Revie’s Rangers (The Fabulous Five)

It was a very proud moment for R’s fans when no less than five QPR players were called up for the England squad by Manager Don Revie in 1975.The Press photo below shows the five players and the details on the reverse side reads as follows:

‘On Friday (7-11-75), Don Revie named a 22-strong squad for the European Championship game in Portugal on November 19. One name stood out. That of Stan Bowles – providing that skill and genuine class are assets that cannot be ignored. The call to Bowles – he is one of five QPR men in the squad – can only act as a spur to Stoke’s Alan Hudson and to Charlie George. As the game in England goes through one of its periodic sessions of self-examination, it is not without significance that Revie relies on QPR stars. Few, if any, clubs work harder than Rangers at developing the skill factor.
PS: The Fabulous Five…Queen’s Park Rangers England stars who will be gunning for a place in the Portugal match (left to right), Dave Thomas, Stan Bowles, Gerry Francis, Phil Parkes and Ian Gillard.’

A reminder of these players full International England careers were as follows:

Stan Bowles – He made his debut in April 1974 against Portugal in Lisbon, which was also Sir Alf Ramsey’s final match as England Manager. In his next full International, he scored a goal in Cardiff against Wales. There were to be only three further caps for Stan, Northern Ireland at Wembley, Italy in Rome and finally Holland at Wembley in 1977.

Gerry Francis – Gerry Francis soon became the England captain. In only his fifth full International, he was made captain for the trip to Basle against the Swiss in September 1975. Previously his first full International was in October 1974 against Czechoslovakia at Wembley. There were of course those two memorable goals in that 5-1 victory over the Scots at Wembley in May 1975. He scored one more goal a year later against Northern Ireland and dogged by injury, Gerry’s final game was against Finland in Helsinki in June 1976. He also captained a representative side against Team America in Philadelphia and scored one of the goals in a 3-1 victory.

Ian Gillard – In March 1975, Ian Gillard played against West Germany at Wembley which was followed by an appearance against Wales also at Wembley. His final cap was later that year against Czechoslovakia in Bratislava.

Phil Parkes – Phil Parkes was the best QPR goalkeeper that I’ve ever seen and was very unlucky that he had to contend with the likes of Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence during his prime. Phil Parkes only received one England cap which was his appearance against Portugal in a 0-0 draw in Lisbon.

Dave Thomas – He came on as a sub in the match against Czechoslovakia in October 1974 at Wembley. The following month he was in the starting line-up for the 0-0 draw against Portugal. In 1975, he made a further six appearances. Coming off the bench in April for the match against Cyprus and then started in May against them in Limassol. Later that month, he started against Wales at Wembley and was then a sub in the 5-1 defeat of Scotland. His last two caps were against Czechoslovakia in Bratislava and finally in November against Portugal in Lisbon.

Steve Russell

10 thoughts on “Revie’s Rangers (The Fabulous Five)

  1. Players we could only dream of eh Flab?
    Add Dave Clement to the mix as well, plus Masson and Givens.
    Will we ever see their like in the Hoops again?
    That’s what I dream of.

  2. A great team with great team spirit that entertained those of us fortunate to have watched them. They produced the goods on pitches that left much to be desired and were paid a fraction of the amount the prized poodles of today are paid just to turn out. Must agree with Kerrins (under protest) that it was the finest team in the history of the Rs.
    We were so lucky to have seen them..simply brilliant.

  3. Think Pete summed it up perfectly… it was a privilage… I would so love our next generation to have witnessed it. Convinced we will never see the likes again, because the game is heading for oblivion.

  4. Wonderful days and a great piece Steve (as ever). I will forever be grateful to my dad that he recognised something special was building up that season and that he took me and my brother to 12 out of the 21 away games. I’m not so sure we will ever see a team like that grace Loftus Rd again.

  5. Are you forgetting Terry Mancini who was also an international playing at the same time.

    9 internationals in one side and we could watch them all for less then £20.

  6. Nice work Steve, i’m gutted that I was just too young to see the 75-76 team I started going as that team was in decline.
    A well timed piece bearing in mind Briatore’s comment that at the moment we are watching players at the club we could only dream of before! incredible does he know our history?

  7. Thanks for your comment Steve.
    Terry Mancini had been transferred to Arsenal a year earlier in October 1974 mate. But we did have Don Givens who was a regular for Eire and Don Masson was to make his debut for Scotland in 1976 as did Dave Clement for England.I will be featuring some of our other Internationals in the future.

  8. I remember hearing a story about Henry Mancini who was a londoner who was selected for Eire,he was lining up for the national anthems on his debut alongside Don Givens and he said to him ” their national anthem goes on a while Don” so Don replied “it’s ours”!

  9. I had the privelege of seeing Gerry Francis , Ian Gillard and Dave Thomas play together for England against Wales in May ’75.I also managed to see Gillard,Paul Parker,Andy Sinton and Les Ferdinands debuts.I’ve never felt so proud when Les scored on his debut at Wembley.Sintons debut was on 13th Nov ’91 in Poznan ,Poland and Trevor Kingham & John Proudlock ran an LSA coach to the game.

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