Three years as QPR manager was more than enough to earn Dave Sexton a place in the Unofficial QPR Hall of fame. Sexton's time at QPR saw Rangers play some sparkling football and came within a whisker of being the champions of England.

Dave Sexton was born in London on April 6th 1930. The Son of former professional boxer, Archie Sexton, he started his playing career with West Ham where he played as an inside forward back in 1948.

Sexton went on to play for Luton, Crystal Palace, Leyton Orient and Brighton during his career with his biggest success as a player coming at Brighton where he won the Division three south title in 1958.

After retiring as a player Sextons set his sights on becoming a manager. He got his break at Chelsea where he was a coach before being given the managers job at Leyton Orient although his first crack at management didn't last as long as he had hoped. Sexton left Orient in 1966 to become first team coach at Arsenal as he learnt under one of the best in Bertie Mee.

In 1967 he got his big chance as a manager taking over at Chelsea where he led the club to one of it's most successful era's winning the FA Cup in 1970 and the European Cup Winners cup a year later. Many expected him to go on and win a title with Chelsea but things didn't go to plan and after selling Peter Osgood he was sacked as manager in 1974.

It was then that he made the short trip across West London to Loftus Road, as he became QPR manager. Sexton replaced Gordon Jago as manager who had built a decent side who looked set to go onto bigger things but were struggling in the league and sat 20th in the table.

Jago left QPR to join the Tampa Bay Rowdies, which gave Sexton the chance at QPR, and he grabbed it with both hands.

Sexton could see that although the side's league position at the time was precarious the club had players with enormous talent who could challenge at the top end of the table.

Sexton inherited a side which included Gerry Francis, Stan Bowles, Dave Thomas, Dave Clement and Don Givens and his main task appeared to be how to get them to click as a team as with those individuals there was much to be optimistic about.

Sexton saw the main problem at QPR as a lack of width and he went to address this by signing Don Masson from Notts County. The arrival of Mason helped Sexton get off to a decent start as QPR manager and the club moved comfortably away from relegation to a comfortable 11th place.

Speaking in an interview with www.qprnet.com in 2002, Don Masson was full of praise for Dave Sexton. He said: "He was an unbelievable coach, unbelievable. We used to do things then, thirty years ago that people are saying now is the right thing to do. Our training techniques were so ahead of their time.

We used to have Ron Jones, the old Olympic sprinter come down and take us through our paces, all that sort of fitness training that they do these days was unheard of then, but we were doing it. We used to have dieticians and everything, we were having scrambled eggs and fish before meals while everyone else was having steaks.

Dave used to go to Holland on Sundays to watch the Dutch league, he used to pay for it out of his own pocket just to learn and advance himself. To go from Notts County where it was practise matches every day to that was fantastic for me, I loved it."

Sexton quickly set the wheels in motion for an improvement in the sides fortunes as we recorded a famous win at Stamford Bridge thank to a goal from Gerry Francis and two from Givens to give us a 3-0 win.

With the side safe from relegation we travelled to Derby at the end of the season to face the side set to be crowned as champions. Sextons men went to the County ground and played the champions off the pitch with a sensational performance.

It was difficult to know which side were about to be crowned Champions of England as Don Givens scored a hat trick in a 4-1 win. That result and performance helped give Rangers the confidence to go into the following season, which would prove to be one of the best in the clubs history.

Shepherds Bush was buzzing when the 1975/76 season began and in a short time Dave Sexton had moulded a talented group of individuals into a top class team. He added John Hollins to the squad during the summer as great things began to be expected from Sextons side.

Rangers began the season on fire. On the opening day of the season Sexton's men beat Liverpool 2-0 with Mick leach and a goal of the season winner from Gerry Francis securing the win. Francis goal summed up exactly how Rangers played under Sexton.

A quick throw out from Parkes and a succession of quick passes opened up Liverpool with Francis finishing the move off. Rangers were a great side to watch under Sexton and the term sexy football was perhaps the best way to describe how that side played.

Sexton's team completed an amazing run a week after the Liverpool win. A 5-1 thrashing against Derby, which saw Stan Bowles score a hat trick, meant that Rangers had beaten the champions of England, the champions of West Germany and the champions of Portugal in a matter of weeks.

Rangers were a joy to watch and continued the great early season form to sit on top of the table with most neutrals hoping we'd win the title due to the way we played the game.

Stan Bowles was the star man but Sextons team worked as a unit and every player had a big role to play. At the back Sexton had developed a strong backbone and the spine of the team with Parkes, Mclintock, Francis and Bowles was as good as anything in Europe at the time.

Sexton had brought it all together and Rangers were around the top of the table for most of the first half of the season before a defeat at Liverpool and West Ham saw us slip to fifth in the table before the team, went on a remarkable run.

With fifteen games of the season to go Rangers went on a storming run winning thirteen of those games to take the team within a whisker of the title.

Away wins at Spurs (3-0) Everton (2-0) and Newcastle (201 saw Rangers push Derby and Manchester United out of the title race and made it a straight fight between Rangers and Liverpool to be crowned champions of England.

With three games to go the title was in our hands and Dave Sextons team needed three wins to secure the title.

The first of those games is where many believe the title was lost though. Easter Monday 1976 Rangers travelled to Norwich and ended up losing 3-2 and the title swung in Liverpool's favour.

It was not over yet though as Rangers had two games left and after beating Arsenal at Loftus Road we faced a final home game against Leeds United in front on 31,000 fans.

Sexton was able to pick the same side he had picked for that final game as he had for the first game of the season against Liverpool. Rangers won the game 2-0 to spark mass celebrations on the pitch.

Rangers had finished their season top of the league but due to Liverpool's involvement in Europe we had to wait ten days before our rivals were in action.

With fifteen minutes to go Rangers were set top be champions as Wolves lead against Liverpool but a late goal from Keegan helped his side to a 3-1 win and Rangers lost the title by just one point.

Dave Sexton had taken a QPR team in the bottom six of the division to within fourteen minutes of winning the title in just eighteen months. His coaching skills were second to none and he brought massive improvements in so many players at the club.

Out of that side eight of them were full internationals under Dave Sexton and the only player in the starting eleven who was uncapped was Dave Webb who was playing some of the best football of his career.

Sexton managed to get so much more out every player and even great players like Frank Mclintock who had enjoyed success at the highest level before have gone on record to say they played their best football under Sexton at Loftus Road.

The following season Rangers were in Europe for the first time and had a great adventure in the UEFA cup. The run began with a 4-0 win against Brann at Loftus Road before winning the second leg 7-0. A second round win against Bratislava set up a third round tie against FC Koln and Sextons team produced a brilliant performance to win 3-0 at Loftus Road. The away leg was not so easy as a Don Masson goal sent us through on away goals as we lost 4-1.

In the league Rangers were not doing as well as we struggled to repeat the success of the 75/76 season as we faced a struggle to stay up. In the cups we were on fire. After reaching the quarter finals of the UEFA cup the team reached the semi finals of the league cup after a 2-1 win against Arsenal.

The cup form did not last though as we crashed out of the FA Cup to Manchester united. In the league cup semi Final we drew 0-0 at Loftus Road before earning a 2-2 draw at Villa Park. As away goals did not count in the league cup back then we faced a third game, which took place at Highbury which proved one too many for Rangers as we lost 3-0.

The UEFA cup was next for Rangers and Dave Sexton's injury hit side have the manager problems. He was still able to put out a very organised side though and with the flair of Francis and Bowles we beat AEK Athens 3-0 at Loftus Road.

The second leg was a different story though as in front of an intimidating atmosphere the Greek side won 3-0 to force a penalty shoot out. Dave Webb missed the crucial spot kick to end our European adventure. With the cup dreams over attention turned to the league and any relegation problems were soon avoided as we pulled away to finish 14th with a late run which saw us beat Manchester United 4-0.

Dave Sexton had got the best out of so many players at Rangers and the team were beginning to look past their peak, with very little money available to build a new side it was no surprise that Dave Sexton took the chance to take the vacant job at Old Trafford.

His time at QPR had been so memorable and he would go down as one of the most successful managers we've ever had and his time at the club saw the team play some of the best football ever seen at Loftus Road

Sexton went in to do well at Man United but couldn't deliver them the title they so desperately craved for. An FA Cup final appearance in 1979 was followed by second place in the league as he again missed out on the title to Liverpool. Sexton won his final seven games in charge before he was sacked with Man Utd wanting a more high profile manager.

Sextons coaching abilities have been used by the FA ever since. He took charge of the England Under 21 side winning the European Championship twice in 1982 and 1984 and after he was later called out of retirement to work with the national team again when Terry Venables was in charge.

He'll always be remembered fondly at Loftus Road though where he produced arguably the greatest ever QPR side. Quite how he never won the title at QPR few fans will ever know and Sexton was seen by many as being well ahead of his time with his coaching techniques. He was awarded an OBE in 2005 for his services to football.

He most certainly goes down as one of the best managers in the clubs history and one of the best coaches that this country has ever seen.