will there ever be another rodney marsh

[qprted]

origionally the king of loftus road was a jewish boxer who could rip defences apart his name of course was lazarus

marky being a east end cockney wide boy,had been known to sing to the supporters on train trips to away games

in those days the players and fans all travelled together

but the appearence of marsh was at first to amaze qpr fans remember that big strikers in the old third division had no skill they just used to use there bodily strength and ariel supremacy to plunder
goals

marsh recovering from an injury that left him death in one ear looked more clumsy than most, he looked even more of a dope by wearing massively over sized shorts

in the first season he showed only glimpses of that fantastic skill scoring 8 goals

but next season he got 30 league goals 11 league cup and 3 fa cup massing a massive 44
in one season but it wasnt his goals that made him so special it was his amazing dribbling skills

marshes special trick was to pass the ball from one foot to another he was a big man but he could delicately weave his way through 4 or 5 defenders

like many qpr fans i fell in love with hot rod

but i didnt realise at the time that he was to be the greatest ever player to play for our club
although ferdinand would be the greatest striker ever to play for qpr

in our all time greatestest ever players ferdinand dosnt take the top position

les had problems receaving the ball in a wing position,he struggled to control an awkward distributed pass in the all time greatest ever qpr players second would have to be stan bowles third would be gerry francis and fourth would be dave thomas,this is only outfield players

here is my full list

1st 93 points out of 100...........................RODNEY MARSH
2nd 90 ,, ............................STANLEY BOWLES
3rd 88 ,,..............................SIR LESLEY FERDINAND
4TH 87 ,,................................GERRY FRANCIS
5TH 83 ,,................................DAVE THOMAS
6TH 81 ,,.................................ALAN MCDONALD
7TH 80 ,,.................................PAUL PARKER
8TH 78 ,,.................................TERRY FENWICK
9TH 75 ,,.................................CLIVE ALLEN

10TH 69 ,...................................DON GIVENS
11TH 67 ,,.................................. DON MASSON
12TH 66 ,,...................................ANDY SINTON
13TH 65 ,,...................................MARK LAZARUS
14TH 64 ,,...................................MIKE KEEN
15TH 63 ,,....................................JOHN GREGORY
16TH 63 ,,.....................................GARY BANNISTER
17TH 62 ,,.....................................SIMON STAINROD
18TH 61 ,,.....................................STEVE WICKS
19TH 60 ,,......................................DARREN PEACOCK
20TH 60 ,,......................................DAVED BARDSLEY

just for a bit of fun who is brave enough to put up your top twenty knowing that like me you will completely forget
someone who is an icon

[lymehoop]

I honestly wonder if Rodney would have made a professional today Ted, coaches seem to like work horses and don't appreciatiate the subtle skills of a Rodders. Sadly we will never see his like again

[qprted]

watching

watching rodney marsh was like the film close encounters of ther thid kind


anybody who watched marsh was ruined because only george best could master him

i still dream of rodders everynight

it creates serious relationship problems for me

i keep waking up to a very angry mrs who says

MY NAMES NOT RODNEY

[twranger]

having had the privelidge of watching both Rodney and Stan playing at the heights of their careers at LR, I would have difficulty splitting them from that No.1 spot. Good list though matey!!

[hal9thou]

having had the privelidge of watching both Rodney and Stan playing at the heights of their careers at LR, I would have difficulty splitting them from that No.1 spot.

Me too. Today he'd prosper on the continent, other countries build great teams around skill.

I'd love to think our scouting system was looking at lads with natural skill rather than muscle but I doubt it, way of the world in Blighty.

[ClemQPR]

Great Post Ted

I started going to games in the early 70's so never saw Rodney, but was brought up on the Bowles/Francis/Givens/Thomas era, and so Stan would be the Man as far as I'm concerned. I was also lucky enough to see Sir Les from the start and they would also be my top three.

Les would have survived today as he has some much raw power, far more than any of the so-called top strikers in the Premiership today.

But Rodney and Stan were very different. Skill players like them, Tony Currie and Frank Worthington would still get picked up by clubs at an early age because of their natural skill, but would never have made it to the top as we have so much emphasis on speed and power over skill in our home grown players nowadays. Adel is a very good example of someone who today would have slipped through the net if he were British, and would have been let go early on for 'engine' and attitude problems. But for some reason we seem to love our skilful overseas players, and want to pay vast sums for their services!!


Maybe the Euros will be the kick in the pants we need to change the 'win at all costs' mentality we have over here from an early age. My boy is just starting 9v9 next year, as an intermediate step between 7v7 to 11-a-side, and this should place more emphasis on skill rather than ability to run all day. So finally the FA have got something right, but clubs are still inssting that all levels are competitive which seems to miss the point.

And I'll have a think about a top 20 (or maybe 10) and get back...

[qprted]

one player

one player who of course may have made the top twenty was clive clarke

[QPR Richard]

Dave Clement and Ian Gillard were superb full backs. Be nice to make space for them.

[twranger]

Dave Clement and Ian Gillard were superb full backs. Be nice to make space for them.

Absa..bloody...lutely..................forgot they werent on the op list.

[QPR Richard]

And of course Phil Parkes, our best ever keeper IMHO.

[qprted]

yeah

well i forgot about clement and gillard they should have gone into the top twenty


but i did exclude goalkeepers because we have had so many good goal keepers

[SANDERSON8]

Never......they broke the mould,great footballer,great charachter.........just bloody great.

[dcqpr]

some of us old gits would have Tony Ingham in there.Also there are no goalies.What about Springett or Seaman or Parkes.

[paulmason]

Rodney Marsh, they man who caused the demise of QPR FC.

He may have been good on the pitch, but I will only remember him sitting on SAR with a smug look on his face and a scarf around his neck, Gerry Francis looking up and bingo, we were in the wilderness for 16 years.......

I have no doubt in my mind, if Thompson and Marsh had not done what they had done that fateful night, we would not have been relegated.

[cross it Dave]

Pray tell, what did they do that fateful night?