A Champion Day...

QPR 1-2 Leeds

Queens Park Rangers and their fans finally celebrated confirmation of their status as Championship Winners despite a final day defeat by Leeds - and what a day this turned out to be...












The much publicised, FA Hearing, of which I am sure you are all aware of, had stressed us all out to the absolute maximum last week, made even worse by the fact that the decision, originally intended to go out on Friday, had been delayed until, well, who knew...

QPR themselves had been given permission to recieve the well deserved trophy and had said quite openly, that they intended to party, but could we really celebrate properly with all this hanging over us??

With all this in mind, the gang fully intended to continue with the plans to celebrate and the car was left behind as I made an early start of 9am to get the bus and train to Loftus Road. I met with PK and Jenson about 10.30, amidst rumours there was to be an announcement from the FA at 11.00am. This came and went and we had a couple of pints before the lovely Metropolitan Police, forced us off the Springbok balcony and back into what felt like a sauna, so we soon finished our drinks, assembled outside and were soon to be on the move to the Blue and White bar. Bumping into a few old friends held us up briefly, before at approximately, 11.30, something happened and I don't think I will ever forget it as long as I live...












A huge roar went up from inside the Springbok and to be honest, had us all a bit confused as it was far too early for any other matches to be being played. I was then greeted by R's nut, Paul 'Wig' Moore running towards me, donning his blue and white wig and a painted face, he stopped and yelled - 'BBC have just announced there is 'NO POINTS DEDUCTION!!!'. Before I could utter a response, people were literally sprinting out of the pub, cheering and hugging anyone they could get hold off, tears in many an eye. After all the shit we had all been through - WE HAD DONE IT, WE WERE CHAMPIONS and WE WERE NOW, PREMIER LEAGUE!!!!!













We then made our way outside the Stadium to join more jubilant R's fans in serious party mood!! Some of the gang headed into the bar whilst myself and Jenson hung around a bit longer to wait for a chap Jenson had to give a ticket too and in the mean time, were lucky enough to be confronted by Clem and his cameras from the Football League show to ask our reaction. At around midnight, my phone actually went bananas with friends and family texting me to tell me we had been on the telly on this momentus day, happy days!!!

We joined the gang once more for a pre match beer - yes, there was a match going on, but in truth, I don't think any of us much cared about it and wanted to start the party. But we went to our seats shortly before the kick off to welcome the Champions and join the sea of blue and white...
















Loftus Road was soon jumping as after just 26 seconds. Helguson found the back of the net from about a yard after Schmeichel failed to hold on to Faurlin's shot. Leeds were level seven minutes before the break when Richard Naylor's long ball into the area was met first by Gradel, who nudged it past a hesitant Cerny. Despite this, the singing and celebrating went on as the gang went down to the very busy bar at half time.

For one reason or another, I didn't make it back to my seat until very late in the second half, by which time, Leeds were in front - McCormack surged into the area and let fly with a shot that took a deflection off Peter Ramage, giving Cerny no chance. Tommy Smith forced Schmeichel to tip over his header before the Smith again brought out another great block from the Leeds stopper. Gorkss then headed a foot wide from the resulting corner. But the equalising goal did not come and the final whistle blew on a fantastic season and the celebrations, officially began.

QPR: Cerny, Orr, Hill (Ramage 66), Derry, Helguson (Shittu 72), Buzsaky (Taarabt 55), Faurlin, Gorkss, Routledge, Connolly, Smith. Subs: Putnins, Agyemang, Vaagan-Moen, Ephraim.

It would have been nice to end the season with a win, especially over the self acclaimed, 'Champions of Europe', in our Cup Final, but when that trophy was lifted high by Adel Taarabt, I'm sure the game was soon forgotten...














We all then descended into Shepherds Bush, which was like a carnival, with the streets a sea of blue and white and every pub having hundreds of fans partying. We started our celebrations in our own haunt, the British Queen, before a more relaxed but enjoyable jaunt to Shepherds Bush Green, then was onto the Goldhawk before settling at O'Donohues for a couple of hours, before the gang started to go their seperate ways and into the night. An absolutely amazing day and one of, if not the best footballing experience I have ever lived!! I hope all R's fans had as an enjoyable time as I did, which thinking about it, is a pretty stupid statement and I am sure there were sore heads aplenty this morning.

As I bring the curtain down on Lofty Heights season, I would like to thank you all once again for your continued support of these pages and hope you will return next season for what is a Lofty Heights first... Reports from QPR in the Premier League!!!

CHAMPIONES!!! COME ON YOU R'ssssssss!!!!!

Sweet FA decided for now.........

So this evening us Rangers' fans heard that the FA's decision on the Alejandro Faurlin transfer was being delayed until at least 4pm tomorrow and a decision will be announced anytime after that time. Who knows whether an announcement will be made before or after the Leeds game on Saturday afternoon.
Here is my view on it all.



So what is it they are actually investigating?

Rangers' have been charged with seven breaches of FA rules that include the alleged existence of an agreement between them and a third party in respect of Faurlin's economic rights, and the alleged failure by the club to notify the FA of that agreement before the player was registered to play for them in England.
The club has also been charged with allegedly using or seeking to pay an unauthorised agent as part of the Faurlin deal, while both the club and chairman Gianni Paladini have further been charged with allegedly submitting false information in documents provided to the FA relating to a contract extension signed by Faurlin in October.

When Rangers' signed Faurlin the alleged paperwork in question was actually looked at and the FA gave the R's to go ahead and finalise the signing of Faurlin from the third party owners and not from the club that he was playing for the previous season, Instituto.
Instituto did in fact have an agreement to sign Faurlin up for the following season but could not afford the £1 million price that his owners had put on him, so when an established English Championship club like QPR comes along with interest in the player their price was inflated. The club stated on the Official QPR Website that the fee was worth up to £3.5 million, an inflation of the actual fee paid but this is often done by clubs to make the fans think that the club has extra ambition and have spent more on playing staff than they actually have.
A £500,000 fee was paid to Inter Milan as they had first option on Faurlin and this was included in the transfer fee.
Have any rules been broken when they did this? No.

Another offence is the use of a FIFA agent which didnt have the required FA licence to make the transfer all legit and above board.

My opinion on that is what does an FA registered agent have more power on than a FIFA registered agent? FIFA are the governing body of the beautiful game so surely he has more right to deal with International transfers than anyone else?
Just another way of showing the farcical running thats the English way of things, always thinking they are bigger than everyone else.

Then comes the alleged false documentation of Faurlin's contract extension which took place during the International break in September after the game against Ipswich at Portman Road, a game Rangers' won 3-0.
Had the documents in question been false and under scrutiny then surely Faurlin would not of played for the R's until the issue was resolved. Faurlin was actually injured whilst the papers were being investigated so the R's cannot even be guilty of fielding an illegal player because when Faurlin returned the FA were happy with all the documentation and started an investigation on the whole transfer saga.

This leads us to where we are now.

During the course of this week Simon Jordan spoke to talkSPORT and stated the following :-
"Rangers have no case to answer, as Faurlin was bought by the club before the FA brought in new third-party ownership rules following the much-publicised Carlos Tevez saga."
“The case they have got is flimsy. The FA and the Football League approved this transaction and were very well aware of what it was."
“The reason why this transaction has gone a little bit bandy is because QPR did something rather silly. It is often the case football clubs do this, they big up the cost of the player to appease their fans that they’re spending a load of dough.
The FA cleared the money, the FA received the money, but when QPR start going out saying they spent £3.5million on a player and none of that has been spent that’s when the FA came along and said ‘hang on a second, where’s this other money gone?’. That’s where the investigation came from."
“Now the third-party rule that they’re trying to apply was not in operation at the time they signed this player. They’ve got nothing. QPR are not going to get anything besides a slap across the wrist. I don’t think they did anything wrong.”

Now Simon Jordan wasn't highly thought of by many people but one thing you can be sure of that he knows all about the rules and regulations of transfers within the English game, so him saying this just shows that Rangers' standing at the hearing and pleading not guilty to everything just shows that the club are confident of clearing their name and making the FA look like the idiots that they truly are.


So after the three days what have the FA decided? Nothing.
Have they found any wrong doings by the club? You can bet your house that if QPR were guilty of anything that the charges and punishment would have been dealt out already and we would now be talking about what is a good or bad outcome of this hearing.

After making such a massively publicised fuss about this that if QPR were found not guilty of all the charges then the FA would look extremely silly and many people would question the actual running of the governing body of English football.
You can expect that this delay means that the FA are looking for something to punish Rangers' of and deal a sizable punishment, more than likely to be a big fine to show that they have exercised their authority on proceedings.

Whilst this is all going on there is allegations of further third party involvements going on at Cardiff City yet because they don't adhere to the English FA rules they don't have to come under question and if they did benefit from our unfortunate punishment then you would have to say their promotion is not only a joke but also a complete farce.
All the details are on this link :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/05/cardiff-city-qpr-third-party-ownership?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=mpulsefootball

All the information above just shows what a farce all of this is and how stupid the FA look after all of this as its they who gave the green light on every aspect of the transfer and contract extension papers, are QPR in the wrong? You decide.....

The Lofty Heights Awards - 2010/2011...

Good evening all and coming hot on the heels of the Official awards, comes the Lofty Heights version which is very much in celebration of a wonderful season, to lift the gloom of the FA hearing from our minds for a short while and to mark the milestone of the 600th post on these pages...

But, firstly, as we approach the end of the season, a few personal thanks of my own - to Lee, for masterminding my comeback on these pages and for his continued support and hard work. I'm sure you will agree, his awayday reports are legendary and unique, along with the R's on the Road and any latest news from the Club itself, that we think is worth reading. Also, bringing the site to the Social Network pages which has brought in a much wider and now, worldwide audience. Thanks mate!

To Lee once more and Jenson, for organising all of the away travel and tickets etc for the away travellers amongst the gang this season. To the rest of the gang of whom it is an absolute pleasure to be in their company and make going to QPR, not only very social, but extremely enjoyable - I thank you.

And last but by no means least, to all of our readers/fans who continue to read and enjoy our work here. The viewing figures have been staggering this season, so much so that Lee and myself have talked about making Lofty Heights a website in it's own right. But for us, it has never been about money and these pages will remain where they are and where you continue to read and enjoy - again, we thank you!!

Anyway, before I make you all sick, I will continue with the awards...

In no particular order...

Player of the Year - Paddy Kenny

Runner Up - Shaun Derry

Young Player of the Year and give him something unless he throws a strop - Adel Taarabt

Home Match of the Season - Swansea (4-0)

Away Match of the Season - Derby/Watford (2-2) and (0-2)

Goal of the Season - Adel Taarabt's 2nd v Swansea at home

Celebration of the Season - well, Watford has come in as a late contender for obvious reasons, but the award goes to Derby and Jamie Mackie's late leveller saw us end up 4 rows down from where we started with plenty of man love along the way. Myself and PK realised that we were getting old on this day....

Drive of the Season - Jenson, for Leeds away, when he got us all home safely in the snow after a mammoth 8 hour journey. The trip was also memorable for the banter between us all - myself, Sam, Lee, Pk and Jenson himself and the onboard TV's certainly helped some...

Nomad of the Season - Lofty, for sitting in the most different amount of seats at home games

Predictor of the Season - goes to Lee, for 4 successful prediction contest victories this season, closely followed by PK and myself.

The 'I know Nothing' Award - for again, predictions, goes to Jenson

Supporter of the Year - goes to Lee for a complete clean sweep of all R's games this season, including all friendlies - a great effort, WELL DONE. Runners up are Sam with just 2 misses and myself, with 3

Individual Celebration of the Season - goes to Sam, Reading away and celebrating our 1-0 win, please see below...




Sam, herself has nominated the next award, for the Porn King and Queen of the Season - PK and Jo

Good Luck Charm at Loftus Road - Jo - missed the Watford game and is undefeated at LR this season.

Good Luck Charm Away from Loftus Road - Jess - Scunthorpe aside, has not seen us lose away from home and was brought in for the run in.

Young Good Luck Charm - Little Jack who is yet to see the Rangers lose

Corporate Supporter of the Year - Who else, with another outstanding season of 3 Corporates, plus visits to White Hart Lane and Wembley, is Coporate Gordon

Quotation of the Season - to PK, who left a group of fancy dressed, Crawley fans, absolutely gobsmacked, when asking them, whist on their way to Old Trafford to face Man United in their very much publicised FA Cup tie- 'who are you boys playing today?'

Pies of the Season - Burnley - where just one, was certainly not enough for myself, Lee and Jenson - Chicken Balti

The Arrive Late at a Game Award - one that I thought would never be beaten - but California Hoop has shattered his own record by rolling in on 83 minutes, v Derby at home.

The Bono Award for wearing Sunglasses everywhere - to Lofty and I really don't know what they all mean ;)

And Finally....

The Evacuation Award - goes to PK and I will describe the scene... On the way home from Leeds, lost 2-0 and stuck in the snow on the M1, PK announces to the rest of us -

'sorry, I've just sh*t'.

At first, the windows were slowly being opened before myself, Lee and driver, Jenson, in mad panic, spilled out of the car, onto the M1 and into heavy snow and I will never forget, poor Sam sitting in the bootspace, wondering how on earth she was going to get out, thankfully, Jenson soon opened the back of the car to let Sam breath the cold, but fresh air...

Many thanks for all the nominations and CONGRATULATIONS to ALL THE LUCKY WINNERS!!!

QPR Player of the Year goes to..........

Tonight was the QPR Player of the Year Awards at The Metropole in London.
The Lofty Heights gang were out in force tonight, in fact only Lofty, Jess and myself were unable to attend for numerous reasons.

I hope there are many stories that we may or may not be able to report on later on in the week.

Here are a full list of all the awards:-

Supporters' Player of the Year - Paddy Kenny

Supporters' Player of the Year Runner Up - Adel Taarabt

Supporters' Player of the Year 3rd Place - Shaun Derry

Ray Jones Players' Player of the Year - Paddy Kenny

Supporters' Young Player of the Year - Bruno Andrade

Kiyan Prince Goal of the Season - Adel Taarabt 's 2nd vs Swansea

QPR Community Award for Services to QPR in the Community Trust - Peter Ramage

Fan of the Year - Ian Stenning



Massive well done to Paddy Kenny on his double award tonight, fully deserved!!
Apparently a certain player walked out after the announcement, I will let you guess who.....

Later in the week is the Lofty Heights Awards so we will announce our own choices once all the votes are in.