I regret never meeting or talking to Ray Wilkins whilst he was at QPR. I think that he's managerial stint with us tarnished his playing memory for me. I did meet him when I worked at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships as a fire officer in 1997, but didn't engage him as I was still put out by his tenure of relegating us. The sale of Les Ferdinand at this time was a major contributing feature but the £6m transfer fee could've been better invested to at least ensure our premier league status. His ridiculous signings of Mark Hateley, Simon Osborne and Ned Zelic was a wasted opportunity to elevate us in the same way that ironically Chelsea did. This was the turning point when both clubs who were on an equal footing, ( more so QPR who had recently been London's top club. ) Matthew Harding had held a board meeting at Chelsea and he said, '' Do we intend to carry on and be like QPR do or are we going to challenge the Manchester United's and Liverpool's of this league? ''
The rest is as they say is history. We went one way, they went the other. We bought in those three players for huge sums of money, Chelsea bought in Ruud Gullit, Mark Hughes and Glenn Hoddle who turned their fortunes around by winning the FA Cup the very next season after bringing in Vialli, Zola, Lebouef and Di Matteo.
Fine margins indeed, and we find ourselves where we are. I'm really sorry to tarnish this thread with this, but it's something that's been bugging me for years.
