Lee Hoos, the CEO of QPR, has expressed his support for manager Gareth Ainsworth in the face of recent challenges. Hoos believes that the team will make significant progress due to their recent training ground efforts. Additionally, he has defended the playing style employed under Ainsworth, stating that the 50-year-old has introduced changes in recent weeks.
QPR has faced a challenging year, as they were leading the Championship in October 2022 but experienced a notable decline in their performance. Following the departure of Michael Beale and Neil Critchley’s unsuccessful tenure as head coach, the club turned to Ainsworth, a beloved former player, to help them avoid relegation from the Championship. While they managed to stay in the league, a poor start to the 2023/24 season, marked by disappointing results and performances, has put Ainsworth under renewed pressure, with the team currently in the relegation zone.
| Championship Table (As it stands w/c October 9th) | ||||
| Team | P | GD | Pts | |
| 17 | Blackburn Rovers | 11 | -4 | 13 |
| 18 | Plymouth Argyle | 11 | -1 | 11 |
| 19 | Huddersfield Town | 11 | -7 | 11 |
| 20 | Watford | 11 | -2 | 10 |
| 21 | Stoke City | 11 | -6 | 10 |
| 22 | QPR | 11 | -12 | 8 |
| 23 | Rotherham United | 11 | -12 | 6 |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | 11 | -13 | 3 |
There were calls from parts of the fanbase for Ainsworth to get his marching orders after the 4-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers and the October international break seemed a good time to make that sort of call.
The dissenting voices only grew louder when John Eustace, a former R’s assistant, became available after being replaced despite doing an impressive job at Birmingham City but no such decision has been made.
What is QPR’s stance on Gareth Ainsworth?
Speaking to The Athletic, Hoos has made it clear that Ainsworth retains the backing of the Championship club and backed him to turn things around.
He said: “One of the reasons we hired Gareth was that he can adapt, innovate and try new things. He did something different for Blackburn, which didn’t work out. But he’ll go back, address that, and he’s done some different things in training the last couple of weeks. I would expect to see us spring forward.”
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