Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers FC; or QPR as they are commonly known, is a football club based in Shepherd’s Bush in West London that formed following the merger of two clubs, St Jude’s Institute and Christchurch Rangers in 1882. The new clubs' name was chosen as many of its players lived in the Queen's Park area of North West London.

The club became members of Division Two of the London League in 1896-97 before leaving a couple of years later. Throughout this period the club led a nomadic existence; using Welford's Fields, London Scottish FC's Ground, Brondesbury, Home Farm, Kensal Green, Gun Club, Wormwood Scrubs and Kilburn Cricket Ground for home games.

In 1899-90 Rangers joined the Southern League with home games being played at Kensal Rise Athletic Ground. They also joined the Western League the following year to give their players more games.

There was success on the pitch with Western League honours and two Southern League championships in 1907-08 and 1911-12; as well as more ground moves with Latimer Road, Notting Hill, Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds, Park Royal and the Park Royal Grounds were all used until Rangers moved into Loftus Road in 1917.

Entry to the Football League was achieved in 1920 as founder members of Division Three South. Still unsettled the club spent a two year period between 1931 and 1933 at the old White City Olympic stadium before returning to Loftus Road.

Under manager Dave Mangnall, the R’s won the Division Three South title in 1947-48, a year after finishing as runners-up, to win promotion to Division Two before suffering relegation in 1951-52. It was around this time that record appearance holder Tony Ingham joined the club.

The Football League was re-organised for the 1958-59 season; with QPR being placed in Division Three. Alec Stock arrived as manager in 1959; before the club made another attempt to adopt White City as their home in 1962-63, but the move proved unpopular with fans, so they returned to Loftus Road.

In January 1967, chairman Jim Gregory was close to buying the Griffin Park home of local rivals Brentford for Rangers to move in. Big protests from Bees fans averted the move and saved their own club from extinction. The move was not forgotten by those at Brentford.

The 1966-67 saw QPR go on a run all the way to the League Cup Final; the first to be played at Wembley Stadium. The R’s were 2-0 down to top flight West Bromwich Albion before the magic of Rodney Marsh and his teammates miraculously turned the game round to win 3-2.

Rangers were promoted as Division Three champions in the same season before winning a second successive promotion in 1967-68 to reach the top level of English football for the first time. However, the jump proved too much as the R’s went down twelve months later.

Stock had departed by this point before the position was filled by short spells under Bill Dodgin, Jr, Tommy Docherty and Les Allen before the appointment of Gordon Jago in January 1971.

Marsh continued to woo the crowds at Loftus Road with his mercurial skills. To see him at his very best, click here. He was eventually sold to Manchester City, with Stan Bowles arriving in his place.

Rangers were promoted to Division One in 1972-73 before Dave Sexton replaced Jago in October 1974 and continued to build a fine team including the likes of Bowles, Phil Parkes, Don Givens, Dave Thomas, Dave Clement, Ian Gillard, Mick Leach and Gerry Francis.

QPR finished as league runners-up in 1975-76; being pipped for the title by Liverpool in the last game of the season. The team played entertaining football with several players gaining international honours. Click here to see vintage Rangers including the Goal of the Season.

The following season Rangers reached the quarter final stage of the UEFA Cup before bowing out to AEK Athens having earlier defeated Brann Bergen, Slovan Bratislava and 1.FC Köln.

Sexton departed in the summer of 1977 with Frank Sibley taking over for the following season and then Steve Burtenshaw being appointed for the 1978-79 campaign; which ended in relegation before Docherty returned for a second spell at the club as Gregory upgraded Loftus Road.

Terry Venables replaced Docherty In October 1980 as he began to build another excellent outfit. A football revolution hit West London in the summer of 1981 as Loftus Road had its turf replaced by a plastic pitch; leading to widespread criticism from opponents.

Rangers went on a run in the FA Cup of 1981-82, defeating West Bromwich Albion in the semi-final before going down to Tottenham Hotspur in the final after a replay. QPR became Division Two champions in 1982-83 to return to the top flight.

The team consisted of international players Tony Currie, Terry Fenwick, Clive Allen, John Gregory and Gary Waddock being led by skipper Glenn Roeder. Venables success led to him being rewarded with the head coach job at FC Barcelona in May 1984.

Alan Mullery and then Sibley had short reigns as his replacement before the arrival of Jim Smith in June 1985. Smith took Rangers to the final of the 1985-86 League Cup where they collapsed 3-0 to Oxford United.

A highlight from this era was a six nil win over rivals Chelsea, which can be viewed here:

Gregory sold out to David Bulstrode; who hatched a plan to merge the club with Fulham to become Fulham Park Rangers, playing at Loftus Road. Mass fans protests stopped any momentum. A grass surface was restored to Loftus Road in 1988 as the team weighed in with a string of consistent mid table finishes.

Smith was replaced by Trevor Francis in December 1988 who lasted just over a year before Don Howe had a spell of eighteen months in charge before the return of former playing hero Gerry Francis who was at the helm as Rangers became founder members of the Premier League.

Roy Wegerle was the star man from 1990 to 1992 before Francis was lured away to Tottenham Hotspur during the 1994-95 campaign, as Ray Wilkins took over as player-manager; taking the team to eighth place as Les Ferdinand banged in the goals until being sold to Newcastle United.

Chris Wright, the founder of Chrysalis Records bought the club in 1996, creating a Loftus Road plc that included Wasps Rugby Club who moved in to share the ground the following year. Rangers were relegated at the end of the 1995-96 season.

Loftus Road plc was floated on the Alternative Investment Market in an attempt to bring in big money, but the plan backfired. Stewart Houston and then Ray Harford took turns in the managers chair before Gerry Francis returned in 1998, but his second spell went badly wrong before his resignation in February 2001.

Wright dissolved the association with Wasps in 2001 and sell QPR for £1 after the team were relegated to Division Two; which was the third tier of the time. Ian Holloway came in as manager and looked to rebuild the squad with very little finance.

In 2002-03 Rangers reached the play-offs; defeating Oldham Athletic before going down in the final at the Millennium Stadium to Cardiff City. However, the R’s weren’t to be denied in 2003-04, winning promotion to the Championship as runners-up.

Chaos continued to reign off the pitch, with the club taken over in a boardroom coup with a £10M high interest loan staving off administration before rumours of blackmail and threats of violence against club chairman Gianni Paladini following promotion.

Holloway was replaced by former midfield hero Gary Waddock in February 2006, who in turn lasted until the following September when another Loftus Road old boy John Gregory was appointed in his place.

QPR were further rocked by the murder of youth team player Kiyan Prince in May 2006 and the death of promising youth player Ray Jones in August 2007. In the same month it was announced that the club had been bought by wealthy Formula One businessmen Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone.

The club crest during the Briatore/Ecclestone reign

Luigi De Canio was the next full-time manager; arriving at the club in October 2007. Rumours of boardroom interference with team selection was rife; leading to quick turnover of managers as comparative large cash was spent on the squad and upgrading the VIP facilities at the ground.

There was talk of a new stadium but that had done the rounds for years. The new owners changed the club badge to raise the club worldwide profile while getting rid of Jude the Cat, the clubs mascot

Iain Dowie, Paulo Sousa and Jim Magilton all lasted less than a year as manager, with caretaker bosses having to plug the gaps. Paul Hart’s reign consisted of just twenty nine days. Neil Warnock was appointed in March 2010.

The new boss built a robust team relying on the industry of Shaun Derry and skill of Adel Taarabt with a strong back four led by Clint Hill. The team lifted the Championship title in 2010-11 to reclaim their Premier League status.

Rangers fans mood improved further in September 2011 when businessman Tony Fernandez bought the club and reinstalled some popular directors at the same time. However, Warnock's team struggled.

Fernandez dismissed Warnock and replaced him with Mark Hughes in January 2012 with the team struggling in the league. Rangers somehow survived on the final day of the 2011-12 season as results elsewhere went their way on the same day that Manchester City defeated the team to be crowned as champions.

Joey Barton had played his part in assisting Rangers, but was sent out on loan after a pique of ill-discipline. Hughes' run in the hot seat came to an end in November following a poor run of results.

Harry Redknapp took over but fared little better as Rangers were relegated from the top flight with three matches remaining. The team was changed substantially for the 2013-14 campaign, which saw QPR installed as hot favourites for promotion.

The side didn't live up to expectations and ended in fourth position. A play off semi-final win against Wigan Athletic set up a date at Wembley in the final against Derby County. Despite having Gary O'Neil sent off after an hour a rampant Derby side could not break down the magnificent Rangers rearguard.

In stoppage time Bobby Zamora sent the Hoops fans wild with delight as his goal sent the club back to the Premier League. The club announced plans to build a new stadium with a 40,000 capacity at Old Oak Common as part of a regeneration of the area.

However, the owners of the land and former sponsors Cargiant announced that they had alternative plans in September 2014. Rangers spent much of the first half of the 2014-15 campaign around the relegation zone despite the goals of Charlie Austin.

Within hours of the January 2015 transfer window closing Redknapp resigned, Chris Ramsey was put in charge of team affairs with Les Ferdinand continued in his role as head of football at the club. Ramsey failed to keep the side up, but Fernandez kept faith until November 2015.

Warnock temporarily plugged the gap until the arrival of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who lasted just under a year with the team finishing halfway in the Championship. Holloway returned for a second spell at the helm; again, with a very low playing budget.

Former England manager Steve McClaren was named as Rangers boss in August 2018. Despite a wretched start to the season, he introduced youth into the side and steadied the ship before being sacked in April 2019.

Mark Warburton became the next managerial appointment at the Bush when he took over in May 2019. Ninth place was achieved in 2020-21, with another steady season to back it up followed. Michael Beale replaced Warburton in June 2022, lasting until he took the Rangers job a few months later.

Neil Critchley was appointed as the new team boss in November 2022, lasting until the following November when Gareth Ainsworth replaced him, as Rangers ended two places above the drop zone.

A poor start to the 2023-24 season saw Ainsworth depart, with Martí Cifuentes arriving in his place.

Queens Park Rangers FC will play in the EFL Championship in the 2023-24 season.

My first visit

Queens Park Rangers 3 Hull City 0 (Tuesday 24th September 1985) Football League Cup Round Two First Leg (att: 7,021)

The second round of the Milk (Football League) Cup saw Hull City paired with QPR. The tie was decided over two legs with the first game in London. I went with some other lads with Chris from Bridlington driving us down to Hull where we travelled aboard the legendary Simon Gray coach.

We found ourselves in West London very early but were too naive or worried to go to find a pub (it was not always wise in those days to go drinking near the ground as an away fan). We went in early and decided to sit upstairs in the School End thinking we were trendy as fans were slowly using seats to create an atmosphere instead on standing. 

To our surprise the seats weren't reserved for away fans and were mixed while the majority of City fans stood below. Even worse was that there was no alcohol available, despite "The R's" being sponsored by Guinness. It was all going wrong!

The ground had certainly changed immensely over the years. Originally it had just one stand along the Ellerslie Road side containing the changing rooms which was brought with them from one of their old homes at Park Royal. 

The rest of the ground consisted of open terraces until the Loftus Road End was covered in 1938. In 1968-69 a new South Africa Road Stand was constructed and then a few years later the Ellerslie Road Stand was replaced with changing rooms and offices moving to the opposite stand. 

A new double decker stand was built at the School End in 1980 which was replicated a year later at the Loftus Road (or The Loft as its more commonly known) End. Both had seats upstairs with terracing below. The South Africa Road Stand had corporate boxes fitted above the terraced paddock.

Rangers lived up to another of their nicknames 'The Super Hoops' as they won 3-0. Mick Fillery scored a beauty and Tony Norman uncharacteristically let a cross through his hands. Billy Whitehurst trying to run and turn on astroturf was just funny unlike the casuals in The Paddock to the left who just goaded us all night. 

We were escorted straight to our coach which was parked behind White City tube station and I was left busting for the loo all the way to Leicester Forest services! The car had a breakdown between Hull and Brid so Chris had to ring his wife up to come and collect us and drop us off in the middle of the night. It had been an experience!

In the return leg City put in a superb performance battering hell out of the Rangers goal yet ending up on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline as The R's broke at speed in the last few minutes. They were a good team and ended up getting to the final where they went down 3-0 to Oxford United.

Future visits

When I moved to London I worked at Lord's Cricket Ground. The Head Steward, as he was back than was a Rangers fan, Jeff Cards. He was a lifelong Rangers fan and had season tickets for years with his brother John. We became good mates and with the cost of getting to a Scarborough home game and the farcical goings on up there I was talked into going down to 'The Bush'. 


To see a full list of all my games at Loftus Road along with tickets, details and pictures, click here: