March 28th 2003

From the Shepherds Bush Gazette

KEV TALKS UP Rs HOPES
QPR 0 Wigan 1
By Dave McIntyre

On-loan winger Kevin McLeod believes QPR can bounce back from their defeat against the leaders and join them in Division One next season.

Wigan, who are virtually certain to win the championship, showed why they are top of the table with a commanding performance.

But McLeod, who last week joined Rangers from Everton, has already seen enough to convince him that the Rs can also go up.

“There is definitely enough quality here and the players are all desperate to get out of this league,” he said. “It’s going to be tough and it’s quite tight near the top but if we carry on showing the same fight I think we can do it.”

And the 22-year-old’s loan is likely to be extended should Rangers qualify for the play-offs.

McLeod confirmed: “It’s for a month initially but if QPR make the play-offs then I’d be happy to stay, definitely. “My aim is to prove to (Everton manager) David Moyes that I’m good enough and to help QPR at the same time.

“He said to me to go out on loan and prove myself, and that’s what I’m trying to do.” McLeod, brought in to replace Lee Cook who has returned to Watford after his loan spell, made an encouraging debut but could not save Rangers from defeat.

Whether he is good enough to make it in the Premiership remains to be seen, but he clearly has enough ability to do a job for Rangers while he is at Loftus Road.

He can play at full-back or wing-back, and gave a good account of himself against the Latics in his preferred left-wing position.

But it was Wigan’s Nathan Ellington that proved to be the matchwinner, helped by a large slice of luck. The striker diverted Jimmy Bullard’s left-wing cross past goalkeeper Chris Day with his chest two minutes after half-time, and it proved to be enough to give Wigan the points.

Paul Jewell’s side came to west London believing that if they stopped Kevin Gallen they would stop QPR, and their game plan worked emphatically. Gallen could barely move without two defenders in close attendance and Rangers offered little else to worry their opponents, especially with an out-of-sorts Richard Langley isolated on the right flank.

What made the winning goal all the more galling for the Rangers camp was that Ellington would have signed for QPR in 1999 had Ian Holloway not pinched him from under the nose of the then Rs boss Gerry Francis, who was on the brink of signing the forward from non-League Walton & Hersham before Ellington opted for Bristol Rovers, who were managed by Holloway at the time.

* Holloway failed to prise Martin Rowlands from Brentford this week. He was hoping to take Rowlands on loan for the rest of the season with a view to completing his permanent signing in the summer, when his Bees contract expires.

As the Gazette went to press, Rangers manager Ian Holloway was trying to use up the last of his permitted loans for the season.

He targeted Rowlands after failing to land winger Gareth Ainsworth, who recently joined Cardiff from Wimbledon. He has also expressed an interest in several other players in recent weeks, including Swindon forward Eric Sabin, Tottenham youngster Stephen Kelly and Reading's Jamie Cureton, who played under Holloway at Bristol Rovers.

From Evening Standard

Their World Cup-winning captain and former manager Daniel Passarella may not approve, but Argentina has always produced more than its fair share of long-haired footballers.

From Mario Kempes to Gabriel Batistuta and Fernando Redondo, Argentina's footballing pin-ups have generally preferred long locks to short back and sides.

Indeed, Real Madrid's Redondo was famously dropped by Passarella in the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup after refusing to visit a barber.

Gino Padula, then, is heir to a proud tradition. The Queens Park Rangers full-back has become a cult hero at Loftus Road since signing from Wigan two years ago but is bemused by the fascination with his choice of hairstyle.

He said: "I like to keep my hair long, but I'm not sure why people discuss it. I don't know why so many Argentinians have long hair.

"It's just fashionable at the moment and maybe in two or three years that will change. I may cut my hair but at the moment like it the way it is."

There is more to Padula's popularity than his hairband, however. The 26-year-old has finally established himself in England following frustrating spells at Walsall and Wigan, and is expected to play a crucial role in Rangers' push for the play-offs.

For a man who began playing alongside such luminaries as Hernan Crespo and Ariel Ortega at River Plate, before moving to Ossie Ardiles's old club Huracan and then Xerez in Spain, he is surprisingly at home in the English Second Division and enjoying the best spell of his career.

He said: "In the last two or three months I've been playing a lot of games and am very happy. It's very special to be a foreign player in England as there is a great tradition in this country. I'd like to stay in England for another four or five years, maybe until the end of my career.

"The fans over here are really passionate and I enjoy that. It's amazing to me. I'd like to say thank you to the fans as they help me in every game. It's important to me as I haven't played a lot of games and they make me feel very good. I'm very thankful to them. This is the best time of my career."

Padula's personal life, though, is less vibrant than his football. His English is improving all the time - and is far better than his natural modesty permits him to admit - but the isolation of being a stranger in a foreign land does take its toll.

Most of his free time is spent either at home with his Spanish girlfriend or at restaurants with Fulham's Argentinian pair of Facundo Sava and Martin Herrera - and he does get homesick.

He said: "It is hard for me. I have a lot of friends and family in Argentina, but in London I live only with my girlfriend. My life here is very quiet. After training I come back home and maybe go out with my girlfriend, but I don't have many friends.

"I have two friends at Fulham, Martin and Facundo. They are my only friends in London. They come to my house, we go to an Argentinian restaurant or to see a Spanish film. In English films they speak so fast!

"I miss my brother and sister terribly. I haven't seen them in over a year and my family is very important to me. My father came over in October with my grandad to watch me play, but I was injured most of the time. The only game they saw was against Bristol City in the LDV Vans Trophy and we lost in a penalty shoot-out."

Padula's prospects, like those of his club, are looking up. Last week's home defeat to Wigan put paid to QPR's hopes of automatic promotion but they are well placed to finish in the top six.

Manager Ian Holloway will make just one change at Blackpool tomorrow with Stephen Kelly, signed on loan from Tottenham, replacing the injured Terrell Forbes at right-back and Padula is already eyeing the play-offs.

He said: "If we get to the play-offs I think we can win them. I want to play in the First Division with QPR and think we'd do well there because it's easier to play good football."