Sky Bet Championship podcast: Noel Whelan discusses QPR's decision to sack Steve McClaren
Steve McClaren has been sacked by QPR after a poor run of results left them battling to avoid the drop.
In the latest of their fortnightly Sky Bet Championship podcast, Gareth, Dom, Tom and former professional footballer Noel Whelan discussed the decision by QPR to change their manager.
The former England boss joined the Loftus Road club last summer but has been sacked with the club 17th in the Championship table and only eight points clear of the relegation zone.
QPR director of football Les Ferdinand said in a statement: "Steve has worked incredibly hard during his time with us but as we start to make plans for next year we feel this change is necessary now, rather than wait until the end of the season, or risk having to make such a decision early in the new campaign."
McClaren was in charge of the club for 46 matches in all competitions, winning 16 and losing 21.
The current favourite to be McClaren's replacement is Tim Sherwood, with Mark Warburton and currently Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth shortly behind in the betting.
Speaking on the latest Sporting Life Sky Bet Championship podcast, Whelan said: "it's just consistency isn't it.
"Keeping the players motivated, keeping the players hyped up for a game, there's many teams like that that have been in and out.
"They've had good periods and had shocking periods. At the beginning of the season, they went through a terrible run and they managed to turn it around. Since then, it's been shocking."
The discussion moved onto the playing squad, with Dom saying: "They've got some really good players in their squad so there's something. I don't know if it's McClaren not being able to motivate them or whether these players have just lost all interest.
To which Whelan replied: "Well have they got to that stage where 'look, we're not going to get relegated and we're not going to get into the play-offs' - are they going through the motions?
"That's where you need to keep a team professional and being honest."
Sporting Life's Sky Bet EFL man Tom Carnduff said that it's been a season to forget for the R's with a number of negatives. He said: "QPR have been diabolical in the second-half of the season.
"The bit that gets me is how, I think he said it after they were beaten 7-1 by West Brom, but he also said it and the top line that QPR ran with in their interview after the (Bolton) game was 'well, I didn't expect that'.
"That's reassuring from a manager in a relegation battle."
Podcast host Gareth Jones also added: "It's been a weird season because they started terribly, that was the watershed moment where everyone thought they were totally doomed considering the off-season they had as well and it turned around.
"They got a few good signings in and few loans in that have done quite well and they were really impressive. At one point you thought maybe a play-off push, and then it has completely collapsed."
Whelan then rounded things off by stating: "I'm not sure if he's the right manager but he's done the job by keeping them in the league. They (the owners) were realistic enough to know that they weren't going to challenge for a play-off spot with the teams in there but you need a fresh change."
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