Game 20: QPR 2 Hull City 0 (09/12/23 Willock, Chair 16,967)

Ahead of Hull City's visit to W12 on Saturday we look back to a QPR win against the Tigers from 2006 in John Gregory's first game in charge as manager.

The summer of 2006/07 will surely go down as one of the most bizarre, and darkest, in the history of Queens Park Rangers.

Promoted from the third tier in 2004 under the guidance of inspirational manager Ian Holloway, who had rebuilt the squad from a base of seven professional players and taken it back into the Championship in double quick time, things had been getting steadily worse ever since. Despite consolidating the club's Championship status in 2004/05, going on an extraordinary seven match winning run at one stage that threatened a second consecutive promotion, Holloway's position had been steadily undermined by his new short-tempered Italian chairman.

Gianni Paladini, who claimed to be a former football agent who'd worked on deals to bring Ravanelli and Juninho to Middlesbrough back in the day, had invested £600,000 into QPR in the division below. He later brought Italian agent Antonio Caliendo and legendary former Brazil captain Dunga on board as investors, only to then use their votes to oust popular chairman Bill Power from his seat. Later Paladini claimed he'd been forced to resign from the club at gun point by a gang of hired heavies during a home game with Sheffield United — all were found not guilty as Paladini's eccentric witness box performance failed to impress a jury.

QPR steadily lost money and the negative publicity kept on coming. Stories about being locked out of the training ground were frequent and Paladini said he walked around in a stab proof vest because of threats from supporters. He fed information and freebies to a chosen select few QPR fans in exchange for their support on forums and the pubs of Shepherds Bush. Those who questioned and criticised were targeted and ostracised from their club. Ian Holloway was finally dismissed midway through the 2005/06 season, allegedly for going to speak to Leicester about their vacant managerial position. Paladini said you don't go off with another woman if you're happy with your wife, Holloway said Paladini had given him permission to speak with them.

Holloway was replaced by Gary Waddock, a popular former player who'd worked with the youth set up at Loftus Road prior to his promotion. Despite being hired by, and working alongside, Holloway, Waddock came out and publicly criticised the style of play of the first team under his predecessor and promised an immediate return to the traditions of the great QPR teams of old. Problem was, apart from Lee Cook, Rangers didn't really have any players capable of putting it into action. With the legendary Alan McDonald as his assistant, Waddock secured early wins against Millwall at Loftus Road and Sheffield United at Bramall Lane but failed to win any of the last 11 matches of the season.

That summer was a farce. Waddock and Paladini ostracised senior players from the squad — Marc Bircham, Steve Lomas, Ian Evatt and others were left back in the UK to play for the youth team in pre-season while the firsts travelled to Sorrento where their hotel was absolutely glorious and the training facilities completely abysmal. Rangers travelled more than an hour by coach every day to find a suitable training pitch, and when they did it was in the middle of a rough Naples estate with ankle length grass and gun shots in the back ground. Their first friendly against the local Sorrento side saw McDonald come out of retirement to play at centre half, and goalkeeper coach Tony Roberts picked up front in a 5-1 defeat — Waddock unwilling to risk his better players on a dodgy artificial pitch.

Paladini promised international players but delivered a madcap selection of unknown foreigners. Egutu Oliseh, brother of Sunday, and Polish striker Adam Czerkas arrived along with Fulham's accident prone Pakistan international Zesh Rehman and untried Australian youth midfielder Nick Ward. The club spent good money, nearly £500,000, on Southampton striker Dexter Blackstock but he was a shining light in a murky world. The decision to bring in Armel Tchakounte, a Cameroon midfielder who'd failed to make the bench at Carshalton the year before and whose only experience apart from that was in the Hong Kong league, about summed the situation up.

Waddock did unearth promising striker Ray Jones from the youth set up and give him his first team bow, but the R's were clearly a dreadful team that season and they won just one of their first eight league games. A 2-0 home defeat by Birmingham, 2-1 set back at Colchester, and League Cup exit at lower-league Port Vale saw him sacked on September 20.

Paladini moved quickly to secure the services of his old friend John Gregory, a former player during Terry Venables time at QPR who'd previously managed Wycombe and Villa to notable success and Derby to a disastrous failure. His first match in charge was against Hull City at Loftus Road. Gregory said he knew more about the opposition than his own squad but QPR scrapped out a win thanks to two second half goals.

First, on the hour, Ray Jones bundled the ball over the line after Blackstock had nodded down a cross from Martin Rowlands. Then ten minutes from time the trademark combination of Cook crossing for Blackstock to score with his head put Rangers out of sight.

Gregory strengthened the side using the loan market, bringing in Chelsea youngsters Michael Mancienne and Jimmy Smith to good effect. Returning the likes of Lomas and Bircham to the fold gave the worst QPR team in living memory much needed impetus and impressive, memorable wins followed at Southampton, Luton, Cardiff in the last minute and at home to Crystal Palace. In January Gregory's transfer business bordered on a masterstroke — Lee Camp, Danny Cullip and Adam Bolder were brought in right down the middle of the team, providing a much needed spine to the side.

A run of defeats that included a televised 5-0 debacle at Southend threatened to relegate the R's anyway but another loan signing, Inigo Idiakez, sparked a 3-1 win at Leicester and Rangers won five and drew one of the last eight to survive with plenty to spare.

Flavio Briatore and his multi-millionaire consortium bought the club that summer, rescuing it from bankruptcy. Would they have done so had Gregory not kept the R's up that season? Unfortunately the takeover happened too late for significant team strengthening that summer and QPR struggled badly at the start of the following season. No wins in the first nine games, with the tragic death of teenage striker Jones to contend with, saw Gregory sacked after a 5-1 loss at West Brom.

His replacement, Luigi De Canio, also started life at Loftus Road with a 2-0 victory at home to… Hull City.