Hughes’ arrival at QPR has clubs on red-alert

“One clubs’ dead-wood is another clubs gold”, as the saying goes.

Certain Championship clubs are forming a very orderly queue as Mark Hughes is rumoured to be trimming the fat from his newly inherited squad at Queens Park Rangers. Hughes has taken over from Neil Warnock who to say he liked his squad-depth is an understatement; he has 35 players registered with another four out on loan.

One of the players who could benefit from Hughes’ task of shifting a bit of QPR’s excess weight is striker Jay Bothroyd, who has struggled to make his mark on the Premier League after a paltry two goals following his free transfer from Cardiff in the summer. He has failed to live up to his billing after his form for the Bluebirds earned him an England cap, like one of those over-hyped movies that only serve to underwhelm, he could be on his way to Reading in a loan deal.

With ever-so-slightly less clubs than Tiger Woods, Reading could become his tenth club at the age of 29 as they search for more firepower to complement the likes of Adam Le Fondre and Simon Church as they look to consolidate their play-off position.

Even if he is slightly unreliable at the top level, there is no doubting Bothroyd ability in the second tier after his 20 goals from 41 appearances for Cardiff fired them to a play-off semi-final defeat to, yes, you guessed it, Reading.

Reading, who have recently done good business with QPR over Kasper Gorkss and Mikele Leigertwood last summer, could face competition from Nottingham Forest as they look to a loan deal for one of Hughes’ many strikers to pull them away from a relegation battle.

Forest have only scored 21 goals this season, the second lowest tally in the league, and a deal has been mooted for either Bothroyd, DJ Campbell who is another striker suffering from the mischievous “failure to adapt to the Premier League” disease, or Rob Hulse, the forgotten man at Loftus Road having yet to play a game this season. Reports do suggest that Hulse is actually still alive.

@AdamGray1250