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Less colour as Ian goes gardening
IN football, the only thing you learn to expect is the unexpected.
But by placing Ian Holloway on gardening leave, QPR's hierarchy have ensured that Bramall Lane will be a less colourful place when the Londoners visit South Yorkshire tomorrow.
This, after all, is the manager who once predicted during a particularly miserable run of form that: "If I fell in a barrel of boobs, I'd come out sucking my thumb!"
Later he celebrating his team's return to winning ways with the memorable phrase: "I couldn't be more chuffed if I were a badger at the start of the mating season."
With Holloway tending his begonias at home in St Albans, the post-match press conference may no longer be the hottest ticket in town.
But the man charged with reversing QPR's fortunes is convinced that his players possess the ability not only to bring Sheffield United's march to a halt but also ensure a difficult season is remembered for more than just soundbites.
Like Holloway, who according to chairman Gianni Paladini has been suspended rather than sacked, Gary Waddock is a popular figure at Loftus Road having made 240 appearances for the club as a player.
His first match in charge produced a 1-0 win over Millwall but a 2-1 reverse at the hands of Crystal Palace has left him battling to keep his managerial account in the black.
Despite Paladini's insistence that there is no way back for Holloway, who had been heavily linked with a move to Leicester before the Italian wielded the axe, Waddock's position remains far from secure.
But he has already embarked on a complete makeover of the playing style which threatened to serve QPR well at the start of the season before they drifted into mid-table.
"Everyone has their own ideas about how they want the game played and I have mine," said Waddock, who will be assisted by another QPR old boy Alan McDonald. "I want us to pass the ball and I want plenty of movement. That's the football I believe in."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
