut was Paul Wright against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the 1989/90 season.
Wardley says:" It was a great night against Port Vale. Unbelievable! I couldn't have hoped for more.
"I had a couple of good chances on Saturday at Nottingham Forest and didn't put them away, but the boss told me to just carry on getting into the box and I'd continue to get chances. So against Port Vale I got two chances and managed to score two goals.
" On the first goal, it was a good move down the right and the ball was crossed to the far post. I just gambled on Rob Steiner heading it back. It came to me and I managed to get a toe on it and stick the ball in the back of the net.
"Then, Jermaine Darlington went down the right and hit the far post. I had to generate some power and stick it back where it came from into the far corner.
"After that, it was an exciting finish and I thought for a second that we might chuck it away. But the lads were strong. Gavin Peacock got us all together and got us tight and we saw the last few minutes out."
QPR Port Vale
MIKLOSKO MUSSELWHITE
DARLINGTON WALSH
BARACLOUGH BRAMMER
ROSE GARDNER
READY BENT
MADDIX MINTON
LANGLEY WIDDRINGTON
WARDLEY TANKARD
PEACOCK CARRAGHER
GALLEN ROUGIER
KIWOMYA NAYLOR
Subs: Subs:
MORROW OAKES
SCULLY OYLE
STEINER SMITH
HARPER SNIJDERS
ROWLAND Burns
QPR Official Site - September 2, 1999
[WARDLEY WORTH THE WAIT
GERRY FRANCIS has revealed the unusual story of how he unearthed the raw talent of Stuart Wardley, who was plying his trade five divisions below the Nationwide Conference in the Essex Senior League with Saffron Walden Town FC.
Gerry said: "A lot of credit goes to our scouting staff. We knew we had no money so it was my decision to scout the non-Leagues.
"We've spent many hours watching a variety of games below the Conference in all sorts of weather. We found Jermaine Darlington, Ross Weare and Stuart and that's excellent.
"In Stuart's case, we primarily bought him as a centre-half, but I just like the way he gets into the box from midfield.
"It reminds me so much of Bryan Robson. I put Stuart in midfield in the reserves and he scored, so I felt it was time to put him into the first team at Forest.
"He played ever so well there and nearly scored two or three times, especially when we were down to 10 men, and then he got two against Port Vale.
"I think people will find it difficult to stop Stuart because he's a determined young man, he's strong, he gets across the front of people and he's a great header of the ball.
"He's so enthusiastic - he's up and down the pitch and he can pass the ball well.
"We first brought Stuart in last season to play in the reserves and it was at Cambridge. I think we'd been away somewhere and I was a bit tired and I thought 'I don't want to go over to Cambridge to watch this trialist'.
"Then I thought 'I might not be able to see him again', because he was at such a low level below the Conference.
"So anyway I went up to Cambridge and Stuart went in for a tackle in the first five minutes and he went down injured.
"I thought 'Great! I've come all the way out here and he's off after five minutes.' Anyway, Stuart played the 90 minutes and I said to my scout Steve Burtenshaw 'He runs funny doesn't he?'
"But Stuart had done very well and I decided to look at him again despite the fact that he ran strangely.
"Then we discovered that he had actually fractured his ankle at Cambridge but played on for the full 90 minutes. He didn't play for his own club again for another six months.
"We kept in touch and he came back in the summer, playing in a couple of friendlies where he did even better and of course we signed him."
QPR Official Site - September 1, 1999
WARDLEY EXCLUSIVE
STUART WARDLEY was the first Rangers player to mark his full home debut with two goals since Mark Kennedy notched a couple in the 3-2 win over Crewe on February 7 1998.
However, as Kennedy was only on loan at Loftus Road, the last QPR registered player to score two on his home debut was Paul Wright against Crystal Palace on the opening day of the 1989/90 season.
Wardley says:" It was a great night against Port Vale. Unbelievable! I couldn't have hoped for more.
"I had a couple of good chances on Saturday at Nottingham Forest and didn't put them away, but the boss told me to just carry on getting into the box and I'd continue to get chances. So against Port Vale I got two chances and managed to score two goals.
" On the first goal, it was a good move down the right and the ball was crossed to the far post. I just gambled on Rob Steiner heading it back. It came to me and I managed to get a toe on it and stick the ball in the back of the net.
"Then, Jermaine Darlington went down the right and hit the far post. I had to generate some power and stick it back where it came from into the far corner.
"After that, it was an exciting finish and I thought for a second that we might chuck it away. But the lads were strong. Gavin Peacock got us all together and got us tight and we saw the last few minutes out."
QPR Port Vale
MIKLOSKO MUSSELWHITE
DARLINGTON WALSH
BARACLOUGH BRAMMER
ROSE GARDNER
READY BENT
MADDIX MINTON
LANGLEY WIDDRINGTON
WARDLEY TANKARD
PEACOCK CARRAGHER
GALLEN ROUGIER
KIWOMYA NAYLOR
Subs: Subs:
MORROW OAKES
SCULLY OYLE
STEINER SMITH
HARPER SNIJDERS
ROWLAND Burns