“I genuinely believe..” - Marti Cifuentes claim made in relation to Neil Warnock at QPR | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Queens Park Rangers’ brilliant run under Marti Cifuentes has seen them climb away from relegation trouble.

Marti Cifuentes’ outstanding work with QPR

The Spaniard was named as Gareth Ainsworth’s successor in October last year, and he inherited a group that looked low on quality, with relegation to League One seeming like a real possibility.

However, things have changed dramatically under the former Hammarby chief, who had organised the team and managed to get many individuals performing at a higher level than they’d previously shown.

Whilst there is still work to do to preserve the R’s Championship status, the reality is that they’re only one or two wins away from guaranteeing another year in the second tier.

QPR’s bright future under Marti Cifuentes

Given the turnaround under Cifuentes, fans will be excited about what the future can hold if the boss remains in place, and he is given backing in the summer.

And, speaking to FLW, QPR fan pundit Louis Moir gave an insight into just how excited and optimistic he is about the future under Cifuentes, as he described him as the best manager at Loftus Road since Neil Warnock, who took the club to the Premier League.

“The way he has transformed the whole club, not just through results on the pitch, has been incredible. Not just him either, with his assistant and the new CEO, there’s a new feel about the club and we’re going in the right direction.

“With Cifuentes, he has come in, and he’s certainly, by far, the best manager we’ve had since Warnock.

“He has managed to elevate a team and a squad of players who looked down and out. The fans were losing interest, there was no connection, and it’s now the complete opposite.

“You look at all the stats around our performances, the points we’ve picked up away from home, it really is incredible the turnaround.

“We all thought we were gone, and the job isn’t done yet, you’ve got to fancy us to survive.

“It’s the future that I’m excited about because I feel the recruitment could be very interesting, and something we haven’t really experienced in recent years. If we get that spot on, keep key players, and give Marti a full pre-season, I genuinely think we could go on a play-off push next season.

“That may sound a bit silly, or too optimistic for some, but I genuinely believe that. I rate this manager so, so highly and I just love everything he is doing on and off the pitch, with the players and the fans.

“I’m just praying that we can actually keep hold of him, then the good times might be coming back.”

QPR’s summer plans

Obviously, the club can’t look ahead to next season until they know they can’t go down, but you can be sure that once that happens, Cifuentes will be drawing up a list of targets to push the club on.

We know they aren’t in a position to splash the cash, and there are many players out of contract, so a big summer awaits.

But, Cifuentes is an ambitious coach, and he knew the situation when he agreed to join QPR, so he is clearly confident that they are capable of pushing on, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.