And while we’re at it...

NO player has done more to keep QPR in the Premier League than Charlie Austin. Without his goals, they would have been long gone. However, some want more than just plaudits for the striker. England manager Roy Hodgson was accused of snubbing Austin, and all players at unfashionable clubs, by not including him in his last squad for the matches with Lithuania and Italy. On Saturday, Rangers got a penalty against West Ham. It was a big chance in a tied game, one of the key moments in QPR’s season. There was plenty of time to contemplate the consequences of success and failure. The pressure was immense. And Austin didn’t score. Now that doesn’t make him a bad player. The greats of the game miss penalties. Lionel Messi’s record this season is particularly random. Yet the tension that comes with international football, certainly in tournaments, is every bit as oppressive as that experienced by Austin (right) against West Ham. Once it gets serious, England games carry a huge weight. Austin has enjoyed a magnificent season for his club but it is overplaying that hand to suggest he is ready for England right now. He needs more challenges like this before we can be sure. MANUEL PELLEGRINI has been working very hard defending his record this season. ‘Arsenal have spent more money,’ he said. ‘Chelsea spend more money, Manchester United spend more money, also Liverpool more money.’ How odd. There we were thinking it was about coaching and tactics — and this was why Manchester City needed a studious foreigner in charge — when all along it was just about the dough. So why do City need Pellegrini, when they could just employ a manager from this country and write a cheque? A FEW months back, Radamel Falcao was leaving Manchester United. Stitched on. Not a doubt. How could the club pay £43m for a striker who cannot get in the team? Now attitudes are softening. Nobody is suggesting Falcao will stay but at the very least United are letting him down easy. Could this be due to the fact that the striker shares an agent, Jorge Mendes, with goalkeeper David de Gea — a player United are increasingly fearful they will lose to Real Madrid next season? IT is no surprise that clubs are interested in Chesterfield manager Paul Cook. He has done an outstanding job, getting the club to the League One playoffs. The timing of an approach by Portsmouth, however, is poor. ‘We’re in our best position in 30 years,’ said Chesterfield chief executive Chris Turner. ‘It’s very annoying — but it’s football.’ Indeed it is — but weren’t fan-owned clubs supposed to be different?