Peter Hucker came through the youth ranks at QPR to become one of the most popular goalkeepers of the 1980's at QPR.

Hucker was at the club at the same time when Phil Parkes was the main man at Rangers and Parkes took time out to help Hucker in his early days.

Hucker made his QPR debut against Shrewsbury in the last game of the 1980/81 season as we began to experiment. He started the following season out of the first team and had several spells away from Loftus Road on loan. It looked like his time at QPR wouldn't last long but he got another chance in January 1982.

An injury to John Burridge saw Hucker start against Middlesborough at home in the FA Cup. He played again in the replay as Rangers won 3-2 and he quickly established himself as the number one keeper.

Speaking to the Sun Newspaper, Hucker said: "I made my debut at 18 but didn't get in again until I was 22. John Burridge was first-choice keeper but he had a disagreement with Terry Venables and I came in - 27 games later I was at Wembley."

As Rangers got to the FA Cup Final Hucker continued his dream first season in the first team by getting called up for the England under 21 squad and things soon got even better for him.

Once Rangers got to the final the spotlight fell on Hucker as he turned in a superb performance. Spurs were red hot favourites and Hucker was at his very best to keep them out. I remember watching the game over and over again on video for a few years afterwards and trying to re create every Hucker save.

Hucker was a hero that day and made some incredible saves from a variety of angles to keep Spurs out. Hucker was on a one man mission to stop Steve Archibald from scoring and on another day the Scottish striker would have probably grabbed a hat trick.

In the end Hucker was finally beaten after a blatant foul by Hoddle on Waddock and the long range shot just beat Huckers reach by millimetres. Not matter how many times I see it I still think Hucker is going to get a touch on it and save the day again.

Of course Fenwick equalised for Rangers and we forced a replay where Hucker was the less busy of the two keepers. Hoddle scored again in the replay to win the Cup for Spurs, this time his goal came from a penalty, which Hucker had no chance with. Rangers dominated the replay and should have won but in injury time when Archibald went through to finish it off Hucker made yet another outstanding save to deny him a cup final goal.

Despite being on the losing team, Hucker was voted man of the match by BBC viewers, an accolade given to him for his performances over both games and a pretty big honour in those days.

Speaking to the QPR Rivals site earlier this year, Hucker spoke about the disappointment of losing the final. He said: "Well the first final was like winning it for us, I don't think they totally outclassed us but they created more chances and we were dead and buried with three minutes to go.

You can imagine people at the time thinking "well done QPR you got this far now off you go back to the second division" so to get that goal at the death was fantastic.

We went and had a party - they didn't, I think that says it all. In the replay we were really disappointed, we were by far the better team and should have won it easily but the chances wouldn't go in."

Hucker and the rest of the team responded well after the cup final disappointment and went onto win the Second division championship the following season. Hucker was a vital member of the side, which produced some superb football.

Which meant more to the Rangers keeper though? The cup final or the League title? Hucker explained to qprnet.com that it wasn’t an easy choice. He said: "That’s a difficult one! They are both different. In a way the league was a bit of an anti climax. We won it at a canter and with games to spare so we were left with games to play that didn't mean much. Whereas with the cup you have the whole day to enjoy and that great atmosphere you only get with the cup."

Hucker was now a top keeper in the first division and was playing against some of the top strikers in the country such as Ian Rush, Gary Lineker and Kenny Dalglish. Hucker acquitted himself well though and his excellent shot stopping abilities helped Rangers finish in the top six and qualify for Europe for only the second time in our history.

But Terry Venables left Rangers and Hucker felt things were never quite the same again. Paying tribute to his former boss on qprnet.com he said: "He (Venables) had new ideas all the time, whenever someone started combating the way we played he'd come up with something different. We used to have seven or eight variations of each free kick the trouble is most footballers can't remember more than two!"

"I remember in training one day Ian Stewart was practising this corner over and over again, he kept whipping it to the near post and Terry Fenwick kept heading it in and Venables is shouting at him "far post Stewey, we're trying to work the far post" after Ian had tried it about six times Venables looked over and said "Oh fuck it Stewey just do what you want".

The whole atmosphere at QPR was bubbling all the time he was there and it made it an absolute pleasure to go into work. "

Hucker spent most of his QPR career on the plastic pitch, which was a unique experience for a goalkeeper. The bounce of the ball was always unpredictable and diving on the plastic was very difficulty. Hucker admits it was never easy. He said: "It was a pain. Believe me every time you hit the floor it hurt. Every week I would literally rip my legs apart. I would go to bed with huge great burns, they were horrible! I preferred grass. At the end of the day that's what goalkeepers like - diving around in the mud!"

Hucker had a mixed time the following season playing in the famous 5-5 draw with Newcastle and in Europe with QPR but Hucker was not very happy with new manager Alan Mullery.

Hucker told qprnet.com "I remember that we had an absolute, total wanker of a manager in Alan Mullery. What else do you need to know?! He was a pratt, he was useless, he still is and always will be. He didn't know anything about management, he didn't know how to handle players, he didn't know how to handle the club and he was tactically naive so we were beaten before we started. Appointing him was the biggest mistake that Jim Gregory ever made."

"Thinking back to that UEFA Cup tie where we went out to Belgrade, we had a great result at home to win six-two and if you can't protect a four goal lead in a second leg you want shooting - and Mullery wants shooting. I won't accept any excuse other than that result was 100% the manager's fault. It was an absolute nightmare and best forgotten."

"I'll give you an idea about his football knowledge, at the end of that game having conceded four and gone out on away goals he chased us down the tunnel shouting "come back, come back it's extra time!" He didn't even know the rules of the game."

"Looking on the positive side it was a great achievement to qualify in the first place but that was down to Venables and if Terry had still been the manager we would have got much further. I felt very let down when he went. I know you don't turn down a chance like Barcelona but I think he had a chance to do something special at QPR. He had huge backing from Jim Gregory so it was disappointing to see him go."

Hucker’s career at QPR ended badly the following season when Jim Smith was in charge. Hucker had been playing well but lost his place to Paul Barron and had a falling out with chairmen Jim Gregory.

Hucker takes up the story saying: "I had a disagreement with Jim Gregory and he told Jim Smith not to play me. I was actually due to play in the Milk Cup Semi Final but I did a double page newspaper spread about Gregory and I never played again.

I liked Jim very much but occasionally he thought he was a king and could walk all over people and I wasn't that type of person. I won't say what it was over because he isn't here to defend himself now but what he said to me was unfair and I needed to get it off my chest.

It's a shame because it soured everything for me, that's when I lost my respect for Jim and I lost a bit of love for the club too. I'd enjoyed going to work everyday for a great club so it was a shame."

Hucker was dropped for the 1986 Milk Cup Final and left Rangers soon afterwards, a sad way for such a good player to leave. Hucker played for several more years having spells at Millwall and Aldershot before retiring from the game and setting up his own soccer school. The Peter Hucker Soccer School has become very successful and has given Hucker left after football.

Hucker was an excellent goalkeeper for QPR and played a big part in the resurrection of QPR from the second division back tot he first. He played and starred in the FA Cup final, won the second division and helped QPR into Europe so his time at QPR was always eventful and successful. Hucker is one of my favourite ever goalkeepers mainly for his performance in the 1982 Cup final and in helping QPR to a deserved promotion.

You can see the full interview with Peter at http://www.qprnet.com