With Bolton in town on Tuesday night LFW looks back at recent meetings between the two sides and the career of John Gregory who represented both clubs.
Bolton Wanderers 0 QPR 1, Saturday August 24, 2013, Championship
A wonderful flowing move finished in emphatic style from close range by Andy Johnson was enough to settle the first meeting between these two sides this season back in August. In a typically dour contest between the two sides the one moment of quality came ten minutes after half time when a slick midfield move finished with Clint Hill, playing left back, overlapped past Alex Baptiste and crossed low to the back post after linking up with Charlie Austin. Johnson could hardly miss, given the quality of the service, and it was sweet revenge for Hill on a ground where he’d previously been denied a first Premier League goal of his career in controversial circumstances. Robert Green tipped a first half shot onto the post, and clawed another free kick out from under the cross bar, to preserve the clean sheet and three points.
Bolton: A Bogdan 6; A Baptiste 6, Z Knight 7, D Wheater 7, M Tierney 6; T Ream 5 (R Hall 72 7), M Kamara 7, J Spearing 8, C Lee 7; J Beckford 5 (C Davies 67 6), D Ngog 5 (Moritz 67 6).
Subs Not Used: A Lonergan, T Mears, M Mills, O Odelusi
Bookings: Tierney 58 (unsporting behaviour)
QPR: R Green 8; D Simpson 7, R Dunne 7, N Onuoha 8, C Hill 8; S Wright-Phillips 6 (Traore 6), K Henry 8, J Barton 6, G O'Neil 7; A Johnson 7 (Jenas -) C Austin 6 (Zamora 71 6)
Subs not used: B Murphy, Y Suk-Young, T Hitchcock, A Faurlin.
Goals: Johnson 54 (assisted Hill)
Bookings: Dunne 8 (foul), Barton 21 (foul), Henry 49 (foul), Austin 58 (unsporting behaviour), Simpson 84 (foul), Onuoha 87 (foul).
Bolton Wanderers 2 QPR 1, Saturday March 10, 2012, Premier League
A shambolic refereeing display from Martin Atkinson and a typical late lapse in concentration sent QPR spinning to what felt like a crucial defeat at the Reebok Stadium towards the end of the 2011/12 campaign. Locked in a battle to stay in the Premier League neither team could afford to lose but the nerves seemed to be weighing heavier on Bolton early in the game and QPR started much the brighter. They should have taken the lead when Clint Hill’s powerful header from a corner was scooped out from behind the line by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan but neither Atkinson, nor his assistant Bob Pollock noticed the ball had crossed the line. Atkinson was farcically then chosen to go to the European Championships that summer as a goal line judge. The incident unnerved the officials who then suffered a complete collapse in their performance. Darren Pratley, allowed to foul his way through the entire game with no comeback, opened the scoring despite being offside throughout the build up and that was then equalised immediately after half time by Djibril Cisse who was also two yards offside when the ball was played. Joey Barton didn’t cover himself in glory with his tracing for Klasnic’s heartbreaking late winner but twice in injury time Atkinson denied the visitors blatant penalty kicks. Ultimately though it was the Londoners who had the last laugh, staying up at Wanderers expense on the last day of the season when Owen Coyle’s team could only draw at Stoke.
Bolton: Bogdan 7, Steinsson 6, Wheater 6, Ream 5, Ricketts 6, Reo-Coker 5, Mark Davies 7, Pratley 6 (Klasnic 80, -), Miyaichi 7, Ngog 6 (Muamba 89, -), Petrov 6 (Eagles 71, 6)
Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Knight, Kevin Davies, Sordell
Booked: Pratley (foul), Wheater (foul)
Goals: Pratley 37 (assisted Petrov), Klasnic 86 (assisted Miyaichi)
QPR: Kenny 6, Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 5, Hill 6, Traore 6 (Taiwo 79, -), Barton 5, Diakite 6, Derry 5 (Buzsaky 79, -), Wright-Phillips 4 (Mackie 80, -), Cisse 7, Zamora 7
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Young
Booked: Onuoha (foul), Diakite (foul)
Goals: Cisse 48 (assisted Wright-Phillips)
QPR 0 Bolton 4, Sunday August 13, 2011
With the long discussed takeover by Tony Fernandes not yet complete QPR were left to open their first Premier League season in 15 years with a squad assembled on the shoestring budget provided by Flavio Briatore and paid a heavy price as Bolton ran riot. QPR predictably lost injury prone Kieron Dyer four minutes into his QPR debut but were arguably the better team until first half injury time when Gary Cahill curled a spectacular opening goal into the top corner from outside the area. After half time it was embarrassingly one sided. Danny Gabbidon fell over a low Chris Eagles cross and diverted the ball into his own net before Ivan Klasnic and Fabrice Muamba got in on the act. Clint Hill added insult to injury with a stoppage time sending off for headbutting Martin Petrov who’d tormented QPR all afternoon.
QPR: Kenny 6, Dyer - (Orr 7, 5), Gabbidon 5, Hall 5, Hill 5, Derry 6, Faurlin 5, Taarabt 6 (Buzsaky 72, 6), Campbell 5, Smith 5 (Helguson 72, 5), Bothroyd 6
Subs: Murphy, Connolly, Agyemang, Ephraim
Booked: Hill 52 (foul)
Red Cards: Hill 90 (violent conduct)
Bolton: Jasskelainen 6, Steinsson 7, Knight 7, Cahill 8, Robinson 6, Muamba 7, Reo Coker 5 (Pratley 83, -), Eagles 6 (M Davies 81, -), Petrov 8, Klasnic 7 (Blake 86, -), K Davies 8
Subs: Bogdan, Alonso, Gardner, Wheater
Booked: Cahill 76 (foul)
Goals: Cahill 45 (unassisted), Gabbidon 67 (own goal, assisted Eagles), Klasnic 70 (unassisted), Muamba 79 (assisted Klasnic)
Bolton 3 QPR 1, Tuesday October 31, 2000, First Division
Bolton’s new Reebok Stadium has been an unhappy hunting ground for QPR since it was opened — four visits, four defeats. The most comprehensive of those was a Tuesday night visit to that particular corner of Lancashire back in 2000. Rangers, quite remarkably when you look at the team, actually took the lead three minutes before half time when a young Peter Crouch struck for Gerry Francis’ men. In typical style though they couldn’t hang on for three minutes and Gudni Bergsson equalised before the break. Bolton took control just after the hour with two goals in three minutes from Robbie Elliott and Michael Ricketts. Bolton were working their way back to the Premier League at the time while Rangers were all set for relegation to the Second Division and administration.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Bergsson, Fish, O’Kane, Elliott, Frandsen, Nolan, Gardner, Farrelly, Rickets (Rankine 79), Hansen
Subs not used: Banks, Richardson, Barness, Passi
Goals: Bergsson 45, Elliott 62, Ricketts 65
Bookings: Ricketts
QPR: Harper, Breaker, Carlisle, Broomes, Rose, Morrow (Koejoe 72), Peacock, Langley (Wardley 81), Warren, Connolly, Crouch
Subs not used: Miklosko, Ready, Perry
Goals: Crouch 42
Bookings: Carlisle
Head to Head >>> QPR wins 10 >>> Draws 3 >>> Bolton wins 14
2013/14 Bolton 0 QPR 1 (Johnson)
2011/12 Bolton 2 QPR 1 (Cisse)
2011/12 QPR 0 Bolton 4
2000/01 QPR 1 Bolton 1 (Ngonge)
2000/01 Bolton 3 QPR 1 (Crouch)
1999/00 QPR 0 Bolton 1
1999/00 Bolton 2 QPR 1 (Peacock)
1998/99 Bolton 2 QPR 1 (Rowland)
1998/99 QPR 2 Bolton 0 (Gallen, Sheron)
1996/97 Bolton 2 QPR 1 (Morrow)
1996/97 QPR 1 Bolton 2 (McDonald)
1995/96 QPR 2 Bolton 1 (Osbourn, Impey)
1995/96 Bolton 0 QPR 1 (Dichio)
1982/83 Bolton 3 QPR 2 (Gregory, Sealy)
1982/83 QPR 1 Bolton 0 (Stainrod)
1981/82 QPR 7 Bolton 1 (Flanagan 2, Gregory, Micklewhite, Fenwick, Allen, Stainrod)
1981/82 Bolton 1 QPR 0
1980/81 Bolton 1 QPR 2 (Stainrod, Flanagan)
1980/81 QPR 3 Bolton 1 (Langley, Burke, Neal)
1978/79 Bolton 2 QPR 1 (Goddard)
1978/79 QPR 1 Bolton 3 (Harkouk)
1970/71 QPR 4 Bolton 0 (Marsh 3, Leach)
1970/71 Bolton 2 QPR 2 (Venables 2)
1969/70 QPR 0 Bolton 4
1969/70 Bolton 6 QPR 4 (Leach, Bridges, Clement, Marsh)
1967/68 Bolton 1 QPR 1 (R Mogan)
1967/68 QPR 1 Bolton 0 (Wilks)
John Gregory >>> QPR 1981-1985 >>> Bolton Wanderers 1990 >>> QPR (manager) 2006-2007
As a young man Gregory, born in Scunthorpe, came through the ranks with Third Division Northampton Town and developed a reputation in the game as a promising up and coming player. That persuaded Aston Villa, then in the First Division and soon to be European Champions, to take a chance on him and during two seasons there he set a club record for playing in every outfield position at one time or another. He scored ten goals in 65 appearances before moving on to newly promoted Brighton and then, after two years on the south coast, back into the Second Division with QPR.
Gregory was a big hit at Loftus Road, scoring 36 goals as Rangers reached the FA Cup final as a Second Division side and took Spurs to a replay, then won promotion a season later, and then qualified for the UEFA Cup after a fifth placed finish back in the First Division. Gregory formed a central midfield partnership with Gary Waddock and both won international caps — Waddock for the Republic of Ireland and Gregory for England who selected him six times between 1983 and 1984.
Gregory fell away with the rest of the team after manager Terry Venables left for Barcelona and ended up dropping down two divisions to sign for Derby County who he would also go on to manage later in his career. He won two promotions with Derby between 1985 and 1988 as they moved from the Third to the First Division and then retired after one season back in the top flight. Although he later played a handful of games as a player manager at Plymouth , and then at Bolton following his sacking at Home Park , that was his lot as a player.
As a manager Gregory's career started badly with nightmare spells at Plymouth and Portsmouth that lasted only a few months. He took a step back and cut his teeth as a coach with Brian Little at Leicester and then at Aston Villa before moving back into the hot seat at Wycombe in 1996 where he immediately saved them from what looked like a certain relegation from the Second Division. Gregory did enough at Adams Park for Doug Ellis to entrust him with the Villa hot seat in 1998 and that faith looked well placed as Gregory initially put together a hugely successful and entertaining side at Villa Park.
With players like Paul Merson, Stan Collymore and Gareth Southgate to the fore Villa were actually the Premiership league leaders midway through the 1998/99 season — winning eight and drawing four of their first 12 league games. However legend has it that the players went on a mini lap of honour after a devastating 4-1 win over Southampton at The Dell and immediately went into a slump. They lost their next match 4-2 to Liverpool and won two of their next seven games, eventually finishing sixth in the table. In 2000 he took them to the FA Cup final at Wembley but they were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea . These are still not inconsiderable achievements when you consider what has gone on since at Villa Park i.e. not a lot. Nevertheless by 2002 the 'Gregory out' banners were starting to be unfurled at home games and Gregory was involved in angry confrontations with supporters. He resigned on the back of two victories, blaming the pressures of the job, despite saying he would never walk away from the club just days before although it's highly probably that it had more to do with a sudden vacancy at another of Gregory's former clubs Derby which he seized within days of leaving Villa.
Derby were in dire straits at the time but Gregory was unable to keep them up — enduring a very public falling out with his captain Craig Burley. The financial goings on at Derby at the time have since led to court cases and prison sentences for the board members involved and having sacked Gregory for misconduct in 2003 they were forced to pay out £1m in compensation to him for false dismissal.
That legal case dragged on for several months during which time Gregory could not work, so when QPR came calling in September 2006 it represented a chance for him to rebuild his reputation. Working with his friend Gianni Paladini as chairman he succeeded in keeping a QPR squad that was, by some distance, the worst in the Championship in the league after taking over from rookie boss and former team mate Gary Waddock. Gregory worked the loan market well, adding Jimmy Smith and Michael Mancienne from Chelsea initially and later Inigo Idiakez from Derby. He also got the best out of players like Marc Nygaard and was helped by the excellent form of Lee Cook, Martin Rowlands, Gareth Ainsworth and Dexter Blackstock. He rebuilt the spine of his team in the January transfer window — bringing back fans' favourite Lee Camp, adding Danny Cullip to the centre of the defence and bringing in Adam Bolder from his former club Derby.
It was a QPR team low on ability but high on pride, spirit and fight and it stayed up with something to spare at the expense of Leeds after a fine late run of results that included memorable away wins at Leicester (3-1) and Coventry (1-0). Sadly that summer, with the club heading towards administration, his transfer activity wasn't so impressive with none of Daniel Nardiello, John Curtis or Ben Sahar proving to be any good whatsoever and midfielder Simon Walton breaking his leg in a pre-season game. The club was then rocked by the death of Ray Jones and although a 2-2 draw at Bristol City on day one bode well the team failed to win any of its first ten matches and Gregory was sacked after a 5-1 defeat at West Brom by new owner Flavio Briatore.
Gregory never really seems to get the credit he deserved for the work he did at Rangers as a manager in my opinion. The West Brom game that sealed his fate was live on Sky and the cameras repeatedly caught shots of him laughing at how awful his team was. Behind the scenes images at training in the lead up to that game showed the players repeatedly engaging in some weird rugby league style game rather than conventional football training and there were murmerings of discontent about his conduct in the sale of Dean Parrett to Spurs - although given the financial position the club was in it's easy to see why he was keen for the boy to move. I've never really understood the frostiness towards him and my suspicion is it was because he was friends with Gianni Paladini which never goes down well with QPR supporters.
As a player he was excellent in a great QPR team and as a manager he took a team that should have finished bottom of the table by miles and saved it — providing some fine memories of wins against Cardiff , Southampton and Luton along the way. I thought he did a terrific job at Rangers in almost impossible circumstances.
Having managed some of the less fashionable clubs in the Israeli league with limited success — Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and FC Ashdod, and then Kazakhstan’s FC Kairat — he returned to these shores to take charge at League One side Crawley Town earlier this season.
Others >>> Heidar Helguson, Bolton 2007-2009, QPR 2009-present >>> Danny Shittu, QPR 2001-2006, 2011-present, Bolton 2008-2010 >>> Les Ferdinand, QPR 1987-1995, Bolton 2004-2005 >>> Peter Reid, Bolton 1974-1982, QPR 1989-1990 >>> John Gregory, QPR 1981-1985, (manager) 2006-2007, Bolton 1990 >>> Sammy Lee, QPR 1986-1987, Bolton (manager) 2007, Dave Clement, QPR 1965-1979, Bolton 1979-1981
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