Ahead of Saturday’s trip to Villa Park, LFW looks back to 1989 when former Birmingham man Trevor Francis silenced the home fans with a world class hat trick.
Aston Villa 1 Queens Park Rangers 3, Saturday September 23, 1989, First Division
Trevor Francis had been enjoying an impressive Indian summer as a player at Queens Park Rangers under manager Jim Smith having signed for the R’s at the start of the 1988/89 season from Rangers. Defying his advancing years, the first £1m footballer in Britain scored twice against Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-0 win early in the season and finished that campaign with ten goals.
Midway through the season, however, Smith left for Newcastle and Francis, as the club’s most experienced player, was chosen as his replacement — the player manager role was his first in a career which would eventually see him manage Sheff Wed, Birmingham and Crystal Palace. His inexperience, lack of man management ability, and lack of popularity among the other QPR players would stop his reign in its tracks in 12 months. One infamous event saw him fine midfielder Martin Allen for leaving the team hotel on the night of a game at Newcastle to be at the birth of his first child — something Francis never really recovered from in the eyes of his squad.
Another key problem with Francis being the manager was, at the start of the 1989/90, he was still the side’s best attacking threat. Paul Wright had been signed from Aberdeen in the summer of 1989 to try and bolster the attack but despite that, and a two goal haul on his debut on the first day of the season in a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace, he didn’t settle in London and scored just twice more (in a 2-2 draw with Forest and a memorable 3-2 win over Liverpool) before moving back to Hibernian in January.
Francis started the season injured so goals were hard to come by. After the Palace game Rangers drew 1-1 with Chelsea thanks to a Colin Clarke goal but then went on a run of four matches without scoring a goal at all (Norwich A, Luton H both 0-0, Man City A and Derby A both 1-0) . Francis’ return to the side couldn’t have been more necessary, or spectacular.
As a Birmingham City man, former teenage starlet at the Blues and future Birmingham manager, Francis has never been the most welcome guest at Villa Park. Villa has started the season poorly themselves, just one win from the first six games in the league and a 1-0 defeat at Sheff Wed in the match before. They did take the lead in this game, David Platt sliding home from ten yards after Ian Olney headed down a cross at the back post. But Rangers levelled before half time when Francis set Clarke away down the right, then arrived late in the box to get on the end of Nigel Spink’s botched attempt to intercept Clarke’s cross and fire home.
The second goal was a familiar one for anybody who followed QPR through the late 1980s and early 1990s — a corner whipped into the near post and flicked on, usually by Alan McDonald but this time by Colin Clarke, for players arriving late in the six-yard box. Having already scored with his left, Francis added a second with his head from close range.
This was all merely preparation for the main event. Little looked on when a young Andy Sinton had the ball taken off his toe in the penalty area but in a flash Francis controlled the loose ball with his left and then flicked it into the air beautifully with his right from the very far corner of the penalty area. The ball flew stupidly high into the air, curled back down towards goal as it dropped, hit the inside of the far post and dropped in with Spink helpless. One of the great QPR goals of all time.
It sent Francis on a personal run of form with goals in the two following games against Spurs and Southampton, but both were lost including a 4-1 defeat at The Dell. Soon injured again, Francis was in the stand for the Liverpool victory when second from bottom QPR beat the team second from top in spectacular fashion. The image of his wife, in a giant fur coat, rushing down the South Africa Road stand steps to embrace him at full time, while he looked resigned despite the result, a defining one of the era.
Rangers lost to Arsenal and drew with Millwall immediately after that. The signing of Francis’ former England and Rangers team mate Ray Wilkins came too late. He as sacked, and replaced by Don Howe for the remainder of the season. Rangers eventually finished ninth. Villa, meanwhile, barely looked back — they won their next five matches, and 15 of their next 18, to eventually finish second behind champions Liverpool.
QPR: Seaman, Channing, McDonald, Parker, Sansom, Bardsley, Spackman, Reid, Sinton, Clarke, Francis (Wright)
Queens Park Rangers 1 Aston Villa 2, Saturday November 18, 2017, Championship
QPR took the lead through Jamie Mackie in the first meeting between the sides this season, and were eventually only beaten 2-1 thanks to the brilliance of local boy Albert Adomah, but in truth it was only the goalkeeping of Alex Smithies that kept it respectable. Mackie bundled in after 18 minutes when Joel Lynch caused panic at a Luke Freeman corner but the R’s shipped an equaliser deep into first half stoppage time when Jack Robinson inadvertently handled a goalbound shot and Adomah converted the penalty. Adomah hit his second in off the post in the second half shortly after Matt Smith had narrowly missed with a volley that had the keeper beaten but in truth Villa were worthy winners.
QPR: Smithies 8; Baptiste 4, Lynch 5, Robinson 6; Cousins 6 (Washington 63, 5), Bidwell 6; Sowen 6, Freeman 6, Luongo 6 (Manning 45, 5); Mackie 5 (Sylla 72, 6), Smith 7
Subs not used: Furlong, Wszolek, Lumley, Wheeler
Goals: Mackie 18 (assisted Freeman)
Bookings: Robinson 53 (foul), Manning 76 (foul)
Villa: Johnstone 6; Hutton 5, Samba 5, Chester 7, Taylor 6; Snodgrass 6 (Jedinak 81, 7), Whelan 6, Hourihane 7, Adomah 8 (Bjarnason 90+1, -); Onomah 8 (De Laet 86, -); Davis 8
Subs not used: Lansbury, Grealish, Steer, O’Hare
Goals: Adomah 45+3 (penalty, won Hourihane), 58 (assisted Hourihane)
Bookings: Whelan 38 (foul), Snodgrass 60 (foul), Taylor 90+1 (foul)
Aston Villa 1 QPR 0, Tuesday April 4, 2017, Championship
Jonathan Kodija’s fifth minute strike at the end of a flowing move was enough to settle the last meeting between these two sides at Villa Park in April. Kodija had already struck the post before that and the game was part of QPR’s second six game losing streak of the season but the R’s deserved a point for a spirited second half rally which, as is all too often the case with this team, just couldn’t yield a goal.
Aston Villa: Johnstone 6, Hutton 6, Chester 6, Baker 6, Taylor 6, Jedinak 7, Lansbury 7, Bacuna 6, Adomah 6 (Hogan 77, 6), Amavi 7 (Green 85, -) Kodjia 6 (Elphick 90, -)
Subs not used: Hourihane, Bree, Bunn, Grealish
Goal: Kodjia 5 (assisted Bacuna)
Yellow Card: Kodjia 87 (foul)
QPR: Smithies 6, Bidwell 6, Onouha 6, Hall 5, Furlong 6 (Petrasso 75, 5), Mackie 6, Freeman 7, Luongo 8, Goss 6 (Washington 72, 6) N’Gbakoto 6, Sylla 5 (Smith 64, 6)
Subs not used: Ingram, Wszolek, Perch, Manning
Yellow Card: Mackie 23 (foul)
QPR 0 Aston Villa 1, Saturday December 18, 2016, Championship
Aston Villa may have only won one away league match in 18 months prior to this, and they may have only won this one by a single late goal from Jonathan Kodija after he’d rolled Joel Lynch for the umpteenth time in the game, but really this was an absolute hammering for a beleaguered QPR team at the time. Only the flying form of Alex Smithies, who saved a first half penalty from Kodija and then made a string of excellent saves in the second half just to maintain things at 0-0 for as long as he could. Rangers ended the game beaten, without a single meaningful effort on goal, as part of a six match losing run.
QPR: Smithies 8; Perch 6, Onuoha 5, Lynch 5, Bidwell 5; Hall 6, Luongo 5, Chery 5 (Mackie 78, 6); Wzsolek 5 (Shodipo 62, 6), Washington 5 (Sylla 46, 6), Ngbakoto 5
Subs not used: Sandro, Borysiuk, Ingram, Polter
Bookings: Luongo 81 (foul)
Villa: Bunn 5; Hutton 6, Chester 6, Baker 6, Amavi 7; Adoma 6, Jedinak 7, Gardner 6 (Westwood 89, -), Bacuna 6; McCormack 5 (Agbonlahor 71, 5), Kodija 8 (Gestede 82, -)
Subs not used: Gollini, Elphick, Ayew, Grealish
Goals: Kodija 75 (assisted Hutton)
Bookings: Jedinak 43 (foul), Chester 63 (foul), Bunn 90+3 (time wasting)
Villa 3 QPR 3, Tuesday April 7, 2015, Premier League
QPR led twice, trailed once, and eventually ended up with a 3-3 draw when these sides last met at Villa Park in April 2015. Rangers came into this midweek relegation six pointer on the back of a 4-1 win at West Brom at the weekend and with Matt Phillips having the game of his QPR career they nearly reignited an ultimately doomed survival bid with a second road win in four days. Phillips opened the scoring after seven minutes and later set up Charlie Austin to make it 3-2 with just ten minutes to go. In between Clint Hill finally broke his Premier League scoring duck with a powerful header from a corner. But Villa had survived at QPR’s expense once before because of the power and goalscoring of Christian Benteke and the giant Belgian rescued his team, and manager Tim Sherwood whose set up for this game was all wrong, with a fantastic hat trick. The first a surging run from the halfway line and blasted finish just after Phillips had scored, the second set up by Agbonlahor, third a long range free kick immediately after the Austin goal. Wonderful stuff.
Villa: Guzan 6; Bacuna 6 (Lowton 75, 6), Vlaar 7, Clark 6, Richardson 4; Sanchez 6, Delph 6, Cleverley 5 (N'Zogbia 81, -); Grealish 7 (Cole 70, 5), Benteke 9, Agbonlahor 7
Subs not used: Baker, Okore, Weimann, Given
Goals: Benteke 10 (unassisted), 33 (assisted Agbonlahor), 83 (free kick, won N'Zogbia)
QPR: Green 7; Isla 5 (Traore 50, 6), Caulker 5, Onuoha 6, Hill 6; Phillips 8, Barton 7, Sandro 6 (Doughty 70, 7), Kranjcar 4 (Henry 50, 8); Zamora 6, Austin 6
Subs not used: McCarthy, Hoilett, Mitchell, Grego-Cox
Goals: Phillips 7 (assisted Zamora ), Hill 55 (assisted Phillips), Austin 78 (assisted Phillips)
Bookings: Sandro 34 (foul), Kranjcar 35 (foul), Austin 57 (foul), Hill 82 (foul)
QPR 2 Villa 0, Monday October 27, 2014, Premier League
Aston Villa had lost four matches without scoring a goal prior to arriving at Loftus Road for the televised first meeting between these sides that season. That was all the encouragement QPR needed as they turned in one of their most complete performances (not a lot of strong competition) of the campaign, winning with a Charlie Austin goal in each half. First he strode onto a Bobby Zamora knock down and belted one in from long range, then in the second half he swept home from closer in after Isla and Vargas had combined well down the right. With Yun Suk-Young setting the tempo from left back and Richard Dunne imperious against his former club this was a rare bright moment in a poor season overall.
QPR: Green 8; Isla 7, Caulker 7, Dunne 8, Suk-Young 8; Vargas 7 (Traore 87, -), Sandro 6, Henry 7, Fer 6 (Kranjcar 90, -); Austin 7, Zamora 7 (Hoilett 63, 7)
Subs not used: Ferdinand, Hill, Phillips, Murphy
Goals: Austin 16 (assisted Zamora ), 69 (assisted Vargas)
Villa: Guzan 6; Lowton 6, Vlaar 5, Clark 6, Cissokho 6; Cleverley 6, Westwood 7 (Cole 70, 5), Sanchez 8; Agbonlahor 6, Weimann 6 (Bent 70, 4), Benteke 6
Subs not used: Okore, Bacuna, Richardson, N'Zogbia, Given
Bookings: Weimann 57 (foul), Lowton 76 (foul)
Aston Villa 3 QPR 2, Saturday March 16, 2013, Premier League
QPR suffered a damaging defeat at fellow strugglers Aston Villa in their quest to avoid relegation from the Premier League in 2012/13. The R’s seemed destined for the drop, but consecutive wins against Sunderland and Southampton provided hope and with Villa in poor form and one of the teams in the immediate vicinity of QPR on the league table the March trip to Villa Park looked crucial. Jermaine Jenas gave the R’s a deserved first half lead, and only a wonder save from Brad Guzan prevented Chris Samba adding to that. But the game swung in three minutes of first half injury time when first Jose Bosingwa hit the Villa post with a free kick, and then the hosts equalised when Julio Cesar made a hash of a high ball into his area and Agbonlahor pounced for a leveller. When Anders Weimann scored on the hour the game looked to be up but man of the match Andros Townsend struck back to make it 2-2 and again there only looked like being one winner until more suspect defending and goalkeeping let Christian Benteke in for a crushing late third for the hosts.
Villa: Guzan 8, Lowton 7, Clark 5, Baker 5 (Bennett 20, 5), Vlaar 6, Westwood 6, Sylla 6 (N’Zogbia 58, 6), Bannan 6, Agbonlahor 7, Weimann 8 (Bowery 84, -), Benteke 7
Subs not used: Given, Dawkins, Carruthers, Holman
Goals: Agbonlahor 45 (assisted Lowton), Weimann 58 (unassisted), Benteke 81 (assisted Weimann)
Booked: Sylla 30 (foul), Bannan 41 (foul), Weimann 45 (dissent)
QPR: Cesar 3, Bosingwa 5, Hill 5, Samba 7, Da Silva 5 (Taarabt 66, 7), Park 6 (Mackie 87, -), Jenas 6, Mbia 6, Townsend 7, Remy 7, Zamora 7 (Hoilett 45, 6)
Subs not used: Murphy, Onuoha, Wright-Phillips, Granero
Goals: Jenas 23 (assisted Zamora), Townsend 73 (assisted Remy)
Bookings: Mbia 12 (foul), Hoilett 88 (foul)
QPR 1 Aston Villa 1, Saturday December 1, 2012, Premier League
Harry Redknapp’s first home match in charge of QPR was against Aston Villa at the start of December that season. Having tightened the leaky defence and secured a 0-0 draw at Sunderland during the week in his first outing the new manager will have been disappointed to see goalkeeper Robert Green concede a soft goal early in the game. Brett Holman’s volley from the edge of the box was firmly struck, but Green should still have done more than simply palm the ball into the corner of his own net. The R’s were quickly on terms when Jamie Mackie expertly guided a header home from a Samba Diakite cross but they lacked sufficient creativity and cutting edge to grab a first win of the season in the second half and ultimately had to settle for a point.
QPR: Green 5, Bosingwa 6, Hill 7, Nelsen 7, Traore 5, Diakite 7 (Hoilett 67, 5), Mbia 7 (Derry 40, 5), Granero 5 (Park 46, 4), Taarabt 7, Wright-Phillips 6, Mackie 8
Subs not used: Murphy, Cisse, Ferdinand, Fabio
Goals: Mackie 18 (assisted Diakite)
Bookings: Derry 61 (foul)
Villa: Guzan 8, Lowton 6, Clark 6, Baker 6, Lichaj 6, Westwood 6, Bannan 6 (Delph 67, 6), Holman 7 (El Ahmadi 70, 6), Herd 6 (Williams 65, 6), Agbonlahor 7, Benteke 7
Subs not used: Given, Ireland, Bent, Weimann
Goals: Holman 8 (unassisted)
Bookings: Baker 47 (foul), Lowton 62 (foul)
Aston Villa 2 QPR 2, Wednesday February 1, 2012, Premier League
The Mark Hughes era began in earnest at Villa Park the season before, the day after the close of the transfer window. With Djibril Cisse making his debut and Bobby Zamora and Samba Diakite also secured late on Hughes felt ready to take on the challenge and Rangers made a lightning start to the game. Cisse kept his record of regularly scoring on debuts going with a crisp volley into the far corner when Shaun Wright-Phillips had a shot that deflected into his path. And the lead was doubled when a cross from another newcomer Taye Taiwo was headed into his own net under no pressure by Stephen Warnock. However, Darren Bent bagged one before half time and when Charles N’Zogbia volleyed in ten minutes from time Rangers were hanging on for a point. Ultimately the R’s were lucky to get away with a late handball appeal in their own penalty area. As it turned out, they’d have to wait until August to take another point from an away match.
Villa: Given 6, Hutton 7, Cuellar 6, Dunne 6, Warnock 5, Clark 6 (Bannan 70, 6), Ireland 6, Petrov 7, N’Zogbia 7, Keane 7, Bent 7
Subs not used: Guzan, Lichaj, Baker, Gardner, Heskey, Weimann
Goals: Bent 44 (assisted Hutton), N’Zogbia 80 (assisted Petrov)
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 6, Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 6, Taiwo 5, Mackie 5, Derry 5 (Ephraim 73, 6), Barton 6, Wright-Phillips 6, Cisse 7 (Macheda 81, -), Hulse 6 (Smith 54, 6)
Subs not used: Cerny, Hill, Hall, Balanta
Goals: Cisse 11 (assisted Wright-Phillips), Warnock og 22 (assisted Taiwo)
Bookings: Young (foul)
QPR 1 Aston Villa 1, Sunday September 25, 2011, Premier League
QPR needed an injury time own goal from Richard Dunne to rescue a point from the Loftus Road meeting between these sides that season after falling victim to a series of incorrect refereeing decisions. Villa took a second half lead from the penalty spot when referee Michael Oliver very harshly adjudged that Armand Traore had pulled back Gabby Agbonlahor at the back post when he’d done nothing of the sort. Barry Bannan converted the spot kick but Oliver further incensed the home ranks when he twice turned down penalty appeals for handball at the other end, including a blatant one from Alan Hutton who palmed Anton Ferdinand’s goal bound header away for a corner. Some justice was done in stoppage time when Dunne hacked into his own net after hard work from Helguson but QPR would have won the game with a different referee in charge.
QPR: Kenny 7, Young 7, Ferdinand 8, Hall 7, Traore 6, Faurlin 6, Derry 6 (Helguson 79, 7), Wright-Phillips 7 (Smith 86, -), Taarabt 7, Barton 6, Bothroyd 7 (Campbell 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Murphy, Orr, Buzsaky, Connolly
Sent Off: Traore 90 (two bookings)
Booked: Traore (foul), Traore (foul)
Goals: Dunne 90 og (assisted Helguson)
Aston Villa: Given 7, Hutton 5, Collins 7, Dunne 8, Warnock 6, Petrov 6, Ireland 5, Delph 7, N'Zogbia 6 (Weimann 85, -), Bannan 8 (Albrighton 72, 7), Agbonlahor 6
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Delfouneso, Beye, Lowry, Gardner
Booked: Warnock (foul), Hutton (foul), Collins (foul), Petrov (foul), Agbonlahor (foul), N'Zogbia (foul)
Goals: Bannan 58 (penalty)
Aston Villa 0 QPR 1, Wednesday September 24, 2008, League Cup
QPR sprang a surprise in the League Cup when they visited Villa Park in 2008. Having seen off Swindon and Carlisle in earlier rounds with Iain Dowie in charge, no mean feat for a club with our recent cup record, QPR travelled to the West Midlands backed by a sizeable away following. The crucial goal came from the head of Damion Stewart who was magnificent that night, marking John Carew superbly. Gareth Barry went through on the goal late in the game but chose to try and execute and ambitious chip which he made a mess of. Rangers went on to play at Old Trafford in the next round, losing 1-0 to a late penalty, but by that point Dowie had been given his marching orders by Flavio Briatore.
Aston Villa: Guzan 6, Gardner 6, Cuellar 6, Knight 5, Shorey 6, Osbourne 5 (Routledge 67, 5), Petrov 5, Barry 5, Ashley Young 7, Harewood 4 (Agbonlahor 67, 6), Carew 7
Subs Not Used: Friedel, Delfouneso, Davies, Salifou, Reo-Coker
Booked: Cuellar (foul) Gardner (foul)
QPR: Cerny 7, Connolly 7, Hall 8, Stewart 9, Delaney 5, Mahon 7, Rowlands 8, Parejo 8, Ledesma 8 (Balanta 90, -), Buzsaky 7 (Leigertwood 81, -), Agyemang 6 (Di Carmine 66, 6)
Subs Not Used: Camp, Blackstock, Gorkss, Ephraim
Booked: Delaney (foul)
Goals: Stewart 58 (assisted Parejo)
2017/18 QPR 1 Villa 2 (Mackie)
2016/17 Villa 1 QPR 0
2016/17 QPR 0 Villa 1
2014/15 Villa 3 QPR 3 (Phillips, Hill, Austin)
2014/15 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Austin 2)
2012/13 Villa 3 QPR 2 (Jenas, Townsend)
2012/13 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Mackie)
2011/12 Villa 2 QPR 2 (Cisse, Warnock og)
2011/12 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Dunne og)
2008/09 Villa 0 QPR 1* (Stewart)
2004/05 Villa 3 QPR 1* (McLeod)
1995/96 Villa 4 QPR 2 (Dichio, Gallen)
1995/96 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Gallen)
1995/96 Villa 1 QPR 0*
1994/95 Villa 2 QPR 1 (Yates)
1994/95 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Dichio, Penrice)
1993/94 QPR 2 Villa 2 (McGrath og, Penrice)
1993/94 Villa 4 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1992/93 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Ferdinand, Allen)
1992/93 Villa 2 QPR 0
1991/92 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1991/92 QPR 0 Villa 1
1990/91 QPR 2 Villa 1 (B Allen, Tilson)
1990/91 Villa 2 QPR 2 (Wegerle pen, Sinton)
1989/90 QPR 1 Villa 1 (Clarke)
1989/90 Villa 1 QPR 3 (T Francis 3)
1988/89 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Sinton)
1988/89 Villa 2 QPR 1 (T Francis)
1986/87 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Keown og)
1986/87 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Bannister)
1985/86 QPR 0 Villa 1
1985/86 Villa 1 QPR 2 (Bannister 2
1984/85 Villa 5 QPR 2 (Bannister 2)
1984/85 QPR 2 Villa 0 (Bannister, Gregory)
1984/85 QPR 1 Villa 0* (Gregory)
1983/84 Villa 2 QPR 1 (Charles)
1983/84 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Stainrod, Withe og)
1978/79 Villa 3 QPR 1 (C Allen)
1978/79 QPR 1 Villa 0 (Harkouk)
1977/78 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Smith og)
1977/78 Villa 1 QPR 0*
1977/78 QPR 1 Villa 2 (Eastoe)
1976/77 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Abbott)
1976/77 Villa 3 QPR 0
1976/77 Villa 2 QPR 2 (G Francis, Eastoe)
1976/77 QPR 0 Villa 0
1976/77 QPR 2 Villa 1 (Masson, Clement)
1975/76 Villa 0 QPR 2 (G Francis, Hollins)
1975/76 QPR 1 Villa 1 (G Francis)
1972/73 QPR 1 Villa 0 (G Francis)
1972/73 Villa 0 QPR 1 (Leach)
1969/70 QPR 4 Villa 2 (Bridges 2, Marsh 2)
1969/70 Villa 1 QPR 1 (Marsh)
1968/69 Villa 2 QPR 1** (I Morgan)
1967/68 Villa 1 QPR 2 (Leach, Bradley)
1967/68 QPR 3 Villa 0 (Sanderson 2, Lazarus)
1919/20 Villa 2 QPR 1** (Birch)
* - League Cup
** - FA Cup
Bristol-born Penrice became one of a clutch of former Rovers players who moved to Loftus Road in the early 1990s to play for manager Gerry Francis.
Penrice had initially been a trainee at Bristol City before being released into non-league football because the coaching staff at Ashton Gate felt he was too small. He played for Mangotsfield while training as a plumber but got a second bit of the league football cherry when Bristol Rovers offered him a deal after a trial.
Rovers was the club Penrice and his father supported and he bagged 20 goals in his first full season — 1988/89 — as they made the Third Division play off final only to lose to Port Vale. Rovers won the league a year later but Penrice had been bought by Watford before the end of the season for a club record fee of £500,000. He scored 18 goals in 43 appearances during a year at Vicarage Road before his ascent up the leagues continued with a move to First Division Aston Villa for £1m.
His progress was halted at Villa Park by a broken leg, and with the likes of Dean Saunders and Dalian Atkinson heading to that corner of Birmingham Penrice was deemed surplus to requirement after just one goal in 20 appearances. Enter QPR, who were by now under the charge of former Bristol Rovers manager Gerry Francis who was looking for a partner for the new hot property of English football Les Ferdinand.
Penrice cost £600,000, leaving Villa after just eight months, and soon found himself surrounded by former Pirates team mates including Steve Yates, Devon White and his former school friend Ian Holloway. Penrice actually made his QPR debut as a substitute against Villa in a 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road, but was in and out of the team initially and had to wait seven appearances and two months for his first goal. Like buses, when one came another quickly followed. On as a sub in a game at Coventry that QPR trailed 2-0, Penrice scored twice near the end to salvage a point and quickly followed that up with his first at Loftus Road in a 1-1 draw with Wimbledon.
Penrice scored six in the 1992/93 campaign, including a memorable double in a 4-1 home win against Spurs, as QPR finished fifth in the first ever Premier League. He got eight the season after including strikes in a 4-0 away win at West ham and a 4-3 success at Norwich. Penrice then suffered from the emergence of Kevin Gallen which moved him down the pecking order in the 1994/95 season, although he bagged another brace against Coventry and a hug-a-stranger-moment length of the field effort against his old Aston Villa side in the very final minute of a tense 2-0 win at the end of October.
Ray Wilkins replaced Gerry Francis midway through the campaign and Penrice was mostly used as a substitute, if at all, after that. Three substitute appearances at the start of the 1995/96 relegation season preceded a move back to Watford and then later a return to Bristol Rovers where he first played with Ian Holloway again, and then joined the coaching staff alongside him when he became manager.
Since retirement he has coached alongside Holloway at Bristol Rovers, QPR, Plymouth and Leicester and worked as a European scout for Stoke City. He is now a freelance scout working in Europe for several clubs.
Others >>>Luke Young, Villa 2008-2011, QPR 2011-2014 >>> Kyle Walker, QPR (loan) 2010, Villa (loan) 2011 >>> Wayne Routledge, Villa 2008-2009, QPR 2009-2010, 2011 (loan) >>> Stefan Moore, QPR 2005-2008, Villa 2001-2005 >>> Peter Crouch, QPR 2000-2001, Villa 2002-2004 >>> Steve Hodge, Villa 1985-1986, QPR 1994-1995 >>> Simon Stainrod, QPR 1980-1985, Villa 1985-1987 >>>John Gregory, Aston Villa 1977-1979, (manager) 1998-2002, QPR 1981-1985, (manager) 2006-2007 >>> John Burridge (again), Villa 1975-1978, QPR 1980-1982
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