Sam Wallace: Harry will have to be patient with his new bosses

Were it not for Bastian Schweinsteiger's penalty miss, or Bayern Munich's failure to stop Didier Drogba with two minutes left of the Champions League final, or any number of critical moments in Chelsea's improbable, exhilarating run to the European Cup last season, then Harry Redknapp would probably not be where he is today.

He would not be taking his first press conference as Queen's Park Rangers manager this morning, and articulating in stark terms just how steep the task is for the Premier League's bottom club.

Had Chelsea failed to win the Champions League in May, leaving Tottenham Hotspur in the competition this season, then Redknapp would still be Spurs manager. He might even have done a better job of avoiding the pitfalls of Group E, which last week ensnared Chelsea and cost Roberto Di Matteo his job.

Instead, only three months short of his 66th birthday, Redknapp will be taking on his fourth Premier League fire-fighting role in the space of eight years.

Most men of his age are easing themselves into retirement or, in the case of one of his peers, unveiling a statue of himself. But Redknapp, right, once again has the proverbial flashing blue light on his head and is turning up at the scene of yet another disaster to try to revive the patient.

This really should be the last time he has to do this. QPR, with an ownership that wants success but has so far been clueless about how to achieve it, could be one final great top-flight job for Redknapp.

Success will require this chaotic club to get its house in order. But it will also require Redknapp to play his part in making this relationship work.

Redknapp attracts more than his fair share of sneering. But this is a manager who took a Spurs team who were on their knees in October 2008 and turned them into a side that two seasons later beat both Milan clubs in a style rare among English teams in their first-ever Champions League campaign.

That he was sacked by Spurs for two fourth-placed finishes in his three full seasons there shows just how rapidly that club's ambitions expanded during his time in charge.

Redknapp is often outspoken and off-message which, with hindsight, meant that he was never going to be appointed England manager despite having been the best performing English manager at the time of asking. Even by his own admission, he can be his own worst enemy. He said as much during his prosecution for tax evasion at the start of the year.

When asked in Southwark Crown Court what his relationship with Redknapp was like, Milan Mandaric, his former chairman at Portsmouth, could not resist replying: "You mean the relationship when I tried to strangle him?"

And what of the players, Mandaric was asked. "The players loved Harry," he said. "They adored him. He could get more out of them than anyone else."

In a nutshell, there was Redknapp's issue. When it came to players, he was brilliant – perfectly capable of understanding and inspiring them. When it came to dealing with his bosses – managing up, as they say – he could be infuriating. If he could have done with some patience back then at Portsmouth, he will certainly need it at QPR.

Redknapp is walking into a club that has done little to prove that its owners, directors and shareholders – the whole cavalcade of people who seem to be running QPR – have got a handle on what makes a club successful.

Nevertheless, QPR have Premier League potential and it would be a shame were Redknapp, should he establish them in the division, not to be around to enjoy it. In order to do so, he may have to rein in the frustration he so evidently feels at times with the owners of the clubs he has worked for, and focus on what he is undoubtedly so good at, which is the football.