Football Season Guide

Queens Park Rangers go into the new season with far greater optimism than this time last year and it’s mostly down to one man. Martí Cifuentes arrived in late October after a torrid start under previous manager Gareth Ainsworth had left the club in the relegation zone and among the favourites to go down. The Spanish tactician not only implemented a far more progressive style of play on the pitch, but also changed the entire mood around the club. QPR went from a team that couldn’t buy a win at home to having Loftus Road rocking every matchday and even midweek away games were selling out their ticket allocations. Cifuentes made his side more of a threat going forward and was also able to shore up the defence, allowing Rangers to achieve safety with a game to spare. The supporters are fully behind their new messiah but the board will also have to back him in the transfer market if the club is to continuing moving forward. A lot of the dead weight in the squad has already been cleared out. Chris Willock is the only regrettable departure after he revived his form towards the end of last season. Lucas Andersen’s impact after arriving in January immediately showed that Cifuentes has an eye for talent and he’ll be hoping new striker Zan Celar can make a similar impression in a position where QPR were lacking for large parts of last season. Veteran goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has been replaced in another signal of intent by Cifuentes to make his side able to play out from the back more. The biggest problem for Cifuentes and QPR might be that the fans are riding such a high wave that the expectations for next season might be too lofty. It remains to be seen how they will cope under a new type of pressure.