A fairly recent game for our History section this week as the R’s prepare to head back to Hull City, scene of a spectacular Ebere Eze performance in 2019.

Memorable Match

Hull City 2 QPR 3, Saturday November 19, 2019, Championship

A midtable Championship battle between Hull and QPR, barely six years ago, what’s this doing in our History column, you may ask yourself.

Well, couple of reasons. Firstly, classic encounters between Hull and QPR are thin on the ground. We’ve milked that early round League Cup tie from the 1980s to death, I’ve no particular desire to relive a 0-0 draw set to a soundtrack of chants about the London bombings (although that is the one we all remember here) and it took eight attempts before Rangers won a single game at the new stadium here. We’re not blessed with a lot of choice.

Secondly, though, the clash in 2019 was not only a high quality, entertaining, ding dong, see-saw affair packed with goals and action, but it also quickly morphed into a breathtaking head-to-head between two up and coming talents bound imminently for the Premier League.

In the orange corner, Jarrod Bowen. Picked up from Hereford, the fair-haired winger averaged almost a goal every other game for Hull across 132 appearances. Not all of those 54 came against QPR, though it sometimes felt like it – six times he scored against Rangers during his time in amber and black and he got this one off to a flying start by darting between Yoann Barbet and Toni Leistner onto a long ball forward, chesting it down and then instinctively lobbing it over Liam Kelly and into the far corner from 25 yards.

To be fair, QPR’s equaliser wasn’t bad either. Bright Osayi-Samuel’s twisting and turning from a short corner resulted in a shot cleared out to the edge of the box where Ryan Manning improvised an outside-of-the-boot effort which curled just right through the crowd scene, past Long in goal and into the bottom corner. Precision stuff.

This, however, would quickly turn into the Ebere Eze show. Even in the first half, without impacting the scoreboard, you could tell he was in the mood, and as that mood burned brighter and the influence on the game grew Hull simply could not live with the youngster. Picking a ball up 30 yards from his own goal after a Tigers corner was cleared, Eze carried the ball almost the full length of the pitch, leading three different home players a merry dance along the way. Gliding between the trio, with no support from a team mate, he avoided challenge and touch from any of them until the time came, in the area, to draw a foul and a penalty. A spectacular thing to behold from the back of the away end, as he made a beeline straight for us right down the middle of the pitch. The step in the run up for the spot kick and neat finish past the bamboozled goalkeeper really put the tin hat on the whole thing.

There was more. Collecting possession wide on the left this time, Eze toyed with his opposition like a particularly cruel and vindictive cat. He took them to the touchline, where they tried to kick him and he jumped over the swipes. To the byline, where he dummied to cross and then checked back. And finally on a long arc all the way around and into the area where, once again, he was fouled, and, once again, he did the cool stepped penalty run up. Long was wise to it this time, and stood up. So Eze shelled the ball into the bottom corner like a mortar bomb instead. Football is as simple as that.

There had to be a further defensive horror show just to keep things interesting — Josh Magennis scored at the near post with seconds remaining (he used to be a goalkeeper you know) — but QPR were good value for the win and Eze was an absolute joy to watch.

Hull’s collapse from here was extraordinary. With Bowen in the team they won 11 league games through to New Year’s Day, including the Christmas return fixture at Loftus Road 2-1. At that stage they sat ninth, with 39 points, two off the play offs with 20 games left to play. At that stage the malignant Allam ownership decided their prized asset was fat enough for market and took the £18m on offer from West Ham, where Bowen has been playing (and shagging) ever since. Fair to assume Hull were safe at that point, in their defence, but remarkably they lost ten and drew two of the next 12. Into a full freefall they were eventually relegated in that summer’s lockdown. Of those 20 remaining games they lost 16 of them and won only once. The nadir was reached behind closed doors in July when they lost 8-0 at Wigan. Without Bowen they failed to score in half their remaining games, including each of the last four. Adding just six points to their total they went down dead last with Wigan and Charlton.

While not quite as bad, QPR also had an unhappy time in lockdown. They had a spectacular January which included a 6-1 home win against Cardiff and 5-1 against Swansea while Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds were beaten as always at Loftus Road 1-0. A hot spring run that culminated in a 3-1 win at Preston in another Eze masterclass, this time accomplished with ten men on the field, left the R’s three points off the play-offs when the country shut down. They returned in June to a fixture list of nine games of which five were in the bottom seven of the league table. That chance to fill our boots, with Eze, Osayi-Samuel and Chair all in the team, was spurned. Rangers took those games against Charlton, Wigan, Sheff Wed, Luton and Barnsley and added just one point to their total. In the end it needed a 4-3 win against Millwall and 2-2 at West Brom on the last day just to save a bit of face and finish 13th.

Hull: Long 7; Lichaj 3, Burke 5, Tafazolli 6, Elder 5; Stewart 5, Honeyman 4 (Toral 77, 6), Irvine 5; Grosicki 4 (Bowler 84, -), Eaves 5 (Magennis 62, 5), Bowen 7

Subs not used: Batty, Ingram, Pennington, Da Silva Lopes

Goals: Bowen 29 (assisted Eaves, pre-assist Long), Magennis 90+6 (assisted Toral)

Bookings: Bowler 90+10 (foul)

QPR: Kelly 6; Rangel 8, Leistner 7, Barbet 6, Manning 8; Scowen 7, Cameron 8; Chair 7 (Amos 83, -), Eze 9, Osayi-Samuel 7 (Pugh 62, 6); Wells 6 (Hugill 62, 6)

Subs not used: Lumley, Kane, Ball, Mlakar

Goals: Manning 44 (unassisted), Eze 75 (penalty, won Eze), 88 (penalty, won Eze)

Classic Encounters

LFW regular and AKUTR’s columnist Dave Barton has set up a QPR Memories YouTube channel, with a mixture of clips, classic games, and old highlights packages. His three recent meetings with Hull are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter.

Recent Meetings

QPR 3 Hull City 2, Saturday November 22, 2025, Championship

You score-we score, Kevin Keegan-style football when these sides met for the first time this season at Loftus Road in November. Hull took an early lead when Joe Gelhardt beat stand in keeper Ben Hamer at his near post, but Ilias Chair got his customary goal against Hull from close range after Amadou Mbengue’s shot had been blocked into his path (five goals against the Tigers now, more than any other opponent). Any hope that would lead to a second half procession swiftly extinguished by Destan beasting Clarke-Salter at the back post to convert Ryan Giles’ cross but Jimmy Dunne improvised a clever equaliser and Rumarn Burrell brought the house down with a typical poacher’s winner ten minutes later.

QPR: Hamer 5, Mbengue 6 (Morgan 72, 6), Dunne 7, Clarke- Salter 6 (Cook 61, 6), Norrington- Davies 7, Varane 6, Madsen 6, Dembele 7 (Saito 79, 6), Chair 8, Burrell 7, Kone 5 (Kolli 72, 6)

Subs not used: Nardi, Morrison, Field, Smyth, Frey

Goals: Chair 38 (unassisted), Dunne 55 (assisted Chair), Burrell 66 (assisted Chair)

Hull: Pandur 6, Coyle 5, Egan 5, Hughes 5, Giles 7, Hadziahmetovic 5 (Gyabi 62, 5), Slater 5 (Belloumi 72, 5), Gelhardt 6, Crooks 4, Joseph 4 (Akintola 84, N/A), Destan 6 (Ndala 63, 4)

Subs not used: Phillips, Famewo, Drameh, Ajayi, McCarthy

Goals: Gelhardt 17 (assisted Slater), Destan 51 (assisted Giles)

Yellow cards: Crooks 90+2 (Foul)

Hull City 1 QPR 2, Tuesday January 21, 2025, Championship

QPR were running hot through January on a sequence of four straight Championship wins which propelled them to the brink of the play-off picture after a nightmare start of two wins from the first 17 games. Consecutive away wins in a dreaded three-game week bolstered hopes that Marti Cifuentes’ side might be the real deal. After deservedly beating Plymouth 1-0 at the weekend there was another long trek to Hull waiting on Tuesday night and a dominant Rangers surged into a comfortable 2-0 lead thanks to Koki Saito’s first goal for the club and a scrambled effort by Kenneth Paal. That looked to be that against the worst home record in the league, but a series of botched substitutions and a Joe Gelhardt stunner made for a needlessly nervous end.

Hull: Rushworth 6; Drameh 3, Burns 4 (Jacob 82, -), Jones 5, McLoughlin 3; Slater 5, Alzate 5; Gelhardt 6, Puerta 5 (Crooks 68, 5), Vaughan 6 (Burstow 68, 5); Pedro 5

Subs not used: Amrabat, Coyle, Myers, Pandur, Simons, Smith

Goals: Gelhardt 84 (Unassisted)

Yellow Cards: Slater 43 (foul), Pedro 73 (foul), Jones 90+6 (foul)

QPR: Nardi 6; Dunne 7, Edwards 7, Fox 7, Paal 7; Field 6, Varane 7, Morgan 6 (Madsen 75, 4); Smyth 6 (Ashby 75, 3 (Colback 90+2, -)), Chair 5 (Saito 57, 8), Kolli 5 (Lloyd 56, 8)

Subs not used: Dixon-Bonner, Frey, Bennie, Walsh

Goals: Paal 64 (unassisted), Saito 70 (unassisted)

Yellow Cards: Morgan 52 (foul)

QPR 1 Hull City 3, Tuesday October 1, 2024, Championship

QPR’s ropey start to the season, and club record long wait for a first home win, really started to settle in with a poor 3-1 reverse against struggling Hull. Drameh’s 20 yarder off a partly cleared corner was soon doubled by Bedia from close range when Lucas Andersen dallied on a clearance from a set piece. Nicolas Madsen pulled one back with a well taken penalty before half time but with Koki Saito hitting both posts it proved not to be Rangers’ night and they were picked off by Millar for a third Hull goal on the counter attack. At that point QPR looked dead in the water while Tim Walter had won three in a row to kick start his Hull reign. Since it’s been Rangers climbing off into the top half while Walter never won a game with the Tigers again and was sacked little more than a month later.

QPR: Nardi 6; Santos 3, Cook 5, Dunne 5, Paal 4; Field 5, Madsen 5 (Lloyd 83, -); Dembele 5 (Chair 74, 5), Andersen 4 (Smyth 65, 5), Saito 6 (Dixon-Bonner 83, -); Frey 5 (Celar 46, 5)

Subs not used: Ashby, Fox, Bennie, Walsh

Goals: Madsen 44 (penalty, unassisted)

Hull: Pandur 8; Coyle 6, Jones 6, McLoughlin 6, Drameh 7; Salter 6 (Zambrano 58, 6), Simons 6, Palmer 7 (Mehlem 58, 6); Belloumi 7 (Omnur 93, -), Bedia 6 (Burstow 86, -), Millar 8 (Giles 95, -)

Subs not used: Alzate, Burns, Kamara, Rushworth

Goals: Drameh 25 (unassisted), Bedia 36 (assisted Coyle), Millar 71 (unassisted)

Yellow Cards: Simons 17 (foul), Jones 63 (time wasting), McLoughlin 64 (foul)

Hull City 3 QPR 0, Saturday April 13, 2024, Championship

QPR were soundly beaten by Liam Rosenior’s Tigers on Humberside in April 2024. Rangers needed points for their relegation battle while Hull were still pushing for the play-oofs, and the latter need proved the greater in a one-sided match. Tufan’s eighth minute opener was a goal of genuine class and quality and it was added to before half time by Fabio Carvalho and immediately afterwards by Jaden Philogene.

Hull: Allsop 7, Greaves 6, Jones 7, Tufan 8 (Delap 67, 6), Morton 7 (Christie 90, -), Philogene 7, Seri 7 (Traore 85, -), Slater 7, Jacob 7, Carvalho 8 (Docherty 85 -), Omur 8 (Giles 68, 6)

Subs not used: Sharp, Ashbee, Connolly

Goals: Tufan 8 (assisted Omur), Carvalho 27 (assisted Tufan), Philogene 52 (assisted incompetence)

Yellow Cards: Slater 75 (foul), Morton 79 (foul)

QPR: Begovic 3; Dunne 3 (Cannon 45, 4), Cook 4, Clarke-Salter 5, Fox 4 (Larkeche 83 -), Field 4, Hayden 4 (Hayden 73, 4), Andersen 3 (Smyth 45, 4), Willock 4, Dykes 2 (Armstrong 83, -), Chair 3

Subs not used:Walsh, Paal, Dixon-Bonner, Hodge

Yellow Cards: Dunne 36 (foul)

QPR 2 Hull City 0, Saturday December 9, 2023, Championship

A rare high point in 2023 for QPR as high-flying Hull were well beaten at Loftus Road to make it three wins in a week under new manager Marti Cifuentes. Chris Willock, largely ignored by Cifuentes’ predecessor Gareth Ainsworth, made his point with a third goal in three games, curling in from range on the stroke of half time. Sinclair Armstrong’s hassling of visiting keeper Allsop set up Ilias Chair for an empty net second after half time.

QPR: Begovic 8; Cannon 7 (Kakay 75, 6), Cook 7, Clarke-Salter 7, Paal 7; Field 5, Dozzell 6; Willock 8 (Kelman 86, -), Chair 8 (Dixon-Bonner 85. -), Smyth 6 (Armstrong 66, 7); Dykes 6 (Larkeche 76, 6)

Subs not used: Dunne, Archer, Richards, Drewe

Goals Willock 45 (assisted Field), Chair 73 (assisted Willock)

Bookings: Dykes 70 (foul), Kelman 90 (time wasting)

Hull: Allsop 5; Christie 6, McLoughlin 5, Greaves 6, Coyle 5; Morton 6, Seri 6 (Tufan 76, 6); Traore 6 (Connolly 45, 6), Twine 6 (Vaughan 90, -), Philogene 7 (Slater 51, 6); Delap 7 (Sellars-Fleming 90, -)

Subs not used: Ingram, Docherty, Smith, Jacob

Bookings: Philogene 51 (refusing to leave the field after injury), Seri 70 (dissent), Delap 87 (diving)

Hull City 3 QPR 0, Saturday January 28, 2023, Championship

From a very long list of disasters in 2022/23, the capitulation away at Hull in January is right down there among the worst. Hull goals flowed with almost identical regularity to pathetic cry-offs with non-descript muscle injuries amidst the shamefully half-arsed visiting team. Aaron Connolly had already gone close, after Jimmy Dunne fell over, when he gave the Tigers the lead after ten minutes. A shambolic Rob Dickie own goal doubled the lead after half time and then an offside trap for the ages let Connolly through for a third immediately. Tim Iroegbunam and Albert Adomah were both hooked at half time and had been lucky to make it that far. Kenneth Paal and Tyler Roberts both sat down and refused to continue – this game, January 28,m would be Roberts last input of an abysmal loan spell. A shameful afternoon all round.

Hull: Ingram 6; Christie 7 (Simons 89, -), Jones 6, McLoughlin 6, Elder 6; Tufan 7 (Woods 75, 6), Docherty 6, Seri 8 (Longman 75, 6), Slater 6; Connolly 8 (Coyle 84, -), Estupinan 6 (Smith 89, -)

Subs not used: Figueiredo, Lo-Tutala

Goals: Connolly 10 (assisted Christie), 64 (assisted Seri), Dickie og 62

QPR: Dieng 4; Kakay 2, Dickie 2, Dunne 3, Paal 1 (Clarke-Salter 45+3, 3); Field 3 (Johansen 75, 4), Iroegbunam 1 (Dozzell 45, 4); Roberts 1 (Willock 79, 2), Chair 3, Adomah 1 (Armstrong 46, 5); Lowe 3

Subs not used: Archer, Travelman

Bookings: Lowe 20 (dissent), Iroegbunam 40 (foul), Armstrong 67 (foul), Dunne 90+1 (foul)

QPR 3 Hull City 1, Tuesday August 25, 2022, Championship

After a surprise weekend win at Watford, QPR continued to hit top form in the midweek home game against Hull. Man of the match Ilias Chair got things going early with a goal of the season contender from range, and before the visitors could catch their breath Ethan Laird got on the end of a cross to make it two nil. There was a scare when Oscar Estupinan shot over when he should have scored, but the game was put to bed before half time when Chris Willock bent one in from the edge of the box. A hint of offside about Hull’s late consolation, but a terrific performance from QPR and at that point there was tremendous optimism for the season ahead.

QPR: Dieng 7; Laird 8, Dickie 6, Dunne 6, Paal 7; Johansen 8 (Adomah 71, 6), Field 6, Dozzell 8; Chair 9 (Armstrong 81, -), Dykes 6 (Kakay 70, 6), Willock 8 (Roberts 53, 5)

Subs not used: Archer, Masterson, Balogun

Goals: Chair 10 (assisted Johansen), Laird 15 (assisted Paal), Willock 40 (assisted Johansen)

Bookings: Roberts 90+4 (foul)

Hull: Ingram 5; Christie 5 (Williams 57, 6), Figueiredo 4, Greaves 4, Elder 5; Jones 4, Slater 5; Longman 6 (Woods 46, 7), Cannon 5 (Smith 75, 6), Tetteh 6; Estupinan 6

Subs not used: Baxter, McLoughlin, Jones, Jacob

Goals: Smith 85 (assisted Slater)

QPR 1 Hull City 1, Saturday February 19, 2022, Championship

The start of QPR’s disintegration last season included a home draw with Hull where they were singularly unfortunate not to win. Marcus Forss gave Hull a first half lead, the only goal of his loan spell there typically, but should have been sent off on half time for belting Jimmy Dunne off the ball, right in front of the fourth official. They escaped a wild offside decision after half time when Keane Lewis Potter was waved play on having picked up the ball yards beyond the last man, and got their equaliser through Ilias Chair from close range. There was an injury time winner from Albert Adomah too, this one flagged offside incorrectly. As poor a display from a collection of match officials as you’ll see.

QPR: Dieng 6; Adomah 6, Sanderson 5, Dunne 6, Barbet 5, Willock 6; Hendrick 7, Amos 5 (Odubajo 69, 7) Field 6; Austin 4 (Gray 90+5, -), Chair 6

Subs not used: Johansen, Ball, Thomas, Dozzell, Marshall

Goals: Chair 75 (assisted Odubajo)

Bookings: Chair 34 (foul), Austin 90 (foul)

Hull: Ingram 6 (Cartwright 67, 6); Bernard 8, McLoughlin 6, Greaves 6, Elder 6; Smallwood 6, Jones 6; Longman 7 (Docherty 82, -), Honeyman 7 (Slater 90+8, -), Lewis-Potter 7; Forss 6 (Smith 81, -)

Subs not used: Moncur, Fleming, Walsh

Goals: Forss 26 (assisted McLoughlin)

Bookings: Forss 45+3 (booting somebody off the ball, this is a booking now apparently)

Hull City 0 QPR 3, Saturday August 14, 2021, Championship

QPR, and Rob Dickie, continued their strong starts to 2021/22 with a 3-0 win in East Yorkshire back in August. Chris Willock’s first half shot shouldn’t really have beaten Matt Ingram in the first half, but the former QPR goalkeeper couldn’t do much about Lyndon Dykes’ second half strike from a cleverly crafted corner. An absolute barrage from the home team in between yielded nothing, largely thanks to Dickie’s remarkable goal line clearance, and the centre back then went down the other end and added a third of his own.

Hull: Ingram 5; Coyle 7 (Emmanuel 75, 6), Jones 6, Greaves 6, Elder 6; Smallwood 6 (Williams 73, 6), Docherty 6; Longman 6 (Smith 35, 6), Moncur 5, Lewis-Potter 7; Magennis 6

Subs not used: Eaves, Baxter, Cannon, Bernard

Red Cards: Moncur 71 (serious foul play)

QPR: Dieng 8; Odubajo 7, Dickie 9, De Wijs 8, Barbet 7, Wallace 7; Johansen 8 (Thomas 86, -), Ball 7, Chair 7 (Dozzell 59, 6); Willock 7, Dykes 6 (Kelman 85, -)

Subs not used: Kakay, Archer, Dunne, Adomah

Goals: Willock 16 (assisted Chair), Dykes 68 (assisted Johansen), Dickie 74 (assisted Wallace)

QPR 1 Hull City 2, Sunday December 29, 2019, Championship

For a while, in that awkward fixture between Christmas and New Year, everything was coming up Milhouse for QPR. Ilias Chair was allowed to cut in from the left and feel out that 20 yarder into the bottom corner he loves so much, and as it transpired Hull City might have been just as well leaving Rangers to it. They came back to win, goals from George Honeyman and Jackson Irvine in the last minute, another disasterclass from Joe Lumley, part of an autumn sequence of ten league victories and six defeats which carried them into the top half of the table. It was this that convinced the club’s malignant, malevolent Allam ownership that Championship safety had been secured on the cheap once more and both Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki could be jettisoned for profit without replacement. Hull waited 15 games for another win, and were victorious in just one of their final 21 games, losing 17, to be relegated with the division’s worst defensive record, cemented by an 8-0 thrashing ay Wigan three games out from the end. They didn’t score in ten of those games, including the last four.

QPR: Lumley 3; Rangel 7, Hall 6, Leistner 6, Manning 6; Amos 6 (Smith 66, 5), Ball 6; Osayi-Samuel 7, Chair 7 (Hugill 79, 4), Eze 6; Wells 5

Subs not used: Kane, Wallace, Pugh, Kelly

Goals: Chair 20 (assisted Manning)

Hull: Long 6; Lichaj 6, Burke 6, De Wijs 7, Kingsley 4 (Pennington 37, 6); Honeyman 6 (Batty 77, 6), Lopes 6; Bowler 6, Irvine 6, Grosicki 6 (Eaves 66, 7); Bowen 5

Subs not used: Tafazolli, Ingram, Bonds, Berry

Goals: Honeyman 32 (assisted Bowler), Irvine 89 (assisted Bowen)

Bookings: De Wijs 64 (foul), Honeyman 75 (foul)

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> Hull wins 22 >>> Draws 18 >>> QPR wins 22

2025/26 QPR 3 Hull 2 (Chair, Dunne, Burrell)

2024/25 Hull 1 QPR 2 (Saito, Paal)

2024/25 QPR 1 Hull 3 (Madsen)

2023/24 Hull 3 QPR 0

2023/24 QPR 2 Hull 0 (Chair, Willock)

2022/23 Hull 3 QPR 0

2022/23 QPR 3 Hull 1 (Chair, Laird, Willock)

2021/22 Hull 0 QPR 3 (Willock, Dykes, Dickie)

2019/20 QPR 1 Hull 2 (Chair)

2019/20 Hull 2 QPR 3 (Eze 2, Manning)

2018/19 Hull 2 QPR 2 (Scowen, Hemed)

2018/19 QPR 2 Hull City 3 (Wszolek, Freeman)

2017/18 Hull 4 QPR 0

2017/18 QPR 2 Hull City 1 (Smith, Sylla)

2015/16 QPR 1 Hull City 2 (Polter)

2015/16 Hull City 1 QPR 1 (Austin)

2014/15 Hull City 2 QPR 1 (Austin)

2014/15 QPR 0 Hull 1

2010/11 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Routledge)

2010/11 Hull 0 QPR 0

2007/08 Hull 1 QPR 1 (Blackstock)

2007/08 QPR 2 Hull 0 (Ephraim, Leigertwood)

2006/07 Hull 2 QPR 1 (Blackstock)

2006/07 QPR 2 Hull 0 (Blackstock, Jones)

2005/06 QPR 2 Hull 2 (Ainsworth 2)

2005/06 Hull 0 QPR 0

1991/92 QPR 5 Hull 1* (Thompson 2, Bailey 2, Bardsley)

1991/92 Hull 0 QPR 3* (Barker 2, Thompson)

1985/86 Hull 1 QPR 5* (Kerslake 2, Rosenior 2, Fillery)

1985/86 QPR 3 Hull 0* (Kerslake, Dawes, Bannister)

1972/73 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Bowles)

1972/73 Hull 4 QPR 1 (Givens)

1971/72 Hull 1 QPR 1 (O’Rourke)

1971/72 QPR 2 Hull 1 (O’Rourke, I Morgan)

1970/71 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Marsh)

1970/71 Hull 1 QPR 1 (Leach)

1969/70 Hull 1 QPR 2 (Marsh, Clarke)

1969/70 QPR 3 Hull 0 (Clark, Clarke, Leach)

1967/68 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Marsh)

1967/68 QPR 2 Hull 1* (Leach, Keen)

1967/68 Hull 2 QPR 0

1965/66 QPR 3 Hull 3 (Collins 3)

1965/66 Hull 1 QPR 3 (Allen 2, R Morgan)

1964/65 Hull 3 QPR 1 (McAdams)

1964/65 QPR 2 Hull 1 (Keen McAdams)

1963/64 Hull 3 QPR 0

1963/64 QPR 0 Hull 2

1962/63 Hull 4 QPR 1 (Leary)

1962/63 QPR 4 Hull 1 (Bedford 3, Lazarus)

1961/62 Hull 3 QPR 1 (Bedford)

1961/62 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Francis)

1960/61 QPR 2 Hull 1 (Bedford, Keen)

1960/61 Hull 3 QPR 1 (Bedford)

1958/59 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Whitelaw)

1958/59 Hull 1 QPR 0

1951/52 Hull 4 QPR 1 (Smith)

1951/52 QPR 1 Hull 1 (Smith)

1950/51 QPR 3 Hull 1 (Farrow 2, Smith)

1950/51 Hull 5 QPR 1 (Hatton)

1949/50 Hull 1 QPR 1 (Mills)

1949/50 QPR 1 Hull 4 (Duggan)

* - League Cup

Connections

Mark Hateley >>> QPR 1995-1997 >>> Hull City 1997-1998

Well, let's get the mitigation out of the way nice and early shall we? Replacing Les Ferdinand at QPR was always going to be an impossible job. Roberto Baggio may have made a decent fist of it, had there been any shred of truth in the London Evening Standard's most infamous backpage transfer splash, but otherwise Ray Wilkins' task of replacing the talismanic centre forward who'd scored 91 goals in 171 starts for our little, unfashionable West London club was a daunting one.

However, you could probably have hazarded a decent guess that Mark Hateley, aged 34 when he moved to Loftus Road from the Rangers north of the border, would struggle to fit the bill. The Ferdinand departure left QPR 25 goals short and until Hateley pitched up they had only youth team graduates Kevin Gallen and Danny Dichio as striking options. In the end, Wilkins pushed winger Trevor Sinclair into action as a centre forward to try and salvage the situation.

Hateley, who'd played with Wilkins for England, Milan and Rangers, may well have been a decent fit for QPR earlier in his career. A big, bustling, awkward centre forward, he'd scored regularly throughout Europe — 17 goals in 66 starts for Milan when Serie A was a fearsome division, 22 in 59 at Monaco, 111 in 214 Rangers outings before the SPL became a standing joke. Fanzine A Kick Up The R's carried an alternative version of Oasis' Wonderwall: "Mark Hateley, are you gonna be the one who saves me? Cos afterall, Les was wonderful." But by the time he got to Loftus Road , for £1.4m which, back in 1995, was a serious wedge for a club like QPR, he was physically shot. In fact, having signed in September, he was introduced to the home crowd on the field at half time of a Monday Night Football encounter with Tottenham, appearing on the hallowed turf propped up by a pair or crutches. Another thorough Rangers medical that one.

Wilkins' men led 2-0 that night with half an hour to go but Spurs, bossed by Wilkins' predecessor Gerry Francis and aided by a scandalous penalty award by David Ellery for Teddy Sheringham diving over the back of Karl Ready as the defender turned away to play the ball, roared back to win 3-2. Rangers had only won two of their first seven games prior to that and although a Danny Dichio header a week later gave them a third success at newly promoted Bolton they were clearly in big trouble.

Hateley finally made his debut in 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough at the start of December, winning a penalty which Simon Barker promptly skied over the bar. He would go on to make just 15 appearances that season as the R's were relegated for the first time in a generation, and he scored just two goals at Wimbledon and in a 3-1 home win against Everton.

By the end of the campaign the crowd was firmly set against the former England front man. Painfully slow, apparently overweight, terminally injury prone, and almost completely useless on the football field, he looked and played like one of those bedraggled ponies you sometimes find tethered on dodgy estates and was seen as an expensive liability, who was often found wanting for effort. Despite all of this, he seemed supremely arrogant.

Hateley started the first game of the First Division season at home to Oxford United but it was only when he was removed and replaced by Dichio that Rangers were able to come back from a goal down to win 2-1. Thereafter he miraculously managed to get himself a loan move back into the Premier League at Leeds United where he was fit to play just six times in the first three months of the season — needless to say, without scoring a goal.

By the time he came back to W12, Wilkins had left the club in acrimonious circumstances. The new chairman Chris Wright had thrown money at the likes of John Spencer and Gavin Peacock to bolster the attack, and recruited Arsenal coach Stewart Houston as his first manager. Hateley was used sparingly (mercifully) but did notch a fine late equaliser in an FA Cup Third Round tie against Huddersfield at Loftus Road. He responded to this by racing across to the South Africa Road side of the ground cupping his ear at the supporters who'd previously been heckling him, as if one goal against Huddersfield made up for the previous 12 months.

He subsequently scored in a league game at Swindon and then - the pinnacle of his time with the club - banged in a flying header in the fifth round of the cup at Wimbledon when 12,000 QPR fans had taken over Selhurst Park for the day. On both occasions, he goaded the QPR supporters with his ear cupping celebration. Such brash arrogance of a man who was paid handsomely by QPR despite being physically incapable of doing his job properly hardly endeared him to the Shepherd's Bush public any further and there were street parties and dancing on tables aplenty when QPR managed to not only get him a permanent deal back at Glasgow Rangers, but also got £300,000 miraculously slung into the bargain. On his second debut for Rangers, against bitter rivals Celtic, he was sent off for headbutting Stewart Kerr.

The second spell at Ibrox ended that summer, after four appearances and one goal. He moved back south of the border to join Hull City, then in the Third Division, as a player manager.

Hull, playing at a crumbling Boothferry Park stadium, had been in the doldrums for some time. Destitute and on the brink of bankruptcy off the field, and drearily managed by Terry Dolan on it, the Tigers were circling the drain and had been for some time. When former tennis pro David Lloyd, who'd made an apparent fortune with his leisure clubs since retiring, bought the club and neighbouring rugby league outfit Hull FC in 1997 he promised a bright new era for both, playing in a shiny new shared stadium in the city.

He spent big appointing Hateley and Billy Kirkwood as the best paid managerial team in the bottom two divisions. Given the size of the rebuilding job required at City, fans seemed happy enough to give the pair a free ride in 1997/98, Hateley's first full season as a manager. Just as well really, because Hull were every bit as bad as they'd been under Dolan and arguably worse. They finished third bottom, saved from relegation out of the Football League by the collapse of Doncaster Rovers who finished dead last with 20 points and a goal difference of -83. Doncaster lost 8-0 to Forest, 5-0 to Peterborough , 5-1 to Darlington, 4-0 at Scarborough, 8-0 to Leyton Orient and 7-1 to Cardiff . They won just four games all season, only one of them away — the final victory of those four was a 1-0 success against Hateley's Hull at Belle Vue snapping a run of eight straight defeats in which they'd conceded 25 goals. Hateley played 14 times that season scoring none.

Anyway, 1998/99 was Hateley's second stab at the job and big things were expected. They stated with a home defeat by Rotherham and a loss at home to Darlington before drawing 2-2 at Chester . Their first win of the season, and Hateley's only goal for the club at Boothferry Park (he only managed only three in total), came against Peterborough at the end of August. The goal came from the penalty spot, and the victory owed more to the fine form of goalkeeper Steve Wilson. A more detailed recollection, and some dodgy highlights, available at the excellent Amber Nectar blog.

When the plans for the ground were not backed by the council — wary of handing money for a significant asset straight to Lloyd — and things did not go right on the field for ether club, Lloyd was hounded out by both sets of supporters, locking them out of their grounds as he went. Not a man who should drop into the Silver Cod for a swift half any time soon. A consortium led by Tom Belton bought the club from Lloyd in October by which time Hateley's side had won three and lost 11 of their first 19 matches. Following a home defeat by Leyton Orient in November, Belton's first act as chairman was to sack Hateley and appoint experienced midfielder Warren Joyce in his stead. Hull finished fourth bottom in 1998/99, four points ahead of relegated Scarborough.

Still he tried to plough on. A spell with mighty Ross County at the start of 1999/00 in the Scottish second division brought two appearances, no goals and an early release.

Still sporting ridiculous hair, even more ludicrous earrings, and a strong sense of self worth and importance, Hateley can now be found in television studios mouthing off about how other people in football should be doing their jobs.

Others >>> Matt Smith, Hull (loan) 2021, QPR (loan) 2019 >>> Matt Ingram, Hull 2019-2024, QPR 2016-2019 >>> Josh Bowler, Hull (loan) 2019-2020, QPR 2017-2018 >>> Todd Kane, QPR 2019-2021, Hull (loan) 2018-2019 >>> Marc Pugh, QPR 2019-2020, Hull (loan) 2019 >>> Jay Simpson, QPR (loan) 2009-2010, Hull 2010-2013 >>> Damien Delaney, Hull 2002-2008, QPR 2008-2009 >>> Rowan Vine, QPR 2007-2012, Hull (loan) 2010 >>> Simon Walton, QPR 2007-2008, Hull (loan) 2008 >>> Jason Jarrett, Hull (Loan) 2006, QPR (loan) 2007 >>> Adam Bolder, Hull 1998-2000, QPR 2007-2009 >>> Dean Marney, QPR (loan) 2004, Hull City 2006-2010 >>> Nick Culkin, Hull (loan) 1999-2000, QPR 2002-2005 >>> Wayne Brown, QPR (loan) 2001, Hull 2007-2009 >>> Ernest Shepherd, Hull 1948-1950, QPR 1950-1956 >>> Terry Peacock, Hull 1952-1956, QPR 1956-1958 >>> John Collier, Hull 1920-1925, QPR 1926-1927

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