The atmosphere at that QPR cup match was electric.

I was in the upper tier right at the front and could see the police mullering our fans who wanted to get on the pitch to batter Clive Allen who was being a complete cnut after he scored by dancing a jig in front of us. Someone threw a bottle at him and it just missed his head.... I wouldn't condone it now but back then I wanted it to smash all over his smug stupid face. The pitch was pathetic and definitely favoured them as they were used to it's irregular bounce and could anticipate it better.

Flanagan was a joke. Overweight and useless. I swear he used to play better in the 2nd half at Selhurst as he was running towards the smell of the burger kiosks.

I still despise Venables for his wheeler dealing and the way he handled that situation. He was just as dodgy when he came back and fleeced Goldberg and was a major contributory factor in the near demise of our beloved club.

The atmosphere at that QPR cup match was electric.
I was in the upper tier right at the front and could see the police mullering our fans who wanted to get on the pitch to batter Clive Allen who was being a complete cnut after he scored by dancing a jig in front of us. Someone threw a bottle at him and it just missed his head.... I wouldn't condone it now but back then I wanted it to smash all over his smug stupid face. The pitch was pathetic and definitely favoured them as they were used to it's irregular bounce and could anticipate it better.

Flanagan was a joke. Overweight and useless. I swear he used to play better in the 2nd half at Selhurst as he was running towards the smell of the burger kiosks.

I still despise Venables for his wheeler dealing and the way he handled that situation. He was just as dodgy when he came back and fleeced Goldberg and was a major contributory factor in the near demise of our beloved club.

I can recall a certain well known Palace player who was coming to the end of his career,when all of this was going on,told me just how much of a stitch up was going on.
When TV left along with others there was a lot of investigations into affairs at the club with regards to certain players financial arrangements.It turned out that most of them had their affairs being managed by the same company.
It was all very disturbing!!

Not Bud and Chesney, the comedy and singing duo from the second world war, but Mike and Clive.

Dark forces were afoot at Selhurst thirty years ago and watching QPR's probable elevation to the top tier gives me bad memories.

Our modern day supporters were obviously not happy with the ship jumping of Warnock, Hill and Derry but would undoubtedly understand the reasons. We have never though had a proper explanation for the much worse situation of 1980/81 which has always left me feeling very jaundiced towards our West London neighbours.

Footballers and England fans tend to revere Terry Venables. Palace supporters do not of course. How many of us though know about the apparent skulduggery of 30 years ago? Very few I suspect, although Uncle Ron once told me that he knew and would one day reveal all, but it's unlikely.

In the background was a deal being struck by Bloye and Sainsburys over the supermarket. Who knows what went on between Bloye and Venables but we do know that they were at loggerheads and Palace had a dreadful start to the season. TV suddenly jumped ship into the bosom of his old friend Jim Gregory, a slippery old car dealer and QPR chairman.

He was quickly followed by Burridge, Flanagan, Francis and later Allen. Nothing surprising about players following a manager but it was all at knock down prices, allegedly. The explanation at the time I believe was that the bottom had dropped out of the market. Really!

Prior to Francis's transfer he had apparently been ill but then got straight out of his sick bed to play for none other than QPR stiffs. Must have been serious Gerry.

All this apparent hankypanky was then compounded the following year when we had the misfortune of drawing Rangers in the sixth round of the FA Cup and having to play them on their joke pitch where the ball bounced like a balloon. And who scored for them to secure a 1-0 win? Clive bloody Allen. Not only that he then proceeded to laud it in front of the huge Palace contingent which set off very ugly scenes and efforts were made, encouraged by a well known hooli of the time called Bosco, to invade the pitch. ITV's Brian Moore criticised Allen for his behaviour and then showed his actions again in slow motion.

All in all I feel we've been well shafted by this grubby little Shepherd's Bush back street outfit and can't remember much good coming from them apart from Mark Lazarus and the superb Ian Evans. I'd love to know the full story, although it is fairly apparent what went on.

And as I finish this they've just gone 2-1 up on Coventry. A plague on all their houses.