16. Marcus Bean

Marcus Bean is a good central midfield player but can also play in the centre of defence. He was on the bench for the under19's the season before last despite also being in the under 17 squad.

Marcus became a regular in the youth team before moving up to the reserves earning a place in he first team squad for the trip to Oldham at the end of the 2001/02 season. Bean played his part during pre season before making his league debut at Wycombe the following season. His debut didn't last long as referee Rob Styles went red card crazy but his first full game at Mansfield saw him earn rave reviews from supporters as the team won 4-0.

Injury meant he was then out of the side until returning in February. His return saw him play on the right wing which is not his natural position but he did well against Port Vale and Mansfield

Bean ended the season back in the reserves but won the LSA young player of the year award.

Bean started this season looking unlikely to play much of a part in the first team. With several players ahead of him in the running for a central midfield place he looked set for a long season and possibly a loan spell somewhere.

Ian Holloway has always been a big fan of his though and with Rangers winning 3-1 at Rushden he took the chance to give Bean an opportunity. Rangers went on to throw 2 points away and poor Bean was blames by some of the more fickle fans for his part in the game.

A result like that could have destroyed him but Holloway was brave enough o stick with him and at Colchester a week later, Bean was brought on again. This time though he was determined to take the chance and produced an excellent battling display to earn praise from the watching fans.

He got his first start of the season in the 0-0 draw with Wycombe and again had a decent game before we went to Wrexham and Bean came into his own. He got an early goal his first for the club and then worked really hard as Rangers hung on for a 2-0 win.

He was now establishing himself in the first team and became a regular alongside Bircham or Palmer.

In the cup at Sheffield United he had another impressive game against higher league opposition and he began to look a very promising midfield player. Bean stayed in the team for most of the first half of the season being the first player in 2 and a half years to keep Steve Palmer out of the first team.

His energy and enthusiasm in midfield was great to see and he did the simple jobs so well. He just won the ball and gave it to the better players. Many fans couldn't see what he was contributing to the team but an injury at Brighton left him out of the team for two months and Rangers without a player to do the dirty work for the team.

Subsequently the team's form suffered and we began to miss Bean. His performances were finally recognised when he was missing from the team rather than when he was playing.

He returned towards the end of the season and gave some more excellent displays in midfield but his main job had been done before Christmas and it was those performances when we played some of our best football of the season that he won the young player of the year award on this web site.

This season Bean started pretty well and was one of the few players we had who looked like he could do well at this level. He scored the winner at Gillingham to give us our first win of the season but his form soon suffered and he found himself out of the side.

It was a tough time for the youngster but he continued to work hard whenever he was given a chance and with first team opportunities limited he was sent on loan to Swansea City in February until he was reccalled in April due to an injury crisis. It looks like this season will be make or break for him at Loftus Road.

Marcus Bean Image Gallery