A LOOK BACK AT THE ATTEMPTS TO MERGE QPR AND WIMBLEDON 

The date: 24 February 2001. The venue: Selhurst Park. What should have been a tooth-and-nail fight against relegation turned out to be one of the most abject performances from a Rangers team in living memory, with QPR capitulating 5-0 to Wimbledon FC and leaving themselves in 21^st place in Division 1.

Angry and fearful as the mood in the stands was, QPR fans had no idea at the time that something much worse was being plotted in the Selhurst Park directors’ box where Nick Blackburn and Charles Koppel were discussing a merger between the two clubs.
 

Five weeks later on 3 May – after QPR had been relegated to Division 2 - all hell broke loose when The Sun newspaper revealed that plans to merge the two clubs were not only being discussed but had reached an advanced stage. The merged team was to play at Loftus Road in the hoops from the beginning of the following season with Wimbledon’s Terry Burton as manager, and it was suggested that the new name should be Queens Park Dons or Wimbledon
Rangers.

Chris Wright, caught on the back foot after the leak to the press, said he had expected some controversy when the news broke, but believed that “a silent majority” would support the move. 

By the end of that day Rangers fans had demonstrated outside Loftus Road and the Football League headquarters, David Davies’s car had been trashed, supporters groups from both clubs had expressed their fury to the press, and the suits at QPR, apparently surprised by the strength of feeling, issued a statement saying they had decided not to proceed after all.

Rangers legend Rodney Marsh said: “As a former QPR player, I was shocked to hear talk of a merger with Wimbledon. I’m dead against it and I’m not the only one. Football clubs aren’t like businesses because they tug at the heartstrings. You can’t put a price on tradition.” 

Three members of the QPR board of directors of the time are still on the board today: Nick Blackburn, Ross Jones and David Davies.