This is not really the beginning. There was a version of this site a few years back but for various reasons, it didn’t quite work in the way that I envisaged it. So here we are again with version number 2, with a different approach which I have used with other sites. So here goes.
As a child I was given a second hand copy of “Encyclopedia of Sport” by Charles Harvey published in 1959. I used to pour through the pages of statistics and facts about sports events, teams and individuals. Copies can be picked on on Amazon* or eBay* today.
I was around this time I became interested in soccer and athletics. My local club in London, made history by beating a team two divisions above them to win the Football League Cup at Wembley. 2-0 down and 27 minutes to go, Queens Park Rangers (QPR / Rangers) came back to beat West Bromwich Albion (WBA / Baggies) 3-2.
Many people class this as the biggest cup upset ever. It was the first time that the final had been held over one leg, previous finals were two-legged affairs. QPR were a Third Division side facing First Division WBA. The Baggies were expected to win with ease and at half-time were two goals up thanks to Clive Clark’s double. “For an hour, West Bromwich were consciously and obviously the senior side,” wrote John Arlott in the Observer. “[They were] harder, faster, more resourceful, better organised and fitter. In this period they scored two goals and created, and almost arrogantly neglected, the opportunities of half a dozen more. Even so, they had nothing more to do than maintain defensive tidiness to retain the cup they won last year. Then, quite inexplicably, they lost belief in themselves.
In front of a partisan 100,000 crowd, Rangers began to turn it on. Roger Morgan headed home after 63 minutes. Then the mercurial Rodney Marsh dropped a shoulder and clipped an effort in off the post after 75. Mark Lazarus scored the winner with nine minutes to go.
Due to the fact that Rangers were in the third-tier they were barred by Uefa from the Fairs Cup they had just earned entry into.