Compilation Articles Re Hughes Out/Redknapp In

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TERRY VENABLES (although I thought he - like Rodney Marsh - had been backing "Stick with Hughes)

The Sun

Football


SPARK OUT ... Hughes exited QPR yesterday
QPR had chance to get Harry – I can see why they did it
TERRY VENABLES

IT has not been a good week for managers in west London.
First, Roberto Di Matteo was axed by Chelsea on Wednesday morning and then Mark Hughes was given the boot yesterday by QPR.
I never like to see any manager given the sack — but I find it difficult to argue with either of the decisions.
I know I wrote in this column just seven days ago that winless Rangers should stick with Hughes — even if they lost their proverbial six-pointer at home to fellow strugglers Southampton last Saturday, which they did 3-1.
And I genuinely believed that. Then.
But the loss against Saints set alarm bells ringing.
It was not just the result, which left QPR anchored at the bottom of the Premier League with just four points and still searching for their first win after 12 top-flight games this season.
Far more worrying was the performance from a team in such a precarious position. It smacked of relegation. And if, as has been widely speculated, Hoops chairman Tony Fernandes has lined up Harry Redknapp as a replacement then I fully understand the decision to call time on Hughes’ reign after less than a year in the hotseat at Loftus Road.
If anybody can lead a club out of a crisis like the one that is facing Rangers at the moment, Redknapp can.
That is no reflection on Hughes, a man I signed as a player and a man I have huge respect for as both a person and a manager.
But in this situation I feel Redknapp may be better suited to this situation.
So I fully appreciate why Fernandes took the decision he did at Rangers to terminate Hughes’ contract — just as I can see why Roman Abramovich got rid of Di Matteo....


www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4662316/Terry-Venables-on-Harry-Redknapp-to-QPR-and-Di-Matteo-exit.html

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EXPRESS - Simon Yeend

MARK HUGHES’ VISION WENT WRONG FROM DAY ONE

Mark Hughes had his contract terminated by QPR

WHEN the axe came, it fell swiftly.
Mark Hughes arrived at Queens Park Rangers’ training ground near Heathrow Airport yesterday morning, swung his Bentley with its distinctive LMH (Leslie Mark Hughes) plate into his parking space and within minutes he was unemployed.

He was summoned by chief executive Phil Beard into an office and told that his contract was being terminated immediately.
With QPR bottom of the table after no wins and just four points from their first 12 games, Hughes was a dead man walking. The timing was a surprise, though, coming a full six days after the abject 3-1 defeat at home to Southampton that left owner Tony Fernandes “gutted”, yet just 24 hours before a daunting trip to Manchester United.

Harry Redknapp’s flirting with Ukraine prompted QPR to act yesterday. Fernandes feared Redknapp might have taken that job and with another target, Rafa Benitez, now in work at Stamford Bridge, that would have seen two highly respected coaches slip through his grasp when Hughes was inevitably going to be sacked.

Inevitable after the fans turned against not just him, but also the players after the Saints game.
“You’re only here for the money” they chanted angrily at their overpaid but under-performing players.
For Hughes, this is his lowest moment as a manager.

He has been sacked before, three years ago at Manchester City. But most observers regarded that decision as harsh, with City in reasonable health at the time. This time Hughes must take responsibility for the hazardous position Rangers find themselves in and can have few complaints about his P45.
So where did it all go wrong? Hughes had left Fulham last year claiming they could not match his ambition and that a bigger job beckoned.

That job did not materialise, but QPR came calling last January.
He saved the club from relegation, with his team upsetting the form book to beat Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal at home. A summer to rebuild and put his stamp on the team meant Hughes began the season in confident mood that relegation fights were a thing of the past.
Yet eight minutes into the first game of the season and the first nail was being hammered into his coffin.
Swansea’s Michu hit a speculative 25-yard shot, new goalkeeper Rob Green let it squirm through his fingers and the ball was in the back of the net.
Swansea hit another four as Rangers collapsed. Hughes said the performance was embarrassing and asked Fernandes for even more money. Green was jettisoned for Julio Cesar, who was enticed by a £100,000-a-week contract. In, too, came Jose Bosingwa, Esteban Granero and Stephane Mbia.
Still there were jokes made behind his back that the sign on his door, Mark Hughes, OBE, stood for Out By Easter.
Hughes ignored the mutterings. As each week went by without a victory, he dug in his heels.
“My methods will work, we will turn this around,” he said. Even before the Saints game he claimed a top-10 finish was the aim.
Throughout it all, though, Fernandes stayed loyal, tweeting his support last week with “for the millionth time we will not be changing the manager”. This week he went quiet on the matter. That silence proved deadly.

www.express.co.uk/posts/view/360227?

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MAIL

What's in Harry's in-tray? Redknapp must bring harmony to a divided dressing room at QPR
By IAN LADYMAN

Mark Hughes knew he had a problem at QPR when one of his players walked into his office last season and told him he had never witnessed a dressing room so torn apart by tension, bitterness and deep, mutual dislike.
'The players basically told Hughes that everyone in that dressing room hated each other,' a QPR source told Sportsmail recently.
'Mark was a bit taken aback. He was used to problems between players at clubs, but this was different.

Change places: Harry Redknapp (right) is set to replace Mark Hughes (left) at QPR


'He was being told that there were so many different issues between players that it was hard to keep track of them all.'
Fast forward a few months, and Hughes has paid the price for being unable to mould a reasonably talented group of players into an effective unit. QPR have been found wanting not for ability, rather for attitude and application.
From this day on, this is Harry Redknapp's biggest problem.
Divisive individuals such as Joey Barton may have been moved on by Hughes but enormous issues remain for Redknapp to address.
One of them is a split in the dressing room between players brought to the club in the summer and those who remain from last season.
Barton's exile to France has not put a stop to those completely.
On the field, Redknapp will soon discover that some of the key players bought in the summer have just not performed.

Moved on: Mark Hughes loaned Joey Barton to Marseille

Target: Redknapp may try to buy Michael Dawson (right) from his former club Tottenham
Park Ji-sung has been a disappointment, not in attitude but in performance.
Experienced central defender Ryan Nelsen was signed as back-up in the summer but has transpired to be one of the club's few reliable performers.
Elsewhere, Redknapp will have to deal with the brooding presence of goalkeeper Rob Green - bought from West Ham in the summer and then replaced immediately by the experienced Brazilian Julio Cesar - and the talented but erratic Adel Taarabt.
Redknapp prides himself on his man-management skills. Over the coming weeks and months, he will need them.

Sign a goalscorer
He will only be given £10million in January so he will have to spend it wisely.
But a new striker will be his priority and a move for Michael Dawson to shore up the defence is likely too.
Rangers lack a real cutting edge up front. Harry will know that.

Spark: Redknapp must get Djibril Cisse (right) back to goalscoring ways

Find a settled side
Part of Hughes's problem was that he was unable to select a settled side due to injuries and suspensions.
There is not enough strength in depth within the squad to make changes every week. Harry needs to find an XI and stick with it.

Spark Cisse
With Bobby Zamora out for three months with a hip injury, Redknapp will have to rely on Djibril Cisse to be his No 1 striker until January.
Redknapp knows his side must not be cut adrift at the turn of the year. He'll need Cisse firing to achieve that.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2237676/Ian-Ladyman-Harry-Redknapp-needs-bring-unity-Queens-Park-Rangers.html#ixzz2D7q3ViE4

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TELEGRAPH - Henry Winter

Football's soap opera can have a happy ending as Harry 'Red Adair' Redknapp rides to QPR's rescue

Another day, another drama. Forget EastEnders. The real capital soap opera is WestEnders. First Roberto Di Matteo gets dismissed at Chelsea, then Friday’s episode writes Mark Hughes out of the script at QPR. Ratings will rise as a perennial favourite, a reliable footballing character, Harry “Red Adair” Redknapp, rides back into town to assume a starring role at Loftus Road.

So, welcome to another noisy week in the national sport. Football possesses this arrogant ability to seize the agenda. In the run-up to the BBC’s coveted Sports Personality of the Year, football really should be keeping a low profile, a chastened stance after an embarrassing, eclipsed year. Inspiring Olympians? Celebrated cyclists knocked off their bikes? All major stories, all ignored by football, charging manically around sports-town like hyperactive children overindulged on E-numbers.

Redknapp’s back, so on with the show and farewell Sparky. Many critics bemoan the paucity of loyalty and morality in the modern game, the mad managerial merry-go-round, frothing incandescently that football is going to hell in an untaxed handcart.
Yet the game remains a modern broadcasting Klond***, finding gold in the carnage. Football can be going up in flames, yet everyone gathers around the bonfire, holding their hands to the warmth, enjoying the crackle and the spectacle.
Events in west London must be viewed through a broader prism. The world looks with fascination not alarm. Those closer to developments will react differently. Di Matteo’s departure contrasts markedly with Hughes’. Roman Abramovich’s callous sacking of Di Matteo rankles Chelsea fans so much that some plot a minor protest at the Bridge on Sunday; the 16th minute will be marked by applause for a past wearer of the No 16 shirt, a certain R Di Matteo. Understandable. Di Matteo made Chelsea champions of Europe.

A couple of miles away, sympathy can be found for the feelings of Tony Fernandes, the owner of Queens Park Rangers. Hughes had not stockpiled the emotional capital of Di Matteo, let alone the points, plaudits or trophies. QPR fans had clearly turned against Hughes, responding furiously to their supine surrender to Southampton at Loftus Road last weekend. Fernandes had to act, so little anger was stirred by Hughes’ latest exit.

When the Welshman was shown the door at Manchester City by Garry Cook there was widespread and understandable resentment. Hughes was attempting to build a team gradually, a reality appreciated by the more sensible fans. Cook was running too fast and was himself moved on by the club’s Arab-based owners, who eventually saw the need for evolution over revolution.

Hughes, this time, bought badly. He focused on pouring funds into midfield when QPR cried out for strengthening in defence and attack.
Redknapp’s first challenge must be to address the imbalance of the squad, the patent fact that there are players who commanded expensive fees, who are overpaid, and are of little use to the team.
Hughes is a good manager who turned into a bad buyer. QPR boast few centre-halves capable of actually heading the ball properly, of clearing incoming corners, a residual concern. Redknapp will surely note this flaw and get on the phone to his old club, Tottenham Hotspur, and see if they will sell him Michael Dawson in January.

Redknapp will also quickly see the split in the dressing-room between the handsomely-renumerated new arrivals and those underpaid, over-achievers who fought their way up through promotion.
He has plenty of work to do yet already English football feels a better, more colourful place with Redknapp’s return. In the year that the Football Association appointed Roy Hodgson (admittedly ahead of Redknapp) and opened the English coaching hub of St George’s Park, the English game needs home-grown managers to the fore.
Redknapp’s reappearance is a reminder to all those emerging from the playing ranks of the need to learn the ropes, doing their time, with smaller clubs such as Bournementh. Redknapp needed a few bites at the Cherries first. He really came to major prominence with his work at West Ham, demonstrating his man-management skills with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard.

His reigns at Portsmouth (twice), Southampton and Spurs indicated that Redknapp did not always appreciate interfering owners. The exact reasons for Redknapp’s controversial departure from the Lane in June 2012 have never been fully clarified but Spurs powerbrokers’ long-standing resentment over Redknapp’s loyalty to Robbie Keane is believed to have played a part.

Fernandes will not dabble in team affairs, so annoying his new charge. He just wants Redknapp to rescue his club, to stop Rangers being strangers. With Redknapp in charge, QPR have a chance of being a headline act in the soap opera.

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/queens-park-rangers/9699971/Footballs-soap-opera-can-have-a-happy-ending-as-Harry-Red-Adair-Redknapp-rides-to-QPRs-rescue.html

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INDEPENDENT/SAM WALLACE

Harry Redknapp takes on toughest task in rescuing Queen's Park Rangers
New manager asked for transfer funds in January if he starts to turn QPR around

Harry Redknapp has joined Queen's Park Rangers on the understanding he will be allowed to invest in his side this January if he can get the team up the table before the transfer window and demonstrate to the club's owners there is a glimmer of hope that they can avoid relegation.

The 65-year-old finalised talks yesterday to succeed Mark Hughes, despite misgivings that the challenge of keeping QPR in the Premier League is even more difficult than when he began his doomed attempt to keep Southampton in the division in the 2004-05 season. He will be at Old Trafford for the game against Manchester United today but will not take over running the team until Monday.

"You know what the game's like. I lost my job at Tottenham and Mark Hughes is a top, top manager and a great guy. Sometimes these things happen," said Redknapp, who is set to sign a two-and-a-half year deal worth £3m a year, plus a significant bonus if he keeps Rangers up. "QPR couldn't get the results they needed. You couldn't have too many worse starts but I'm ready to give it a go and see if I can change their fortunes around. If I can keep them up I'll be the happiest man around.

"There are some good players there but I've got to find a way of picking a team that can win some games."

The priorities for the side are a new centre-back and a centre-forward and, despite QPR's significant outlay on wages for new players this summer, there is a willingness to help Redknapp if he can show some form of improvement in the team.

Redknapp is expected to bring his assistant Kevin Bond with him and goalkeeping coach David Coles, although Joe Jordan, who also worked with him at Tottenham, is not a certainty to join. He remains in the frame to get the Scotland manager's job.

Redknapp was approached over the Ukraine manager's job this week. He was so keen to get involved in management once again that friends had to talk him out of considering the job, arguing that he would be completely unsuited to the demands of travelling to Ukraine regularly, as well as coaching a non-British national team.

Of the group of players Redknapp inherits, arguably the most influential is the attacker Adel Taarabt, an erratic but occasionally inspirational presence who was in and out of favour with Hughes. Redknapp sold him when he was Tottenham manager but has since indicated that was a decision he regretted and his arrival will by no means herald Taarabt's departure from the club.

As for Hughes' assistants Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki, they had, as of last night, not yet been told whether they had a future at the club. Given their loyalty to Hughes, with whom they have served for the majority of his managerial career, it is not certain they would stay on even if invited to do so.

After tomorrow, QPR have seven games until the transfer window opens in January, of which four are at home against Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, Fulham and Liverpool. The team are currently bottom of the Premier League table, five points from safety having taken just four points, all of them draws, from 12 games.

As it stands, Redknapp has no plans to bring Joey Barton back from his loan spell at Marseilles. His first challenge will be to heal damaging rifts in the squad between the players who survived from the previous Neil Warnock regime and the new players who joined the club in the summer. The atmosphere has been described as "poisonous" at times this season by those close to the club.

Redknapp added: "The players have got to start performing. If they do that we've got a chance... find a way to pick up points, be hard to beat and win some matches. It's all about the players."

Tweet goodbye: How Tony spells doom

* Queen's Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes was noteworthy in his support for Mark Hughes on Twitter – right up to a week before the Welshman's removal.

"Stop wasting your time and energy on negative tweets. QPR needs time and stability. We have great squad great manager great ceo. Takes time and a bit of luck." 21 October

"Mark has my backing and the shareholders. We need a little luck and no injuries. I honestly believe we have one of the best managers in the premier league. And we are in for the long term. Whatever happens." 29 October

"Won't be happening For the one millionth time. Hahaha. Stability." 16 November

* Fernandes' support for previous Hoops manager Neil Warnock also wavered in the days before his sacking. On 6 January he wrote:

"Its important to note no one job is safe. Results are key. If I don't deliver I would be first to step down as chairman. We owe it to all the fans. Good money is paid and results are key." Warnock was sacked two days later.

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/harry-redknapp-takes-on-toughest-task-in-rescuing-queens-park-rangers-8347631.html

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NEIL WARNOCK/INDEPENDENT

Neil Warnock: Good luck to Harry Redknapp in my old seat – I'll be sad if QPR go down
It baffles me how England let Moses get away. We’re not blessed with strikers
NEIL WARNOCK SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2012

I would like to wish Harry Redknapp the best of luck filling my old seat in the dugout at Queen's Park Rangers. It was one of the achievements of my managerial career getting QPR back into the Premier League after a 15-year absence and I would be very sad to see them go back down after all the hard work the players, staff and myself put in. Neither the fans nor the owners, Tony Fernandes and Amit Bhatia, deserve that.

Harry did a great job keeping Portsmouth up against all odds a few years ago and I'd back him to do the same with QPR. You can't fault the backing Tony and Amit gave Mark Hughes in the transfer market and I'm sure they will do their best to enable Harry to wheel and deal in January and enable the club to move on at last.

I have to admit there have been times this year when I have had to bite my tongue. I kept hearing the team were playing well without getting the results they deserved: so were mine but we did win away from home three times. There was also the comment at the end of last season when my successor said after coming 17th, the same position I left them in, "we won't be in this position again". Unfortunately he was proved right; QPR have not been that high since.

It was difficult to accept when I was replaced. Having met the mandate of keeping out of the bottom three we were about to make the signings in the January window we needed to head towards mid-table. Having kept QPR up I planned to retire and hand the reins over to someone else for a smooth transition. It is easy to look back in hindsight but I think Tony might now reflect and feel that would have been a better way to proceed....

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/neil-warnock-good-luck-to-harry-redknapp-in-my-old-seat--ill-be-sad-if-qpr-go-down-8347637.html

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THE INDEPENDENT

Divisions between QPR players made demise
of Mark Hughes inevitable
With wages greater than turnover, relegation would be catastrophic

GLENN MOORE , IAN HERBERT SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2012

Mark Hughes was preparing to take training at QPR’s Harlington training ground this morning when there was a knock on the door.

When it opened, to reveal chief executive Phil Beard and Kamarundin Bin Meranun, a significant shareholder, the Welshman knew his time was up.

It was a shock. Despite the growing speculation over his future, and the changing tone of chairman Tony Fernandes’s tweets, Hughes anticipated taking his team to Old Trafford today. Reports that he had been asked to resign this week and refused are wrong. But for the club’s powerbrokers last week’s home defeat to Southampton was the final straw.

Since Fernandes took over in August 2011, QPR’s wage bill has mushroomed to levels that are unsustainable outside the top flight and hard to finance inside it. In the immediate aftermath of his buying out Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, wages of £60-70,000 a week were agreed to persuade players such as Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips to join a newly-promoted club. Another wave was sanctioned in January including Bobby Zamora and Djibril Cissé for a combined £9m. In the summer he invested again, taking Hughes’s net transfer spending to £23m with a wage bill to match after players including Adel Taarabt were given new contracts.

With Loftus Road holding less than 19,000, wages may well be in excess of 100 per cent of turnover. Relegation would thus be catastrophic; survival would provide access to TV income expected to be worth £5bn to the Premier League next year.

Hughes took over in January after Kia Joorabchian, his adviser, made contact with Fernandes, originally to negotiate the proposed transfer of another client, Chelsea’s Alex, for then-manager Neil Warnock. QPR failed to land Alex, but did bring in Hughes, who had been out of work since leaving Fulham seven months earlier.

He inherited a split dressing-room with members of the Championship-winning team resenting the salaries being paid to the newcomers, especially as some did not seem to be earning them. It was so divided one of the players warned Hughes early on it was “the worst he had ever experienced”. Nevertheless, Warnock had managed to stay outside the relegation zone; Hughes maintained that status, just, surviving on the final day after Bolton let slip a winning position at Stoke.

Hughes promised the club would not struggle again and spent heavily in the summer, but that only added to the dressing-room factions despite several players, notably Barton, being forced out. Also breeding discontent were the antiquated training facilities – owned by Imperial College and still used by students. Hughes and his staff, having been at Manchester City, were shocked and regarded them as “30 years out of date”. On one pitch the floodlights even face the wrong way.

The tense atmosphere was reflected in performances. The season began with a dire 5-0 home defeat to Swansea City after which Hughes, in an act of panic or decisiveness depending on interpretation, dropped Rob Green for another new signing, Julio Cesar.

Training-ground disputes continued, with the fractious mood betrayed by a surfeit of red cards – nine so far in 2012. Hughes felt his marquee signing Ji-Sung Park, wanted for his experience and Fernandes for his marketing potential, had performed poorly, but the captain was not alone; Hughes used 35 players in his first 24 matches, but whatever the combination results did not improve. Finally, Fernandes, who had been supportive in a one-hour conference call just a week ago, felt he had to act.

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/divisions-between-qpr-players-made-demiseof-mark-hughes-inevitable-8347645.html

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INDEPENDENT

Joe Royle: Harry Redknapp will struggle to do what I did
Confidence will be low at QPR, but that is where Harry will come into his own

JOE ROYLE SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2012
The Everton side of 1994-95 managed by Joe Royle are the only team to survive in the Premier League after taking four points from the first 12 matches, QPR's tally. Everton finished 15th, five points clear of relegation, and beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

"There are a lot of parallels between the situation Harry Redknapp will inherit at QPR and the one I found at Everton in 1994-95. The team had survived relegation on the last day of the previous season after a change in management, brought in new players in the summer, but struggled again. Confidence was low.

There are, though, important differences. With respect to the players at QPR, I don't think Harry is taking on a squad with the strength of character I did. I had Barry Horne, Dave Watson, David Unsworth, Duncan Ferguson and, in goal, Neville Southall. I also had good players who were not in the team, players like Andy Hinchcliffe, John Ebbrell and Joe Parkinson, who I was able to bring in. I'm not sure QPR have that strength in depth.

The key thing was we started well. My first game was Liverpool, at Goodison Park. It was one of those nights. An amazing atmosphere. We won 2-0 with a goal from Big Dunc starting it off, and then beat Chelsea and Leeds. They were three top sides at the time. That gave us confidence; we had eight points from 14 games when I arrived, we took 42 from the remaining 28 matches beating teams like Manchester United and Newcastle United. Even then we were only safe in the last few weeks.

Confidence will be low at QPR, but that is where Harry will come into his own. He is a good man-manager, players like him and want to play for him. He will get them smiling again. Harry has always liked talent, he won't be trying to dig out results. He will see a place for Adel Taarabt. There's also Djibril Cissé, who can score if you can keep him on the pitch. He could be the leader for them Dunc was for us.

I hope Harry keeps QPR up, he is a good man, but it will be difficult. He needs to invest in January as I don't think he has the players to call on I did."

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/joe-royle-harry-redknapp-will-struggle-to-do-what-i-did-8347632.html

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THE GUARDIAN

Harry Redknapp's link with Ukraine could have forced QPR's hand
• QPR could not risk losing Mark Hughes's replacement
• Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond to join Redknapp at Loftus Road

Paul Doyle
The Guardian, Friday 23 November 2012 18.34 EST

Harry Rednapp will have the chance to appraise QPR from the stands at Manchester United. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images
Harry Redknapp is poised to become the manager of Queens Park Rangers following Mark Hughes's dismissal by the Premier League's bottom club on Friday. The 65-year-old returns to work five months after being let go by Tottenham Hotspur, despite guiding the club to fourth in the table.

Redknapp told Sky Sports News: "Hopefully we can get it done tonight, there shouldn't be any problems." His appointment is expected to be confirmed after Saturday's trip to Manchester United, where he will watch his new club from the stands. He should be in charge for Tuesday's game away to Sunderland.

"There are a couple of bits to be sorted out but I've left it to other people and said I want it to happen because it's a club I want to manage," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. It's a big challenge and a tough job to take on – but I'm up for it.

"I'll watch the game tomorrow. I will probably travel up and watch the game in the stand. If everything gets sorted, and I'm sure it will, I'll be in Sunday morning, will have the team in training on Monday, then fly up to Sunderland."

Hughes's exit came as no surprise after he had failed to guide the team to even one league victory this season despite lavish investment during the summer, yet the timing of his dismissal was curious.

QPR's owner, Tony Fernandes, agonised long and hard over whether to give up on Hughes. Last Saturday's emphatic defeat by Southampton left the club with only four points from 12 matches.

Hughes appeared to have survived a board meeting on Monday but Fernandes, who is in Malaysia, spent the last few days on the telephone listening to the opinions of staff at Loftus Road – including several players – as well as his fellow shareholders, Amit Bhatia and Ruben Gnanalingam.

The manager's fate may have been sealed by the prospect of his replacement being unavailable. Overtures from the Ukrainian Football Association to Redknapp could have helped force Fernandes's hand. "Yesterday I was almost on my way to the Ukraine. It was something I fancied doing – but this has changed everything around," Redknapp said.

"You know what the game's like. I lost my job at Tottenham and Mark Hughes is a top, top manager and a great guy. Sometimes these things happen. QPR couldn't get the results they needed. You couldn't have too many worse starts but I'm ready to give it a go and see if I can change their fortunes around. If I can keep them up I'll be the happiest man around. There are some good players there but I've got to find a way of picking a team that can win some games." He added: "The players have got to start performing. If they do that we've got a chance."

Redknapp revealed he hoped Joe Jordan and Kevin Bond would continue to be a part of his background team. "They obviously want to get back into work as well but Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki are there at the moment and they are great lads as well. Let's hope they can get a result at Old Trafford."

Hughes may have feared the chop but was still caught off guard. He was scheduled to oversee training on Friday before hosting a pre-match press conference but instead he arrived for work and was told by the club's chief executive chairman, Philip Beard, that his time was up.

"Queens Park Rangers Football Club has terminated the contract of manager Mark Hughes with immediate effect," read a statement on the club's website a short time later. "This decision has been taken after careful consideration by the board of directors, following numerous meetings over the last few days. The board of directors wish to thank Mark for his commitment, hard work and dedication in his 10 months in charge. Mark has shown integrity and professionalism throughout his time here but ultimately the circumstances we find ourselves in have left the board with very little choice but to make a change. The board will now be working actively to put a new managerial structure in place as soon as possible."

Within hours the club moved to begin negotiating with Redknapp to take over. The club want Redknapp to mount a similar rescue to the one he accomplished at White Hart Lane when he salvaged a talented squad that had sunk to second from bottom under Juande Ramos.

QPR are five points from safety already and have the worst goal difference in the league as they head to Old Trafford to face second-placed United. Relegation could be ruinous for a club that invested heavily in new players over the summer, offering tempting wages to attract the likes of Park Ji-sung and Fábio da Silva from Manchester United, the Brazil international goalkeeper Júlio César from Internazionale and Esteban Granero on loan from Real Madrid.

The Premier League television revenue is due to rise by 71% next season and missing out on that would be particularly galling for a club with lofty ambitions but a ground capacity of only 18,500.

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/nov/23/harry-redknapp-ukraine-qpr

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DOMINIC FIFIELD/GUARDIAN

Harry Redknapp steps forward at QPR, but it feels like a step down
In the context of recent seasons – his success at Tottenham and being favourite for the England job – Redknapp's imminent appointment at Loftus Road seems akin to a comedown

Dominic Fifield
The Guardian, Friday 23 November 2012 14.45 EST
Jump to comments (92)

The QPR owners see the firefighter in the 65-year-old Harry Redknapp and take reassurance from his achievements at West Ham United, Portsmouth and Tottenham. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images
Not that long ago, the salvage job at Queens Park Rangers would have felt made for Harry Redknapp. This is an ambitious London club, within daily commute of his home in Sandbanks, Dorset, who are money-flushed yet flailing at the foot of the table, and a team in desperate need of a spark who is not Sparky. There will be funds to be splashed in January and pedigree to coax from experienced players who have clearly lost their way, but all would not seem quite so hopeless with 'Arry in charge.

And yet, in the context of recent seasons, Redknapp's imminent appointment at Loftus Road feels like too much of a comedown. After all, it is little over six months ago since his Tottenham Hotspur side claimed fourth place in the Premier League, to be left crossing their fingers that Bayern Munich would win against Chelsea in their own stadium and claim the Champions League, thereby offering Spurs the route back into Europe's elite club competition their domestic form over the campaign had merited. Retreat a few weeks further and he was the favourite to take over the England national team. Now, as he returns to club management following his dismissal at White Hart Lane over the summer to oversee the only winless team in the country, he will feel the weight of the table heavy upon him.

The QPR owners will see the firefighter in the 65-year-old and take reassurance from his achievements at West Ham United, Portsmouth and even Tottenham. As Redknapp was prone to remind the watching world, Spurs were cast adrift at the foot of the table with two miserable points when he succeeded Juande Ramos in the autumn of 2008, his brief back then limited to retaining top-flight status, and he duly hoisted them to eighth and the Champions League two years later. He and his back-room team organised the defence, sharpened the front line and breathed life into an entire setup almost overnight, bringing structure and enthusiasm to a team who appeared dishevelled. That was the Redknapp effect. Survival proved a springboard to the kind of success Tony Fernandes, Amit Bhatia, Ruben Gnanalingam and Din Kamarudin so crave.

But there the comparisons with Spurs end. While Tottenham were in an inexcusable position when he took over four years ago, the squad Redknapp takes over at QPR are more akin to that he inherited in his second spell at Portsmouth. There he replaced Alain Perrin, who had managed 10 points from 13 matches – considerably more than Mark Hughes this time round – who had assembled a squad swollen in numbers but shorn of quality. The likes of Konstantinos Chalkias, Giannis Skopelitis, Emmanuel Olisadebe, Aleksandar Rodic, Collins Mbesuma and Zvonimir Vukic are instantly forgettable. "When I came back I took over the worst team you've ever seen in your life," Redknapp later said. "Dejan Stefanovic, who I'd brought in first time round, came up to me and said: 'Gaffer, you've got no chance here. You must be mad.'"

Yet he still succeeded in securing safety and QPR must hope history repeats itself. Their squad are bloated, a reflection of three periods of frenzied buying since they were promoted to the Premier League in 2011 under Neil Warnock. He had recruited either side of Fernandes's takeover, and Hughes did so again, heavily, last January and over the summer. The team's more consistent performers over the past few seasons, such as Shaun Derry and Alejandro Faurlín, have slipped from the radar, superseded by players on heftier salaries who have largely yet to justify themselves. The free transfer signing of Júlio César just weeks after Rob Green had been secured on a substantial wage rather summed up the haphazard nature of their transfer policy. That sense of chaos off the pitch has pursued the team on to the turf.

There is an imbalance to the squad, a lack of quality at centre-half and too many journeymen in the twilight of their careers who have proved injury prone or, judging by performances, simply lack the appetite for a relegation battle. Some are already nowhere near the first team. The player who would arguably have had most impact, Spurs' Michael Dawson, sensed the chaos and opted out early when a move across the capital was mooted in the summer. Clint Dempsey, too, chose White Hart Lane despite QPR apparently offering £10,000 a week more. A lack of relegation clauses written into many of the players' deals has added to the anxiety: this club, even backed by their current owners, cannot afford to slip out of the elite.

Perhaps Redknapp, if he can forget what might have been, can succeed in inspiring this mishmash of senior professionals and mould them into a team. There is quality there, if it wishes to show itself, though the task proved far too much for Hughes. Maybe the new man in charge can inspire the kind of revival that marked his spells at Pompey and Spurs, and this club can force its way safely into mid-table.

Yet Fernandes and Co must just hope the other scenario, the one played out at Southampton back in 2004 where the decline could not be arrested, does not come to pass. QPR may be bottom but demotion is unthinkable.

www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/nov/23/harry-redknapp-queens-park-rangers

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MIRROR
By John Cross

Lone Ranger: QPR squad is so split one star eats lunch in his car, not with team-mates
23 Nov 2012 22:02

As Harry Redknapp prepares to ride to the rescue of the Premier League's winless bottom club, we reveal the size of the job that is waiting for him
Queens Park strangers: Redknapp will have to try to unite three factions within the squad Queens Park strangers: Redknapp will have to try to unite three factions within the squad
Philip Harris

Harry Redknapp begins work at Queens Park Rangers on Monday with £10million to stop the rot and fix a broken club.

Former Tottenham boss Redknapp’s first mission will be to raid his old club for centre-half Michael Dawson to shore up the Hoops’ leaky defence.

But QPR’s problems run much deeper than just a dodgy defence – they are rooted to the foot of the Premier League without a win for six months.

Former boss Mark Hughes was brought in to try to unify QPR, a club which resembled a soap opera with so many bizarre goings-on the BBC filmed a behind-the-scenes documentary called The Four Year Plan.

Never mind four years. The last year has been dramatic enough.

Neil Warnock was axed just months after guiding the club into the Premier League.

Hughes, with experience of managing ­Blackburn, Manchester City, Fulham and Wales, was supposed to be the safe ticket and yet QPR survived by the skin of their teeth – despite losing at City on the final day of the season.

Won nil: Sacked Hughes hadn't delivered a league victory all season
Scott Heavey


This campaign has been even worse as we are nearly at the end of November and QPR are still without a win – in need of a miracle to stay in the top flight.

Redknapp, 65, will need all his renowned man-management skills to repair a divided dressing room, cope with a crazy ­boardroom full of egos and shake-up the entire squad.

Add to that, on-loan Joey Barton is still officially on the books.

Good old ’Arry used to remind us at daily intervals on Sky, when he leaned out of his car window, that Tottenham were bottom and four points adrift when he took charge there in October 2008.

But this appears to be a much tougher task.

The QPR squad is divided into three groups – the old guard, new big-money signings and those cast aside as forgotten men.

Training ground bust-ups had almost become a daily occurrence as the resentment between long-serving players on £15,000 a week compared to new £80,000-a-week signings became overwhelming.

The Professional Footballers’ Association were even called in for crisis talks with the players’ representative Shaun Derry and the squad as relations got so bad between the factions and some players felt frozen out by Hughes.

Marseille what? Redknapp will have to deal with Joey Barton too
Julian Finney


Training was often organised for the outcasts at 4pm so they would not come into contact with the first team.

But the atmosphere was poisonous and it was a situation with which Hughes struggled to get to grips.

It is so bad that one of the club’s best-known first-team players actually opts to eat lunch in his car rather than at the training ground with team-mates.

On top of that, there seemed to be no planning when it came to buying players as super-agent Kia Joorabchian – who also represents Hughes – did many of the big-money deals on big-money contracts. They have accumulated players like no tomorrow.

The worst example of all was signing Rob Green on a free and a sizeable contract.

Hughes lost faith with Green in pre-season and then the club signed Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar on an even bigger deal.

The one area that QPR desperately needed to strengthen was at centre-back and yet they failed to land their No.1 target, Spurs stopper Dawson.

Tottenham Go west: Will Dawson agree to join QPR if Redknapp is their boss?


But with Redknapp in charge, the feeling is that he will be able to tempt his former defender to Loftus Road and, on a broader level, work his magic to repair relationships and unify a disjointed squad.

Redknapp pulled off miracles at Portsmouth, but failed to keep Southampton up.

He took over at Spurs when they were at their lowest ebb, cut adrift at the bottom of the table – unthinkable now – and then led them into the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history. He does not need to have a reputation as a media darling to get respect for his ­achievements at Spurs.

But he will really have his work cut out this time.

Redknapp drove down the Seven Sisters Road, put his arm round the shoulder of Gareth Bale and told him he could become the best in the world.

There are few players with Bale’s potential or natural talent along South Africa Road.

And Redknapp, of course, bombed out fans’ favourite Adel Taarabt from Tottenham and later called him “useless” and mocked him for being a “fruitcake”.

Redknapp had huge repairs to do in his last job but quality tools to fix the problem. This time, he lacks quality in defence and has a chronic striker shortage with Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson potentially out for the season.

QPR chairman Tony Fernandes will allow him to wheel and deal and spend around £10m.

It is one last throw of the dice as Fernandes knows that ­relegation would be even more expensive and Redknapp is seen as the best hope of survival.

Sadly, Hughes was also seen in the same light.

www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/harry-redknapps-job-at-qpr-rock-bottom-1453494

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London 24


Harry Redknapp. Photo credit: Nick Potts/PA wire Harry Redknapp. Photo credit: Nick Potts/PA wire
QPR boss in waiting’s record at Bournemouth, West Ham, Pompey, Southampton and Spurs

Saturday, November 24, 2012
10:17 AM

Troubled QPR are looking for new manager after Mark Hughes left the club this morning having failed to guide the Rs to a win in 12 Barclays Premier League games.

Could Harry Redknapp, who has a reputation as a troubleshooter, be the man to lift the west London club off the bottom of the table and towards a brighter future?

London24 take a look at his attempted rescue missions.

Bournemouth, 1983

Redknapp returned to assist manager David Webb at the club where he had spent six years as a player, following spells as a coach with Seattle Sounders and Oxford City. But with the Cherries struggling at the foot of Division Three and faced with dropping out of the league, Redknapp was soon handed the manager’s role on a permanent basis, going on to guide Bournemouth to safety and a famous victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup to boot. A few years of careful consolidation followed before Redknapp guided the Cherries to the Third Division title with a club record points tally of 97 in the 1986-87 season.

West Ham, 1994

After leaving Bournemouth in 1992, Redknapp returned to another of his former clubs, West Ham, reverting back to the role of assistant under Billy Bonds. The Hammers began to flounder under Bonds’ stewardship and the former defender was forced to hand the reins to Redknapp in 1994. Under his supervision, West Ham steadily became an established force in the Premier League as talented youngsters such as Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard - Redknapp’s nephew - broke into the first team and the England set-up. The Hammers finished eighth in 1998 but Redknapp turned down a four-year contract extension in 2001 and left the club.

Portsmouth, 2002

Redknapp re-emerged as director of football with Division One strugglers Portsmouth in 2001. Graham Rix was sacked for flirting with relegation and Redknapp duly returned to the touchline, quickly guiding Pompey to the title and a long-awaited promotion to the Premier League in 2003. Redknapp managed to keep the south-coast outfit in the top flight at the first time of asking but left the club in 2004 ignomoniously following an argument with chairman Milan Mandaric over the appointment of Velimir Zajec as director of football.

Southampton, 2004

Redknapp made the highly controversial decision to accept the manager’s job with Portsmouth’s most hated rivals - Southampton. The task was to keep the Saints in the top flight, but this time Redknapp could not turn the club’s fortunes around and they were relegated to the second tier for the first time in 27 years. Redknapp failed to mount a consistent bid for promotion and left St Mary’s under a cloud when chairman Rupert Lowe appointed Rugby World Cup winning manager Sir Clive Woodward to the club’s coaching staff in 2005.

Portsmouth, 2005

Answering a cry for help from the club he had left just one year earlier, Redknapp returned to Fratton Park to steer Portsmouth away from a prompt relegation to the Championship. A fine run of form at the end of the season, coupled with the club’s takeover by rich benefactor Alexandre Gaydamak, saw Redknapp book survival in the top flight. The wily tactician would go on to lead Portsmouth to their highest league finish since the 1950s by booking ninth spot at the end of the 2006-07 season. And after turning down the vacant manager’s job at Newcastle in January 2008, Redknapp led Pompey to FA Cup glory with a 1-0 victory over Cardiff.

Tottenham, 2008

When Juande Ramos left Tottenham languishing in the relegation zone with just two points from eight games, chairman Daniel Levy knew exactly who to call. In his first two weeks in charge at White Hart Lane, Redknapp claimed 10 out of the 12 points available to guide Spurs away from danger. Crisis averted in the short term, Redknapp booked fourth place in his first full season in charge, winning the Premier League manager of the year award and guiding the north London club to not only fifth and fourth-placed finishes but also the quarter finals of the Champions League. Redknapp was sacked by Spurs in June 2012, though, after failing to agree terms on a new contract.

www.london24.com/sport/qpr/qpr_boss_in_waiting_s_record_at_bournemouth_west_ham_pompey_southampton_and_spurs_1_1707635

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