Next QPR Manager Odds: 7 Candidates to Replace Marti Cifuentes

With Marti Cifuentes placed on gardening leave at QPR, EFL pundit Gab Sutton has put on his gloves on to examine several candidates for the Championship job, and discuss who has the growth potential to help the Rs blossom.

1. Pierre Sage 

When a domestically unfamiliar name is top of the betting list, it can be seen as a sign that there’s a grain of truth to the club’s interest in them, and/or vice-versa.

In Sage’s case in the next QPR manager odds, QPR would be getting a head coach who is out of work, and therefore would not necessitate compensation, but also has positive reviews from his time at Lyon.

The 45-year-old revived OL last season, bottom of the league at the time of his November 2023 appointment, and he led them to Europa League qualification, before being sacked with the team 5th this year.

Believed to have good values and people skills, Sage has demonstrated both the ability to stamp a core identity onto his teams, including an aggressive style, but also be able to adapt to the personnel available.

Put it this way: who’s betting on Pierre Sage being the next QPR manager with no insider information at all?

2. Ryan Mason

Having had two stints as Tottenham’s interim head coach, and four years assisting Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou, Ryan Mason could be ready to try his hand as a number one.

We’ve seen with Chris Davies at Birmingham, how coaches who have spent some time in a first-team environment, can fare better in the hot-seat than those going in cold from youth level.

From Mason’s perspective, a move to QPR would allow him to test the waters and prove himself as a manager, his ultimate ambition, without uprooting a young family.

3. Gary O’Neil

Gary O’Neil’s excellent work at Bournemouth and Wolves, keeping both up comfortably in difficult circumstances, means he may hold out for another Premier League job - even if he has to join Sean Dyche in the waiting room for a mid-season struggler to look his way.

Nonetheless, if O’Neil wants to get his hands dirty this summer, then QPR might be one of the few jobs available to him, with only West Brom right now looking the preferable gig - and as a Beckenham lad, this job would allow him to stay in touch with his London roots.

4. Richie Wellens

Poaching the best-performing managers from the lower leagues has almost gone out of fashion in the Championship, over the last 10 years.

If QPR want to buck that trend, Richie Wellens could be available to poach from Leyton Orient: the Mancunian has won League Two titles with Swindon and the O’s, guiding the latter to successive top half finishes in League One - and pole position for a Play-Off spot this season on one of the division's lower budgets. 

Wellens likes attacking football and has some modern ideas, but is also very adaptable, and his teams aren’t afraid to play longer in certain moments when the situation calls for it - similarly to how Cifuentes revived QPR last season.

5. Russell Martin

The only season in which Russ Martin has delivered tangible success has been at Southampton, in 2023-24, when he had the benefit of a squad oozing with quality.

In previous jobs, at MK Dons and Swansea, it’s been a case of steady progression, the outcome of which remains unknown, due to departures after two seasons for Swansea and Southampton respectively.

Martin has some great in-possession ideas, but he struggles to coach a team out of possession, especially on defensive transitions, and unless he finds solutions to that in his next job - be that through personal development and/or another coach - it will continue to undermine his managerial progress.

At a club on the lower end of the budgetary spectrum, the trade-off of his strengths and weaknesses could land him at a net negative, because the players might not be good enough to perform his in-possession ideas consistently, whereas the out-of-possession vulnerabilities in his teams are more likely to remain. 

6. Kevin Betsy

Kevin Betsy did some good work with the development squad at Arsenal, but his work in first-team football is more in question.

In League Two with Crawley in 2022-23, Betsy presided over some significant disciplinary problems because he reportedly didn’t have the man management skills to reprimand his players in any way for bad behaviour - understandably, coming from a youth-oriented background.

And, at Cambridge in League One the following season, he came in to replace the more experienced Gary Waddock to assist Mark Bonner, and isn’t perceived to have contributed a lot either.

So, to give him a Championship job seems rather negligent.

7. Rob Edwards

It’s been a whirlwind of a start to Rob Edwards' career in management, after moving into the hot seat following some work in youth coaching, including with England U20S.

After leading Forest Green to the League Two title in 2021-22, Edwards was poached by Watford, who characteristically sacked him 10 games in, but then he got their rivals, Luton, promoted at Wembley that same season, before a gallant Premier League attempt ended in relegation.

Many thought the Hatters would bounce back with a strong Championship campaign, but instead they’ve struggled against the drop and parted company in January with Edwards, who looked a man in need of a recharge.

Now he’s had that, the 42-year-old will be out for success in his next job - and if he feels he’s learnt a lot from his final season at Kenilworth Road, his record makes him an attractive candidate.