The irony of Queens Park Rangers’ fifth manager in as many years preaching stability was not lost on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink or Les Ferdinand. During an unveiling in which Hasselbaink heralded a new dawn for Rangers, Ferdinand gave a light-hearted yet pertinent insight into the club’s recent woes.
When discussing a complete overhaul in philosophy, approved by the majority owner, Tony Fernandes, he laughed: “That’s where I didn’t have to convince him. They looked at their bank accounts and went: ‘Oh yeah, we’ve thrown quite a lot of money at this.’”
Fernandes and co have presided over a turbulent few years, even if the expenditure has been significant. Hasselbaink follows Chris Ramsey, Harry Redknapp, Mark Hughes and Neil Warnock as QPR’s full-time managers since the Malaysian bought a controlling stake in the club in 2011. Now, though, QPR seem set for a radical overhaul, a focus on youth and discipline, with the Dutch coach emphasising the need for a team ethic.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Reading | 19 | 4 | 27 |
| 12 | QPR | 19 | -1 | 26 |
| 13 | Blackburn | 19 | 3 | 24 |
Hasselbaink, who guided Burton Albion to promotion from League Two and leaves them top of the third tier, has been appointed on a rolling contract. Rangers are not in crisis and are three points off the Championship play-off places but a new approach is afoot.
“I don’t want to talk about the past,” said Hasselbaink, a former Leeds, Atlético Madrid and Chelsea forward. “It is the future that is important and we have to look at the bright future of QPR. We have to have stability, we have to have a way of working that everyone is proud of and part of and that’s not only the players – it’s also the staff, tea ladies and groundsmen. Engage, engage. engage. You have to feel welcomed and a part of it. Everybody has to be part of it.
“I feel that I have to bring through English players. I have to bring through younger English players. That’s how I was brought up in Holland. If I have a chance to bring a young player through at 18 or whatever age he is – and he is good enough – I will chuck him in. I will give him a chance.
“He has to bring something to the team. Otherwise you can’t do it and, if you do that, the senior player will have to understand. If they throw the dummy out, you pick it up and put it back in their mouth.”
Hasselbaink was a player who demanded quality and effort on the pitch, visibly vexed when he deemed a team-mate’s contribution substandard. He is a straight-talking man who played under George Graham, Steve McClaren, Alan Pardew, Louis van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard and Claudio Ranieri.
- Appearances
- 14
- Goals
- 8
- Shots
- 37
- Shots on target
- 30%
- Offsides
- 6
He will need all his man-management skills at Loftus Road, inheriting a squad with undoubted quality but that has too often resembled a jumble of players thrown together without much thought. The striker Charlie Austin will be sought after in January and Ferdinand admitted that “every player’s got his price”, adding: “I wouldn’t want to sit here and say Charlie Austin is definitely staying at this football club. If someone came in with the right price, we wouldn’t want to lose him.”
Hasselbaink, 43, will be joined at Rangers by his assistant at Burton, David Oldfield, but has not yet decided whether to retain existing members of QPR’s backroom team. He arrives full of determination and confidence, hoping to change the momentum after relegation from the Premier League.
“I think players want to be led, they want to have somebody who will lead them,” said Hasselbaink. “Respect is a big factor. That comes from the manager but it also comes from the players, towards everybody. But those kind of fundamentals are very important. It gives you a base of working.
“Honesty, it gives you an honesty. I think on a Saturday you need that honesty of your team-mate, knowing he will do whatever he needs to do to help you and to get the right result. That’s what we need to bring to the club.
“I’ve been fortunate to have played under a lot of good managers and great people but they are not Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. I am Jimmy, I know what I’m about and I don’t want to be them. I want to be me.”
