WHEN Marti Cifuentes was appointed QPR boss this week, many fans could be forgiven for asking: “Marti Who?”
Former Loftus Road Championship-winning boss and vastly-experienced Neil Warnock had been the first name on most people’s lips to replace the sacked Gareth Ainsworth — especially after freshly saving Huddersfield from certain relegation.
Cifuentes knows what he’s getting into
Players will need to be straight on it against Rotherham
So when Cifuentes was named instead, a quick glance through his CV hardly had Rs fans jumping up and down with excitement.
He had stints with little-known Spanish clubs Rubi, Sant Andreu and Hospitalet followed by Scandinavian sides Sandefjord, AaB and Hammarby IF.
So what are his credentials for saving the club from relegation with only Sheffield Wednesday propping them up after six defeats in a row and just two points from their last nine?
He told SunSport: “I’ve achieved results and targets at the other clubs I’ve been to. I got results in Spain, Norway, Denmark and Sweden — and usually it’s not been an easy task. I don’t see why this will be different.
“A big part of my confidence comes from what I see in this squad but also from the fans. This is a fantastic club with a great history and together we can make a strong team.
“I’ve been in relegation fights before and won them!
“When I first became manager in the middle of the season at Sant Andreu (2013-14), I was the youngest coach in Spanish professional football and they had 13-14 games left.
“We lost the first three and it looked dark. We made some tough decisions with experienced players that were not delivering and somehow got out of trouble with two games left.
FREE BETS – BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS
Marti Cifuentes in training
“When I took over in Denmark with Aalborg (AaB), they were in a battle and it took six games to win. The fans were not happy for a while but we finished the season strong and qualified for Europa play-offs. Before I left the following season, we were fourth after 17 games.
“When you’re in a relegation battle, there’s anxiety for fans and I understand that. We’re all passionate about our club and football.
“But it’s vital to keep people’s eyes in the storm, being critical about things we can improve, being clear about the areas we need to improve to get the results and then hopefully we can build a good chemistry with the supporters because they’ll play a big and important role.”
But it looks a risky appointment — seeing as Cifuentes has never managed in English football before.
However, as he is quick to point out, he knows a lot about English football, the Championship and in particular QPR.
The Spanish manager came to these shores on an English coaching fact-finding mission during the 2008-09 season — where he was given access to watch Millwall training sessions under Kenny Jackett. He had been working for Ajax but wanted to experience a different football identity to identical ones he witnessed in Spain and Holland.
And while here, he went to his first English match … at Loftus Road.
Cifuentes reckons the Championship is going the way of the Premier League thanks to an influx of foreign players and coaches
He said: “I got invited by a friend to go and watch QPR v Charlton and I got a good impression and picture of what football is all about to people in this country.
“At that time, as a neutral spectator, I just wanted to enjoy the game. After four minutes it was a corner and everybody was cheering, standing up and I was just sitting in my seat. Then two guys came to us, saying ‘Guys, come on, let’s celebrate, it’s a f***ing corner!’
“I really enjoyed it, the atmosphere, the game.
“Paulo Sousa was manager then and one of the first foreign coaches in the Championship at the time.”
Cifuentes believes that the influence of coaches and players from abroad have seen English football’s second tier evolve over the past 10 years in the way the Premier League did a decade earlier.
He said: “It has more foreign influence, more coaches from different parts of the world, more players from abroad so that makes the game, and the league, develop.
“Now you can see there are different styles of play. Last season, Vincent Kompany with his Burnley team went up playing a style that perhaps was impossible 10 years ago in the Championship. That makes this league interesting from a coaching perspective because they are very different teams.”
The Spaniard has now warming up time as he’s straight in for a clash vs Rotherham
The Spaniard has walked straight into the frying pan for his first game as second-bottom QPR travel today to third-bottom Rotherham today. The Millers are an old-school up-and-at-them team.
And Cifuentes said: “I’m well aware about the kind of game we will have at Rotherham, about what kind of football we’re going to face.
“It’s going to be intense, a lot of duels, a lot of second balls against a team that is clear on their identity.
“We will try to play a game that is according to our history, according to my ideas and those the players will have, hopefully we can beat them.”
Cifuentes arrives in West London from Hammarby, who are sixth in Sweden’s top division with two games left.
And the last manager to arrive in the Championship from a Swedish club was none other than Graham Potter at Swansea, who went on to do a superb job with Brighton before his ill-fated spell at Chelsea.
Cifuentes believes the Seagulls and Brentford are perfect models for teams like QPR to emulate.
He said: “I like to watch a lot of Brighton and loved watching Graham Potter’s teams at Ostersund, he did a great job there.
“When you look at clubs like Brighton and Brentford, it brings into focus something that’s hugely underrated in football — continuity, believing one idea.
“Nowadays it’s difficult because it’s a short-term business, result-oriented and difficult to manage with the expectations of the fans, financial expectations and so on.
“But when you have belief in the project and when you have the right people in place and there is the right commitment there, over time it is possible to build like these two clubs for instance.
“And there are many others in many parts of the world that are a good example about how to get a successful case as a club.”