Me and my two lads set off just before 9am, looking forward with excited anticipation at what lay ahead. Rangers at Wembley, with 39k fans there. Wow!! We parked at Hillingdon Tube station, went to Wembley Park and changed line to go one stop to Kingsbury for the meet up at Hennessy's. It all went like clockwork, now that the threatened tube strike hadn't happened and there we were, in Hennessy's before 11am. We immediately met Tooting, Rhino, Turkish and Stainsey and there were so many more new and familiar faces to see over the next couple of hours. Please forgive me if I've forgotten you, but there were so many there.....the ones I also remember meeting were Melbourne Ian (all the way from Oz), rrrs. Norway, Nines, Roller, Rangers for ever, WBA, Finglas, Corker, Tramore, Inky, Kingdom and many, many more. Fantastic to meet so many Rs and the excitement built and built as the time moved on. After availing Corker's mate of his tickets we made our way back to the tube and headed for Wembley. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight that greeted us as we emerged from Wembley Park tube station..............a huge sea of blue and white!! Yep......Rangers were at Wembley alright! We had a walk around and really soaked up the atmosphere. Obviously as we got around the Stadium, we encountered many Derby fans too. What an atmosphere we had to look forward to! We got into our seats around 2.15pm and watched in awe as the stadium slowly filled up. One end black and white and ours, courtesy of the volunteers who laid out the thousands of QPR flags, a sea of blue and white. A fantastic thing to behold. This isn't the time for criticism, but suffice to say that I wasn't happy with the starting line up. I feared that 4-4-2 was going to be a real struggle for us with our two in the middle against their three. Anyway, amid a great atmosphere, the first half was pretty even, with Rangers shading the first 20 minutes and Derby the rest of the first half. Green made a very good save from a free kick that nearly drifted inside the far post. Kranjcar had gone off injured to be replaced by Traore, but the 4-4-2 shape remained. At half time, I met up with Roller and Norway. I told them I thought we were destined to lose as we were losing the midfield battle. However, to their credit, they both predicted an Rs win. So the 2nd half began with Derby putting us under huge pressure. However, with Dunne being a colossus, the defence stood firm. Then Rangers got back into it and a great chance fell to Charlie. Unfortunately, he planted it a couple of feet wide. It felt like that may have been the chance that needed to go in. How little did I know!! Then.......disaster. O'neill rightly red-carded for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity. Mason called it right, just as he had when he didn't give Derby a penalty in the first half following Hughes's dive. Well, I thought that was it. All over. Just a matter of time till Derby scored and we'd all be so bitterly disappointed. However, Green kept making saves and the 10 men worked their collective socks off to make it as difficult as possible for Derby. Onuoha and especially Dunne were simply awesome. The rest of the team worked and worked and worked!! As the 2nd half wore on, it seemed we may at least hang on till extra time. Penalties seemed our best chance of pinching the result. We couldn't even get into Derby's half. Then..........................it happened. Hoilett won a brave tackle with Buxton and sent a hopeful ball into the centre. Keogh didn't connect with his clearance and it fell to Bobby Zamora 15 yards out. As Zamora's unerring strike hit the back of the net, there was a release of passion, excitement and relief the like of which I've never experienced in my entire life. We simply went insane. I hugged my youngest who had completely flipped, I hugged (and kissed!) Fingy and then I ran around to the next row down to hug my eldest lad who was close to tears as he went doolally!! I then hugged everyone within reach as that wall of ecstatic sound just went on and on. Purely and simply, it was our Aguero moment. Unforgettable!! We'd scored in the 90th minute, having played with 10 men for the last 30 minutes. No one around us had any idea how many minutes had been added onto the end of the game as we were too busy celebrating to see the board go up. I now know that it was 3. I have to say that I was trying to celebrate, but those last 3-4 minutes were pure agony for me as I willed Lee Mason to blow that whistle. He did.... and we all went berserk.......again!! We lifted the cup........Barton lifted Fernandes onto his shoulders............Clint shook with emotion and Rangers were back in the Premier League!! Oh my days...............I'll never forget it as long as I live. We were in the stadium for a long, long time. Cheering, singing and trying to soak up every last, wonderful memory. Finally, drained, we went out to join the thousands of equally drained looking Rs as we walked towards Wembley Park tube station. Half way there, we bumped into Kingdom, who shared his thoughts on the day and made sure he pointed out just how well Dunne had played!! Fair play mate.....Dunne was sensational!! We were discussing what we were going to do and where to go to celebrate but unfortunately as we got to the top of the steps at the station, we turned around and couldn't see Kingdom anywhere, swallowed up in the sea of Rangers fans. Anyway, we decided to go back out of the station and onto the high street to join in with the celebrations there. We grabbed some food and then slowly walked back towards the station. Along the way, Rangers fans mercilessly taunted coach after coach full of Derby fans as they crept along the road in front of us. The Derby fans weren't best pleased!! We got back on the tube to Hillingdon and drove back home with our Rangers flag flying proudly out of the window. Finally, I'd seen QPR win at Wembley and my two lads were there to see it too. Priceless!! A day we will never, ever forget for the rest of our lives!
Forgot to add...........when we got home I splashed out on a take away for everyone and opened a lovely merlot to celebrate. I couldn't sleep as I was too excited and I ended up watching the whole game till the small hours!
Excellent review of the day Col; I'm still struggling with mine. This has been the best weekend that I can recall. Not only did we have a fantastic day at Wembley yesterday as you so vividly described, but today I brought my elder daughter back from University at the end of her course.
good to see you again col, if I had the energy I'd do my own write up but I'm still shattered after yesterday!
Good to meet you col, agree with the "best weekend ever". If Carlsberg did brilliant weekends, this would be it. Still reading the posts before i head back tomorrow, will see you all again.
That is a well said and heartfelt piece Col. I love the ''Purely and simply, it was our Aguero moment. Unforgettable!! That is exactly what it was. I wished I had come up with that analogy. I felt that we were down and out and couldn't see us getting a shot on goal never mind a winner. Then out of the blue.... bang!!! Our Aguero moment.
Good write up Look forward to watching football next season and will be interesting to read cols next chapter! !!!!!
Thanks Col, great write up as ever. The celebration when Bobby scored can only be described as pandemonium with a roar that must have been heard at Loftus Road. Maybe even Stamford Bridge giving tham fair warning that we are back and hunting for big scalps! We had a wonderful family meal too when we got home and watched the highlights many times. Personally I would not taunt the losers. I would love to say it is because I'm a good person but the truth is that I know how much I'd hate it myself. We had the shine slightly taken off the day by sitting behind folks who wanted to stand for the whole game and took exception to being asked to sit down for the sake of the kids sitting behind us. One fellow QPR fan wanted to 'take it outside' with one of my lads. Given that this chap was short and sleight and my lad is 6'4" and 14st, perhaps my son should have accepted the offer! I also took exception to his Dad turning round and shouting 'stand up and sing you f'ing counts' especially since I had been louder than any of them. My throat still hurts now to prove that!! Of course after the goal it was all hugs and handshakes and, to be fair, apologies but I could have really done without that on such a special day. Mrs RTID was rather unsettled for a while. Apparently in some areas the stewards were asking people to sit down but none did in our area. I hope QPR can make it back to Wembley sooner than another couple of decades so I can enjoy without this sort of nonsense another time. Leaving all that in the past, I'm now so excited to see who comes in and who we kick off with in August! COYRss!
Amazing day. Was at a conference in Miami until fri pm. Got back to Toronto early eve, tactical dinner with the misses & then back to TO airport for 11.15pm flight London. All went to plan and was in the pub with ticket by 1pm. Couple of liveners & then up Wembley way which was perfectly described above I can't add to the eloquent and accurate description of the game or the outpouring of emotion when we scored It was all so unlikely which just added to the ecstasy Evening was perfectly rounded off watching CL final in the orange tree in Richmond with a Chelsea mate - who decided a pub full of rampant R's was not for him Finally retired at the holiday inn at heathrow at midnight and was up early & somewhat groggy for my 8.30am flight back to Toronto Home and indoors by noon on Sunday. A momentous and unforgettable 36 hour round trip with less than 24 hours on British soul Happy Days
Fantastic write up Col. The memories will live with us all forever. For once, our team got a bit of luck. It doesn;t happen to us very often.
I w thee early and saw a few.. Thanks for the report Col.. Think you should go back to doing them evry week again. we may not always agree but well worth a read..Just my opinion
Great to meet you and the boys Col, Simply amazing day. Great write up too. What does your lad think about Dunno now? Stick or twist? Richard Dunne - He's slow but he can build you a wall anywhere !
They were asking people to sit down by me, the guy in front of me was getting upset about the two in front of him, then kept waving his flag in my face! They swopped seats on about 58mins, O'neils take his red and we all stand till the end. Slight Farce, but it was that sort of day.
I did Grif but then smashed my phone during the goal celebrations. I've managed to extract the memory card and will try and upload the pics later.
Good write up col as all ways. was nice to finally say hello & shake your hand & was great to finally meet Staines. I was one of the fortunate who got to spend some time with campile & son as well as icant & robina. Top blokes who helped make my day one of best I've had.
