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Queens Park Rangers F.C.

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Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers badge
Full nameQueens Park Rangers
Football Club
Nickname(s)The Hoops, The 'R's
Founded1882
GroundLoftus Road (Rangers Stadium)
Shepherd's Bush
Hammersmith
Capacity19,128
ChairmanItaly Gianni Paladini
ManagerItaly Luigi De Canio
LeagueThe Championship
2006–07The Championship, 18th

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based in Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London. The club's first team currently plays in the Football League Championship. In August 2007 QPR was bought by Formula One tycoons, Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, who sold a 20% stake to the family of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal in December of that year.

The club is commonly referred to as "QPR" or often just "Rangers" by fans. Other nicknames include the "Hoops" or the "Superhoops" (after the team's kit of blue and white hooped shirts), or the "Rs". QPR are not to be confused with the Scottish clubs, Rangers or Queen's Park.

History

Main article: History of Queens Park Rangers F.C.
For the current season see Queens Park Rangers F.C. season 2007-08

QPR was formed in 1882, when a team known as St Jude's merged with Christchurch Rangers. The resulting team was called Queens Park Rangers, because most of the players came from the Queens Park area of North-West London. QPR became a professional team in 1889 and played their home games in nearly 20 different stadia (a league record), before permanently settling in Loftus Road in 1917 (although the team briefly played at White City between 1931-3 and 1962-63 in the hope of attracting larger crowds).[1]

QPR were promoted as champions of Division 3 South in the 1947/48 season. They then went on to win the Champions leauge the nex year. Dave Mangnall was the manager as Rangers enjoyed 4 seasons in the Second division, being relegated in 1951-52. Tony Ingham was signed from Leeds United and went on to make most ever league appearances for QPR (519).

Prior to the start of the 1959-60 season saw the arrival of arguably the club's greatest ever manager,[2] Alec Stock. The 1960-61 season saw QPR achieve their biggest win to date - 9-2 vs Tranmere Rovers in a Division 3 match. In time, Stock, with the advent as Chairman in the mid-60s of Jim Gregory helped to achieve a total transformation of the club and its surroundings.

In 1966-67, QPR won the Division Three championship and became the first Third Division club to win the League Cup on Saturday, March 4, 1967, beating West Bromwich Albion 3-2, (coming back from a two goal deficit). 40 years on, it is still the only major trophy that QPR have won. The final was also the first League Cup Final to be held at Wembley Stadium.

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, was appointed manager in the summer of 1991. In the 1991-92 First Division campaign they finished mid-table in the league and were founder members of the new Premier League which began in 1992. Francis oversaw one of QPR's most famous victories, the 4-1 win at Old Trafford in front of live TV on New Years Day 1992. They finished that season in fifth place, and in the following season Francis guided them to a ninth place finish. Midway through the 1994-95 season Francis resigned and very quickly became manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer, Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to Newcastle United.

QPR's struggled in the following season and were relegated at the end of the 1995-96 season. QPR then competed in Division 1 until 2001 under a succession of managers. Gerry Francis returned in 1998 however the 2000-2001 season proved to be a disaster, and Francis resigned in early 2001. Charismatic former player Ian Holloway became manager but was unable to stop Rangers from being relegated to England's third tier for the first time for more than thirty years. Following the 2003-2004 season QPR returned to Division 1 and struggled for consistent form over the next two campaigns before Holloway was suspended amidst rumours of his departure for Leicester City. A poor series of results and lack of progress at the club saw Holloway's successors Gary Waddock and later John Gregory (both former players) fail to hold on to the manager's job.

During this same period QPR became embroiled in financial and boardroom controversy. Although the club had floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1991, in 2001 it entered administration. A period of financial hardship followed and the club left administration after receiving a £10m high-interest emergency loan which continued to burden the club.[3] Scandals involving the directors, shareholders and others emerged in 2005-2006 season and included allegations of blackmail and threats of violence against the club's chairman Gianni Paladini. In an unrelated incident QPR were further rocked by the murder of Youth Team footballer Kiyan Prince on 18 May 2006[4] and, just over a year later, the death of promising teenager and first-team player Ray Jones in a car crash.[5] During the 2007–08 season, Queens Park Rangers are playing in the Football League Championship (see also: Queens Park Rangers F.C. season 2007-08).

Investment

After a number of years of financial difficulties which included a period in financial administration, QPR was bought by Formula One tycoons and multi-millionaires Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore in a £14m takeover in August 2007. In spending £690,000 to acquire a 69 per cent majority stake in the club, Ecclestone spent £150,000 on his 15 per cent, while Briatore bought 54 per cent for £540,000 through a British Virgin Islands registered company, Sarita Capital. In addition Briatore and Ecclestone are believed to have promised £5 million in convertible loan facilities to help buy players and have covered £13 million of debt, in a total commitment to the club of around £20 million. At the time of purchase the remaining 31 per cent of shareholders turned down the offer of 1p a share.[6]

Four months later, on 20 December 2007, it was announced that the family of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in the club from Briatore. The purchase price of the 20 per cent stake was just £200,000. As part of the investment Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law took a place on the board of directors.[7] While Gianni Paladini remains chairman of the football club, Alejandro Agag, as chairman of QPR Holdings (the parent company) was the de facto chairman,[6] until he was replaced by Flavio Briatore in early February 2008.[8] Agag moved into the role of managing director, supported by a deputy managing director, Ali Russell, who moved from Hearts in the Scottish Premier League.[8]

Despite QPR's perilous financial condition, the combined personal wealth of the club's new owners (which included the world's then 5th richest man in the world Lakshmi Mittal) sparked speculation that QPR would receive significant further investment from their new benefactors drawing parallels to their wealthy West London neighbours Chelsea and Fulham.[9] However, to date no significant further funds are believed to have been made available to the club other than those injected as part of the purchase of its share capital. Indeed it was reported in January 2008 that the investors had not discharged the £10 million loan from ABC Corporation together with its £1 million annual interest burden—despite the club's prospective annual turnover of between £10 million and £15 million a year. Furthermore around £2 million was still owed to a former director and major shareholder, Antonio Caliendo, who waived £4.5 million of loans when Briatore and Ecclestone bought the club. It is expected that the ABC loan will be discharged in June 2008 on its maturity and that the debt owed to Antonio Caliendo will be paid off in early 2008 in line with a funding strategy which Ecclestone has publicly stated will not result in the wealthy owners simply bankrolling the club.[9] Mittal's investment is thought to be primarily motivated by his son-in-law's interests and that Mittal himself will remain a silent investor while Briatore, Ecclestone and Bhatia work together to the implement the strategy of slowly building the club up ahead of a push for promotion to the Premier League in 2009. The new owners have also pledged to refurbish Loftus Road and use their experience in Formula One to increase sponsorship revenues.[6] On 25 March 2008 Q.P.R. confirmed that, from the 2008-09 season and for five seasons, their kits will be supplied by Lotto Sport Italia as part of a number of new partnerships formed by Flavio Briatore.[10]

Rivals

The club's traditional local rivals are Chelsea and Fulham. Brentford hate QPR, but QPR pay little attention to them, though recently a minor rivalry with Luton Town and Watford[11][12] has begun.

Honours

Records

Further information: QPR records

Grounds

Rangers have had a somewhat nomadic existence, having played in nearly 20 different locations throughout North West London since their formation. The several grounds before 1886 are unknown but were probably in the Queens Park area (the first being The Queens Park itself) Along with having the title of most home grounds in football league history:[13]

Managers past and present

Name Nat From To G W D L
James Cowan Scotland August 1907 May 1913
James Howie Scotland August 1913 April 1920
Ned Liddell England April 1920 May 1925 177 71 42 64
Robert Hewison England August 1925 May 1931 219 80 53 86
Archie Mitchell England November 1931 May 1933 79 32 18 29
Mick O'Brien Republic of Ireland May 1933 April 1935 84 40 16 28
Billy Birrell Scotland April 1935 May 1939 184 85 42 57
Ted Vizard Wales May 1939 April 1944
Dave Mangnall England April 1944 May 1952 280 112 74 94
Jack Taylor England June 1952 May 1959 341 118 89 134
Alec Stock England August 1959 June 1968 439 206 104 129
Bill Dodgin England June 1968 November 1968 16 2 5 9
Tommy Docherty Scotland November 1968 November 1968 4 1 0 3
Les Allen England December 1969 January 1970 4 2 1 1
Gordon Jago England January 1971 October 1974 161 71 55 35
Dave Sexton England October 1974 July 1977 130 57 32 41
Frank Sibley England July 1977 July 1978 45 9 17 19
Steve Burtenshaw England July 1978 May 1979 41 6 13 22
Tommy Docherty Scotland May 1979 October 1980 51 20 16 15
Terry Venables England October 1980 May 1984 166 84 33 49
Alan Mullery England June 1984 December 1984 26 11 8 7
Frank Sibley (Caretaker) England December 1984 June 1985 28 8 6 14
Jim Smith England June 1985 December 1988 167 67 38 62
Trevor Francis England December 1988 November 1989 93 31 30 32
Don Howe England November 1989 May 1991 75 27 21 27
Gerry Francis England May 1991 November 1994 158 59 47 52
Ray Wilkins England November 1994 September 1996 80 31 13 36
Stewart Houston Scotland September 1996 November 1997 63 25 15 23
John Hollins (Caretaker) England November 1997 December 1997 4 1 2 1
Ray Harford England December 1997 September 1998 41 5 18 18
Iain Dowie (Caretaker) Northern Ireland September 1998 October 1998 2 1 0 1
Gerry Francis England October 1998 February 2001 125 36 42 47
Ian Holloway England February 2001 February 2006 252 100 71 81
Gary Waddock Republic of Ireland February 2006 September 2006 23 4 8 11
John Gregory England September 2006 October 2007 48 13 12 23
Mick Harford (caretaker) England October 2007 October 2007 5 2 2 1
Luigi De Canio Italy October 2007 Present 20 8 4 8

Notable players, past and present

Emboldened players have represented their respective countries at full international level

Current squad

As of 16 February 2008.[15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK England ENG Lee Camp
2 DF Ireland EIR Damien Delaney
3 DF England ENG Chris Barker
4 MF England ENG Gavin Mahon
5 DF Jamaica JAM Damion Stewart
6 DF England ENG Michael Mancienne (on loan from Chelsea)
9 FW England ENG Dexter Blackstock
10 MF Hungary HUN Ákos Buzsáky
11 MF England ENG Gareth Ainsworth
12 GK England ENG Jake Cole
14 MF Ireland EIR Martin Rowlands
16 DF England ENG Matthew Connolly
17 FW Ghana GHA Patrick Agyemang
18 GK United States USA Matt Pickens
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 DF England ENG Kieran Lee (on loan from Manchester United)
23 MF England ENG Stefan Bailey
25 MF England ENG Hogan Ephraim
26 FW England ENG Rowan Vine
28 DF Pakistan PAK Zeshan Rehman
29 DF England ENG Fitz Hall
32 MF England ENG Mikele Leigertwood
33 GK Australia AUS Reece Crowther
35 GK England ENG Chris Goodchild
36 MF Colombia COL Angelo Balanta
–– DF England ENG Aaron Goode
–– DF England ENG Andrew Howell
–– GK England ENG Sean Thomas

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
7 MF England ENG Adam Bolder (on loan to Sheffield Wednesday)
8 FW Wales WAL Daniel Nardiello (on loan to Barnsley)
19 MF England ENG Simon Walton (on loan to Hull City)
- FW England ENG Romone Rose (on loan to AFC Wimbledon)
- FW England ENG Danny Maguire (on loan to AFC Wimbledon)

Retired numbers

Main article: Retired numbers in football (soccer)

31 – England Ray Jones, striker, 2006–2007[16]

Supporters' clubs

In common with many long-established football clubs in England, QPR has a network of loyal supporters' associations. The principal supporters' association is the QPR LSA. Other supporters groups exist throughout the UK and around the world including the USA, New Zealand, Serbia and Hungary. QPR also has a supporters' football team: Accrington Stanley Bowles who play matches against similar supporters' sides from other English clubs.

References

  1. ^ Inglis, Simon: Football Grounds of Britain, page 305-6. ISBN 0-00-218426-5
  2. ^ Alec Stock Obituary at QueensParkRangersFC.com
  3. ^ The Independent
  4. ^ The Independent
  5. ^ QPR's Ray Jones dies in car crash BBC Sport, 25 August 2007
  6. ^ a b c "QPR tycoons hesitate on spending spree". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  7. ^ "QPR secure huge investment boost". BBC. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
  8. ^ a b "Briatore is QPR Holdings chairman". BBC. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
  9. ^ a b "Lakshmi Mittal pushes QPR up the rich list". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-01-04. Cite error: The named reference "telegraph2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ "CLUB STATEMENT: QPR & LOTTO SPORT ITALIA". QPR Official Website. Retrieved 2008-03-25.
  11. ^ Loftus Road - guide for visiting fans Loft For Words
  12. ^ Football club rivalries Football Network, retrieved on 2008-04-17
  13. ^ VitalFootball.co.uk
  14. ^ QPR's First England International
  15. ^ "Player Profiles". Queens Park Rangers FC. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  16. ^ "Remembering Ray - Number 31". Queens Park Rangers FC. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-08-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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