Football League World
·1 Oktober 2024
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·1 Oktober 2024
The Spanish boss has been rewarded with a new deal.
Queens Park Rangers CEO Christian Nourry has described Marti Cifuentes and what he has done since arriving at Loftus Road as 'remarkable', following the announcement of new contracts for the manager and his assistant, Xavi Calm.
It was a night of positivity for QPR's latest fans' forum on Tuesday evening. Over the two hours, the club announced new deals for the management duo and defender Jake Clarke-Salter, as well as the news that Karamoko Dembele would be joining the club permanently next summer, at the end of his current loan spell.
You could tell from the giggle-filled clip of Cifuentes and Calm announcing their new contracts that they are happy to be with the R's, and this was backed up by the boss' words.
"From day one, it has felt like the right place for us,"said Cifuentes. "We are aware that there is still a lot of work to do, and we can improve a lot, but I really like the history and identity of the club."
The length of their new deals isn't exactly known, but they are stated to be multi-year ones.
Just as the two Spaniards appeared to be very pleased with how things are going at QPR, the club's CEO revealed how happy he had been with what has happened at Loftus Road since last October, when they were appointed.
Nourry did sprinkle in some realism though. He stated that this process that the club is going through is going to "take time."
He said: "The truth is that what Marti and Xavi and the players achieved in the first 6 months of this calendar year was truly remarkable. To be in the top 5 teams in the league in terms of points was just really, really tremendous.
"This summer, we worked very closely together to improve the squad in the best possible way while respecting our financial restrictions, that would allow us to build the principles of play that they believe in and that match the club’s game model philosophy.
"We decided as a collective that this was a good time to renew our commitment to each other, and the pair have signed new multi-year contracts with the club.
"This process is going to take time, it will not be linear progress, and we have to slowly build on top of the principles that were successful last season while also matching some new faces to the club. I am happy to be on this journey with them."
A club that has been in the position that QPR have over the last few seasons - down near the bottom - needs to make sure that when they do bring in the right person to lead the team that they don't lose them quickly to some bigger fish in the pond.
It was reported by The Sun's Alan Nixon, via his Patreon, that Sunderland were looking at Cifuentes before they landed on Regis Le Bris as their new head coach.
Losing him to a league rival, especially one that didn't finish much higher than them in the league, although the short-term prospects of both clubs are very different, would have been catastrophic.
Paying quite a large compensation fee was said to be a mandatory step for any club that wanted to get Cifuentes prior to this new deal to take, as per Nixon. You can only imagine any release clause in his new deal, if there even is one, would be loftier now.