 Tuesday, 14th Jun 2011 19:59 by Clive Whittingham Italian Serie A side Parma have announced that they will face QPR in a friendly game at the beginning of August as part of a four match tour of the UK . NewsThe match, pencilled in for Loftus Road on Friday, August 5, beefs up QPR's rather anaemic looking summer campaign which up to now has included only away games with lower league and non-league outfits either side of an Italian tour. Parma, who fnished twelfth in Serie A last season, announced this week that they would play Cardiff on Saturday, July 30, League One new boys Stevenage on Tuesday, August 2, QPR on the Friday and finally our fellow Premiership newbies Norwich a day later. Of course with two games in two days at the end of the tour it remains to be seen what sort of a Parma side Rangers will face but it will certainly provide more of a challenge than was previously on the calendar for Neil Warnock's men. LFW Diary awaits the release of ticket prices for this fixture with a mixture of intrigue and head in hands horror. The pre-season fixtures now look like this: First Team: Friday 15th July Harrow Borough (a) 7.15pm Monday 18th July Tavistock (a) 7.00pm Wednesday 20th July Plymouth Argyle (a) 7.45pm Friday 22nd July Bodmin Town (a) 7.15pm Tuesday 2nd August Crawley Town (a) 7.45pm Friday 5th August Parma (h) 7.45pm Reserves: Saturday 16th July Hampton & Richmond 3.00pm Saturday 23rd July Truro (a) TBC Monday 25th July Saltash (a) TBC Wednesday 27th July Buckland Athletic (a) TBC Saturday 30th July Southend Utd (a) 3.00pm Wednesday 3rd August Woking (a) 7.45pm Youth Team: Sunday 24th July Liskeard Athletic (a) 3.00pm Tuesday 26th July St Austel (a) 7.00pm Thursday 28th July Elburton Villa (a) 7.00pm That announcement, yet to be confirmed by QPR but already publicised by Norwich , precedes the release of the Premiership fixture list this Friday morning. LoftforWords will attempt to skirt around the draconian copyright laws imposed and rigorously enforced against such major players in the football media as this network and bring you as much news of the dates as we're allowed to under the ridiculous regulations from 9.30am this Friday. It's worth mentioning, though not from our point of view for once, that the League Cup will be drawn on Thursday morning and for the first time feature a preliminary round of one tie. Birmingham, as a Championship side, should have entered the competition in the first round but won the competition last year and have European commitments which delays their entry until round three, necessitating a preliminary round in the meantime – league new boys Crawley and Wimbledon will contest it. Anyway Neil Warnock told the club's official website: "I'd probably quite like a home fixture, but wherever we are and whoever we play, it's sure to be an exciting prospect. I'm really looking forward to Friday to learn who we'll come up against on the opening day, and when we'll be visiting the likes of Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, The Emirates and all the other great stadiums." Elsewhere Warnock says his summer retention of out of contract players will conclude when back up goalkeeper Radek Cerny signs a new one year deal at Loftus Road . Cerny, 34, only played twice last season for Warnock thanks to the form of Paddy Kenny but was so keen to sign up for another year he offered to return from his family holiday this week to put pen to paper. Warnock told the Fulham Chronicle: "Radek’s been great back-up for Rangers – and he deserves this extension to his contract. It says something he was willing to come all the way back here to sort it now. But I’ve told him he needs to enjoy the break, and he can sign when he gets back. All player business now will focus on new signings. Everyone here already has existing contracts that will take care of them for next season." There is some doubt, therefore, over the future of midfielder Akos Buzsaky who many believed (including LFW Diary it must be said) that he was out of contract this summer. It seems though that Buz has another 12 months to go, and is moving nowhere after the club rebuffed interest from Serie A side Lecce last season when our former boss Luigi De Canio was at the helm. Buzsaky's agent Vladan Filipovic told Sky: "Akos deserves to play in the Premier League. I think it suits his style more than the Championship. It's useless to give credit to the reports that he'd be released because the club hasn't mentioned that to me, or him. Akos is an important QPR player. Last year Lecce wanted to sign him but the club officials didn't let him go. Flavio Briatore told me a couple of times that he's one of his favourite players." RumoursThe rumour mill continues to turn, with the best part of 50 names mentioned in connection with QPR already this summer despite no deals yet being done for anybody at Loftus Road . The South London Press reports that for the second summer in a row Rangers are attempting to prise Darren Ambrose away from Crystal Palace . The former Ipswich midfielder was available for nothing 12 months ago and had agreed terms on a deal with Rangers before Palace's new owners pulled the plug and persuaded him to stay. The Mirror mentions a fee of £1.2m. Elsewhere Rangers fans are growing concerned that the return to the Loftus Road scene of Flavio Briatore has coincided with a spate of stories linking us with veteran Italian players – Rangers signed Damiano Tomassi to little effect during Briatore's last spell at the helm. Football Italia's assertion that Rangers are eyeing up Nicola Legrottaglie, the 34-year-old centre half just released by Milan, holds water as it actually quotes the player saying talks have taken place. Legrottaglie, formerly of Bari , Chievo and Juventus, said: " I have had a meeting with QPR and it is now up to them to decide. It would be a dream for me to have an experience abroad and playing in London would be the maximum. I was really happy at Milan and it was disappointing that I had to leave. I’d recommend that club to anyone.” Eye Football says Rangers are making a move for eight times Peruvian international Josepmir Ballón who currently plays for River Plate in Argentina . If true, maybe don't let Gianni Paladini handle that one lads ok? One to file in the 'pull the other one' file is the assertion by former Napoli coach Gianni Di Marzio that Alejandro Faurlin is interesting Real Madrid. According to The Star Marzio said : “Several clubs have asked about Faurlin. Even Real Madrid have been in touch.” Di Marzio has been hanging around Loftus Road for a good few years now, vaguely referenced as some sort of European scout when his name has been raised, but has rarely been quoted as a source on the club. If this is the standard of line we can expect from him, the LFW Diary hopefully looks forward to him returning to the shadows forthwith. A new name, Kevin Nolan, is linked by The Mirror after West Ham's cheeky £1.5m bid for the soon to be out of contract Newcastle midfielder was laughed off. And finally (for now anyway, expect a load more drivel in the next Diary) Sky are touting Jay Bothroyd and Sulley Muntari as potential summer signings for the R's. Muntari at least says he is open to joining Rangers from Inter Milan after a loan spell with Sunderland this season. Muntari told Sky: "I would have loved to stay with Sunderland . I love the Premier League but do not forget I belong to one of the biggest clubs in the world. QPR? Why not, it will be a start. I have done it with another good English manager at Portsmouth . We even won the FA Cup, so you never know." Former R'sTommy Doherty's eclectic list of clubs has another name added after the stark raving lunatic signed for Welsh Conference side Newport County . The 32-year-old former Northern Ireland international left Bradford City on a free transfer at the end of the season and has dropped down another level as his career starts to wind down. Doherty was signed at Loftus Road by Ian Holloway from Bristol City but served suspensions for gratuitous acts of violence on the pitch and attracted justified criticism for his love of ale, nicotine, and five-a-side football matches with his mates when he was supposed to be out injured. He was revitalised under Paul Lambert at Wycombe, twice being named in the League Two team of the year, but his move to Bradford didn't work out and he will now try again in non-league football having already endured an unhappy spell at Fercvaros in Hungary. Danni Parejo was another midfielder who endured a troubled time at Loftus Road , but has gone onto rather more success than Doherty since leaving. His loan spell from Real Madrid was cut short midway through the 2008/09 season and he was released to join Getafe by the Spanish giants thereafter. But he has excelled in the more cosy surroundings and is currently in Denmark playing for Spain in the Under 21 Championships – coming on as a second half sub against England in a 1-1 draw on Sunday night. Back at home his agent has put the finishing touches on a move to Valencia for E5million on a five year contract. Borat beware, John Gregory is heading your way. The well travelled Gregory, recently sacked by Israeli side FC Ashdod, has taken a job at Kazakhstani side FC Kairat, who play in the country’s biggest city Almaty. Kairat won the Kazakh league in 2004 but have fallen on hard times of late and want the former QPR player and manager to revive their fortunes. Gregory said: "I can’t change the past, but I can affect future results. First of all I want the players to forget about all the failures of the past and think only about the future. Sometimes it is not even particularly important how a team plays - most important is that they win. I love to win and I like players with winning characters." Premiership Shorts- Relations don't look like they're going to improve between second city rivals Birmingham and Aston Villa any time soon. Brum manager Alex McLeish, fresh from being presented with Chris Burke and Marlon King as "his" first summer signings he e-mailed his resignation to the newly relegated club and is now the favourite to take over at Villa Park. Villa have already been knocked back by Roberto Martinez and cooled their interest in Mark Hughes, Steve McLaren and a host of others. McLeish isn't wanted by the Villa fans and would take the job in the knowledge that he was at least fifth choice with the board. - Man City are said to be favourites to sign Udinese's Chile international Alexis Sanchez this summer, according to the Italian club's owner who has set a staggering £44m price tag on his player's head. City could fund part of that deal, for Sanchez's boots maybe, by selling Jerome Boateng to Bayern Munich after the player agreed a four year deal with the German giants. - Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis ays the club is gearing up for a busy transfer window after their disappointing 2010/11 season made it six years without a trophy at the Emirates. Arsene Wenger was told in no uncertain terms to start spending some of owner Stan Kroenke's money this summer after the final game of the season at Fulham and Lille's 15 goal Ivory Coast striker Gervinho is already set for talks with the Gunners. - Veteran Blackburn striker Jason Roberts has laughed off reports linking him with a reunion with former manager Paul Jewell at Ipswich, saying he is happy to see out the last year of his contract at Ewood Park. The 34-year-old said: "I am happy at Blackburn and I am looking forward to next season already. You are never quite sure where these rumours come from. I can confirm that I am still in Grenada and I have not spoken to anyone from Ipswich or Blackburn ." We now have 285 people following @loftforwords on Twitter. This is embarrassing for the staff and hired help at LoftforWords towers. Neil is depressed and hasn't taken a picture in days. He's talking about being a wedding photographer. Weddings people, this is serious. Please join us and improve the mood. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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