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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.

Their only piece of silverware to date came in 1967 when as Third Division champions they won the League Cup in the first-ever time the final of the competition was contested at Wembley. They were promoted to the the First Division for the first time a year later, but were relegated after just one season and did not regain their place among the elite until 1973.

Under Dave Sexton, QPR achieved their highest ever league finish in 1976 when they finished league runners-up behind champions Liverpool. Sexton moved to Manchester United the following year and by 1980 QPR were back in the Second Division. Under the management of Terry Venables, they were F.A Cup runners-up in 1982 and were promoted back to the First Division a year later. Venables moved on to Barcelona a year later but successive managers were able to keep QPR in the top flight until they finally went down in 1996, and have yet to return.

Between 2001 and 2004, QPR were in Division Two. They have since gained promotion to the newly-named Championship but there is still a lot of work to be done before QPR can make a serious challenge to regain their Premiership place.

Notable former managers of QPR include Les Alan, Alec Stock, Ray Harford, Stewart Houston, Don Howe, Jim Smith, Terry Venables and Dave Sexton. Notable former players include Ray Wilkins, Gerry Francis, Dave Thomas, Dave Clement, Glenn Roeder, Mick Leach, Les Ferdinand, Trevor Sinclair and Kevin Gallen.

History

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).

1960s: League Cup glory and double promotion

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.

1970s: Championship glory... almost

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.

1980s: Cup run and promotion

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 Glen Hoddle penalty in the 10th minute.

In 1981, the club installed a 'plastic pitch'. The technology was immature and this unpopular measure was reversed in April 1988. The first game on plastic was against Luton Town 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 Oxford United.

1990s: Relegation

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, 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 QPR to a ninth place finish. Midway through the 1994-95 season Gerry Francis departed Loftus Road to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player/manager. Wilkins guided 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 sale of £6 million to Newcastle United. The inability to replace Ferdinand successfully saw QPR finish 19th in a Premier league recently reduced from 22 teams to a 20 team division.

Ray 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, whose promising reign as Tottenham Hotspur manager had ended in disappointment, returned to the Loftus Road hot seat and, in 1999-2000, guided QPR to a reasonable tenth place finish.

2000s: Relegation, Administration and Promotion

At that point, however, financial problems set in and took their toll on the playing side. Francis was sacked in February 2001 with QPR 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. For the first time in more than 30 years QPR found themselves in the 3rd tier of English football.

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. In 2002-03, QPR qualified for the playoffs lost 1-0 to Cardiff City in extra time in the final game.

2003-04 was QPR's first successful season for many years. They won promotion as Division Two runners-up and are currently members of the Coca-Cola Football League Championship. The 2004-2005 season saw them finish 11th in the Championship.

On Monday 6th February 2006 Ian 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 Leicester City 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 - just - 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 *.

For a club whose fans were once used to cup runs and top-10 finishes, struggling in the second tier is not good enough. Fans will be hoping that whoever is in charge for the 2006/07 brings about a swift improvement in the club's fortunes.

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.

Honours

  • 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.

Famous players

Famous fans

Source: QPR Mad

Current Squad

(captain)

Supporter's clubs

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.

External links

1882 establishments | English football clubs | Queens Park Rangers F.C. | Sport in London | FA Premier League clubs

Queens Park Rangers | Queens Park Rangers Football Club | Queens Park Rangers Football Club | Queens Park Rangers FC | Queens Park Rangers FC | Queens Park Rangers F.C. | Queens Park Rangers FC | 女王公园巡游者足球俱乐部

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Queens Park Rangers F.C.".

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