Queens Park Rangers v Bristol City

HOOPS
In those days, defenders would
try to intimidate you in the first
20 minutes
goal on the North Bank. The QPR
supporters and the West Brom fans
were tremendous. Then there were
unbelievable scenes afterwards. In the
dressing room at Highbury, you could
stand on a ledge and open a frosted
glass window to peer on to the street.
We got the window open and there
were about three of us with our heads
stuck out to look for our parents in the
crowd celebrating outside. I have a tear
in my eye thinking about it now!
On to the final, it was QPR versus
top-flight Tottenham. In those days,
the cup final was the biggest
occasion of the football season,
wasn’t it?
As a kid growing up, I had two
ambitions. One was to play for England
and the other was to play in an FA Cup
final. I went to watch the 1978 cup final
with a friend of mine when Ipswich
beat Arsenal 1-0. As a footballer, all the
preparation, media coverage and
interviews build from the moment you
win the semi-final. You do everything
differently and I’m not sure that’s a
good idea. You stay more often in
hotels, and you vary where you train.
You’re kept away a little bit from what
would be your normal routine. I don’t
think that helped us. In the week or
even the fortnight before the final, we
changed too many things. It felt like it
took a long time before the actual
game came around. If it was down to
me, I’d have kept everything normal in
the build-up by training at Greenford
as usual and not having everyone
together in hotels all the time doing
promotional stuff. I think that got in
the way of a better Rangers
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