Flashback - Four Years Ago Today QPR Win Promotion

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Four years ago: May 8, 2004, Ian Holloway's QPR won their last game of the season at Sheffield Wednesday with goals through Kevin Gallen, Paul Furlong and an own goal, to gain Automatic Promotion., just beating out Bristol City. View The Goals. It's been smooth sailing ever since!

Gallen finished the 2004/05 season as QPR's top scorer with 17 goals, followed by Paul Furlong with 16. See Players/Appearances/Scorers in 2004-2005. Also QPR's 2003-2004 Results

Team for that final game: Lee Camp - Gino Padula, Clarke Carlisle, Matthew Rose, Richard Edghill- Gareth Ainsworth, Marc Bircham, Richard Johnson, Martin Rowlands, Paul Furlong, Kevin Gallen - Subs: Arthur Gnohere, Jamie Cureton, Steve Palmer

BBC Sheff Wed 1-3 QPR
QPR won automatic promotion back to Division One with victory over Sheffield Wednesday in front of nearly 30,000 fans at Hillsborough.
Kevin Gallen put Rangers ahead after 35 minutes, slotting home after shots from Paul Furlong and Martin Rowlands.

Furlong doubled his side's lead two minutes after the break, blasting the ball past Kevin Pressman.

Jon Shaw put the Owls back in the game with a sweet shot but Chris Carr's own goal put the result beyond doubt.

At the final whistle, the QPR fans' jubilation contrasted with the dark mood of the home supporters, who booed their team off before invading the pitch to protest against chairman Dave Allen. BBC

Sheff Wed: Pressman, Geary, Barry-Murphy, Dean Smith, Wood, McLaren, McMahon, Cooke, Brunt, Robins, Shaw. Subs: Tidman, Olsen, Chambers, Mustoe, Carr.

QPR: Camp, Padula, Carlisle, Rose, Edghill, Ainsworth, Bircham, Richard Johnson, Rowlands, Furlong, Gallen. Subs: Day, Palmer, Thorpe, Gnohere, Cureton. BBC


Guardian/Aidan Magee: Holloway looks to Rangers

The dust was still settling on Queens Park Rangers' first promotion for 21 years when the battle to secure their manager Ian Holloway got under way.

Holloway's contract expired just as Mark Clattenburg blew the whistle on his side's convincing win at Sheffield Wednesday which sealed promotion to the First Division ahead of Bristol City.

About 10,000 Rangers fans had made the trip from west London knowing that their team, with a slender one-point advantage in second place before kick-off, had to match City's result to earn automatic promotion.

With the most important task out of the way, however, attention turned to Holloway's future and that of eight of his first-team players who will also see their contracts expire.

Rangers are fortunate to have, in Marc Bircham, a player who lives and breathes QPR. The midfielder even hired a coach for his friends and family to watch the game.

Bircham believes the charismatic Holloway is the embodiment and saviour of Rangers and called on the board to secure the manager's future services.

"Hopefully we can tie him down for a good couple of years on a contract. He is essential to this club's hopes of moving forward. People have talked about players being out of contract but he is more important to QPR than any of the players. He wears his heart on his sleeve and everyone, in or out of the team, wants to play for him," Bircham said.

For Holloway, the victory-gained through goals by Kevin Gallen, Paul Furlong and an own-goal by the substitute Chris Carr - provided just the platform to reel off some of his inimitable post-match lines.

He had felt the need to produce a pre-match motivational speech to rival the best on offer from Sir Winston Churchill. "It was a bit of Winnie - 'we'll fight them on the beaches' and all that type of stuff," he said. "I wanted to create an atmosphere where the team were not frightened to lose and I wanted to show them that no matter what they did I am proud of them for their effort.

"I think every dog has its day at some time or other and at the moment I feel like going 'woof'."

Whereas Holloway will spend the summer deciding what is needed to help his team in the First Division, his opposite number at Hillsborough, Chris Turner, was left reflecting on a desperate season.

The chairman Dave Allen was the target of abuse throughout the match and Wednesday fans blame him for extending the club's decline, but Turner defended his chairman. He knows he will be one of the first out of the door if Ken Bates produces a rescue package for Wednesday. "Dave Allen has put his money where his mouth is and kept the club out of administration," said the manager. "Now people are turning against him.

"I've got players earning fortunes who aren't good enough to be in the team. That stops us bringing anyone else in. You can't keep adding to the squad.

"I know that if I am allowed to stay and do my job we'll have a good chance of getting out of this league next year."

Man of the match: Martin Rowlands (QPR) Guardian

And a Fan Comments on the Season "Now You're Going to Believe Us"