For April 20th I'm going back 35 years to 1986 and the League Cup Final between Queens Park Rangers and Oxford United.
The 2021 League Cup Final will take place in late April having been significantly delayed from its originally planned date in the hope that a post-pandemic crowd might be allowed to attend. Back in 1986 the Final was also held fairly late on in the season although this wasn't so unusual at the time and, indeed, wasn't the latest Wembley League Cup Final ever (the 1990 Final between Nottingham Forest and Oldham Athletic takes that honour and wasn't held until 29th April). Modern thinking is to try and hold the League Cup Final on or around March 1st in order to have the competition done and dusted well before the business end of the season when the so-called big clubs would be competing for bigger prizes. For a competition that the big clubs often seem to disrespect by fielding virtual reserve sides, it's amazing how they nevertheless seem to monopolise the winning of the trophy itself.
The 1986 League Cup Final, temporarily known as the Milk Cup Final thanks to sponsorship by the Milk Marketing Board, didn't trouble the bigger clubs however. QPR and Oxford United are what you might call "unfashionable" clubs and indeed Oxford hadn't even been members of the Football League when the first League Cup was contested. Oxford didn't join the Football League until 1962 and the first League Cup competition was held 60 years ago in season 1960/61.
One man is associated with the 1986 Final more than any other. Jim Smith is probably most well known in football for his Management stint at Oxford United between 1982 and 1985 during which time they achieved back to back promotions, taking Oxford from the Third to First Division and unprecedented heights in their history. He left Oxford following that second promotion having fallen out with infamous Oxford Chairman Robert Maxwell over his salary and joined QPR. Then, in his first season managing "the R's" he took them to the League Cup Final where they would meet his old club.
QPR come from the Queen's Park area of London, situated roughly three miles from their current home in Shepherds Bush. Being a pedant for grammar, I wasn't sure whether their name should be written with or without an apostrophe. Apparently it was last used in a QPR programme in October 1967 at which point the club secretary at the time took the decision to drop it in order to "tidy up" the name. The new modern apostrophe-less name has stuck but if you're a bit of a grammar-Nazi like me it's probably a lot easier just to call them QPR!
Unusually for a League Cup Final at Wembley, the game wasn't a sell out and this explains how I managed to get hold of a ticket. The official attendance that day was 90,390. Oxford United, essentially built by opposition manager Smith but now managed by Maurice Evans, had future Liverpool stars Ray Houghton and John Aldridge in their side and eased their way to a comfortable 3-0 win with goals from Trevor Hebberd, the aforementioned Houghton and Jeremy Charles. The vanquished R's side that day contained future Spur Terry Fenwick and ex-York City legend John Byrne. Neither side has appeared in the Final of an FA Competition since.
CRB Match No. 435
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