QPR fan Dave Barton gets the MillersMad 20 Questions

Last updated : 04 August 2004 By Bigrich.....

Who are you; where are you from and how long have you supported your club?
Dave Barton originally from Shepherds Bush but now live in Langley near Slough.

I’ve supported QPR since birth so 28 years and counting.

What was your first game?
The last game on grass in around 1981 before we put the plastic pitch down. I don’t remember anything of the game apart from my Dad and his mates running off afterwards to get a bit of the pitch which we had growing in our flat for several months afterwards. It all seemed very exciting so I was hooked.

Describe the most memorable and worst game you've seen and why?
Most memorable was probably the last league game I saw; away to Sheffield Wednesday in May. There were 7,500 QPR fans packed into Hillsborough. We needed a win to go up and we did it with a 3-1 win. I finally saw QPR win something, even if it was only second place in the old third division.

Worst was probably Vauxhall Motors in the FA Cup a few years ago. We managed to take them to a replay and then a penalty shoot out, which was something of a cup run for us. It was deeply humiliating though and probably one of the worst nights of my life.

Who do you consider as your current local rivals, and why?
We still consider our local rivals as Chelsea but I’d expect most of their fans have forgotten about us now or never even seen us play. Fans like me who grew up in the 80’s will always hate Chelsea and remember the days when we used to finish above them in the league every year and they would get just a few thousand fans for home games and their biggest foreign import was Ken Monkou.

Who are the best and worst players you have seen?
I’ve seen plenty of great players at QPR but the best was probably Les Ferdinand. He was the perfect centre forward for us. He was brilliant in the air, very quick and scored loads of goals. I was devastated when he left and every summer since he left has seen QPR fans dream of him coming back for one last season.

Worst player is Gus Ceaser. We had him on loan from Arsenal in the early 1990’s to sort out a defensive injury crisis. Sadly he was the one defender who stayed fit and in one game he made John Fashanu look like Thierry Henry.

Which current or former Rotherham player impressed you most?
I like Martin Butler. I saw him a few times for Cambridge a few years back and he looked a very good player who can score a lot of goals.

How did you fare last season?
Last season was a great season to be a QPR fan. We were outstanding at home staying unbeaten in the league at Loftus Road. The support from the QPR fans played a major part in this with the noise and numbers in the stadium being far better than during our Premiership days. Our away form was not so great but we did more than enough to get promoted and the celebrations at the end of the season will never be forgotten.

Some say we made hard work of promotion despite having some of the best players in the division but off field problems badly hurt us and could have cost us promotion. We lost giant defender Dan Shittu twice to cruciate knee injuries, fellow defender Clarke Carlisle went into a clinic with a drink problem, another defender Terrell Forbes was arrested over an alleged rape. One week in March we lost every goalkeeper at the club through injury and had Steve Palmer pencilled in for goalkeeping duty until we were able to sign Lee Camp on loan a day before a vital game at Hartlepool. On top of all that we had plenty of other injuries and we lost our assistant manager Kenny Jackettt with just a few games to go which didn't help matters.

Life was never dull but the spirit within the club was superb with fans getting right behind the team and even holding a bucket collection and various other fund raising events to pay for Jamie Cureton to sign for us in January. Going into the last day of the season we needed a win to go up and we got it with a 3-1 win in front of 7,500 QPR fans at Hillsborough which was a nice way to end the season

How do you think you'll do this season?
It's tough to tell to be honest. We have kept all of our better players from last season and the likes of Martin Rowlands, Chris Day, Gino Padula, Kevin Gallen and Paul Furlong should all be good enough to step up to the next level and do well whilst new boy Lee Cook should do well for us on the left.

On the downside we lack quality in central defence and central midfield and the proposed signing of George Santos has not gone down too well among the fans.

Ian Holloway is an excellent manager though and I expect he'll add one or two new faces on loan to make sure we can compete at this level.

I can't see us bothering the top of the table too often but we have a very hard working squad and a manager as enthusiastic as any in the league so I think we'll sit around mid table and probably flirt with relegation and the playoffs at various times but end up sitting nicely boring in about 14th place.

Ron, John and uncle Ken!
So what do you think of Rotherham?
Ronnie Moore has done a superb job over the last few years and to have stayed in the division for three years is a great achievement especially when you see the so called bigger clubs like Sheffield Wednesday struggling in the league below.

I expect you’ll struggle again this season but Moore is a top manager and will keep you up again.

Is your manager barking mad?
You don’t get many managers madder than Ian Holloway. His post match press conferences are legendary. He is the most quotable manager we’ve ever had and the most likeable as well. His now classic comparison of a scrappy win over Chesterfield to going on a lads night out and pulling an ugly bird is his best one !

Are you happy with your Chairman/Backroom staff?
Up until a month or so ago I’d say no but a change at boardroom level has left a lot of fans happy. Gone are the last remains of the Chris Wright era who managed to bring us out of administration worse off than we went in and make a £4million loss despite getting to a playoff final and having Fulham ground share with us. We now have a fan as Chairmen and a board who are looking to cut costs and have the one thing the previous regime didn’t have which is a business plan.

Which team do you want to beat the most this season and why?
It would be nice to beat Cardiff after they broke our hearts in the Millennium Stadium but I really don’t care who we beat as long we keep winning.

What sort of line-up can we expect from you?
A 4-4-2 formation with Chris Day in goal. Back four of Marcus Bignot, Gino Padula, Arthur Gnohere and then any one of Matthew Rose, George Santos or Terrell Forbes depending on who gets injured in training this week. Midfield will be Martin Rowlands, Marcus Bean, Richard Johnson and Gareth Ainsworth with Kevin Gallen and Paul Furlong up front.

Predicted score?
I think QPR will win a hard fought game 2-1.

Who's going up?
Leicester, Wolves and Wigan

Who's going down?
Any three from about 12 clubs but I’ll go with Brighton, Gillingham and Watford.

Dave
www.queensparkrangersfc.com