"This isn't the first time" - Shaun Derry reacts to Marti Cifuentes, QPR developments | OneFootball

Cifuentes has effectively left Loftus Road after 15 months in charge of the first-team.

Shaun Derry has revealed that Marti Cifuentes being placed on gardening leave by Queens Park Rangers and his talks with other clubs come as no surprise to him.

Following the club's announcement on Tuesday evening that the Spaniard had been removed from the club and that his assistants, Kevin Betsy and Xavi Calm, would take control of the first-team for the final game of the season, away at Sunderland, it seemed like all roads pointed to the Hawthorns for Cifuentes.

He had been heavily linked with a move to be Tony Mowbray's successor at West Bromwich Albion, with multiple reporters all claiming that the Baggies were going to make a move for the 42-year-old. But then things changed.

It emerged the following morning, via the Express & Star's Lewis Cox, that Cifuentes wasn't on Albion's list of candidates and that they were not, for the time being, going to push for the suspended QPR boss, leaving an uncertain situation at both clubs.

Shaun Derry not shocked by Marti Cifuentes, QPR situation

Cifuentes had reportedly taken issue with some of the behind-the-scenes operations at Loftus Road, which is what eventually led to him exploring other options.

For Derry, the former captain of QPR, the news of the Spaniard being placed on gardening leave came as no surprise due to what he already knew of the deteriorating situation.

He told talkSPORT: "It didn't shock me, personally. Obviously keeping a close eye on a previous club, as well always do, those have played for the clubs.

"It's a brilliant football club and one that I feel is still in that rebuild phase, and the talk around the football club, especially internally with the hierarchy there, was that they wanted to sit with Cifuentes and move forward and build, and I think that this has shocked them inside.

"This isn’t the first time maybe that he’s been speaking to other clubs. It doesn’t surprise me that the club have put their foot down, and I don’t blame them."

Marti Cifuentes' departure is a tough loss for QPR to take

Cifuentes went through some really steep highs and lows during his 15 months at Loftus Road. After leaving Swedish side Hammerby IF for the second tier club, he soon established himself as one of the most promising bosses in the division, turning QPR into a play-off calibre team in the second half of the 2023/24 term.

He got them up to similar levels around the Christmas and new period of this campaign, but that was preceded by a horrendous start to the season.

Regardless of the slightly ugly way that it has ended, Cifuentes has done some brilliant stuff for QPR and should be well remembered for it. Whenever teams of the size of the R's get someone of his potential, they are always going to be at risk of losing them.

Both parties probably would've preferred a more dignified exit than the one he has received, but, make no mistake about it, it's going to be tough for QPR to find another high-calibre boss like Cifuentes.