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Reply | Any World Cup Adventures QPR Related Or Not
at 14:28 12 Jul 2026
I thought the Boston bars running out of beer was a made up story - until the afternoon after the Scotland v Morocco match when I was out with a friend and we tried to get a drink. All that was left was the crap American beers like Bud and Michelob - any decent stuff (including Sam Adams) was long gone!
Miami is a tourist trap so unfortunately a lot of the locals were just looking to fleece the visitors, especially in South Beach.
I spent time in the Little Havana and Little Haiti districts which were way better. Better food, better prices and the locals were very hospitable.
All in all a great trip. The septic tanks can keep the hydration breaks, count downs to kick off etc and I just hope the ticketing model doesn't become the norm for the future. |
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Reply | Ken Bates
at 14:20 12 Jul 2026
He was chairman of Oldham Athletic in the mid 1960s
In March 1982 he bought Chelsea because Jim G wouldn't sell him the Rs. |
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Reply | Any World Cup Adventures QPR Related Or Not
at 00:47 10 Jul 2026
Being a glory hunting QPR and Scotland fan (in other words glory starved for decades...) I was in Boston for the Scotland v Haiti and Morocco matches plus Miami for the Brazil match.
The Scotland team were pretty dire - the fans outstanding though, with memories from Boston especially that I will never ever forget. The locals were also fabulous in Boston - far less so in Miami unfortunately.
Overall it was a great experience, although the ticketing process is obscene. Tickets with an already expensive face value being sold on for 10 times face value on FIFA's own resale site, with them taking a cut from both buyers and sellers, sounds like a mix of malpractice and extortion. $265 Scotland v Brazil tickets were being sold for more than 10 times that on the day of the match, with similar stories circulating from the England v Mexico match from last weekend. It really should be investigated - but no doubt it won't be. I fear it will become the norm at future tournaments. |
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Reply | Rare QPR Footage
at 00:33 10 Jul 2026
Rik is a life long Ranger, an all round top bloke and has probably THE BEST collection of Rs footage out there.
He and Dave B did a tremendous job on the footage shown at the 1975/6 evening in Chiswick in February.. |
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Thread | 50 years ago today..... 4th May 1976 Wolves v Liverpool
at 12:30 4 May 2026
50 years ago today - Wolves v Liverpool 4th May 1976. Taken from a piece originally written for IndyRs and A Kick up the Rs fanzine 15 years ago.
So with Rangers season over and top of the table by 1 point over Liverpool, it all boiled down to the Wolverhampton Wanderers versus Liverpool match played on Tuesday 4th May at Molineux. 10 days after Rangers' last match. A 0-0, 1-1 or 2-2 draw would give Liverpool their ninth championship on goal average. These were the days before goal difference was used to separate teams in the league table with the same number of points, but 3-3 would give Rangers the trophy. Wolves also needed to gain points – lose and they would be relegated. Birmingham needed to gain a point at already relegated Sheffield United to send their Midlands rivals down.
For the Rangers players and officials the opportunity to watch the game live on a closed circuit broadcast at the BBC Studios in Wood Lane was made available. Dave Thomas was asked to commentate for BBC Radio. Thomas therefore had the dubious pleasure of watching the game live on a monitor in the studio, whilst commentating on the goings-on on the pitch at the same time. Gerry Francis, Stan Bowles and Coach Frank Sibley plus Club Secretary Ron Phillips and his assistant Sheila Marson amongst others were also present in the studio. Everyone was of course keen to see Wolves win – but there was more than just Championship medals at stake. Stan had the chance that night to win £6,000 on a 16-1 bet for Rangers to be Champions, and there was also a £6,000 club bonus per player. Ron Phillips saw this as an opportunity to be repaid the £3,000 worth of wages that had already been advanced to Stan that season!
Other players and officials were elsewhere. Don Masson was on Scotland international duty and the Scotland squad were at Ibrox that night to watch Rangers v Dundee United. Masson, born in Banchory near Aberdeen, had never played for a Scottish club and had had an excellent career at Middlesbrough and Notts County prior to signing for QPR in December 1974. He had been on the verge of the Scotland team for many months previously but inexplicably kept missing out on selection. Approaching the age of 30, some people felt that he was too old for a first cap. In the end he got the call up he deserved for the Home Internationals after Willie Ormond, the Scotland Manager, had seen him at the Leeds game and had been suitably impressed.
Masson was to make his international debut 2 days later in Scotland’s 3-1 win over Wales at Hampden and scored his first goal for Scotland v England on 15th May at Hampden Park, a great first half effort in a match now largely remembered for Kenny Dalglish’s daisy cutter through Ray Clemence’s legs that won the game 2-1 for Scotland. Dave Sexton was also in Scotland the night of the Wolves v Liverpool game, in Edinburgh watching a European Basketball tournament. Chairman Jim Gregory was in the South of France on his yacht – the suspense just too much for him. Ron Phillips had instructions to call him after the game with the match result.
For the fans television was not an option. Sitting with your ears glued to BBC Radio 2 and its then static filled medium wave broadcasts was the only option available…..unless you felt that you had to be at Molineux in person. Two coaches were run by the Official QPR Supporters Club and Daphne Biggs had been selling stand tickets for the match after the Leeds United home game to Supporters Club members. One of the coach passengers was Robin Haldane, still getting over the events of the previous night at the Mike Channon testimonial at The Dell.
Others drove up to Wolverhampton. My father, Frank Percival, and his cousin Peter Robinson were lifelong Rangers fans and, together with my brother and I, were season ticket holders in the South Africa Road Stand. My brother Dave and I left school early after lunch and by 5pm we had arrived in Wolverhampton. The town was already seething with Liverpool fans, with little sign of many home fans. We joined the queue to try and get into Molineux – our blue and white QPR scarves hidden from display. However, I hadn’t hidden my scarf well enough and a guy behind me in the queue spotted it. “What have we got here then ? Some Evertonians?! ”
“No” I replied. “Queen’s Park Rangers fans”
“What the hell are you doing here ?” the Liverpool fan asked.
“If you lose, we’re the Champions” was my reply.
The Liverpool fan scoffed and said: “We’ll not be losing this game pal.”
By 5.45pm it was clear that Molineux was already full for the 7.30pm kick off. The Liverpool fans smashed the gates open at the South Bank End and a few hundred fans gained entry, but the stewards and Police soon stopped the flow of people into the ground and the queue stopped moving. By 6.45pm we gave up hope of getting in and set off for home. There were still dozens of coaches arriving from Liverpool. There was no way any of those fans would have got in, unless they had stand seat tickets. This was of course a time when the vast majority of the capacity of most grounds consisted of pay on the day terracing. The official attendance was 48,900, but there must have been at least 10,000 locked out that night. So we had to settle for listening to the game on the car radio on the way home.
Surprisingly Steve Kindon scored for Wolves in the 13th minute. Maybe Rangers would be Champions, despite the odds ? Wolves were still in front with 14 minutes to go, despite great pressure from Liverpool. Agony ensued though…as Keegan, Toshack and Kennedy all scored in the final minutes to win the game 3-1 for Liverpool.
As for the Rangers fans who did make it to the game, Robin Haldane recalls the terraces being packed solid and a Liverpool fan stumbling onto one of the Rangers coaches after the match. He was bemused when he received the reply “London” to his question: “Where is this coach going to ?” One of the Rangers fans even gave him a bottle of champagne that had been stashed away, just in case, and the Liverpool fan stumbled off the coach and into the night clutching his prize.
Listening to the Radio 2 commentary in the car on the journey home, my brother Dave and I were choked with the result. I was 12, my brother 10. My Dad put it into a bit of perspective though. He’d been following Rangers since the age of 7 in 1926; they’d had to apply for re-election at the end of his first season as a fan. That summer the club had changed colours from green and white to blue and white in an attempt to change their luck. So much for that! The 1926/27 season had got off to a great start with the Club Secretary forgetting to submit the club’s application to compete in the FA Cup. My Dad summed it all up by saying: “Think about it. Rangers have finished second at the end of their fourth ever season in Division One. We’re top London club, something I never thought I’d live to see. Next season we will be in Europe. Our time will come.”
Rangers’ Chief Scout, Ron Howard, was one of the QPR officials and players who watched the game at the BBC TV Centre. He was quoted in the ‘Willesden and Brent Chronicle’ on 7th May as saying: “It’s a bitter disappointment. Prior to the game most of us had written the championship off. We thought Liverpool would earn at least a draw. But when Kindon scored we all hit the roof. Stan couldn’t watch the game after the opening moments and went for a walk. But really Liverpool deserved to win. Only goalkeeper Pierce kept Wolves in the game with some excellent saves. But with all of Liverpool’s pressure and with only 14 minutes left, we all felt that maybe we might be the champions. It was not to be, Wolves collapsed in the end. Nobody could ask for more from QPR though – 27 points from the final 30. We have had our best ever season in the 80 year history of the club. I believe we will do well in the UEFA Cup next season.”
For the third season in a row, Rangers had finished as the highest placed London club in Division One, but it was little consolation. Howard’s forecast regarding Europe turned out to be correct however….but that is another story for another day.
I’d like to thank the following people for their kind help with the preparation of this piece: Robin Haldane, Chris Hewitt, Steve Russell and Richard Porter for their R’s recollections and Stuart Bilbe for some of the photos. Thanks also to Dave Thomas of ‘A Kick up the R’s’ fanzine. This article originally appeared in print in issue 255 on the day of the Leeds game. This Indy R’s online version is expanded and also contains some additional images. |
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Reply | Supergrass
at 22:47 1 May 2026
Saw them at the Old Trout in Windsor in February 1995. Absolutely phenomenal! |
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Reply | Charlie
at 08:31 30 Apr 2026
I am also not a Royalist - but Charles played a blinder. And of course Trump got none of what he said .......
I thought the "if it wasn't for us you would be speaking French" was especially good! |
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Reply | An old man between the sticks
at 14:05 29 Apr 2026
Hamer is out of contract and is being linked with Leicester
Unfortunately I think we need to sign a very good new keeper as none of the current 3 are really up to scratch. Each has pluses and minuses. |
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Reply | Ipswich tickets
at 13:27 22 Apr 2026
Ipswich will want to try to keep those back for their own fans I suspect, as we did with the Leeds allocation in 2011 for the last match. They wanted 3,300 and we gave them 1,700 in the Upper School End only. |
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Reply | Hey Ho, Let's Go
at 11:06 16 Apr 2026
A great person - I was lucky enough to interview him in
Birmingham in December 1992 |
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Reply | W12 club
at 04:35 11 Apr 2026
Yes, Wayne Fereday and Andy Sinton are usually in there and there's often a post match interview with some of the current team. The food's decent - a good day out and a nice freebie. |
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Reply | Liam Morrison watch
at 11:26 9 Apr 2026
I rate him and I think he links up really well with Ronnie Edwards
I was disappointed to see him go out on loan to Aberdeen. Presumably he thought he had a chance of making the Scotland World Cup squad. He won't though and friends who are Aberdeen fans have said he's been mediocre at best in a team that's had a poor second half of the season |
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Reply | Lincoln City
at 19:49 6 Apr 2026
Tommy the bag is related but he's something like a cousin to John - not brother |
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Reply | PNE away
at 14:52 5 Apr 2026
From the ticket office at Deepdale |
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Reply | Lincoln City
at 10:39 4 Apr 2026
I know of one Rangers fan who was at Lincoln for the 5.0 away win in April 1962 - Dennis Samuels
Tickets will be like gold dust for that fixture next season |
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