'Cifuentes popular with fans but results were streaky'

Marti Cifuentes was very popular with fans but his results were streaky.

When he first came in and replaced Gareth Ainsworth in October 2023, he stopped the rot.

Then they had a drop off over Christmas and a good run at the end to avoid relegation.

Last season, again they had a good run over November and December and it had people talking about a run at the play-offs. And then QPR fell off.

Cifuentes had limitations with the squad, he didn't seem to get the players he wanted and he suffered from a lack of goals.

'If you start badly, fans will get on your back'

Bringing in Julien Stephan is a big appointment for chief executive Christian Nourry, and this is his first big one since coming in.

Nourry wants to have all teams across all levels playing the same brand of football at QPR.

Stephan has been out of work since November but his record with Rennes is impressive.

He led the club to their first trophy in 48 years when they beat Thomas Tuchel's PSG side in the Coupe de France final in 2019.

They finished third the following season and qualified for the Champions League.

Like Cifuentes, he comes into the job as a relative unknown in England.

It will be important he starts well. If you start badly people get on your back and if by Christmas they're in the bottom five, the pressure is on.

They've made some decent extension signings with Jimmy Dunne and Sam Field but they're still really, really light up front.

Where are the goals going to come from?

It's going to be very interesting to see where they go from here with their recruitment now they have sorted out the situation with the head coach.