1981–82 Queens Park Rangers F.C. season explained

During the 1981–82 English football season, Queens Park Rangers competed in the Second Division and finished in 5th position. They also reached the FA Cup final for the first time in their history, losing the final after a replay to Tottenham Hotspur.^[1]

Season summary

During the summer of 1981, Rangers installed an artificial Omniturf pitch at their Loftus Road ground. The opening match on the new surface - the first of its kind in British professional football - was a 2–1 defeat to Luton Town, who would install a synthetic pitch of their own a few years later. Despite this setback, Rangers proved difficult to beat at home, but away results were indifferent by comparison and they ultimately fell two points short of the third promotion spot.^[2]

In the FA Cup, Rangers beat Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Grimsby Town, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion en route to the final at Wembley, where their opponents were holders Tottenham. Terry Fenwick's header salvaged a 1–1 draw after Glenn Hoddle had put Spurs in front, both goals coming in the second half of extra-time,^[3] but Hoddle converted a penalty in the sixth minute of the replay which proved decisive despite Rangers enjoying much of the possession for the remainder of the game.^[4]

Omniturf

During the summer of 1981 an artificial pitch of Omniturf was installed at Loftus Road, the first such surface to be used in British professional football.The surface was not favoured by everyone, with QPR keeper Peter Hucker describing it as "basically a bit of carpet over two feet of concrete", and stated that as a goalkeeper, he strongly disliked diving onto it saying that "I'd have close to third degree burns because the pitch would totally rip the skin off."Rangers lost the first league match played on the new surface 1-2 versus Luton Town on 1 September 1981. During the time that Loftus Road had the Omniturf pitch installed, QPR reached two cup finals and became Second Division champions, something that critics claimed was caused by the advantage the pitch presented,

Badge

A new centenary badge was unveiled on the FA Cup Final shirt, which remained in use until 2008

Kit

Adidas remained as QPR's kit manufacturers.

Results

QPR scores given first

Second Division

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Position
29 August 1981	Wrexham	A	3–1	King, Allen 2	4661	5
1 September 1981	Luton Town	H	1–2	King	18,703	6
5 September 1981	Newcastle United	H	3–0	King, Roeder, Stainrod	14,176	3
12 September 1981	Grimsby Town	A	1–2	Gregory	9490	8
19 September 1981	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	Stainrod	17,039	6
22 September 1981	Oldham Athletic	A	0–2		6421	8
26 September 1981	Derby County	A	1–3	Gregory	11,246	14
3 October 1981	Blackburn Rovers	H	2–0	Gregory, Allen	9541	10
10 October 1981	Norwich City	H	2–0	Gregory, Stainrod	11,806	7
18 October 1981	Orient	A	1–1	Gillard	8192	6
24 October 1981	Leicester City	H	2–0	Stainrod, Gregory	12,419	4
31 October 1981	Charlton Athletic	A	2–1	Stainrod, Allen	11,333	4
7 November 1981	Rotherham United	H	1–1	Flanagan	10,949	4
14 November 1981	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3–1	Stainrod 3	17,024	3
21 November 1981	Shrewsbury Town	A	1–2	Flanagan	4765	4
24 November 1981	Oldham Athletic	H	0–0		9477	4
28 November 1981	Cardiff City	H	2–0	Stainrod 2	10,225	3
5 December 1981	Bolton Wanderers	A	0–1		6076	5
12 December 1981	Barnsley	H	1–0	Flanagan	10,972	4
26 December 1981	Chelsea	H	0–2		22,022	5
16 January 1982	Wrexham	H	1–1	Stainrod	10,066	4
30 January 1982	Crystal Palace	A	0–0		15,267	6
6 February 1982	Grimsby Town	H	1–0	Gregory	8753	5
9 February 1982	Cambridge United	A	0–1		4822	6
16 February 1982	Blackburn Rovers	A	1–2	Allen	6884	7
20 February 1982	Derby County	H	3–0	Hazell, Fenwick, Flanagan	8890	6
27 February 1982	Norwich City	A	1–0	Roeder	15,928	7
9 March 1982	Watford	A	0–4		16,862	7
13 March 1982	Leicester City	A	2–3	Currie, Stainrod	17,821	9
20 March 1982	Charlton Athletic	H	4–0	Fenwick, Allen 3	13,118	7
27 March 1982	Rotherham United	A	0–1		10,472	9
29 March 1982	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–0	Flanagan, Stainrod	11,710	7
6 April 1982	Orient	H	3–0	Hazell, Flanagan, Stainrod	10,531	7
10 April 1982	Chelsea	A	1–2	Gregory	18,365	7
12 April 1982	Watford	H	0–0		22,091	7
17 April 1982	Shrewsbury Town	H	2–1	Flanagan, Allen	11,148	6
24 April 1982	Cardiff City	A	2–1	Allen, Micklewhite	5979	6
1 May 1982	Bolton Wanderers	H	7–1	Gregory, Micklewhite, Flanagan 2, Fenwick (pen), Stainrod, Allen	10,002	5
5 May 1982	Newcastle United	A	4–0	Gregory, Allen, Flanagan, Stainrod	10,670	5
8 May 1982	Barnsley	A	0–3		10,579	6
11 May 1982	Luton Town	A	2–3	Fenwick, Stainrod	16,657	6
15 May 1982	Cambridge United	H	2–1	Allen, Fenwick (pen)	10,467	5

Milk Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
6 October 1981	Second Round First Leg	Portsmouth	H	5–0	Ellis (og), Gregory 2, Micklewhite 2	13,502
27 October 1981	Second Round Second Leg	Portsmouth	A	2–2	Flanagan, Micklewhite	7677
10 November 1981	Third Round	Bristol City	H	3–0	Flanagan, Stainrod, Allen	9215
1 December 1981	Fourth Round	Watford	A	1–4	Stainrod (pen)	18,276

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance
2 January 1982	Third Round	Middlesbrough	H	1–1	Stainrod	12,100
18 January 1982	Third Round Replay	Middlesbrough	A	3–2 (aet - 2–2 at 90 mins)	Stainrod 2, Neill	14,819
23 January 1982	Fourth Round	Blackpool	A	0–0		10,227
26 January 1982	Fourth Round Replay	Blackpool	H	5–1	Allen 4, Stainrod (pen)	11,712
13 February 1982	Fifth Round	Grimsby Town	H	3–1	Stainrod, Allen, Howe	13,344
6 March 1982	Sixth Round	Crystal Palace	H	1–0	Allen	24,653
3 April 1982	Semi-Final	West Bromwich Albion	N	1–0	Allen	45,015
22 May 1982	Final	Tottenham Hotspur	N	1–1 (aet - 0–0 at 90 mins)	Fenwick	100,000
27 May 1982	Final Replay	Tottenham Hotspur	N	0–1		90,000

Pre-Season

Date	Country	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers
25 July 1981	Sweden	Stugens BK	A	6-0	Stainrod 2, King 2, Burridge, Sealy
27 July 1981	Sweden	Sandviks IK	A	8-1	Flanagan, Micklewhite 2, Stainrod, Waddock, Sealy 2, Muir
29 July 1981	Sweden	Spanga IS	A	1–0
30 July 1981	Sweden	Enkopings	A	9-1	Flanagan 3, Micklewhite, Stainrod 2, Allen 2, Muir
2 August 1981	Sweden	Ludvika BK	A	4-1	Flanagan, Stainrod 2, Gregory
16 August 1981	Ireland	Athlone Town	A	4-3	Flanagan, Stainrod 3
18 August 1981	Ireland	Bohemians	A	3-0	Stainrod 2, Allen

Squad

Pos.	Nat.	Name	League Appearances	League Goals	Milk Cup Appearances	Milk Cup Goals	F A Cup Appearances	F A Cup Goals	Total Appearances	Total Goals
GK		Peter Hucker	22				9		31
GK		John Burridge	20		4				24
GK		Graham Benstead
DF		Ian Dawes	5						5
DF		Terry Fenwick	36	5	4		8	1	48	6
DF		Ian Gillard	33(2)	1	4		9		46(2)	1
DF	Jamaica	Bob Hazell	23(1)	2	4		4		31(1)	2
DF		Ernie Howe	16		1		5	1	22	1
DF		Alan McDonald
DF		Warren Neill	11				3(1)	1	14(1)	1
DF		Glenn Roeder	41	2	4		8		53	2
DF		Steve Wicks	9						9
MF		Tony Currie	20	1	1		7		28	1
MF		Martin Duffield
MF		Gerry Francis	7						7
MF		John Gregory	34	9	4	2	7		45	11
MF		Andy King	4	3					4	3
MF		Gary Micklewhite	24(2)	2	3(1)	3	4(1)		31(4)	5
MF		Mark O'Connor	1						1
MF		Gary Waddock	35		3		9		47
MF		Dean Wilkins	(1)		1				1(1)
FW		Clive Allen	36(1)	13	2	1	7	7	45(1)	21
FW		Steve Burke	2(10)		1(1)		(1)		3(12)
FW		Martyn Busby
FW		Wayne Fereday	2(2)				0(1)		2(3)
FW		Mike Flanagan	36(1)	10	3	2	9		48(1)	12
FW		Ian Muir
FW		Tony Sealy	4(3)		1				5(3)
FW		Simon Stainrod	39	17	4	2	9	5	52	24
FW		Ian Stewart	2(1)		0(2)		1(1)		3(4)

Transfers Out

Name	from	Date	Fee	Date	Club	Fee
Don Shanks	Luton Town	November 1974	£35,000	August 1981	Brighton & Hove Albion	Free
Barry Silkman	Brentford	October 1980	£20,000	September 1981	Leyton Orient	£15,000
Andy King	Everton	September 1980	£400,000	September 1981
Dean Neal	Queens Park Rangers Juniors	January 1979		October 1981	Millwall	£80,000
Gordon Hill	Derby County	November 1979	£150,000	November 1981	Montreal Manic
Gerry Francis	Crystal Palace	February 1981	£150,000	January 1982	Coventry	£145,000
Tony Sealy	Crystal Palace	March 1981	£80,000	February 1982	Port Vale	loan
Ian Gillard	Queens Park Rangers Juniors	October 1968		July 1982	Aldershot

Transfers In

Name	from	Date	Fee
Alan McDonald	Queens Park Rangers Juniors	August 1981
Martin Duffield	Queens Park Rangers Juniors	January 1982
Steve Wicks	Crystal Palace	March 1982	£325,000

References

Bibliography

• Book: . Rothmans Football Yearbook 1982-83 (Editor: Jack Rollin) . Queen Anne Press . London . 0-356-07888-4 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Dreams Can Come True – The 1982 FA Cup Semi-Final at Highbury. Independent R's.
2. Web site: When El Tel's QPR installed Britain's first artificial pitch. PressReader.
3. Web site: Tottenham Defeat QPR To Win 1982 FA Cup Final. Hotspur HQ.
4. Web site: FA Cup 1982. My Eyes Have Seen The Glory.