"Started the downfall" - QPR regret outlined over 2012 Neil Warnock decision | OneFootball

FLW's QPR fan pundit believes the sacking of Neil Warnock in 2012 is one of the decisions the club will regret the most.

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 are now in their 10th consecutive season in the Championship since their relegation from the Premier League in 2015.

QPR have failed to seriously challenge for a return to the top flight during that time, and they have been more focused on staying in the division in recent years than pushing for promotion.

After an excellent second half of last season under Marti Cifuentes that saw the R's secure survival, supporters will be optimistic they can climb the table in the year ahead, but they may be short of the quality needed to be among the promotion contenders.

The current situation at Loftus Road is a far cry from the 2010-11 season, when the Hoops won the Championship title under the guidance of Neil Warnock.

Warnock was appointed as R's boss in March 2010, and he guided the club to promotion in his first full year in charge after building one of the most iconic teams in second tier history, with the likes of Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Alejandro Faurlin, Adel Taarabt and Heidar Helguson all starring.

QPR made a decent start to life back in the Premier League in the 2011-12 campaign, but Warnock was sacked in January after a run of eight games without a win, departing with the club sitting 17th in the table.

Mark Hughes was appointed as Warnock's replacement, and he successfully managed to keep the Hoops in the league, but despite some big spending, they were relegated the following season under Harry Redknapp.

Neil Warnock sacking described as one of QPR's biggest mistakes

FLW's QPR fan pundit Louis Moir says the sacking of Warnock will go down as one of the R's biggest regrets, and he believes the 75-year-old's departure was the start of a downfall that saw the club get into financial problems.

"When we got promoted to the Premier League in 2011, we didn't start off too badly, we got a few away wins under Neil Warnock," Louis said.

"It was fairly on in that season, and we weren't even in the relegation zone, when we decided to sack him and bring in Mark Hughes.

"That began the whole downfall of the club really.

"If we didn't sack Warnock that season, there was no guarantee we would have stayed up, but we could have gone down, kept him and come back up again.

"Looking back at that decision, it was so disappointing and such a poor decision by Tony Fernandes.

"We made a few signings that summer, but we didn't go overboard, and we kept players like Alejandro Faurlin and Shaun Derry.

"We were doing okay, we won away at Stoke, we won away at Wolves, we were out of the bottom three, and we should have persisted with Warnock.

"Any other club would have done that, and who knows, we might have made a real battle of staying up with Warnock at the club.

"That was one of the worst decisions the club has made, and it started the downfall and got us in a horrible situation financially."

Warnock returned to QPR in 2015 as a first-team advisor, and he even took charge of four games as caretaker manager following the dismissal of Chris Ramsey, winning two and drawing one of those matches.

While manager of Cardiff City in 2017, Warnock claimed that his sacking was a costly mistake by former R's owner Tony Fernandes, but he insisted that they remain on good terms.

"I have got a lot of time for Tony," Warnock told The Standard.

"He’s a great bloke and his heart is in the right place as far as QPR are concerned.

"He was a bit naive when he first came in. We’ve had a chat about what happened after I left the first time. I can’t go into all the details, but he joked the decision cost him £200m. I remember saying back ‘it serves you right!’ But we were able to have a laugh or two."

In hindsight, it is difficult to disagree with Louis that the sacking of Warnock was a mistake, but the QPR board will point to the fact that Hughes kept them in the Premier League as justification for the decision.

However, as Louis says, the R's brought in a host of high-profile signings the following summer under Hughes, including the likes of Julio Cesar, Rob Green, Jose Bosingwa, Esteban Granero and Park Ji-sung, and as well as proving to be a disastrous transfer strategy on the pitch, it also got the club into financial trouble.

Some Hoops supporters will feel that Warnock should have been given more time, but there is no doubt he did an outstanding job at Loftus Road, and the team that won promotion in the 2010-11 season will forever have a place in Championship history.