The first inductee into the QPR hall of fame is a man who is seen by many as the spirit of QPR. That man is Jim Gregory.

Jim Gregory started supporting QPR as an eleven-year-old. Jim went to Latimer road school and played outside right but his football skills were never good enough for him to turn pro.

Whilst working for his mum and dad at their fruit and veg stall, Jim went out and brought 3 GPO vans. Jim sold all three in a day and did this every Monday when left on his own before becoming a huge second hand car dealer.

Jim Gregory always looked like a car dealer, an Arthur Daley type character wearing a crombie overcoat and a little grin. Jim was a regular at QPR watching the team play before his and the clubs lives were changed forever.

In 1963, Jim was appointed onto the board at Fulham. Jim attended his first board meeting and left the club straight afterwards saying "What was said just didn't appeal to me". Jim joined the QPR board in November 1964 before he became chairman of QPR in 1965 with QPR an average run of the mill third division team.

The club had a squad of 37 players who were paid from the gate receipts of around 5,700 each week. One of Gregory's first actions as chairmen was to restructure the coaching staff. Derek Healey was brought in to develop a youth scheme, which became the envy of many clubs. This scheme went onto produce such players as Dave Clement, Tony Hazil, Ron Hunt, Roger Morgan, Gerry Francis and many others.

Within the next three years, Rangers had six England youth internationals as Gregory began to spend some money bringing in new players. Les Allen and Rodney Marsh were just two of the star players signed as Rangers became transformed.

Despite the huge changes, Rangers lost the first match of the season at Brentford 6-1. Manager Alec Stock considered retirement but Jim knew better times were ahead and Rangers finished third in the 1966/67 season but QPR went on to make history that season becoming the first and only ever third division team to win the league cup final in its first year at Wembley.

Gregory saw Rangers come from 2-0 down to first division West Brom to win 3-2 for the clubs first and only trophy. Within five years of Jim Gregory becoming chairmen, QPR had gained promotion through the divisions to the first mixing with such superstars as George Best, Geoff Hurst and Jimmy Greaves.

Whilst the team moved between the top two divisions, Gregory continued to work for a brighter future. He built the South Africa Road stand, added floodlights as the club began to fulfil the dream of every supporter. Jim Gregory went through many mangers in his time, anyone who has ever seen Tommy Docherty on television will have heard his many stories about Jim during his reigns as QPR manager.

The Doc's first reign lasting just one month! In 1968, Jim finally got permission to build up the stadium from a muddy bank to what we know today. One of Jim Gregory's bravest decisions was to sell Rodney Marsh in March 1972.

Rodney Marsh had seemed irreplaceable but Jim Gregory funded the signing of Stan Bowles a few months later who went on to become one of the greatest players ever to wear a blue and white hopped shirt" Promotion followed that same season as Jim Gregory's QPR returned to the top division.

Under Gregory, Rangers reached the highest position in the clubs history. In 1976, Rangers had a team to challenge for the first division championship and it was only the great Liverpool team which stopped Gregory's from club winning the championship.

Rangers had a great team with such greats as Dave Thomas, Gerry Francis , Stan Bowles and Phil Parkes.

During this period, Jim Gregory worked hard behind the scenes to keep hold of his star man. Many stories are told of this period, all stating memories of Jim paying Stan Bowles his wages in advance to clear his debts and never minded when or if he got the money back. Gregory has taken QPR from division three to playing European Football in 15 years.

The high spots were soon to end though with another relegation after manager Dave Sexton and star man Stan Bowles left. Gregory bounced back though, when he appointed former player Terry Venables as manager in the early 1980's.

During this time, Gregory had seen enough of the pitch at Loftus Road, which was known as one of the worst in the division. Rangers installed an Omniturf pitch for the cost of £350,000 to become the first English team ever to play on anything other than grass.

Despite the protests of long ball football the pitch offered QPR a huge advantage and saw an upturn in the clubs fortunes. Although keeping the clubs fiancees stable remained important to Gregory the team always came first and regarded promotion back to the first division as the most important thing.

Gregory had always seemed to look for a good character at the club and after Bowles and Marsh had left he turned to Venables to bring back success and Jim got to see his club back at Wembley in 1982 in the FA Cup Final. Rangers lost after a replay but promotion followed a year later before a final position of fifth in the first division saw European football again at QPR.

After promotion in 1983, Gregory rocked the club by announcing that after 20 years at the helm, he was going to call it a day. Gregory had wanted to keep it in the family but despite his son's support of the club, they did not want to take over as chairmen.

Gregory came up with a new idea and approached manager Terry Venables. Gregory's plan a to keep a financial interest but gave Venables the option to buy the club from him either on his own or with investors. The existing directors at the club were committed to this deal and despite Venables looking for investors the deal never came off and Gregory was left to stay in charge and look for a different buyer.

Venables went onto manage Barcelona before becoming a Chairmen several years later at Portsmouth where Jim Gregory was then in charge. The fight and passion seemed to desert Jim after that and his departure from the club followed a few years later. Before that though, he had one last crack at Wembley but this time he saw Rangers produce a pathetic display losing 3-0 to Oxford in the League Cup final.

Jim Gregory finally found a buyer for the club in 1987. Marler Estates and David Bullstrode were to buy the club and fears that the club would be merged with Fulham soon followed. The new name would have been Fulham Park Rangers but fan power stopped this and David Bullstrode became the new chairmen and attempted to make the club stronger. Jim was quoted as saying, "I have been a fan since I was 11 but I never intended to die in the chair."

Jim returned to football as Portsmouth Chairmen a few years later but as his health got worse he was seen less and less at Pompey before his death last year. His original plan to make Terry Venables owner of QPR was seen when Terry took over as owner of Portsmouth with Jim's son Martin. This didn't work out as Jim had hoped and the club was saved from bankruptcy earlier this year.

Jim Gregory's name will always bring mixed reactions from people. Many only remember the later years when he made mistakes in selling the club but he was and always will be the spirit of the club and without him, QPR would still be a 3rd division club.

Gregory was a local man who started on the terraces at QPR supporting the team through good and bad times before becoming chairmen. I am sure Jim Gregory is watching over the club from wherever he is and will always be remembered as the man who made Queens Park Rangers into a well respected football club.