'Really Good': What Marti Cifuentes thinks about reported QPR replacement

QPR are believed to be in advanced talks with former Norwich City manager Johannes Hoff Thorup over the vacant head coach role at Loftus Road.

Marti Cifuentes was placed on ‘gardening leave’ by the club prior to the final Championship fixture of the season against Sunderland and looks set to leave QPR amid links to West Brom and reported tensions with club leaders. Several candidates have been touted as replacements but a frontrunner has emerged in Thorup.

Scandinavian football specialists Tipsbladet claim that the Dane is ‘close to becoming the new head coach of QPR’. Thorup is said to have had ‘several talks’ with the London outfit, including a face-to-face meeting with those in charge of hiring.

Ex Norwich City manager close to QPR appointment

The Telegraph had reported in recent weeks that talks with Thorup, who was sacked after six defeats in eight by the Canaries, were underway. The 36-year-old struggled with injuries while in charge at Carrow Road but thought he would be given three years to get the side back into the Premier League - he was sacked after 11 months.

QPR supporters will have fond memories of facing Thorup’s Norwich City side. The R’s beat the Canaries 3-0 at Loftus Road at the start of December and then picked up a point on the road at the end of that month.

Speaking after the 1-1 draw with Norwich City, Cifuentes praised Thorup and his team, perhaps unknowingly giving his seal of approval to a man who could become his successor. He said: “I think they have a really good manager and they show a lot of good things. It’s a team that tries to play in possession with a lot of good players.

“Borja (Sainz) is one of the best players in the league and Nunez is showing his quality. When they make substitutions, it’s really challenging. They had the option to put (Ashley) Barnes up top and change the way they attack so they are a very good side.”

Marti Cifuentes praise for Thorup work at Carrow Road

Cifuentes had also praised the way Thorup had got his team scoring goals, which QPR fans will hope translates should the manager arrive in west London. Speaking after his men’s 3-0 win, Cifuentes said: “Football is a funny game, because we are the third in the league in terms of finishes, and Norwich is the 13th in the league in terms of finishes.

“Despite that they’d scored 35 goals before this game and we had only 15. Football is a game of accuracy and about quality. Norwich has the best scoring accuracy or finishing accuracy in the league. That's why I always say that data will always explain the story in the way that we want to explain it.

“In this game, I saw a Norwich that has fantastic accuracy and capacity to score goals. But you can see that in the small margins. They had one disallowed, and in the next action we scored the third goal that almost closed the game. Football is about those small margins.”

In other news, QPR star centre of transfer battle as Watford set to sign ex Chelsea youngster.