I CAN vividly recollect an instance where my club QPR attempted and then failed to switch a home cup fixture to Wembley Stadium.
It came in an era preceding the Champions League and Premier League odds…
QUEENS PARK RANGERS 3-0 AEK ATHENS
Wednesday 2nd March 1977, UEFA Cup Quarter-Final First Leg
AMIDST a famous European night, Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles excelled as Rangers chalked up a decent first leg lead against the crack Greek side.
Interest in this home tie was so great that it was almost moved to Wembley Stadium.
Both clubs originally agreed to play at the national stadium. AEK wanted to make sure there were enough tickets for all their supporters (12,000 were expected to travel to London but didn’t in the end!), whilst this proposal also suited QPR as the Loftus Road pitch had been heavily waterlogged for several weeks.
However, AEK changed their minds about the venue at the last minute and so a dispute arose between the two clubs. Eventually, European governing body UEFA stepped in to resolve the situation and ruled that the match must go ahead at Loftus Road.
Even so, the late decision meant Queens Park Rangers had already produced a ‘Wembley Souvenir Edition’ of the match programme. This was sold at the game for 20p with a photo of the iconic twin towers on the front cover surrounded by colourful flags of all the European nations.
R’s club secretary Ron Phillips wrote in his ‘Bush Telegraph’ programme editorial notes:
“Observant readers of this programme will note…that we are under the impression that tonight’s game is being played at Wembley Stadium. As we go to press, however, it has become clear that we do not know where the match will eventually take place.”
The crowd of 23,039 included thousands of Greek fans in the Ellerslie Road Stand. Their incessant chanting backed with horns and claxons made for an electric atmosphere.
AEK Athens had been champions of their domestic league five times and national cup winners on seven occasions. They included eight Greek full international players in their squad and had beaten another English side in Derby County en route to the Quarter-Finals.
However, Rangers ripped into AEK and club captain Gerry Francis scored two identical penalties in the opening 11 minutes – shooting both into the bottom right hand corner at the School End.
The first came after just six minutes when Stan Bowles was flattened by a challenge from AEK’s Tsamis in the box. Five minutes later, Bowles was pivotal in the move which saw his co-striker Don Givens pulled down by Nikolaou.
In the 44th minute, Bowles weaved his magic once more with a low curling left footed shot into the corner of the net to make it 3-0. It was his 11th goal of the UEFA Cup campaign – a new record for a British player in Europe.
The whole of the country were able to enjoy this marvellous Queens Park Rangers performance with highlights being show on BBC1’s Sportsnight programme later in the evening.
In his Daily Mirror match report, Harry Miller wrote: “Gerry Francis was spot on last night as the UEFA Cup surrender sign went up from AEK of Athens.
“The England captain scored twice from the penalty spot to put Rangers on the way to a three-goal first-leg lead and a golden chance of a semi-final place.
“Stan Bowles continued his record-breaking scoring spree across Europe with his 11th UEFA Cup goal a minute from half-time and the game was over as an effective contest.
“British sides have surrendered three goal leads in European competitions. But it is difficult not to fancy Rangers for a semi-final place. Even so, we saw enough from the skilful Greeks…to know it won’t be easy.”
Queens Park Rangers lost the second leg 3-0 in Athens, resulting in a 3-3 aggregate to defy football betting patterns. We then bowed out of the competition 7-6 in a penalty shoot-out. The R’s would have faced Juventus of Italy if we had won through to the Semi-Finals.
GERRY FRANCIS INTERVIEW
IN later years, I spoke to the Queens Park Rangers captain from that era to gather his memories…
First Gerry, QPR had a great run to reach the UEFA Cup Quarter-Final tie against AEK Athens didn’t we?
Obviously we had a magnificent season the year before, where we probably should have won the League title but we missed out by a point to Liverpool. That enabled us to be in Europe but unfortunately for me that was when my back injury started and I was out of action for the first half of 1976/77. I didn’t return to playing again until February and the R’s hadn’t started very well in Division One during that campaign. But we did really well in the knockout competitions – reaching the Semi Final of the League Cup - where we lost to Aston Villa in a replay at Highbury - and the UEFA Cup Quarter-Final.
Do you remember the build-up to the home leg versus AEK Athens? It was going to be switched to Wembley Stadium at one point.
They wanted to move the match because of the state of our pitch and because of the number of people who wanted to see the game. There was so much interest as QPR had been on a marvellous run in Europe, beating the likes of Slovan Bratislava and FC Cologne to reach the Quarter-Finals. Obviously that switch to Wembley didn’t happen for one reason or another in the end though.
We played superbly to beat AEK Athens 3-0 at Loftus Road didn’t we?
I remember I had just returned to the team after my back problems and our playing surface wasn’t the greatest in those days – particularly if it rained. But we put on a brilliant performance to win 3-0. I scored two penalties and Stan Bowles got the other goal. For me, I was just so relieved to get back to playing football from injury even though my back wasn’t entirely 100%. We played really well on the night and looked very comfortable. We absolutely annihilated AEK and played some of our really good stuff on a very difficult pitch. The atmosphere was incredible! Those European nights under the floodlights at Loftus Road were magical. We would have gone on to play Juventus in the Semi-Finals, which would have been a fantastic tie for Queens Park Rangers and a great achievement for the whole club. We felt at that stage that we could go on to win the UEFA Cup.
You scored two penalties against AEK at Loftus Road. In fact, you stuck them in the exact same place in the same corner didn’t you?
Well there is a lot of psychology I think when you take penalties. It is the only time that a football team game becomes an individual situation. If you put the ball to one side, then the goalkeeper might think you are going to change your side on a second penalty. It’s a game of nerves really and you just have to hold yours and put the ball where you want it to go. I had the real nail-biting experience of taking a late penalty the year before for QPR versus Arsenal in our second last game. If I didn’t score that one, we wouldn’t have been able to win the title. As it turned out, Liverpool pipped us by a point in their final fixture but I didn’t know that was going to happen at the time. So that was a real massive penalty for me to take and score against Arsenal. Therefore the two spot kicks against AEK Athens weren’t quite as nerve-wracking.
How suited to European football was the QPR style of play at that time?
Really well suited and that’s why we believed that we could go on to win the UEFA Cup. Dave Sexton had come in as manager and brought ideas he had studied from watching matches in Holland and West Germany over the years. So we had a lot of player rotation in our style of play, where a midfielder or attacker would drop to fill in at the back when a defender went charging forward. We showed that tremendously the year before in nearly winning the League – and probably should have won the League. Then we were outstanding in that UEFA Cup run of 1976/77 and scored goals all over the place. Stan Bowles even broke the record for goals scored by a British player in Europe.
You had a special understanding on the pitch with Stan didn’t you?
Yes, unbelievable really. I suppose it was a once in a lifetime scenario where you get this rapport in terms of understanding and playing passes to each other without even looking. It was just something that came naturally from the day Stan walked into the club basically. It was simply magnificent. Yet one of my only regrets in football is that – while I played for England and Stan played for England at different times - we never played together once for the national side. That was a real, real shame because we both brought out the best in each other’s game. So it was one big regret for me.
You missed the UEFA Cup Quarter-Final Second Leg in Athens didn’t you?
Yes I got injured on the Saturday beforehand against Arsenal at Loftus Road. I pulled my hamstring stretching to score a volley in our 2-1 win. Dave Thomas also got injured in that game as well and so we both missed the return trip to Greece. We lost 3-0 in Athens and then went out on penalties after a 3-3 aggregate. Obviously I would have been one of the penalty takers in that shoot-out. So it was a real disappointment. When you have a small squad like we did and you get those few injuries just before a vital return game, it does and can make a difference.
Well finally, you can still remember in great detail the 3-0 win over AEK Athens at Loftus Road. So it was a momentous night for everyone connected to Rangers wasn’t it?
Yes. I can recall certain games and instances from my career very well. I can visualise QPR games dating back to 1967 which is a long time ago! There are loads of things to remember. Not just as a player, but also me returning to Loftus Road and being R’s manager twice. I had nearly 20 years in total with Queens Park Rangers. There are not many people that have that long an association with one club these days are there?
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Tony Incenzo*
