Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Gianni Paladini | manager =
Gary Waddock | league =
The Championship | season =
2005-06 | | position =
Championship, 21st |
shirtsupplier= |
shirtsponsors= |
pattern_la1=_blue_hoops|pattern_b1=_whitehoops|pattern_ra1=_blue_hoops|
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=0000FF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF|
pattern_la2=_redborder|pattern_b2=_thinredsides|pattern_ra2=_redborder|
leftarm2=000000|body2=000000|rightarm2=000000|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000|
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an
English football team, from
Loftus Road,
Shepherd's Bush,
Hammersmith in
London. The team currently play in the
Football League Championship, having finished as Division Two runners-up at the close of the 2003-2004 season.
The team is also referred to as "QPR" (or often just "Rangers") and nicknamed the Hoops (or the Superhoops), due to the team's kit of blue and white hooped shirts, or the Rs. Their home stadium is
Loftus Road, which has a capacity of 19,148.
QPR was formed in 1882, when a team known as
St Jude's merged with
Christchurch Rangers. The resulting team was called Queen's Park Rangers, because most of the players came from the
Queens Park area which is part of the
London suburb of
North Kensington W10. QPR became a professional team in 1889 and played their home games in 14 different stadiums, a league record, before permanently settling in
Loftus Road in 1917 (although the team briefly played at
White City during the 1962-63 season in the hope of attracting larger crowds).
In 1966-67, QPR won the
Division Three championship and became the first Third Division club to win the
League Cup, beating
West Bromwich Albion 3-2, (coming back from a two goal deficit). This is the only time QPR have won a cup competition. The final was also the first league cup final to be held at
Wembley Stadium.
In 1975-76
Dave Sexton led them to the runners-up spot in the First Division, missing out on the Championship by 1 point. After completing their 42 game season QPR sat at the top of the league 1 point ahead of
Liverpool. Liverpool had to win their final game of the season, at
Wolverhampton Wanderers to clinch the title. Despite Wolves taking the lead and holding it until the 77th minute, Liverpool scored 3 times to win 3-1 and win the League Championship. The squad contained 5 England internationals and internationals from the
home nations and
Morocco. QPR were unable to recreate their wonderful league form in 1976-77 but the cup competitions saw some success. The side reached the semi-finals of the league cup but lost in a replay to
Aston Villa and in their first entry into European football reached the quarter finals of the
UEFA Cup losing to
AEK Athens on penalties. In 1977 Sexton moved to
Manchester United and two years later QPR slipped into the Second Division.
The 1980-81 season saw
Terry Venables take over as manager and in the following year QPR reached the
FA Cup final for the only time in the club's history, facing defending holders and London rivals
Tottenham Hotspur. The first game ended 1-1 after extra time and so for the second year running the Final was to be decided in a replay. Tottenham won the replay 1-0 with the only goal coming from a
Glenn Hoddle penalty in the 10th minute. In 1981, the club installed a
'plastic pitch'. The technology was premature and this unpopular measure was reversed in April 1988. The first game on plastic was against who won and later became the second side to install an artificial pitch. The following season,
1982-83 QPR went on to win the Second Division championship in the following season, thus returning to English football's top division. After a respectable fifth place finish, and UEFA Cup qualification, the following year, Venables departed to become manager of
Barcelona in Spain.
Over the next seven years, various managers came and went from Loftus Road, including
Don Howe,
Frank Sibley and
Trevor Francis. The club spent many seasons finishing mid table but avoided relegation. The most successful season during this period was the 1987-88 in which QPR finished 5th. They were also runners up in the 1986 League Cup, losing to .
Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with , was appointed QPR manager in the summer of 1991. In the 1991-92 First Division campaign they finished mid-table in the league and were founder members of the new
Premier League which began in 1992. They finished that season in fifth place, and in the following season Francis guided them to a ninth place finish. Midway through the
1994-95 season Francis departed to become manager of and
Ray Wilkins was installed as
player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer,
Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to . The inability to replace Ferdinand was an important factor in QPR's relegation at the end of the
1995-96.
Wilkins was sacked after 3 games into the 1996-97 season and replaced by former
Arsenal coach
Stewart Houston. He lasted a little over 18 months before being sacked himself; his successor,
Ray Harford, kept QPR clear of relegation but was dismissed after less than a year in charge following the club's bad start to the
1998-99 season. Gerry Francis returned to become manager for the second time and, in
1999-00, guided QPR to a tenth place finish.
At that point, however, financial problems set in and took their toll on the playing side. Francis was sacked in
February 2001 with the side struggling near the foot of Division One.
Ian Holloway, a former QPR midfielder, returned to Loftus Road as manager but was unable to save the club from relegation to Division Two, which put the club in
English football's third tier for the first time in more than 30 years. QPR spent the
2001-02 season in
financial administration which meant a ban from the
transfer market, but Holloway consolidated the playing side and the club finished eighth in Division Two, just missing out on the playoffs. A year later, QPR qualified for the playoffs but lost 1-0 to
Cardiff City in
extra time of the final game.In
2003-04 they won promotion as Division Two runners-up and in
2004-05 consolidated their promotion by finishing 11th.
On
6 February 2006 Holloway was suspended as Queens Park Rangers manager. The ostensible reason given by the board was that the continual rumours linking Holloway to the vacant manager's job at were causing disruption to the playing staff. He was replaced by
Gary Waddock as caretaker manager (with former club captain
Alan McDonald as his assistant).
In recent years QPR have been dogged with reports of potential administration, and are rumoured to be somewhere in the region of £18 million in debt. QPR had a difficult time in 2005-06 but managed to achieve survival by finishing 21st in the Championship. The club was also dogged by scandal during the 2005-2006 season involving the directors, shareholders and other interested parties in the club including allegations of blackmail and threats of violence against Gianni Paladini [
1].
The team have already started building the team for next season, signing Jamaican centre-back Damion Stewart from
Bradford City & Cameroon midfielder Armel Tchakounte from
Carshalton Athletic. On the 28th of June 2006,
Gary Waddock was appointed full-time manager after
Ian Holloway left to become manager of
Plymouth Argyle.
Nick Ward was also captured on the same day from
A-League team
Perth Glory.
On the 8th of August 2006 Queens Park Rangers completed a high profile move for
Fulham FC defender
Zesh Rehman for an undisclosed fee. He has been given the squad number of 5, which was worn by
Danny Shittu, who had just moved to the newly promoted
Watford FC.
*Division Three (South) Champions 1947-48.
*Division Three Champions 1966-67.
*League Cup Winners 1967 v West Bromich Albion - (As a 3rd Div. Side).
*League (Milk) Cup Finalists 1986.
*Division Two Runners-up 1967-68, 1972-73.
*Division Two Champions 1982-83.
*Division One Runners-up 1975-76.
*
FA Cup finalists 1982
*Nationwide Division Two Runners-up 2003-04.
*
Clive Allen*
Les Allen*
Osvaldo Ardiles*
David Bardsley*
Stanley Bowles*
Dave Clement*
Peter Crouch *
Tony Currie *
Iain Dowie *
Terry Fenwick *
Don Givens*
John Gregory*
Les Ferdinand*
Gerry Francis*
Trevor Francis*
Mark Hateley *
Ian Holloway*
Vinnie Jones *
Evelyn Lintott (QPR's first England international)
*
Sammy Lee *
Danny Maddix *
Rodney Marsh*
Alan McDonald*
Frank McLintock*
Don Masson *
Ludek Miklosko *
Peter Reid*
Paul Parker*
Phil Parkes*
Gavin Peacock*
Glenn Roeder *
Kenny Sansom *
David Seaman*
Danny Shittu*
Andy Sinton*
Trevor Sinclair*
Jan Stejskal *
Dave Thomas*
Terry Venables*
Gary Waddock*
David Webb*
Roy Wegerle*
Ray Wilkins*
Clive Wilson*
Chris Woods(on loan to
Blackpool)
(captain)
QPR has an extensive network of loyal supporters associations. The primary LSA can be contacted through the
QPR-LSA website. QPR-LSA groups exist throughout the UK, and in numerous countries including
USA,
New Zealand,
Serbia, and many others. The team is occasionally mistaken for
Queen's Park Football Club of the Scottish
Third Division.
*
Official Site*
Unofficial news, opinion and fact based site with a fans' messageboard*
QPR REPORT, Unofficial QPR-related News Blog*
Unofficial Rivals.net Site, source of a good fan's forum*
unofficial fans' forum
