QPR

West London decides most of what QPR are asked about before a ball is kicked. Chelsea, Fulham and Brentford all sit within a few miles of Loftus Road, and matches against any of them are filed under the West London derby, a fixture that carries more weight locally than QPR's league position usually suggests it should.

The club traces itself to Christchurch Rangers, formed in 1882, who merged with the St Jude's Institute team in 1886 to become Queens Park Rangers. What followed was a long stretch outside the top flight, broken by one campaign that still defines the club's identity: in 1966–67, Rangers came up from the Third Division and won the League Cup, beating West Bromwich Albion 3-2 in the final after going behind twice. No side promoted from that low had won the competition before. Alec Stock managed that team.

QPR came closer to a league title than the trophy cabinet lets on. In 1975–76 they finished runners-up in the First Division, a single point behind Liverpool, the nearest the club has come to being champions of England. Promotions have shaped the rest of the record more than knockout football has — the Second Division title arrived in 1982–83 and again in 2010–11, and Harry Redknapp took charge for the club's most recent route back to the Premier League, via the play-offs in 2014.

Loftus Road holds 18,439, all seated, and has stayed the club's home through every version of the team above. The blue and white hoops on the shirt gave Rangers their nickname long before anyone shortened it to Hoops, and the same stripes have carried through eras separated by little except the opponents down the road. Chelsea are the biggest of those neighbours, but Fulham and Brentford fill the fixture list just as often, and it is that cluster of West London rivals, more than any single trophy, that Rangers are measured against season to season.