So, seeing as it was my last day of holiday before I returned to work, I decided to treat myself with a trip to Boreham Wood to catch QPR Reserves in action against Watford’s Reserves.

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During half time at the game against Ipswich Town, I saw Dave Thomas walk by with copies of “A Kick Up The R’s” that he sells at most games. I recently heard that times were hard for him as sales of AKUTR’s hadn’t been as good as in previous years.

AKUTR’s has been recently nominated for a national award, so despite never  buying or reading a copy of it before, I decided to grab one off him and also told Leonie about his situation, so she bought a copy too.

I read the fanzine (or magazine as Dave calls it) with interest on the way home. I don’t really know that much about Dave or AKUTR’s, but it struck me as a younger fan, that may be the case for many of us? For me, he’s always been ‘that guy’ who shouts “A Kick Up The R’s, latest issue!” and is almost synonymous with my matchday experience.

AKUTR’s has had a loyal following over the past 21 years but hasn’t really been marketed towards people like me, but it’s a good read and well worth checking out if you haven’t done so before!

I found it interesting that it was quite difficult to find any information about the fanzine on the internet and that’s an area Dave should really look into.

A simple start for him would be a website that tells you what AKUTR’s is about, what’s hot in the current issue, a teaser about what to expect from the next issue, how to contact them, how readers can contribute and when to expect the next issue along with pricing and subscription options.

That all costs time, money and maintenance of course.

Anyway, I hope our little contribution has helped!

“BI8 DYK” was the highlight of our journey by car up to Ipswich. That was the number plate of a 4×4 we spotted on the road. I wondered if it was a Rangers fan, so if you are and you’re reading, well you’re not particularly famous yet, but you did make the news here on my blog.

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I took my time choosing who would get my vote for the Supporters Young Player of the Year award. I agonised on whether I should vote for a permanent QPR player rather than a loanee, and in many ways, that felt like the right thing to do.

In the end, I banked with Michael Mancienne and I’m about to tell you why.

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Shrewd, shrewd business. This is the type of business acumen that we craved but could only dream about in the past.

I like performance related deals. They add greater rewards for success, even though I don’t think they should be the incentive for achieving success. That should always be down to ambition and desire before financial incentive.

If our progress goes according to plan, this deal could be worth enough to cover the outlay on all the transfer fees we’ve spent this season and their salaries to boot! That would be a smart and tidy return, or it could be worth enough to pay off the remainder of the ABC loan, or perhaps if we’re lucky, both!

It still remains to be seen as to who will be the actual kit sponsor next season and this could lead to further revenue coming into the club, so congratulations to the Board for securing the most lucrative commercial deal in our history!

But it’s easy to get carried away by all the hype and gawk at the figures here. The real pleasing aspect for me is that there is now some sustained and substantial income for the club over a period of time, and that provides us with further financial stability.

On the other hand, I’m excited about the new kits and merchandise planned for next season because I feel a lot of the existing stuff is quite tacky. There’s been many times when I’ve gone into the club shop really wanting to buy something but finding that nothing stood out for me and screamed “I’ve got to have that”.

I’m a bit late with this, but what the heck.

Clive has been nominated for the Best Championship Fanzine (as has “A Kick Up The R’s”) and Best Editor awards for his brilliant Loft For Words website.

I met Clive for the first time this season, first away to Colchester United and then a couple of times since before or after some home games.

What a genuinely nice guy and he’s a fantastic football and sports man, perfect for the job and there are few I’ve come across who loves his club and the game as much as he does. But boy, does he let off his steam on his site from time to time!

Nevertheless, I find most of his work is top class and I think he under-estimates how valuable his role is to the mood of the QPR community. Not everybody is online of course, but there is a large contingent of QPR fans around the web and he’s got most, if not all of their respect for what he does.

Meanwhile, Mike has been nominated for Best Blog for his QPR Report blog.

That site is a seriously incredible piece of news and source collection. I’m constantly amazed by its consistency, regularity and volume of updates and content on there. I don’t think I’ve found any other online resource for a football club quite like it. Truly astonishing and well worthy of the nomination.

They are two sites that you just wouldn’t want to live without.

Good luck boys, I’ll be rooting for ya all the way.

I noticed a thread dedicated to Zesh Rehman over at FootballPakistan’s forums. On page 37 of that thread, a poster called “Sonia_Khan” expresses her opinion that there is a racial element to the frustration shown towards Zesh by our fans.

I just wanted to point out that we’re a fickle bunch at QPR, but on the whole, we’re not racist.

There will of course be the odd one or two idiots who are stupid enough to shout racial abuse but it’s in the minority and I think you’ll find any decent fan will report it.

QPR has a multicultural support, probably more than most clubs and that applies to the surrounding area in Shepherds Bush and London as a whole, where the club is based.

I can understand why Zesh gets heckled from what I see happening on the pitch, but I don’t agree with it and I don’t condone it either.

And if it’s of any worth, I’m half English and half Asian, though I consider myself as just a Londoner really.