Mark Lazarus obituary: League Cup-winning footballer for QPR

Times

2 days ago

With eight minutes remaining in the 1967 League Cup final, the first to be staged at Wembley, Mark Lazarus scored what remains arguably the most memorable goal in the history of Queens Park Rangers.
The Rs, of the old Third Division, had recovered from a two-goal deficit to draw level with West Bromwich Albion, two divisions above them, when Lazarus played a speculative ball towards Albion's penalty box. A deflection took the ball into the path of Rs defender Ron Hunt, who tangled with the West Brom keeper Dick Sheppard. When the ball squirmed from Sheppard's grasp, Lazarus was on hand to turn it into an empty net for the winner. It put the seal on one of the greatest giant-killing acts in League Cup history and earned Lazarus an indelible place in the hearts of QPR fans.
It's the goal for which Lazarus will always be remembered, but the pacy, aggressive winger scored a further 83 goals in 235 appearances for the club, another three coming in their historic run to Wembley that season. A few weeks later, the club clinched the Third Division title, Lazarus scoring 16 times during the campaign and providing countless assists for his great strike partner Rodney Marsh, with whom he remained friends for life.
Through the years, many players have had their own distinctive goal celebrations, but none have matched Mark Lazarus's for enthusiasm. He would run around the entire pitch, arms aloft, stopping occasionally to shake hands with fans, particularly at Loftus Road where spectators were just a few feet from the touchline. 'Laza, Laza, Laza, Laza, Lazarus,' would ring out from the home terraces.
In a 20-year career, Lazarus also played for Leyton Orient, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brentford and Crystal Palace, scoring 151 goals in 606 appearances. But as befits someone with his surname, it was to QPR that he kept returning, enjoying three stints at the club.
Aged 19, and playing youth team football for Fulham, his potential was spotted by the Orient manager Alec Stock, who took him to Brisbane Road. National service interrupted Lazarus's career, and by the time he was demobbed, Stock had left for QPR. Lazarus followed. His form in W12, scoring 12 goals in 33 appearances in the 1960-61 season, attracted interest from bigger clubs and he was sold to First Division Wolves for £27,500. But he didn't settle and clashed with the manager Stan Cullis, whom he described as 'a sergeant-major type'. He returned to Loftus Road after just nine matches. Two seasons later he was off again, to Brentford, but in November 1965 Stock brought him back to Rangers for a final time.
Within six months of his Wembley heroics, Lazarus moved to Crystal Palace and then to Orient again, winning another Third Division championship medal with the Os in 1969-70. He finished his playing days in non-league football, by which time he had started his own removals business, which is now run by his son Nicky.
Mark Lazarus was born in Stepney, east London, in 1938, the son of Isaac and Martha. Isaac was an old-fashioned jack-of-all-trades, working as a carpenter, fishmonger and tic-tac man at racetracks. Lazarus went to St Chad's Infant School in Chadwell Heath, and then onto the Warren junior and senior schools. His house was a full one. He had 12 siblings — brothers Harry, David, Eddie, Lew, Mossie, Bobby and Joe; and sisters Rosie, Rayner, Carol, Sarah and Betty. He said growing up the talk was never about football, but boxing, even among his sisters. In the Fifties, his brother Lew — under the name Lew Lazar — was a successful British welterweight and middleweight, and Lazarus would often follow him to Jack Solomons' gym in Great Windmill Street to do odd jobs, helping fighters such as Henry Cooper with their gloves and untying their boots.
He fought at schoolboy level himself and remained unbeaten. His fighting prowess served him in good stead when Lazarus, aged six, moved with his family from Stepney to Chadwell Heath. They were the only Jewish family in the area and if anyone subjected young Mark to any antisemitic comments his mother encouraged him 'to sort them out'. Years later, as one of the first, if not the first, Jewish footballer in the Football League, Lazarus once had cause to fall back on his pugilistic talents when he put an abusive opponent face-down in the dirt. He said the referee turned a blind eye.
As well as football and boxing, Lazarus was an accomplished cricketer, playing for Essex schoolboys. He also held a five handicap in golf and compiled many century breaks in snooker. It was at the Romford Snooker Centre in 1974 that he met the sports promoter Barry Hearn, who in turn introduced him to the young snooker champion Steve Davis. Lazarus became a member of Davis' supporter base, known as the Romford Roar, that travelled to snooker tournaments all over the country. He also became minder to Davis and other snooker stars.
At a dance at Ilford Palais in 1958, Lazarus met Fay Ray and they married a few months later. They had a daughter, Rena, and a son, Nicky.
Besides his cup-winning goal in 1967, another more bizarre incident during QPR's cup run will never be forgotten. Lazarus split his shorts in the Rs' quarter-final match with Carlisle United and ran to the touchline to put on a new pair. Before he could do so a teammate passed to him. Latching onto the loose ball, Lazarus dribbled down the wing in his Y-fronts, shorts in hand, and delivered a cross into the penalty box. It didn't lead to a goal on this occasion, but Rangers went on to win the match 2-1.
Mark Lazarus, footballer and minder, was born on December 5, 1938. He died of undisclosed causes on July 29, 2025, aged 86