It all starts here

They slumped after the somewhat strange decision to place manager Ian Holloway on gardening leave, a situation that only ended very recently when he moved to Plymouth as manager. That allowed caretaker boss Gary Waddock to be given the job full time at a club that has been in the news more for shootings and board room goings on than anything else during the summer.

Italian chairman Gianni Paladini had no hesitation in giving the job to Waddock, despite the poor form in the last three months of last season, and Waddock has made a number of changes to the squad, bringing in players from as far away as Jamaica and Australia.

Jamaican Damion Stewart who played in his countries back four in the heavy defeat against England in June, was the first signing. Stewart spent last on loan with Bradford City, where he started twenty league games, but has now moved permanently to England from Harbour View.

Next to arrive was Nick Ward, a midfielder who has made the move from Perth Glory. He was close to being named in his country's squad for the World Cup but has represented Australia at full international level.

Continuing the international theme, the third signing was Nigerian midfield player Egutu Oliseh, the brother of Sunday the former Juventus player. He has been signed from Belgium side La Louviere having previously played in France.

Next up is another midfielder, this time Cameroon Armel Tchakounte. He is 27 and until now has played his football exclusively in Africa and Asia. His former clubs include Hong Kong outfit Kitchee. Finally, Waddock has added a loan signing to his squad, with the capture of Adam Czerkas, a Polish striker from Odra Wodzislaw.

Obviously players have left to accommodate the new signings and the most notable departures have been Dean Sturridge, Georges Santos and Richard Langley, Langley recently moving to Luton in a free transfer.

There is set to be one more player leaving and that is defender Danny Shittu who has looked set to move on for most of the summer. Paladini said he would not be sold for less than £3 million but he's done a deal with West Brom for a fee that is initially just half of that and by the time the game kicks off he could well be a West Brom player, it is now just subject to a medical.

Many are predicting a struggle again for a club that hardly looks stable, much will depend on how the new signings fare in our league. It is certainly a good opportunity for the Clarets to get the season off to a good start, and it is eight years since we got the season started with a home win.

There have been no real indications as to who will start for QPR but they do have one or two injury problems although the only player definitely ruled out is Paul Furlong, whilst Kevin Gallen and Marc Nygaard are both considered doubtful.

Egutu Oliseh could also miss out but Martin Rowlands, once a Burnley target when he was at Brentford, is expected to be fit having returned to full training following a pre-season injury.

Dominic Shimmin is ruled out with a suspension but Gary Waddock is expected to give debuts to four of his five new signings, all five if Oliseh does play, whilst Marc Bircham and Steve Lomas could both play having been used sparingly during last season.

Click HERE to see the full QPR squad.

Trying to determine our starting line up has been something of a puzzle for most Burnley fans in the last week following the completion of the pre-season fixtures. I'm sure most of us have got most of the starting eleven in our heads and probably it is the right hand side of the pitch where we are not too sure.

I think Frank Sinclair will get the vote ahead of Michael Duff at right back but it is more difficult to work out just who will start on the right of midfield. A number of players have been tried there, including Alan Mahon in the second game in Italy, but there has been no clear indication as to who might get that place for this game.

I think, given the manager's preference for playing Mahon on the left, then it could clear the way for Wade Elliott to start.

The subs bench will be interesting with some players not making the last sixteen, and how refreshing that is for Burnley fans who have seen at times a struggle to fill the bench over the last three years. Danny Karbassiyoon is ruled out with a knee injury and I don't expect Duane Courtney or Gifton Noel-Williams, two more of the transfer listed players to feature.

I think we will line up as follows in a 4-4-2 formation:

Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Stephen Foster, Wayne Thomas, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Alan Mahon, Steve Jones, Andy Gray. Subs from: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Micah Hyde, John Spicer, Garreth O'Connor, Graham Branch, Kyle Lafferty.

The last time the two sides met in league action at the Turf was not too long ago and it brought our last victory of last season when Andy Gray scored his third Burnley goal, latching on to a through ball from Alan Mahon at the Jimmy Mac end of the ground with just eleven minutes to go.

The win meant that Championship football was secured for a seventh successive season, although it never had really been in any doubt. Without playing at our best we were much the better side with James O'Connor and Mahon outstanding in the midfield.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Phil Bardsley, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Alan Mahon, James O'Connor, Chris McCann (John McGreal 87), Graham Branch (Micah Hyde 65), Michael Ricketts (Wade Elliott 55), Andy Gray. Subs not used: John Spicer, Garreth O'Connor.

QPR: Paul Jones, Marcin Kus (Steve Lomas 66), Danny Shittu, Ian Evatt, Mauro Milanese, Gareth Ainsworth, Richard Langley, Marc Bircham (Scott Donnelly 86), Lee Cook, Marc Nygaard, Shabazz Baidoo. Subs not used: Jake Cole, Paul Furlong, Scott Howell.