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"otherwise we would have had to live with two different formats of QPR's name in the same programme."
For many years, I don't know if it is still the case, Foyle's had an apostrophe in Charing Cross Road and not in Manette Street - or the other way round.
Absolutely brilliant to read Ron Phillips finely written - as ever - post and his definitive explanation of the missing apostrophe.
Can't get over to young 'uns just how important and redoubtable a character Ron Phillips was to our wee club during the transformative glory years. To me,his marvellous innovative programme - with Derek Buxton and Michael Wale columns vital reading - and especially the unique cover design with that distinctive chequer board with the silhouetted player figures is an icon of British design as wonderful and exceptional as the red phone box,routemaster,mini or spitfire.
Anyone who's got a 2009 copy of Gordon Macey's fine,must own 'Queen's Park Rangers - The Complete Record' can see the programme cover introduced in 67/68 on page 392 - at the start of R's glory years - and finishing on season 76/77 page 410. It seems not just an eerie coincidence that when it goes R's struggle and missed relegation the next season by a point and go down the season after in 1979.
When R's relegation was guaranteed the first time in 1969 ,Ron Phillips wrote in his regular programme Beat Around The Bush opening column a stirring inspirational classic R's call to arms. Like General MacArthur fleeing from the Japanese,leaving the Phillipines during the Second World War he wrote/said "We Shall Return!" (This comment was resurrected again in the programme in 1979. As an ignorant 13 year old at the time I was a bit bamboozled..'General who? WTF?' ) It took MacArthur and the Yanks 3 years to fufill this promise and QPR under Terry Venables inspired genius management 5..(..or is it 4? Back in the top flight 83/84 any road).
Finally,to all the old gits perusing this forum who cannot get enough of vintage footie nostalgia, especially those epic sixties years with World Cup winning,League Cup winning and the creation and evolution of The Loft - see morgan twin's epic thread and account on this here site which,BTW, is word for word 100% accurate - the following Radio 4 1966 World Cup Reunion 2006 broadcast is a must listen classic:
'I'm 18 with a bullet.Got my finger on the trigger,I'm gonna pull it.."
Love,Peace and Fook Chelski!
More like 20StoneOfHoop now.
Let's face it I'm not getting any thinner.
Pass the cake and pies please.
Im sorry but you called us fans who were on the pitch vs Man City in 86 'not real fans'. Yet I still go on a weekly basis and have been a ST holder for the past 26-27 years proving I am a real fan. I stuck by us in the third tier and during administration. WHERE WERE YOU ??
It's rather splendid being given a chance at last to answer some of the criticisms during those 23 years at Rangers. Standing behind me when I made that announcement were a couple of very senior policemen; Jim Gregory, our famous Chairman; and a frantic secretary who had just received an even more frantic call from the F.A. Those good people had concocted a message for me to read out to supporters. What would you have done in such circumstances?
My Mum, in her 80's, still asks 'is Ron Phillips still at QPR?' - don't panic Ron, if you're out there... she's never met you, never had the slightest interest in football, but when we got back from the game she'd always grab the programme and go straight at the competition you had in there. Don't know if she was the only one who did it but won the cash so many times she swears you pulled it so Jim Gregory wouldn't go broke!
Great programme, still got piles of them securely wrapped at the back of the garage. The club had style those days.
Why didn't you or your Mum write to me to tell me this story at the time? It would have made a lovely item in the programme. Give her my compliments and my love. They don't make them like her any more - alas.
Hi Ron , I think your brother taught me electrical installation at acton tech in the 70,s , at least he told us he was your brother
Ouch, it wasn't my brother. He is, and always has been, an incredibly hard working bank manager. How many more people are going around, claiming to be relatives of mine?
Thanks for getting in touch Ron. I too loved the programme, my dad used to bring them from a mate at work when I was about 9-12 and they were instrumental in converting me into an R and away from the so called glamour sides.
I also still have all of them in the loft but I gave up buying the programme about ten years ago, as it had become unnecessary and irrelevant.
I once met Jim Gregory on a plane going to Nice in the mid/late 80's. I had a quick chat and he was very polite and delighted that I was a hoop. I'm sure I only saw his 'nice' side as he was off on a jolly with his wife and two friends.
All these compliments about the programme! (I admit I was fishing for them). Jim Gregory, in fact, was one of the shyest persons I met in my life - you did well to have that chat with him. Yes, he was a so-and-so but, having said that, he was one of Rangers' biggest fans during all the 23 years I was at the club. People always believed he was going to sell the club but it was never true. Only serious bad health during his last year at QPR forced him to let go of the reins. (Read my memoirs for full details)
Daphne Biggs got me an interview with ron for a job as kit man when tommy doc was manger 2nd time around
He told me to steer well clear of working with TD.
The bloke who got it was there for years after
It sounds like Daphne but I haven't the faintest recollection of this. Are you sure it was me you saw? I would never have dared interfere with any coaching/kit manager matters. And I would have praised Tommy to the skies. One of the nicest managers I ever worked with at Rangers. Just one problem; neither of us could understand a single word the other one spoke!
Great cartoons(although terribly non PC thank god)from Bill Tidy.
My proudest achievement as programme editor was to persuade Bill Tidy, the nation's greatest, funniest cartoonist, to join our contributors. He was just starting his cartoon career at the time and I wasn't sure what fee to offer him. He happily accepted £5 per full page cartoon - I should have paid him £50!
Wasn't he the one who announced over the PA 'get off the pitch , you are not real fans' during the Man City pitch invasion many moons ago ?
Yes, you've got me. I didn't have enough to do, running the club, editing the programme and acting as QPR's accountant, so I used to whizz round the ground during matches, selling raffle tickets for non-existent motors. Anyway, I didn't go to prison for that - it was for murdering Alan Hardaker, the Football League Secretarys, who did so much to make my job harder during those years. (In explanation: Alan Hardaker and Jim Gregory were at war with each other... and I was in the middle).
Welcome Ron. Great days indeed. I'm always remembering that at this stage of the season, there was always a few lines in the programme about how many season tickets had already been bought for next season and that there were very few left so get in quick to renew. What a salesman you were!
It wasn't just me, of course, but season tickets were the club's life blood, so they had to be plugged. You'll probably recall that, every single time we issued the Season Ticket forms at one of the closing games of the season, the team proceeded to lose the match in question (well, perhaps not every time). We were all left apoplectic - but that's football.
It wasn't just me, of course, but season tickets were the club's life blood, so they had to be plugged. You'll probably recall that, every single time we issued the Season Ticket forms at one of the closing games of the season, the team proceeded to lose the match in question (well, perhaps not every time). We were all left apoplectic - but that's football.
And who was that Phanton Playing Card sender you used to publish in the programme? I don't ever recall the outcome of it. I need to know!
Wow ! is it really you Mr.Phillips ? Do you remember a 13 year old R,s fan that you allowed to have a photographers pass to, to be able to photograph a referee called Mick Taylor from Deal in Kent for my local paper ? you were so pleased with what I produced You told me that If I got to Fleet Street you would allow me to be club photographer ? well I did and you kept your word all those years later and you gave me my own page in the match day programme ( the Nick Kidd Portfolio ). The game was QPR v Coventry and Stan was booked within the first 15mins which the ref had told me he was going to do prior to the match and to look out for Stan's reaction ! I gave photographs to the club for about 7 years. Many, many thanks for giving me such a privileged insight into the running of the club and has left me with so many memories. Do you still write plays ? Nick.
Like Sudbury Hill & francisbowles, I need an answer to this question!
O.K., answer coming up: I never found out.
If you recall, the playing cards used to be sent by just one person. As the months and years went by, other Rangers fans decided to join the party and more playing cards arrived by every post from people all over the globe. I think I commented in the programme that I now had enough to form a full pack.
Round about that time, I also used to publish very clever letters in the programme from someone signing himself (herself?) as The Pope. I never found out who that was either.
Could the Phantom Playing Card Sender and The Pope be one and the same? Could The Pope be Tony Incenzo? We shall never know now.
Wow ! is it really you Mr.Phillips ? Do you remember a 13 year old R,s fan that you allowed to have a photographers pass to, to be able to photograph a referee called Mick Taylor from Deal in Kent for my local paper ? you were so pleased with what I produced You told me that If I got to Fleet Street you would allow me to be club photographer ? well I did and you kept your word all those years later and you gave me my own page in the match day programme ( the Nick Kidd Portfolio ). The game was QPR v Coventry and Stan was booked within the first 15mins which the ref had told me he was going to do prior to the match and to look out for Stan's reaction ! I gave photographs to the club for about 7 years. Many, many thanks for giving me such a privileged insight into the running of the club and has left me with so many memories. Do you still write plays ? Nick.
Well, honestly, Nick, over the 23 years I worked at Rangers, our gates must have totalled trillions of spectators. You can scarcely expect me to remember you!
And yet I do. Many thanks for the photos you gave to the club. What on earth happened to The Nick Kidd Portfolio?
Just as well you didn't tell the Manager that story about Stan. There would have been consequences...
Yes, I still write plays - although lately I've been concentrating on screenplays. One film in post-production to date and another coming up..
Phantom playing card urban myths and confusing shenanigans remind me a touch of the confounding strange postcards sent from all around the globe by a gnome apparently in Amelie:
Ron, a lot of punters on here were angry and disgusted about the shabby way the club treated one of your successors the great,kind,unflagging Sheila Marson when she took the fall for a cock-up in the registration/signing of a player - I forget which one,someone will tell us hopefully. Any thoughts,comments or inside info on this?
[Post edited 6 May 2014 20:34]
'I'm 18 with a bullet.Got my finger on the trigger,I'm gonna pull it.."
Love,Peace and Fook Chelski!
More like 20StoneOfHoop now.
Let's face it I'm not getting any thinner.
Pass the cake and pies please.
Well, honestly, Nick, over the 23 years I worked at Rangers, our gates must have totalled trillions of spectators. You can scarcely expect me to remember you!
And yet I do. Many thanks for the photos you gave to the club. What on earth happened to The Nick Kidd Portfolio?
Just as well you didn't tell the Manager that story about Stan. There would have been consequences...
Yes, I still write plays - although lately I've been concentrating on screenplays. One film in post-production to date and another coming up..
The Nick Kidd Portfolio became extinct due to the Omniturf ! I could not for the life of me ever get any decent action snaps on the plastic pitch. Terry Venables was keen for no pictures to contain knee burns because the pitch was controversial at the time receiving allot of bad publicity and of course most of my photographs contained players with skin burns ! Can you remember ringing me up to rush over to Loftus Rd one afternoon to take photos of a sodden pitch so the club could send the pictures to the FA to help the case for the plastic pitch ? Nick.
I still want the apostrophe back though. In the same way that I want execution re-introduced for people who say 'haitch' for the letter 'aitch'.
Can I ask you Ron, Brian Williams, why?
SoN,in these (dread) days of beards,beards everywhere - from Shoreditch Hipster to Paxman to Chaz Austin to Traore to Timbuktoo - it's all too easy to forget but in the late 70's it was pretty rare and different,there was a distinct dearth.
As far as I know the reason why distinctly average completely mediocre journeyman full-back Brian Williams (10 apps,13 as sub,0 goals) was brought in in July 1977 for 70k from Bury ostensibly as back-up for Dave Clement was because we had no beards in the squad at the time.
Behind the scenes envious glances had been shown to Sheffield United's Trevor Hockey and Frank Sibley and Jim Gregory just felt it was a problem that needed sorting out. A couple of seasons later humdrum right-back Don Shanks helped to fill the beardless vacuum - only reason Stan's bookie runner was retained on the books - likewise two-bob useless reserve Robbie Herrera was only kept on for a while 'cos of his nuisance beard value.
Also SoN,now that you have reached 50 you are starting finally to gain some great wisdom and insight..your Dad would be proud..>>> ignorant uneducated people that pronounce the letter H as 'haitch'? <<< .. you are 100% righteous and correct in your exasperated angry condemnation. Hanging is too good for them. I will come back to this vexed grammar issue later maybe with a poll.
[Post edited 7 May 2014 18:03]
'I'm 18 with a bullet.Got my finger on the trigger,I'm gonna pull it.."
Love,Peace and Fook Chelski!
More like 20StoneOfHoop now.
Let's face it I'm not getting any thinner.
Pass the cake and pies please.
SoN,in these (dread) days of beards,beards everywhere - from Shoreditch Hipster to Paxman to Chaz Austin to Traore to Timbuktoo - it's all too easy to forget but in the late 70's it was pretty rare and different,there was a distinct dearth.
As far as I know the reason why distinctly average completely mediocre journeyman full-back Brian Williams (10 apps,13 as sub,0 goals) was brought in in July 1977 for 70k from Bury ostensibly as back-up for Dave Clement was because we had no beards in the squad at the time.
Behind the scenes envious glances had been shown to Sheffield United's Trevor Hockey and Frank Sibley and Jim Gregory just felt it was a problem that needed sorting out. A couple of seasons later humdrum right-back Don Shanks helped to fill the beardless vacuum - only reason Stan's bookie runner was retained on the books - likewise two-bob useless reserve Robbie Herrera was only kept on for a while 'cos of his nuisance beard value.
Also SoN,now that you have reached 50 you are starting finally to gain some great wisdom and insight..your Dad would be proud..>>> ignorant uneducated people that pronounce the letter H as 'haitch'? <<< .. you are 100% righteous and correct in your exasperated angry condemnation. Hanging is too good for them. I will come back to this vexed grammar issue later maybe with a poll.
[Post edited 7 May 2014 18:03]
Before I even clicked on the link to Brian Williams panini pic, I knew exactly what it would look like - incredible that those images are so stamped in the memory. He looks like David Brent actually.
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,Ron Phillips wrote in his regular programme Beat Around The Bush opening column a stirring inspirational classic R's call to arms. Like General MacArthur fleeing from the Japanese,leaving the Phillipines during the Second World War he wrote/said "We Shall Return!" (This comment was resurrected again in the programme in 1979. As an ignorant 13 year old at the time I was a bit bamboozled..'General who? WTF?' ) It took MacArthur and the Yanks 3 years to fufill this promise and QPR under Terry Venables inspired genius management 5..(..or is it 4? Back in the top flight 83/84 any road). 
