I've nicked a quote from RangersHQ-Norfolk to start this thread of first memories. Tonight seems a good time for this - for those of us who are in..... My first live memory was an away game at Arsenal. My Dad is an Arsenal supporter. Phil Parkes got injured and Dave Webb had to go in goal - only 1 reserve in those days, probably Micky Leach. We lost 3 - 2. My first tv memory was of Terry Venables getting booked and correcting the spelling of his name for the referee. I was always attracted to style! Never looked back.
Nice one Rollercoaster! I do remember that first game from all those years ago, just, we won that's all I can recall. Great memories for me were STANDING in the Loft with my mates in our teens, freezing cold. At half time we'd get a cup of tea and a horsemeat burger from the kiosk up the back. Normally they would both taste crap but were just amazing when you were freezing and wet. It didn't deter us; it felt so rubbish catching the train home afterwards when we lost but boy, you could not beat that feeling when we won. And you still can't.
My Dad used to take me in the 70's - he worked at Wormwood Scrubs, so we used to park there and walk over to the ground across the Westway. Can't really remember my first game (I was about 6 I think), but my first endearing memory was against Barnsley in late 70's/early eighties - Norman Hunter was the manager and we were sat behind behind the dugout, and he got dogs abuse all game because of his f**k up in the qualifier against Poland in 73! I'm living in Scotland now, but forced my 8 year old to watch it all today, as I told him I've waited 35 years for this moment- he now knows all the songs, ready for his first game sometime next season I was so proud today - a big lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, but feeling a lot better after half a bottle of champers and a few beers!! COYRssss
First memories of QPR? Exchanged messages with QPAAAAAGH about this recently... Thanks Rollercoaster, a rare opportunity to reflect on where it all started - and what a perfect day for it. The following piece is for Rs anoraks only and especially the one or two of you that preceded the time Iââ¬â¢m talking about. But mostly itââ¬â¢s for me Iââ¬â¢m afraid, as an ideal come down from what has been one of the most harrowing weeks known to fan. It comes as a reply to an interesting idea for a thread but as it turns out itââ¬â¢s more of an article. Oh well... Early '67 My intro to the Rs' world wasn't a particular match (tbh can't even remember which my first one was against!) it was an era all on its own (coming a year after Englandââ¬â¢s WC victory) and one cherished by those lucky enough to have experienced the majesty of third division lads in blue and white hoops. The moments I'm speaking of came in the league games played in the months leading up to Rangersââ¬â¢ famous League Cup and Division 3 double in 1967. It all started for me when oiur neighbours must've caught the winning-feeling bug and started going to watch them Rs every home game. They let me, a mate of one of their son's, tag along with them. The Walk to the Ground To be honest the walk down Loftus Road from Shepherds Bush tube ain't changed as much as you'd think: loads of people wearing blue and white (mostly scarves, bobble hats and rosettes back then - some, but not so many shirts ). Loftus Road was pure poor-manââ¬â¢s magic ââ¬â felt a bit like going to the funfair but different kind of rides! The excitement hit you the minute you got near the place (enhanced by the smell of hotdogs and ketchup at regular intervals). Programme was 6d (2.5p) - single sheet of A4 folded / black and white. Adverts mostly. Couple of Rs photos and a team sheet. The Mud Bank: South Africa Road We entered through the South Africa Rd turnstiles that season. To get to the top of the terraces and from there down to your chosen spot, you had to first clamber up this steep mud bank! Not easy especially on a wet day - people had to pull each other up the slippery mound in human chains! With all the crowd noise, electric music and a big bass drum coming from the other side of the summit, curiosity got you up and over faster than anything else. Inside the Ground As soon as you made it to the top you were suddenly hit by a sea of blue and white offset by the full green of the pitch. Then as now it was breath taking; a sight to behold! Different from the blue rimmed shoe box we have now. Then there were only two covered sides to the ground: the terraced Loft, the arch-symbol of our territory sheltering all the singing skinheads (faded levi jeans with Rs scarves draped down the left leg from the belt); and along the Ellerslie Rd side, a wooden shed comprising the only seated area divided by the tunnel leading to the changing rooms. The school end was just a simple terrace backed by sheets of corrugated iron, usually occupied by opposing fans towards the front and less active Rangers fans up behind them towards the back. Once you'd taken all this in, it was time to cautiously wend your way down the terraces between the early bods, to our position at the front close to the half-way line (about where Warnock stands now). Soundtrack 1: Rattle and Hum There was usually a suit-wearing rock band positioned close to the tunnel in front of the Ellerslie Road stand, blaring out favourites of the day (someone once told me The Who was one of those Rangers bands before they got famous - never been able to confirm it though). Then there was this guy in a long white workman's coat (did it have blue hoops - can't quite remember now?) with that bass drum strapped to his chest. He'd walk up and down giving the odd three beat call to action just to get the blood up - and did it work?! Did it ever! Got the heart pumping with anticipation every time. Kickabout Then the teams would come out to a massive roar from the crowd and a roll from the drummer. Rangers were led by Mike Keen, our stylish and quietly commanding captain, a down market Bobby Moore if you like. The green jerseyed goalkeeper always followed the skipper out. Ours was Peter Springette, younger brother of former England keeper, Ron. In those days there was no lining up and hand shaking. It was straight into warm-ups and a ball skills knock about before kick-off. The forwards, Les Allen (Clive's dad) and Rodney Marsh, the match winning Taarabt of his day - and wingers Roger Morgan and Mark Lazarus - testing both their accuracy and the keeper at the same time.. balls flying everywhere. Every now and again our right back, Tony Hazel (QPAAAAAGH uses his photo on here) with a powerful shot would thump one goalwards from just inside the half-way line. AAAAAGH's people had a name for him but I've forgotten it now... Two of our players, left back Jim Langley and midfielder Keith Sanderson looked ancient to me at the time but thinking about it now, were not too much more than half my current age! Sanderson was a bald-headed part time pro with a day job on the south coast somewhere! Good, honest, hard working player though. The only two of that regular first team I haven't mentioned are Frank Sibley and centre half Ron Hunt. Sibley was an odd looking guy - wiry blond hair, jug ears, a bit goofy and slightly hunched in stature. Effective unselfish left-central midfielder though - similar in role and style to Shaun Derry. Soundtrack 2: The Messiah, Rs Style! Well to me as an impressionable youngster, the whole thing was enchanting. In the midst of games, the ball would be pumped upfield, the drummer would start hammering out his three beat call to action, the ball would end up at the toes of Marsh, takes one, takes the next one and bang! Goal or not the ground was suddenly as one massive voice echoing across the west London skies, 'ROD-NEE... ROD-NEE... ROD-NEE... ! One up beat, one down. I've been around the block a few times but I've never heard anything like that haunting Loftus Road chant of unadulterated devotion. A fairy story going on in front of my very eyes. I don't have to tell you, I was hooked lock, stock and barrel - instantly and permanently! Third Division Opponents The only thing I haven't mentioned from those times is the opponents. That's because to me at the time there were none. The Rs invariably won and I'd never really heard of the other teams anyway: Colchester was one, Scunthorpe, Oxford United, Darlington... you get my drift? The Extra Specials So that was it for me. My mates at school in Wembley, with one or two Rs exceptions, were all as they would be today: Tottenham, Chelsea, United... plus a Watford here and a Luton there. Outside the Bush zone, Rs were a rarity and thereby fairly unique. But for me anyways, apart from rumour and games featured on Brian Moore's 'The Big Match', there was only one real live club to bother with. The extra specials! COYRs! If youââ¬â¢ve got this far, thanks for indulging me. Itââ¬â¢s been a great leveller for me and reminds me why this past week if not this season as a whole, got to me in the way it did. Cheers (in both senses)! If you havenââ¬â¢t done so yourself yet, perhaps youââ¬â¢d give us the benefit (long or short) of your earliest memories.
That's a great read Brixton. The human chains on the mud bank sounds like classic QPR, in both facilities and spirit. I had a chat with Terry Mancini a year or two back and he was recalling the groud being pretty much open on one side, because when they were training the wind would sometimes whip in a play havoc with someone's wig - I wish I could remember who's.
The first game I have a clear memory of was in 1966 against Millwall at home. We've always had a bit of rivalry where Millwall are concerned and this day wasn't any different. This was not my 1st game as my Dad used to take from the mid fifties but I was too small to remember much. I clearly remember the South Africa road mud slide though and the corrugated iron fence that you could sneak through on some days. We were unstoppable that day and ran out 6-1 winners with I think Les Allen getting at least two. What was even more memorable about that day though was the Millwall captain, Len Julians, getting arrested as the final whistle went for throwing pennies back into the crowd! Don't forget they were the big, heavy copper jobbies not todays lightweights. Millwall behaviour doesn't change does it?
Was that the earlier part of the same 66/67 season OTR, or the one before? And was the team against Millwall pretty much that same League Cup-winning side or were there any different players?
My earliest memory of the Magical Hoops was the game against York in 1966 (when I was ten years old) we won 7-2 and Les Allen scored a hat-trick, I was also at the Birmingham game in the second leg when we won 3-1 ! obviously over the years my memory of those games are some what vague to say the least(that was 45yrs ago!) however I know I was there cos I've still got the programs! So it has to be the 8-2 drubbing of Sheff Wed at loftus road in 1973( I was a mere 17year old) when Bowels, Givens, Francis and Leach scored I remember eating something at half time which made me feel sick and on the bus home I threw up on the seat opposite me and the bus conductor kicked me off the bus in Bayswater Road! I belive it was the no12 bus, which I used to get from Camberwell every other Saturday...wow they were the days!!
My first R's experience was January 1968 I think. Home game against Preston, a 2-0 win for Rangers. Pretty sure that Rod marsh scored both, but not 100% certain. I stood in the school end, & it cost me 2/6d (12.5p) to get in. the programme was 1/- (5p). We played them at home again the following week in the FA cup & lost 2-1 I believe.
I'm a bit younger than you lot. My first memory is from the 99 game against crystal palace that we won 6-0 to stay up. My dad had taken me to the odd game before that but that was the first one that i intentionally asked to go to and needless to say from that day, ive always followed the rangers
I was also at both the consecutive home games against Preston in '68 - down behind the goal at the Loft end. Yeah, that's right, half crown to get in! You're right about the league game too, 2-0 to us and I seem to remember same as you, Rodney got both. The very next week, Preston done us 2-3 and knocked us out of the FA cup. Little Scottish youngster, Archie Gemmill got the winner up the school end. He later became a Clough-ite, winning major honours at Forest (was he at Derby with him before that? Think he was... ). The reason the programmes were more expensive was the introduction of the 'proper' booklet design. For the next two or three years Rs' programmes had that famous chequered patterning on the cover. Each new issue, a different two colour scheme. Remember that?
Age has got nowt to do with it Superdoopa (the Rs were going a long time before any of us!). What we're talking about here is fessing up to the moments we got our Rs addictions and your's is as valid as anyone else's - more so perhaps being that we were hooked on the way up, whereas you caught the bug going the other way! Big up to you for that!!
Couldn't remember if it was 1-2, or 2-3 in the cup game against Preston. (Too much Stella yesterday, seem to remember celebrating something, can't for the life of me think what it was!) Yes, the chequered programmes, the league game was blue & white, & the cup game was silver & black. How sad am I remembering that? I still have them all, & will never part with them.
Sorry Brixton, been down the pub again. That was in March 1966 and it was pretty much all of the league cup winning side. From memory:- Springett, Langley, Hazel, Sibley, Hunt, Keen, Roger Morgan, Marsh, Allen, Sanderson and Lazerus
Yep, and Ian Morgan sub, that's them! What a team... with a few adjustments along the way, they eventually achieved what Norwich have done this year - with the first League Cup played at Wembley thrown in for good measure.
