The second part of LFW's look back at QPR's previous Wembley appearances takes us back to 1982, and an FA Cup final and replay against Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham 1 QPR 1, Saturday May 22, 1982, FA Cup Final
QPR’s one and only trip to Wembley for an FA Cup final came in 1982 when they reached the showpiece event as a Second Division side under the wily managership of Terry Venables.
A convoluted run to the final saw Rangers twice require replays to progress — hey drew 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough in round three but won the replay in the north east. They also needed two cracks at Blackpool in round four but further victories against Grimsby and Crystal Palace, where goal scorer Clive Allen hardly endeared himself to supporters of his former club with some extravagant goal celebrations after sealing a 1-0 win, set up a semi final with West Brom at Highbury.
Having beaten the First Division Albion side in the 1967 League Cup final while still in the third tier (a match we covered in the last history column prior to the home meeting this season) Rangers found themselves paired with the Baggies again in an FA Cup semi final in 1982. The R’s had needed replays to see off Middlesbrough and Blackpool and also registered victories against Grimsby and Crystal Palace on their way to the Highbury showdown. West Brom meanwhile had beaten Blackburn, Norwich, Coventry and Gillingham in previous rounds and kept three clean sheets in the process.
Once again Rangers went into the game in a lower division than their opponents, although this time there was only one league between the two. Terry Venables’ men, in a change strip of red, were competing in a first ever FA Cup semi final for the club and more than 20,000 Rangers fans packed onto Highbury’s famous North Bank for the match. West Brom, by contrast, held the competition record for semi final appearances at the time — this was their nineteenth.
Venables recalled Terry Fenwick and Ian Gillard as his full backs, they’d been replaced by Ian Dawes and Warren Neil for the 2-0 league win against Sheffield Wednesday five days previous, but he was without suspended midfielder John Gregory. Baggies boss Ronnie Allen named four players in his line up who’d played the last time they reached a semi final in 1978, including Derek Statham who passed a late fitness test. Allen dropped Gary Owen to the bench in favour of Steve MacKenzie who had played in two cup semi finals the previous season while with Manchester City. The goal threat was carried by Cyril Regis.
Despite the greater big game experience of the Albion side, the presence of Regis in attack and QPR’s lower division status it was the team with eight London born players in their starting 11 that threatened first. Flanagan crossed from the left, Allen hung back to give himself space in the penalty area and his crisp volley flashed a yard wide of the Clock End goal with Grew beaten all ends up.
Northern the Elder was always of the opinion that Tony Currie deserved more of a mention when people discussed great QPR players of the past and he started and finished a move here that could have led to the opening goal. Initially, thanks to Currie, the move was slick and incisive but when it descended into a farce and crowd of bodies on the edge of the area Currie swooped in once more with a first time shot that was blocked away.
Currie found himself dictating the play at the start of the second half as well. He combined with Micklewhite who then swung over a deep cross which Flanagan nodded back and Simon Stainrod, with 20 goals to his name already that season, flashed a volley wide of the post from the edge of the area.
One of the big stories of the day was the manner in which former Wolves trainee Bob Hazell coped with Regis but when Rangers finally won their first corner of the game 20 minutes from time the giant centre back had a chance to move forward into an offensive position of his own. Currie’s initial delivery was well above his head but Rangers’ tenacity prevented Albion from clearing the corner, and three subsequent crosses, properly. Eventually the ball broke to Hazell in the area and although West Brom were quickly in with a tackle the ball smacked against the shin of Clive Allen and flew into the net to send the North Bank into delirium. It was Allen’s seventh FA Cup goal of the season, and fifteenth overall.
Flanagan went close to adding a second with a late header, and Stainrod had a decent penalty appeal waved away by Sheffield-based referee Keith Hackett but comfortably saw out the victory.
That set up a Wembley date with First Division giants, and FA Cup holder, Spurs. They’d needed a replay to see off Man City at Wembley the previous season and would need a second crack at QPR as well, despite the one division difference and odds stacked in their favour.
The game finished 0-0 in normal time and R’s goalkeeper Peter Hucker was named man of the match, although his team had been far from outclassed. This set up a half-hour period of extra time. Rangers looked doomed midway through that when Glenn Hoddle executed a firm but fair challenge on Gary Waddock that left the Rangers man laid out on the Wembley turf. Now unshackled Hoddle was able to advance into an attacking possession while Graham Roberts carried the ball forward and after receiving the pass the mercurial midfielder fired a low shot past Peter Hucker for what looked sure to be the winning goal.
But that reckoned without the spirit of the QPR team. Five minutes later and five minutes from time a long throw from Stainrod was flicked on at the near post by Bob Hazell up from the back and Terry Fenwick, who would go onto play for Spurs, headed into the roof of the net from close range.
That meant a replay in the cup final for the second consecutive year but only the third time in the trophy’s history. Five days later they met again at Wembley but Rangers again fell behind after Roberts was fouled in the area by Currie and Hoddle lashed home the resulting penalty.
It was always going to be tough for Rangers who went into the second match without Glenn Roeder through suspension or Clive Allen who had been injured in the first match and sadly the R’s just didn’t have the sufficient cutting edge to get back into the game. John Gregory agonisingly hit the bar with a well flighted chip over Ray Clemence, and they were also denied a late penalty.
Rangers went onto win the Second Division title the following season.
QPR: Hucker, Fenwick, Hazell, Roeder, Gillard, Currie, Waddock, Gregory, Flanagan, Stainrod, C Allen (Micklewhite 75).
Goals: Fenwick 115
Spurs: Clemence, Hughton, Miller, Price, Hazard (Brooke 60), Perryman, Roberts, Archibald, Galvin, Roberts, Crooks.
Goals: Hoddle 110
Goalscorer Terry Fenwick told the Open All R’s Podcast: "The coach drive to Wembley was incredible, everybody was in their blue and white hoops, it was a great day for us. It was a bit too emotional for one or two, I don’t think we played particularly well on the Saturday. In the replay we played very well, we were much the better side on the night although we lost the game. Clearly it was one of the best moments in my career, scoring a goal in the FA Cup final. I was devastated when we didn’t win it — we deserved to win it.”
Manager Terry Venables told QPRNet: "We went to the FA Cup final as a Second Division team ad took Spurs to a replay. We should have beaten Tottenham in the replay in my opinion — Spurs were better in the first game but I thought we were magnificent in the replay. When I went to Barcelona it was amazing, but it was much the same things I was doing there as I was at QPR.
Read the full message board thread from the fans who were at the final, and the replay, or read a selection of memories below…
DWQPR: Cannot believe that I was only 16 in 1982, 32 years later and the fortunes of time doing its best to make me look old the memory of the day remains young, right back to the first game, a cold Saturday afternoon in January on the old omniturf against Middlesboro'. 1-0 down going into the last few minutes of the game and we equalise down the Loft end from a corner. In those days we stood and as we all went up to celebrate a stray elbow struck me in the eye giving me a glorious shiner! And through those late winter and early spring months we progressed, won the replay against 'Boro, extra time if I remember, beat Blackpool after drawing at Bloomfield Road, (Allen hat trick in the replay), beat Grimsby 1-0 at HQ and then the game against Palace in the quarter final at Loftus Road, a real tight and tense affair and with five minutes left, in a heaving LR, probably close on 28,000 in the ground, we win a corner. It was hit to the far post where Stevie Wicks, if I remember nods it back and Allen turns on a sixpence a couple of yards out and slams it into the net. When the full time whistle went the crowds stormed onto the pitch to be confronted by Palace supporters cue police horses by the dozen to intervene.
The semi-final at Highbury and on that day I wore a grey QPR 'Lonsdale' shirt and stood on the North Bank just to the right of the goal and towards the back. the ground wasn't sold out, 45,000 out of a capacity of 60,000, but certainly there was more Rangers than West Brom. And then the goal from Clive Allen's right knee from a clearance from Ali Robertson. The North Bank erupted and then 17 minutes of torture with the Highbury clock vivid in everyone's eye site, no scoreboard, no 4th officials board, just that bloody clock, ticking as slowly as it could dare. And then the final whistle went and we were in our way to Wembley. Alderniti ridden by Bob Champion won the Grand National that day.
My dad organised the tickets for us for the final, he owned a newsagents in Thorpebank Road and was a QPR bingo agent, so getting tickets from the club was not a problem. Myself, my brother and a couple of friends chose to stand and had tickets for the upper tier opposite the tunnel end. Dad had the shop decked out in blue and white, sadly it seemed the rest of the Bush couldn't be bothered. I wore a QPR hat to the game along with the red away shirt and obligatory silk scarf tied to the wrist along with straight jeans and black Docs. We were dropped off by our friends Dad round the back of the stadium and endured torrents of abuse from Spuds fans. Inside the ground the upper tier where we were was all Rangers, the lower tier for some reason seemed mostly Spurs. This brought the opportunity for QPR supporters with banners, held up with wooden supports to remove the wood and use them as spears to aim at the Spurs supporters below. Some of the scenes looked quite nasty.
The game itself, everybody else has covered, quite a dull game, and even the weather was miserable. Rangers held their own, with Peter Hucker commanding his goal, and without doubt the loss of Clive Allen was a big hindrance especially with only one sub available. With extra time, we were right behind the shot from Hoddle that took a deflection to go past Hucker for their goal, and that we thought was that. Rangers pressed in the second half of extra time and from the moment that Stainrod took the long throw and Bob Hazel flicked the ball on, you just knew that Terry Fenwick was going to score, and we celebrated some. The evening we went to the Load of Hay in Northolt, in the days when you didn't have to prove your age. Plenty of beer and then up early the next morning as I worked in Dad's shop at the weekend.
My brother was also up early along with our friends, to queue with the masses down SAR to get the replay tickets. By all accounts a few Spurs had also tried their luck in the queue and got pasted for their presence. The replay was on the following Thursday evening, with a crowd of 92,000, being the evening capacity. It was much more even in terms of support and after the penalty Rangers dominated, hitting the bar, a goal disallowed (Micklewhite), it was just one of those days where luck just deserted us. And of course we were without two of our most influential players, Clive Allen and Glenn Roeder. We lost, but we hung around to give the team a great appreciation for their efforts. We couldn't be bothered to get a bus back to Greenford and walked back instead and watched the game again in our newly purchased video recorder.
It should also be recorded that the referee for both games was Clive White, it was later revealed that he used to train with Spurs and within the year had resigned from the Football League list after being found guilty of deception.
BostonR: Walked to the first game from Ladbroke Grove (and walked back)! Spurs fans had about 70% of the tickets in the first game and were standing below the R's fans.
However, in the replay it was 50-50 in terms of attendance. Unfortunately, in the first game it turned very ugly in the R's end with different factions from Ladbroke Grove and Shepherds Bush kicking off. There were a number of fires in the terracing if I remember well.
In the first game Spurs really should have been out of sight but a very young R's keeper Peter Hucker, was amazing on the day - I think he got man of the match. Having said that, our equaliser was straight from the training ground and Mr Venables written all over it. Stainrod long throw, Bob Hazell near post flick-on and a great finish by Fenwick. We really stunned Spurs.
In the replay, it was a different game. I actually thought we were the better side and took a very good Spurs team to the wire. Gregory hit the bar, Stainrod should have had a couple and Hazell and Fenwick were rock-solid.
The 82 team do not get enough credit. They were a very good side and were managed by the most promising manager in the game, Terry Venables who eventually went onto to manage Barcelona.
Been an R's fan for over 45yrs and have watched them in three finals FA Cup, Milk Cup and the Play-off in Cardiff which we all lost. Unfortunately, I am in the US on Sat (I can’t tell you how hard it is to say that) but my two boy's reckon it is a lucky omen - no dad at the Final means a win.
Nov77: If I had to boil down to one moment the greatest feeling I've had as an R's fan, it would be the moment the ball struck Clive Allen's knee in front of a packed North Bank at Highbury. Winning that semi-final and going to Wembley for an FA Cup final for the first time in the clubs history. The next few weeks were just a build up to the big day when the FA Cup still really meant something.
The first game was drab, I'll never forget the queue for tickets for the replay, it started at the far end of South Africa road, where the TA Centre is. I reckon I stood for there for three hours in the rain. They were selling the tickets from the turnstiles behind the loft. When I finally got to the front I heard them shouting out they there running out and would only be selling one per person. Bastards!! I needed three. Anyway, luckily the guy who served me sold me three and I was away, tried to leap over that little brick wall in Batman Close on my way home, slipped and cut my leg open.
The replay was the opposite of the first game, both teams had chances though I thought we edged it. Currie gave away a penalty after Bob Hazell missed a challenge on Graham Roberts. After that we laid siege to their goal, even though we lost I came out of Wembley proud of my team, they had given it everything (something that couldn't be said four years later).
To this day I still believe if Clive Allen had played in that replay we would have won.
ElHoop: There was a voucher given out at the Orient game and that meant I could get two tickets as I was also in the supporters club. That part didn't seem particularly difficult. So my brother went as well even though he didn't really support us at the time. He has done since then though and he'll be there Saturday.
The first game was so fantastic. The cup meant everything back then and it couldn't come around quick enough. We made a huge banner which took hours and hours and it was bloody good. We showed it all the way up to the stadium from Wembley Park - it was all such a laugh. When Spurs scored and we had lost Allen that felt like it, but the equaliser seemed to come from nowhere. I think that everyone was happy with a replay, but it wasn't a great game.
The tickets for the replay were on sale at Wembley on the Sunday, not sure if they were sold at the ground as well, but Wembley was nearer for me anyway. I think that Spurs had a separate queue. Well we got them anyway. It's hard to remember much about either of the games, but the replay was better. We went 1-0 down and then we put the heavy roller on Spurs. We were all over them. Gregory hitting the bar was the moment I'll always remember. That would have been a great goal. It wasn't to be. I think that the Spurs fans gave us an ovation at the end. Rangers did us proud though, it just wasn't to be on the day. And that's Wembley for you - whatever you think might happen, could happen - que sera sera.
Did anyone else go to the Crown and Sceptre after the semi-final and see Currie, Gillard and Bowles pulling pints behind the bar for a while? Stan wasn't even playing for us then.
RBSRager: Was there as a very nervous eight year old. Don't remember too much about the day of the final and was too nervous to join my dad and older sisters for the replay. I do remember the toxic atmosphere at Luton two weeks earlier when Glenn Roeder was sent off and knowing that he would miss the game if it went to a replay. Have always hated Luton and I think that is one of the main reasons- awful place to get to, traffic on the M1 around there always awful, ground was a horrible little place, awful (and quite threatening in my eight year old eyes) fans and then our hero being sent off for not all that much.
I can still repeat verbatim the BBC Commentary from the semi-final though and that was a great day at Highbury. Palace in the quarters is a blur apart from Clive Allen going to celebrate in front of their fans when we scored and then the Palace fans charging us in Ellerslie Road at the end of the game and being scared out of my wits.
Those were the days where the FA Cup Final was the only live match on TV, the whole week was geared up to it, you followed the players at breakfast in the team hotel, on the coach playing cards... and we were part of it. The team that Terry Venables built in those years is still my favourite (was too young to remember the 75/6 team).
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Pinner Paul: My story for 1982 really concerns the year before. My mum lived in Sudbury Town most of her life before getting married but had never been to a cup Ffnal - her dad went to the first ever one at Wembley and ended up sitting in one of the goals!
In 1981 they announced that tickets for the FA Cup final replay would be on sale at Wembley on Sunday morning, so we went down there and after four hours in a queue we got two. "The only way I'll see a final" she said.
Next year of course we were back as season ticket holders seeing the R’s in action - think we had to queue again for replay tickets at Loftus Road - I vaguely remember there was some doubt if the second match would go ahead because of the Falklands.
Left the stadium after the replay gutted because the best team had lost.
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King Stan: I had the option of getting a photographers pass for the first game but chose to sit in the stands. I smuggled a 500mm mirror lens into the stadium hidden under a big coat! The match was poor and Spurs looked really tired ( it is still voted as one of the worst cup finals ). When Fenwick scored I was the only R's fan not celebrating as I was desperately trying to keep the camera from bouncing in the commotion. The club photographer at the time Keith Crekandon had his negatives of the game messed up in the process so gave me a call to get material for the club and Wembley programme. I had to ring round the snappers who were there to get pictures from the game with a Rangers bias to send in which most of them did. My snap of Fenwick's goal used to be hung up in the boardroom but I don't know if it still is.
I went down to the club the day before the replay and picked up a ticket with ease, they had so many left and did eventually send unsold tickets back to Wembley, I noticed spurs fans buying tickets there too because the Evening Standard that day had run a story that Rangers couldn't sell their allocation! The replay was a better match but were I was standing I was outnumbered by Spurs fans who all suddenly donned their colours after they scored. Horrible atmosphere. After the game I legged it as pockets of fighting had broken out. I saw bricks being thrown outside the stadium and a car windscreen smashed. I'm afraid I don't hold happy memories of the replay.
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