"Not great" - Exclusive: Don Goodman sends QPR warning as French coach linked | OneFootball

Speaking exclusively with FLW, Don Goodman has been discussing the vacant managerial role at Loftus Road.

Queens Park Rangers are yet to confirm who will be their first-team boss next season.

Few would have foreseen a situation where Marti Cifuentes wasn't in charge of the R's come the start of the 2025/26 campaign for the reasons for which he was placed on gardening leave.

His essential sacking, brought on by him shopping his services about to other clubs, has left Loftus Road with a big piece missing - one that needs to be filled.

Their league rivals are getting underway with their summer business. Talks are being held over potential deals, free agents are being tapped up. Meanwhile, QPR are seemingly stuck in neutral.

Don Goodman makes claim surrounding QPR's managerial vacancy

This is a very dangerous position for the club to be in, according to Don Goodman. The Sky Sports commentator and pundit has exclusively told Football League World that a replacement for Cifuentes should have been found by this point.

"I do think any club currently, at this stage in proceedings, without a manager is really leaving it a bit late, to be honest," Goodman claimed.

"I think that the players will be back in about three weeks for pre-season. This is a period where planning should be being done, rubber-stamped and finalised, so the fact that QPR haven't managed to sort that is not great."

French manager Julien Stephan is the name most heavily linked with succeeding the Spaniard. All of his time in this line of work has been spent on the other side of the English Channel, where he last took charge of Stade Rennais. He was sacked by them in November following a poor start to the season.

On the prospective candidate, Goodman said: "I don't know too much about Julien Stephan. I know he's had a couple of stints at Rennes and Strasbourg. He got a bit of a bounce when he took over his last job at Rennes, in the second half of last season, but didn't get off to a particularly great start last season, which is the reason why he lost his job.

"Other than that, it's hard to have an opinion because I really don't know too much about him."

QPR could be dragged into an all-too-familiar battle next season

QPR haven't finished in the top half of the Championship since the 2021/22 campaign, and they have finished an average of 6.3 points above the bottom three in each of the seasons since then.

They have flirted with the drop for a while now and have only been saved by the appointments of Gareth Ainsworth and Cifuentes in the past two campaigns.

The nerves of the Loftus Road faithful will continue to jangle once more until they have their managerial situation sorted, however, as they hope to see their club fighting at the right end of the Championship again in the near future.