You might recall...

Let's go back in time to Saturday 27th April 1996. QPR, literally clinging on to their Premiership status by their fingernails, face West Ham United in front of a packed Loftus Road. A Kevin Gallen brace, and a goal from Karl Ready see Rangers coast to a 3-0 lead mid-way through the second half, and spark scenes of wild jubiliation in the stands. I find myself in the middle of a spontaneous embrace with two strangers, which I break away from to find out the all important news from the games involving our rivals striving for survival at the wrong end of the table. This being 1996, mobile phones and the internet were in their relative infancy, so it was a case of tuning in to Radio London on my Sony Walkman. Alas, Manchester City, Southampton and Coventry, the three teams above us, were all winning away from home, devasting news that I had to relay to the small group of R's fans that had gathered around me. We watched the rest of the game in relative silence, knowing that our 13 year stay in the top flight was about to come to an end. I can still recall Rangers player-manager, Ray Wilkins, trudging off the pitch, disconsolately, and then taking out his frustration out on an approaching photographer by spraying him with the contents of a water bottle.  I could but only empathise with his disappointment, as  I contemplated the prospect of second tier football the following season.


Fast forward 15 years, and again I'm in the South Africa Road Stand as Rangers face Hull City needing a victory to secure a return to the promised land of the Premiership. An early Wayne Routledge strike results in pandemonium in the stands  and we look calm and comfortable as the game is played out. Even a late Hull equaliser fails to dampen the spirits - nearest rivals Norwich are drawing at home to Derby, so a point is enough to ensure promotion. The game ends in a draw, and the full-time whistle is cue for the inevitable pitch invasion. I look down from my vantage point in the upper tier of the stand, and as I'm surveying the scene, I receive a text from a friend telling me that Norwich have scored again, in the 96th minute! I break the news to the people around me, and sure enough confirmation of the Norwich result is announced over the tannoy. It's all a bit of an anti-climax, but it's only a few days to the next match, away at Watford, where a point will be enough to clinch promotion. A cautious optimism prevails amongst the Rangers faithful:

  

Well, the Watford match has now been and gone, and promotion and the Chamionship has been secured. I couldn't get a ticket for the game, and celebrated in a rather low key manner with a few beers in some local hostelries. I've been waiting 15 years for my beloved Superhoops to return to the top flight, but I can not be sure whether the moment has truly arrived. There is a dirty big black cloud overhead, in the shape of a possible points deduction, and the FA have chosen to pronounce their verdict on May 6th, a day before the end of the season! The issue in question is, of course, the ownership of key Argentine midfielder Alessandro Faurlin, signed in July 2009. Last September, Rangers applied to the FA to buy out a third party that owned Faurlin's economic rights, and the FA have been investigating the case ever since. Quite why they have taken so long to arrange a hearing is anyone's guess, and as for the timing of their verdict, it potentially throws the denouement of the Championship season into utter chaos! Having found out that Rangers were making use of a player that they did not actually own, why didn't the FA simply ban Faurlin from playing till he was registered as a legitimate QPR player, and fine the club retrospectively for his use during the previous season? It all threatens to conclude a wonderful season on a farcical note, something that Rangers fans have sadly become all too familiar with during the last 15 years. Administration, relegation to the third tier, the chairman allegedly being held at gun point in the boardroom, collection buckets around the ground, we thought we'd seen it all! Then came the billionaires, and so supermodels and African kings in the directors' box, the chairman picking the team, and numerous management changes, one of which allegedly resulted from a headbutt on a star player! Add tragedy to farce, in the shape of the deaths of promising young players, Kiyan Prince and Ray Jones and no one can deny that we Rangers fans have certainly been through the mill! 

Whatever the FA verdict, it's important that we do not lose sight of the miraculous turnaround achieved by Neil Warnock, his backroom staff and the team in little over a year. We sit at the top of the table as Champions, and deservedly so in my opinion. A championship winning team is not necessarily a team that plays the other team off the park, game after game (Steve Claridge please take note!). A team that are worthy champions surely prove to be consistently hard to beat, and just five defeats in one season is an outstanding effort! Add to that, the best overall home and away records, the most wins, the least goals conceded, the most clean sheets, the best goal difference....I could go on!  Rangers' success has been founded on hard work, organisation, great team spirit, and a potent mix of grit and flair. Let's hope that that they get their rightful reward, and that come next Saturday, the pubs and bars down the Bush are jumping for all the right reasons!