During the early part of the 1980s Rangers enjoyed great success under manager Terry Venables, reaching the FA Cup Final, winning the Second Division Championship title and qualifying for the U.E.F.A..Cup by virtue of a fifth place finish in the First Division.
Many so called experts cited our artificial ‘omniturf’ pitch as the main reason for the success.
These ‘experts’ conviently dismissed the fact that at that time our away record was one of the best in the country.
One team that seemed to have our number in the first couple of seasons on the Omniturf surface were local rivals Chelsea.
The south/west Londoners won in December 1981 and 1982 backed by a huge away support on both occasions.
Following a 2-2 draw in the 1984-85 season on their next visit, the teams were drawn together at Loftus Road in the Quarter Finals of the 1985-86 League/Milk Cup.
With their past excellent record on the surface the visitors were classed as favourites to win the tie.
Chelsea were also flying high in the First Division at the time in 4th place with Rangers languishing in 15th.
Rangers had appointed Jim Smith as manager in June 1985, under the former Oxford United manager they had already deposited top flight sides Watford and Nottingham Forest out of the competition.
The atmosphere was electric for the Quarter Final tie, John Byrne gave Rangers an early lead in front of a packed in 27,000 crowd ( the last such attendance to reach that figure at Loftus Road)
Diminutive winger Pat Nevin scrambled home an equaliser midway through the first half for the visitors to force a replay at Stamford Bridge.
Following this Loftus Road meeting Chelsea Chairman Ken Bates had been extremely critical of our plastic pitch.
Bates had stated in his programme notes for the replay “we survived that dreadful surface Loftus Road, a game of kick and rush”
It was ironic that in the replay played seven days later Rangers 2-0 extra time win was played on a mud bath of a surface.
A case of people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!
The win was capped off with a memorable 50 yard goal from Michael Robinson who had spotted Blues goalkeeper Eddie Niedzwiecki yards outside his area following a botched clearance.
The teams were back at Stamford Bridge six weeks later (19th March 1986) for a rearranged league meeting.
David Kerslake rescued a point for the R’s, his 25 yard lob beating the diminutive David Speedie in the Blues goal.
Speedie normally a striker replaced Niedzwiecki between the sticks after the Welsh keeper suffered a knee ligament injury on 67 minutes.
The local rivals met for the 4th time in the calendar year on Easter Monday 31st March 1986.
It would turn out to be a momentous late morning/early afternoon.
The atmosphere was somewhat low key with the attendance for the game a mere 18,584, nearly 8,500 lower than the Milk Cup meeting at Loftus Road two months earlier.
There were factors at play here, parts of the ground were all ticket (in this era this was a rare instance, fans are used to turning up on the day with cash) and the early kick off of 11:30 a.m.
The Loftus Road terrace, the R’s traditional home end was categorised as all ticket for the game, it certainly had an effect on the attendance with large parts of that terrace empty.
The £3 tickets were available to R’s fans who attended the previous home game against Watford who had to leave the ground following that game and queue up again at the turnstiles to purchase their Chelsea ticket!
This move was to halt the usual takeover of the “Loft” by Chelsea supporters.
The Blues had suffered a major blow to their championship hopes two days before the Loftus Road meeting with a 4-0 home defeat to West Ham.
Meanwhile, Rangers had taken part in a Milk Cup Final dress rehearsal at Oxford United drawing 3-3 the same afternoon.
This well earned point came at a price though with an injury to key full back Warren Neill.
Steve Wicks, John Byrne and Wayne Fereday came into the team to replace Neill, Leroy Rosenior and Clive Walker from the starting line up at the Manor Ground.
Rangers came out of the traps flying in contrast to their opponents who looked like the West Ham defeat had affected their confidence.
Attacking the School End the R’s took the lead after only nine minutes when Gary Bannister scored from a difficult angle.
This was the Warrington born strikers first goal since January 11th, ending a barren run of 12 games.
This was the worst run of his career, 16 minutes later and Bannister showed he was back in the groove, heading home after some great work out wide by John Byrne.
It was the Republic of Ireland international who would make it 3-0, Byrne ran fifty yards, beating four Chelsea men en route before shooting home a minute before the break.
After half time with the sun now shining, Bannister completed his hat-trick on 58 minutes, he ran clear of the Chelsea defence before beating their back up keeper Steve Francis.
Bannister then repaid the earlier favour to Byrne, crossing low for the former York man to score his second of the game.
David Speedie the Blues fiery striker and stand in keeper at the Bridge 12 days earlier was then sent off in the 65th minute for striking R’s full back Ian Dawes in the face.
With Chelsea totally demoralised, Leroy Rosenior a 70th minute substitute for skipper Terry Fenwick completed the rout with a sixth goal with eight minutes left.
Ironically, Rosenior’s son Liam is the current Chelsea manager
The R’s fans, with the “Loft” terrace to themselves for once lapped it up with cries of “Blame the Pitch” aimed at Chelsea Chairman Ken Bates.
Blues manager and former R’s hero John Hollins was more magnanimous in defeat than he was after the R’s Milk Cup victory in January.
Following that win he gave Rangers no credit whatsoever, this went totally against the character of the man “this time though he stated ” it could have been seven and that was a fair result”
There is an argument to say that this result gave the R’s’ players and fans too much confidence going into their Milk Cup Final meeting with Oxford a month later.
Having beaten so many top teams on their way to Wembley many expected Rangers to roll over an Oxford United team playing their first season of top flight football.
The Rs fans were certainly delighting in that 6-0 win over their local rivals.
“We beat you Chelsea 6-0” echoed from the Wembley terraces on April 20th.
The 3-0 defeat at Wembley in the Milk Cup Final remains one of the darkest days in club history.
Despite the horrors of Wembley, the club’s fans still look back fondly on that Easter Monday win a month before.
March 31st is unofficially “ Gary Bannister Day “ in W12
The former Sheffield Wednesday man who joined Rangers in the summer of 1984 was already a popular figure amongst the club’s fans, scoring 28 goals in all competitions during the 1984-85 season.
Bannister increased his popularity in September 1987 by scoring another hat-trick against Chelsea in a 3-1 win, a victory that kept Rangers top of the old First Division.
In between the two hat-tricks, Bannister also scored the R’s goal in an April 1987 league meeting at Loftus Road, a game that ended 1-1.
The striker who started his career at Coventry City had also scored in the aforementioned 2-2 draw at Loftus Road on Boxing Day 1984.
In total Bannister scored a remarkable eight goals in his four Loftus Road league appearances against Chelsea in his R’s career – he really was the scourge of Chelsea in the 1980’s!
Easter Monday 1986 remains one of the most enthralling days to be had for a Rangers fan at Loftus Road, a slightly surreal day with the early kick off, the small attendance and the variations in the weather, but one that will always be fondly remembered by those in attendance.
A period of domination started for Rangers following this victory with Chelsea returning home winless on their next eight visits to W12 (they didn’t win again until 1996).
The infamous Loftus Road plastic couldn’t be used as an excuse either in subsequent years – it was dug up following the 1987-88 season and replaced by a natural grass surface.
It’s 40 years today since that 6-0 win, so to all Queen’s Park Rangers fans – Happy Gary Bannister Day!
Chris Guy – retroQPR – March 2026
retroQPR 