Manchester City are the only other club to have enjoyed the mercurial talents of Stan Bowles and Rodney Marsh, although both played much the better of their football at Loftus Road.
QPR 0 Man City 3, League Cup, Tuesday October 28, 2003
These sides last met on this ground in 2003 in the League Cup when City were a Premiership team managed by Kevin Keegan and QPR were rebuilding in League One under Ian Holloway following financial collapse. QPR had won away at Sheffield United in the previous round and hopes were high of an upset at a packed Loftus Road. Sadly those hopes reckoned without the form of Shaun Wright Phillips, now with QPR but then a bright young thing at City about to be bought for £22m by Chelsea. His first owed much to Terrell Forbes who picked up an injury deep in his own half but rather than leave the field walked slowly back down the touchline and inadvertently played Wright Phillips onside and he was able to run on and finish past Chris Day. Rangers made a fist of things thereafter but a quickfire double 15 minutes from time from Wright Phillips again and then Jon Macken sealed passage for the Premiership side.
QPR: C Day, R Edghill, T Forbes, C Carlisle, G Padula, G Ainsworth, M Rowlands, M Bircham , K McLeod, K Gallen, R Pacquette (E Sabin, 62)
Subs not used: N Culkin, S Palmer, M Bean, D Oli
Booked: Bircham
Man City: D Seaman, S Jihai, S Distin, R Dunne, M Tarnat, S Wright-Phillips, P Bosvelt , J Barton, T Sinclair (E Berkovic, 85), R Fowler (A Sibierski, 85), N Anelka (J Macken, 73)
Subs not used: G Wiekens, K Stuhr-Ellegaard
Goals: Wright Phillips 22,77 Macken 79
Booked: Bosvelt
Man City 1 QPR 3, Wednesday March 8, 2000, First Division
When these sides last met in the league it was 11 years ago in the First Division. Joe Royle’s City were on their way back to the Premiership but had only drawn at Loftus Road earlier in the season and slipped to a shock defeat here against Gerry Francis’ team. Rangers were comfortably in midtable at this stage but put on a real show for the faithful travelling fans who were positioned high in the corner of Maine Road on a rather rickety temporary stand that seemed to sway in the Wednesday night wind. Chris Kiwomya, who had scored in the first match, opened the scoring eight minutes before half time and an own goal from Wiekens before half time doubled the lead. A late penalty from loaned Derby striker Mikkel Beck sealed the win before Jeff Whitley bagged a late consolation.
Man City: N Weaver, R Edghill, G Wiekens, R Jobson, D Granville (I Bishop, 46), D Tiatto (K Horlock, 69), J Whitley, J Pollock (P Dickov, 60), M Kennedy, L Peacock, S Goater
Subs not used: S Wright-Phillips, T Wright
Goals: Whitley 84
QPR: L Harper, J Darlington, C Plummer, K Ready , D Ward, I Baraclough (M Rose, 62), P Murray, G Peacock (S Wardley, 27), R Langley, C Kiwomya, M Beck
Subs not used: S Slade, K Rowland, L Miklosko
Goals: Kiwomya 37, Wiekens og 45, Beck pen 73
Booked: Ready, Baraclough
Head to Head >>> QPR wins 12 >>> Draws 15 >>> Man City wins 19
2003/04 QPR 0 Man City 3*
1999/00 Man City 1 QPR 3 (Kiwomya, Wiekens og, Beck)
1999/00 QPR 1 Man City 1 (Kiwomya)
1997/98 Man City 2 QPR 2 (Sheron, Pollock og)
1997/98 QPR 2 Man City 0 (Ready, Peacock)
1996/97 Man City 0 QPR 3 (Spencer 2, Slade)
1996/97 QPR 2 Man City 2 (Sinclair, Murray)
1995/96 Man City 2 QPR 0
1995/96 QPR 1 Man City 0 (Barker)
1994/95 Man City 2 QPR 3 (Ferdinand 2, Dichio)
1994/95 QPR 3 Man City 4* (Gallen, Sinclair, Penrice)
1994/95 QPR 1 Man City 2 (Wilson)
1993/94 QPR 1 Man City 1 (Penrice)
1993/94 Man City 3 QPR 0
1992/93 QPR 1 Man City 1 (Wilson)
1992/93 QPR 1 Man City 2** (Holloway)
1992/93 Man City 1 QPR 1 (Sinton)
1991/92 QPR 4 Man City 0 (Ferdinand 2, Wilson, Barker)
1991/92 Man City 2 QPR 2 (Wegerle, Bailey)
1991/92 QPR 1 Man City 3* (Penrice)
1991/92 Man City 0 QPR 0*
1990/91 QPR 1 Man City 0 (Ferdinand)
1990/91 Man City 2 QPR 1 (Sinton)
1989/90 QPR 1 Man City 3 (Wegerle)
1989/90 Man City 1 QPR 0
1986/87 QPR 1 Man City 0 (M Allen)
1986/87 Man City 0 QPR 0
1985/86 Man City 2 QPR 0
1985/86 QPR 0 Man City 0
1978/79 Man City 3 QPR 1 (Busby)
1978/79 QPR 2 Man City 1 (Hamilton 2)
1977/78 Man City 2 QPR 1 (Abbot)
1977/78 QPR 1 Man City 1 (G Francis)
1976/77 QPR 0 Man City 0
1976/77 Man City 0 QPR 0
1975/76 QPR 1 Man City 0 (Webb)
1975/76 Man City 0 QPR 0
1974/75 QPR 2 Man City 0 (Rogers 2)
1974/75 Man City 1 QPR 0
1973/74 QPR 3 Man City 0 (Leach 2, Bowles)
1973/74 Man City 1 QPR 0
1969/70 Man City 3 QPR 0*
1968/69 Man City 3 QPR 1 (Leach)
1968/69 QPR 1 Man City 1 (Bridges)
1950/51 Man City 5 QPR 2 (Hatton, Smith)
1950/51 QPR 1 Man City 2 (Hatton)
* - League Cup
** - FA Cup
Stan Bowles >>> Man City 1967-1970 >>> QPR 1972-1979
Bowles played for seven years at QPR as part of the club’s greatest ever side that came so close to winning the league championship in 1976. He is widely seen as the best player ever to wear the blue and white hoops.
His time at Manchester City was somewhat less successful. As a teenager in the city he worked as a bookies runner for the notorious Quality Street Gang, and got rather too involved with the gambling himself, which didn’t do him any favours in the eyes of City’s manager Malcolm Allison who rarely picked Bowles after he’d progressed through the ranks there and eventually offloaded him to Crewe.
A year later he was at Carlisle, playing alongside John Gorman, where scouts started to pay attention after 14 goals in 33 Second Division appearances. QPR took the plunge for £112,000 as they hunted for a replacement for their previous maverick striker Rodney Marsh who had just been sold to Manchester City.
The stories of Bowles, most true some not, are the stuff of legend. On one of his rare England appearances he wore odd boots, one from Puma and the other from Nike, after signing boot deals with both. He has been accused of/acclaimed for hitting the FA Cup with the ball when Sunderland placed it at the side of their pitch following their final victory in 1973 – although it’s since been suggested that it was actually Tony Hazell that did it, by accident. Bowles scored twice in a 3-0 win.
The tales of arriving in the dressing room ten minutes before kick off having previously been in the South Africa Road betting shop in full kit are too numerous to fully recount here. Bowles would regularly go and see chairman Jim Gregory for cash handouts to fund his notorious gambling habit.
On the pitch though there was no doubt about his ability. In the 1976/77 season he set a goal scoring record for an English player in the UEFA Cup, scoring 11 goals across four two legged ties as Rangers advanced to the quarter finals before losing on penalties to AEK Athens. He subsequently attracted interest from Hamburg pre-Keegan but turned the move down and finished at QPR with 97 goals in 315 appearances.
Bowles said: “I loved the place – still do. We had a great team – ten international players. There was Phil Parkes in goal, Dave Clement and Ian Gillard at full-back, the centre-halves were Frank McLintock and Terry Mancini, in midfield it was Terry Venables, Gerry Francis and Dave Thomas, and up front me and Don Givens. I used to hit the ball miles in front of Dave Thomas and knew he would always catch it, he had such pace on the wing. A smashing player, genuinely two-footed. Don Givens was a good striker. I didn’t get on with him, but we worked well together on the field. He tried to tell me to stop hanging around with gangsters and to stop drinking. I suppose he meant well but I didn’t want to hear it.”
Bowles gained a scandalously low five England caps, under three different managers, due in no small part to his reaction to manager Joe Mercer when he was substituted in a game against Northern Ireland in 1974 although his first cap had come in Alf Ramsey’s last match in charge in Portugal. Six years later he did the same to Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and missed out on an appearance in the European Cup final after a row over playing in John Robertson’s testimonial. Clough sold Bowles on to Orient for £100,000 after eight months. He finished his career with Brentford.
Bowles can still be found in and around Loftus Road on matchdays, posing for pictures and enjoying the hospitality.
Others >>> Shaun Wright Phillips, Man City 1998-2005, 2008-2011, QPR 2011-present >>> Joey Barton, Man City 2002-2007, QPR 2011-present >>> Ishmael Miller, Man City 2005-2008, QPR (loan) 2011 >>> Keith Curle, Man City 1991-1996, QPR (coach) 2010-present >>> Tim Flowers, Man City (loan) 2002, QPR (coach) 2008 >>> Steve Lomas, Man City 1991-1997, QPR 2005-2007 >>> Richard Edghill, Man City 1993-2002, QPR 2003-2005 >>> Robert Taylor, Man City 1999-2000, QPR (loan) 2001 >>> Gareth Taylor, Man City 1998-2001, QPR (loan) 2000 >>> Tony Scully, Man City 1997-1998, QPR 1998-2001 >>> Trevor Sinclair, QPR 1993-1998, Man City 2003-2007 >>> Mike Sheron, Man City 1990-1994, QPR 1997-1999 >>> Mark Kennedy, QPR (loan) 1998, Man City 1999-2001 >>> Paul Walsh, QPR (loan) 1991, Man City 1994-1995 >>> Clive Wilson, Man City 1979-1989, QPR 1990-1995 >>> David Seaman, QPR 1986-1990, Man City 2003-2004 >>> Peter Reid QPR 1989-1990, Man City (player manager) 1990-1993 >>> Trevor Francis, Man City 1981-1982, QPR (player manager) 1988-1990 >>> Clive Allen, QPR 1978-1980, 1981-1984, Man City 1989-1991 >>> John Burridge, QPR 1980-1982, Man City 1994-1995 >>> Barry Silkman Man City 1979-1980, QPR 1980-1981 >>> Rodney Marsh, QPR 1966-1972, Man City 1972-1975
QPR 4 Manchester City 0, Saturday March 7, 1992
QPR had endured a tough first half to Gerry Francis’ first season in charge at the club and flirted with the relegation zone until just before Christmas when suddenly things started to click. A 4-1 win at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day undermined United’s title challenge and eventual champions Leeds would be vanquished by the same scoreline at Loftus Road just a couple of days after this meeting with Manchester City, then managed by former QPR player Peter Reid.
This was the beginning of Les Ferdinand’s reign of terror against top flight defences in English football and Tony Cotton had to be at his very best in the City goal to claw out a trademark header from the former Hayes man after Gary Penrice had lofted a teasing cross towards him at the back post.
But there was no stopping Les in the twentieth minute when he opened the scoring with one of the great QPR goals. Collecting possession ten yards inside the Manchester City half with his back to goal he sprayed a pass wide to the Rangers right where Andy Impey was in irresistible form. The bull-like winger rode a rash tackle from Neil Pointon and accelerated away before crossing into the heart of the City penalty area. Meanwhile Ferdinand had turned and used his legendary acceleration to power into the danger zone unmarked and arrived right on cue to thump home an unstoppable header.
This game could have turned out differently had Mike Sheron’s 25 yard volley dipped into the net rather than smacking against the cross bar, but then it could have been so much worse for City had Cotton been sent off for upending Andy Sinton in the area seven minutes before half time when the QPR winger was clearly about to roll the ball into the net after being played through by a neat exchange of passes between Alan McDonald and Ray Wilkins.
A more obvious red card you could never wish to see but having escaped with a yellow Cotton then almost had the nerve to turn Clive Wilson’s left footed penalty around the post. Luckily for the home team, and the referee who would no doubt have faced serious questions at half time otherwise, Cotton could only turn the ball onto the inside of the post and into the net.
Cotton’s continued participation in the game came into question again in the second half when Penrice returned a partially cleared corner back in behind the advancing City defence to set up an almighty penalty box scramble in which Ferdinand seemed to be clearly tripped by the goalkeeper, Peacock seem ed to foul Neil Pointon, and then ultimately Les stepped up to end the argument and lash home from close range at the Loft End.
Pointon’s afternoon of torture at the hands of Impey, playing arguably his best ever match for Rangers, was complete when the former Yeading winger took his man on the outside again and fired a low cross into the area for substitute Simon Barker to tap home at the back post.
Rangers had lost just one of 14 matches coming into this match but had drawn nine of those. The new found cutting edge sliced through Leeds and Villa later that week as Rangers came home with a wet sail. They lost just four of their last 25 matches that season to climb to eleventh, Manchester City finished fifth.
QPR: Stejskal, Bardsley, McDonald, Peacock, Wilson, Impey, Holloway, Wilkins Sinton, Penrice (Barker), Ferdinand
Links >>> QPR 1 Man City 2, FA Cup 1993 Highlights >>> QPR 4 Man City 0 91/92 Highlights >>> QPR 1 Man City 3 91/92 Highlights >>> QPR 1 Man City 0 1990/91 Highlights >>> Bowles goal v Sunderland 1976/77 >>> Bowles breaks UEFA Cup scoring record v Cologne >>> Bowles fabulous goal v Cardiff Tweet @loftforwords