Harry Redknapp: QPR boss 'would have retired' if promotion bid failed

QPR manager Harry Redknapp with the Championship play-off trophy

Harry Redknapp has said he would have retired from management if QPR had failed to earn promotion to the Premier League last season.

The Hoops were widely tipped to win the Championship but had to battle through the play-offs to return to the top flight after relegation in 2013.

Redknapp, 67, said: "If we hadn't gone up, I would have turned it in.

"I wouldn't have gone back and done another year in the Championship, it didn't appeal to me any more."

Former West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur manager Redknapp took over at Loftus Road in November 2012 on a two-and-a-half-year contract but could not save QPR from the drop.

Bobby Zamora's late goal saw QPR beat Derby County in the Championship play-off final at Wembley

The Hoops secured an immediate return to the Premier League but only after edging past Derby 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley in May 2014, courtesy of a late strike from Bobby Zamora.

Redknapp said: "With 10 minutes to go I was thinking 'which golf club should I join this year - should I play here or there?' Then, suddenly, Bobby ruined it all.

"Now I am excited again. To go to Anfield and Old Trafford is fantastic, I am so lucky to be able to do that."

QPR open their season at home against Hull on 16 August.