Founded in 1882, Queens Park Rangers or QPR, as they are better known as, are a football club based in West London. They won the Football League Championship (Division 1) in 2010-2011 and so were promoted to the Premier League for the 2011-2012 campaign. QPR will be seen in the Premier League after a gap of 15 years.
Having spent most of their early years in the lower divisions of English Football, QPR earned promotion to the Division 2 (Known as Football Championship league today) in the 1947-48 season. They enjoyed four seasons in this division before they got relegated in 1951-52. Dave Mangnall, the manager at the time, signed Tony Ingham who would go on to become a club legend by making the most league appearances for QPR (519).
Alec Stock, who is widely regarded as the club’s best ever manager arrived in 1960 and led QPR to their biggest ever win – a 9-2 win over Tranmere Rovers. Together with Chairman Jim Gregory , Stock set about transforming the club as an entity. QPR’s only major trophy remains the League Cup win in 1966-67 when they beat West Brom 3-2 in the March of 1967. Further Success eluded them in the 70’s and 80’s as they looked to build the club as the best in London. The club finally achieved this tag as they finished 5th in the inaugural Premier League campaign in 1992-93, thus becoming the top London representative. The club was forced into administration in 2001 and it took them a while to recover from the financial turmoil.
2007 saw the arrival of fresh investment as QPR was bought by Formula one Tycoons Bernie Eclestone and Flavio Briatore for £14 million. They followed up on their promise of steady investment and got rid of the club’s debt, thereby marking a significant departure from the usual “Rich Daddy” ownership model that many of today’s clubs follow. Neil Warnock was appointed manager in March 2010 to help the club achieve promotion to the Premier League and he wasted no time in doing so, as the club topped the Football Championship in May 2011 and earned promotion to the Premier League for the 2011-2012 campaign.
Club Honours:
Football League Championship (Division 2) - 3
2010-11, 1966-67, 1947-48
League Cup – 1
1966-67