Loftus Road: QPR 1-2 Sheffield United

QPR 1-2 Sheffield United

My first trip back to Loftus Road for 16 years and a good day in West London, in warm spring sunshine. I decided my first visit of the day to be Craven Cottage, the home of Premier League Fulham. Not a ground I’ve been to a lot, I would like to return but getting into Premier League grounds these days is almost impossible. I negotiated the underground system and got off at Putney Bridge on the District Line. Then a combination of the Thames Path and Bishop Park took me the 10 minute walk to Fulham FC. I had wanted to view the new riverside stand but probably the best view to be gained is the other side of the river. Strange look to the stadium the lovely period looking main stand facade, the cottage but the other side this new tall structure. Is it in keeping with the rest of the ground? Not convinced but with the pressure of FFP, the new stand will certainly generate more revenue and that’s what football is about now. Fulham FC has a great setting and is situated in an affluent area of the city from my observation. From Craven Cottage I then walked the 3 miles up to QPR. A perfect day for this. I walked up Fulham Palace Road past numerous eateries to Hammersmith, then under the flyover near the old Hammersmith Odeon and continued my walk north on Shepherds Bush Road. Across Shepherds Bush Green, continuing past the massive Westfield shopping centre, the Television centre before turning left into South Africa Road. Although the QPR ground is known as Loftus Road the main stand and offices are actually on South Africa Road. Taking pictures of the stadium is not easy as it nestles in between some very nice Victorian houses on both Loftus Road and Ellerslie Road and a school behind the away stand. I have normally been either standing or sitting in the main stand so as a change decided to sit in what is now called the Stan Bowles Stand. This stand used to be featured on the opening of MOTD back in the 70s. School children were hired to hold up placards which when we’re all held up in unison produced an artist drawing of the presenter Jimmy Hill. I can see why children were used the view I had was excellent as good as you could wish for however, I had no leg room and when two other adults are sitting either side of you it becomes impossible to actually move your arms. You are literally stuck in one position hoping Rangers score so you can get up. My acquaintance at the left of me informed me that the game was a sell out and certainly I didn’t see many empty seats. He like a lot of London football fans no longer lives in the area but in Buckinghamshire. The ground is tightly packed no room for any expansion and now all seater holds under 20,000. Back in the 70s the stadium held almost double this. The game was decent with Sheffield United’s greater fire power making the difference. Both United’s goals came early in each half on 10 minutes and then 9 minutes into the second half. Their first was a result of a mistake by the South Korean teenager Yang Min Hyoek. He is on loan to QPR from Spurs. He was caught in possession on the bye line by a stronger Hamer, Souza delivered a long raking cross into the box and Ben Brereton Diaz headed home from close range. Despite United then enjoying some decent possession the chances were continuing at the other end. Several near misses a disallowed goal and an excellent save diving low to his left by Michael Cooper to deny our South Korean friend. These missed chances proved costly and again at a similar time in the second half, United increased their lead. A brilliant individual goal by Tyrese Campbell. A quick break BBD fed Campbell who in one movement controlled and hit a stunning shot with his left foot into the roof of the net. The game looked beyond the home side but inspiration was given by the introduction of subs Saito and Smyth. Both have pace both are wide men and both happy to test the full back. Suddenly you could sense something may happen and it did on 72 minutes. The referee adjudged a hand ball against Burrows from a cross by Paul Smyth and a penalty. I must say on first viewing the Sheffield player is unlucky I’m not convinced his arms were in an unnatural position. Swiss striker Michael Frey sent Cooper the wrong way and QPR were back in the game with 15 minutes left. Rangers were now fully confident and throwing everything they had at United, but the visitors protected their goal well and unfortunately for QPR they didn’t have quite enough quality to get that equaliser despite the effort. Following the conclusion of the game I headed to White City underground station, changed at Bond Street and onwards on the Jubilee Line north to where I had parked my car in NW London. It took about an hour I was then quickly on my way up the M1 back to Leicestershire and was home at 7.50pm. 12 hours away from home, a very enjoyable day!

QPR 3-1 West Brom

Loftus Road is home of Queens Park Rangers. Our journey down to West London started at Tamworth Railway Station and we arrived at Euston Railway Station at 10:50am. Our original plan was to go to Brentford’s Griffin Park and take some pictures followed by our visit to QPR, but this was changed due to problems on the London Underground making it almost impossible to get to Brentford and back in time for the Kick off at W12. Thanks to my (Ross) quick thinking, we went down to Millwall to see the New Den.

So our journey went from Euston tube station down to Waterloo tube on the Northern line and changed onto the Jubilee line and got off at Canada Water. We decided to walk from Canada Water tube to the New Den, hoping to get a few directions from the locals. We first asked a postman (who didn’t know where it was), then we asked a woman who pointed us in the right direction. You may think the thought of Millwall and the New Den has an intimidating reputation. The ground is situated between various railway lines and industrial units. Access to various units and the stadium itself can be gained by a number of alleyways and narrow streets some through dimly lit archways and tunnels. Some of the locals have in the past used these surroundings for mischief making and given many a visiting supporter the run around. Adrian has visited the old ground and the new one and has witnessed at first hand this type of thing.

After that, we got a bus back to Canada Water tube station and got on the Jubilee line back to Waterloo then changing to Northern line to Tottenham Court Road tube before making a final change onto Central line and got off at White City tube. We arrived at White City in plenty of time; we took a picture of the distinctive BBC Television Centre building followed by a picture of the re-marked finish line where the original White City Stadium running track used to be. We then made our way to Loftus Road.

QPR first moved to the ground in 1917. In April 1948, after winning the Third Division (South) championship, the club bought the freehold of the stadium plus 39 houses in Loftus Road and Ellerslie Road for £26,250 but the club’s finances were under pressure in the late 1950s the houses had to be sold. In 1968/69, the club re-built the South Africa Road stand at a cost of £150,000 and this was followed by the Ellerslie Road stand, replacing the tin-roofed grandstand. The changing rooms and offices were then moved to the South Africa Road stand. In the early 80’s, QPR played on an artificial surface for 7 seasons before returning to the traditional ‘grass’ surface as it was tearing up. Two new additional stands were installed in 1980, first the School end then a year later the Loft End was constructed at the same time as new executive boxes built in the lower tier of the South Africa Road stand. In 1994, the ground became an ‘all-seater’ stadium which reduced the stadium capacity to less than 20,000. DID YOU KNOW... QPR have moved grounds 19 times.

The game saw relegation battling QPR win 3-1 against promotion contenders West Bromwich Albion. Goals came from Jay Simpson (QPR) Matthew Connolly (QPR) Chris Brunt (WBA) and Akos Buzsaky (QPR). This was also a special game as it was Neil Warnock’s first game as QPR manager and he certainly got a good start.

Following the final whistle, we ran back to White City to get on Central line to Oxford Circus and changing onto Victoria line up to Euston. Our train back to Tamworth was on time and we arrived back in the Midlands at 7:30pm.

Overall, our trip to Loftus Road was a successful and enjoyable trip. The ground is small yet has a nice characteristic about it as the stands are tightly compact into the surrounding area.

Loftus Road

Thursday, 29 May 2025

QPR 1-2 Sheffield United

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