Post by QPR Report on Jul 30, 2009 6:49:26 GMT
QPR just relegated with the humiliation of 18 points, 1969-1970 was a very enjoyable season under Les Allen. Starting with a pre-season friendly against Glasgow Rangers (after other London clubs chickened out cos of fan violence)....A lot of goals. Two good cup runs till beaten in the Quarter Finals by the two winners: Man City at Maine Road and Chelsea at Loftus Road....
A forward line of Marsh, Bridges and Clarke....
A defense of Ron Hunt and Tony Hazell...Dave Clement, Ian Watson, Alan Harris, Vic Mobley
In midfield, Sibley, Ian Morgan, Venables, Mick Leach
The arrival of Mike Ferguson
The signing of Terry Venables...The sale of Alan Glover: A 17 year old for 70,000 (which would be millions today). The (brief) return of Clive Clark...Vic Mobley's arrival....
Losing 6-4 at Bolton (and then in the return 0-4)....Crushing Blackpool 6-1 at Loftus Road back in August (Blackpool eventually going up that year).
Don Rogers vs Rodney Marsh...Peter Shilton vs Rodney Marsh...
The debut of Martyn Busby as a 16 year old...the coming into the team of Gerry Francis....
1969/1970 League Table
www.footballstatisticsresults.co.uk/english_1969_division_2_stats.html
QPR's 1969/1970 Results
www.soccerbase.com/results2.sd?teamid=2093&seasonid=99
Wikipedia/1969-1970 Season
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969-70_in_English_football
The History of QPR - 1969 - 1970
By Gordon Macey - Official Q.P.R. Club Historian.
Following their relegation Rangers went into the transfer market in an attempt to regain their first division place. They signed Terry Venables for £70,000, a club record, from Tottenham Hotspur. Clive Clark was re-signed from West Bromwich Albion. Clark came as part payment for the transfer of Alan Glover to The Hawthorns. Bobby Keetch had left the club to play for the South African side Durban City and Les Allen gave up playing to concentrate on managing the club. Despite several offers for Rodney Marsh Rangers managed to hold on to their star player to reinforce their determination to win promotion.
The season started promisingly with four wins and a draw. The best victory was 6-1 at home to Blackpool, with Marsh scoring a hat-trick. These good results had put Rangers at the top of the league. They lost the top spot following a 3-0 defeat at Birmingham City. Four more consecutive wins put them back in first place. In order to strengthen the defence Vic Mobley was signed from Sheffield Wednesday for £55,000. Rangers slipped to third with a run of just two wins and three draws in seven games. Second place was regained after two successive wins but no wins in the next four saw Rangers drop to fifth. At the end of November Rangers scored four goals at Bolton Wanderers but still lost as Bolton got six. Mike Ferguson was signed Aston Villa to add width to the forward line. At the midpoint of the season Rangers had twenty seven points from their twenty one games. The year ended with two wins and two draws.
January did not see an improvement in Rangers league position, they only won once in the four games played. Rangers were briefly back to second place following two successive wins, 2-1 at Hull City and 4-0 at home to Norwich City. Their form then deserted them at the crucial time of the season, it coincided with the sale of Frank Clarke to Ipswich Town. With ten games to go Rangers were just one point behind second placed Cardiff City. Rangers only won once in those final games, 4-2 at home to Aston Villa. Although the run in did contain five consecutive draws. Rangers had dropped to ninth place at the end of the season, eight points behind promoted Blackpool. The only regular players during the season were Barry Bridges, Rodney Marsh and ever present Tony Hazell. The leading goalscorers were Brides with twenty four (21 league and 3 cup) and Marsh with twenty one (12 league and 9 cup).
LEAGUE CUP
In the second round Rangers were drawn away at third division Mansfield Town. Bridges scored after three minutes only for Mansfield to equalise after 21 minutes. Early in the second half Ian Watson scored with a long range shot. But Mansfield did not give up and deserved their equaliser after 65 minutes. In the replay Rangers completely outplayed Mansfield and took the lead with a Venables penalty after 17 minutes. Rangers added two more through Clement and Marsh before half time. Clarke scored a fourth after the interval to clinch an easy 4-0 win. In the third round Rangers were home to another third division side, Tranmere Rovers. Mick Leach and Frank Clarke scored within ninety seconds of each other to give Rangers a half-time lead. The second half belonged to Rodney Marsh as he scored four goals to give Rangers a 6-0 winning margin. Rangers had another home draw in the fourth round, this time the visitors were first division Wolverhampton Wanderers. Rangers looked the first division side in the first half and went in at half time leading by three goals to nil, the goals coming from Barry Bridges and two from Frank Clarke. Wolves fought back in the second half and pulled one back through Wilson. But it was not enough and Rangers went through by 3-1. Rangers were now in the last eight for the first time since their victorious season in 1967. The fifth round had Rangers travelling to Maine Road to meet Manchester City. Rangers were outclassed by City's international trio of Lee, Bell and Summerbee. At half time they had scored three without reply. With City relaxing in the second half the game died and no further goals were scored, so Rangers good cup run came to an end.
F.A. CUP
The third round saw Rangers at home to northern non-league side South Shields. The game saw Marsh return to the side following a four match suspension. The Northern Premier League side were no match for Rangers in the current form and lost 4-1. Marsh marked his return with two goals. Rangers had now ended their cup jinx by reaching the fourth round for the first time in 22 years. The next round saw Rangers travelling across London to meet Charlton Athletic. The game did not start well for Rangers who were two goals down after 23 minutes. Rangers fought back and equalised within twelve minutes through two goals from Marsh. After the break Marsh worked his way through the Charlton defence and looked like completing his hat-trick. But he passed to Clarke who side footed the ball into the empty net. Rangers held on to their advantage and went through to the next round by 3-2. The fifth round draw paired Rangers, at home, with Derby County. Rangers dominated the game but could not score in the first half. The second half saw Marsh perform at his best and Rangers took the lead with a Dave Mackay own goal. Despite Derby's pressure Rangers defence held and they were into the last eight of the competition. This equalled the furthest Rangers had ever been in the F.A. Cup before. The sixth round draw gave Rangers another home tie against neighbours Chelsea. The match attracted a ground record of 33,572 people. The match was one of the best seen at Loftus Road for many seasons. Unfortunately for Rangers Chelsea proved to be too strong for them. The main destroyer for Chelsea was Peter Osgood who scored a hat-trick. Rangers scored through a Venables penalty and a Bridges header. But Chelsea won in the end by four goals to two and went forward to the semi-finals.
