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 />
If you get this every<br />
couple of years in your<br />
career, it’s brilliant!<br />
our way. On reflection, it was<br />
marvellous to get to the final, it really<br />
was. To win it would have been the<br />
icing on the cake.<br />
Tottenham had some world-famous<br />
players but we were a very good<br />
Division Two side, weren’t we?<br />
An exceptionally good team when you<br />
look at the players that we had…Clive<br />
Allen, John Gregory, Terry Fenwick,<br />
Simon Stainrod, Peter Hucker, Warren<br />
Neill. There was real quality<br />
throughout the whole <strong>Rangers</strong> squad.<br />
So it was no surprise at all that Terry<br />
Venables got us going. In many ways,<br />
Terry played a major part in all our<br />
careers. He was a coach who was just<br />
on a different planet to everybody<br />
else. He got us organised and closing<br />
down, showing opposition players<br />
inside and everything. Teams close<br />
down in the modern era but Terry had<br />
us doing that way back in 1982. When<br />
you achieve that organisation with<br />
decent players, all of a sudden Terry<br />
had a very good team at QPR. After<br />
reaching the FA Cup final, we won<br />
Division Two the following season and<br />
12 months later we finished fifth in<br />
the top flight to qualify for the UEFA<br />
Cup. But unfortunately Terry decided<br />
to go off to manage Barcelona and<br />
the <strong>Rangers</strong> team broke up soon<br />
afterwards. It was a real shame.<br />
How would you sum up your own<br />
style of play?<br />
Most of the time, Terry played me on<br />
the right. But throughout my career, I<br />
appeared in several different positions<br />
in midfield and I finished up as a<br />
right-back, playing for Gillingham<br />
under Tony Pulis.<br />
You’re 60 years old now, Gary – what<br />
are you up to?<br />
I was a professional footballer for 19<br />
years and now I have been a black cab<br />
driver for 20 years. I don’t work loads<br />
of hours these days, I just do what I<br />
have to do and get myself home. I got<br />
married last year and moved house a<br />
couple of years ago. It’s nice being<br />
settled – I have three daughters and<br />
five grandchildren and my wife has<br />
three children, so it’s a big family for<br />
us. Looking back, I loved my time at<br />
QPR and remember that spell fondly.<br />
The crowd were so close to the pitch<br />
at Loftus Road that the atmosphere<br />
was always electric. Those fans at<br />
QPR were very kind to me and it was<br />
such an enjoyable part of my life. I<br />
wish I could do it again, in all honesty! I<br />
am so pleased that the R’s are doing<br />
well this season as I always look out<br />
for their results.<br />
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