Lee Hoos struck gold with bold QPR decision – Leicester City are now the ones laughing | OneFootball

Queens Park Rangers chairman Lee Hoos made an excellent choice with the appointment of Marti Cifuentes, and Leicester City are now benefitting.

On the back of six successive defeats to leave Queens Park Rangers firmly in the bottom three and the relegation places in the Championship in October 2023, R’s chairman Lee Hoos took the surprise and bold decision to appoint Marti Cifuentes as their new coach.

Gareth Ainsworth, who had left for Loftus Road from an 11-year stint as Wycombe Wanderers in the early spring of that year, was relieved of his duties after a woeful start to the campaign.

The Hoops were seemingly destined for League One and in a dismal and desperate state, so the appointment of the generally unheard of, to neutrals and EFL fans, Cifuentes was always going to be viewed as a risk and a gamble by Hoos.

The Spaniard had most recently been in charge of Hammarby, having also been in Scandinavia as manager of Sandefjord and Aalborg, beginning in the lower leagues of Spain at Rubi, Sant Andreu and Hospitalet.

An unknown quantity, Cifuentes arrived in West London to suspicions from supporters and neutrals, but he quickly proved that QPR had struck gold with his appointment, albeit it soured at the end to now leave Leicester reaping the rewards.

QPR will regret how it ended but thankful Marti Cifuentes happened

Although the QPR squad had clearly been underperforming under the management of Ainsworth, it still remained a fairly limited squad and a hard battle against the drop was to be expected.

The rest of the 2023/24 Championship campaign, though, saw QPR easily pull clear of danger and kick on towards the middle-of-the-table, with an excellent run of form of 27 points collected from their final 14 games of the season.

That run of 1.93 points per game would have had QPR firmly in the top six and the play-off places if extrapolated over the season, and justified excitement was to be had about the 2024/25 campaign.

Last season didn’t quite see the continuation of that rapid improvement, and a more steady movement towards the top-half of the table, despite a woeful autumn that again saw QPR sitting in the danger zone.

Hoos persisted with Cifuentes and, by the end of the 28th matchday of the campaign, the R’s were sitting in the top-half of the table and flirting with a tilt at the top six.

However, things soured towards the end with Cifuentes supposedly falling out with CEO Christian Nourry, eventually being placed on gardening leave before their clash with Sunderland on the final day of the season.

He left mid-way through this summer to be replaced by former Stade Rennais boss Julien Stephan and the concerning start made by the Frenchman is painting Cifuentes’ stint in charge in an even more positive light.

Leicester City reaping the early rewards of Marti Cifuentes

It is a fair argument to make that Cifuentes would never have got close to the Leicester job, a team that were in the Premier League just a few months ago, had QPR not taken the bold gamble to appoint him just short of two years ago.

The Foxes will be glad that they have, though, with their own off-field squabbles and difficulties being put to one side for Cifuentes to focus on the football. It has been a surprisingly bright start to the campaign.

They have managed three victories in their opening four matches and a recent 2-0 defeat of ambitious and big-spending Midlands rivals Birmingham City at the King Power Stadium was a very impressive performance and result.

Having implemented energy and some tactical nous to his QPR side that had been missing, Leicester have now been rejuvenated by Cifuentes, who is as much a pragmatist as he is an ideologue - a balance that appears ideal for Championship football.

His principles of play in terms of an aggressive press and high-energy work off the ball can be moulded into whatever tactical plan is required based on the opposition, and it is allowing a Leicester squad that appears a bit of a mash-up on paper to be adaptable and flexible against any and all opposition.

It ended on a sour note at QPR, but they certainly felt some major positives of Cifuentes’ management, mainly that they are still a Championship club. They have perhaps introduced a future Premier League coach into English football, albeit there will be regret that that would be with Leicester, rather than with the R’s.