QPR have a dreadful record against Man Utd in the recent and medium past, but ahead of their visit to W12 on Saturday, LFW recalls a memorable win for the R's from 1975.

Recent Meetings

QPR played the perfect party guests once more as Manchester United unveiled a clutch of late, expensive transfer window additions with a 4-0 romp at Old Trafford in mid-September. QPR weren't at the races. Rio Ferdinand, returning to his former club for the first time, accepted a carriage clock on the pitch immediately before kick off and continued his simpering waving and gawping well into the first half during which United scored three times through an Angel Di Maria freekick that drifted all the way in, a low shot from Ander Herrera and a typically well finished effort from Wayne Rooney. Afterwards Karl Henry said QPR hadn't been sure whether the plan was to press or sit back, and they'd therefore got caught doing neither, but luckily United declared at four, Juan Mata just before the hour mark. Had Matt Phillips finished into an open net from long range when David Dee Gea erred early on, or Niko Kranjcar scored when he should have done immediately after half time, it could have been a different story. That never looked likely though. It's 'ard going to Old Trafford apparently.



Man Utd: De Gea 5; Rafael 6 ( Valencia 67, 6), Evans 6, Blackett 6, Rojo 7; Blind 8, Herrera 8, Di Maria 8 (Januzaj 82, -), Mata 7 (Falcao 67, 7); Rooney 7, Van Persie 7

Subs not used: Shaw, Lindegaard, Fletcher, Pereira

Goals: Di Maria 24 (free kick, won Herrera), Herrera 36 (assisted Rooney), Rooney 44 (assisted Herrera), Mata 58 (assisted Di Maria)

Bookings: Van Persie 32 (foul)

QPR: Green 5; Isla 4, Ferdinand 4, Caulker 5, Hill 4 (Traore 45, 6); Sandro 5 (Henry 74, 5), Kranjcar 5, Fer 4; Phillips 5, Hoilett 4, Austin 5 (Vargas 59, 6)

Subs not used: McCarthy, Onuoha, Zamora , Taarabt




QPR 0 Man Utd 2, Saturday February 23, 2013, Premier League

Although new QPR manager Harry Redknapp had spent big in his first January transfer window, adding striker Loic Remy and defender Chris Samba to his arsenal, there was a depressing inevitability about a 2-0 home defeat to the eventual champions Man Utd in mid-February. Rangers had won at Chelsea and drawn at home to Man City and Spurs during January sparking hopes of a revival but a 4-1 defeat at Swansea, and a pathetic display into the bargain, rather set the scene for a procession from Alex Ferguson’s side. Rafael scored an incredible long range goal after 23 minutes to light up and otherwise drab fixture, sealed by Ryan Giggs’ goal late in the day. Instantly forgettable.

QPR: Cesar 7, Bosingwa 5, Hill 6, Samba 5, Traore 6, Townsend 7 (Hoilett 70, 5), Granero 4, (Jenas 45, 4), Mbia 5, Taarabt 5, Mackie 4, Zamora 6 (Remy 60, 6)

Subs not used: Green, Onuoha, Park, Wright-Phillips

Man Utd: De Gea 6, Rafael 8, Ferdinand 7, Vidic 7, Evra 6, Young 6 (Valencia 67, 6), Carrick 7, Giggs 8, Nani 7, Hernandez 7 (Rooney 61, 6), Van Persie 7 (Welbeck 41, 6)

Subs not used: Lindegaard, Evans, Anderson, Cleverley

Goals: Rafael 23 (unassisted), Giggs 80 (assisted Nani)

Man Utd 3 QPR 1, Saturday November 24, 2012, Premier League

The previous meeting between the two sides during that horrendous season came a day after Mark Hughes had been mercifully removed as manager. Harry Redknapp sat in the directors’ box at Old Trafford already poised to take over. The team was picked by Hughes’ coaching staff, and it said a lot about their opinion of their former boss’ team selection that they immediately returned the likes of Kieron Dyer, Shaun Derry, Clint Hill and Ale Faurlin to the starting line-up. The result was a performance far more spirited than anything Hughes had managed to coax from his overpaid big name stars for months. Mackie had a first half goal disallowed before giving Rangers the lead after half time with a close range finish. Ultimately United blew their beleaguered visitors away in ten blistering minutes that featured goals from Jonny Evans, Darren Fletcher and Javier Hernandez and in the end the highlight of the game was Ashley Young trying to con a penalty out of Clint Hill and Shaun Derry for the second season running only to be turned down by the referee and slapped about a bit by QPR’s veteran pairing. It seemed at this stage, with Hughes gone, that Redknapp had plenty to build on…

Man Utd: Lindegaard 6, Rafael 6, Ferdinand 7, Evans 7, Evra 6, Young 6 (Anderson 59, 7), Scholes 6 (Hernandez 59, 7), Fletcher 6, Welbeck 5 (Powell 79, 7), Rooney 6, Van Persie 6

Subs not used: De Gea, Jones, Smallin, Cleverley

Goals: Evans 64 (assisted Rooney/Welbeck), Fletcher 68 (assisted Rooney), Hernandez 72 (assisted Anderson )

Bookings: Scholes 54 (repetitive fouling)

QPR: Cesar 6, Mbia 8, Nelsen 7, Hill 7, Traore 7 (Ferdinand 60, 4), Dyer 7, Derry 7, Faurlin 7 (Granero 84, -), Taarabt 6 (Hoilett 73, 6), Cisse 6, Mackie 8

Subs not used: Green, Diakite, Wright-Phillips, Ephraim

Goals: Mackie 52 (assisted Dyer)

Bookings: Mbia 58 (foul)



Man Utd 2 QPR 0, Sunday April 8, 2012, Premier League

QPR’s hopes of springing an upset at Old Trafford in April 2012 were over before they’d ever really begun thanks to an outrageously bad piece of officiating and some flagrant cheating from Ashley Young. An early United onslaught culminated in a penalty, scored by Wayne Rooney, after 15 minutes but it was the decision to award the spot kick that sparked the controversy. Young was three yards offside when he received the ball, and barely touched at all by Shaun Derry who was, nevertheless, dismissed for bringing him down. With only ten men on the field Rangers could do little to trouble their hosts and United won 2-0 when they could, had they been in the mood, have bagged two or three times that amount. Paul Scholes got the second, Michael Carrick hit the bar from long range, and Paddy Kenny made a series of excellent saves to keep the score down.

Man Utd: De Gea 6, Rafael 6 (Jones 74, 6), Ferdinand 6, Evans 6, Evra 7, Valencia 8, Scholes 7 (Cleverley 74, 6), Carrick 8, Young 7 (Giggs 61, 7), Rooney 7, Welbeck 7

Subs Not Used: Amos, Park, Hernandez, Pogba

Booked: Rafael (repetitive fouling)

Goals: Rooney 15 (penalty, won Young), Scholes 68 (unassisted)

QPR: Kenny 8, Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 7, Hill 8, Taiwo 7, Diakite 7 (Wright-Phillips 71, 6), Derry 6, Mackie 7, Taarabt 6 (Smith 71, 6), Buzsaky 6, Bothroyd 5 (Campbell 81, -)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Young, Zamora

Sent Off: Derry 14 (denying goal scoring opportunity)



QPR 0 Man Utd 2, Sunday December 18, 2011, Premier League

QPR were taught some harsh lessons by Manchester United at Loftus Road back in December 2011 shortly after promotion from the Championship. The visitors left town with a comfortable 2-0 victory despite never really getting out of third gear. They took the lead within a minute of kicking off through Wayne Rooney and never once looked like relinquishing that. QPR barely threatened the goal and after an hour or so of cat and mouse type football United finally went in for the big kill when Michael Carrick was allowed to run 50 yards through the heart of the home team’s midfield and score from the edge of the box. But for the performance of goalkeeper Radek Cerny it could have been twice as bad for Neil Warnock’s side.

QPR: Cerny 8, Young 6, Gabbidon 7, Connolly 7, Traore 6, Mackie 6, Barton 5, Faurlin 5, Wright-Phillips 5 (Taarabt 65, 6), Bothroyd 6 (Hill 75, 6), Helguson 6 (Campbell 65, 6)

Subs Not Used: Kenny, Orr, Derry , Smith

Booked: Gabbidon (foul)

Man Utd: De Gea 6, Smalling 7, Evans 7, Ferdinand 7, Evra 6, Valencia 7, Jones 8, Carrick 8, Nani 7(Young 88, -), Rooney 8 (Giggs 78, 6), Welbeck 7 (Hernandez 63, 6)

Subs Not Used: Lindegaard, Berbatov, Park, Fryers

Booked: Ferdinand (dissent), Jones (foul)

Goals: Rooney 1 (assisted Valencia ), Carrick 56 (unassisted)



Man Utd 1 QPR 0, Tuesday November 11, 2008, League Cup Fourth Round

QPR aren’t exactly a team famed for their cup runs in the modern era but in 2008, under the guidance of Iain Dowie and newly flushed with Flavio Briatore’s millions, they successfully negotiated three rounds of the League Cup. That included a memorable upset in round three at Aston Villa where Damion Stewart’s flying header saw Rangers through. Of course, we all know that between the Villa and United games Briatore swung his axe and removed Dowie from the hot seat which meant that QPR went to Old Trafford under the caretaker guidance of Gareth Ainsworth — a short sighted move, considering Dowie had won 2-0 at Old Trafford with Coventry at the same stage of the same competition a year previously. Ainsworth set QPR up not to lose and the result was 80 minutes of siege being laid to the QPR goal where Radek Cerny was in the form of his life to keep the home side at bay. In the end only the award of the obligatory questionable penalty at the Stretford End, converted by Carlos Tevez, saved United’s blushes. Rangers were left to reflect on what might have been had they given the game more of a go — in the final ten minutes after conceding Sam Di Carmine had a goal disallowed for offside and Emmanuel Ledesma missed an absolute sitter with the last kick of the game.

Man Utd: Kuszczak 6, Rafael Da Silva 7, Neville 7 (Vidic 89, -), Evans 7, O'Shea 7, Gibson 7, Possebon 7 (Welbeck 72, 8), Anderson 7, Nani 7, Tevez 8, Park 8

Subs Not Used: Foster, Carrick, Manucho, Cleverley, Gray

Goals: Tevez 76 pen (assisted Nani)

QPR: Cerny 9, Ramage 7, Stewart 9, Hall 9, Connolly 7, Mahon 8, Rowlands 8, Buzsaky 5 (Agyemang 7), Parejo 4 (Ledesma 7) Cook 5 (Di Carmine 7) Blackstock 5

Subs Not Used: Cole, Delaney, Gorkss, Ephraim



QPR 1 Man Utd 1, Saturday March 16, 1996, Premiership

The last meeting of any sort prior to that League Cup tie was during our 1995/96 relegation season and was seen by many as the seminal moment of that campaign. QPR, embarking on a Premier League season for the first time without talismanic striker Les Ferdinand and under the inexperienced stewardship of Ray Wilkins, were struggling badly. They’d won just one of 11 league games during a barren winter and were deep in the relegation mire when title chasing Man Utd arrived in town on a ten straight winning run. But this wasn’t a QPR team entirely without talent and having already clocked up hard luck stories against Newcastle (played superbly, lost 3-2) and Spurs (lead 2-0, had a ridiculous penalty given against them, lost 3-2) at Loftus Road they were to suffer another here. QPR were excellent on the day and after weathering a heavy first half storm lifted the roof off a packed Loftus Road with a deserved opening goal just past the hour mark. Dennis Irwin is often credited with the own goal, diving despairingly to try and divert Danny Dichio’s shot over the bar but only finding the roof of his own net, but it’s always been Dichio’s goal for me. And then the infamous moment. Referee Robbie Hart, who has grown through myth and legend into a Manchester United fan given the game as a gesture by the league prior to his retirement, refused to blow the full time whistle. On and on the game went. On and on and on and on. Finally, just before the second reading of the classified football results, Eric Cantona scored at the School End. The final whistle duly sounded almost the second the ball hit the back of the net. It was a scandal then and it remains so today — a crucial nail in the QPR coffin from which it took them 15 years to be exhumed.

QPR: J Sommer, D Bardsley, R Brevett, A McDonald, S Yates, S Barker, I Holloway, N Quashie (A Impey, 45), D Dichio (M Hateley, 80), K Gallen (K Ready, 84), T Sinclair

Goals: Dichio 63

Man Utd: P Schmeichel, D May (N Butt, 73), D Irwin, S Bruce, G Neville, B McClair (P Scholes, 58), R Keane, D Beckham (L Sharpe, 73), R Giggs, E Cantona , A Cole

Goals: Cantona 90+8

Previous Results

Memorable Match

The for and against record in this fixture doesn’t reflect well on QPR who have managed just six wins to United’s 33. But one of those wins came in the famous 1975/76 season at Loftus Road when a fantastic QPR side came within a whisker of winning the First Division title for the one and only time in their history.

The home match with United, played out in front of 29,237 people at Loftus Road , came early in the campaign. Rangers had already signalled their intent for the season with a 2-0 victory against title favourites Liverpool on the opening day, a fabulous performance that included the BBC Goal of the Season from Gerry Francis. Man Utd were tipped to be Liverpool’s main challengers that year, and indeed if you believe the Match of the 70s programme that the BBC ran a couple of years back the season was indeed a fight between United and Liverpool for the title. But QPR went into the game unbeaten, four draws and two wins from the first six games, and ultimately only missed out on the title by a point after winning 14 of their last 16 league games.

United were also unbeaten, and lead the league as they arrived in W12 for their first London trip of the season. Dave Sexton, revolutionary manager of QPR at the time and a man who would eventually boss United as well, kept faith with the same team that had won 4-1 at Shrewsbury in the League Cup in the run up to this game. Mick Leach, harshly maligned by QPR fans at the time, scored in that cup game and kept his place ahead of John Hollins.

Tommy Docherty was the Man Utd manager — he’d already endured one infamously brief spell as QPR manager by this stage and would go on to manage them again from 1979 to 1980. In the meantime, he gave 18-year-old Scottish defender Arthur Albiston a first start of the season in place of the injured Brian Greenhoff.

Another man who would go onto manage QPR, though not very successfully, Stewart Houston, had to be alert to early danger from Leach after Francis had knocked down a cross that resulted from purposeful wing play by Dave Thomas on the Ellerslie Road side of the ground. From the resulting corner Ian Gillard attacked the near post and headed the ball against the bar, but it fell perfectly in the six yard box for unmarked David Webb to stoop and head home past Alex Stepney.

The R’s were within an inch or so of making it two when Thomas accelerated away from Albiston down the other wing and cut the ball back to the edge of the area where Don Givens swept a first time volley agonisingly close to the top corner. When Givens did hit the target with a very different improvised effort at the near post after attractive build up play from first Thomas and then Stan Bowles, Stepney was on hand to produce a fine one handed save.

It’s somewhat reassuring to know that dodgy refereeing decisions going in favour of Manchester United isn’t a modern phenomenon — before half time Francis received a boot to the head as he entered the area attempting to replicate his goal from a one two against Liverpool. The referee waved appeals for a spot kick away.

That said, Rangers were awarded a penalty straight after the break down at the Loft End. Thomas, United’s tormenter in chief, reached a loose ball in the area before Buchan and was obviously chopped down by the United man. The chance to give Rangers a two goal cushion fell to Stan Bowles but his penalty, low to the keeper’s right, was saved by Stepney who was also alert enough to leap forward and smother the rebound before Bowles could atone for the error. That was Bowles first penalty miss in a league game in his career.

Still Rangers pressed and after a bad mistake by Sammy McIlroy in midfield Don Givens went for the same corner as Bowles with a low shot that beat Stepney this time but missed the bottom corner by less than a foot. It mattered not, QPR held on for a deserved win.

Afterwards goal scorer Dave Webb said: “I was fortunate really, they took the corner quickly and I think Stuart Pearson dwelt a little bit as I got to the edge of the box and allowed me to get behind him.”

QPR topped the table after the final round of matches that season but missed out on the title when Liverpool then went and won a rearranged game in hand at Wolves. United finished three points behind in third.

QPR: Parkes, Clement, McLintock, Webb, Gillard, Leach, Francis, Masson, Thomas, Bowles, Givens.

Sub: Hollins

Man Utd: Stepney, Nicholl, Houston, Jackson, Alberston, Buchan, Coppell, McIlroy, Pearson, Macari, Daly

Sub: Young

Highlights >>> Man Utd 1 QPR 0 08/09 >>> Man Utd 2 QPR 0 FA Cup Quarter Final 1995 >>> QPR 1 Man Utd 3 92/93 >>> Man Utd 1 QPR 4 91/92 >>> Man Utd 3 QPR 1 83/84 >>> QPR 4 Man Utd 0 76/77 >>> QPR 1 Man Utd 0 75/76

Connections

Ray Wilkins came through the ranks at then-First Division Chelsea in the early 1970s, making his debut against Norwich in October 1973 in a 3-0 win. He established himself as a regular in the Blues’ midfield the following season but come May 1975 they had (tragically) been relegated into the Second Division.

That demotion brought to an end a decent spell of cup finals and title tilts at Stamford Bridge through the 1960s and early 1970s with the likes of Chopper Harris, Peter Osgood and Peter Bonetti starring alongside future QPR players John Hollins and Dave Webb. In their place came a new breed of young players led by Wilkins who was made captain of the Second Division side instead of Harris despite being aged just 18. After two seasons at the lower level Chelsea were promoted at the end of the 1976/77 season and then survived in the top division with a sixteenth place finish in 1977/78.

The season after though, following the departure of manager Eddie McCreadie, Chelsea were (tragically) relegated again. This time Wilkins was one of the big name players sold off, with Manchester United paying £800,000 for his services and staving off the bailiffs at Stamford Bridge a while longer in the process.

Wilkins made his England debut for Don Revie in 1976 and played regularly for the next ten years, scoring a fine goal against Belgium in the European Championships in 1980. At the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 he famously picked up the only red card of his entire playing career for throwing a ball at a referee while disagreeing with a decision.

Wilkins became a mainstay of the United midfield during an uneventful period of the club’s history but he did claim the first winner’s medal of his career when they beat Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup Final replay at Wembley. Wilkins had scored in the first game which finished 2-2 but he and his United team mates were fortunate to get another crack after Gordon Smith went through on goal late in the original tie only to see a weak shot saved by Gary Bailey. The TV commentary from the day “And Smith must score…” later became the name of the Brighton fanzine.

A year later AC Milan paid £1.5m to take Wilkins to Italy for three seasons which included a Copa Italia final defeat in 1985. A brief four month spell with Paris St Germain followed before a £250,000 move to Glasgow Rangers in 1987. Rangers were managed at the time by former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness and with English clubs banned from European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 he was able to attract a slew of big name English players to Ibrox including Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and Trevor Francis as well as Wilkins. Wilkins won the league title in 1989, the Scottish League Cup twice and wrote himself into club folklore with a stunning goal in a 5-1 Old Firm win at Ibrox in August 1988.

Francis actually moved south to QPR first in 1988 after the League Cup final success. He then became player manager at Loftus Road in November that year when Jim Smith left for Newcastle but it was a role he struggled with, famously dividing the dressing room by fining Martin Allen for leaving the team hotel in Newcastle to be at the birth of his son. Seeking some experienced old friends to help him out he teamed Wilkins with Peter Reid in a central midfield with an average age well into the 30s and an average speed of little more than walking pace. He was however sacked as manager almost immediately after Wilkins arrived and while there was speculation at the time that the new arrival would take over as player manager Rangers rather sensibly appointed the experienced on Don Howe instead.

There followed a spectacular Indian summer in Wilkins’ career that encompassed 184 appearances for QPR across six years — his longest spell with any club other than Chelsea. He didn’t score often — just 11 in total for the R’s — but when he did find the net it was often very special indeed. A beautiful 30 yard lob in an away win at Wimbledon in the 1992/93 season came shortly after a diving header at the Loft End in a 4-1 victory against Spurs. In 1993/94 he lashed a spectacular volley past Bruce Grobbelaar in a home match with Liverpool . But it was his eye for a pass that he was most well renowned for — a defence splitter leading to a last second winner for Dennis Bailey on a cold December afternoon at Norwich in the 1991/92 campaign, and a golf-like chip in behind champions-elect Leeds for Bradley Allen to seize upon and slide in from an impossible angle later that same campaign were two of my personal favourites.

Sadly though, Wilkins isn’t as fondly remembered by some at Loftus Road as he probably should be in my opinion. Personally I thought he was a magnificent player for us, guiding Gerry Francis’ exciting team around the park with Ian Holloway alongside him doing the leg work. But some subscribe to a criticism that dogged him throughout his career that he only ever passed the ball sideways or backwards — a trait that earned him the unfortunate ‘crab’ nickname that stuck.

And of course when he broke off from a spell at Crystal Palace at the start of the 1994/95 season to replace Gerry Francis as the QPR manager he then soured the wonderful memories for those fans who remembered him fondly as a player as well. Things started well enough — he took over relegation threatened Rangers at a time of great crisis but got them playing an exciting brand of football that carried them up the table and into an FA Cup quarter final at Manchester United. He could then hardly be blamed for the sale of Les Ferdinand, or the contract situation that saw Clive Wilson follow Francis to Tottenham, but what followed was fairly heartbreaking.

Furnished with more cash to spend than any QPR manager in history thanks to the £6m Newcastle paid for Ferdinand, Wilkins squandered almost all of it on the likes of Simon Osborn, Jurgeon Sommer, Gregory Goodridge and, most infamously, Mark Hateley and Ned Zelic. There is a school of thought that says Wilkins should be absolved of blame, and much of the appalling transfer dealing was down to the CEO at the time Clive Berlin, but the fault is generally placed at Wilkins’ door and QPR were relegated that year with a game to spare. Another criticism of Wilkins was that his insistence that even as he pushed 40 he should be in the team rather than the dugout when fit undermined him as a manager — Osborn actually looked fairly decent in midfield after arriving from Reading but left for Wolves after barely six months with Rangers because he couldn’t get in the side ahead of his boss.

Wilkins stayed for the First Division campaign only to then resign/get pushed a month into the campaign after a home defeat by Bolton . He then picked up various short term playing contracts at Wycombe, Hibs, Orient and Millwall before finally hanging his boots up in 1997. A similarly unsuccessful spell as manager at big spending Fulham followed but he has since made his name as a successful assistant boss to Dennis Wise at Millwall, where they reached an FA Cup final and qualified for Europe, and to various managers at Chelsea.

More recently he's worked as a television pundit talking about how splendid everything is apart from, it has to be said, QPR who he sadly rarely has a good word for on Sky — although it’s fair to say good words about QPR are hard to find from anybody at the moment.

In February last year he revealed his long running battle with depression and dependency on Valium brought on by ulcerative colitis which he has suffered from all his adult life.

Can often be seen in the Crown and Sceptre on a QPR matchday.

Others >>> Rio Ferdinand QPR 2014-present, Man Utd 2002-2014 >>> Ji Sung Park, Man Utd 2005-2012, QPR 2012-2014 >>> Federico Macheda, Man Utd 2009-2013, QPR (loan) 2012 >>> Tom Heaton, Man Utd 2005-2010, QPR (loan) 2009 >>> Liam Miller, Man Utd 2004-2006, QPR 2009 >>> Kieran Lee, Man Utd 2006-2008, QPR (loan) 2008 >>> Danny Nardiello, Man Utd 2000-2005, QPR 2007-2008 >>> John Curtis, Man Utd 1997-2000, QPR 2007 >>> Nick Culkin, Man Utd 1997-2002, QPR 2002-2005 >>> Ray Wilkins, Man Utd 1979-1984, QPR 1989-1994, (manager) 1994-1996 >>> >>> Alan Brazil, Man Utd 1984-1986, QPR 1986 >>> Gary Micklewhite, Man Utd 1978-1979, QPR 1979-1985 >>> Gordon Hill, Man Utd 1975-1978, QPR 1979-1981 >>> Stewart Houston, Man Utd 1973-1980, QPR (manager) 1996-1997 >>> Don Givens, Man Utd 1969-1970, QPR 1972-1978 >>> Dave Sexton, QPR (manager) 1974-1977, Man Utd 1977-1981 >>> Dave McCreery, Man Utd 1974-1979, QPR 1979-1981 >>> Tommy Docherty, QPR (manager) 1968, (manager) 1979-1980, Man Utd (manager) 1972-1977 >>> Reg Allen, QPR 1938-1950, Man Utd 1950-1955

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