All aboard the Alan McDonald! QPR name tour plane after late great

He was an uncompromising centre-back who clocked up over 500 appearances for Queens Park Rangers during 17 memorable years with the club.

Now the late Alan McDonald has been honoured in unique fashion by having the plane chartered to carry QPR on their pre-season tour of Asia named after him.



McDonald sadly passed away on June 23, at the age of 48, after collapsing on a golf course in his native Northern Ireland.



Come fly with me: QPR's plane, the Alan McDonald, for the tour to Malaysia and Indonesia

After tributes to the QPR stalwart poured in from all over the world, the club’s chairman Tony Fernandes – who also happens to be the owner of low cost airline Air Asia – thought up a fitting tribute.



He commissioned an Airbus A320 to be painted in the club’s colours of blue and white, with a QPR shirt with ‘Alan McDonald 5’ on the back featuring prominently.



The interior features facts about McDonald’s career and the club, while an overhead locker has a picture of McDonald tackling club manager Mark Hughes, then in the colours of Manchester United.



Interior: A picture of McDonald tackling then Manchester United forward and now Hoops boss Mark Hughes

Tribute: McDonald's name on the plane

The entire QPR squad, Hughes, club CEO Philip Beard and Fernandes himself were on hand at the unveiling of the aircraft in Kuala Lumpur.



Jay Bothroyd tweeted a picture of the plane – which has Queens Park Rangers emblazoned along the side and a tail of blue and white hoops – saying: ‘Where’s our plane? This must be it!!’



He later added alongside a close-up of the McDonald shirt: ‘This plane is in remembrance of the Qpr great ALAN MCDONALD!!! RIP’



QPR are currently on a three-match tour of Malaysia and Indonesia. They thrashed a Sabah XI 5-0 in their first match and play Kelantan in Kuala Lumpur on Friday and Persebaya Surabaya on Monday.



Tonia McDonald, Alan’s widow, said: ‘On behalf of myself, (son) Joshua and all the McDonald family I cannot thank Mr Fernandes enough for his overwhelming gesture of deciding to remember and honour Alan by naming one of his planes after him.



‘We know Alan would have been so proud and amazed at such a generous tribute. I’m only sorry that we could not be in KL to witness the unveiling, but I feel immensely proud that Alan’s name and the QPR colours will jointly become a legacy incorporated in such a wonderful aircraft.



‘Mr Fernandes has already promised me that if ever the plane comes to the UK then we will have the opportunity to see it for ourselves and Joshua and I can’t wait for that to happen.’

On tour: QPR's Park Ji-sung (centre) and Anton Ferdinand (left) at an event paying tribute to McDonald