Looking at the Rodney thread - great as ever - best hat-trick ever Made me think I must have started going to QPR late 60s/early 70s I am sure there used to be a players bar right opposite what I'd call the entrance to the R and S block now Am I right? Or have I already lost the plot
As a young lad in the late 70's I used to wait around the stadium collecting autographs. The players used to come out of a bar at the school end of the South Africa Road concourse. But as the SA road stand was only completed in 1973 you may well be correct about the bar being in the Ellerslie Rd stand as that was built before. I'm sure Bushman will know.
Think it was the other way round Nines - SA Road was finished before Ellerslie, as I sat in it in 1972 on my first visit to LR, with Ellerslie under construction opposite us. Sat in the Ellerslie for the rest of that season and the next 6, no recall of a players bar though.
Really? Christ, It's me losing the plot then mate. I remember sitting on the wall behind the goal in the school end for the opening game of the 1973 season. I think it was a 0-0 v Southampton, but I remember a new stand being opened. It must of been Ellerslie Rd then. I was only eight at the time, my past memory recall is beginning to get cloudier with each passing year of late.
South Africa Rd stand was fully opened for the Southampton game on 28th September 1968. Ellerslie Rd stand was opened on the 2nd December 1972. Players bar was in the old Ellerslie Rd stand and then moved to SA stand.
How strange is that? I thought the stand opened in '73 and Southampton was our first game of the season, but it actually opened in '68 when we played............... Southampton in the first game of the season. My subconscious memory is clearly outdoing my active one. Something new opened in that game in 1973 because having lived next door to the ground I can remember a lot of work being carried out at the ground during that summer. Oh well.
South Africa Road Stand was built during the close season of 67/68 to 68/69. it was first used part way through our first season in division 1. Ellerslie Road Stand was built around 1972. Prior to SA Road being built the tunnels (2 of them, one per team) were in the old wooden Ellerslie Road Stand. I assume if we had a players bar in those days it would have been in the ER.
You youngsters ... I used to go when it was just a field ... I used to bring a crate of light ales to the home games In those days the best away fixtures was Aberdeen which meant leaving early sometimes 2 hours before kick off as we would walk it When we played in Europe I remember that we drew a Mexican side called Deportivo Penis I didn't get back for three years as I was detained for selling young boys ... I only got back after building a helicopter from old coke cans and a VW beetle which I had to wait to get invented
There was a players bar in the old ER stand. it was tiny but I did enjoy a few visits there. It was great talking to the players there. all down to earth blokes.
One of the most clearest memories that I have at that time was getting Rodney's autograph in Ellerslie road 1972 as me and several kids ran towards him, his hair was still wet from a the bath and asked if he was leaving he replied "no I'm not leaving QPR" probably not to disappoint us, anyway that was the last time I saw him and always remember him walking off down the road never to return. That was the last home game he played and we had just lost but I can't remember who we were playing? However I do remember at that time, for a few seasons, it was very confusing what exit to stand at because the players could come out of both sides of the ground and it was a bit of a trot to get from one side to the other.
The £200,000 SA Rd stand should have been ready for the first game of the 1968-69 season against Leicester City 10th August 1968, but because of a steel strike in the summer of 68, and terrible weather conditions it was not ready for full use , until the Southampton game on 28th September 1968. Click the link below for my look at the 1968-69 season. http://http://qprreport.proboards.c....com/thread/22767/1st-division-1968-69-season The players bar in the old Ellerslie Rd stand can be seen in my look at the 1967-68 season below. http://qprreport.proboards.com/thread/22572/2nd-division-runners-1967-season What entrance the players left by depended on where they had parked their cars. If they came out of South Africa Rd they parked in Dunraven Rd and if they came out of Ellerslie Rd they parked in Halsbury Rd. Both roads are just of Bloemfontein Rd and were handy for quick getaways onto the Uxbridge Rd. Ellerslie Rd stand was opened on the 2nd December 1972. Rangers played Oxford Utd. The builder was J. M. Jones Builders, of Maidenhead. For that game ticket holders had major problems gaining entrance to the new stand as the club had put up the wrong entrance signs over the turnstiles
Thanks for all the info Bushman. That is an incredible catalogue and knowledge of our history you have there. Quite simply amazing in fact. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Bushman, I had several lunches with old man Jones of J M Jones and each time he moaned about not being paid by the club for ages. A year later when I tackled him about a late payment to me he avoided the subject.
