THE WAY WE WERE: QPR (h) 1978-79

April 21st 1979

Season 1978-79

Manchester City v QPR

Cruising, or limping, towards the end of a frustrating season of backwards progress, City took on Queens Park Rangers at Maine Road.

Following on from a disastrous, shapeless 0-2 defeat at Middlesbrough, the only surprise was that over 30,000 fans decided it was still a good place to be on a Saturday afternoon. Malcolm Allison's January return had thus far produced only bad air and disastrous transfer manoeuvring, allowing almost all of City's recognised international stars to believe their time was up with the club. 

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It was not all bad news, however, as Barry Silkman had arrived with a trumpet blast from his new manager. 

Silkman, these days a talkative football agent, had thus far let his feet do the communicating, scoring at Ipswich on his debut and again v Wolves four days later and would score here too to help defeat a desperate QPR side. Despite this, and somewhat predictably, he was no replacement for the likes of Asa Hartford, Peter Barnes, Mike Channon et al, who were about to be shown the door in Big Mal's much lamented Autumn Clearout.

Rangers on this occasion were supine opponents, the days of yore when they ran Liverpool right to the finishing line for the title in 1975-76 long forgotten. As Allison would do at Maine Road, Rangers under successive stopgap managers Frank Sibley and Steve Burtenshaw had started to ship out the bulk of that brilliant, swashbuckling side, Dave Thomas going to Everton, Don Givens to Birmingham, Dave Webb, Frank McLintock, Stan Bowles, John Hollins, Don Masson, 'keeper Phil Parkes and Mick Leach all sadly either departed or about to jump ship at season's end. The glory years under Gordon Jago were but a wistful memory.  

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In their stead Rangers had promoted youngsters and reserves that would carry them back into the 2nd division at the end of the season. Those young players, including Clive Allen, Glenn Roeder and Paul Goddard, would eventually catapult them back to the top flight and more success in the early 80s, but this was the beginning of a brief dip.

Despite the malaise, City pulled in more support than the 
Leeds v Everton clash between two sides vying for Europe.

For City the 3-1 win heralded peace at last for supporters worried their club might be dragged deeper into the relegation skirmishes. Silkman's goal plus two from Gary Owen rubberstamped a relatively simple 3-1 victory. The following week Rangers registered a 5-1 win over Coventry to spark a flicker of hope around Shephard's Bush, but three consecutive heavy defeats against Leeds, Birmingham and Ipswich would see them relegated with Chelsea and Birmingham. City's final position of 15th did not disguise the rot setting in under Allison either. 

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Within 18 months the Dartford Gunslinger would be gone, replaced for a brief happy interlude by John Bond, before his own exit in 1983 led to City's demotion to the second tier. By this time, QPR had contested the 1982 FA Cup final as a 2nd division side and were back among the big boys of the first division, an illustration of the cosmic swings and roundabouts of football. A year before Rangers' Cup Final appearance against Tottenham, City had also contested the centenary final with Spurs, with the same result: close defeat after a replay. 

City's two spells in Division 2 (1983-84 and 1984-85 / 1987-88 and 1988-89) would not involve any games with QPR, who were once again on the rise in Division 1, achieving a 5th place finish in both 87-88 and in the Premier League's inaugural season of 1992-93, where they would be welcomed as Maine Road's first-ever Premier League visitors.

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CITY: Corrigan, Donachie, Power, Viljoen, Watson, Bell, Owen, Deyna, Silkman, Hartford, Barnes. Sub: Henry

QPR: Richardson, Clement, Gillard, Busby, Howe, Roeder, Shanks, Francis, Walsh, McGee, Goddard Sub. Allen

Scorers: Owen (2), Silkman | Busby

Attendance: 30,394

In the following week, John Bean's Express column
suggests the end is nigh for several City big-hitters