Queens Park Rangers F.C.
Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based at 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". The club's fans traditionally consider Chelsea, Fulham and Brentford as rivals owing to their nearby locations - however recently they have also developed a rivalry with Luton Town. QPR are not to be confused with the Scottish clubs, Rangers or Queen's Park.
History
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).
QPR were promoted as champions of Division 3 South in the 1947/48 season. 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, 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 1996, 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. 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 and, just over a year later, the death of promising teenager and first-team player Ray Jones in a car crash.
During the 2007–08 season, Queens Park Rangers are playing in the Football League Championship.
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 August 2007. 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 and Ecclestone. As part of the investment Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law took a place on the board of directors.
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 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.
Honours
Division Three (South) Champions 1947-48.
Division Three Champions 1966-67.
League Cup Winners 1967
Milk Cup (League Cup) Finalists 1986.
Division Two Runners-up 1967-68, 1972-73.
Division Two Champions 1982-83.
Division One Runners-up 1975-76.
FA Cup finalists 1982
Nationwide Division Two Runners-up 2003-04.
FA Community Shield runners-up 1908, 1912.
Records
Highest Attendance 35,353: vs Leeds United 27/04/1974 Division 1
Highest league win 9-2: vs Tranmere Rovers 03/12/1960 Division 3
Highest league loss 1-8: vs Manchester United 19/03/1969 Division 1
Most capped player Alan McDonald: 52 Northern Ireland
Most League appearances Tony Ingham: 519 1950-63
Oldest Player Ray Wilkins: 39 years 352 days
Youngest Player Frank Sibley: 15 years 275 days
Most League Goals in a Season: George Goddard, 37, Division 3 South, 1929-30.
Most Goals in a Season: Rodney Marsh, 44 (30 League, 3 FA Cup,11 League Cup) 1966-67
Most League Goals in Total Aggregate: George Goddard, 174, 1926-34.
Most Goals in Total Aggregate: George Goddard, 186 , 1926-34
Record Transfer Fee Received: £6,000,000 from Newcastle United for Les Ferdinand, June 1995.
Record Transfer Fee Paid: £2,750,000 to Stoke City for Mike Sheron, July 1997.
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:
Welford's Fields (1886-1888)
London Scottish F.C.'s Ground (1888-1889)
Brondesbury(1888-1889)
Home Farm (1888-1889)
Kensal Green (1888-1889)
Gun Club (1888-1889)
Wormwood Scrubs (1888-1889)
Killburn Cricket Ground (1888-1889)
Kensal Rise Athletic Ground (1899-1901)
Latimer Road (1901-1904)
Notting Hill (1901-1904)
Royal Agricultural Society showgrounds (1904-1907)
Park Royal (1904-1907)
Park Royal Ground (1907-1917)
Loftus Road (1917-1931)
White City Stadium (1931-1933)
Loftus Road (1933-1962)
White City Stadium (1962-1963)
Loftus Road (1963- present)
