"Need a bit of" - QPR: Pundit issues Brentford claim concerning Marti Cifuentes' future | OneFootball

Sam Parkin believes that the Hoops need to stick by their boss amid a poor start to the new season

Former player and current EFL pundit Sam Parkin has urged Queens Park Rangers not to sack boss Marti Cifuentes amid the club's poor start to the new Championship season - pointing to the example set by rivals Brentford and their faith in Thomas Frank.

QPR have won just one of their first 12 league games so far this term, and currently sit in 23rd place in the second tier, just one point off newly-promoted rock-bottom Portsmouth.

The club's chiefs face a conundrum regarding Cifuentes' future as head coach, as their poor form has come in the wake of him signing a new long-term contract as boss in late September, with credit in the bank built from the stellar job he did at guiding his side to safety last season.

Cifuentes was appointed as Hoops head-coach in October 2023, as he replaced Gareth Ainsworth in the W12 hot seat with the club second-bottom of the second-tier, and he went on to perform a near miracle in his first seven months as boss as the R's eventually finished 18th, six points from the relegation zone.

He has overseen a pretty dismal start to this term, however, but Parkin believes that he deserves more time to change his, and the club's, fortunes around.

EFL pundit offers verdict on Marti Cifuentes' QPR situation

There have been few, if any, reports of Cifuentes' future being in any immediate danger as it stands, with many QPR fans of the belief that the Spaniard has been hamstrung by some poor summer transfer decisions from their board.

His recently-signed new deal was a clear statement of backing from the R's hierarchy, and speaking recently on the 'What the EFL?!' podcast, pundit Parkin called for stability at Loftus Road, and believes that the club must continue to stick by Cifuentes to eventually see positive results come their way.

He said: “He’s just signed a new contract, come on. Continuity, plan, you know? Everything I’ve been calling for on this podcast for many a year.

“Look down the A4, M4, whatever it is, at Brentford. We need a bit of consistency. We’ll get there."

The Bees have benefitted from the stability and consistency of Frank's six-year tenure. They rose from the Championship to the Premier League under the Dane and started to establish themselves as a consistent top-flight outfit.

Throughout that period, Brentford's chiefs have kept faith in their coach despite a rocky run late last term when it looked as though they could be heading for relegation.

QPR are set to stick by Cifuentes for good reason

Loyalty can be hard to come by in football these days, so it is certainly refreshing to see a head coach given time to turn things around like Cifuentes is at Loftus Road, especially given his previous success with bringing the club out of trouble to safety.

The Hoops were in dire straits when he took over from Gareth Ainsworth at a similar point last season, yet he completely changed their form to that of a play-off chasing team almost instantly, with three consecutive wins at the end of November and start of December to eclipse their win total over the previous 17 games.

It certainly took the R's some time to trust the process with the Spaniard, though, as they only got out of the bottom three for the first time in late February with a win over Rotherham United, but by then were already in the midst of a brilliant run that saw them lose just three times in the last 14 games of the campaign to survive comfortably.

The 42-year-old was certainly backed in the summer too, as the likes of Nicolas Madsen, Zan Celar, and Jonathan Varane all joined for substantial fees in one of the club's most expensive Championship transfer windows of all time.

While it may have been a poor start so far, Cifuentes' side have drawn six games from 12 and lost fewer times than six other teams up to now, so there have been some promising signs, and they would undoubtedly be higher in the table had their strikers converted just a few more chances.

With that said, the R's are facing a tough run of games in the coming weeks against the likes of Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Leeds United, so it remains to be seen whether they will remain patient with their head coach if the losses continue.