Queens Park Rangers v Blackburn Rovers

HOOPS
“But we were decent too.
QPR had a good side in
the 1980s with players like
Fenwick, Bannister, who was
underrated, Steve Wicks
and John Gregory. All good
footballers.
“The manager Jim Smith
was a great character. I liked
him. He told it how it was.
He used to shout and swear
a lot and throw cups of tea
across the dressing room. But
we probably deserved it at
the time!”.
Byrne first caught Rangers’ eye
performing against them for
York in a two-legged League
Cup win.
He moved on to Le Havre,
Brighton and then Sunderland,
Rangers’ next opponents in
this year’s competition, where
he attained legendary status
for scoring in every round to
get them to the 1992 FA Cup
final which they lost 2-0 to
Graeme Souness’ Liverpool.
But Byrne, who also played for
Millwall and Oxford, has clearly
retained a special affection
for QPR which extended to
him visiting W12 for the preseason
friendly victory against
Manchester United in July.
He tweeted: “Great to be
back at Loftus Road. Very
competitive pre-season
friendly v Manchester United.
QPR were excellent. Great to
meet Don Shanks and there
was even a photo of me on the
concourse. Brilliant day.”
* Mike Donovan is an author
and award-winning journalist.
He also produced Queens
Park Rangers Greatest
Games in 2013, with Stan
Bowles, no less, helping
to promote it and ‘Sir’
Les Ferdinand writing the
foreword. Has a feel for the
Bush. Taken to Cook’s Pie
and Mash Shop in the area’s
market by his mum (who
worked in the area) and dad,
attended concerts at the
fabulous Empire and hung
out socially in W12 growing
up. Has written a series of
football books, the latest,
Football’s Braveheart: The
Authorised Biography of
Dave Mackay, was published
by Pitch in July.
WWW.QPR.CO.UK // @QPR // @OFFICIALQPR // OFFICIALQPRFC 57