As the History column returns to look back at some connections and memories with this weekend’s opponents Newcastle, LoftforWords recalls one of Les Ferdinand’s, and Jan Stejskal’s, finest moments in Hoops.
QPR 0 Newcastle 0, Monday September 12, 2011, Premiership
It’s amazing to think that the same group of QPR players who have been so lifeless and timid in recent weeks looked like a team really going places when these teams met on the first occasion this season back in September. Tony Fernandes takeover complete and six new signings hurried through the doors, QPR took to the field for a Sky Monday Night Football match against Newcastle. The game finished 0-0, although quite how it finished 0-0 nobody was quite sure. QPR were excellent, dominant throughout, and denied a victory only by stubborn, and often last ditch, defending from the visiting team. Shaun Wright-Phillips was man of the match on his debut and had a first half lob kicked off the goalline after beating Tim Krul.
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 8, Ferdinand 7, Gabbidon 6, Traore 7 (Connolly 51, 6), Derry 7, Faurlin 8, Wright-Phillips 8 (Puncheon 88, -) Barton 7, Taarabt 8, Bothroyd 7 (Campbell 80, -)
Subs Not Used: Murphy, Hall, Buzsaky, Smith
Booked: Derry (foul)
Newcastle: Krul 6, Simpson 7, Steven Taylor 6, Coloccini 7, Ryan Taylor 6, Cabaye 6,Tiote 7, Obertan 6 (Sammy Ameobi 88, -), Gutierrez 6, Best 6 (Marveaux 82, -),Shola Ameobi 5 (Ba 64, 6)
Subs Not Used: Elliot, Santon, Guthrie, Lovenkrands
Booked: Shola Ameobi (dissent),Tiote (repetitive fouling),Steven Taylor (foul)
Newcastle 1 QPR 1, Wednesday September 30, 2009, Championship
QPR were at the height of their Jim Magilton form back in 2009 when they travelled to St James’ Park for the first time since 1996. Newcastle were top but QPR were flying up the table amid a host of free scoring thrashings and took an early lead when Ben Watson’s speculative shot was deflected past Steve Harper to send a sizeable midweek travelling support wild. Rangers had good cause to be angry with referee Rob Shoebridge thereafter, the Derbyshire based official seemed hugely intimidated by the large home crowd and awarded a ridiculously harsh penalty against Damion Stewart midway through the first half which Danny Guthrie took and the superb Radek Cerny saved. The Magpies did get their equaliser in the second half when Marlon Harewood climbed off the bench to bundle home his annual goal against QPR and although Cerny was the QPR man of the match the visitors had more than their fair share of the game and were thoroughly good value for their point.
Newcastle: Harper 7, Enrique 7, Taylor 7, Khizanishvili 6, Simpson 6, Smith 7, Butt 4 (Gutierrez 46, 8), Nolan 6, Guthrie 4 (Lovenkrands 88, -), Carroll 8, Ranger 6 (Harewood 61, 7)
Subs: Geremi, Krul, Kadar, Donaldson
Goals: Harewood 70 (assisted Carroll)
Bookings: Smith (foul)
QPR: Cerny 9, Leigertwood 7, Stewart 8, Gorkss 7, Borrowdale 7, Routledge 7, Rowlands 8, Watson 9, Buzaky 7, Vine 6 (Faurlin 87, -), Simpson 8 (Taarabt 73, 7)
Subs not used: Ramage, Agyemang, Pellicori, Heaton, Ephraim
Goals: Watson 7 (unassisted)
Bookings: Stewart (foul), Leigertwood (foul), Buzsaky (failing to retreat)
Head to Head >>> Newcastle wins 19 >>> Draws 8 >>> QPR wins 16
2010/11 QPR 0 Newcastle 0
2009/10 QPR 0 Newcastle 1
2009/10 Newcastle 1 QPR 1 (Watson)
1995/96 Newcastle 2 QPR 1 (Holloway)
1995/96 QPR 2 Newcastle 3 (Dichio 2)
1994/95 QPR 3 Newcastle 0 (Ferdinand 2, Barker)
1994/95 Newcastle 2 QPR 1 (Dichio)
1993/94 QPR 1 Newcastle 2 (Penrice)
1993/94 Newcastle 1 QPR 2 (Ferdinand, B Allen)
1988/89 Newcastle 1 QPR 2 (Stein, Clarke)
1988/89 QPR 3 Newcastle 0 (Maddix, M Allen, Falco)
1987/88 Newcastle 1 QPR 1 (Kerslake)
1987/88 QPR 1 Newcastle 1 (Wharton og)
1986/87 QPR 2 Newcastle 1 (Byrne, Fillery)
1986/87 Newcastle 0 QPR 2 (Byrne, Bannister)
1985/86 QPR 3 Newcastle 1 (Fenwick 2, Robinson)
1985/86 Newcastle 3 QPR 1 (Fenwick)
1984/85 Newcastle 1 QPR 0
1984/85 QPR 5 Newcastle 5 (Bannister, Stainrod, Gregory, Wicks, Mickelwhite)
1982/83 QPR 2 Newcastle 0 (Gregory 2)
1982/83 Newcastle 1 QPR 0
1981/82 Newcastle 0 QPR 4 (Gregory, C Allen, Flanagan, Stainrod)
1981/82 QPR 3 Newcastle 0 (King, Roeder, Stainrod)
1979/80 QPR 2 Newcastle 1 (Roeder, McCreery)
1979/80 Newcastle 4 QPR 2 (Goddard, Roeder)
1977/78 Newcastle 0 QPR 3 (Givens, McGee, Hollins)
1977/78 QPR 0 Newcastle 1
1976/77 QPR 1 Newcastle 2 (Givens)
1976/77 Newcastle 2 QPR 0
1975/76 Newcastle 1 QPR 2 (McLintock, Bowles)
1975/76 Newcastle 2 QPR 1* (Masson)
1975/76 QPR 0 Newcastle 0*
1975/76 QPR 1 Newcastle 3** (Leach)
1975/76 QPR 1 Newcastle 0 (Leach)
1974/75 Newcastle 2 QPR 2 (Francis, Gillard)
1974/75 QPR 0 Newcastle 4**
1974/75 QPR 1 Newcastle 2 (Keeley og)
1973/74 Newcastle 2 QPR 3 (Thomas, Francis, Leach)
1973/74 QPR 3 Newcastle 2 (Clement, Givens, Bowles)
1968/69 QPR 1 Newcastle 1 (Bridges)
1968/69 Newcastle 3 QPR 2 (Wilks, Moncur og)
* - FA Cup
** - League Cup
Newcastle 1 QPR 2, Saturday October 16, 1993, Premiership
Les Ferdinand often seemed to save his best QPR performances for games against Newcastle, and so it should come as no surprise that when he did finally leave Loftus Road it was the Magpies at the front of the queue with a £6m fee – big money at the time. Those close to Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan at the time said it was Ferdinand’s part in this memorable QPR win in 1993 that convinced him he had to buy the powerful forward – at the time he described as one of the all time great centre forward performances.
And Ferdinand shouldn’t have even played in the game. He’d missed England’s World Cup qualifier against Holland during the week with a hamstring complaint and wasn’t even down to travel with his team mates to St James’ Park at the weekend. Ferdinand achieved legendary status at QPR, but did also have a reputation for sitting out games regularly with pretty minor knocks. Manager Gerry Francis, with QPR going reasonably well in the Premier League at the time, decided to take Ferdinand anyway for this meeting against the newly promoted Magpies.
The team had a light training session in the north east on Saturday morning and Francis asked Ferdinand to give him 45 minutes if he could. The QPR fans, assembling in the corner pen of the vast terrace at the Gallowgate End behind the goal, were shocked to see Ferdinand out on the field warming up and word quickly spread among the travelling faithful that the bookie on the concourse below didn’t have Ferdinand down on his form and was offering tens on him getting the first goal. A stampede ensued, and was repeated again at half time as they returned to the beleaguered bookmaker and collected their winnings.
Newcastle, champions of the First Division the year before, were unbeaten in ten matches coming into the game and boasted the country’s most prolific striker at the time Andy Cole in their attack. But it took Ferdinand just ten minutes to break them down, by which time he’d already struck the base of the post in the opening stages with a left foot volley from the edge of the area. The goal when it came was a result of a prodigious leap from Ferdinand on halfway initially to divert a high clearance into the path of Ray Wilkins. The veteran central midfielder then made the ost of the time afforded to him by Newcastle to craft a perfect return through ball to Ferdinand who’d covered 60 yards in no time at all to seize the chance and find the back of the net via the bottom of both goal posts. His sixth goal of the season at that point.
Newcastle had no answer to Ferdinand all afternoon and he could easily have made it two midway through the first half when he embarrassed Kevin Scott for pace, dribbled a low finish past Mike Hooper, but then could only watch as it was cleared from the goal line by the retreating Scott.
Rangers should have made more of their first half dominance and were made to pay within seconds of the restart when Cole flicked on a near post cross by Rob Lee and Malcolm Allen, the only non-Englishman in the Newcastle line up that day, hooked home a tremendous volley from 12 yards out.
But the home celebrations were short lived as Ferdinand, fit enough to play for more than the originally planned 45 and now being booed by the home crowd after a fracas with barry Venison on the way off at half time, recommenced his systematic torture of the Newcastle defence. He won a corner with persistent play down the right straight from the kick off, then powerfully headed Ray Wilkins’ delivery down into the six yard box where his strike partner Bradley Allen was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net from close range. Barely 60 seconds had passed between the goals.
Gerry Francis sent on defender Steve Yates for Trevor Sinclair to secure the defence but it was still Rangers looking the more likely to score as the half wore on and only a superb save from Hooper denied Ferdinand a deserved second goal when he turned and smashed a volley goalwards in broken play on the edge of the penalty area.
It would have been an absolute travesty had Ferdinand not ended the game on the winning team. And a travesty is almost what transpired, in every sense of the word. Three minutes into time added on at the end of the game by referee Keith Hackett Clive Wilson conceded possession sloppily in his own half in a challenge with Rob Lee. Lee Clark fed the ball in behind Wilson to Steve Watson and his cross was blocked out for a corner by the chest of Rangers’ captain Alan McDonald.
Except the assistant referee, Roger Furnandiz of Doncaster, did not agree that it had hit McDonald’s chest. In fact he thought the Northern Ireland international had handled the ball deliberately and put his flag across his chest to signal a penalty. McDonald’s reaction said it all – initial bewilderment turned to absolute fury and he had to be restrained by both Clive Wilson and Ray Wilkins as his temper boiled over with the officials. It remains to this day a scandalous decision.
Malcolm Allen, scorer of a fine goal earlier in the game, took the kick himself and planted it firmly to goalkeeper Jan Stejskal’s left. The Czech World Cup stopper read the direction perfectly though and palmed the ball away with two hands to send the away end absolutely wild. The final whistle sounded almost as soon as the ball had left Stejskal’s gloves and he was immediately besieged by his team mates. Justice had been done.
Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan said afterwards: “I thought the display up front by Ferdinand was as good as I’ve ever seen and certainly my back four couldn’t handle him on the day. It really emphasised what England missed on Wednesday because I don’t think I’ve ever seen, in 90 minutes, a player win every header he went up for – but that’s what he did.”
QPR finished ninth in the Premiership that season and Ferdinand finished with 18 goals. A year and a half later Keegan bought him for £6m and was desperately unlucky not to be rewarded with a Premiership title – the Magpies went 12 points clear in 1995/96 but were roped in by Manchester United and lost out. Without Ferdinand QPR were relegated from the Premiership that season and have only just made it back.
As a further sidenote the linesman that day Mr Furnandiz graduated to a fully fledged Football League referee thereafter. He took charge of QPR only once, at Grimsby Town in the First Division in 1999 when Gerry Francis was again the manager. Chris Kiwomya gave the R’s a deserved first half lead but they returned to London pointless after Furnandiz this time awarded two very harsh penalties against the Londoners in the second half – both converted by Lee Ashcroft. He is now the chairman of the Doncaster and District Referees Society. And is more than likely still an absolute twat.
Newcastle: Hooper, Watson, Venison, Scott, Beresford, Lee, Bracewell, Clark, Allen, Beardsley, Cole
QPR: Stejskal, Bardsley, Peacock, McDonald, Wilson, Impey, Wilkins, Barker, Sinclair, Ferdinand, Allen
Highlights >>> QPR 0 Newcastle 1, 2010 >>> Newcastle 1 QPR 2, 1993 >>> QPR 5 Newcastle 5 Part 1 >>> Part 2 >>> Part 3 >>> Part 4 >>> Part 5 >>> Newcastle 1 QPR 0, 1982, part 1 >>> Newcastle 1 QPR 0, 1982, part 2 >>> Newcastle 2 QPR 1 1980 >>> Newcastle 2 QPR 1 1976 >>> QPR 1 Newcastle 2 1974
Darren Peacock >>> QPR 1990-1994 >>> Newcastle 1994-1998
Ferdinand wasn’t the only member of the QPR side that day to eventually swap West London for Tyneside. Centre back Darren Peacock did likewise towards the back end of the 1993/94 season for a fee in the region of £2.7m.
Peacock was originally taken from lower league Hereford by QPR in 1990 at a time of great crisis at Loftus Road. Danny Maddix, Paul Parker and Alan McDonald all suffered long term injuries at the same time and manager Don Howe had run so low on centre halves he’d been reduced to loaning the terminally useless Gus Caesar from his former club Arsenal.
Without a win in ten matches and in the bottom three of the old First Division Howe brought Bobby Gould in as his new assistant manager and Gould’s little black book immediately turned up two prospects from the lower divisions who could come in and solve the centre half crisis. Andy Tilson from Grimsby Town was one, Darren Peacock from Hereford for £200,000 was the other.
Peacock was, it’s fair to say, an unconventional looking player with a long straggly barnet draped across his shoulders throughout his time with Rangers and Newcastle. He was also fairly accident prone, often falling over inexplicably at the worst possible moment and costing his team a goal. But as the Premier League era dawned and Gerry Francis made Rangers the top London club in the country Peacock blossomed into a very fine top flight centre back.
He was the Player of the Year elect in 1994 when chairman Richard Thompson - as he did with Paul Parker, Andy Sinton and so many QPR stars at the time – authorised his sale to Newcastle for £2.7m. Gerry Francis was forced to muddle through with youth team centre half Karl Ready as his replacement and QPR endured a torrid run of just two wins from their final ten matches of the season as a result. That run included big defeats against Oldham (4-1), Leeds (4-0), Sheff Wed (3-1) and Swindon Town who only won five matches all season but picked up their only away success of the campaign, and completed a humiliating double over QPR, when they won 3-1 at Loftus Road. Francis resigned midway through the following season, tired of Thompson’s methods.
At Newcastle Peacock was also part of the side that was pipped by Man Utd to the title in 1995/96. He moved on to Blackburn in 1998 and although he clocked up the thick end of 50 appearances there a chronic back problem forced him into early retirement after a brief loan spell with Wolves where he came close to paralysing himself in a clash with his own goalkeeper Michael Oakes.
Others >>> Joey Barton, Newcastle 2007-2011, QPR 2011-present >>> Peter Ramage, Newcastle 2004-2008, QPR 2008-present >>> Kieron Dyer, Newcastle 1999-2007, QPR 2011-present >>> Wayne Routledge, 2009-2010, 2011, Newcastle 2010-2011 >>> Fitz Hall, QPR 2008-present, Newcastle loan 2010 >>> Leon Best, QPR 2004-2005, Newcastle 2010-present >>> Warren Barton, Newcastle 1995-2001, QPR 2003-2004 >>> Les Ferdinand, QPR 1987-1995, Newcastle 1995-1997 >>> Gavin Peacock, QPR 1984-1987, 1996-2002, Newcastle 1990-1993 >>> Kenny Sansom, Newcastle 1988-1989, QPR 1989-1991 >>> Kevin Brock, QPR 1987-1989, Newcastle 1989-1994 >>> Ossie Ardiles, QPR 1988-1989, Newcastle manager 1991-1992 >>> Jim Smith, QPR manager 1985-198, Newcastle manager 1988-1991 >>> Glenn Roeder, QPR 1978-1983, Newcastle 1983-1989, manager 2006-2007 >>> Wayne Fereday, QPR 1980-1989, Newcastle 1989-1990 >>>John Burridge, QPR 1980-1982, Newcastle 1989-1991 >>> Ian Stewart, QPR 1980-1985 >>> Newcastle 1985-1987 >>> Dave McCreery, QPR 1979-1981, Newcastle 1982-1989 >>> Paul Goddard, QPR 1977-1980, Newcastle 1986-1988 >>> Gavin Maguire, QPR 1984-1989, Newcastle loan 1992
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Pictures – Action Images