London Calling.
Pre match at Loftus Road, The Clash, blaring out of the PA system. My favourite song, my favourite ground and the R's were going up.
Last game of the season and we should be crowned champions but life is never that simple. Due to 'administrative irregularities' over the signing of Alejandro Faurlin not only might we not be awarded the Championship trophy, but there was speculation of massive points deductions and even relegation being mentioned in the press.
The FA had been due to announce the outcome of days of investigations ahead of the game, but no news arrived, which only intensified the nervousness around Loftus Road. After way too long out of the premiership and countless dark days of financial doom, many of us expected the worst....
I'd been lucky enough to get a pitch side seat, only 3 from the dug out. About 20 minutes before kick off, the chairman walked out on to the pitch, microphone in hand. A ruling had come in from the FA.
No points deduction! The R's were champions! The R's were going up! Cue mass celebrations.
The match itself? It was fascinating watching and listening to Neil Warnock & Keith Curle at close hand during the game. Though the result would have no bearing, they clearly didn't want Leeds to do the double over us (& neither did I having endured sitting with two LUFC mates at Elland Road earlier in the season)
I'll skip over the result, the picture on the right of Warnock & Curle shows we were leading at one point....
Final whistle, the trophy is ours, once its been presented and the players have gone in, we all head on to the pitch and wait for them to appear in the directors box.
What a day, what a season, could it get any better?
Yup.
As I head out the ground, I spot Dave Thomas, editor of A Kick Up the R's fanzine selling the latest issue. I head across to get a copy to read on my 3 hour journey home. Just as I get near, two guys join the queue, one wearing a long black coat that looks just a bit different to the usual football attire, almost kind of punk. He's got his QPR scarf tucked under his collar.
The guy gets his copy of AKUTR's and turns around.
He looks familiar......Mick Jones. MICK JONES. MICK JONES of THE CLASH!
I shake his hand, blather something tongue tied and star struck at him and manage to say thanks for making some of the finest music ever recorded.
Tony
Tony Jameson-Allen is a director of the Sporting Memories Network
Memory added on April 4, 2013
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