QPR Report Flashback Q&As: Rodney Marsh

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Originally posted on the QPR Report site in May 2009: Some Questions and Responses by "The Greatest," Rodney Marsh


A: Best QPR manager..Alec Stock....best QPR player I played with Gerry Francis, when he was 18/19 and green...he was brilliant ! Just had a cheddar cheese roll and cup tea, watching the French Open by the pool in Tampa.... forgot the last one :) oh ye, would be nice to be a Global Ambassador for the club, especially with my USA contacts. And yes, I remember that Fulham game with great fondess. Playing with Besty and Mooro, sad they're both' brown bread' now !!


Q: Good afternoon Rodney, may I ask who you feel in the game at the moment is most like you when you were a pro?
A: Closest would be Cantona but with more goals and running more with the ball !

Q:If he had stayed at QPR and not moved to Manchester City, does he think that staying with QPR, might have made the difference between 2nd and 1st place in 75-76 season?
A: No because QPR had an ample replacement in Stan Bowles, who was a magnificent footballer who never got anywhere near the credit he deserved. He was brilliant !

Q:When you were playing Rodney, the game was full of colourful charactors, These days it's all about nutrition, workrate and dosh. Do you feel the charactor aspect has been driven out of the game and replaced with sterile cardboard cut outs? I honestly wont mention Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney or any Arsenal players.
For positive examples: you chatting to fans, Lazurus shaking fans hands after scoring, Stanley hiding the ball up his shirt, Francis Lee, Best tackling you etc.
Lastly, just curious, with your expertise, who do you think would make a good manager for the current QPR??
A: My philosophy is to hire the man to get you to the next level then replace him , and give him a golden handshake . Someone like Alan Curbishley would be my choice...

Q: I know there's been a history of over who was the better player, but could you imagine how it might have been if we had had both Rodney and Stan in our starting line up?
Like watching that Best/Rodney Fulham clip all over again!
A: In 2007 there was a opinion poll about the greatest Man Utd player ever. Eric Cantona was voted No !. 80% of the voters had never seen George Best play. So I always thought those type of comparisons are totally redundant. I saw them both many times and Besty was better IMO.
Stan and me would have been a disaster together. I was a ball player, whlie Stan was a ball holder. Huge difference in styles.

Q: If you had become QPR Manager - Either at the time of Richard Thompson, or at some other time, how do you think would have done? The old great players don't often make great managers. And great forwards often don't make great managers...
A: Very true...I was never offered the manager's job at QPR. Gerry Francis was the manager and doing very well. I was recruited to be Chief Executive as that had been my role in Tampa for ten years.

Q: Rodney's overhead kicks.. Does he remember the wonder goal he scored with an overhead kick in the Div 3 game at Loftus Rd against Bristol Rovers(won 4-1) circa Mar/April 1966. One journalist/pundit said to the effect...Rodney Marsh's position was such that he would have needed radar just to determine where the goal was located never mind score.
A: I think you always remember great goals. Like the 'offside' bicycle kick goal in the 1967 final. I remember the overhead kick goal for Man City. Tony Hazell had been kicking lumps off me all day so it was great to score such a brilliant winning goal. Don't think Stan played that day.

Q: And what about that late winning goal for Man City against us 1974/75?(1-0) How did he feel about that!.....from my own seat in the North Stand at Maine Rd judging by his celebrations he seemed pretty pleased with himself!
A: :To summarize a couple of questions I received: What was your impression of the QPR Player of the Year event you recently mcd/ A lot of fans who attended were very unhappy by the way that the players acted/rushed out?
Which fits into the broader question of "your" generation versus the current generation of footballers...Obviously massive more money. Agents involved, etc.
Forget the money aspects for a moment, but do you'd have developed into a totally different kind of player, if you'd been a player coming into the game today: On the one hand, more physical development, better nutrition, etc. On the other, more control, less willing to leave to flair, etc. A rather broad topic!
A: I was very disappointed at that too. I thought they coud have stayed for 30 mins for photos. But it's a different breed of player today. No one puts the club first anymore !!! Many players used to in fact I probably could have signed for a bigger club three years before I eventually joine dMan City !

Q: Rodney, A pleasure being able to ask you questions and you takin g the time to respond. A big thanks to you and also QPRreport for making this happen.
Who would you say is your favourite and who is the best QPR player or players over the last 13 years?
A: Roy Wegerle was the last Rangers player I really enjoyed watching and Les Ferdinand was the last truly top class player IMO.

Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement in the game?
Who was the most difficult defender to play against?
A: Winning the League Cup Final in such a dramatic way !. It put Rangers on the map, got me my first England cap and took the club to a level not known previously and incredibly into the highest league the following season.

Q: What was the name of that Glasgow Rangers full back?
A: Kai Johansson from Denmark. He'd been kicking me all game but I actually got sent off for butting Jock Watson the centre half ! Got fined by the FA and by the club. Great game though 3-3 in a humdinger.

Q: What was your single biggest disappointment in football? : Losing out on Championship with Man City? Leaving Fulham? Relegation with QPR? Not gaining promotion again with QPR?
Not winning more England caps?
A: Being pulled off with four minutes to go by Gordon Jago in the USA Cup Final , we were losing and lost 1-2. putz !! It was the final game of my career. Very similar to Graham Taylor pulling off Gary Linekar for England !!

Q: People often comment that a lot of players in the past couldn't make it in todays game because it;s a lot faster and the players are a lot fitter.
Football was a lot more physical when you were playing. These days you can't tackle from behind and get penalised for the slightest thing. Do you think the likes of the Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, Didier Drogba etc etc would have been as effective if they went back in time and came up against physical players like Dave McKay, Tommy Smith, Norman Hunter etc.
A: There are many players today who couldn't live in the game back then. Drogba is one of them although I think Rooney would have loved having a 'row' every week !

Q: Another question. What's your view on technology to help out referees, i,e Goal line cameras. An official viewing a monitor to help out the referee with decisions.
A: Yes, I said this five years ago on Soccer Saturday. But only for over the line incidents and only if the ref asks for it ...

Q: Thanks Rodney,It seems as if Jim Magilton is due to be announced the next QPR manager. Personally, I feel that shows a real lack of ambition. What are your thoughts and what type of Manager would you have gone for?
A: Anyone can stoop and pick up nothing ! Now is the time for Rangers to make a statemnet of intent !My sources tell me, there is a brilliant young manager/coach for the Paraquay under 21's , I believe. Don't know his name but if it were me , I would do due diligence and get someone like that.

Q actually rodders i thought tony hazell was quite elequently spoken at the mike keen funeral
when he was talking to you and me and mark lazarus perhaps tony could have made it as a manager
you really made me laugh rod when tony said lets make the goal posts further apart to create more goals
and you come up with a typical rod marsh comment HEY TONY LETS PUT DWARFS IN THE GOALS AS WELL
mark lazarus looked fantastic for his age he was such a great charactor
if only roger morgan had shown up we could have had all the goalscorers from the leauge cup final
A: Indeed !

THANKS AGAIN TO THE GREAT RODNEY MARSH!