I have a particular dislike for QPR. I am a bit hazy about dates (found out it was 4th October 1997), but Curbs haven't been manager without Gritty for all that long. We went to Loft**** Road and beat them 4-2 (and demolished them more than the score would suggest).
Shell shocked QPR fans then decided they wanted a young attacking manager who could be brought from a smaller club. Curbs was formally approached, as he subsequently admitted, and did consider it, but decided he would go on building something at Charlton.
I also remember that when they had their first (disastrous) takeover and a QPR fan who was interviewed on tv said: 'In five years time there will be one question: which is the bigger club, Real Madrid or Queens Park Rangers.'
Talk about delusions of grandeur. In fact a recent report by the New York Times suggests that they are the only 'leading' London club that have fallen back in terms of average league position. Mind you, one did get the impression that in New York they thought they were the royal team playing in Windsor Great Park.
That brings me to Loft**** Road. They know it's an awful stadium and have been trying to leave for years, something that Brentford succeeded in doing. It's like a series of shoeboxes on their side.
I haven't been there for a long while, but at one time they had Japanese tourists near the away end who laughed and took photos every time we got cross with the referee.
They also have some weird fans. Lord Toby Young is the son of Michael Young who wrote a brilliant book called The Rise of the Meritocracy which people saw as a celebration when it was really a warning delivered before its time.
Great oaks often overshadow their saplings. Just consider Robert 'So' Peston on ITV who he is the son of a brilliant economist.
Young often uses his columns in the Spectator to moan about the travails of following QPR (to be fair, he does go to away games). However, more recently he has got into a ridiculous spat with VOTV fanzine editor Rick Everitt.
Young heads something called the Free Speech Union which seems to be made up of people who are all for free speech provided you agree with them. He recently named Everitt as a threat to western civilisation as we know it. Many people dislike the Rickster (I don't), but I have never seen him as much of a threat except possibly to Spanners and Glaziers.
Anyway Young offered Rick the equivalent of pistols at dawn (actually 10.30 am) on Margate beach which he rightly ignored, going to The Valley instead.
And I fear they will beat us on Saturday (a draw is actually more likely).
Here are my notes on the match, I feared I would not make it back from a tiresome EU meeting in Brussels
A working trip to Greece meant that I wasn't able to see Charlton's morale boosting wins that had preceded the Stockport match:4-0 at Norwich and the 4-1 victory over Bradford. Now my attendance at Loftus Road was in doubt.
The end of the week would see me representing the UK's interests in Brussels and the secretary of the committee had warned me that the meeting could be long and difficult. Hence, it was scheduled to continue on Saturday, but I took a risk and booked myself on the last flight on Friday night to Birmingham. Come Friday afternoon, the predicted difficulties were arising.
Would I have to get one of Brussels's crazy Moroccan taxi drivers to take me the wrong way down one way streets (something they don't need much encouragement to do!) to make my plane. I had told the chair that I wanted to be at Loftus Road the next day. Suddenly, from nowhere, he produced a sum of money which solved the main obstacle, and I was on the flight to Brum.
Next day saw me on the train to Marlylebone. Radio 5 commented that QPR were quietly confident of victory, observing that 'the cream must rise to the top' in Division 1! Well, we are used to being patronised by the media.
On walking to Baker Street, disaster struck. The Hammersmith and City line was out owing to 'subsisdence at Edgware Road', so I had to go across to the Central Line and travel to White City. I arrived five minutes late somewhat hot and flustered.
But what a feast of football! As the QPR web page later admitted, Charlton came determined to win and comprehensively outplayed the 'Super Hoops'. What is more, the Charlton faithful outsung a largely silent home support. Robinson took us 1-0 ahead, and after QPR had equalised, Steve Jones put us ahead before half time.
A second Robinson goal and one by substitute Phil Chapple completed the picture. In the last fifteen minutes, however, we let QPR back into the game. Our defensive weaknesses under pressure became apparent and only a couple of great saves by Andy Peterson stopped it going to 3-4. And, as QPR had come back from 4-0 at Port Vale to draw 4-4 last season, anything could have happened then.
Nevertheless, a sparkling Charlton performance. Good attacking football, with Kinsella in midfield playing probably his best game of the season to date. So Charlton fans could with justification chant, 'QPR, ha! ha! ha!' However, as far as the media were concerned, it was not a question of Charlton winning, but of QPR losing.
One of the ironies here is that another QPR supporter is a former Cabinet Secretary and it was the Cabinet Office who had landed me with this assignment in Brussels, claiming they were short staffed.
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