| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed 14:58 - May 21 with 10223 views | Northernr |
Chance to talk about the Chelsea quarter final and Liverpool semi final probably, but to complete our QPR at Wembley set, we unfortunately are going to have to broach the thorny subject of 1986.
Who went? Stories to tell? Memories of the day?
Help an overworked fansite editor out.... |  | | |  |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 13:50 - May 22 with 1938 views | daveB |
from my akutrs article but relevant all the same
I can still remember aspects of that 1986 final clearly. The sheer excitement of the build-up was electric. I had butterflies in my stomach for about a month before hand and annoyed all my school mates by constantly singing “When Tel, goes up to lift the Milk Cup I’ll be there”.
On the day of the final I just wanted to get to Wembley. We stopped for a few drinks in The Sun pub on Askew Road which was open long before it should have been and was a real party atmosphere. I had no interest in joining in, I just wanted to get to Wembley, see the twin towers and celebrate the inevitable victory.
We got to the stadium earlier than we usually got to a match, I remember my Dads mate wishing an Oxford fan good luck before laughing saying “They’ll need it, we’ll slaughter these”. I watched the pro-celebrity match beforehand where if memory serves Jimmy Tarbuck and David Frost both played for QPR whilst a giant inflatable bottle of milk sat in the centre circle. You can keep your fireworks and dancing girls, that was pre match entertainment.
When the teams came out on the pitch the roar of the crowd and flags being waved was some sight, think that Leeds game when we won the league and times it by a hundred. It was a sea of blue and white and loads of banners, one that sticks out said “We made Chelsea Neil, we made Liverpool Byrne and We’re sending Oxford down the Bannister”. Even now that play on words still makes me laugh.
The game itself remains a blur, I’ve never watched it back since and it still feels surreal that we were that bad on the day. We stayed to watch Oxford get the trophy like some deranged masochist who felt that the worse they felt in that moment the better the payoff for us further down the line. As I say I’m still waiting.
After the match walking back to get the train then back to The Sun I don’t think anyone spoke a word. I’d never seen my Dad so down and quiet it was very unsettling. The Sun was subject to the old licencing hours so was supposed to be shut on a Sunday afternoon, the landlord Hugo, a big fella from Ireland, held a lock in for everyone. The pub was full of blue and white balloons, QPR shirts on everyone, flags and scarfs on the floor; it was the most colourful wake anyone had ever been to.
I couldn’t handle the disappointment of it all and as Hugo laid on a buffet I went into the garden to play football with his son. We tried to recreate the game and quite disgracefully I told my mate Carl to be Trevor Hebberd and I’d be Terry Fenwick, when he got the ball I jumped in with the hardest two footed leg breaker I could on the poor boy that he thankfully jumped out of meaning I destroyed a bin instead with my anger.
We carried on playing then a weird thing happened and has lived with me ever since. The pub was getting noisy and we could hear singing, in we went to see what was going on and it was party time. QPR fans were singing, laughing and dancing on the tables. My Nan was at the bar singing songs about Rodney Marsh and a policemen came in to ask Hugo to try and keep the noise down as the pub is supposed to be shut, As the policeman left I remember him saying to his mate “imagine what it would have been like if they won”.
I couldn’t understand why everyone was so happy after such a crushing soul destroying day. I’ve since found that alcohol is one of the key reasons but it also showed a real spirit that QPR fans have. We’re not going to face defeat with anger and smash the pub up, we’re going to take it on the chin, enjoy ourselves and come back stronger.
Back then if I had a bucket list the main things I wanted to see was QPR win the first division championship and QPR to win a major cup final. I’m still waiting for the last one but we are now potentially one game away from making that a reality. |  | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 13:51 - May 22 with 1935 views | headhoops |
coming in late to this thread, still better than not showing at all.......
Few recollections: Forest flood light failure and a cracking atmosphere.
Chelsea home - carnage inside and outside, scum fans thinking it was job done.
Reply - awful wet night played on a quagmire, Maccas header and the Robinson 60 yarder.
Liverpool home - thinking that 1-0 wouldnt be enough.
Liverpool away - the train getting bricked with one girl getting head injuries - huge cheers for her when she appeared part way through the game. Going mental at full time, singing all the way home. Getting nicked for doing 80 over Kew Bridge at stupid O clock.
Took fiance to the final - wedding nearly cancelled when she asked if we could stay and watch them run round with the cup. |  |
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| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 15:00 - May 22 with 1894 views | TeddRanger |
Did the walk on the morning of the final. Best bit of the day by far.
However, we bought some Tennants Super(just the 9% proof) from an off licence that had opened illegally(in those days)early on a Sunday.
As if downing a few Tennants Super wasn't enough, we stopped at a pub near Wembley.
Memories then become decidedly hazy...
Remember masses of singing in the pub
Getting on a bus
Waking up in the bogs in Wembley cradling the cistern like a long lost friend
Staggering onto the terrace
Seeing it was 2-0 thought "f**k this" and lurching out of the ground.
Getting a train from Victoria
Realising it was the wrong train 20 minutes later when I woke up
Going back to Victoria
Catching the right train
Going back to shared house in Canterbury(where I was at college) to see a big picture with 3-0 pinned to the dartboard-first time I realised that was the final score.
To this day, I have never again drunk Tennnants Super and still hate Oxford with a passion. |  | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 15:04 - May 22 with 1888 views | pragueranger |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 13:50 - May 22 by daveB |
from my akutrs article but relevant all the same
I can still remember aspects of that 1986 final clearly. The sheer excitement of the build-up was electric. I had butterflies in my stomach for about a month before hand and annoyed all my school mates by constantly singing “When Tel, goes up to lift the Milk Cup I’ll be there”.
On the day of the final I just wanted to get to Wembley. We stopped for a few drinks in The Sun pub on Askew Road which was open long before it should have been and was a real party atmosphere. I had no interest in joining in, I just wanted to get to Wembley, see the twin towers and celebrate the inevitable victory.
We got to the stadium earlier than we usually got to a match, I remember my Dads mate wishing an Oxford fan good luck before laughing saying “They’ll need it, we’ll slaughter these”. I watched the pro-celebrity match beforehand where if memory serves Jimmy Tarbuck and David Frost both played for QPR whilst a giant inflatable bottle of milk sat in the centre circle. You can keep your fireworks and dancing girls, that was pre match entertainment.
When the teams came out on the pitch the roar of the crowd and flags being waved was some sight, think that Leeds game when we won the league and times it by a hundred. It was a sea of blue and white and loads of banners, one that sticks out said “We made Chelsea Neil, we made Liverpool Byrne and We’re sending Oxford down the Bannister”. Even now that play on words still makes me laugh.
The game itself remains a blur, I’ve never watched it back since and it still feels surreal that we were that bad on the day. We stayed to watch Oxford get the trophy like some deranged masochist who felt that the worse they felt in that moment the better the payoff for us further down the line. As I say I’m still waiting.
After the match walking back to get the train then back to The Sun I don’t think anyone spoke a word. I’d never seen my Dad so down and quiet it was very unsettling. The Sun was subject to the old licencing hours so was supposed to be shut on a Sunday afternoon, the landlord Hugo, a big fella from Ireland, held a lock in for everyone. The pub was full of blue and white balloons, QPR shirts on everyone, flags and scarfs on the floor; it was the most colourful wake anyone had ever been to.
I couldn’t handle the disappointment of it all and as Hugo laid on a buffet I went into the garden to play football with his son. We tried to recreate the game and quite disgracefully I told my mate Carl to be Trevor Hebberd and I’d be Terry Fenwick, when he got the ball I jumped in with the hardest two footed leg breaker I could on the poor boy that he thankfully jumped out of meaning I destroyed a bin instead with my anger.
We carried on playing then a weird thing happened and has lived with me ever since. The pub was getting noisy and we could hear singing, in we went to see what was going on and it was party time. QPR fans were singing, laughing and dancing on the tables. My Nan was at the bar singing songs about Rodney Marsh and a policemen came in to ask Hugo to try and keep the noise down as the pub is supposed to be shut, As the policeman left I remember him saying to his mate “imagine what it would have been like if they won”.
I couldn’t understand why everyone was so happy after such a crushing soul destroying day. I’ve since found that alcohol is one of the key reasons but it also showed a real spirit that QPR fans have. We’re not going to face defeat with anger and smash the pub up, we’re going to take it on the chin, enjoy ourselves and come back stronger.
Back then if I had a bucket list the main things I wanted to see was QPR win the first division championship and QPR to win a major cup final. I’m still waiting for the last one but we are now potentially one game away from making that a reality. |
Nice to see someone remembers my "we made Chelsea Neill, we Byrned Liverpool, and we're sending Oxford down the Bannister" banner after all these year! I was 12 in 1986 and spent all week colouring that in on a bedsheet which we stapled to bamboo sticks. My mum still has it in her garage.
Don't remember much of the game other than a firecracker went off in the Oxford end just before they scored so at least I missed one of the goals. The only highlight of the whole sorry affair of that final was that a photo of my banner got in the Spurs programme the week after on the centre spread of "Wembley Memories" (I still have that programme too). Somehow the editor managed to muster up five other photos worthy of remembering, one of which I think was Leroy Rosenior winning a header, which shows you how hard it was to find any highlights.
I used to do England away for many years with two Oxford fans in the 90s and 00s and that game is all they ever go on about. |  | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 15:59 - May 22 with 1859 views | eastside_r |
It was my first year of regular attendance at LR. Previously I was only allowed to go supervised and neither of my parents were football fans (although both of their dads were.) Once I turned 16 I reminded the folks that this was the age they let my older sister attend Upton park on her own, so it was only fair………………..
I don’t think that they were too happy and night games (before school days) were a no-no so I saw none of the earlier rounds.
Like others I remember very little of the day of the final, I think I have blanked it out all this time. I remember a very long Metropolitan Line journey back to Liverpool Street but not much else. I used to attend a youth club on Sunday nights but I just couldn’t face anyone.
Painful as the experience was, a life lesson all the same. |  | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 18:49 - May 22 with 1824 views | thehat |
I went to Chelsea away and remember the night like it was yesterday even though I was still at school. I bunked off school for Liverpool away and got the supports club special train from Euston what a night will never forget it there were about 4,000 QPR fans in the corner terrace at Anfield and the windows of the train got done on the was back as the train left Liverpool.
I did the Wembley walk fro HQ which was great but like everyone else I have no recollection of the game at all I have never seen any footage since and its like a void in my life. I remember the QPR fans fighting each other which was horrific.
Please Rangers don't let me down this time. [Post edited 22 May 2014 18:50]
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| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 19:14 - May 22 with 1812 views | HantsR |
I had been living and working overseas for several years with only World Service to keep me in touch -only seeing a few games when on leave. Then I had a year in Scotland, suffering ONLY Scottish football on MOTD.
I was desperate to see my QPR on such a day! so my Dad travelled from SE London on train to queue and get me a ticket. So, I absented myself from a professional seminar, drove me and family down South dropped them off and drove proudly to Wembley. I drank in the atmosphere, watching the singing crowds arrive and waiting for the game, anticipating a great win in what was being called the 'friendly final' (on account of Jim Smith being Oxford manager).
In my seat, it felt a little strange as there seemed to be no cheering, singing or anything. Didn't care too much for that; then the game started and nothing happened during the whole match to excite me. Players seemed to labour to run, pass, shoot - anything!? On the other hand, Charles, Aldridge, Hebberd, Houghton, Brock and a few others who gained modest fame thereafter looked competent on the ball and we seemed to let them do as they wanted to. I think that was the only time I thought of leaving before the final whistle.
Eventually I slunk off home - I think it took over an hour to get out of Wembley Car Park and I remember playing 'Local Hero on my car cassette player - the memory link of which remains to this day. [Post edited 22 May 2014 19:15]
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| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 19:24 - May 22 with 1804 views | TacticalR |
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| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 20:03 - May 22 with 1789 views | RangersDave |
Did the game with high hopes as I'd recently seen the Leicester drubbing and thought we'd win this rather well.
However I spent the entire game bleeding profusely onto the terrace from 3 large holes in the sole of my right foot.
I'd been out taking pictures of flying Scotsman on asunder ton bank west of high Wycombe that morning when I stepped into a field with no fence that apparently has a broken down fence that was invisible in the long grass and weeds. Needless to say, just as the steam loco came along I trod on 3 of the fence spikes right into my foot and bone.
However, being the brave sole my foot was wrapped in a tea towel, and I refused hospital until after the match ( afraid of 4-8 hour queues to be treated).
So at the end of the day I should have gone to the hospital instead of redecorating the rangers end in claret. |  |
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| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 22:56 - May 22 with 1752 views | CiderwithRsie |
Oh, one other thing - on the subject of overconfidence, in the league that season we drew 3-3 at their place - I hesitate to call it a stadium, for those who remember it - and won 3-1 at home. | | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 23:08 - May 22 with 1748 views | daveB |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 15:04 - May 22 by pragueranger |
Nice to see someone remembers my "we made Chelsea Neill, we Byrned Liverpool, and we're sending Oxford down the Bannister" banner after all these year! I was 12 in 1986 and spent all week colouring that in on a bedsheet which we stapled to bamboo sticks. My mum still has it in her garage.
Don't remember much of the game other than a firecracker went off in the Oxford end just before they scored so at least I missed one of the goals. The only highlight of the whole sorry affair of that final was that a photo of my banner got in the Spurs programme the week after on the centre spread of "Wembley Memories" (I still have that programme too). Somehow the editor managed to muster up five other photos worthy of remembering, one of which I think was Leroy Rosenior winning a header, which shows you how hard it was to find any highlights.
I used to do England away for many years with two Oxford fans in the 90s and 00s and that game is all they ever go on about. |
was that you? wow, that banner has stuck with me ever since | | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 01:21 - May 23 with 1732 views | pragueranger |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 23:08 - May 22 by daveB |
was that you? wow, that banner has stuck with me ever since |
I live and work in Munich these days so only make a handful games a season, but I flew back for the Millwall game and bought AKTRS and read your piece on the Milk Cup Final debacle. You really made my day when I read that you remembered the banner! | | | |
| The dreaded third album - were you there in 1986? Your help needed on 02:29 - May 23 with 1725 views | SonofNorfolt |
Chelsea away, was at the time the most Rangers fans I had ever seen at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool away, was the first coach I had ever organised, aged 21, quite a success too, 57 on a 53 seater, with a Scouse driver, who made a fortune in tips, and let us stop at a Warrington pub on the way home, which had a disco, and we were followed by another private 'R's coach, both ourselves and the landlord couldn't believe our luck.
Oxford, a perfect day ruined, it wasn't until Jeremy Charles scored their third that it dawned on me that we weren't going to win.
My brother nearly had Shotton's eye out as he lifted the cup. |  | | |
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