QPR chairman Tony Fernandes: Trust in Mark Hughes to sort it out
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Your support makes all the difference.The Queen's Park Rangers chairman, Tony Fernandes, took to Twitter yesterday to tell fans that he would not be turning his back on manager Mark Hughes with the club bottom of the Premier League and without a win after six games.
The odds on Harry Redknapp taking over at Loftus Road tumbled after Monday's night's 2-1 defeat to West Ham, with Hughes citing injuries and a run of tough fixtures for the situation the club find themselves in. He was once again forced to play Clint Hill at left-back with Fabio da Silva and Armand Traoré injured. Andy Johnson, Jose Bosingwa and Anton Ferdinand are also all missing with injury.
Fernandes tweeted: "Mark will sort it out. Look at his record. We would have won if we didn't go down to 10 [following substitute Samba Diakité's red card]. I am relaxed and confident. Let's get all our players back and in form and fit and then let's see. Think of Spurs [presumably in reference to their bad start last season]."
He posted further responses to fans' questions: "Keep calm. Six games does not make a season. I have learnt from many wise chairman." "We have five injuries at the back. That's the problem. You fans have to realise. It will come good. So much quality."
Fernandes, who tried to buy West Ham before he finally took control of QPR, added: "QPR fans don't worry. We have a great manager. New training ground, new stadium. Great players. This will make us stronger. Along the way to success there will be bumps. I love what we are building and I love being a RANGER. Just love it."
The West Ham winger Ricardo Vaz Te, who scored his side's second goal on Monday night, paid tribute to Sam Allardyce's persistence with him. "I respect the gaffer I have known him since I was 16. He's a tremendous manager but after he left Bolton, no-one really knew what was happening with me because I was a bit in the shadows," he said. "I had three years running with injury. I was ruled out by physios and surgeons and told that I could never play again. I had to go through that process to prove I could play again. Playing in Scotland [Hibernian] and Greece [Panionios], it was all part of the process of me getting back to my best."
Andy Carroll, who made his return to West Ham on Monday as a substitute after a hamstring injury, said yesterday that he had been held back by the club's medical staff for his own benefit. "I've had to keep working on it and I've got it right. I'm absolutely fine." He is expected to be named in the England squad on Thursday.
Next up for QPR: The grim reapers
Mark Hughes be warned. West Bromwich Albion, who QPR face on Saturday, accounted for two Premier League managers' jobs last season.
03 March 2012: West Brom 1 Chelsea 0
Andre Villas-Boas lost his job after this abject defeat, which left Chelsea three points adrift of fourth-placed Arsenal.
12 Feb 2012: Wolves 1 West Brom 5
Mick McCarthy's five-year tenure at Molineux ended the day after this thrashing by their local rivals.
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