happy birthday rodney marsh

[qprted]

a question im always asked is who was the greatest ever player to play for qpr,well i think les ferdinand is the greatest striker to ever put on a qpr shirt
but lets go back to the early sixties ,and understand that many qpr fans were brougt up with the beleife that they could never ever see qpr in any division except the third division.
looking at our broken down ground,it was something that we all excepted as probabley true
then along comes this big man with golden hair he could get the ball at the half way line and throw body swerves all over the place as he would walk through a whole team and score
never before and never since has a player been able to match the incredible rodney marsh
44 goals he scored and he took out the eqivalent of premier clubs,in west brom and leicester city
the whole ground would push out the sound of RODNEY it was an incredible time
before we knew it we had gone through two divisions,and was in the top flight
BUT WHEN THE NEWS CAME IN THAT RODDERS HAD BROKEN HIS ANKLE
we all knew we could never hold onto that top position,the rest is history
SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY RODNEY 67 YEARS OLD TODAY,THANKYOU FOR STARTING OUR DREAMS WITHOUT YOU WE MAY WELL HAVE STAYED IN THE THIRD DIVISION..........................

[qprted]

i was there

i was there rodders when you put out the lights of blackpool
like an irredescant butterfly you drifted past defenders,it was so cool
you tormented the ref,like cassius clay,you gave him hell
he didnt know what to make of you ,he couldnt tell

that famous bending free kick lives on in all our memories,i bet
that day, the greatest rodney marsh, was going to put three goals in the net
my whole life has been changed by your abillity rod,you made me love rangers just that little bit more
it was nearly always odds on that you would roast defenders,and either make a couple of goals or score

that airborn photo of you at the 1967 final proves that you really are a god and used to be able to fly
the next picture shows you being cuddled by jimmy langley,your head was on his shoulder and you were having a good cry
we will never forget you it dosnt matter how ever long it is ,theyll remember your name when 100 years have gone by

born in hatfield but brought up in poplar you were the gifted but tough striker you were two footed and could score with your head
it was playing against leicester,that a serious head injury nearly finished your career,if it wasnt for that,you would have played for fulham instead
a cheeky bara boy from hammersmith called gregory from hammersmith, had
watched you at the cottage,his first orders to stock
i want you to get me les allen, while my man is being repaired in hospital
i want to see if he rehabs,i dont want to buy a crock

the rest is history my wonderfull rodney marsh forget the rhymes
you were to beat those defences 44 times
and you know what ,nothing and knowbody could have stood against you that season
and the whole success of qpr was elevated atround you,yes you rodney you were the reason
i often remember my fathers face,i would come home from qpr,he would shout RODNEY then he would smile
and i thank you rodney marsh today on your 67 th birthday for giving us so entertainment and turning on the style

[march56]

you got any poems for danny maddix or vic mobley ted it's their birthdays today

[PedalR]

It's Alan "Macca" McDonald's birthday tomorrow - he'll be 48. I know this cos me and him share same DOB.

[Terry-Mancini-123]

Very fine tributes Ted to the one and only RODNEY
keep it up!

[qprted]

any one

any one who was around at the time that rodney played for us know that he just was the most extrordinary man
and its just a complete waste of time trying to compare him with stan
yes stan was an amazing tallent but he had a completely differant personallity
where as stan didnt like clothes or flash cars ,marsh hated to be considerd
ordinary
indeed always at the cutting edge of fashion
even his socks he chose with passion
bowles sudffering with inhabitions hated to be anything but norm
meeting marsh was like being hit with a storm
happy birthday godney marsh
and for all you stan fans i hope im not being too harsh

[qprted]

well

well back in 1964 i was aged ten and all around surburbia was mostly tottenham arsenal and chelsea fans these collososes all had stadiums that
could be filled to the rafters with loads of people
but there was just a few qpr fans about,northolt with its massive council estate complex was a place full of rangers,as was south oxley,but,in general qpr fans were scarce
it was quite embarressing being a qpr fan at my school in all four years there was only three of us
and one of those wasnt right in the head,but just as we realised that we of qpr could never have a beautifull ground like our greatest rivals brentford,just as we had accepted a whole lifetime in the third division
something really weird happened a crazy maniac carsalesmen,fishmonger,a person who couldnt accept defeat joined us,in 1965
at first there seemed no whirlwind improvements
but then in 65-66 an explosion was to hit loftus road,a player scrapheaped by fulham after a terrible injury had left him death in one ear,joined us
rodderrs was just perfect he didnt just drift through whole defences throwing bodyswerves all over the place
he would keep on bringing refs into his supershow once he pushed a ref over into a big puddle of mud all the fans went quiet fearing a massive 8 week ban but the great rodney got the ref to burst out laughhing
only rod could have done that because referees like us were mesmerized with his skill
never before had the third division seen a superstar like marsh,people were calling for rod to get a full england cap
he was good enoughh but he was only 21 years of age,so they put him into the under 23 team as it was called then ,this was before the under 21 of today
and yes you guessed it rodney scored one goal when he danced around the defence
indeed i think if rodney didnt get two broken ankles in two sussesive seasons
he would have made the full england team
the second broken ankle seemed to badly effect his performance,but he did eventually win a cap whilst playing for qpr and he was the first england international since evelynne lintott,i have no idea how many years ago he got capped but im guessing about 80 years

[qprted]

so

so lets fly through the 1967-68 season this was not a brilliant season by rodneys standards but he finished the highest scorer with 14 goals he missed the first part of the season with a broken ankle so he probabley would have got about 24 goals if he was fit
but his goals enabled us to get into the top flight for the first time in our history,but we invested money on a brand new stand when maybe we should have bought players
then bang.....you guessed it rodney breaks his ankle again,many of us were now terrified,we had fired ourselves into the top flight by goals goals and more goals,so we never needed a defence
so we have a defence that couldnt even hold its own,in the division below us let alone,survive the likes of jimmy greaves and george best
and we got crusified 8-1 against man utd away always our center halfs just were not good enough,ron hunt ,bobby keetch,ian watson and tony hazell
oh dear og dear oh dear
and if last season was a very ordinary by rodneys standards this season was to be a disaster for rodney marsh
strangley he scored on his first game back after injury against notts forest
and yes we won but we had a terrible season
it was so embaressing,nearly as embaressing as my spelling,
HOTROD only scored four times [perhaps the height of the season for many of us was that the mighty man utd including george best bobby charlton and denis law came to loftus road
although the loft end was taken by most of the london clubs knowone not even to this day have ever taken the loft like man utd did,and they took it
without even throwing a punch
i went to the other end to see the prettyest sight ive ever seen in football
the whole loft end was a sea of red and white scarfe singing YOUR NEVER WALK ALONE,although now days it is a liverpool song and a celtic song,in them days everyone would sing it,and even the discos would play it as the last song of the nightmore rodney history tommorrow as we see ther main man hit top form again

[qprted]

so

so we now drop out the top flight,and we think what is our future well qpr led by the brilliant marsh had a very good season,we hasd recruited the incedible goal scoring barry bridges,he and frank clark were going to give rodney a magnificent season.
all three of these players hit double figures as qpr.looked superbe and many of the qpr fans realised that with a rebuilding period of about 4 years we could be back again in the top flight.
but of course knowbody at this time realised that we already had the future england captain gerry francis on our books,
but back to rodney this season was the first season in three that he hadnt broken an ankle in pre season games,so he looked fit and energetic,he looked creative and magnificent,he looked mean and menacing he looked absolutely
tremendous,he was ONCE MORE THE BOY WONDER AGED 24 YEARS OF AGE ALL THE PREM CLUBS LOOKED AT HIM,once more we realised we couldnt keep him,