Is Martí Cifuentes About to Quit?
The rumour mill is in overdrive
According to an article in The Sun published at 4.23pm yesterday, Martí is on the cusp of resigning as QPR manager.
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes could quit the club this summer after a breakdown in his relationship with chief executive Christian Nourry.
Spaniard Cifuentes, who joined Rangers from Swedish side Hammerby in November 2023, has grown frustrated with the direction the club is heading under Nourry – who was brought in to oversee the club’s recruitment in January last year.
Cifuentes, who signed a new contract in September, was linked with the Sunderland job last summer.
The Loftus Road manager's potential availability could interest Norwich and West Brom, who sacked Johannes Hoff Thorup and Tony Mowbray respectively on Easter Monday.
The highly-rated 42 year-old is hugely popular with the QPR fans after keeping the club in the Championship last season.
But he has grown frustrated with the huge number of injuries his squad encountered this season, which ended their flickering play-off hopes and will result in a lower-mid-table finish.
Cifuentes is unhappy at the club's decision to allow director of performance Ben Williams to oversee the club's sports science, medical, physio and nutrition departments remotely from Dubai.
QPR chiefs also vetoed a move from 27-year-old Nourry to appoint a set-piece coach earlier this season.
Headline summer arrivals Zan Celar and Nicolas Madsen have struggled since signing for a combined fee of over £5million.
And Cifuentes said after Monday's 2-1 home defeat by Swansea he wanted assurances the club want to progress to the next level having dropped out of the Premier League ten years ago.
There more, but that’s the gist.
So is Martí off?
Well, the story isn’t completely coherent. Is Cifuentes at loggerheads with Nourry or the Board? The opening paragraph says his relationship with the club’s 27 year-old CEO has broken down, but the article goes on to say he’s unhappy with the decision to continue employing Ben Williams as director of performance after he moved to Brooklyn – which may not have been Nourry’s decision – and says the “QPR chiefs” – presumably the Board – vetoed Nourry’s appointment of a set-piece coach.
Nevertheless, if I had to put money on it, I’d bet that Martí is gone by the end of the season – and possibly before then. At his post-match press conference after the Swansea game, he said various things which made it sound as if he’s in the middle of a negotiation with Nourry and the Board. Either that, or he’s already decided to quit and is preparing his cover story – that he quit because the people above him aren’t willing to invest in the club.
This is how West London Sport summarised his comments:
“QPR as a club has amazing potential. That was one of the reasons I wanted to come here,” he said.
“The fantastic training ground that we’ve got, the location (of Loftus Road), the history and also the identity and style of football that this club has played in the past, which fits very well into my idea, and I think there is a solid foundation to take bigger steps.
“What we have achieved this season is remarkable. It’s a big achievement, especially given how difficult it has been (with injuries), but I think the foundation for next season is good.
“It’s just about taking the right decisions. It’s always going to be difficult against teams with parachute payments coming down from the Premier League. We need to find the ‘edge’ to take this next step.
“The supporters as well; since I came here, amazing support, but I would like to give them something else and not just celebrate another season in the Championship.
“It’s not easy, but I think there is the potential to take the next step.”
Let’s hope it’s a negotiation and Nourry and the Board do decide to “take the next step”. Although, it’s not clear what that means. Spending more money on players? The club doesn’t have the financial head room to do that. QPR’s pre-tax loss in 23-24 was £13.5 million and it cannot afford to lose much more than that, given that Championship clubs are permitted to lose no more than £41.5 every three years. Does Martí want the club to risk everything on a promotion push next season, even if that means spending much less the following season if it fails to avoid falling foul of the Financial Fair Play rules? We tried that in 21-22 and the result was penury for the next two seasons, only avoiding relegation by the skin of our teeth.
But what else could taking the next step mean apart from that? And if it does mean that, and that’s what it would take to get Cifuentes to stay, then I’m not sure it’s worth it. Splurging on former Premier League footballers who are getting a bit long in the tooth every three years in the hope of getting in to the play-offs, only to have to drastically scale back your ambitions for two years after that, is no way to run a football club. Better to make slow, steady progress – buying low and selling high and gradually improving your squad, which is how Brentford did it.
On the other hand, if Martí does go because the club isn’t prepared to spend more than it can afford on new players, who will Nourry and co be able to lure to the club? Either some unproven young manager from, say, Sweden, or some clapped-out old has-been. Is that why Neil Warnock was wheeled out in front of the fans at the Bristol City game a couple of weeks ago and started reminiscing about how much he loved his days at QPR? Rather him than Tony Mowbray, I suppose.
One final observation: I noticed Xavi Calm came out at the end of the game against Swansea on Monday to applaud the fans alongside Cifuentes. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed him doing that before – although that could just be me. At the time, I remember thinking: has he come out to say farewell to the fans? That would mean he and Martí are gone before Saturday’s game against Burnley. To Norwich? To West Brom? I sincerely hope not, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
