News Round Up

It's been another quiet week at QPR with very little transfer activity but plenty of rumours.

With the first team away in Italy the reserves have been in action with Damion Stewart continuing his comeback in the 1-1 draw with Hayes & Yeading last Saturday.

Afterwards Damion Stewart told the Fulham Chronicle: "I am starting to get back to full fitness now. It was a recommended three months out for me and I had to wait for that to start playing again. I have been getting 90 minutes now and feel good physically - I just need to get into shape in terms of playing games.

For every team in the Championship, it is all about promotion - no team in it will not be thinking about promotion," he added. "We will buy into what Neil teaches us and I hope that we can kick on from the start of the season. This will be my fifth season and hopefully I will be here."

Rowan Vine also played in the game and he looks set to leave QPR in the near future with the player admitting he is not in the manager's first team plans. Patrick Agyemang scored against Hayes & Yeading and is another player surplus to requirements but with both players on excellent long term contracts it appears unlikely that they will moving on anytime soon.

One player who has left is Matteo Alberti on a season long loan to AC Lumezzane. Alberti was hailed as a player who would score 40 goals a season by QPR chairmen Gianni Paladini but the player has started just seven games and failed to impress six different QPR managers. He still has two years remaining of his four year contract.

Neil Warnock has made his fifth signing of the summer bringing in former Chelsea trainee Jordan Hibbert on a six-month contract.

Midfielder Hibbert was released by Barnsley in January and has impressed since being handed a trial at Loftus Road.

Hibbert said: "It's a great opportunity for me and I'm just really grateful to Neil Warnock. It's up to me now to prove that I'm worth keeping at the club."

One player who won't be joining is Darren Ambrose, his will he won't he transfer saga is finally over after the player signed a new contract at Crystal Palace. The move is a blow to Neil Warnock who has spent most of the summer trying to sign him but will free up funds to bring in other players.

Bradley Orr looks set to be brought in later this week. The right back from Bristol City is experienced and a solid performer in the Championship. He is expected to complete a £500,000 move to QPR before Friday's match against Plymouth.

Steve Coppell confirmed the player is likely to leave. He said "Brad is the kind of player I would love to keep at the club but he has a seed in his mind that he wants a fresh challenge. He only has a year left on his contract and that leaves us vulnerable. Brad gives everything and I don't doubt anything he's done in pre-season and during my dealings with him. He really wants a move though and it's likely that will happen this week."

Jobi McAnuff is another player to be linked with a move to QPR along with Adel Taarabt but moves for the players are unlikely to be straight forward and could well take a few more weeks.

Warnock also wants to add two strikers and former loanee Jay Simpson looks set to leave Arsenal for a nominal fee which will be a bargain for whichever team makes a move for him.

In other news the QPR Masters team did it again winning the London Masters on Saturday night. Rangers beat Spurs 3-2 in the opening game before a Marcus Bignot hat trick beat Arsenal 3-0.

We faced West Ham in the final and fell three goals down against a strong side. Rangers fought back through a Meaker goal and dominated possession trying to get a draw.

The game was still 3-1 with 60 seconds left when Meaker hit a screamer from the edge of the box. The hope was alive and Bignot won the ball back from kick off finding Meaker from close range to nick the draw and take the game to penalties.

Rangers looked confident and after Don Hutchinson missed Karl Connolly, Tim Breacker and Tony Thorpe all scored. Simon Royce then saved a pitiful Keith Rowland penalty to leave Michael Meaker the glory of scoring the winning penalty for the second year in a row.

Meaker is still playing for Mangotsfield United in the Southern League, said after the game that: "It was great to win the tournament again and hopefully we can come back and retain it a third year running.

"The new boys who came in made a big difference and I hope they'll all be there for the national finals because this year we're looking to do better than we did last time.

"It was all new to them and maybe that was why we started off slow against Tottenham, but that first half gave us a kick up the backside and we never looked back.

"QPR were my first pro side and they're always going to be one of the most important things in my career. The fans were fantastic again, as they were last year, and I know it means a lot