The Contenders For The QPR Job

This post was written following the sacking of QPR manager Neil Warnock

If I was the chairman of Queen’s Park Rangers, I would have a shortlist of following managers in line for the job; Mark Hughes, Rafa Benitez, Roy Keane, Gus Poyet and Steve Bruce. These managers have done excellent work at their current/previous clubs and have all played or managed in the Premier League. Here I will be discussing the pros and cons of each managers.

Mark Hughes: ‘Sparky’ has managed three Premier League clubs; two in decent financial states and one with a vast amount of funding. Hughes, in my opinion, has never failed miserably at any club, leading Blackburn Rovers into Europe and keeping Fulham at mid-table whilst being slightly unlucky at Manchester City. He is a people person and can get on with the players at QPR whilst he should be able to get the best out of players such as Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips who are vastly experienced within the Premier League and the team. His aspirations of being at a top club mean that QPR may not be big enough for him.

Rafa Benitez: Rafa ‘the Gaffa’ Benitez has won the Champions League and the FA Cup with Liverpool in England as well as La Liga with Valencia in Spain. However, many fans will remember his awful last season at Liverpool and subsequent failure at Inter Milan. His signings have been hit and miss with players from Xabi Alonso to player others as poor as Josemi, he is inconsistent and may see himself as bigger than QPR, but will relish the opportunity to manage in England once again.

Roy Keane: Keane has managed in the top flight of English football once before with Sunderland, who he lead from the Championship’s relegation zone into the Premier League, where they still remain. His managerial career has been a bit blighted having quit Sunderland following poor results and been sacked by Ipswich after failing to gain promotion. Keane isn’t a great people person and may struggle to comfort players, but he will get Fergie’s hairdryer out and voice his opinions, perhaps kicking the likes of Joey Barton into gear.

Gus Poyet: Poyet has lead Brighton from League One mediocrity to Championship play-off hopefuls. He is a young manager and has done an extremely good job signing the likes of Craig Mackail-Smith and Vicente. Being the least experienced of the managers may be his downfall, however I expect he would do a good job at the club as he would immediately be embraced by the players as a quite positive manager.

Steve Bruce: Brucey has been around the block, managing Birmingham, Wigan and Sunderland in his Premier League management career. He has been relegated, survived and lead Wigan to their highest ever finish in the Premier League. Steve Bruce’s sides usually tend to go off the boil in the second half of the season and he hasn’t proven he can spend wisely, which is what QPR will need.

My personal vote would go for Mark Hughes, he is experienced within the Premier League, likeable, a great manager and favourite for the job. QPR will have to appoint quickly in order to get someone in and able to sign players for the club.