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Post by gramps on Sept 3, 2011 13:26:06 GMT
Thanks for your comments Mac. Both points are now reflected in the thread and in my master copy. I did actually put 5-1 in here but, you see, it's my keyboard which keeps on .............................. Oh, you don't believe me, do you ...........Just as well!
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Post by gramps on Sept 3, 2011 13:29:37 GMT
Thanks Terry. Perhaps you would allow me to quote your above comments in my book? So I can attribute it to you, perhaps you would PM me with your real name. I was gutted to miss the game but I worked extremely unusual hours and couldn't get to Villa Park that day.
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Post by gramps on Sept 3, 2011 13:30:36 GMT
Once again I am grateful to Mac and Terry for their comments. I am always ready to be corrected and all this and any other comments any of you have will help me with my book.
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Post by gramps on Sept 16, 2011 16:23:08 GMT
OK Guys, here is episode 18. The next one will be the last in this thread then I can get back to work on my book. The Old Days (18) In the top tier at last So here come the QPR storm troopers - ready to take on all comers in the First Division. First things first, however. In August 1968 the club signed Centre Forward Barry Bridges from Birmingham City for £50,000. Two other players who were to become enormously significant in future years were full back Ian Gillard and a young man named Gerry Francis who had a part of one game in the season as a substitute. Both players were club apprentices. A major departure was Roger Morgan who moved to Tottenham Hotspur in mid-season for £110,00. Coincidentally, his first game for Spurs was against Rangers at Loftus Road when he played against his twin brother, Ian, for the first time in their respective careers. Honours were shared in a 1-1 draw. At the time of writing this chapter, there is a lot of talk about a new stadium for Rangers on their return to the Premier League as our ground can now hold in the region of only 18,000 since it became an ‘all seater’. Jim Gregory was very keen in 1968 for Rangers to have a stadium which would do credit to their new found First Division status and he held talks with Brentford with a view to merging the two clubs and basing them at Griffin Park. There was tremendous opposition from the supporters of both clubs and the plan was dropped forthwith. Jim then initiated a plan which saw the birth of a new stand in South Africa Road at a cost of £210,000. Although the stand was officially open at the beginning of the season, it was by no means finished. I know this to mine and my father’s cost. For the first time ever that year we had a season ticket and I well remember on September 14th watching us play Chelsea at home and getting a 0-4 drubbing as well as being soaked to the skin! This particular occasion and events surrounding it is described in some detail in Ron Phillips’ excellent “A QPR Odyssey”. One thought which has just occurred to me is that I was at this game on my 11th wedding anniversary – how on earth did I get away with that? Anyway, it is worth recounting here how my father and I, dedicated ‘terrace men’, came to be in the stand. At an earlier home game I opened my programme to find a voucher entitling me to two free stand tickets. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I used these for the home 2-2 draw against Sunderland and we were both converted and bought our season tickets immediately and for ever after. One episode which left a sour taste in many mouths was Alec Stock’s resignation as manager, the stated reason being his ill health. There was, however, an element of ‘was he pushed or did he jump?’ Alec, without a shadow of doubt, was one of the most popular managers the club has ever had. After all his hard work and dedication in taking the club through from Third to First Divisions, winning the League Cup along the way, he never got to pick a First Division side. Following having a caretaker manager in Bill Dodgin, Tommy Docherty was appointed to the post but lasted only 28 days. He was replaced by Les Allen who came in as player-manager. To say that the season was a disaster for the club would probably qualify of being one of football’s all time understatements. With only four wins and ten draws, Rangers ended in bottom place. Probably the most humiliating defeat of the season was at Old Trafford when Manchester United won 8-1. Barry Bridges and Mick Leach were joint top scorers with just eight goals each. Old habits die hard and, once again, we went out of the FA Cup in the third round – this time 1-2 to Aston Villa. In the League Cup Rangers came in and went out in the second round when they lost 2-4 to Peterborough United. So, Rangers were about to enter a new season and a new decade back in the Second Division which they had so recently left. The bubble of success had burst and all the hard work was about to start again. QPR's first game in the top flight against Leicester City in August 1968. See brand new, roofless South Africa Road stand.Photo from "QPR, The Complete History" by permission of Gordon Macey
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Post by gramps on Sept 18, 2011 7:47:50 GMT
Bump in case anybody missed this episode in all the excitement of Wolverhampton.
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Post by Macmoish on Sept 18, 2011 7:52:12 GMT
Thanks Gramps...
I remember that season oh so well...
The beyond-belief feeling just of being in the First Divsion.... It was just so beyond belief that little QPR were up there... Sure there was humiliation.... And heartbreak...And game after game "we were robbed"
But such a sense of pride just for being there...
At the end of that season, we also sold Alan Glover to WBA, for 70,000 after 7 QPR games. In those days, was a massive amount of money.
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Post by waterbuffalo on Sept 18, 2011 10:52:13 GMT
Thank you Gramps, by the way, don't drink anything that will affect your health don't eat anything that will affect your health, I want you around, sir. Learn the Taoism way of breathing. Breathe from the diaphragm, not from your lungs. Get this book from your library, Simple Taoism-A guide to living in balance. C-Alexander Simpkins phd. It might help a little bit.
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Post by thorstein on Sept 18, 2011 13:39:21 GMT
Wow, had to catch up about 10 of your stories, but what a great way to spend a Sunday Gramps. I'll be up for the book version for sure and I'll spread the word over here as I'm sure there will be others interested. Thx again
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Post by gramps on Sept 18, 2011 19:00:10 GMT
Thank you Gramps, by the way, don't drink anything that will affect your health don't eat anything that will affect your health, I want you around, sir. Learn the Taoism way of breathing. Breathe from the diaphragm, not from your lungs. Get this book from your library, Simple Taoism-A guide to living in balance. C-Alexander Simpkins phd. It might help a little bit. Always do breath from my diaphragm WB. As a semi-professional singer it the best way and becomes a habit after a while. Have done a lot of Tai Chi over the years. Thanks for the tip. Very kind of you.
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Post by gramps on Sept 27, 2011 12:30:10 GMT
OK guys, here it is. The nineteenth and final episode of 'The Old Days'. I am now off to continue putting the book together. Hope you have enjoyed my little anecdotes.
The Old Days (19)
The re-building starts
Following a disastrous First Division season, the time had come for Rangers to rebuild with a view to an early return to the top flight. They made a high-profile signing in Terry Venables for whom they paid a club record fee of £70,000 and Clive Clark returned from West Brom in a part exchange deal involving Alan Glover. Bobby Keetch left us to play in South Africa for Durban City. Sadly, Bobby died in 1996 at the age of only 54 after suffering a stroke. At this time Les Allen decided to give up playing and concentrate on his job as manager.
The season started well with eight wins, one draw and one defeat in the first ten games and all seemed set fair to bounce back up again. Sadly, this was not to be, although this would depend on the individual’s perspective as it could be argued that one season was probably not enough to rebuild the squad after such a disaster in 1968/9. In any event, after this good start there followed a patch of results which, to put it kindly, was only mediocre and Rangers finished the season in 9th place. Top scorer for the season was Barry Bridges with 24 from 46 games, followed closely by Rodney Marsh who netted 21 from 47. Between them they bagged two thirds of the total goals scored that season in all competitions. The best league result of the season was our 6-1 rout of Blackpool with Marsh getting a hat-trick, Bridges two and Venables from the penalty spot. Biggest defeat of the season was at Bolton where we went down 4-6.
Unusually for Rangers, we reached the sixth round of the FA Cup with wins at home to South Shields 4-1 in round 3, away to Charlton Athletic 3-2, home to Derby County 1-0 (Dave Mackay put that one in his own net) and losing in the sixth round 2-4 at home to West London rivals Chelsea. I recall the latter game which was played on my 34th birthday. The pitch was an absolute mud-bath (not uncommon for Loftus Road in February at that time) and our goals were scored by Terry Venables from the spot and Barry Bridges. The penalty was initially hotly disputed – we were 0-2 down at the time – but even more so when Bonetti saved the first attempt only for the linesman to flag because the ‘keeper moved before the kick was taken. Venables made no mistake second time round but it was unfortunately not enough and Chelsea went on to defeat Leeds in the final. Chelsea defeated Watford 5-1 in the semi-final to secure their Wembley place against Leeds who had beaten Manchester United to get there. The Wembley match was a 2-2 draw and history was made with the first ever cup final replay taking place at Old Trafford where the West London club ran out 2-1 winners. Both final matches went to extra time. Interestingly, the final and winning goal was scored by David Webb who later became a QPR stalwart for three years.
In the League Cup we beat Mansfield at home 4-0 in a replay of round 2 following a 2-2 away draw. We then beat Tranmere Rovers 6-0 at home with Rodney Marsh netting four goals and followed this up with a 3-1 fourth round win at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers before going out 0-3 away to Manchester City.
This pretty well brings to a close my reminiscences of my early days as a QPR supporter. As has already been explained my considerable domestic work commitments meant that I was only able to support from afar and the only information I could possibly add to this story would be purely statistical facts which can be obtained from a number of sources. Once again I commend Gordon Macey’s book Queen’s Park Rangers – The Complete Facts which contains a wealth of information. I am grateful to Gordon for permission to freely use his publication as a source of guidance and a very useful jogger for my ageing brain!
I should like to finish my story with a brief summary of the years following 1970. Rangers did not stay over-long in the second flight, coming 11th (70/71), 4th (71/72) and then 2nd (72/73) which led to promotion to Division 1 again where they stayed for six years. Second Division football was back for four years until promotion in 1983. This time saw the team stay in the top flight for 13 years – a record which many hope will be exceeded following promotion to the Premier League in 2011.
There have been many more exciting times since 1970, including three more Wembley appearances, once in the FA Cup in 1982 where we drew 1-1 first time round against Spurs and lost the replay 0-1. Rangers also played again in the League Cup final which, against all the odds in 1986, ended in a 0-3 defeat to Oxford United. The club has also played on a number of occasions in European competitions where some exciting games have ensued without any trophies being won. Success in this theatre has yet to happen.
I hope I shall be around to see that achieved!
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Post by RoryTheRanger on Sept 27, 2011 12:33:18 GMT
How's the book coming along??
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Post by haqpr1963 on Sept 27, 2011 12:36:28 GMT
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Post by gramps on Sept 27, 2011 12:41:14 GMT
How's the book coming along?? Been really busy in the past few weeks with all my other commitments so have not had a chance to do much. It was always my intention to get this thread finished before I launched full time into the book and now I have achieved that much. For all this, I have 'completed' about 20 pages subject to re-vamping various parts of it. Although the bulk of the book will be governed by what has appeared in this thread, there will be a number of additions, adjustments and pictures to spice it up a bit; then reading and re-reading, chasing up sponsorship and awaiting comments from people like Gordon Macey and Ron Phillips who have been very helpful to me. Still waiting for my mate to give me a quote for binding so that needs to be chased. IT WILL HAPPEN!
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Post by gramps on Sept 27, 2011 12:43:50 GMT
Not much to keep up haqpr as that was the final episode in the thread. The book comes next. Still waiting to be contacted for the film rights, TV series, interviews, MBE, knighthood, proposals of marriage ....................
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Post by londonranger on Sept 27, 2011 13:24:33 GMT
Continually amaze me with your detail and super descriptions of events. Yes I too remember that Ist division nighmare.
Stock quit as i recall from the dopers because he knew that he didnt have the players to compete as no money spent, right. Also Gregory was ill and there wasnt enough input. Like Neil who was a hair from quiting for same reason until Fernandes and he had a long meeting.
A lot of things going on in life and family and moving to US that the 2nd div yrs after were for me catch as catch can. despite Livrpool we finally got back and the FA cup and plastic pitch. Not making attempt to finish but after that Only came back for coursesses, family and special matches. Flying was fun customs easy and free of these dreadful lines for security checks. Ugh. Our 3rd time in 1st/prem right. That history is yet to be written.
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Post by Macmoish on Sept 27, 2011 14:56:24 GMT
Thanks as always, Gramps Re that 1969/70 Season Video: QPR's win against Dave Mackay's Derby www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=46026The retaken QPR Penalty referred to above against Chelsea The Manchester City Loss referred to above
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Post by gramps on Sept 27, 2011 15:30:04 GMT
Thanks for those clips Mac. See what I mean about the mudbath against Chelsea? That was a hell of a Manchester City team then with some great names.
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Post by Bushman on Sept 27, 2011 15:34:30 GMT
Excellent as usual gramps.
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Post by gramps on Sept 27, 2011 15:42:02 GMT
Thanks Bman. Now for the book!
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Post by waterbuffalo on Sept 27, 2011 15:50:02 GMT
Terry Venables and Rodney Marsh in midfield. Wow. Good luck gramps.
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Post by gramps on Sept 28, 2011 16:52:59 GMT
Mods, please forgive me if I keep bumping this. I am not seeking publicity but need to keep referring to these pages as I writed my book because so many of the comments you have all made are very helpful and can be written in to the hard copy. Thanks.
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Post by gramps on Sept 29, 2011 7:46:37 GMT
Bump - for reasons already stated.
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Post by waterbuffalo on Sept 30, 2011 14:44:18 GMT
Bump City.
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Post by maudesfishnchips on Sept 30, 2011 19:31:21 GMT
i have not read any of it yet, hence no comments from me gramps. i have been saving it up until the end, like i do with my bacon with a fat greasy english fry up i shall now go into my own little world with this and enjoy
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Post by gramps on Sept 30, 2011 21:43:10 GMT
So if you sit reading it whilst eating the bacon from you fat greasy english fry up then you will doubtless be in your element?
Incidentally, the book will be substantially different to the thread.
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