Andriy Shevchenko: From Hero to Hero

Back to Club Business

Technically, I hadn't met the Ireland boys yet, but I would soon, in my first training session with them tomorrow. Anyway, it was back down to club business and transfers for me, as Mark came in today to let me know that four transfers - three arrivals and one departure, had been confirmed. He ran me through every single one of them, although of course I already knew everything.

First up was the single departure, Alejandro Faurlin. Alejandro was a good guy and a good player, but with Esteban rapidly improving in the position of central midfield, coupled with other midfield acquisitions we didn't think Alejandro would fit in at the squad anymore, so out he went on a 1 million deal to Italian club Udinese.


We got in another free transfer too, with Mohamed Sissoko, the former Liverpool and Juventus midfielder, joining us after his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expired. Samba Diakite will not be needed at the club anymore, with his fellow Malian taking his place in the team.


The acquisition of Nick Powell and Clint Dempsey are loans, but I might look to get them in permanently if they do some good for us this season, and also if the price is right. Powell, a 20-year-old lad who hasn't made a single appearance for United yet, had a bright season at Newcastle last year but is still deemed unable to fit into the Red Devils first team, while Clint Dempsey is simply no longer needed at Tottenham.

Preparing for the Season

The friendlies were rather successful, although I think we might need to improve on our attacking abilities.


Friendlies
Instituto Cordoba 0 - 2 QPR
Hoilett
Nem

Scunthorpe 1 - 1 QPR
Jese

Mansfield 0 - 1 QPR
Sherriff

Quilmes 0 - 2 QPR
Jese
Sherriff

Independiente 0 - 1 QPR
Powell

Captaincy

The departure of Ji-Sung and Djibril had left us without a captain and a vice-captain, but I already had in mind who to appoint.

I gathered the team around and informed them of my decision.

"Stephane will be the new captain," I gestured towards Stephane Mbia, who looked in shock. "And Doria will be the vice-captain." The young Brazilian looked even more surprised than Stephane.

"Thank you, boss! I'm honoured!" Stephane started.

The team cheered for Stephane and Doria, both looking stunned.

"I expect you two to lead this team to glory," I smiled, and they both nodded.

Irish Debut

Ireland: Westwood; Coleman, Clark, Pearce, Ward; Hendrick, McCarthy, Gibson; McGeady, Pilkington; Long

1' - Hello, and welcome to Kadir Has, Turkey! Today, Andriy Shevchenko makes his Ireland managerial debut against the nation of Turkey. The Boys in Green are huge favourites... huge favourites to lose, that is. A friendly match, but Shevchenko has chose to field a strong side in his debut. Can Ireland get something out of this?

4' - Shane Long has got to it, and he's played a beautiful pass to James McCarthy... OH! What a save! Turkey keeper Volkan Demirel pulls off a brilliant save, to stop an almost-certain goal there. It's out for a corner.

22' GOAL - It has certainly been an afternoon of domination for the Irish team, and finally there is a breakthrough. The wonder that is Shane Long whizzes past three Turkey defenders and slots it coolly into the back of the net. Ireland goes 1-0 up!


30' GOAL - Long almost gets to the unattended ball, but he is beaten to it by the keeper. Play is restarted, and a long beautiful pass from Hamit Altintop to the unmarked Mustafa Pektemek sees him unleash a fierce shot that beats Keiren Westwood, and finally the Turks equalise.

45' - HT: Turkey 1-1 Ireland.

45' - We kick off the second half with the Irish boys starting the play. Glenn Whelan comes on for Darron Gibson. John O'Shea comes on to replace Hendrick, shifting to central defense while Ciaran Clark moves up to defensive midfield.

79' - Darron Gibson sends a through pass to Long, who forces him to sprint after the ball. In a dangerous position, Long fires, but it's an awful effort and the ball sails into the stands.

86' - It's Shane Long again as Aiden McGeady plays a superb pass to the West Bromwich striker, however, like before, Long fails to capitalize on it and while half the fans present thought his shot was in, it wasn't, just barely centimeters away from entering the net.

87' - And Ireland is at it again, with Stephen Ward getting a great cross in to meet Glenn Whelan, but Whelan cannot strike it cleanly and it goes wide.

90' - FT: Turkey 1-1 Ireland. Domination for Ireland as they nearly win themselves the game. Besides the quality of their finishing, I think the Boys in Green have performed superbly today, something Andriy Shevchenko will take credit of.

Try and buy Gary Hooper or Wanyama

I was at the game where that picture was taken!

2012-12-19 01:44#72859 The FM Rookie : I was at the game where that picture was taken!

You were?!

Friendly: The Squad vs Chinese Taipei & Estonia

Goalkeepers
Keiren Westwood (Sunderland)
Joe Murphy (Coventry)
Andy Lonergan (Bolton)

Defenders
Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Seamus Coleman (Tottenham)
Greg Cunningham (Bristol City)
Kevin Foley (Wolverhampton)
John O'Shea (Wigan)
Alex Pearce (Swansea)
Richard Stearman (Wolverhampton)
Aidan White (Ipswich)

Midfielders
Darron Gibson (Everton)
Chris McCann (Burnley)
James McCarthy (Southampton)
James McClean (Sunderland)
Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow)
Sean Murray (Watford)
Stephen Quinn (Hull City)
Glenn Whelan (Wigan)

Forwards
Simon Cox (Nottingham Forest)
Shane Long (West Bromwich)
Anthony Stokes (Celtic)
Joe Mason (Cardiff)

August: Unbalanced

"Have you been noticing?" Mark asked, as he entered my office and handed me the monthly reports.

"Yeah, a little."

"It seems our defense is solid, very solid. But our attack needs some improving. I told you having just two 19-year-olds up front with 16-year-olds as backup wasn't a good idea."

I sighed.




Premier League
Norwich 0 - 0 QPR

Tottenham 0 - 0 QPR


Capital One Cup Second Round
QPR 1 - 0 Carlisle
Mamute

However, it seemed like our summer signings were blending in real quick. Rafael had been absolutely wonderful in goal, while Branislav Ivanovic proved to be a really good bargain, despite the crazy wages he'd demanded. Unfortunately, Paul Pogba had picked up a lengthy injury that would last about a few weeks. Junior Hoilett would also be out for two months after suffering a hip injury.

I silently prayed this season wouldn't be like the last, where I had to field players in every different position due to the injury crisis.

QPR Player of the Month

Rafael


Rafael was quick to settle in at Loftus Road after his 12 million move from Santos this summer, and in 3 games has kept 3 clean sheets. His performances in goal have been extremely inspiring and I think we have gotten ourselves one of the best young talents in South America.

I then looked over to the other documents, the transfer report.


A very good summer window. Now was to see what we could do with all these transfers....

2014/15 QPR Squad

Goalkeepers
Rafael
Cees van Roosmalen

Defenders
Wallace
Branislav Ivanovic
Doria
Nedum Onuoha
Stephane Mbia
Efrain Blanco
Stephen Warnock
Luke Shaw

Midfielders
Mohamed Sissoko
Gareth Barry
Esteban Granero
Paul Pogba
Nick Powell
Junior Hoilett
Clint Dempsey
Wellington Nem
Jese

Forwards
Adam Campbell
Yuri Mamute

Escape of the Minnows

My second match in charge of Ireland was another friendly, this time against Chinese Taipei, and one that we were predicted to dominate and crush. Surprisingly after giving Turkey a hard time, we couldn't do much to the Chinese-Taiwanese.

Youth

Queens Park Rangers defender Efrain Blanco has today won his first international cap for the United States national football team.


Blanco, 18, hails from California and turned out for the Southern California Seahorses as a young teen. He went on to San Jose Earthquake where his impressive performances earned him a 6 million move to England and Queens Park Rangers.

Manager Andriy Shevchenko has already publicly promised that Blanco will be in and out of the first team this season, and that he will not "sit in the Reserves".

"It's just absolutely wonderful," said Blanco, when interviewed by BBC Sport about his first international cap. "I cannot thank (USA manager) Jurgen Klinsmann enough for having so much faith in my ability to step up to the first team." The boy, who supports his boyhood club the Southern California Seahorses, continued, "Andriy has been a massive inspiration for me and so has the coaching staff. (QPR Reserves manager) Gary Bowyer and (QPR youth coach) Vyacheslav Tereschenko are just awesome to work with."

Jurgen Klinsmann also had a few words to say about the American prospect. "I see a lot of potential in Efrain and he definitely has the ability to make it in the Premier League. I have seen him in training and on the pitch, and I am quite sure he'll be a key part of the United States team in the future, and also Queens Park Rangers of course."

QPR and USA teammate Clint Dempsey said, "Efrain is a very good kid, in both QPR and USA colours. We both joined QPR in the summer and I haven't heard of him before so when I got to training with my new team for the first time, I went, 'hey, there's another American up here'. I watch him in training and on the pitch, he's an absolute rock and definitely one for the future."

Return

Michael Owen has returned to Queens Park Rangers, but this time as an Under-18s coach.


Owen, who joined Queens Park Rangers in January 2012 after an unsuccessful six-month stay at Stoke City, made 16 league appearances for the Rs and scored 2 league goals in over two seasons.

The former England international, who has 89 caps to his name, will be working closely with Under-18s manager Mick Halsall, Under-18s assistant manager Kevin Dobinson, as well as fellow Under-18s coaches Glyn Hodges and Vyacheslav Tereschenko.

The Wonderful World of Free Transfers

Queens Park Rangers have confirmed the signing of free agent Carlos Kameni, who formerly turned out for Espanyol and Malaga.



Released in the summer following the expiry of his contract, Cameroon international Kameni has been unable to find a new club until now.

This will be the goalkeeper's first venture into the Premier League, and he will be expected to serve as backup to summer signing Rafael, who has been doing a magnificent job between the sticks for Queens Park Rangers.

September: Unbeaten Run

We have had another brilliant start to the season. However, last season we also had a rather good start, and we know how we ended up.




Premier League
QPR 1 - 0 Nottingham Forest
Mamute

QPR 4 - 2 West Bromwich
Jese
Jese
Barry
Mamute

Everton 1 - 1 QPR
Mamute


Capital One Cup Third Round
Blackburn 0 - 1 QPR
Nem

"We really need to work on our attack," Mark frowned, as he stepped into the room and saw me eyeing the reports.

"Yes, yes we do," I agreed. We had been talking about our attack for the tenth time in a month now. "Yuri is doing a rather great job, though, don't you think?"

"He won this month's Young Player of the Month as a matter of fact," Mark grinned. "Three goals in three games. That doesn't go unnoticed."

"Who's our player of the month then?" I quizzed, turning to the next page.

QPR Player of the Month

Nedum Onuoha


Nedum Onuoha did a brilliant job this month as he and Doria combined to form a tough partnership, ensuring Rafael kept 2 clean sheets this month. We also think Yuri Mamute deserves a mention. Young Mamute has scored 3 goals in 3 appearances this month for the Rs and we hope his form continues.