Snippets: QPR's Gareth Ainsworth Turns 35...Ex-QPR Billy Hamilton Turned 51

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Gareth Ainsworth: QPR's Player/Coach and club captain., Gareth Ainsworth Turns 35: Born May 10, 1973. Ainsworth was recently appointed as coach as well as player and was assisting manager De Canio during matches. What occurs now in the post-De Canio era, remains to be seen.

QPR OFFICIAL SITE PROFILE
Clubs: Cardiff City, Preston, Port Vale, Lincoln City, Preston (loan), Cambridge, Walsall (loan), Wimbledon
Position: Midfielder
Fans' favourite Gareth Ainsworth joined QPR after being released from Cardiff City in June 2003.
The bustling midfielder's contribution to the Rangers cause is without question, providing leadership and guile, as well as priceless assists and match-winning goals.
Despite two serious injuries last season, Ainsworth was an integral member of the side which pulled off the Great Escape.
A leader on and off the park, Ainsworth made 23 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring one goal.
Career
A much-travelled midfielder, Ainsworth began his league career with Preston before spells at Cambridge United, Lincoln, Preston and Port Vale, where he caught the eye of then-Premiership side Wimbledon.
He cost the Dons £2 million, but only made 45 appearances due to injury.
A brief spell at Cardiff followed, but he was released at the end of the 2002/03 season.
With injury ruling out Kevin Gallen, and Dan Shittu relinquishing the vice-captaincy, Ainsworth wore the armband with pride towards the end of season 2005/06. QPR. See Wikipedia Ainsworth Profile
Also: - Sporting Hero Profile. See also: Ainsworth old Ainsworth Website


BILLY HAMILTONYesterday was the birthday of a former QPR International, Billy Hamilton turned 51. (Born May 9, 1957). Signed by Frank Sibley from Linfield in 1978-1979, Hamilton played some games for QPR for a couple of season before he was sold to Burnley by Tommy Docherty in 1980. Hamilton, post-QPR had a pretty prolific goalscoring career. - See Wikipedia/Hamilton Profile

Northern Ireland Greats Site Profile of Billy Hamilton
Biography:
Born in Gilnahirk, East Belfast, Billy Hamilton joined Linfield as a sixteen year-old, but had to bide his time before making the first-team breakthrough. He scored his first goals in the 1976/77 season, finishing with eight in all competitions, but the following season was to see him make a significant mark at Windsor Park.
After two disappointing campaigns, Roy Coyle’s side finally clicked, with Hamilton firing home seventeen goals on the way to Irish League, Irish Cup and Ulster Cup successes. His form was rewarded with a place in Northern Ireland’s first ever Under-21 side, who played out a 1-1 draw with the Republic of Ireland in March 1978. Recognising the talent of the young forward, QPR stepped in with a £25,000 bid directly after the Irish Cup Final win over Ballymena United. Within two weeks of signing at Loftus Road, and before he had even made a first-team outing, Hamilton was awarded his first Full cap, coming off the bench for Trevor Anderson in a 1-1 ‘home’ draw with Scotland (at this time ‘home’ for Scotland matches remained Hampden Park in Glasgow as the Scots continued to refuse to travel to Belfast due to the ‘Troubles’).

His first season in England proved a disaster for Hamilton; he played just eleven games, scoring twice, as QPR were relegated from the First Division. The following term, with a young Clive Allen scoring regularly, Hamilton played just once, and come November 1979 made a £38,000 move to struggling Burnley. Hamilton finished that campaign as the Clarets’ top scorer, tellingly with just seven goals, as the club were relegated to Division Three – Hamilton would play in the Divisions One, Two and Three in consecutive seasons. The seasons end brought a significant boost to Hamilton, as Billy Bingham included him in the Northern Ireland squad for that season’s British Championship. He marked his return to the green shirt with the winner against Scotland at Windsor Park (the Scots finally having ‘succumbed’ to the Irish FA’s invites) in a match which also earned him a concussion. His strong forward play in the remaining games of the Championship brought a 1-1 draw with England, a 1-0 win over Wales, and the title of British Champions to Belfast for the first time in 66 years.

Back in Division Three with Burnley, Hamilton began to find his feet with new strike-partner Steve Taylor, and while Hamilton’s total of nine goals wasn’t that impressive, he did lay on most of Taylor’s sixteen. The 1981/82 season saw Hamilton awarded the Burnley ‘Player of the Year’ title as he top-scored in the Third Division title winning side. 1982 also brought a place at the World Cup, Hamilton having played in all-but-one match of Northern Ireland’s successful qualification campaign, scoring a vital goal in a 1-1 draw with Scotland. In Spain Hamilton set-up Gerry Armstrong’s famous winner against the hosts, and found the net himself twice in a 2-2 second phase draw with Austria.

Having made the step back up to Division Two with Burnley, Hamilton continued to find the net regularly, finishing the 1982/83 with a seasons best (to that point) total of thirteen goals. The team as a whole however weren’t quite up to it, and once again finished in the relegation places. Un-phased, Hamilton topped his best total, striking eighteen times, but Burnley could muster only mid-table mediocrity. The summer of 1984 brought a £95,000 bid from ambitious Oxford United, freshly promoted from Division Three as Champions.

At the Manor Ground the brawny Hamilton formed a fantastic partnership with the whippet-like John Aldridge, and the pair fired Oxford to the Division Two Championship, and a place in Division One for the first time. A knee injury picked up in the FA Cup Fourth Round exit at the hands of Blackburn ruled Hamilton out for much of the title run-in, and limited his appearances in the top-flight the following term too. Perhaps an even more bitter pill to swallow was his absence from the Milk Cup Final defeat of his first English club, QPR.

Hamilton’s injury problems also cast a shadow over his international career, and he played just twice through the successful 1986 World Cup Qualifying campaign. It was only through much hard-work towards the end of the 1985/86 season that he was able to convince managers of both club and country that he was worthy of a place on the plane to Mexico. Bingham awarded Hamilton a starting role in the opening game against Algeria, only to drop him for the younger and fitter Colin Clarke for the remaining games. Like so many of that great team of the early 80s, Hamilton made his final Northern Ireland appearance in the 3-0 defeat by Brazil that brought that World Cup campaign to a close.

That long-standing knee problem finally forced him to retire early in the 1986/87 season. He made his final League appearance in a 2-0 win over Coventry on 11th October 1986. After two months spent scouting for Oxford and working on local radio, he took the opportunity to manage League of Ireland club, Limerick City. Although his knee was no longer up to the rigours of full-time football, he did return to the playing field and in 1988/89 he finished with 21 goals as the League's top goalscorer. That season he also led Limerick to the Munster Senior Cup and an impressive third place finish in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Surprisingly Hamilton resigned early the following season.

Hamilton returned to management with Distillery in December 1989, and once again he returned to the playing field in the closing weeks of the 1989/90 season. In all he scored 33 times in 72 appearances for the Whites before the old knee injuries finally ended his career in February 1992. He continued as manager at New Grosvenor until February 1996, leading the club to the 1993/94 Gold Cup. A brief return to management with Glenavon in 1998 ended with Hamilton claiming to have stopped enjoying the role.

Since leaving the Glenavon hotseat, Hamilton has concentrated on his sports trophy business and latterly has work with the Footballing Task Force, helping to shape the future of the game in Northern Ireland." Northern Ireland Footballing GReats



Lengthy Profile