Loftus Road

Sunday 7 March 2010

Queens Park Rangers 3-1 West Bromwich Albion

Aerial shot of Loftus Road (MultiMap)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 7/10

Ease of getting there : 6/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 6/10

Quality of the game : 8/10

The "football" feeling : 8/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 4/10

Legroom : 5/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 67/100

Loftus Road Stadium

South Africa Road stand

QPR Superstore

The School End (Away)

The Ellerslie Road

Houses outside the Ellerslie Road stand

The Loft End

The Ellerslie Road stand between two houses

The Ellerslie Road stand

The School End (Away)

The Loft End

The Ellerslie Road Stand

Distinctive club crest and Loftus Road sign

The Loft End

The School End (Away)

The running line where the original finish line was at White City Stadium

White City Stadium (Bottom Left - BBC Television Centre being built)

QPR 3-1 West Brom

Loftus Road is home of Queens Park Rangers. Our journey down to West London started at Tamworth Railway Station and we arrived at Euston Railway Station at 10:50am. Our original plan was to go to Brentford’s Griffin Park and take some pictures followed by our visit to QPR, but this was changed due to problems on the London Underground making it almost impossible to get to Brentford and back in time for the Kick off at W12. Thanks to my (Ross) quick thinking, we went down to Millwall to see the New Den.

So our journey went from Euston tube station down to Waterloo tube on the Northern line and changed onto the Jubilee line and got off at Canada Water. We decided to walk from Canada Water tube to the New Den, hoping to get a few directions from the locals. We first asked a postman (who didn’t know where it was), then we asked a woman who pointed us in the right direction. You may think the thought of Millwall and the New Den has an intimidating reputation. The ground is situated between various railway lines and industrial units. Access to various units and the stadium itself can be gained by a number of alleyways and narrow streets some through dimly lit archways and tunnels. Some of the locals have in the past used these surroundings for mischief making and given many a visiting supporter the run around. Adrian has visited the old ground and the new one and has witnessed at first hand this type of thing.

After that, we got a bus back to Canada Water tube station and got on the Jubilee line back to Waterloo then changing to Northern line to Tottenham Court Road tube before making a final change onto Central line and got off at White City tube. We arrived at White City in plenty of time; we took a picture of the distinctive BBC Television Centre building followed by a picture of the re-marked finish line where the original White City Stadium running track used to be. We then made our way to Loftus Road.

QPR first moved to the ground in 1917. In April 1948, after winning the Third Division (South) championship, the club bought the freehold of the stadium plus 39 houses in Loftus Road and Ellerslie Road for £26,250 but the club’s finances were under pressure in the late 1950s the houses had to be sold. In 1968/69, the club re-built the South Africa Road stand at a cost of £150,000 and this was followed by the Ellerslie Road stand, replacing the tin-roofed grandstand. The changing rooms and offices were then moved to the South Africa Road stand. In the early 80’s, QPR played on an artificial surface for 7 seasons before returning to the traditional ‘grass’ surface as it was tearing up. Two new additional stands were installed in 1980, first the School end then a year later the Loft End was constructed at the same time as new executive boxes built in the lower tier of the South Africa Road stand. In 1994, the ground became an ‘all-seater’ stadium which reduced the stadium capacity to less than 20,000. DID YOU KNOW... QPR have moved grounds 19 times.

The game saw relegation battling QPR win 3-1 against promotion contenders West Bromwich Albion. Goals came from Jay Simpson (QPR) Matthew Connolly (QPR) Chris Brunt (WBA) and Akos Buzsaky (QPR). This was also a special game as it was Neil Warnock’s first game as QPR manager and he certainly got a good start.

Following the final whistle, we ran back to White City to get on Central line to Oxford Circus and changing onto Victoria line up to Euston. Our train back to Tamworth was on time and we arrived back in the Midlands at 7:30pm.

Overall, our trip to Loftus Road was a successful and enjoyable trip. The ground is small yet has a nice characteristic about it as the stands are tightly compact into the surrounding area.