Following a disastrous start to the season, Queens Park Rangers boss Gareth Ainsworth is under increasing pressure but the board may have already found his successor.
The former Wycombe Wanderers boss was appointed as QPR’s head coach after a disastrous spell of 12 games under Neil Critchley where the team picked up merely one victory but Ainsworth’s record doesn’t fare much better.
Since the 50-year-old took charge of the team, the Hoops have lost 16 times in 25 matches, winning just five games. Ainsworth’s loss percentage currently stands at 64 percent as QPR sit third from bottom, two points from safety.
Nevertheless, it was revealed on Monday by Darren Witcoop that Ainsworth’s job appears safe for now.
“GA [Gareth Ainsworth] appears to be safe…for now”, said Witcoop on Twitter/X.
However, on his exclusive Patreon, journalist Alan Nixon has reported that ex-QPR boss Michael Beale is open to a return to the London club, almost a year after leaving for Ibrox.
Beale is currently unemployed, having been relieved from his duties as Rangers manager a few weeks ago after a poor start to the 2023/24 campaign which included a loss in the Old Firm Derby to Celtic as well as heavy defeats to Aberdeen in the league and PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League playoffs.
Nixon is claiming that Beale is keen to return to Loftus Road, where his managerial career garnered a lot of interest, but also that he would need to make amends first, having left so abruptly despite promising his future to the club.
After being linked with the vacant Wolverhampton Wanderers job last year, Beale awkwardly declared [quotes via BBC]:
“I have been all in here and I have asked others to be all in so I can’t be the first person to run away from the ship.” A month later, he accepted Rangers’ offer.
Writer’s View
Regardless of how upset QPR fans were at Beale after he left to join Rangers, many would accept him back with open arms amidst the club staring down the barrel of relegation to the third tier.
The best way for Beale to apologise for his exit is to get results on the pitch and guide Rangers to safety.
Deputy Head of Writing
