When you think of QPR at Ninian Park there is only one memory that springs to mind. Ray Jones' last minute winner there two seasons ago sadly turned out to be something remember a young life lost by rather than the start of a successful career.

Coming out of the ground on Saturday night, I turned round to my Dad and said: “I’m glad the next game is away from home”. The reason behind that statement was not because at the moment our formation seems to be better suited to playing away from Loftus Road, or because we are playing in lovely sunny Wales on Wednesday night. No it was because the atmosphere around HQ at the moment is horrible. No scrap that it’s disgraceful.

A lot has already been said about the treatment of Gavin Mahon already both on here and through the media (and of course embarrassingly live on Sky) so I wont go over what’s already been said but I still don’t see what booing one of your own players really achieves. Yes Mahon was having a nightmare of game, but he didn’t need the mindless fans who decided to boo him to tell him that. That sort of reaction has no benefit to our team whatsoever and can only hope that after everything that has been said post-match that next time one of players has a bad game, which they will, or our manager makes a questionable decision, which he will, everyone at Loftus Road will keep up the encouragement until at the least the final whistle. It may even have a positive effect on the team too.

Of course the other key factor to come out of Saturday night’s game was Rangers play-offs hopes taking an almighty dent thanks to an Ipswich Town side quite happy to highlight our team’s shortcomings. To make matters worse, Rangers face a tricky trip to Ninian Park on Wednesday night to face another play-off contender Cardiff City. I’ll be honest and agree with most on the board that I think we will just miss out on the top six this season and probably be better off with a another season in the Championship. But with it all still to play for, a win over old friends Cardiff, who themselves have as many as five games in hand on some teams, would still be a great boast all around after a highly disappointing weekend.

Rangers first travelled to the Welsh capital in November 1931, coming away with a resounding 4-0 win in a Third Division match. Last season the R’s were quite comfortably beaten 3-1 by Cardiff in one of Gigi De Canio’s worst moments as Rangers gaffer. So let’s take a walk down the blue and white hooped path of memory lane and recall a Ray Jones winner and two wingers called Wayne who have played for both clubs.

Memorable Match
Cardiff 0-1 QPR
17th November 2006
Championship
It’s funny how certain games stick out in your memory for quite random reasons. This week’s memorable match was the first domestic football game that I have watched live with my work-mates at a kids football magazine. A cold Friday night in November saw me drag the KiCK! team down to a pub on Exmouth Market in Farringdon to watch a Rangers team unbeaten in four and making strides under John Gregory take on league leaders Cardiff City. Cardiff went into the game on the back of a 1-0 victory over Burnley, as the division’s top scorers and yet to lose a game at Ninian Park. Rangers had just come out on top in high scoring games against Luton and Crystal Palace but were still the bookies’ underdogs.

It was the R’s who had the better of a tight first half, but with only a Lee Cook effort going close, the sides went into the break goalless with John Gregory the happier manger. The league leaders stepped up a gear in the second half and almost took the league when Kevin McNaughton crashed a shot against the Rangers bar only to see the rebound cleared by the dogged Rangers defence. A point was looking like a decent result for the R’s but with two minutes to go, Australian midfielder Nick Ward found space on the right flank. Ward then skipped past both McNaughton and Joe Ledley and played a delightful ball across the six-yard box where teenage substitute Ray Jones was on hand to poke the ball home past Neil Alexander, to send the travelling R’s fans and the rest watching live on Sky into raptures. It was no more then Rangers deserved and Jones who Rangers fans already had high hopes for, gave an impressive performance upfront to a live TV audience. And I left the pub shouting URRRS to anyone who would listen in EC1!

Cardiff: Alexander, Gunter, Purse, Loovens, McNaughton, Parry (Kamara), McPhail, Scimeca, Ledley, Thompson, Chopra.
QPR: Royce, Mancienne, Rehman, Stewart, Bignot, Ainsworth (Ward 15), Bailey, Smith, Cook, Nygaard, Blackstock (Ray Jones)

Match Report

Postscript: Cardiff’s promotion charge petered out over the second half of the season and they ended in thirteenth place in the table. Rangers faced a battle at the other end but secured their Championship status with another win against the Bluebirds in the return fixture and finished 18th.

Connections
Wayne Fereday
QPR 1980-89
Cardiff 1994
One of the quickest players to ever grace the Loftus Road turf (and plastic), Fereday was major part of Rangers folklore throughout the 1980’s. A Rangers youngster, Fereday made his debut for the Super Hoops without even playing a reserve game. Then manager Tommy Docherty saw him play in the South East Counties League that week and then slung him straight into the first-team. The 17 year-old wasn’t daunted though and made a dream debut with two goals in a 4-0 win over Bristol Rovers. Soon after Docherty left Loftus Road and was replaced by Terry Venables. With Fereday still a young player he had to bide his time with the new manager and only managed eight appearances over the next three seasons under Venables, watching the 1982 FA Cup Final defeat to Tottenham in the stands.

Venables left in 1984 to manage Barcelona and it was under his replacement Jim Smith, Fereday would play his best football for QPR. Over the next four seasons Fereday would become a regular fixture in the R’s first team on the right flank or at right-back. His mazy runs down the wing made him quite the fans favoruite with the Loftus Road crowd, especially as he chipped in with his fair share of goals too - a season high of seven in 1985. Wayne also played in all Rangers games in the 1986 League Cup run but was left out in the final defeat in place of a retuning Warren Neil. In all Fereday played in 244 games for Rangers before following Jim Smith to Newcastle. Further spells followed at Bournemouth, West Brom at Cardiff but he could never discover the same form he found at Loftus Road. Now works in Portsmouth for the PFA and OPTA.
Magic R’s moment: The goal at Anfield that secured Rangers’ first point at the home of Liverpool.

Wayne Routledge
Cardiff (loan) 2008
QPR 2009-present
Don’t be surprised to hear more boos on Wednesday but they won’t be (fingers crossed) from the travelling fans but the home crowd and aimed at Wayne Routledge, who the Cardiff fans believed turned his back on City in January. Routledge burst onto the scene as a 16 year old across London at Crystal Palace and marked his full starting debut in dream fashion with a goal just a minute into the game. Over the next few seasons Wayne would become a more regular fixture in the Eagles starting XI and tasted play-off success in 2004 when Iain Dowie took Palace all the way to the Premier League after taking over at Selhurst earlier that season when they were fighting relegation. Routledge went on to be an ever present in Palace’s Premier League campaign chipping in with eight assists but could not stop the South London club from going straight back down.

Wayne had done enough though to impress the big boys and that summer was snapped up by Spurs for £1.25 million. A move that Palace chairman Simon Jordon would later criticise Routledge for making too early in his career. His life a Tottenham started frustratingly as a foot injury on his debut kept him out of the side and once he’d recovered Aaron Lennon was establishing himself in his position on the right flank. To build up his fitness and get some first-team action, Wayne joined Portsmouth in the January transfer window and enjoyed a successful spell under Harry Redknapp helping the club avoid relegation. Back at White Hart Lane he impressed in pre-season but still saw himself down the pecking order so moved to Fulham on a season-long loan as part of the Steed Malbranque deal. Once again the nippy winger was a hit and made 28 appearances in his one season at Craven Cottage but Fulham couldn’t make the deal permanent.

Once again Wayne found himself in a third year at Tottenham still struggling to get into the first team picture no matter what he did, so in January 2008 he moved to Aston Villa on an 18 month deal, after making just 5 appearances for Spurs. At Villa park though it was a case of deja vu as he struggled to break into Martin O’Neil’s settled Villa team and only appeared once for the remainder of the season. He did feature in Villa’s early Intertoto Cup games at the start of the following season but with the signing of James Milner limiting his chances even more, he moved on loan to Cardiff City.

Back in the Championship Routlegde was an instant success at Ninian Park setting up a goal for Michael Chopra on his debut and netting himself a game later. A further strike against Burnley and four more assists had the Bluebirds preparing a £300,000 bid for the midfielder as soon as the transfer window opened. However Routledge’s displays hadn’t gone unnoticed by other Championship clubs and although Villa reportedly accepted Cardiff bid, Wayne rejected the offer and at the start of January moved to Paulo Sousa’s QPR on a three-year contract. His early performances in the R’s number seven shirt have had fans already ear-marking Routledge as a key player for Rangers for the remainder of the season and beyond.
Magic R’s moment: His goal and all round display in Rangers 3-0 romp over Derby last month.

Others:
Andy McCulloch QPR 1970-72, Cardiff 1972-74. Now manger of Esher United
Robbie James QPR 1984-97, Cardiff 1992-93. Passed away in 1998
Garry Thompson QPR 1991-93, Cardiff 1993-95. Now unknown
Trevor Sinclair QPR 1993-1998, Cardiff 2007-08. Now retired
Matthew Brazier QPR 1994-98, Cardiff 1998-2002. Now unknown
Tony Scully Cardiff (loan) 1996, QPR 1998-01. Now without a club
Richard Langley QPR 1996-2003, 2005-06, Cardiff 2003-05. Now at Bristol Rovers
Leon Jeanne QPR 1997-01, Cardiff 2001-02. Now at Measteg Park!
Mark Kennedy QPR (loan) 1998, Cardiff 2008-present
Jermaine Darlington QPR 1999-01, Cardiff 2004-06. Now without a club
Chris Barker Cardiff 2002-07, QPR 2007-08. Now at Plymouth
Gareth Ainsworth Cardiff 2003, QPR 2003-present
Simon Walton Cardiff (loan) 2007, QPR 2007-08. Now at Plymouth.

Fans’ Memories
Never forget Ray, never forget the last minute goal. We are QPR. -WeymouthHoop

Being locked in and some people singing to the Cardiff fans milling about "We're not coming...We're not coming out" Beautiful steward with reddish braids and a cheeky face. She padded out her bib most pleasingly. Monty's Pass winning the grand national at half-time. Can't remember the game, I think Langley scored. -Metallica

I have memories of last year - one of the worst aways games I’ve ever seen including the support. The last minute goal by Langley was class though. New ground next year. Macaveli

Seem to remember playing Cardiff away in the cup in c.84/85. The game was a draw and a replay was planned for Loftus Road. The next day there was a press story saying all the takings from the game at Ninian Park had been stolen - anyone confirm if my memory is correct? Edit: looks like I could be about five years out on the date. 0-0 Jan 1990, we won the replay 2-0. - Fearless

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