How many have supported QPR for 25 years or more?

[davekc7]

1956 was my first game and i was 5.................in the early days we were passed down the front and grandad would get me at the end. When i got to about 9 i always used to take a cushion and sit on the corrugated fence at the school end just around from the old tea hut. When you see photo`s of the old stadium / errrrrrrrr pitch so amazing to see it now. Walking up the old concrete steps to get to the top of the standing room. Then the old iron barriers spasmodically placed for people to get squashed on. The old wooden stand in ellersie road. I am sure i can always remember the fish and chip shop being there or am i mistaken , anyone know how long it has been there. Wow best game ever was 4 1 away to Birmingham in the League cup semi . What a day out , i got dropped from the school 11 for not turning up for training. Rodney and Hunt got caught in the Blue Boar services and were absolutely mobbed. Watching the replay on the TV on the TV`s in the shops that were left on. Happy days to return.

[harlowranger]

Hi Davekc7, thanks for the Post and welcome to the Board !

[coitparkrangers]

I have been a Rangers fan since 1976. At the age of 7 I had started to follow football and Rangers finished second, I didn't want to choose Liverpool so I went with QPR. A little peer pressure growing up in NE London meant I followed Arsenal and Spurs for brief spells before reverting back to my Rs around the time they got to the FA Cup Final.

I watched my first game at the Loft in the 1982/83 season. Unlike my local non-league team I can't remember my first Rs game. Looking at an archive of results, the 2-2 draw with Leicester on April 9th sounds familiar, so does the 1-0 win over Oldham on February 5th. So I can celebrate 28 years since visiting the ground for the first time. I know it was that season as I was at the ground when Wolves surrendered a lead at Charlton to draw 3-3 and we became champions (3-1 win over Fulham on May 2nd). I remember now with the aid of the site (and a parallel one for the Wolves result) that we were due to play Wolves the next week and that became an anti-climax on the pitch, but the fans enjoyed it!

After that I distinctly remember watching a home Milk Cup tie with Chelsea, and watching two UEFA Cup matches at Highbury (Warren Neill screamer against Partizan in a 6-2 win!), plus of course the Milk Cup final against Oxford United.

I'd say I went to maybe four or five matches a season despite having two other teams to follow (local non-league team and an ice hockey team). Then along came a girlfriend and I stopped going... and Hillsborough cemented that for me.

It took me a while to get back into the game, I know almost nothing about QPR's 90s exploits, only what I hear about now and what is on Youtube.

I started following football with a bit more interest during the last decade, and was back into it about the time that Liverpool won the Champions League in Istanbul (my wife being a Beatles fan has attached herself to the Reds), and resumed my support for the Rs. I saw one game at the end of the 08/09 season against Plymouth, and watched the Rs defeat at Carrow Road this season, both on visits to England. Now I watch our exploits from afar, picking up the odd game on a UK Slingbox service, or P2P stuff when Sky shows it. Can't wait to get up early on Saturdays to see the Rs on ESPN2 at 7.45am next season!

[terryloftus]

MEEEEEE!!!!- and I mean actually going to Loftus Road all these years.

In fact, the first team I saw play was the '76 team. My first idol was some bloke called Stan!
I also loved watching Dave Thomas. I still love players who get the ball and run straight at the opposition and go past them! (Rodney had it, so did Roy Wegerle- who is easily the most skillful player I have ever seen in Hoops. Tony was really at the end of his career when he joined in '79)
Oh God.... i'm old!!!
Tel

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[terryloftus]

HI Davec7,

So mate, as you have watched them both, who was the man..... Rodney or Stanley???

Tel

[bostonr]

Rodney Bowles or Stanley Marsh...doesn't matter, great men for great times.
Les Currie or Tony Ferdinand...good men for good times.
Ray Bannister or Gary Wegerle...decent men for decent times.

Comparisons are unfair.

[Bushman]

Apr 14, 2011 1:20:41 GMT bostonr said:

Rodney Bowles or Stanley Marsh...doesn't matter, great men for great times.
Les Currie or Tony Ferdinand...good men for good times.
Ray Bannister or Gary Wegerle...decent men for decent times.

Comparisons are unfair.

Agree with you bostonr.

[Lonegunmen]

That our club was able to attract such talent to wear the hoops says a lot about what it was - ok, the money offered may have helped, but we were by and large a family club and very loyal to most of our players. I think they players knew that too.

[bobby]

My first game was in 1958.On my Grandfather`shoulders at the School end.So i have watched QPR for 6 decades.

I worked there as office boy in the 1960`s and early 1970`s.
Will post some memories of that when i get time.

[Macmoish]

Big welcome, Bobby.

Definitely looking forward to your memories!

[Lonegunmen]

Big welcome to Dave and Bobby.

[terryloftus]

Lads,
I actually think it's fun comparing great players, and interesting to hear different opinions. There is no right or wrong, simply a light hearted bit of fun that can throw up some interesting answers. It doesn't mean the one you pick is officially the greatest and the other complete rubbish!

Fact is, there is no right or wrong answer. I asked a fellow Hoop on here, who had seen both Marsh & Bowles (Who are always compared) what his OPINION was. If you didn't get it, I was actually addressing the question to one gentleman, as there are not many who saw our 2 most compared number 10's and greatest legends, what his OPINION was!!!
Why, because i'm interested... and please don't pretend you wouldn't be either!
I saw Stan, Tony (who was past it by then) & Stainrod in the number 10 shirt. I still maintain the most skillful of all them, that I saw was Roy Wegerle!!
And I watched them play all the time. But that doesn't make me right, that's just one opinion among thousands!!!
I also think that the legendary David Seaman- was not in the same league as the great Phil Parkes or indeed Peter Hucker. But that was at QPR, once Arsenal & Bob Wilson got hold of him, he became (Much to QPR fans amazement!) an England legend with tons of silverware!!!
Peter Crouch, is another player who we didn't think much of at QPR. And legends like Kenny Sansom (And indeed Seaman & Crouch) you will be surprised how many Arsenal, Liverpool & even QPR fans didn't even know they played for us! (The high knowledge of my fellow hoops on this site about their club, is not the knowledge level of most fans!)

Another name that always springs to my mind, and not others is - Don Givens!
He was most famous as part of the '76 team, but apart from his first season & last (when he was joint top with Stan.) he was our top scorer in every season he was with us!
But, how much credit does he get as PART OF (Let alone top scorer) of that 70's team, and to a lesser extent-Dave Thomas & Don Masson!)
This is why I find comparison's interesting.
So to start calling saying - " Rodney Bowles or Stanley Marsh...doesn't matter, great men for great times.
Les Currie or Tony Ferdinand...good men for good times.
Ray Bannister or Gary Wegerle...decent men for decent times.

Comparisons are unfair."

Mixing their names up, into one single blob (i'm sure Rod & Stan would love being called " Rodney Bowles, Stanley Marsh" and the other players, as if they have no individual identity, and then saying " Comparisons are unfair" is a classic contradiction!

It's actually part of what fans of any Club do, whether it be - Best V Edwards, Hurst V Greaves , Osgood V Zola, the greatest player ever etc, etc... how many comparisons have you read?
They are big boy's and more than any of us will ever be, I don't think your 'PC' "comparisons are unfair" comes into it, I think you will find they expect it.... unless they happen to be 5 years old. How many times do you think the players have been asked this- even in print. Go and call Stan " Stanley Marsh"... see if his reaction indicates you are being unfair!
And Rodney, really doesn't give a s**t!!!
If it's unfair to compare players, then the only way that theory is going is, they WERE ALL as good as each other- and say Ferdinand was as good as Hately and Stock & Venables were as good as Mullery as managers!
Now, I bet you don't think comparisons are " Unfair". What is actually offensive is calling legends " Les Currie or Gary Wegerle" (They all played in completely different positions for a start!)
And if you think calling them by their wrong names, because it doesn't matter, they are all the same, regardless of what they did and that's all that matters... is not offensive but comparing them is... I think thousands will disagree. Lastly, going by your everything is equal theory..... If you were a manager, How the hell would you pick a team?- Rowan Hately ... what does it matter?

' PC' and football don't mix.

[terryloftus]

Oh, also, how do you think they have ' Player of the year awards', Dream team pictures, a Captain is picked, and in the Hoops programmes, each one would ask a fan to pick their dream team ((In formation) and why those players were picked. I always enjoyed to see the different players the fans picked. Again, comparisons play a huge part in fans banter, and I bet everyone on here has their own dream team (I was going to start a thread about that on here.... but that would obviously be unfair on the rubbish players, so I won't!)
And to make it more surreal .... a moderater agrees that " comparisons are unfair"!
How many blokes have you met who turn into the England manager after a few pints down the pub???... We have ALL done it!

And you obviously missed the fact, that the question was actually for a particular gentleman who had seen both Rodney & Stan play!!!
Then you dive in with " Stanley Marsh, Les Currie, Gary Wegerle etc"
And " It's unfair to compare players" ??
AND A MODERATOR actually agrees with this non- debate?
Bushman, what were you actually agreeing with?, that a question I was asking someone else is wrong, and Les Currie etc are all the same because comparisons are unfair???

How about, from now on, EVERY thread posted has NO unfair comparisons and everyone mentioned is equal in the most opinionated, heart felt, emotional sport of all? Try it, see how we go.
Football is based on opinions, comparisons etc.... it's not democracy or politics, it's the one platform for the working class to express their feelings!
It's about winning & losing, whose the best & whose the worst, is that player worth the money?, was that player underrated or rubbish?
But don't boo or complain about players like Mark Hately - it's unfair.
After well over 30 years of paying for tickets to get into Loftus Rd & Buying merchandise & programmes from the shop- which pays the players wages, I and many others on here HAVE A RIGHT to compare, complain and whatever the Hell else I want to about my Club (I don't let others do it, but hoop to hoop, it's OK)
Christ knows how much cash I have spent on the Club over the years, much of which was wasted before our very eyes!
So, i'm afraid IT DOES MATTER.... and don't be a hypocrite - WE ALL do it!
Otherwise, you would be so 'fair' you wouldn't pick a team to support in the first place!!!
So, lets re-start the board (That encourages you to give your opinions on a forum.) on the no opinions or comparisons basis (Remind my, how much do players get paid, from OUR ticket money etc???)
And not be "unfair" in case they cry basis.... see how long the board lasts!!

(I usually attach a photo, but I haven't this time- as I don't have time to post one of EVERY PLAYER & MANAGER we have EVER had!!!)

TEl

[maudesfishnchips]

where is dylanpresman?

show yourself , so i can thank you on what must be the most popular threads of all QPR message boards.

[bostonr]

Think you take my post a little too seriously terry.

edit edit edit...there's me mixing up me woy's and me way's. Sorry Wegs, good luck with the golf squire.

[terryloftus]

Yes, boston I think you are right. But I still think comparing is fun!

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[bostonr]

Drank with them both, now I can make a comparison here...if you don't already know!

[5hourslateR]

This is a great thread, great read.
Myself, 1963. Taken to White City with a friend, by his Dad.
Surreal, huge ground, tiny crowd.
Like coitparkrangers grew up equidistant to Spurs and Arsenal, with all my friends and family split as supporters of them.
Rangers and Loftus road were this fantastic alternative universe (all right, over the top I know).
By dint of family, jobs, travel and military service lost the ability to follow the Rs in the 80s and 90s.....until my oldest developed advanced Rangers Fever and, courtesy of the internet, re-addicted me.
First trip back to London and Rangers this Feb/Mar in many years. Lots really different, especially the loss of standing, but Rs supporters remain a great and friendly crew.

[saphilip]

I can see terry's point but most fans of any club will still have their favourite players and there will be much debate about on their club's message boards on whether x was better than y. It's natural and it will never stop.

For me Stan will always be QPR's greatest ever player - accepting that he was gifted player playing along some of the greatest players that have ever donned a QPR shirt. Rod will always be the club's first ever super start (accepting the fact that he also played alongside a great QPR team), while I have always rated Sir Les up there with those 2. Roy Wgerle was probably one of the most talented players ever to play for us - and I wish he stayed for much longer.

My favourite all time QPR side? That has to be the one that El Tel & Harris built - Hucker, Burridge, Hazell, Fenwick, Roeder, MacDonald, Stewart, Wicks, Mickklewhite, Stainrod, Gregory, Clive Allen, Sealy, Flanagan, Currie & Gillard amongst others - what a team that we had from 1980 to early 1985.

[Lonegunmen]

Terry, you had this picture and the link and I bought it. Frankly, the best 30 quid I have invested for some time. Despite the measurements, this photo signed by Rodney is way bigger than the tape measure indicated to me. It came in an very protective cardboard cylinder. It came with a signed letter of authenticity including a further photo of god...errr Rodney, signing them. Thanks Terry, thanks for getting me off my arse to buy one!! gonna get it properly framed shortly.....

[56vespanvic]

Christmas Day 1946 was my first match. We lost 1-3 to Ipswich Town then drew the following day (Boxing Day) the away fixture 1-1. Cyril Hatton was our goalscorer in both games. It was common in those days for the Christmas & Boxing Day fixtures to be home and away against the same team. Not so bad geographically speaking THAT year nor the following year when the 'back to back' was against Watford. But in the pre-Motorway days of 1951 we were Home to Preston North End on Christmas Day and Away on Boxing Day!

1946/47 was the first full post war season and we finished runners up to Cardiff City who, of course, were the only team promoted. The winners of Division 3 (South) went up to Division 2 in company with the Division 3 (North) winners.

1947/48 we went one better, gaining our first-ever promotion from the 'basement' of the League into Division 2.

Many, if not most football teams of those days comprised a substantial majority of 'locals' and they were often a visible part of the community. Arther Jefferson and Albert Smith ran a Fish and Chip shop a couple of miles or so from the ground and many of the squad were regulars at The Old Oak Working Man's Club in Old Oak Common Lane in East Acton.

I wonder if the likes of Rooney are ever seen in the Prestbury Institute or the Alderley Edge British Legion!

[Macmoish]

And a great, first post, 56vespanvic Welcome

[maudesfishnchips]

welcome vespavic,

i've had many a good time in the old oak

[saphilip]

Hi Vespanvic - in answer to your question, only if they serve prawn sandwiches, and not likely then.

Nice thread and welcome.

[56vespanvic]

saphilip, are you the Philip who posted a while back on the old QPR Official site? I was qprVic in those days. If you are not the same Philip then I'm Brian Bedford.

[Lonegunmen]

Vic, you made it! Made my day. And yes it is the same Phil. Boy are you gonna enjoy this site!! Bushmans history and Harlows stats. As for the rest of us, we off so many years of experience and humour. I know you will fit in!! All we need now is QPR Mal, Dodgy, Zico sometimes posts, Juzzie, it'd be a great day to get the old mainstayers on here so to speak. There's new friends to be made. The banter is good yet some of the posts are very thought provocing and insightful without being ITK - In The Know.

[56vespanvic]

Delighted to know it IS you and still flying the flag in sunny SA! What a pity that the offie site lost its bite and has become nigh 'sanitized'. Can't even archive the old QPR1st site. I've been trying to retrieve the predictions I made over Leeds and Man Utd for a book I'm writing. I've kept contact with Zico but, like you, have no fix on the whereabouts of the others you mention.

[Macmoish]

You know what, let's try a "Looking for" Thread

People can post the user name the person went by and the QPR site he used to post on...

And then see what happens...

Probably won't. But never know.

[Lonegunmen]

Apr 28, 2011 10:14:48 GMT 56vespanvic said:

Delighted to know it IS you and still flying the flag in sunny SA! What a pity that the offie site lost its bite and has become nigh 'sanitized'. Can't even archive the old QPR1st site. I've been trying to retrieve the predictions I made over Leeds and Man Utd for a book I'm writing. I've kept contact with Zico but, like you, have no fix on the whereabouts of the others you mention.

Ok Vic, I keep in touch with Robbie(Thomas Walsh) Dodgy, we even Skyped once. I have Juzzies, Kims, Ricky Ferris (QPR Jock), Marions, Zico's, Vicky & Micky Cordwells, Yousef, Porkys e-mail addresses and of course Frank Duchoissis from the USA LSA.

I lost touch with QPR Mal but I have regained "touch" with Ron Phillips - after all these years of searching. To be honest, I have missed them all but I have also made a lot of new friends on this site and for their friendship I am grateful.

[NO1QPRNZ]

I am jealous Andy, that was a great buy. well done NZANDYMAN