Ex-QPR and Spurs Roger Morgan Profiled and Interviewed

-
Of all the things the official site does, its series of profiles and interviews is one of its best.
Those of a certain age will remember Roger Morgan on one wing and his twin brother Ian Morgan on the other wing. And then that sad day, when Roger Morgan went to Spurs for a then amazing fee of 110,000 pounds (at a time when the British record transfer fee was 150,000 pounds for Alan Clarke)

QPR Official Site - BLAST FROM THE PAST - Roger Morgan
Posted on: Tue 01 Apr 2008

In our latest instalment of exclusive past player interviews on www.qpr.co.uk, R's legend Roger Morgan comes under the spotlight.

Roger Morgan (1964-1969)

Roger Morgan holds a special place in the history of Queens Park Rangers Football Club. He scored our first ever goal at Wembley Stadium.

It came in the 1967 League Cup Final. Third Division minnows QPR trailed 2-0 at half-time to top flight opponents West Bromwich Albion. But the fight back began in the second period with Morgan heading home in spectacular fashion for the R's on 63 minutes.
He said: "I still get a lot of stick from my children and other people about that goal! I didn't score that many with my head as it was not one of my greatest attributes, I can assure you. I thought I rose above the defender in the air and nodded home Les Allen's cross. But my kids say the ball hit me on the head and went in!

"It was a situation where Les chipped it into a space, I arrived there, jumped and nodded it into the net. The rest is history in some respects."

Rangers were unstoppable on the Wembley turf after that. Rodney Marsh and Mark Lazarus found the net to secure our famous 3-2 victory.

"You just felt it was inevitable that we were going to win in the end because we were on a roller coaster," said Morgan. " Rodney did his solo bit to level the scores at 2-2 with a great goal. Then Ronnie Hunt went forward and the ball ricocheted around the box. As it came out, I wasn't that far away and I thought I could score.

"But Mark Lazarus beat me to it and he knocked in the winner. It didn't matter who got it. The ball went in and we were ahead.

"We all knew that we had the ability to beat West Brom on the day although we didn't start very well. We had been written off by all the pundits beforehand and we probably played like underdogs in the first half. But we put things right after the break.

"As a footballer, the chance to play at Wembley at any stage of your career is fantastic. But I was only 20 so it was a really great day for me."

Morgan originally came up through the youth ranks at Loftus Road, playing alongside his twin brother Ian. The two lads were so identical that Rangers boss Alec Stock asked them to adopt different haircuts so that he could tell them apart.

"I think it helped our careers that we were twins. Yes, Ian had his own identity and I had mine as a player. But there were times when the football public would talk about the twins that were playing in the same side at QPR and people didn't know which one was Roger and which one was Ian. So it got our names known.

"We were very lucky that we were given our first team opportunities at Rangers at a young age. We were both 17 at the time. Ian made his debut at home to Hull City in September 1964 and I joined him in the side the following week against Gillingham. So all of a sudden, a football talking point was that there were two youngsters playing on the wings at QPR that were unique in the sense of being identical twins.

"To us, it was just two footballers playing and one was Roger and one was Ian. We didn't think we were identical. But obviously other people always said we were very much alike.

"So we tried to alter our hairstyles. I used to say to Ian 'We've got to change it for our own identity. Whether one has longer hair than the other or a bit shorter. We'll have to do something.'

"People still come up to us now and say 'Which one are you?' But our closest friends know the difference so easily as we are like chalk and cheese."

Morgan was part of the Rangers side that went on to win back-to-back promotions up to the old First Division. Then he eventually moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £110,000 in February 1969.

Nowadays, Morgan is 61 in a couple of months and is still involved in football on the coaching side. But he is set to cut back on his involvement in the near future.

"I have worked at West Ham United for 18 years as Football In The Community Manager. But I am planning to retire in October and my son Andrew is going to take over. My other son Jason runs the Community scheme at Charlton Athletic. It is great that both my lads are involved in football, even if they are not actually playing.

"I'm going to keep myself busy by doing some PE teaching in a school for a couple of days a week. It will be multi-sports with 'short tennis' and athletics for primary school kids.

"Apart from that, I will no doubt end up doing the garden and the fencing for my kids as well as playing with my grandchildren!" QPR