On Sunday afternoon we were promised that Queens Park Rangers were about to enter a new era, when a new badge that we’d all seen already was revealed there was a sense of “is that it” around the stands. After the news of Luigi De Canio’s departure today though it was clear that wasn’t just a simple strap line. 

De Canio leaves then after a mere six months in charge during which he has masterminded our climb away from relegation, rebuilt a poor squad into a competitive one and produced some of the best football seen at Loftus Road in years.  

So why has he gone? 

There had been plenty of murmurings that this was going to happen and when you added up all the snippets of news and rumours that were floating around over the last two months it became clear that De Canio and QPR was not a long term partnership.

The only question remains did he jump or was he pushed? Mutual consent departures are never quite as cut and dried as they sound, perhaps Luigi had decided he hadn’t settled well enough in England or maybe the club already have another man ready to come in who they feel can take us ever further forward.  

We will probably never know and it truth it doesn’t really matter, he has gone and now we must look forward. One thing is for sure, for this first time in years we are sure to be absolutely spoiled for choice! 

It is so important that the board gets this next appointment right and already some of the rumours are filling me with dread! There are far too many candidates to make any kind of informed guess but there are several ways the owners could go with this.

First is the glamour approach. If Briatore and co are genuine about creating QPR as a true “global brand” then a manager that reflects that ambition would be logical. A big name would attract big players and put bums on seats fast and with the season ticket renewals about to hit that could be a major consideration. The Zidane rumour would fit into this strategy but how likely is it really? Sam Allardyce would also fit into the big name category but how palatable would the football be? 

Second is the prudent approach. Before they can create this QPR explosion we have to get out of The Championship and they could go with a local manager with a proven record of doing just that. This is where it gets scary with someone like Iain Dowie being touted around as the early favourite. No thanks. There’s also been links to Chris Coleman and the like, again, this doesn’t really excite to me.  

Third, they could stick with what they’ve got and go Italian. With the club being run by Briatore and Paladini currently acting in a Sporting Director role an Italian first team coach might be preferred to maintain the status quo. They tried for Costacurta before, maybe he could be in frame or perhaps the former Cagliari manager Marco Giampaolo who was linked to the job in Italy a few weeks ago when doubts over De Canio’s future first surfaced could be a candidate? All this depends on if the owners were happy with a foreign boss in the first place though.  

As I said previously there is just no way of knowing, if this situation is something the club saw coming then a deal could be done and dusted already and announced tomorrow, if it came a shock to them there could be an air of panic around right now.  

I have every confidence that the board will make the right choice, they did a good job with hiring De Canio despite no one here really having heard of him previously, and they know this is a key decision they can’t mess up. I just hope it’s put to bed soon as a whole summer of being linked with every man and his dog does not appeal at all.  

Finally a quick thank you to Gigi, he turned round our season, kept us in the division after John Gregory’s disastrous reign, bought in some fine players and gave us some good football to watch. Good luck to him whatever he chooses to do next.

ron@qprnet.com