R's on the Road To.......... Swansea City.
On Tuesday night QPR fans face a long away trip as they travel across the border into Wales and to Swansea City. It's first verus fourth as Rangers' look to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
Here are a few hints and tips for your journey.
The Stadium.
Current Capacity – 20,500
Swansea Town were formed in 1912 and played at the Vetch Field. They joined the football league in 1920 and have been members ever since. In 1970 they changed their name from Swansea Town to Swansea City.
The early 1980’s were the clubs most successful years when under the guidance of Cardiff born manager John Toshack. He guided ‘The Jacks’ into the top flight in 1981 before leading the club to three successive Welsh Cups which lead to the club playing in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
After suffering years of rapid falling down the leagues and financial meltdown in 2003 the club finally found some stability and started to build towards the future.
Swansea moved into the Liberty stadium in 2005 having been at home at the Vetch Field since 1912 and spending 93 years there.
The stadium cost £27 million to build and is fairly conservative in design. It is another of the familiar bowl shaped stadiums that we are now becoming accustomed to in this day and age.
A few useless facts about the stadium include- there are 1,450 pre-cast concrete piles in the ground. If you laid out the piles end to end then they would stretch to almost 13miles! Also, The upper floors and roof structure will be supported by 2,500 tonnes of structural steelwork, which is equal to the weight of 300 average sized African elephants or 1,400 Ford Focus’. Now if they are not useless facts then I don’t know what is.
The History between the teams.
At Swansea (19)
Swansea 10
QPR 8
Draw. 1
Fixtures between the clubs have been very few and far between and when the clubs finally do play each other it is usually in a cup competition. That was until of course The Swans got promoted into the Championship with Roberto Martinez at the helm for the 2008/2009 season. A 0-0 draw for Iain Dowie’s men against 10 men and a defender in goal for over 60 minutes at the Liberty Stadium was played out last October in the R’s first visit to Swansea’s new home. The R’s did manage a 1-0 victory in the return fixture, this time Paulo Sousa was the Rangers manager before his well publicized departure. Sousa was victorious as Rangers' went down after the two sendings off of Ben Watson and Martin Rowlands, the latter just as the R's were enjoying a dominant spell and hit the bar. Two goals killed the game off and gave the R's fans a miserable long journey home down the M4.
Sousa departed the Swans during the summer to take charge of Leicester only to be sacked three months into the job. Brendan Rodgers has taken the hotseat and has enjoyed a very good start to the season and Scott Sinclair, a former Rangers' loanee, has been one of his most inspirational signings.
How to get there.
By Car:- The all important post code for sat nav users is SA1 2FA.
Otherwise here are the directions for you.
Get on the M4 and go all the way down to junction 45. From here join onto the A4067 towards the City Centre. Around two and a half miles down the road you will see the stadium on your left hand side.
For parking it is advised to supporters to use the Park and Ride facility which is located at Swansea Vale which is on the A4067, shortly off the M4 turning.
There is also street parking available just past the stadium so it will be a case of whatever floats yr boat.
By Train:- As reported on the Official QPR website this Monday the train service will terminate at Cardiff on Saturday due to works on the line. A replacement bus service will be available from here. Check out the national rail website out for details on your journey so you can allow enough time to arrive at the Liberty Stadium.
Pubs 'n' Grub.
Police have instructed pubs close to the ground to not admit away fans, however some people have said that the Harvester right outside the ground has let in away supporters is a great choice of pub for today. If you venture into the City Centre for a drink then these three pubs are recommended, Yates, The bank Statement and The No Sign Bar.
Alcohol is also served in the ground for around £3 a pint.
For food you can use the Harvester as already mentioned or use the array of restaurant or retail outlets available to you.
Here are a few hints and tips for your journey.
The Stadium.
Current Capacity – 20,500
Swansea Town were formed in 1912 and played at the Vetch Field. They joined the football league in 1920 and have been members ever since. In 1970 they changed their name from Swansea Town to Swansea City.
The early 1980’s were the clubs most successful years when under the guidance of Cardiff born manager John Toshack. He guided ‘The Jacks’ into the top flight in 1981 before leading the club to three successive Welsh Cups which lead to the club playing in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
After suffering years of rapid falling down the leagues and financial meltdown in 2003 the club finally found some stability and started to build towards the future.
Swansea moved into the Liberty stadium in 2005 having been at home at the Vetch Field since 1912 and spending 93 years there.
The stadium cost £27 million to build and is fairly conservative in design. It is another of the familiar bowl shaped stadiums that we are now becoming accustomed to in this day and age.
A few useless facts about the stadium include- there are 1,450 pre-cast concrete piles in the ground. If you laid out the piles end to end then they would stretch to almost 13miles! Also, The upper floors and roof structure will be supported by 2,500 tonnes of structural steelwork, which is equal to the weight of 300 average sized African elephants or 1,400 Ford Focus’. Now if they are not useless facts then I don’t know what is.
The History between the teams.
At Swansea (19)
Swansea 10
QPR 8
Draw. 1
Fixtures between the clubs have been very few and far between and when the clubs finally do play each other it is usually in a cup competition. That was until of course The Swans got promoted into the Championship with Roberto Martinez at the helm for the 2008/2009 season. A 0-0 draw for Iain Dowie’s men against 10 men and a defender in goal for over 60 minutes at the Liberty Stadium was played out last October in the R’s first visit to Swansea’s new home. The R’s did manage a 1-0 victory in the return fixture, this time Paulo Sousa was the Rangers manager before his well publicized departure. Sousa was victorious as Rangers' went down after the two sendings off of Ben Watson and Martin Rowlands, the latter just as the R's were enjoying a dominant spell and hit the bar. Two goals killed the game off and gave the R's fans a miserable long journey home down the M4.
Sousa departed the Swans during the summer to take charge of Leicester only to be sacked three months into the job. Brendan Rodgers has taken the hotseat and has enjoyed a very good start to the season and Scott Sinclair, a former Rangers' loanee, has been one of his most inspirational signings.
How to get there.
By Car:- The all important post code for sat nav users is SA1 2FA.
Otherwise here are the directions for you.
Get on the M4 and go all the way down to junction 45. From here join onto the A4067 towards the City Centre. Around two and a half miles down the road you will see the stadium on your left hand side.
For parking it is advised to supporters to use the Park and Ride facility which is located at Swansea Vale which is on the A4067, shortly off the M4 turning.
There is also street parking available just past the stadium so it will be a case of whatever floats yr boat.
By Train:- As reported on the Official QPR website this Monday the train service will terminate at Cardiff on Saturday due to works on the line. A replacement bus service will be available from here. Check out the national rail website out for details on your journey so you can allow enough time to arrive at the Liberty Stadium.
Pubs 'n' Grub.
Police have instructed pubs close to the ground to not admit away fans, however some people have said that the Harvester right outside the ground has let in away supporters is a great choice of pub for today. If you venture into the City Centre for a drink then these three pubs are recommended, Yates, The bank Statement and The No Sign Bar.
Alcohol is also served in the ground for around £3 a pint.
For food you can use the Harvester as already mentioned or use the array of restaurant or retail outlets available to you.
posted by Lee @ 10/18/2010
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