Whilst Jim Gregory’s arrival as QPR Chairman was the catalyst for our stunning rise up the divisions in the sixties, the Chairman still had to have the right manager in place if his ambitions were to be realised. As QPR have proved in recent years all the money in the world will get you nothing if you don’t have the right man at the helm. When Jim Gregory arrived on the scene he certainly found the perfect foil waiting for him in Alec Stock.
Alec arrived at Loftus Road in the summer of 1959 replacing the Leeds bound Jack Taylor as QPR manager. Over the course of his nine years in charge the club was transformed from third division also-rans to a top flight side with silverware in the cabinet and thriving youth policy.
We all know the story of our rise but what was it like to live through those times? How did following Stock’s Rangers in the sixties actually feel? To find out I spoke with the people that lived through it with him - fans, players and family.
The QPR that Alec arrived at in 1959 could not have been more different to the one he left years later. A small club, even smaller in stature than it is today, that had enjoyed a little flurry of success in the forties before settling back down to life in the lower divisions.
Fans of the era remember it as a time with little hope for progression, “Like Leyton Orient or Brentford are now” said Alastair Fawn. Whilst Harry Soloway feels the decade wasn’t one to remember. “The 50s were very difficult and started to sour on the team” he said. “After the original post war glories and promotion, we were back to where we were.”
Bernard Lambert summed up the general feeling around Loftus Road. “As very young boy viewing events from the boys pen at Loftus Road from 1957 to 1959 is that QPR seemed doomed to be stuck in the Third Division rut. The defence was quite good but the forward line left a lot to be desired.”
“In March 1959 we looked like we were going to be relegated to division four but luckily the signing of eccentric hard man centre forward George Whitelaw and a good run in saw us to safety. However that did signal the end for manager Jack Taylor thus ushering in the Alec Stock era.”
Geoff Wiles paints a similar picture but feels Stock’s predecessor deserves more of the blame for the clubs malaise.
“Before Alec Stock arrived Jack Taylor was the manager with little money and less idea. QPR were in the Third Division South and were getting 4 or 5000 to each game. They had a couple of good players. Mike Hellawell and Ron Springett for example. Hellawell went to Birmingham in exchange for Bill Finney. Hellawell went on to play for England whereas Finney was useless!
“Clive Clark was signed by Taylor but it wasn't until Stock arrived that Clark started playing and he ended up moving onto West Brom. Amazingly, after Jack Taylor left QPR, he was given the Leeds United job in 1959 and nearly sent them to oblivion. Enter Don Revie and the rest is history.”
Alec arrived in August of 1959, he was a former Rangers player of course but his appointment was anything but a sentimental one. After leaving Loftus Road to become manager of then non-league Yeovil he masterminded their stunning 1949 FA Cup run which saw him lead The Glovers through the qualifying rounds and beat Sunderland at Huish Park before leading out Yeovil at Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the fifth round, a staggering achievement.
From there he moved on to Leyton Orient where he enjoyed another promotion and another fine cup run before brief spells as Arsenal’s assistant manager and the boss of Italian side Roma led to his West London arrival.
For Alec’s daughter, Sarah Stock and her family it was the start of something special. “It was a very friendly, family atmosphere. The players were also friends; for example I can remember us all going to one of the Morgan twin's wedding and Mark Lazarus singing 'That Old Black Magic' that night.
“Rodney Marsh lived just around the corner from us at Epsom and my mum drove his wife to Epsom hospital when she went into labour as Rodney had his foot in a cast at the time. He ended up in the passenger seat with it sticking out of mum's mini window! After the baby was born I used to walk round and push his pram up the road. John Collins painted our house and Stuart Leary used to bring us presents from South Africa. They were happy times.
“Growing up life totally revolved around football. We knew not to disturb Dad on a Friday night as he was a bear with a sore head and Sundays, well it depended on the result. We were all involved as life revolved around the team and it affected everything. If he was at an away game my job was checking the all the other results and I had to have them all written down for when he got home!”
“We often went in with dad on Sundays to check on injuries etc. and also went in with him for training sessions. I used to get upset when he told me to sit in the car at Richmond Park, until he explained that grown men didn’t want little girls seeing them being sick!
“For home games Dad used to take me to the terraces behind the goal and left me with the supporters for the game with no worries. Either that or I’d sit in the box with my Mum wrapped in a blanket. I used to wander around under the stands after matches waiting for them to take me home. We would collect the empty coke and lemonade bottles from the terraces to get the money back on them. It was like one big playground, we would use tea trays to race down the grass slope with Reg Hayter’s son Peter behind the South Africa Road, all far more relaxed and free than I imagine it would be today. I could never talk to Dad after the game though as no women were allowed in the directors room at that time.”
After treading water for so many years under Jack Taylor his arrival proved popular with those that remember it.
“The majority of supporters seemed in favour of his appointment to succeed Taylor," says Jack Morgan. This would have been based on his achievements at Yeovil and experience at Arsenal, Leyton Orient and Roma, brief though it was.” Whilst Bernard Lambert paraphrased Prime Minister Harold MacMillan “we certainly needed the wind of change.”
Geoff Wiles was also delighted “When Alec was given the job I was quite happy as he had taken Orient up a couple of years earlier and anybody was better than Taylor!”
But it was the impact he had on the teams playing style that seemed to please the most. Years later poor Gary Waddock would say after succeeding Ian Holloway that the style of play would change over night. Of course it didn’t, but it seems things were different when Alec arrived.
Rodney Marsh, Rangers’ star player talked excitedly about those great days. “Alec only knew one way to play which was all out attack! We didn’t change our system home or away, it helped that we had players at the back like Frank Sibley, who was a tremendous defender so not only could we go forward but when we were under the cosh we could defend well too.”
“There was improvement to start,” recalls Geoff Wiles. “Stock didn't have a lot of money to play with but he did make some good signings like Brian Bedford, Bernie Evans, John McClelland and Mark Lazarus.” Jack Morgan and Alastair Fawn both agree. “The 59/60 season showed a slight upturn but the next two seasons greatly increased fans optimism. It seemed that the club was finally going places,” said Jack while Alastair remembers an “Improvement from the start, he seemed to be building a side to progress.”
Bernard Lambert also saw encouraging signs. “Yes Alec had an early impact,” he told us “He made good signings in Brian Bedford Mark Lazarus Jimmy Andrews, shipped out the deadwood and got our young stars Mike Keen and will-o-the-wisp winger Clive Clark established in the team. In his first season 1959/60 we finished a worthy eighth place then in 60/61 and 61/62 we finished third and fourth and believe me we were so very unlucky not to get promoted.”
But it wasn’t just on the pitch changes that impressed Bernard and Geoff. “He changed the club colours from White Shirts and Navy Blue Shorts back to the traditional Hoops,” notes Bernard and Geoff believes the clubs humble finances only served to help us in later years. “The plus side of having no money was Alec decided to set up a youth system and concentrate on this.” He says. “The Nucleus of the late 60's team came through the youth team - Sibley, Hazell, the Morgan twins and Ron Hunt.“
For the fans things were changing for the better, for Alec’s family though it wasn’t always easy as his dedication to the job dominated life in the Stock household. Sarah Stock remembers growing up with a football manager for a Dad made life very different to that of her friends.
“We were all involved. It wasn't just our dad's job it was the centre of all of our lives at the time. Sometimes there was no Dad at Christmas. If they were playing on Boxing Day, and often it was places such as Carlisle then the team travelled over Christmas. I never had parties or went to pantos, we went to football!
“He even dropped out of family holidays as he wanted to be at the ground, sorting out transfers and pre-season training. One summer we were off to Portugal and Dad dropped out two days before. I can still remember walking to the plane with Mum telling me I was not to look back and wave. He did manage some holidays though, we went to Spain in 1966 and he spent the whole holiday in the only cafe in Spain with a black and white TV watching the World Cup. My parents were very happy but my Mum had a lot of patience!”
After an encouraging start to life at Loftus Road things began to tail off for the team in the early to mid sixties, in this day and age the fans might have turned and Alec could have been out, was that the case even back then?
“The years 1963 to 1965 were indeed a time when some supporters began to grumble or question Stock’s judgment,” says Jack Morgan. “Successive lower mid-table finishes coupled with an unsatisfactory move to the White City saw performances decline alarmingly. Some players lost form and others were past it.”
Bernard Lambert remembers the atmosphere turning nasty on several occasions. “Alec's job did appear to come under threat during that poor performing period from Feb 63 to May 65. I recall one particular midweek game at Home to Hull City Oct 23 1963 when, after a miserable 2-0 defeat, there were demonstrations and chants of Stock must go! During that depressing period a number of QPR supporters thought Alec had ‘lost it’ and the future looked none too rosy. As for seasons 1963/64 and 1964/65 these campaigns are probably best forgotten. They were dire.”
Geoff Wiles though feels most of the flack was reserved for the team rather than the boss “The fans become more disgruntled with the players rather than Alec. Back in those days there wasn't this moaning culture that you get now. There was nothing in the paper except a match report, nothing on TV, you just heard the results and if things were going bad you accepted it.”
He also feels that Alec deserves some praise for steering the team through an awful financial period for the club. “There was a slump and it seemed to coincide when John Bloom tried to buy the club but he went bankrupt and bailed out. The R`s were playing at an almost empty White City Stadium. Stock had to sell his best players and replace them with the lesser quality which doesn't help any team.”
It’s sometimes easy to hurl criticism from the terraces but not realise just how things are affecting the people involved. Sarah Stock remembers one particular occasion where things got on top of Alec.
“One of my strongest memories is standing in our bathroom door when Ron Woolnough had to come from the other side of London to give Dad an injection following asthma attack. It was very frightening for a small child. He wasn't so ill that he couldn't do his job but it was still very pressured. Possibly partly due to the type of man he was; he cared desperately about others, never wanted to let anyone down and expected the best from himself at all times in all aspects of his life.
“One thing that didn’t help was that we didn't move house. He should have done but he knew that we were happy and settled in Epsom so he travelled instead. I have heard rumours that he turned down a couple of top jobs at north because of the family, I hope he never regretted it.”
Jim Gregory had joined the board late in 1964 and by the time the new season was ready to kick off in 1965 he had become Chairman and finally Alec would have a decent budget to work with as well as an ambitious boss to support him. Sarah Stock recalls their family had a close relationship with Mr Gregory “I was very young at the time but I do remember the cigars he used to smoke. Mum used to buy Christmas presents for his Grandchildren so they were closer than just chairman/manager.
“We used to go to a cafe called the 'Seven Stars' after games. It was a local place with formica topped tables - nothing posh! The players would also be there having roast beef and chips with posters of all the games around the room. All a far cry from the glamorous life of today.”
They were exciting times at Loftus Road but success didn’t come overnight despite Jim backing Stock in the transfer market that summer. Some managers used to working on tight budgets don’t respond well to suddenly being given money to use but Alec adapted effectively.
“Big Jim’s cheque book did not reap an immediate harvest,” remembers Jack Morgan. “However Stock handled the change in culture well. He bought astutely - Les Allen, for a club record £20k, Ian Watson, Alan Wilks, the underrated Keith Sanderson and Jim Langley and he had the benefit of a profusion of players from the clubs youth policy. However he still had to make everything gel, there are plenty of managers who have had great players but were unable to make a team out of them.”
Bernard Lambert recalls similar. “Enter Jim Gregory with his cheque book and determination to triumph. Despite the signings of expensive and quality players we lost the opening game of the 65/66 season 6-1 away at Brentford. In fact the team did not get going until November and we eventually finished third behind Hull and Millwall when in truth we should have gone up.”
Geoff Wiles and Alastair Fawn also believe he thrived on his new challenge. “I think Alec spent the money well,” says Geoff. “His time of free transfers (which were hit and miss) were over and he embraced his good fortune well.” Alastair agrees “I think he did very well and spent the money wisely. Signing Les Allen was the catalyst of our success over the next ten years or so in my opinion.”
Geoff also recalls the poor start to the season and the moment he feels it all turned around. “We lost heavily on his first game at Brentford and then against Mansfield a week later but the turning point was at Hull who were top. Les Allen who had been poor was given a free role behind Billy McAdams and the R’s were three up inside 20 minutes. Allen was brilliant and from that moment Rangers went on a great run and just missed promotion. It certainly was entertaining.”
With an ambitious Chairman and a decent transfer budget Alec quickly built a squad capable of getting out of the Third Division and in 1967 that dream was realised along with the famous league cup final which saw QPR, a third division outfit, come back from 2-0 down at Wembley to beat West Brom, a top flight side. It was our first, and still remains our only, major piece of silverware. Alec’s plans had all come to fruition and there seemed no stopping Rangers who stormed to a second successive promotion the following season to take their place in the top flight, at the time they were only the second side in history to achieve such a feat. Heady days for our R’s fans who revelled in our new found success.
“I remember feeling that the team was virtually unbeatable,” says Alastair Fawn. “The fans got right behind the team, goals were flying in from all over the team. Even at two down at Wembley we still all felt that we would probably win!”
“For a fourteen year old it was a real sense of wonder,” reminisces Jack Morgan. “In those days fans could still dream of one day playing in the First Division but it never really happened in real life. The fact that MY little team from the Third Division had achieved all that they did and been talked about everywhere was really almost unbelievable.
“Young supporters today would have trouble picturing a ground with seating on just one side of the ground, one old tea bar providing refreshments on the South Africa Road side, let alone the state of the toilets. Yet somehow on this slab of Shepherds Bush mud Stock fashioned a side fit to grace Wembley.”
Bernard Lambert remembers an early League Cup tie as the moment he realised Rangers had arrived. “The event that sticks out was that epic League Cup fourth round encounter against Leicester which we won 4-2 after being 2-1 down. What a game and what an atmosphere, there had been nothing like it at Loftus Road in living memory and this was confirmation that R's were heading for the big time.
“There was a massive crowd of some 21,000. Leicester were a top division club playing their strongest team and we simply blew them away. The entire ground kept up a chant of ‘RANGERS RANGERS’ throughout the whole game. It was an incredible din and I don’t think anything like that has been seen since.”
For Geoff Wiles the arrival of a certain mercurial forward towards the end of the previous season proved to be the missing piece of the jigsaw. “In March Alec signed Rodney Marsh from Fulham and the team was ready for the great season that was to follow. The next two seasons were fantastic and I was lucky enough to see every match. I travelled on the train and the team would be there as well. Alec was always very polite ‘Hello Blokes’ he would always say.
Alastair Fawn looks back on the whole period as something quite incredible. “I think those of us that were around at that time were the luckiest Rangers fans. To think where and what we were in 1964, fourteenth in the Third Division and within four years we were in the First Division and had carried off a major cup at Wembley. It would be like Brentford doing that now.”
Stock’s Rangers career would reach a bittersweet end though, despite having guided QPR to the top flight he would never select a first division side as he left the club in the summer of the 1968 with Rangers citing ill health as the reason for his departure, something which is still debated to this day.
“Goodness knows what the reasons were but most fans considered his 'sacking' unfair and felt he should have carried on,” says Jack Morgan. Bernard Lambert agrees. “How can you sack a manager during the close season after back to back promotions and a League Cup Final victory? Crikey Alec never even got the chance to select a team for the first ever game in top flight football. At the time it was reported as ill health and the majority believed the statement but Alec has denied this and has gone on record saying he was dismissed. What a mystery.”
R’s players were equally shocked at the turn of events as Roger and Ian Morgan explain. “It was very sad to see him go, especially when we’d known and worked with him for so long. I think we played Leicester at home in the first game and we were up against from day one. It was never the same,” said Roger. Brother Ian also missed him greatly. “It was a terrible shame, we were very surprised at the time and after everything he’d done for the club it was a shame that he didn’t get the chance. I idolised the fella.”
For Geoff Wiles and Alastair Fawn though his departure was not quite so emotive. “I remember thinking it was because he could be tactically a bit naive. His approach was let’s play with a bit of a swagger which wasn’t quite what the top division was about,” says Geoff, whilst Alastair feels much the same. “I think people felt he had probably gone as far as he could with QPR, we had gone from a Third Division side to the top Division in a few months really, we were sorry to see him go, but most people seemed to think it was inevitable in a way.”
Alec’s removal hit the Stock family hard. “QPR was family to us then it ripped the heart out of the family when he was sacked,” says Sarah Stock. “My mother was certainly very bitter and I cried for weeks. Dad was absolutely shattered that he took them from the third to first divisions in two seasons and won the cup but was then shown the door and remember he had been there as a player pre-war so it was a long association. The fact that he then went on to gain promotion with Luton and got to Wembley with Fulham shows how wrong this was.”
Without Stock Rangers would be relegated from Division One after just a solitary season in it, finishing bottom after winning just four games under three different managers. Whilst QPR spent the next four years trying to return to the top flight, Alec moved on to enjoy more success with Luton and Fulham.
Regardless of the mixed opinions surrounding his departure one thing that everyone seems to agree on was that Alec gave the R’s fans some of the best times of their lives. Memories abound as our contributors pick out their favourite Stock moments.
For Bernard Lambert it was a single chant. “It happened during the League Cup Semi Final first leg against Birmingham at St Andrews. We were winning 4-1 when a section of the crowd started singing.
To the top with Alec Stock Do Dah Do Dah To the top with Alec Stock Do Dah Do Dah Day
“On hearing this Alec could not hide a smile of self satisfaction and who could blame him?”
Both Geoff and Alastair get misty eyed when remembering the Leicester league cup tie, with Geoff recalling, “Leicester came down with Gordon Banks in goal. Rangers were absolutely brilliant and if it weren't for Banks, it would have been a cricket score.” And Alastair agrees “the win over Leicester in the League Cup run, which was the first time I had experienced such a terrific atmosphere at Loftus Road.”
“We were at Scunthorpe once and a handful of R's fans were behind the dugouts, remembers Geoff. “Rangers had won the game convincingly and at the end of the game as Alec was about to head down the tunnel, he stopped turned around and said to us ‘well done blokes you out sung 8000 fans’. He was a real gentleman and really appreciated the fans.”
For Jack Morgan though his highlight was actually the season we didn’t go up – 1965/66. “I remember it with great affection,” he says. “In the first game of the season Stock's side failed lamentably and were thrashed 6-1 at Brentford. However he didn’t press the panic button, Peter Springett and Ronnie Hunt were brought into the side, a few weeks later Mark Lazarus came back for a third spell at the club and near the end of the campaign a certain R. Marsh was signed from Fulham.
“There was a fantastic 3-3 draw with champions to be Hull, thanks to a John Collins hat-trick including a bullet header I’ve never forgotten. In Rodney’s first home game he notched a brace in a 6-1 whipping of soon to be runners up Millwall. This was the game when Mark Lazarus was challenged as he raced down the line by Millwall hard man/thug Harry Cripps. Mark managed to fairly shoulder charge Cripps into the wall and carry on with the ball at his feet. Sweet memories!
“The semi final first leg at Birmingham is also the first time I can recall seeing the R’s on national TV - highlights in black and white introduced by one Frank Bough anyone got it on tape?”
Alec Stock was a one off; the likes of which we’ll never see again but if you ask if there is anyone from the present day that reminds our fans of him there is one name that crops up.
“Someone like Roy Hodgson,” says Alastair Fawn. “Calm, organized, but gets things done.”
Bernard Lambert and Jack Morgan agree. “Alec was a ‘gentleman’ manager and there are none left in today’s game,” says Bernard. “Probably the nearest is Roy Hodgson of Fulham.” Jack confirms the thought. “Roy Hodgson, a quiet men, great with players and able to spot a diamond in the market. It’s impossible to compare really though the job has changed out of all recognition. I mean you imagine Alec Stock dealing with Briatore?”
Of the players we have spoken to one thing is clear, there was a huge amount of respect for Alec. A lot of our squad came through the youth system and grew up around him. He became more than just a manager, he was a father figure.
“He was quite strict but in a positive way,” says Frank Sibley. “He used to moan at us for buying things like cheese rolls from the shops down the road from the ground. He’d say things like ‘get a steak inside you’, of course we couldn’t afford steak on our wages! “
Striker Brian Bedford remembers how Alec helped him to a run of form that saw him finish his Rangers career as one of our all time greatest goal scorers. “He wasn’t a great football technician; he wasn’t one of those who could talk tactics all day. His big strength was he was a great psychologist; he was very passionate about the game and knew how to get the best out of his players. He told me the day he signed me that I’d score twenty goals a season for him and I did.”
“He was like a mentor to us; he was such a nice bloke,” said Ian Morgan. “To introduce so many young players to the first team so early must have been quite a risk but it worked for him. At the time Alec wanted enthusiasm in the side so he turned to the youngsters give him that.”
Roger Morgan agrees “He was perfect for me as a young player growing up. I thought he was excellent as a manager. I remember going on a journey just a few years back and I stopped at the services to get something to eat and blow me Alec Stock was in there! I walked up to him and said ‘Hello boss’. I still called him boss after all those years because I had so much respect for him. Rangers was such a family club though, when I got married one of the directors baked our cake and Alec Stock bought us a kettle. You wouldn’t get that these days.”
Alec returned to Rangers as caretaker manager for a couple of weeks in 1978 before taking charge of his last club, Bournemouth. He stepped down from The Cherries hot seat in 1980 but remained on the board until 1986.
Sarah Stock was hurt by QPR’s attitude towards her father in the months leading up to his passing. “I was upset by Rangers when dad was ill. Fulham, Orient and Yeovil pulled out all the stops out to help him by organising testimonials and the like but Rangers did not. I was reduced to begging for money to pay for his care and I do feel they owed him a bit. I don't even remember them sending anything to his funeral, although Derek Healey and Mark Lazarus came. I even had a letter from an old supporter who said how disgusted he was that they were not there.
“But I won't let that spoil the memories. QPR in the early sixties was a very special place because of the people. I feel privileged and very lucky to be Dad's daughter. Although football took a lot of him we wouldn't have changed it for anything.”
Alec passed away in April 2001 at the age of 84, in the weeks that followed his old club Fulham cemented a return to the top flight, Yeovil were on their way to gaining football league status and Rangers? They were relegated back to the same division Alec first joined them in 1959. A stark reminder of exactly how far QPR had come, and then fallen again, since his arrival nearly half a decade before.
I'd like to thank everyone who contributed towards this article particularly Bernard Lambert, Harry Soloway, Jack Morgan, Alastair Fawn and Geoff Wiles for their fantastic memories and opinions and a special thanks to Sarah Stock for getting in touch and offering her input and support.
