Are QPR destined for mid-table obscurity?

Are QPR destined for mid-table obscurity?

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With 17 of the 46 regular season matches now elapsed in the 2015-16 Championship, Queens Park Rangers find themselves firmly wedged in a mid-table 13th place.

With just five wins and five draws from their fixtures so far, the gap to the play-off spots is now eight points and rising. As with most mid-table teams, some things have gone right. However, there have also been quite a few shortcomings.

With the recent sacking of manager Chris Ramsey, Rangers’ season now has a familiar uncertainty attached to it. The question has to be raised: what has the target for the campaign transformed into? This is after the clear message from preseason has been abandoned. During the build-up to the current season, the entire administration at QPR spread the message that they would be changing the outlook in many aspects at the club. High wage earners were to be dropped and more focus would be put into youth development.

While this is a great step forward in terms of the future success of any club, it was also highly motivated by looming Financial Fair Play (FFP) penalties from Rangers’ last Championship foray. The appointment of new CEO/CFO Lee Hoos, who has enjoyed success in similar situations at Leicester City and Burnley, has also helped to sharpen the club’s financial edge. This ideology set first team coach Ramsey up with a goal of consolidation and team building for the season ahead, something that he, on reflection, had achieved. With some shrewd young signings sanctioned by Director of Football Les Ferdinand, the new-look QPR side was playing some free-scoring football and while the Rs are not pushing for promotion, they are, so far at least, keeping away from the relegation zone.

The threat of a second relegation is one that all demoted clubs fear upon a rebuild of their team structure, and one that can often become a reality. In that sense, QPR’s season so far can be measured as a success. However, the problem lies in that the objectives of the club for the current season have transformed since the closing of the summer transfer window.

The failure to bring in funds through the sale of some of the remaining ‘Premier League squad’ resulted in a higher expectation for the team. Due to the high wages of players such as Charlie Austin, Matt Phillips, Leroy Fer, Sandro and Robert Green, all of whom remain, the best approach to avoid further FFP penalties is to seek promotion. However, spending more money does not always mean better performances. In fact, aside from the ever-effective Austin, the standout players for Rangers this season have been some of the new, young, and more economically healthy signings. Young Australian international Massimo Luongo has been excellent in the QPR midfield, putting in some dogged performances that match his level of effort and ambition. Similarly, ex-Spurs youth product Grant Hall has been sound at centre-back and all of the team’s best defensive displays have come when he has been in the side.

At the other end of the pitch, plenty of flair and individual brilliance has been shown by two more of QPR’s shrewd summer additions through the maverick ability of both Arsenal misfit Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Dutchman Tjaronn Chery. In contrast, it has been some of the older and more highly rated squad members who have been performing poorly so far. It is these poor performances, the worst of which being a 4-0 thrashing by local rivals Fulham, that have ultimately cost the inexperienced Ramsey his managerial position. To be fair, the change in expectation for the season was inevitably going to come to this conclusion, and the appointment of Neil Warnock to the backroom staff prior to Ramsey’s departure only underlined this.

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Warnock has now taken the managerial hot seat on an interim basis as the search for a permanent replacement is ongoing. Looking ahead, the future is, as previously stated, very uncertain for Rangers. When a new a manger is finally appointed, it is impossible to know what kind of strategy they will employ going forward or how they will utilise the mixed bag of a squad. One thing that will be key is if the key men for Rangers can manage to stay fit, as this has been a problem previously. Overall, the goal for the final two thirds of the season would be to push hard for a top six finish, however, this will not be an easy task when one looks at the quality of teams making up the top half of the Championship table.

Warnock has not seen an immediate impact in his two games in charge after a draw with Preston and subsequent loss to third-placed Middlesbrough. This being said, Rangers have looked a decent outfit in both matches and have responded well to the interim manager’s tactics. Their next game against Leeds presents as an opportunity to improve and perhaps show fans the potential that has been missing for much of the year.

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