Last season:
- Last August, opening Day: Dowie's QPR won 2-1 at Loftus Road (and Dowie was already subject to stories re Briatore!)
- In February, Sousa's QPR lost 2-1 at Barnsley
Previous Head to Head Resultswww.soccerbase.com/head2.sd?team2id=208&team1id=2093At Loftus Road
Goals: Hume (5) 0-1; Hall (29) 1-1; (31) 2-1.
Queen's Park Rangers (4-4-2): Cerny; Ramage, Hall, Gorkss, Delaney; Ledesma (Alberti, 84), Leigertwood, Mahon, Cook; Agyemang (Parejo, 72), Blackstock. Substitutes not used: Camp (gk), Connolly, Balanta.
Barnsley (4-4-2): Steele; Foster, Moore, Souza, Van Homoet; Devaney, Hassell (Leon, 84), Howard, El Haimour (Rigters, 74); Hume, Macken (Odejayi, 84). Substitutes not used: Kozluk, Mostto.
MIRROR - DOWIE: ALL'S FINE WITH FLAVIO
Victory in the first game of the season - and Iain Dowie was still left defending his position as Rangers boss.
Midweek reports had suggested a row with Flavio Briatore had puthis position in jeopardy before a ball had even been kicked, but Dowie dismissed it all as "mischief".
And the man with the task of taking QPR back to the top flight insisted working with the Formula 1 boss had distinct advantages.
Dowie (left) said; "We speak two or three times a week. He's fine and supportive.
"We got Emmanuel Ledesma, who has done very well today, because I've gone to Italy, watched a few games, given Flavio a list - and he knows the Genoa chairman and managed to get him over the line. I'm not able to do that. Flavio was in at Christmas when it was won 8, lost 7, drawn 7,so he understands you can't win games just like that
"We ground it out today. Not pretty, not our best, but we had the spirit and the desire to hang in there."
Barnsley boss Simon Davey believes the QPR moneymen will need patience but expects Dowie to handle the pressure. He added: "It will be difficult for Iain to blend in all his new players.
"They're favourites to win the league because of the amount of money behind them. But that brings its own pressures and difficulties.
"Last season I brought in 12 or 13 new players in the close season and it takes time for them to gel." Mirror
MIRROR - DOWIE: ALL'S FINE WITH FLAVIO
Victory in the first game of the season - and Iain Dowie was still left defending his position as Rangers boss.
Midweek reports had suggested a row with Flavio Briatore had puthis position in jeopardy before a ball had even been kicked, but Dowie dismissed it all as "mischief".
And the man with the task of taking QPR back to the top flight insisted working with the Formula 1 boss had distinct advantages.
Dowie (left) said; "We speak two or three times a week. He's fine and supportive.
"We got Emmanuel Ledesma, who has done very well today, because I've gone to Italy, watched a few games, given Flavio a list - and he knows the Genoa chairman and managed to get him over the line. I'm not able to do that. Flavio was in at Christmas when it was won 8, lost 7, drawn 7,so he understands you can't win games just like that
"We ground it out today. Not pretty, not our best, but we had the spirit and the desire to hang in there."
Barnsley boss Simon Davey believes the QPR moneymen will need patience but expects Dowie to handle the pressure. He added: "It will be difficult for Iain to blend in all his new players.
"They're favourites to win the league because of the amount of money behind them. But that brings its own pressures and difficulties.
"Last season I brought in 12 or 13 new players in the close season and it takes time for them to gel." Mirror
The Guardian/Mark Tallentine - Dowie waving not drowning at new-look QPR
The ambition of Flavio Briatore is not in question and a close-season refit of the ageing stadium which has provided a big screen, padded seats, swish hospitality units and a bumper-sized directors' box with overspill area for the entourages of the fabulously wealthy owners only add to the view that QPR can buy their way to promotion. But doubts persist after this summer's most superficial of makeovers.
The fact that Iain Dowie, hired for his knowledge of the Championship and leading Crystal Palace out of it in 2004, had been in situ for only a hundred days or so before hearing about his demise and that before a ball had been kicked tells its own tale. Predictably he dismisses the stories as "tosh" but his new team need to keep winning, and more convincingly than this, if he and they are to go the distance.
"I know people are referring to us as the Chelsea of the Championship, which I don't believe as we are doing it in a more structured way, but that's what we're up against," Dowie added. "I tell Flavio what exactly is happening in training, how the games go. He's fine and perfectly supportive. We speak two or three times a week, we'll have a conversation about how he thinks the game is played. He understands how to build teams."
Briatore's close-season recruitment drive realised three free transfers and several loan signings, with four of the new guard given starts against Barnsley, who had three themselves, and the FA Cup semi-finalists were soon one up, a neat low finish from Iain Hume, £1.2m arrival from Leicester, when they should have been three ahead.
Dowie's contention that the pre-match pyrotechnics contributed to his team's distracted start was stretching things but Rangers did settle down and took the lead in a crazy two-minute spell when the central-defender Fitz Hall hammered in from close range and then hooked home a volley after a free-kick from Emmanuel Ledesma, an exciting if over-theatrical Argentinian winger, was only half cleared.
Hall had never scored two in a game but after Dexter Blackstock tumbled over Darren Moore's outstretched leg after 58 minutes he was handed the chance to make it three but his soft, low penalty was read by Luke Steele to his right. The effect on the game was as if Barnsley had equalised.
"I think it went to my head and I was already thinking about my celebration," Hall said. "I've been practising all week and didn't miss one. The new owners do come to the training quite a lot and we know them on first-name terms. They're just like friends and they seem to know everything about football. Flavio asked me what I was doing taking the penalty afterwards. He was just having a joke . . . I think."
Neither was laughing as QPR were forced to hang on for the points although they were given breathing space when Marciano van Hamoet clattered into a fifth debutant, Daniel Parejo, and was shown a straight red with five minutes to go, allowing Dowie to relax enough to acknowledge a fans' call to give them a wave. Time will tell if Briatore makes a similar demand.
Man of the match Emmanuel Ledesma (Queens Park Rangers) Guardian
THE TIMES - Gary Jacob - Jittery QPR feel weight of great expectations - Queens Park Rangers 2 Barnsley 1: all the action from the Coca-Cola Championship as QPR dream of making top flight
It takes a giant leap of imagination to picture Queens Park Rangers among the favourites for promotion when, for a decent period of last season, they were relegation candidates. But Flavio Briatore, the club’s Italian co-owner, is certainly dreaming of the top flight. Not since the day Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea has the weight of expectation at the start of a season been higher and, on Saturday, nowhere were the nerves more frayed or the final whistle more welcome a relief than at Loftus Road.
It was a new era for QPR, but the team began the match too stirred up by the razzmatazz of fireworks and cheerleaders, smothered by opponents with little to lose and haunted by the spectre of the millionaire and billionaire owners looking on.
By the end of a drizzly, chilly afternoon, it was clear that a talented squad will become more assured through familiarity, but time is not something Iain Dowie has. Last week’s clash with the fiery Briatore, who told the manager to leave before they patched things up the next day, is unlikely to be their only disagreement. “I’m aware of the history and about a big future - they want to achieve things,” Dowie said.
Dowie’s teams show perspiration and determination, but the inspiration came from Briatore’s contacts book that had helped to bring in two young players on loan: Emmanuel Ledesma, an Argentinian, from Genoa, and Dani Parejo, labelled as the best player produced by Real Madrid in recent years.
Yet, for all Ledesma’s quick feet and clever passes, QPR lacked composure in the final third and, perhaps, the poacher who can grab a goal out of nothing. They relied on Fitz Hall’s strike, two minutes after the defender had forced an equaliser.
The home team had endured a queasy opening during which Barnsley threatened to add to Iain Hume’s neat finish. Hall later missed a penalty and the Yorkshire side had Mar-ciano van Homoet sent off for a lunging tackle on Ledesma. “The owners seem to know everything about football - Flavio asked why I was taking the penalty,” Hall said. “He was having a joke, I think.”
Queens Park Rangers (4-4-2): R Cerny - P Ramage, F Hall, K Gorkss, D Delaney - E Ledesma (sub: M Alber-ti, 83min), M Leigertwood, G Mahon, L Cook - D Blackstock, P Agyemang (sub: D Parejo, 72). Substitutes not used: L Camp, M Connolly, A Balanta. Booked: Cook.
Barnsley (4-4-2): L Steele - S Foster, D Moore, D Souza, M van Homoet - M Devaney, B Hassell (sub: D Leon, 84), B Howard, M El Haimour (sub: M Rigters, 74) - I Hume, J Macken (sub: K Odejayi, 84). Substitutes not used: R Kozluk, M Mostto. Sent off: Van Homoet.
qprreport.blogspot.com/2008/08/qprs-opening-day-victory-over-barnsley.htmlqprreport.blogspot.com/2008/08/qprs-opening-day-victory-over-barnsley.html