On The Other Hand ...

I did say see you in August but just one more, for this pathetic spin in from the Evening Standard. It's about season ticket price increases at QPR. Here's the relevant snippet :

"Among them is salesman Mark Todd, 40, who has seen the season-ticket bill for himself and his young sons Lewis, eight, and Oliver, five, increase from £530 this season to £1,599. Todd, from Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, told Standard Sport: "I have been a season-ticket holder in the South Africa Road stand upper tier for eight years. "Last season I paid £460 for my ticket and £70 for Lewis's, while Oliver's was free as part of an FA initiative. But the club have decided to change the price structure for our part of the ground and call it the Platinum Area. That means if we want to continue sitting there, which we do, I'd have to fork out £699 for my ticket and £450 each for both of my boys. "

What this guy is saying is that if he makes the completely ridiculous decision to pay £450 for a season ticket for a 5-year-old in a particular area of the ground instead of getting him in for free anywhere else, then it's going to cost him a lot of money. And of course the Standard, who have had a grudge against the club for several years and have had to officially apologise for malicious and untrue stories about the club more than once, are happy to oblige. This guy could still get a perfectly acceptable season ticket for himself and his two children for £624. It just wouldn't be the best seats in the house, which the club are quite reasonably trying to maximise revenue from instead of giving them away free to 5 year olds.

Yes, season tickets have gone up. For sure, voice your concerns. But don't talk a load of shite.

Done And Done

With apologies to fans of Stockport and Rochdale, if any such exist that aren't on their way to Wembley right now, that's another season wrapped up. While I try not to indulge in schadenfreude, it would take a better man than me not to have a chuckle as fans of Chelsea, (Glasgow) Rangers and Leeds end up crying in their snakebites. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. Meanwhile my sympathies to those who had to clean up after them in Moscow, North London and particularly Manchester.

Congrats to Hull in the Championship, it does always appeal to an innate sense of rightness when the team who finished third win the playoffs. All go at QPR for next season of course under Iain Dowie ; if you're wondering why I haven't commented on this as yet it's because I'm just going to wait and see. Dowie said all the right things at a press conference but talk is, as ever, cheap. It's the first time in a good while that Rangers have changed the manager in the close-season rather than the more traditional panic measure after 8 games. For the most part the Rs are second favourites to Birmingham in the early betting, and when you look at the line-up, if Palace, Reading, Derby and Sheffield United are next favoured, it looks like we should have a fair chance if we can get our act together. The club have hiked up season ticket prices in many areas of the ground, which is not unexpected ; it's no odds to a balla like me but it would have been nice if there was some mechanism for people who have had season tickets for like 10 years to get some kind of discount. God knows they've suffered enough.

Finally my bets were mostly rubbish (LDO), Bolton at 6-1 for relegation was value in hindsight but they managed to scrape out of it, while my best bet of all was laying England to qualify for Euro 2008. Which is coming up pretty soon, easy as it is to miss it now. I'll be in Vegas so that can manage perfectly well without me. See you in August !

De Canio Leaves

By mutual consent, apparently. I'm quite disappointed to hear this, I liked him. He did extremely well with the players he had, improved the style of football beyond recognition and had a sense of humour when interviewed.

Perhaps the real problem was that all these interviews had to be done through an interpreter. There was a lot of speculation that he hadn't settled, and I think it's fairly clear that he wasn't choosing the players to bring in. The next appointment is absolutely huge and I have no idea who it's going to be. We'll just have to wait and see. For now, ciao and grazie Luigi.

QPR 0 West Brom 2

Not much to this one really. Rangers were always going to find it difficult against the champions elect missing Buzsaky, Agyemang, Vine, Hall and Stewart, but started reasonably well and had the better of the first half hour. Dexter Blackstock should probably have scored from Gareth Ainsworth's cross but Kiely managed to claw his header off the line. 10 minutes before half time Martin Rowlands was sent off for an ill-advised lunge on Jonathan Greening and from that point the visitors were always going to be too good. Do-Heon Kim nodded them into the lead from close range and, after Chris Brunt had smacked a marker onto the crossbar, he went one better with an excellent free kick into the top corner.

So their fans were able to celebrate, and why not, they deserved to win it definitely. Hopefully we will have some celebrating of our own to do this time next year.