Queens Park Rangers Greatest Games

Mike Donovan

Description

From the thousands of matches ever played by QPR, stretching from their Victorian foundation to the Premier League era, here are 50 of the club's most glorious, epochal and thrilling games of all! Expertly presented in evocative historical context, and described incident-by-incident in atmospheric detail, Queens Park Rangers Greatest Games offers a terrace ticket back in time, taking in historical highlights from their first matches at Welford's Field in Kensal Rise to Loftus Road, Jim Gregory's QPR Revolution, the plastic pitch and beyond. An irresistible cast list of club legends - Stan Bowles and Les Ferdinand, Tony Ingham, George Goddard and Rodney Marsh - springs to life in a thrilling selection of famous firsts, derby showdown successes, Southern League title clinchers, last-day dramas, European nights, Cup finals and that unforgettable Sixties Double. In all, a journey through the highlights of the Hoops' history which is guaranteed to make any fan's heart swell with pride.

Sujets

• Gran Londres
• Greater London
• Grand Londres
• London

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781909626157
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2013 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Mike Donovan, 2013
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
eISBN: 978-1-909626-15-7 (Printed edition: 978-1-90917-879-3)
eBook Conversion by www.ebookpartnership.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1 Fulham 1893
2 Brighton United 1899
3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1900
4 Plymouth Argyle 1906
5 Manchester United 1908
6 Brentford 1911
7 Watford 1920
8 Arsenal 1921
9 Swindon Town 1930
10 Bristol Rovers 1937
11 Swansea Town 1948
12 Grimsby Town 1950
13 Watford 1957
14 Tranmere Rovers 1960
15 Southend United 1961
16 Hull City 1962
17 Mansfield Town 1966
18 Birmingham City 1967
19 West Bromwich Albion 1967
20 Oxford United 1967
21 Aston Villa 1968
22 Leicester City 1968
23 Derby County 1970
24 Nottingham Forest 1972
25 Cardiff City 1973
26 Liverpool 1975
27 Leeds United 1976
28 SK Brann 1976
29 AEK Athens 1977
30 Coventry City 1979
31 Luton Town 1981
32 Tottenham Hotspur 1982
33 Fulham 1983
34 Newcastle United 1984
35 Partizan Belgrade 1984
36 Liverpool 1986
37 Chelsea 1986
38 Arsenal 1990
39 Liverpool 1991
40 Manchester United 1992
41 Everton 1993
42 Port Vale 1997
43 Barnsley 1997
44 Crystal Palace 1999
45 Oldham Athletic 2003
46 Sheffield Wednesday 2004
47 Watford 2011
48 Liverpool 2012
49 Fulham 2012
50 Chelsea 2013
Photographs
Acknowledgements
F IRST AND foremost I would like to thank Gordon Macey, the Queens Park Rangers official club historian, for his support. His personal advice when we met up at that charming public house in Woking was invaluable. I appreciate him taking time out, even providing verbal instructions over the phone to direct me to the venue off the motorway!
The information in his books on the club - The Official History of Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPR) and Queens Park Rangers The Complete Record (Breedon) - provided crucial resources on which I was able to build the stories of many of the matches, especially those dated before the Second World War.
I would also like to thank Gordon for the pictures he has supplied for the publication. Again, an invaluable contribution.
I would like to thank Les Ferdinand for doing the foreword. Sir Les is a proper legend of the club, a great role model and all round top bloke. I appreciate the efforts of Melissa Chappell and John Fennelly, head of publications at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, in helping to get it all together.
I felt and feel honoured to have met up again with Ian Gillard, the loyal Rangers left-back during the club s halcyon days of the 1970s, and for him to share his memories along with those of another Rangers legend, Mark Lazarus.
Other former Rangers stars such as Glenn Roeder, Clive Allen, Warren Neill, John Byrne, Chris Kiwomya, and Les Ferdinand have also gone down Memory Lane with me.
I would like to thank Paul Morrissey, QPR s media manager, for taking time out to meet me, organising a match day visit to Loftus Road for me to continue my research, putting me in touch with players and helping to enable the book to be recognised as an official publication, and his colleague Ian Taylor. Plus my gratitude is extended to all at Pitch Publishing, especially Paul and Jane Camillin.
I appreciate the fantastic input of Queens Park Rangers fans such as Nick and Jan Saloman, Debbie Wileman, Rosemary Donovan, Paul Harris and others.
Thanks to Paul Barber and Peter Hannon at the Football Association, Andy Dodd and Tony Brown at the Football League, the enfa.co.uk website, and the Premier League.
I appreciate the assistance of the British Newspaper Library - and its helpful staff - in Colindale, north London. I enjoyed my visits and being able to read the actual newspapers which reported on Queens Park Rangers right back to the club s beginnings in the 19th century.
Shooting To The Top by Rodney Marsh (Stanley Paul), Stan Bowles The Autobiography (Orion), Ollie The Autobiography of Ian Holloway and Made in Sheffield My Story by Neil Warnock provided prime sources.
Newspapers such as The Sun , The Guardian , The Observer , The Daily Telegraph , Daily Mail , Daily Star , Kilburn Times , Ealing Gazette (which published interviews your author had with QPR managers such as Alec Stock, Steve Burtenshaw, Tommy Docherty, Terry Venables, Alan Mullery and players like Gerry Francis, Stan Bowles, Gary Waddock, John Gregory , Tony Currie, Arthur Jefferson and Mike Keen) have been more than useful, and magazines such as Backpass too (keep up the good work, Mike!).
I would like to thank the official QPR website, BBC Sport, QPRnet.com, Indyrs.co.uk and other recommended sites such as 11v11.com - and its posters.
The inspiration provided by my mum, wife Rosemary, brother and sister, son Matthew, brother-in-law Charlie and the rest of my family has been helpful.
Also Kevin and Pauline Rogers, Mark Friedlander, Dave Harley, Tony Harris, Mike McNamara, Graham Cumming, Mims, Kate and Keith, Tilly and Ronnie, Marc and Louise Whitmore, the Loughton Five-a-Siders, the Bexhill Mob, 6 Music Radio and all I have crossed positive paths with during the writing of the book ... And tea.
Mike Donovan
Dedications
To my mum.
To Nick, who has supported Rangers through thick and thin.
To the memory of Louis Haar.
To the memory of Ray Jones, a Ranger cut down as he was blooming (28 August 1988-25 August 2007).
To all Rangers fans.
Foreword
I HAVE a real soft spot for Queens Park Rangers as Rangers is where it all started for me. I was born in Paddington and lived in the Ladbroke Grove area and I used to walk past Loftus Road every day on my way to secondary school.
When I first joined the club there wasn t one local lad playing for them. All our youth team players either came from Wales, Scotland or Ireland. No one from the local community was playing in the youth team and I never thought I was going to be a professional footballer.
I loved playing football, so I went to Viking Sports in Ealing while I was still at school. I stayed there a couple of years and moved on to Southall. I went from the youth team into the reserves and made my way up into the first team. Playing for Southall I had my first taste of Wembley in the FA Vase Final.
Unfortunately we lost! I always remember the manager standing in the middle of the room before we went out saying, Perhaps one of you may have the opportunity to play at Wembley again in your careers. Everyone looked around the room and wondered who it could be. We had some good players but no one ever thought it might be me. Years later I managed to play there with England.
From Southall I went to Hayes. A guy called Bobby Ross, a QPR scout, saw me play there and told Frank Sibley, a loyal servant to the club as a player, manager and coach for 34 years, came to watch. Eventually manager Jim Smith came down and signed me on the same day.
I d been working as a painter-decorator, doing driving jobs, all sorts, anything that would enable me to get away to train on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and play on a Saturday. Now I was a professional footballer. It was amazing.
I had a year in the reserves and a brief spell on loan at Brentford. I wasn t really breaking into the team and I remember Jim Smith saying he thought I had what it took but I wasn t going to get an opportunity in the team at that time. So he felt it was a great opportunity for me to go out and play in Turkey and play under an English manager at Besiktas with Gordon Milne, the former England and Liverpool player, who was in charge there. I didn t know anything about Turkey. All I I knew was that I needed to go and play football.
I felt playing abroad would be helpful to get away from the distractions of London. Going out to Turkey gave me that education on what it was like to be a professional footballer.
I came back and, thankfully it started to happen for me and Queens Park Rangers gave me some unforgettable years.
My favourite QPR team-mate? Clive Wilson. There were so many players that made my time with the club enjoyable but Clive is godfather to my daughter and I am the same to him and he s a great friend.
Favourite Rangers manager? I worked with a few like Jim Smith, Trevor Francis and Don Howe but probably the one I got on with most and the one that got the best out of me was Gerry Francis. He came in, put his arm around me and said, Look, you are my centre forward. He told me, I think you ve got everything it takes to play for England. I laughed at him at the time. But he was proved right.
One of the great things about Queens Park Rangers at the time - and I think most of the boys would tell you - was the atmosphere in the dressing room. We had a mix of very good players and we had a great group of sociable lads. I still say that the chat we had at Queens Park Rangers was the best I have had at any football club I ve been to and I have been fortunate enough to be at some good clubs as a player like Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers, Reading and Watford.
There were a lot of characters. Alan McDonald, sadly no longer with us, was a top man. Ray Wilkins was a character, Ollie (Ian Holloway) was definitely one. Gary Penrice was a big personality. Everyone got on with everyone, no cliques. I ve been involved in a lo