With five defeats from six games, things haven’t exactly gone how those associated with QPR would have wanted them to since football restarted.
But while Rangers have endured a run to forget, there was at least a memorable night for one former QPR man on Monday, as Gareth Ainsworth guided his Wycombe Wanderers side to promotion to the Championship for the first time in their history.
Having been written off as one of the favourites for relegation from League One at the start of the campaign, Wycombe, managed to secure their place in the play-offs on a points-per-game basis after the early curtailment of the League One season, and having overcome Fleetwood in the semi-finals, Ainsworth’s side beat Oxford 2-1 at Wembley on Monday to seal their place in the Championship next season.
Would you take Gareth Ainsworth as QPR manager?YesNo |
Following that success, QPR took to Twitter to congratulate Ainsworth – who spent seven years with the club as a player between 2003 and 2010 – as well as Giles Phillips and Adam Smyth, both who are on-loan at Wycombe from Rangers.
🙌 Success for Wild Thing and #QPR‘s Loan Rangers at Wembley.
See you next season, @wwfcofficial! 👋 pic.twitter.com/5YLReaty9Q
— QPR FC (@QPR) July 13, 2020
Responding to that post, many QPR fans were quick to call for the club to appoint Ainsworth as their own manager in the future, while others contemplated on the positions of Phillips and Smyth, both of whom played a limited role in Wycombe’s play-off campaign.
Some meanwhile, observed that there is still no guarantee that QPR will be playing Wycombe next season, with relegation still a mathematical possibility for Rangers.
Here, we take a look at what some of those supporters had to say.
The sooner we get him in as manager the better. Congrats to Wycombe and everyone involved with them, you deserved it tonight and i look forward to playing you next season.
— Duncan Darlison (@qprduncan) July 13, 2020
‘Gareth Ainsworth is the longest-serving manager in the top four divisions of English football’
Just goes to prove what can be achieved if you give a manager a decent chance. Something we seriously need to take note of.— Ghostbustar (@Ghostbustar) July 13, 2020
So desperate to spin positivity the club are trying to hang on the coat tails of other clubs success. A player we have let go on the bench without appearing and a player we still have not even in the Squad for the final, but well done all the same @wwfofficial
— Grant Bentley (@emulatrix) July 14, 2020
Smyth wasn’t even on the bench and Phillips is leaving the Rangers! 🙁🙁 #QPR
— malcolm jacobus (@maljacqpr) July 13, 2020
Future qpr manager… Maybe not to far in the future!
— tiberius kirk (@zxralienwarrior) July 13, 2020
if we stay up
— George (@George__QPR) July 13, 2020