Why Selling Jamie Mackie Would Spell The End

JAMIE Mackie has been linked with the exit door - a move that would be the final nail in the QPR coffin.

A centre forward that rebuilt his career from the ashes after Milton Keynes Dons made his release an early item on their ill-wanted Football League agenda.

Hard work and graft hauled Mackie from non-league oblivion to Premier League mainstay, and his meteoric rise through the leagues and his rapid improvement at QPR has seen him become indispensible.

He is one of the last bastions of an era where QPR supporters could take great pride in, and feel affiliated with, their set of playing staff.

In the summer Mackie was linked with a move away from Loftus Road, fervently denied by chiefs in W12, with chairman Tony Fernandes tweeting in July: 'For all QPR fans we have no no no intention to sell him. He's a QPR man.'

Fast forward a few months, QPR have a new manager who himself has been quoted as wishing he had 11 Jamie Mackies. Harry Redknapp courted interest today by saying he had no firm bids for the front-man, despite reported interest from Fulham or Norwich City.

The reported £3m fee is pale in comparison to how he is valued by QPR supporters. £3m will mean very little against the backdrop of the losses made via the inevitable relegation that would ensue as a result of his sale.

It is not just his personality or the way he plays the game - which is highly commendable and deserving of a place alone - it is what his presence represents. A never-say-die, relentless desire for not just three points, but every tackle, every ball that trickles ominously towards the touchline, every last drop of action - that is what Mackie represents.

Selling Mackie now, would more of less condemn Rangers to relegation. Not only because of losing that infectious ethic, but the above symbolic nature of his departure would be rather waving the white flag while that fleeting opportunity still remains.

This in effect is a plea to all at Queens Park Rangers. Hopefully by now we have established that talent alone is not enough - we have a squad brimming with talented players that have not done what is necessary to haul us out of the mess.

Mackie represents more than a fiesty, plucky forward that has the adulation of the supporters. He is that flicker of hope that remains on the field - extinguish it and for me we embrace the Championship three months early.

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