Hard to put in any particular order but being 26, the ones that stand out for me during my time as a Ranger are: Being put into Administration back in 2001,relegation to 3rd Tier of English Football, and the loss to the Automotive Part Time Mechanics (Vauxhall Motors.) I remember being back in school and having to defend my opinion that QPR were a 'Sleeping Giant.' mainly to Portsmouth fans who had just romped to the Championship. (How times can change.) Feel free to share in your past grief, and lets all celebrate the bright future we surely have ahead of us.
Way too many to list,travelling home from ****holes up North after another grim performance in the mid 80's springs to mind.On reflection the two lowest moments were when we lost to Cardiff in the Play Off final and when Ray Jones died!
The level of stick I got after the Vauxhall Motors defeat was intense. I have managed to get over that and followed our pomotion to the Championship with the proud (tongue in cheek) proclamation that we'd now be able to get past the FA Cup first round. For me it was the season we bombed out of the Premiership. Particularly I remember listening to the radio as Cantona got that stupidly late goal against us and I realised that we were doomed to relegation - I should have been old enough to keep a stiff upper lip but will admit to a few tears that day.
Nearly blubbed when his family came on the pitch to thank the fans for their support, very moving times. I loved the day out at Cardiff, all those Hoops in the stadium was very moving but my heart sank when they scored with only 10 minutes left. Having to walk out of the ground with pissed up Cardiff fans trying to goad Dad's with kids into a fight was sickening, sums up what a bunch of cowards their so called hard men really are. Citeh scoring the winner on the last game of the season and for a brief time not knowing how the Bolton/Stoke game was going was also a low point but five minutes later I was happier than the Mancs in the room!
I remember my dad being the same that day mate. Isn't that the game where Dichio (Maybe wrong) scores, and Cantona equalises in like the 96th minute or something?
Has to be my dads car being surrounded by jubilant Oxford United fans as we left Wembley after the Milk Cup final. I still don't know how we lost that game.
I'll always remember that golden opportunity Big Dan had for us in that game......Sad times! Ray passing really showed how much of a family/community club QPR are. Retiring the shirt was a fitting touch.
Relegation in 78-79, just a few years after nearly being Champions Losing the Milk Cup final so badly to Oxford in '86 Relegation in '96 Vauxhall Bloody Motors The dark days before the takeover five years ago The dark days after the takeover five years ago The fear of missing out on promotion because of that inept buffoon Paladini's inability to complete a transfer form correctly. There have been a few.....
listening to the game when Wolves rolled over to Liverpool robbing us of being champions and of course Oxford at Wembley.
These were disappointing moments but not low points for me. Definitely dark days in the third tier and administration. We came very close to extinction.
So many. A couple that stick in the mind were our relegation in 2000-01, it was inevitable but such a low when confirmed. Also the following season, we travelled to Wycombe on the August Bank Holiday and lost 1-0, realisation that it wouldn't be a quick return. Thinking not that far back in time we were winning at Old Trafford, Anfield and Highbury and now we couldn't beat a team that were non-league when we were Premier League...
Being relegated to league 2 for me by losing away to Huddersfield. However, I remover the time in the 3rd tier quite fondly. We definitely learned something being in that league.
'86 Milk Cup Final, I don't think we've ever been such firm favorites to win a game and they pissed all over us. But a statistic that I heard the other day from that match, we apparently hold the record for most tickets sold for a domestic cup final, for that match we sold 67k tickets as Oxford returned most of theirs. But it really wasn't a happy day.
QPR 1 Man Utd 1: the game the effectively relegated us from the Prem in 96. Despite being a poor and underfunded side the team fought like lions knowing that an unlikely win was the only option if we were to hope to survive. Cantona scored the equalizer in what I still believe was the 8th minute of stoppage time in a game without any major stoppages. This travesty was the main reason why the football authorities introduced the time boards for the end of each half the very next season but it was too late for us of course. With the asset strippers in full flow at Loftus Road and money now flooding into the big clubs such as United there was no way a quick recovery was going to happen. As we walked from the ground I remember saying to my Dad that we would not be back for a generation. How painfully correct I was.
The Vauxhall Motors defeat, during the last 38 years of watching the R's is my worst moment by far,more so than Oxford, Spurs and Cardiff Final defeats.
