Boss Mick McCarthy says he’s not envious of his QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp’s greater spending power, believing that he has assembled a good squad without splashing much cash this summer. A last-minute debut goal from debutant Tom Hitchcock saw Rangers to a 1-0 victory over the Blues at Loftus Road on Saturday.

While Redknapp has been able to add to his already star-studded squad by paying fees such as the £4 million paid to Burnley for striker Charlie Austin, McCarthy has made eight free Bosman signings, one loan — Ryan Tunnicliffe from Manchester United — and has spent just £20,000 on former Waterford winger Jack Doherty.

However, the Blues boss says he’s not jealous: “Not at all, I don’t do envy. I deal with what I’ve got and I’ve become pretty adept with dealing with what I’ve got throughout my career, whether that’s my own ability as a footballer or my ability as a manager, when we’ve always had decent success.

“I’m delighted with the players I’ve got. Just because I haven’t spent money on them doesn’t mean I haven’t got good players.”

Despite the Blues falling to two defeats in their first three Championship games, both to relegated former Premier League sides, McCarthy isn’t too downcast: “I don’t on a weekly basis get encouraged, but I’m encouraged by the really tight-knit group of players that we’ve got, the characters that we’ve got and having also seen them in training, the way we’ve played over the three games.

“I think [QPR] will be one of the favourites for it, of course, and if they get in any trouble with players they’ll probably go and get some more. That’s if they need any more.”

QPR assistant boss Kevin Bond, standing in for Harry Redknapp who is on crutches having undergone knee surgery, hopes Saturday’s last-gasp victory will prove to be significant come May: “You hope when you look back at the end of the season days like today will be really, really important for us.

“From a momentum point of view, it keeps us going, we’ve won again. And the atmosphere in the dressing room is vastly different when you’ve got a late winner. Everyone’s delighted and looked forward to next week.”

Meanwhile, Town's U21s get their Professional Development League Two campaign underway tonight with a game against Cardiff City at Portman Road (KO 7pm). Admission is free.

Photo: Action Images

BlueMachines added 06:07 - Aug 19 I wonder if he plays Championship Manager in his spare time just for the challenge?!?
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Bluenose added 07:44 - Aug 19 "Boss Mick McCarthy says he's not envious of his QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp's greater spending power." Eh?
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ManningtreeBlue99 added 07:45 - Aug 19 Can't say no to a free game of football! I'll be there tonight watching our future.
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MattinLondon added 07:52 - Aug 19 Once upon a time we had money...but it has been wasted on Norris, Martin, Priskin etc etc
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Kesgraveblue57 added 08:36 - Aug 19 Boss Mick McCarthy says he's not envious of his QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp's greater spending power, I hate these so called statements! if Mick said that! then it is nothing but bulls...
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bluefeast added 08:40 - Aug 19 I am
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Bluebert added 08:54 - Aug 19 Pull the other one mick. You are brilliant but you don't half talk some twoddle.
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bluefeast added 09:17 - Aug 19 lets hope the front four on Saturday do the business. That's Tabb , Edwards (if selected) Murphy and McGoldrick. We need to score first . This is a very tough league and the difference between success and failure can be confidence
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shiminywho added 09:19 - Aug 19 If Harry walked and QPR came knocking, I wonder whether Mick would be interested. Just saying. In Mick we trust!
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Michael11 added 09:29 - Aug 19 We had our chance at trying to buy our way out of this league and wasted it on Priskin/Leadbitter/Fulop/Martin etc. In this league you need more than money to get promoted. Just a shame we didn't have McCarthy when we appointed Keane. Saturday will be more of a true test of what we will be like this season. Qpr and Reading away will never determine where you end a season and Millwall look like relegation candidates. Leeds are more of a team similar to us so it will give a better indication of how good we are in my opinion.

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Robbie12345 added 09:40 - Aug 19 Guys, you can't really say Priskin was a waste of money after scoring against Arsenal and almost took us to wembaly.. Forgot about that one didnt you...
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Michael11 added 09:57 - Aug 19 @Robbie12345 Didn't forget that goal but 1 goal in a cup game doesn't make up for 2 league seasons of playing utterly s**t for nearly £2m does it? One of the worst signings of Keane's era.
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Robbie12345 added 10:04 - Aug 19 @Michael11, I agree that he wasn't one of our best players and in the end was a waste of money, but scoring against Arsenal (at full strength) for any club is impressive and he could have brought in many times his cost into the club if we got to the final. :) Also as i can remember, correct me if I'm wrong, he was mainly played off the bench and still managed to score more goals than our strikers did last season, even if we didn't pay anything for them.

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hollywoodginge added 10:34 - Aug 19 Fulop was never a waste of money, best keeper we've had at PR since Kelvin Davis, made a couple of errors that Scott Loach would have been forgiven for because "he is a town fan" don't get me wrong I like Loach but he's not up in the same league as Fulop who won/drew us more matches than he lost! Cardiff away, Arsenal at home are 2 examples.
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Stewart27 added 10:38 - Aug 19 @robbie12345 That is a joke yeah? 1. We never got to Wembley so your point is invalid. We would have needed to get to Wembley through his goal and for him to have scored the winner in the final to cut it. 2. He was awful. Really, really awful.
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hollywoodginge added 10:39 - Aug 19 Although having said that, I meant the best permanent keeper, Asimir Begovic was the best keeper we've probably ever had! Absolute world class, and I remember some terrace football managers on here slating him, look at him now! World class.
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LankHenners added 10:53 - Aug 19 Fulop was not a waste - I thought we should have done more to keep him rather than letting him walk. Robbie12345 - what on Earth are you on about?! Just because Priskin scored a goal against Arsenal doesn't mean he was a great striker and worth the money. If you remember, the goal he scored was a one-on-one which you would expect any half-decent finisher to score regardless of the quality of the opposing team!

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bluefeast added 11:01 - Aug 19 Leeds game will determine nothing more than our start to the season , not the season as a whole. However my opinion is we will get nothing from the game due to an inability to create the chances needed. I really like the effort our players make ,and in skuse we have a really classy central mid player ,a strong back four etc ,but other than that we have creative and goal scoring weakness.

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tractorshark added 11:44 - Aug 19 Priskin was lightweight, disinterested and the classic example of a panic buy. Fulup never gave me confidence. For a bloke who's 6ft 7ish, he was a big girl's blouse when it came to crosses. We've squandered so much money in the past 5 years and gone nowhere. And when we have bought a nugget (McAuley) we've let him go for nowt. Thankfully we now have a manager who can manage and is tactically aware. There are many positives already from this season and I'd rather hear Mick saying he isn't jealous of QPR's cash than admitting he is.

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gibbo added 11:47 - Aug 19 To win games you need to score goals and as it stands at the moment we have nobody who can/will score the goals to get us into the top 6, you look at how we are playing at the moment, mcgoldrick plays well wins the ball and holds up play then playing the ball to other players to cross but who's in the box ? The first goal against millwall not a signal blue shirt around the goal mouth when cresswell played the ball in, far to often both mcgoldrick and murphy are out wide often on the same side of the pitch and nobody in the area to receive the ball. As for goals coming from midfield out of the 4 starters on Saturday the combined appearances is 1022 games played scoring the grand total of 87 goals, 44 of them coming from Carlos Edwards .

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hendog added 11:56 - Aug 19 Do not know what your all moaning about . We have just losat to 2 teams who will be at the top at the end of the . We beat millwall 3 nil . We only lost to QPR in the last min away from home . Yes I would have loved to have won are 1st 3 games but get real . We will be top six at the end of the season that's what matters not how good or how crap are old players where .
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Jimmy86 added 11:59 - Aug 19 Lets be honest, mick is hardly gonna turn round and say ive had a crap budget and ive not been backed by the owner to buy better quality players is he??? He is gonna say he is happy with the players he has brought in coz he has had no choice in bringing in freebies. Feel evans has let mick down big time, he should have been allowed a reasonable budget for what he did last season. Its a joke

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blockb_steward added 12:40 - Aug 19 Hendog is right. We have gotten two of the worst away games of the season out of the way...we could have even had points from both. Let's make PR a fortress and that will breed confidence on the road too. COYB!
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Shotleytractor added 13:06 - Aug 19 Support the team regardless, we've been playing well & almost had 5 points instead of 3. Think where we were this time last season? We had 4 points, scored 2, conceded 7. As a side note Begovic was a loan player
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battyblue added 13:17 - Aug 19 Stop keep harping on we have played the best two teams in the league who will be at the top of the table at the end of the season ,,,,i think not top six maybe just in reading case
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