Queens Park Rangers vs Reading
Hoops | Official Matchday Programme of Queens Park Rangers | Issue 18 QPR vs Reading | Sky Bet Championship Saturday 29th January, 2022 | KO 3pm | Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium
Hoops | Official Matchday Programme of Queens Park Rangers | Issue 18
QPR vs Reading | Sky Bet Championship
Saturday 29th January, 2022 | KO 3pm | Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium
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HOOPS<br />
The celebrations at the final whistle<br />
were immense…<br />
Before the game, I don’t think any<br />
player thinks about what you are<br />
going to do if you win. You are<br />
concentrating so much on the match,<br />
what you need to do on the pitch and<br />
how you are going to play. And then<br />
afterwards if you have won, it is just a<br />
massive release. So there were tears<br />
in the dressing room at Highbury,<br />
laughter and cheers. Everybody was<br />
just so pleased knowing that we had a<br />
huge game coming up at Wembley<br />
Stadium in a few weeks’ time and we<br />
all wanted to play in it. We were just a<br />
young team and ecstatic to be in an<br />
FA Cup final. I was only 21 and I<br />
thought: “If you get this every couple<br />
of years in your career, it’s brilliant!”<br />
However it never, ever happened for<br />
me again after that.<br />
On to the final against Tottenham<br />
Hotspur – in those days, it was the<br />
biggest showpiece occasion in<br />
football, wasn’t it?<br />
Yes, there was a really big build-up on<br />
television from 10 or 11am, showing<br />
the players getting ready at their<br />
hotels and so on. The feeling that we<br />
were going to be playing in the final<br />
and be part of it all was just incredible.<br />
Glenn Hoddle gave Spurs the lead in<br />
that first match before Terry Fenwick<br />
headed our equaliser. It was a truly<br />
pulsating affair and you played your<br />
part, didn’t you?<br />
I started the afternoon on the<br />
substitute’s bench. I was hoping to<br />
get on but really did not expect to play<br />
a major role. Sadly for him, Clive Allen<br />
twisted his ankle after about five<br />
minutes – it was obvious straight away<br />
that he really couldn’t continue much<br />
longer. Clive managed to limp on until<br />
half-time and then Terry Venables<br />
had to substitute him and change the<br />
system around so I went on. It was a<br />
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