Five Year Flashback: Incoming: Bircham, Padula, Culkin & Furlong...and Vauxhall Motors!

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Five Years Ago this Week, Several Holloway Signings::

That season, QPR had players such as: Clarke Carlisle, Terrell Forbes, Matthew Rose, Richard Langley, Steve Palmer, Nicky Culkin, Paul Furlong, Kevin Gallen, Simon Royce, Daniel Shittu, Jerome Tomas, Tom Williams, Karl Connolly, Andy Thomson..Season ended with the playoffs and the fire alarm! Final Table

BBC - Saturday, 6 July, 2002,Bircham snubs Premiership
Millwall's Marc Bircham has turned down Birmingham and Charlton in order to fulfil his dream of playing for QPR.
The out-of-contract midfielder was wanted by both Premiership clubs but instead opted to sign for Second Division Rangers.
I've always been a Rangers fan and my family are all supporters too and that has been the biggest factor
Marc Bircham
The lure of playing for the club he has always supported proving too strong for Canadian international Bircham.
"It's all positive and I'm really happy with things," said Bircham after signing a two-year deal with the club.
"A few other clubs were interested and I don't really want to drop down to the Second Division, but it's QPR.
"I've always been a Rangers fan and my family are all supporters too and that has been the biggest factor.
"They are all really pleased and I can honestly say there will probably be about 50 of them coming to games when I'm playing for Rangers."
Prior to signing his deal Bircham admitted that the lure of QPR was extremely tempting despite their Division Two status.
"I wouldn't speak to any other Second Division club apart from QPR, that's for sure, because I wouldn't normally want to drop down," he said.
"I've spoken to a few clubs but when I went to Rangers they played on my heartstrings a bit.
Bircham, from Wembley, has been capped by Canada and played a part in Millwall's rise from Second Division obscurity to the First Division play-offs.
But financial restrictions mean Lions boss Mark McGhee has not offered him a new deal. BBC

BBC - 3 July, 2002, Argentine Padula joins QPR
Queens Park Rangers have signed Argentine Gino Padula on a one-year contract.
The 25-year-old former Walsall and Wigan man has been persuaded to come back to England by Rangers boss Ian Holloway.
He is expected to make his QPR debut in a pre-season friendly against Celtic at Loftus Road on 13 July.
Rangers are also close to signing Manchester United goalkeeper Nick Culkin and out-of-contract Millwall midfielder Marc Bircham. BBC

BBC - Saturday, 6 July, 2002 Duo to sign for QPR
QPR are set to add to their summer signings with the capture of goalkeeper Nicky Culkin and defender James Panayi.
Culkin was released by Manchester United last week after failing to make the breakthrough to first-team football at Old Trafford.
He had a season on loan at Bristol Rovers while Ian Holloway was manager at the Memorial Stadium, as well as shorter loan spells at Hull and Livingston.
When he puts pen-to-paper on a permanent deal at Loftus Road he will become the third goalkeeper to have left Old Trafford for London this summer.
Raimond van der Gouw and Paul Rachubka have also left United this summer, signing for West Ham and Charlton respectively.
Culkin will probably start the season as the club's first-choice goalkeeper, with Fraser Digby as reserve.
The highly-rated Chris Day has a double broken leg that will keep him out until Christmas.
Panayi has joined Holloway's team for a second trial period.
The defender ended last season on trial at Rangers and was invited to join the club for pre-season training.
He was released by Watford at the end of last season and recommended to the club by Holloway's assistant Kenny Jackett. BBC

Then in September 2002 - Thursday, 5 September, 2002,
Furlong joins QPR
Furlong is willing to take a pay cut to stay at QPR
Paul Furlong has signed a one-and-a-half year deal with Queens Park Rangers following a loan spell at Loftus Road.
The veteran striker joined Rangers on loan from Birmingham just before the start of the season.
Furlong, who is in the final year of his Birmingham contract, will take a significant pay cut in order to play regular first-team football after a frustrating time at St Andrews.
The injury-plagued 33-year-old has spent much of the last two years on the treatment table.
And a previous loan spell at QPR was a spectacular failure.
Rangers, then managed by Gerry Francis, paid Birmingham £125,000 to take Furlong on loan for three months in August 2000, only for him to leave the club a week later after picking up a hamstring injury.
But since returning to west London, he has netted two goals in six appearances, convincing Holloway to take up the option of signing him on a free transfer.
Rangers eye James
Meanwhile, Holloway faces selection problems for the forthcoming Worthington Cup first round clash at Leyton Orient.
First-choice goalkeeper Nick Culkin is sidelined, Fraser Digby has been nursing a groin strain and the on-loan Simon Royce cannot play at Brisbane Road as Leicester do not want him cup-tied.
Winger Jerome Thomas, on loan from Arsenal, will also not available for the game, while Richard Langley is struggling with a knee problem. BBC

And one final Memory from 2002....Vauxhall Motors!

BBC - Vauxhall Motors stun QPR
QPR 1-1 Vauxhall Motors (aet)
(Vauxhall won 4-3 on penalties)
Vauxhall Motors caused the upset of the FA Cup first round as they dumped out Second Division QPR on penalties at Loftus Road.
The Unibond League outfit thoroughly deserved their victory and should have won in normal time.
But it was left to goalkeeper Andy Ralph to save from Paul Furlong in the shootout before Karl Connolly's miss sent the part-timers through 4-3.
There did not look to be an upset on the cards when Andy Thomson shot QPR ahead after 18 minutes.
But when Vauxhall skipper Phil Brazier levelled four minutes later the game swung towards the part-timers.
They were denied four times in the first half after superb efforts by Terry Fearns, Robbie Lawton, Peter Cumiskey and Nicky Young as they dominated their opponents.
QPR hit back after the break as the non-League side tired. But Thomson, Clarke Carlisle and Connolly all missed chances as the game went first into extra time and then to penalties.
Vauxhall earned a second-round tie at Macclesfield with successful kicks from Cumiskey, Fearns, Carl Nesbitt and Kevin Lynch, and were given a standing ovation at the end.
QPR: Digby, Forbes, Carlisle, Palmer, Padula, Burgess, Bircham, Langley, Williams, Thomson, Furlong. Subs: Culkin, Connolly, Murphy, Oli, Daly.

Vauxhall Motors: Ralph, Lawton, Brazier, Collins, McDermott, Nesbitt, Aspinall, Haddrell, Cumiskey, Fearns, Young. Subs: Hogg, Thompson, Lynch, Derek Ward, Welton.
Vauxhall Motors