QPR deserve huge credit for November's Marti Cifuentes stubbornness | OneFootball

The R's had an awful start to the season, but they kept faith with their manager and are now reaping the rewards.

The relegation picture in the Championship has changed week-by-week and while there may be some indication as to who will be in danger come the end of the season, the actual order of the league table is still incredibly hard to guess. For Queens Park Rangers, though, they are very much looking up rather than down.

Plymouth Argyle have started to fall away from safety over the course of the last month, but the battle for the final two places in the drop zone remains rife, and at least eight clubs are in serious trouble and have the chance of dropping to League One in May.

Despite QPR's terrible start to 2024/25, they have pushed themselves away from danger, and they are now looking at a charge for the play-off places.

It's a situation that few saw coming, especially with the R's second win of the season only coming at the very end of November, but a decision taken by the board then has paid off.

QPR have made an excellent decision to keep Marti Cifuentes

While QPR's first few weeks of the campaign were not exactly impressive, they were not terrible, and they lost just one of their opening six games.

However, four of those results were draws, and this winless pattern continued for the next three months.

Four defeats in a row saw the R's drop into the relegation zone in October, and pressure started to mount on manager Marti Cifuentes. It was incredibly difficult to see where the next victory was going to come for the West London side, and there were calls from those outside the club to let go of the Spaniard.

But, for supporters, it was clear to see where the team's failings were, with goalscoring being the main issue. A lack of confidence was plaguing the players, and they needed to taste victory quickly to get themselves out of the rut they were in.

Cifuentes was confident that his team's fortunes would change when he spoke in November, and they soon did, with a run of four wins in six helping QPR rise from the foot of the table to 14th.

Since the November international break, the R's have lost just once in the Championship, and they have gone from being destined for the drop, to a team that has every chance to leave this division in a more positive way.

QPR's confidence has only grown in 2025

A defeat to Swansea City on Boxing Day is the only time that QPR have failed to pick up points in the last two months, and they have now won their last four matches.

They welcome Sheffield Wednesday to Loftus Road on Saturday, and know that they could close the gap to the top six to just one point with a win. The progression that the R's have made is sensational, and Cifuentes deserves huge credit for this.

While promotion this season may come too early, QPR have shown that they will be one of the teams who will compete for the top six at the very least in 2025/26 if they do miss out in this campaign.

What was looking to be a very difficult year has turned into one of excitement and promise, and the rest of the Championship will now fear facing Cifuentes' team.