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

battyblue added 13:31 - Aug 19 MM its no good putting round pegs in square holes well he's not practising what he preaches why is Tabb playing out wide for starters why isn't Anderson playing where is Woody Taylor best position is wide right the trouble with Mick he wants to play defensive football so the attacking mid-fielders are not preferred Taylor was trying to attack on Saturday so was taken off because was trying for a 0 0 draw which backfired when he took him off after we were 1-0 down suddenly we could play attacking football we are not going to score goals with the amount of efforts on goal we have unless we rely on top scorer og

0

Letchworth_Blue added 15:25 - Aug 19 Steward - you were obviously not at those games. We didn't deserve to get anything from either game, but I'm not panicking just yet. Plenty more games ahead and plenty more points to be won. Only concern is the lack of creativity in midfield for our strikers to get a chance at scoring?!
0

brittaniaman added 16:47 - Aug 19 Fulop was awful at the Emirates ??? when that corner came over he should have got it before Nicholas Bendtner but he just flapped at it instead of knocking his head off it !! that was the start of his downfall and not to mention his last game he played for West Brom ??? But why are we talking about Fulop hey ??????????
0

jas0999 added 17:53 - Aug 19 I still don;t think the FFP is actually fair - how can it be when relegated teams can spend many millions and others can't? Having said that - I don;t necessarily think we should be spending big - afterall RK and PJ spent big on fees and wages (signing on fees for the likes of Bullard and Bowyer etc) and look where that got us. Having said that, I do feel MM should have been given more than £20k to spend. Strikers cost money and for me we still need one and did last season as well.

0

yorksblue added 18:36 - Aug 19 Get Billy Sharp in and give Leeds a good hiding please. We're going to have to rely on home form, I think.
0

dford7 added 18:58 - Aug 19 Give the poor bloke a break. He is being positive about the hand he has been given, and he has some decent players, albeit not expensive ones. Its not all doom at gloom at Portman Road. Get some people scoring and we will be a good team. We weren't that bad at QPR. We did create chances, but they created slightly more and scored more, by one.
0

chevvymalc added 22:51 - Aug 19 I think Murphy and Mcgoldrick are similar players they just need to sort out their positions as they seem to end up receiving t he same ball so hence theres nobody in the middle with a scoring chance its not rocket science to take a central position when your strike partner has the ball wide and os about to cross it (is it!!!) At present we have nobody match fit or ready so we have to stick with them and hope they sort it. Still think ok to beat dirty Leeds Saturday.

0

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls