QPR go back to Peterborough's London Road on Saturday, scene of some absolute horror shows through their history, few more so than a shellacking for Ian Holloway's men in 2001.
Peterborough 4 QPR 1, Tuesday October 23, 2001, Second Division
The summer of 2001 had been a traumatic one for Queens Park Rangers. Relegated to the third tier for the first time since the 1960s and in administration amidst post-Chris Wright financial collapse, long term injuries to star men Richard Langley and Clarke Carlisle left new manager Ian Holloway with just half a dozen fit professionals under contract.
A recruitment drive on a budget brought in non-league prospects like Leroy Griffiths and Hamid Barr, scouted gems from abroad like Aziz Ben-Askar and Doudou, and a series of Watford connections thanks to new assistant Kenny Jackett such as captain Steve Palmer and goalkeeper Chris Day. They did such a good job of it that even the pre-season friendlies they’d set up to haul in some much needed cash and give them a chance to run the rule over trialists brought brilliant performances against Celtic, and a 3-1 victory over Chelsea with Griffiths torching French World Cup winner Marcel Desailly.
Weirdly, there was a good deal of optimism around at the start of that season, with QPR fans travelling in large numbers to the load of new grounds they’d been presented with. Stoke were beaten 1-0 on day one, and Rangers then hung on to win away at Bury in the second weekend. Andy Thomson, who’d joined from Gillingham at the end of the previous campaign as one of Ian Holloway’s first signings along with Marcus Bignot, hit the ground running with ten goals in the first 12 games including a hat trick in a 4-1 home victory against Port Vale. An immediate bounce back to the second tier felt likely, despite the financial woes of the club.
However, as autumn turned to winter, things started to unravel rather. There were humbling away defeats at Cambridge, Wrexham, and then a 3-0 at Yeovil in our first EFL Trophy game. Northampton, who turned into something of a bogey team for our three years at that level, followed up a League Cup win with a 1-0 league victory at Loftus Road, while Oldham and Tranmere both left W12 with positive results. In the midst of this troubling run came a midweek trip to Peterborough, who’d started the season in flying form under Barry Fry, winning seven of ten leading into the fixture including a 6-0 home win against Bournemouth and 4-1 against Bristol City.
QPR had attempted to arrest the slide by delving into scout Mel Johnson’s little black book for another special young talent, adding Danny Shittu on loan from Charlton at the eleventh hour. Fans Alex and Matt Winton famously pitched in to secure Doudou’s signature after an impressive pre-season, and then later financed the permanent signing of Shittu leading to a hissy fit from Brentford’s Ron Noades and a change in the rules around clubs signing players while in administration. Shittu would make an inauspicious start, with a red card at London Road, and he wasn’t the only one to fall flat on his face in this fixture.
Things started so well when captain Palmer bundled in the opening goal from a fourth minute corner but it rapidly accelerated downhill after that as David Farrell equalised, Neale Fenn put the hosts in front in first half stoppage time, Leon McKenzie doubled that advantage immediately after the restart, and Fenn added a fourth as the clock wound down. It was a bleak night on the terrace behind the goal, as the home fans serenaded the travellers from West London with a "your not famous any more” chant that would stalk Rangers through that winter.
There was a disastrous 4-0 loss at bankrupt League Two side Swansea still to come in the FA Cup First Round live on Sky, but the return of Kevin Gallen to Shepherd’s Bush was announced immediately after the game and this was a catalyst for a significant uptick in form. It began with a 4-0 home win against Swindon and the R’s then went on a run of one defeat from 12. The Holloway rebuild would include a play-off final at Cardiff a season later, and then automatic promotion in 2003/04. The 2001/02 season ended just shy of the top six, with the late arrival of Jerome Thomas on loan from Arsenal inspiring four consecutive wins through March and April, but the run had begun just too late to make the play-offs.
Peterborough, meanwhile, collapsed altogether after Christmas. A 1-0 defeat in the return fixture at Loftus Road was part of a run of 20 games that yielded just four wins and left them in 17th place.
Posh: M Tyler, M Joseph, A Edwards, T Williams, S Rea, D Farrell, R Forsyth (T Shields, 54), J Bullard (H Danielsson, 88), G Jelleyman, N Fenn, L McKenzie (D Oldfield, 85)
Subs not used: D Connor, D French
Goals: Farrell 39, Fenn 45, 84, McKenzie 49
Bookings: McKenzie, Farrell
QPR: C Day, D Shittu, S Palmer, M Rose, O Burgess, M Bignot, A Bonnot, P Bruce, Doudou (A Thomson, 45), K Connolly, R Pacquette (L Griffiths, 46)
Subs not used: F Digby, C Warren, D McEwen
Goals: Palmer 4
Red Cards: Shittu 83
LFW regular and AKUTR’s columnist Dave Barton has set up a QPR Memories YouTube channel, with a mixture of clips, classic games, and old highlights packages. His three recent meetings with Posh are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter.
QPR 2 Peterborough United 0, Tuesday August 14, 2018, League Cup First Round
Steve McClaren’s QPR made short work of League One Peterborough in the first round of the League Cup in 2018/19. Despite starting the season with two league defeats, the R’s were 2-0 up against Posh within six minutes as Luke Freeman scored within the first 90 seconds and Pawel Wszolek followed that up a couple of minutes later — both off assists from former London Road favourite Conor Washington in what would turn out to be one of his final appearances for the club.
QPR: Lumley 6; Kakay 7, Leistner 7, Baptiste 6, Bidwell 6; Scowen 8, Cousins 6; Osayi-Samuel 5 (Eze 67, 6), Freeman 6 (Manning 77, 6), Wszolek 7; Washington 6 (Smith 83, -)
Subs not used: Ingram, Hall, Smyth, Sylla
Goals: Freeman 2 (assisted Washington), Wszolek 5 (assisted Washington)
Peterborough: Chapman 5; Naismith 6, Bennett 6, Tafazolli 6, Denton 6; Ward 6 (Cooper 73, 6), Woodyard 6, O’Hara 6, Cooke 5 (Cummings 46, 5); Dembele 7, Toney 4 (Godden 78, 6)
Subs not used: Buckley-Ricketts, Reed, Yorwerth, O’Malley
Head to Head >>> Peterborough wins 7 >>> Draws 9 >>> QPR wins 10
2018/19 QPR 2 Peterborough 0 (Freeman, Wszolek)
2009/10 Peterborough 1 QPR 0
2009/10 QPR 1 Peterborough 1 (Routledge)
2003/04 QPR 1 Peterborough 1 (Gallen)
2003/04 Peterborough 0 QPR 0
2002/03 Peterborough 0 QPR 2 (Carlisle, Langley)
2002/03 QPR 2 Peterborough 0 (Gallen 2)
2001/02 QPR 1 Peterborough 0 (Thomson pen)
2001/02 Peterborough 4 QPR 1 (Palmer)
1990/91 Peterborough 1 QPR 1* (Ferdinand)
1990/91 QPR 3 Peterborough 1* (Ferdinand, Maddix, Wegerle)
1968/69 Peterborough 4 QPR 2* (Keen, Clarke)
1966/67 QPR 0 Peterborough 0
1966/67 Peterborough 0 QPR 2 (Crawford og, Lazarus)
1965/66 Peterborough 1 QPR 1 (Collins)
1965/66 QPR 2 Peterborough 1 (Collins, Langley pen)
1964/65 QPR 3 Peterborough 2 (Bedford, Leary, Collins)
1964/65 Peterborough 2 QPR 1** (McAdams)
1964/65 QPR 3 Peterborough 3** (Brady, Keen pen, Bedford)
1964/65 Peterborough 6 QPR 1 (Collins)
1963/64 Peterborough 2 QPR 1 (Angell)
1963/64 QPR 3 Peterborough 0 (Leary 2, Angell)
1962/63 QPR 0 Peterborough 0
1962/63 Peterborough 1 QPR 2 (McCelland, Bedford)
1961/62 QPR 3 Peterborough 3 (Evans, McCelland, Bedford)
1961/62 Peterborough 5 QPR 1 (Collins)
* - League Cup
** - FA Cup
Tom Williams >>> QPR (loan) 2009, (loan) 2002-2003 >>> Peterborough 2007-2010, 2003-2004, 2001-2002
Peterborough’s man of the match that fateful night at London Road was flying winger Tommy Williams, who torched QPR’s defence and had a hand in all four goals. The former West Ham trainee’s form caught the eye of Championship side Birmingham who shelled out £350,000 for him in March that season. That, in turn, opened a window up in the summer for Ian Holloway and QPR to take him on loan and add to his first team experience for the 2002/03 season.
He made his debut in the 3-1 home win against Chesterfield on the opening day of the season, and scored his first goal for the club in a 3-0 Loftus Road success against Huddersfield. Williams was a key part of the team that died on its arse before Christmas - losing 3-0 at Notts County, 4-0 at home to Cardiff, and in the FA Cup to Vauxhall Motors in the same disastrous November week — but came roaring back to form in 2003 culminating in a memorable play-off semi-final victory against Oldham. Unfortunately, the Hollywood ending wasn’t to be as QPR lost to Cardiff in Cardiff in extra time, and Williams will unfortunately go down in Rangers infamy for taking on a shot from a tight angle after a mazy run through the home defence, when a simple cut back to Paul Furlong would have presented the veteran striker with an open goal to win the game.
That did not go down well in the dressing room afterwards, if stories on the Open All R’s Podcast from Marc Bircham and others is to be believed, but nevertheless Williams was invited back on loan the following August and made another four starts and one sub appearance for Holloway as the team set off towards automatic promotion at the third time of asking.
Williams’ nomadic career then took in another stint on loan at Peterborough, where he played against Rangers in a 1-1 draw at Loftus Road that featured an injury time equaliser from Gallen. He played for Barnsley, Gillingham, Kenny Jackett’s Swansea, and Wycombe before yet another loan at London Road that led to a permanent move back to the Posh.
There followed a bizarre and unexpected return to W12. QPR were back in the Championship, and in the money, by this point following a takeover by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Manager Jim Magilton had got the team playing scintillating football through September and October, with a 5-2 home win against Barnsley a particular highlight preceding a remarkable week where Preston (4-0), Reading (4-1) and Derby (4-2) were smashed off the park inside seven days. A 2-1 win at Sheff Wed followed away wins at Scunthorpe, Cardiff and Derby already registered and yet during that international break it was not only deemed necessary to add Williams on loan from Peterborough and Steven Reid from West Brom, but to tear the team up to accommodate both of them in the line-up for what turned out to be a poor 2-0 loss at Doncaster — Adel Taarabt among those dropped to the bench as part of that, Ale Faurlin then removed at half time to get the Moroccan on.
Off the side of a cliff we went once more. A 5-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough and 3-1 loss at Watford in the same weekend saw Magilton headbutt Akos Buszaky in the dressing room at Vicarage Road and lose his job. Paul Hart and then Mick Harford oversaw a nine-match losing run which plunged the R’s into relegation trouble and included another infamous defeat at Peterborough — 1-0 this time, with red cards for Mikele Leigertwood and Peter Ramage.
Following that five-game third spell at QPR, Williams went on to endure brief and unsuccessful stints at Preston, Bristol City, Colchester, Walsall and Notts County. A career that includes time at 20 different clubs, including Arizona Utd in 2016, ended with an ongoing player-coach role at celebrity-driven Eastern Counties side Hashtag Utd
Others >>> Dominic Ball, QPR 2019-present, Peterborough (loan) 2017 >>> Michael Doughty, Peterborough 2017-2018, QPR 2010-2017 >>> Conor Washington, QPR 2016-2018, Peterborough 2014-2016 >>> Hogan Ephraim, Peterborough (loan) 2017-2018, QPR 2007-2014 >>> Brian Murphy, QPR 2011-2015, Peterborough (loan) 2003 >>> Chris Plummer, Peterborough 2004-2007, QPR 1994-2003 >>> Adam Miller, QPR 2004-2006, Peterborough (loan) 2005 >>> Callum Willock, Peterborough 2003-2006, QPR (loan) 2002 >>> Tony Scully Peterborough 2003, QPR 1998-2001 >>> Bradley Allen, Peterborough 2002, QPR 1988-1995 >>> Steve Morrow, Peterborough (loan) 2001, QPR 1997-2001 >>> Dominic Iorfa, Peterborough 1992-1994, QPR 1990-1991 >>> Colin Clarke, QPR 1989-1990, Peterborough 1981-1984 >>> David Seaman, QPR 1986-1990, Peterborough 1982-1984 >>> Dave Methchick, QPR 1968-1970, Peterborough 1967-1968 >>> Dick Whittaker, QPR 1963-1964, Peterborough 1960-1963 >>> Arthur Jefferson, QPR 1936-1950, Peterborough 1935-1936
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