Marcus Bignot is going to take in the sights and sounds of London this summer.
Holidays in Blighty
By Marcus Bignot. Friday, 22 April 2005.
Hello and welcome to my column. We're getting towards the end of the season at QPR, but we've got a lot of injuries so we're trying to patch everyone up so we can finish as high as possible in the table.
We've had a lot of the youth team come into the side, and they've done absolutely brilliantly. They have been pretty much thrown in at the deep end but I can't fault their attitude.
They did well at Burnley, which was a strange game for us. There wasn't much of an atmosphere because the stands were only half full. It definitely had an end-of-the-season feel to it. It was a weird game, and not the kind I like to be involved in.
It was completely different to our last home game, against Leeds. It was a packed house - Loftus Road is brilliant when it's full - and even though the play-offs are out of reach for both of us, it was a great match.
Our manager has gone on record to say he will be busy in the summer bringing in new players. He was talking about ten new faces because of the transfer window that will apply to the Championship from next season.
All the current players are well aware of the need to bring in players if we are to be competitive. And it could go two ways: either everyone will click or it will take time for everyone to get used to each other.
Hopefully if our pre-season goes to plan - with less running and more football - we will be ready by the time next August comes around. But if the management are bringing in two or three players a week then it could get a bit messy.
Birmingham Ladies have their last game of the season this weekend, against Doncaster Belles, who are already relegated. We are guaranteed fourth spot, which in another world would be Champions League form.
All the England players are biting their nails waiting for the final squad announcement for the European Championships. We have nine players in the squad of 30 - and all of them would love to be in the final 20.
I'm not going the Ollie route in the summer transfer-wise. I might bring in two or three, but I had my big dabble in the market last summer.
As for the summer break, what there is of it, I'm not going abroad this year. Instead I'm going to take in what London has to offer and see all the sights that I hear are around here. As I come from Birmingham and have not been in the capital that long, I still haven't had a chance to do the touristy things.
So if you see someone who looks like a QPR right-back up the London Eye or at the British Museum, that will be me. Catch you next week.