Somewhere, I have a photograph taken on 9th August 1995. The sprightly young fellow in the picture has much the same haircut that I have now, though without the first hints of grey. He is also many pounds lighter than I am now. He wears a wide grin, a QPR sweatshirt and sunglasses with small, dark, rectangular lenses. He is standing outside Ewood Park and he's looking forward to the first game of what would turn out to be a horrible season for his club. That was me, that was.
Earlier that summer, Newcastle United had signed the west London club's reliable goal-getter, Les Ferdinand. A good chunk of the £6 million fee was wasted by manager Ray Wilkins on players who quickly proved to be very poor buys. Simon Osborn joined in July 1995 for £1.1 million and lasted just six months at QPR, making only nine Premier League appearances. The best that can really be said for Osborn, from the point of view of a QPR fan, is that when he was sold on to Wolves, the transfer fee received was only fractionally lower than the one that had been paid to Reading for his services.
Of the poor purchases made by Wilkins in 1995, the one who really stands out in my mind, though, is Mark Hateley. Having scored almost a goal every other game during a six-year stint with the other Rangers (the Glasgow variety), Hateley turned up in west London as a 34-year old with creaky joints and thinning hair. Nothing wrong with a club of our stature signing an established player in the closing stages of his career but with much still to offer, of course. After all, that very tactic has at times been right at the core of a successful QPR business model. Hateley, a pal and former A.C. Milan team-mate of Wilkins, though, clearly did not have much left in the tank. His time at Loftus Road was short and undistinguished.
That first game of 1995-96 against uncle Jack Walker's expensively-assembled Blackburn Rovers side did not provide a shock result. The Rangers lost by just a one-goal margin, which seems respectable enough considering that the Lancashire outfit warmed up the home crowd by parading the Premier League trophy they had won the previous season. My dad, however, a much wiser observer of football than I was then, turned to me at the end of the match and confidently (and accurately) predicted QPR's relegation. He was struck by how easily a young forward line (Gallen and Dichio) had been wrapped up by experienced top flight defenders such as the brutally effective Colin Hendry.
"They won't score enough goals," my dad warned. He was right. They didn't, and so began that long, long period away from the bright flights of the top division.
I was reminded of that match of sixteen years ago, of course, because this weekend's visitors to Loftus Road are Blackburn Rovers.
It looks like a good time to play the side from the north-west. Recently-promoted QPR sit in a creditable 11th place in the Premier League, whereas their opponents are languishing in the relegation zone. The season, however, is still at a very early stage. While the two sides are separated by eight places in the table, they are only four points apart. With the Superhoops set to face Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City in the weeks ahead, it should not be taken for granted that this narrow margin between our side and the lowest positions will be maintained. It is no surprise, then, that many QPR fans are calling this weekend's fixture a 'must-win' game.
Rovers supporters, too, no doubt, are thinking in the same terms, perhaps looking at a QPR side reeling from a 6-0 defeat at Fulham as beatable opponents. Inexperienced manager Steven Kean must also surely be longing for a decent result. Every week, he finds himself on the wrong end of persistent barracking from many in the Blackburn crowd.
This one looks set to be keenly contested, then.
In this crunch match, perhaps the greatest cause for optimism for QPR fans will be the very unusual way that the visitors have prepared for their London awayday.
Both teams, of course, have had two full weeks to recover from their previous poor results. The international break has provided a valuable opportunity to regroup. But Blackburn have been forced to make a long trip to the subcontinent to meet the family of the club's Indian owners and play a friendly match with Pune F.C. While Kean tried gamely to make the best of this strangely-timed jaunt, it seems an exceptionally tiring exercise ahead of an important away fixture. Kean and his team was surely given no choice in the matter, which speaks volumes about the balance of power between the boardroom and the manager. Perhaps it's excessive to describe being compelled to make the Indian trip as rather humiliating for the Rovers side, but it's not the first time that the Blackburn team have been required to do something a bit embarrassing for the Venky family:
QPR fans, meanwhile, will be hoping that as well as showing their usual ineptness, the visiting side will be suffering from both jet lag and Delhi belly. Here's hoping. We need the points.
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Earlier that summer, Newcastle United had signed the west London club's reliable goal-getter, Les Ferdinand. A good chunk of the £6 million fee was wasted by manager Ray Wilkins on players who quickly proved to be very poor buys. Simon Osborn joined in July 1995 for £1.1 million and lasted just six months at QPR, making only nine Premier League appearances. The best that can really be said for Osborn, from the point of view of a QPR fan, is that when he was sold on to Wolves, the transfer fee received was only fractionally lower than the one that had been paid to Reading for his services.
Another midfielder who made little impact was Ned Zelic. Signed that summer from the reigning Bundesliga champions, the Australian was described by Wilkins as being "as versatile as an egg". Comparisons with an egg were justified, as it turned it, but only if the word 'fragile' was used instead of 'versatile'. Legend has it that the former Borussia Dortmund man hobbled back to Germany with sore knees, complaining that English pitches were "too hard". In fairness, though, it should be pointed out that Zelic has recently denied this via Twitter.
Of the poor purchases made by Wilkins in 1995, the one who really stands out in my mind, though, is Mark Hateley. Having scored almost a goal every other game during a six-year stint with the other Rangers (the Glasgow variety), Hateley turned up in west London as a 34-year old with creaky joints and thinning hair. Nothing wrong with a club of our stature signing an established player in the closing stages of his career but with much still to offer, of course. After all, that very tactic has at times been right at the core of a successful QPR business model. Hateley, a pal and former A.C. Milan team-mate of Wilkins, though, clearly did not have much left in the tank. His time at Loftus Road was short and undistinguished.
That first game of 1995-96 against uncle Jack Walker's expensively-assembled Blackburn Rovers side did not provide a shock result. The Rangers lost by just a one-goal margin, which seems respectable enough considering that the Lancashire outfit warmed up the home crowd by parading the Premier League trophy they had won the previous season. My dad, however, a much wiser observer of football than I was then, turned to me at the end of the match and confidently (and accurately) predicted QPR's relegation. He was struck by how easily a young forward line (Gallen and Dichio) had been wrapped up by experienced top flight defenders such as the brutally effective Colin Hendry.
"They won't score enough goals," my dad warned. He was right. They didn't, and so began that long, long period away from the bright flights of the top division.
I was reminded of that match of sixteen years ago, of course, because this weekend's visitors to Loftus Road are Blackburn Rovers.
It looks like a good time to play the side from the north-west. Recently-promoted QPR sit in a creditable 11th place in the Premier League, whereas their opponents are languishing in the relegation zone. The season, however, is still at a very early stage. While the two sides are separated by eight places in the table, they are only four points apart. With the Superhoops set to face Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City in the weeks ahead, it should not be taken for granted that this narrow margin between our side and the lowest positions will be maintained. It is no surprise, then, that many QPR fans are calling this weekend's fixture a 'must-win' game.
Rovers supporters, too, no doubt, are thinking in the same terms, perhaps looking at a QPR side reeling from a 6-0 defeat at Fulham as beatable opponents. Inexperienced manager Steven Kean must also surely be longing for a decent result. Every week, he finds himself on the wrong end of persistent barracking from many in the Blackburn crowd.
This one looks set to be keenly contested, then.
In this crunch match, perhaps the greatest cause for optimism for QPR fans will be the very unusual way that the visitors have prepared for their London awayday.
Both teams, of course, have had two full weeks to recover from their previous poor results. The international break has provided a valuable opportunity to regroup. But Blackburn have been forced to make a long trip to the subcontinent to meet the family of the club's Indian owners and play a friendly match with Pune F.C. While Kean tried gamely to make the best of this strangely-timed jaunt, it seems an exceptionally tiring exercise ahead of an important away fixture. Kean and his team was surely given no choice in the matter, which speaks volumes about the balance of power between the boardroom and the manager. Perhaps it's excessive to describe being compelled to make the Indian trip as rather humiliating for the Rovers side, but it's not the first time that the Blackburn team have been required to do something a bit embarrassing for the Venky family:
QPR fans, meanwhile, will be hoping that as well as showing their usual ineptness, the visiting side will be suffering from both jet lag and Delhi belly. Here's hoping. We need the points.
U RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRssssssssssssssss
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