Non-League and Academy football writer

21 year old QPR midfielder Rafferty Pedder has made some really good strides in his development as a footballer, since going from North London to West London, to join QPR from Spurs’ academy set-up, during the 2021/22 season. From Maidstone, in Kent, Rafferty is a player who was very highly thought of at Spurs, and who I thought did well for them at Under 18 and Under 21 level. However, Rafferty decided to leave Spurs himself, to join QPR, during that 2021/22 season. A player who can play in a variety of positions, such as in central midfield, as a CAM and out wide on either flank, Rafferty is a superb athlete with great pace and acceleration with the ball. He more often than not played as a CAM in the Spurs Academy set-up during the scholarship years, but since moving to QPR he has played in more varied roles on the pitch, and in my opinion he has really flourished for the QPR Development Squad, where he has been one of their standout players over the last couple of seasons. Part of a very talented Spurs Academy side, one which saw Rafferty play with the likes of Noni Madueke, Dennis Cirkin, Luis Binks, Harvey White and Dilan Markanday on a regular basis, Rafferty would have had a very good footballing education at Spurs’ category one academy set-up.

From his time at QPR, so far, Rafferty has noticeably developed into more of a goalscoring midfield player, something which I’m sure that the QPR Academy coaches have been working with him on. He has always been a good and clinical finisher, particularly when he receives the ball just outside the oppositions penalty area. And last season, Rafferty scored an impressive ten competitive goals for the QPR Development Squad, as well as providing 12 assists during the same season, in all competitions. During the early stages of the current 2023/24 season, the former Spurs man has already scored six competitive goals and has provided four assists for the QPR Development Squad, and he also provided an assist for the QPR first team in pre-season. Making the bench for the QPR first team under former head-coach Gareth Ainsworth, in a Carabao Cup first round tie earlier in the season, judging from the QPR first team training photographs, Rafferty seems to have been training a lot with the first team this season.

After spending a month out on loan at National League side Oxford City, where he did well, Rafferty is now back at QPR, and he’ll be looking to follow in the footsteps of QPR Academy graduate Sinclair Armstrong, in making a real impression on the first team, given the opportunity. A midfield player whose best position I believe is as a CAM, Rafferty Pedder is a player who is getting stronger and improving in different of aspects of his game. He has a great change of pace, but it is his unpredictable and very effective dribbling ability with the ball, as well as his creativity, which I believe can offer a lot to the QPR first team. As I mentioned earlier, Rafferty is also a goalscorer, but he is very positive, direct and intelligent in the way that he plays and understands the game. Capable of going past players with ease, he is always looking to play that forward pass. I’ve watched QPR’s Development Squad on a really good number of occasions during recent years, and in my eyes their most influential player has been Rafferty Pedder. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a good opportunity to show his quality for the QPR first team during the remainder of this season. He is growing and improving all of the time as a player, and his performances this season at different levels have been consistently very good.