Queens Park Rangers Football Club, which can be abbreviated as QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush / White City, West London, England. The team currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.

The club was founded as Christchurch Rangers in 1882 and took up their current name after merging with St Judes Institute four years later, near the Queen's Park and Kensal areas. Having won the West London League in 1898–99, QPR joined the Southern and Western leagues where they won titles in both. It was during this period that the club reached the final of the FA Charity Shield twice in 1908 and 1912. QPR were elected to the Football League in 1920. The club played in the Third Division South until winning promotion as champions in 1947–48. The club was relegated in 1952, but slowly rebuilt under the stewardship of Alec Stock whose culminated in winning the Third Division title and also their only major trophy to date, the League Cup in the 1966–67 season. Promoted from the Second Division in 1967–68, they were relegated after one season in the First Division. QPR won promotion again in 1972–73 and then narrowly missed out winning the English league title in 1975–76, finishing only one point behind champions Liverpool. Relegated in 1979, they reached the FA Cup final as a second-tier club in 1982, losing to Tottenham Hotspur after a replay.

QPR won another Second Division title in 1982–83 and were beaten finalists in the 1986 League Cup final. They remained in the top-flight for thirteen years, becoming founder members of the Premier League in 1992, before being relegated in 1996. Relegated again in 2001, they secured promotion from the third tier at the end of the 2003–04 campaign. QPR won promotion as winners of the Championship in 2010–11, although they were relegated from the Premier League after two seasons. They won an immediate promotion via the play-offs in 2014 but were relegated again the following season and have remained in the Championship since that time.

After a relatively quiet early existence, QPR have played home matches at Loftus Road since 1917, apart from two brief spells at the White City Stadium. They share rivalries with various other clubs; most notably they have a large rivalry called the West London derby against local rivals Chelsea. Other notable rivals include fellow West London clubs; Fulham F.C and Brentford F.C, meanwhile other London derbies such as West Ham United F.C., Charlton Athletic F.C, and Millwall F.C have also sparked some rivalry, however not as much as others.

History

Early history (1882–1920s)

The club was formed in 1886, when a team known as St Jude's (formed in 1884) merged with Christchurch Rangers (formed in 1882). The resulting team was called Queens Park Rangers and their official formation date is considered to be 1882, which is the original founding date of Christchurch Rangers. The club's name came from the fact that most of the players came from the Queen's Park area of North- West London. St Jude's Institute on Ilbert Street W10 is still in use as a community hall and in July 2011 club icon Stan Bowles unveiled a plaque celebrating its place in QPR history. 1882: QPR was founded as Queens Park Rangers by a group of schoolboys from the area of Queen's Park in North-West London. The club initially played in local leagues and was part of the amateur football movement.

QPR became a professional team in 1889. The club was elected into the Southern Football League in 1899. In 1899–1900 they put themselves on the map after qualifying for the first round proper of the FA Cup by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers on their own ground 1–0. The Guardian said "the hitherto unknown Queens Park Rangers, a team hailing from the north-west suburbs of London...upset all calculations."

At this time the club's core support, as indicated by its marketing area, was an area of West London, to the west of the A5 Road (Roman Watling Street), in and around the former boroughs of Paddington and Willesden. As London extended further west, the club's following grew along with it.History of QPR website:

They first won the Southern Football League in 1907–08. As Southern League champions that year, they played in the first ever Charity Shield match, against the Football League champions Manchester United. The club lost 4–0 in a replay after the first game had finished 1–1. Both games were played at Stamford Bridge. QPR were Southern League champions for a second time in 1911–12.

Rise to prominence (1920s–1960s)

The club joined the Football League in 1920, when the Third Division was formed, mainly with Southern League clubs. When the Third Division was split into North and South the following season, QPR, like most of the former Southern League clubs that had joined the Football League to form the Third Division, were in the Third Division (South).

QPR played their home games in nearly 20 different stadia – a league record – before permanently settling at Loftus Road in 1917; although the team would briefly attempt to attract larger crowds by playing at the White City Stadium for two short spells: 1931 to 1933, and the 1962–63 season.

The club were promoted as champions of Division 3 South in the 1947–48 season. Dave Mangnall was the manager as the club participated in four seasons of the Second Division, being relegated in 1951–52. Tony Ingham was signed from Leeds United and went on to make the most-ever league appearances for QPR (519). Arguably the club's greatest ever manager,Alec Stock Obituary at QueensParkRangersFC.com Alec Stock, arrived prior to the start of the 1959–60 season. The 1960–61 season saw QPR achieve their biggest win to date: 9–2 vs Tranmere Rovers in a Division 3 match. In time, Stock, together with Jim Gregory who arrived as chairman in the mid-1960s, helped to achieve a total transformation of the club and its surroundings.

In 1966–67, QPR won the Division Three championship and became the first Third Division club to win the League Cup, on Saturday, 4 March 1967, beating West Bromwich Albion 3–2, after coming back from a two-goal deficit, securing the clubs first and only major trophy. It was also the first League Cup final to be held at Wembley Stadium. After winning promotion in 1968 to the top flight for the first time in their history, Rangers were relegated after just one season and spent the next four years in Division Two.

The golden era (1970s)

Terry Venables joined from Spurs at the beginning of the 1969–70 season and Rodney Marsh was sold to Manchester City. During this time, new QPR heroes emerged including Phil Parkes, Don Givens, Dave Thomas and Stan Bowles. These new signings were in addition to home-grown talent such as Dave Clement, Ian Gillard, Mick Leach and Gerry Francis.

In 1972 QPR were promoted to Division One (the top tier of English football), under manager Gordon Jago.

In 1974, Dave Sexton joined as manager and in 1975–76 led QPR to the runners-up spot in the First Division, missing out on the championship by only one point, with a squad containing seven England internationals and internationals from the home nations. After completing their 42-game season, QPR sat at the top of the league, one point ahead of Liverpool who went on to defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers to clinch the title. Wolves were relegated to the Second Division that same season. The late 1970s also saw some cup success with Rangers reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and in their first entry into European football reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup losing to AEK Athens on penalties. Following Sexton's departure in 1977 the club eventually slipped into the Second Division in 1979.

Promotions, relegations and two cup finals (1980s)

In 1980 Terry Venables took over as manager and in 1981 the club installed an artificial turf pitch. In 1982 QPR, still playing in the Second Division, reached the FA Cup final for the only time in the club's history, facing holders Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham won 1–0 in a replay. The following season QPR went on to win the Second Division championship and returned to English football's top division. After a respectable fifth-place finish, and UEFA Cup qualification, the following year, Venables departed to become manager of Barcelona. In 1988 the club had a new chairman, 24-year-old Richard Thompson. Over the next seven years, various managers came and went at Loftus Road and the club spent many seasons finishing mid-table and avoiding relegation. The most successful season during this period was the 1987–88 season in which QPR finished fifth, although missing out on a UEFA Cup campaign due to the ban on English clubs in European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster. They were also runners-up in the 1986 League Cup, losing to Oxford United.

The Premier League years and relegation (1990s)

Gerry Francis, a key player in the 1970s QPR side who had proved himself as a successful manager with Bristol Rovers, was appointed manager in the summer of 1991. In his first season in charge they finished mid-table in the league and in the 1992–93 season were founder members of the inaugural Premier League, finishing fifth, as top London club. Francis oversaw one of QPR's most famous victories, the 4–1 win at Old Trafford in front of live TV on New Year's Day 1992. Midway through the 1994–95 season Francis resigned and very quickly became manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Ray Wilkins was installed as player-manager. Wilkins led QPR to an eighth-place finish in the Premiership. In July 1995 the club's top goalscorer, Les Ferdinand, was sold for a club record fee of £6 million to Newcastle United.

QPR struggled throughout the following season and were relegated at the end of the 1995–96 season. QPR then competed in Division 1 until 2001 under a succession of managers including club legend Gerry Francis who was reappointed for a second spell finishing mainly mid-table and towards the bottom half of the division.

Relegation, promotion, financial struggles and the arrival of Bernie and Flavio (2000s)

After several years of struggle in the second tier, QPR became embroiled in financial and boardroom controversy. Although the club had floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 1991, in 2001 it entered administration (receivership). A period of financial hardship followed and the club left administration after receiving a £10m high-interest emergency loan which continued to burden the club. The 00–01 season proved to be a disaster and Gerry Francis resigned in early 2001. Former Rangers midfielder Ian Holloway was appointed manager but failed to prevent the club from being relegated to the third division at the end of the season, the first time since the 1960s. After relegation Holloway assembled a team featuring several QPR fans in the squad including Kevin Gallen, Marc Bircham and Richard Langley alongside other key players such as Danny Shittu, Gareth Ainsworth and Clarke Carlisle. In their second season in the third tier, the club reached the play-off final in Cardiff, losing 0–1 to Cardiff City in extra time. The following season QPR put their playoff heartache behind them and returned to Division 1 after as runners-up, with a famous 3–1 win away at Hillsborough in front of 7000 traveling QPR fans.

Rangers struggled for consistent form over the next two campaigns before Holloway was suspended amidst rumors of his impending departure for Leicester City. A poor series of results and lack of progress at the club saw Holloway's successors Gary Waddock and later John Gregory – both former players – fail to hold on to the manager job.