(http://www.flickr.com/photos/23659209@N04/sets/72157603974718234/)
It’s cliche to say it, but it’s funny how some things in life work out. I didn’t intend for it to take me three weeks for my first journey to Loftus Road, but a series of roadblocks kept it from happening until today. The first home match was on a Tuesday evening, which turned out to be the day of the week that I usually head to St. Albans. The crew from the St. Albans office wanted to have an evening at the pub for our first Tuesday out there, so attending the QPR match against Burnley wouldn’t be possible. Not too big a deal, since there were still a half dozen home fixtures left in the year. However, when I woke up Saturday morning feeling ill and having to cancel my plan to head to Loftus Road for their match with Sheffield United, I was starting to wonder when I’d make it.
The bad and good news is that my first Loftus Road experience wouldn’t be as frustrating as the results of the two matches I had intended to catch. Queens Park Rangers are trying to make a miracle run from the bottom of the table to the top 6 positions, which would get them into a playoff opportunity at making the jump to the Premier League next year. Fresh of a surprising road win at Southampton, QPR jumped to a 2-nil lead on Burnley only to watch Andy Cole pull out a late hat trick and lead his squad to a 4-2 victory. I’m sure the home crowd was livid with blowing that kind of a lead. Then yesterday, while I was negotiating with my body after apparently I made it very upset by trying Indian food for the first time, QPR found themselves up once again at home, only to watch Sheffield United equalize late and steal some much needed points from the Rangers.
I’ll spare the details, but my soft stomach didn’t agree with my ambitious appetite to try out new foods. Indian food is very popular here, so I joined some of the guys for some curry after work on Friday, and it didn’t end well. Nothing awful or violent, but I didn’t feel right again until about 24 hours after I consumed the meal. The excess rest on a gray Saturday in London, left me feeling fresh when I woke up this morning and itching to explore the city. An opening of the blinds and a check of the forecast revealed it would be a beautiful morning, but the nice weather would only last until about 3pm when a storm was set to make its way into the city.
Initially I plotted a 3 bus trip to Loftus Road, then to catch another 3 buses to check out the pre-game scene at Wembley for the Carling Cup Final. I didn’t mention the Carling Cup in my review of football, because it’s not all that exciting a tournament. Basically, it’s like the FA, but without the magic or prestige. So most teams participate in the earlier rounds using their second and third teams, then if their subs make a run to the semis or the championship, they play their starters to try to win the cup. The championship is played at Wembley, the most legendary stadium in all of England. Supporters of the teams that make it to the championship treat it as a big deal at that point. Tottenham is playing Chelsea today, marking just the 2nd time in the 48 year history that the final pits two London squads against each other.
Loftus Road is on the west side of the city, near the Shepherd’s Bush tube stop. I could’ve gotten out there by tube in 40 minutes or so, but decided spending a beautiful morning underground seemed a bit ridiculous. The route I planned made it’s way past St. Paul’s Cathedral, Picadilly Circus, Westminster, Hyde Park, and eventually to Loftus Road. The setting around the stadium is much like Wrigley, in that it’s wedged in a neighborhood. There are residences within meters of the entrance to the stadium and virtually no parking in the area. However, it’s well serviced by public transportation. You’ll see from the pictures of Loftus Road the street, it is lined with some South African looking trees which will make the view interesting once spring hits.
After walking a loop around the outside of the stadium and snapping a dozen pictures, I spotted someone leaving one of the doors that said “Players Entrance”. Now I know I’m building up something that isn’t. The guy wasn’t a player (he looked like he could’ve been) but he was the head of security. I approached him and made some small talk, mainly about my surname being Loftus, commenting on the lead QPR blew the day before, mentioning QPR signing Matt Pickens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Pickens), the goalie from the Chicago Fire, and discussing Luol Deng, the Brit. (London and Chicago have a bit of a connection in the sports world). He told me how to get a more standard tour of the grounds on a weekday and referred me to the team’s website.
The conversation was a pretty friendly one, but he seemed a little distracted. Seconds later, I found out why, a BMW pulled up and out jumped who I believe was Flavio Briatore (http://www.flaviobriatore.it/index.html). He had forgotten his Carling Cup tickets and the match was in a half hour. The security guard grabbed the tickets and handed them to Flavio. As soon as he drove away, he turned to me and said “The chairman is gone, want to go check out the pitch?” I thought he was joking, but before I could respond, he was walking back to the entrance to the stadium. Seconds later, we were walking the same steps up to the pitch that the players walk on their way to a match. When the door opened at the midfield line, the site was pretty cool. QPR was spelled across the opposing stands. Tony (by this point, I had caught his name) insisted that I get out there and take some pictures. The results are in my flickr account.
After about 10 minutes of conversation and snapping photos, Tony asked if I wanted to go check out the Sponsors Lounge, which is the luxury suite right on the half line. We made our way up there to find a good sized room with a nice oak bar along the left side. I snapped a picture or two and debated with Tony why football isn’t all that popular in the states. Most Brits I’ve met are pretty curious about American sports, and usually we get into a discussion of why promotion/relegation isn’t possible in the US and how teams sometimes lose on purpose to get good draft picks.
Although I think Tony would’ve let me hang out for a lot longer and see more of the stadium, I was beginning to feel guilty and politely ended the tour. He had gotten a couple calls from his friends who were out for the Carling Cup Finals, but was too nice a guy to shove me out so he could go meet them. I told him how much I appreciated the tour andhe said to make sure I stop by and say hi the next time I’m at the stadium. I’ll definitely take him up on that when I go to the Stoke City match next Sunday.
So get back to my opening sentence, it’s funny how some things work out. Had I been able to attend either of the first two games, it would’ve been very doubtful that I would’ve made the trip out today just to walk around the stadium, and I definitely wouldn’t have been given the private tour.
