| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column 17:02 - Aug 24 with 11077 views | Northernr |
Some of you may remember at the end of last season our regular poster Robith lost his father to cancer. I had a conversation with him at the time about the 'going back to Loftus Road' bit of the grieving process that so many of us have been through.
A few weeks later he got in touch with this piece, which he said had been cathartic to write in tribute to Terry, and it is absolutely my privilege to publish for him today.
You R's.
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/58345 |  | | |  |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:04 - Aug 25 with 2194 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 22:19 - Aug 24 by steveo04 |
This piece really hits home, I lost my Dad just two days after they gave him 4-6 weeks also due to cancer , we watched the Crawley game together and planned to watch the German pre season games but alas we didn’t get that far. The Middlesbrough game was my first ever game without dad since we first went in 1984 . Even after he passed and the funeral I didn’t really cry, soon as willock put it top bins my tears flowed.
It not the same I won’t lie but he never want me to stop going . |
My friend, that's so tough.
Truth be told, when the rail seating wasn't ready, I used it as an excuse to skip Boro because I couldn't face it yet.
I'm sure the randomest thing will set the tears off. Dad used to love saying "it's a good thing they're shit" if the oppo missed a chance so I might start doing it as a tribute |  | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:04 - Aug 25 with 2158 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 09:55 - Aug 25 by robith |
Ha, we always used to listen to Pearce in the car too. My imagination or he was more fun on radio than TV?
Thanks for sharing, it must bring some comfort to be carrying on a little tradition with your own wee un |
Jonathan Pearce was much better on Capital Gold football I thought. I used to listen to him and Bobby Moore! They used to do some random matches back in the day. |  |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:10 - Aug 25 with 2177 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 00:08 - Aug 25 by Noelmc |
Beautiful story Rob about your 'auld fella'. Your shared bond over QPR will stay in your memory forever.
My dad died over 22 years ago in December 1999, a week after I turned 40. He arrived from Donegal just after the war in 1947 and like most Irish men of his time was following Man Utd when I was born in 1959. However in the early 60's he made the key decision to move the family from Hanwell to Shepherds Bush and from our house in Oaklands Grove you could hear the roar of the crowd and I was hooked.
He came to the odd match with me in the 70's but started attending more regularly in the 80's and 90's after he retired and loved the early 90's team with Super Ray and Sir Les, who he thought was outstanding. In 1998 when he was diagnosed with cancer he was no longer able to go and he passed away 18 months later. However, even as his health deteriorated dramatically he always wanted to know how Rangers were getting on and it was our main topic of conversation during his illness.
He died having fulfilled his ambition that my sister and I would have a much better quality of education and life than he'd been afforded and I'm lucky to still have so many fantastic memories of him. Many of those relate to our trips to Loftus Road and it's great to re-kindle them every time I visit and pass our old house in Oaklands Grove.
Treasure your memories of your 'auld fella' and I'm so glad his ambition to see Charlie score a winner was fulfilled in such a fantastic way. RIP Terry. |
I imagine this is such a common story across Irish families in London, and probably so many QPR fans too.
I've found even after a few months, the sadness diminishes a bit and I remember the great memories. And not the crap ones like where he forgot to pick me up from work and I had to walk home for 45 minutes in the pouring rain | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:16 - Aug 25 with 2169 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 08:26 - Aug 25 by eastside_r |
Robert. I hope your Dad didn’t suffer too much and that writing that article will be a useful part of your grieving process. Is cathartic the word?
Just keep remembering those great shared experiences you had with him especially with QPR and Charlie Austin.
I didn’t have any like that with my Dad who passed away on the morning of the Charlton cup game and delivering his eulogy next week is going to be tough. |
strength to you my friend.
It was hard to know cos dad was so stoic through it all, and not living at home I'd say I have a different experience of his illness to my mum and brother who were there every day. I got to turn up once a week and act the clown so I was often insulated from the full extent of it.
At the very end it was pretty rough. He went into hospital to have some fluid drained, but the nurse (quite rightly) wouldn't release him as none of his palliative care was in place. We had a nurse come round who led a one woman war against the NHS getting everything set up. But they let him come home at midday the next day, but we didn't have anything but a bed until 4pm. He was in a really bad way and basically my sister and I were having to make judgement calls on how much oral morphine to give him. Once the nurses came round he got his morphine driver put in and he was peaceful until the end.
I was fortunate doing the eulogy that dad had Ian Dury's Reasons to Be Cheerful Part 3 as the music for his coffin to come in, which had everyone laughing and set the stage for me to basically tell jokes about him for 5 minutes | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:23 - Aug 25 with 2163 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 08:45 - Aug 25 by gazza1 |
Nice write up mate....I must say that Dad looks good in the last photo. |
Yeah, the bounceback from that first round of chemo was unreal. We still have his consultant's letter which is like "this is a miracle". He went back to work cos he was bored (and if you meet me in the boozer, I'll tell you when he was painting a hotel what Watford player grassed him up for not wearing a mask while he was taking a breather).
He had a bit of a dip after that Millwall game and they basically put him on rolling, low level chemo 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. And he was near enough fine for like a year. Sadly he got an infection in his bone marrow from the chemo, and that was when they reached the conclusion there was nothing more they could do as it was doing as much harm as the cancer at that point.
When I asked him how he felt when he got the news he said "I forgot I was ill to be honest". Perverse perhaps, but I feel incredibly lucky for the experience we got as it's very different for a lot of other people | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 10:50 - Aug 25 with 2110 views | A40Bosh |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 09:58 - Aug 25 by robith |
Both my parents had pretty tough upbringings, but the biggest thing I learnt from my dad is that you don't have to be bound by your past. You can be different, you can make a change however small. |
Rob,
Firstly, thank you for sharing that beautiful tribute to your dad. Once I saw Clive's post yesterday during work hours I thought "best leave reading that until tonight".
Your own tribute and some of the other pieces that we have seen coming from posters who are sharing the loss of their dad or perhaps mum for also acts as a gentle reminder to myself (I won't speak for others) to not simply take for granted the great relationship I still have with both my parents to this day, as they are both fortunately still with us and to continue to make the most of that time we do have as a family. So thank you for that too.
Dad gave up his season ticket about 5 years back, not for health reasons, but even he was sick of his moaning about how rubbish the team were compared to the team under Sexton - but since he was the one who brought me here in the first place aged 2 in 1969, he can bloody well start coming back to games this season with me and sit through it too and listen to me banging on that this team has nothing on the Ollie or Warnock teams!
Hope that being part of the new rail seating era is a good one for you Rob and you bring your dad over to the new seat with you in your heart |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:05 - Aug 25 with 2059 views | Mytch_QPR |
Great writing, Rob.
We are privileged to have some great posters on this site. Thank you for sharing your story. It makes me realise that every moment spent with your parents is important as we get older.
The Macca bit made me laugh out loud - never meet your heroes, eh?
Of course your dad was the real hero - rightly so. |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:15 - Aug 25 with 2050 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:05 - Aug 25 by Mytch_QPR |
Great writing, Rob.
We are privileged to have some great posters on this site. Thank you for sharing your story. It makes me realise that every moment spent with your parents is important as we get older.
The Macca bit made me laugh out loud - never meet your heroes, eh?
Of course your dad was the real hero - rightly so. |
Felt so hard done by, saw some other Hillingdon boy on twitter bump into Macca and get taken to QPR training! All I got was an aye | | | |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:18 - Aug 25 with 2035 views | sprocket |
Thanks for sharing your story and brought back memories and tears thinking of my own parents. I lost my father at 17 and although we had some good times, over the years I sometimes long for time I missed with him thru his early passing, also cancer. The time and relationship you had with your father will last your lifetime and give you some peace. RIP Terry a life well lived. |  | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:31 - Aug 25 with 1970 views | Superhoop83 |
Superb and moving.
We are QPR. |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:55 - Aug 25 with 1912 views | aston_hoop |
A beautifully written and moving piece Robert, a wonderful tribute to a man who who sounds like a great guy. Your relationship with your father resonates so much with me and probably many on here, I drew so many parallels on background and going to Rangers with my own.
Also big up Andy Sinton, I remember you mentioning it on here at the time but thats such a lovely thing to do. |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:59 - Aug 25 with 1907 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:55 - Aug 25 by aston_hoop |
A beautifully written and moving piece Robert, a wonderful tribute to a man who who sounds like a great guy. Your relationship with your father resonates so much with me and probably many on here, I drew so many parallels on background and going to Rangers with my own.
Also big up Andy Sinton, I remember you mentioning it on here at the time but thats such a lovely thing to do. |
This always tickles me
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:59 - Aug 25 with 1906 views | Lblock |
My God.........
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| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:05 - Aug 25 with 1882 views | westberksr |
a lovely and moving tale Rob...
with an 85 year old R's fan Dad now housebound, it struck a chord with my own life & times following QPR.
I think all of the sons of fathers have a few specific games and moments that they will always cherish. I'm sat thinking of mine as reading yours; all a bit emotional!
RIP to your Dad and all the best to you and your family going forwards. |  | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:42 - Aug 25 with 1831 views | Northernr |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 11:59 - Aug 25 by robith |
This always tickles me
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Andy Sinton is such an incredible guy. He's doing stuff like that all the time. Turns up at QPR funerals too, as does Lee Hoos which never gets mentioned when people are coating him off. | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:50 - Aug 25 with 1812 views | boysfromthebush |
Beautifully written, and a very moving tribute to your old man.
You R's. | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:55 - Aug 25 with 1798 views | Rangersw12 |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:42 - Aug 25 by Northernr |
Andy Sinton is such an incredible guy. He's doing stuff like that all the time. Turns up at QPR funerals too, as does Lee Hoos which never gets mentioned when people are coating him off. |
Sinton has been the best signing of the Fernandes era
A wonderful ambassador for the club | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 13:04 - Aug 25 with 1784 views | sprocket |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:55 - Aug 25 by Rangersw12 |
Sinton has been the best signing of the Fernandes era
A wonderful ambassador for the club |
Sint's really is fantastic. Lucky to have him. | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 13:20 - Aug 25 with 1739 views | robith |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 12:42 - Aug 25 by Northernr |
Andy Sinton is such an incredible guy. He's doing stuff like that all the time. Turns up at QPR funerals too, as does Lee Hoos which never gets mentioned when people are coating him off. |
Dad couldn't speak highly enough of him - in fact dad had to be like "err I actually have to go" after an hour, couldn't get him off the phone | | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 13:40 - Aug 25 with 1704 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 13:20 - Aug 25 by robith |
Dad couldn't speak highly enough of him - in fact dad had to be like "err I actually have to go" after an hour, couldn't get him off the phone |
Don't tell Clive that!
He'll kill Sints off like he did my Mum!! |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 14:37 - Aug 25 with 1551 views | ngbqpr |
A lovely story, wonderfully told. Thanks for sharing.
This is why we go, isn't it? The years and years of shared experiences with family or close friends we travel round the country with...the more sporadic, less intense but equally enjoyable fortnightly moments with the crew in your part of the ground, you may not even know each other's names but you share so much with those wry smiles and knowing nods, the occasional celebratory fall down a few rows.
The goals, the saves, the pints...all factors...but this tale of the EXPERIENCE of a relationship at its best...both family and humanity shown in their best light. - that's what it's all about.
Thanks again Robith. |  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 17:54 - Aug 25 with 1350 views | paulparker |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 21:58 - Aug 24 by robith |
His last words were to the pallative care nurses about 12 hours before he died. They asked how he was and hours from death he replied "Yeah I'm alright".
I'm sorry to hear about what you've been through PP, and I see from another reply that you say you're doing well. I'm glad to read that and I'm hoping it may long remain the case |
Thanks for the reply Robith
My recovery is going well , I’m lucky as there are worse people off than me
I |  |
| And Bowles is onside, Swinburne has come rushing out of his goal , what can Bowles do here , onto the left foot no, on to the right foot
That’s there that’s two, and that’s Bowles
Brian Moore
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 22:16 - Aug 25 with 1196 views | CliveWilsonSaid |
Thanks for sharing this Robith. I'm not sure there are any players that have worn the hoops that I'd like to see score one more time. Before I die.
Lyndon Dykes maybe ✌🻠|  |
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| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 00:00 - Aug 26 with 1095 views | Benny_the_Ball |
Having recently lost my mum that was a difficult read for me yet strangely cathartic. I hope that you found peace and solace from writing this piece, and wish you well as you embark on the next chapter of your life.
RIP Terry. |  | | |
| Me, The Auld Fella and Charlie Austin — Column on 00:16 - Aug 26 with 1076 views | Miss_Terraces |
That was such an amazing account, that not only will I associate Charlie's goal against West Brom with your dad but also his goal against Sunderland because I'm so glad he went to West Brom over Sunderland
I'm absolutely positive your dad is so proud of you | |
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