QPR again find themselves locked in a hunt for a new manager this weekend following the departure of Luigi De Canio.

The dust is just starting to settle on Luigi De Canio’s departure on Thursday. While it appeared to many, including myself, at first that it was all part of the plan and Luigi was simply brought in to keep us up before moving on to make way for somebody with more experience of winning promotions it now seems this is not the case. Whatever De Canio’s personal circumstances are it seems there is something there that the board felt would distract his attention over the coming months and the parties have agreed to go their separate ways.

Rarely have the QPR fans taken to a manager with such warmth, and I can’t imagine Luigi has experienced anything like it before in his career with Italian clubs generally never more than two defeats away from a riot at the training ground. He’s not been without his faults, some of the tactics particularly away from home have not been great, but he’s had us playing superb football and climbing the league ever since he arrived. Some of the home performances, particular against Bristol City and Stoke, have been the best in living memory. He’ll always be fondly remembered in this part of the world.

Personally the thing that will always stick in my mind was his post match interview at Hull – QPR had deprived Hull of another two points which would eventually deny that obnoxious lot automatic promotion and while Phil Brown was all bluster and complaints about match officials and the darlings from the East Stand were goading the QPR fans about the last minute equaliser De Canio just stood there and shouted “IS GOAL” before falling about laughing when asked to reflect on Blackstock’s controversial opener. You had to laugh, and we did. His sense of humour in post match interviews was a treat, it’s a real shame we’ll never get to hear them in English.

So, we begin the search for a new manager yet again. There have been plenty of rumours, plenty of newspaper coverage, and a plethora of names that strike me as a step backwards from the man we’ve just lost. As ever LFW is here to guide you through the options available to us and, such is the paucity of palletable human beings among them, you may want to find a comfy chair and a stiff drink before reading on.

Sam Allardyce
Since losing his job at Newcastle after just seven months in charge Big Sam has been slumped in the corner of the Sky Sports studio interrupting Jamie Redknapp’s inane ramblings every now and again with a tale of woe about just how hard done to he was at St James’ Park. Referees, goals not being wide enough, inpatient chairman, fans with ideas above their station – nothing has escaped his lengthy finger pointing session and while he does have a point with most of them, he never once mentioned the £25m he had to spend on the likes of Joey Barton, Alan Smith, David Rozehnal, Habib Beye, Jose Enrique and other such world class talent. Money well spent. They’re still the only side to lose to Derby this season.

It’s been a dramatic fall from grace for Sam who was one of the most highly sought after managers in the country this time last year and had we appointed him 12 months ago most QPR fans would have been on cloud nine. Don’t forget he was a favourite for the England job when Sven departed. After a long playing career in the niche market of ‘centre half with a moustache’ Allardyce won the First Division in Ireland with Limerick in his first managerial post. His first post as a number one in England came at Blackpool when he guided them to third place in Division Two (now League One) but was sacked after defeat to Bradford in the play offs. In 1997 he arrived at Notts County too late in the day to save them from relegation to the Third Division but guided them straight back up the following season with a record points and goals total. In 1999 he returned to Bolton where he’d spent seven years and 184 games as a player.

Bolton had been something of a yo-yo side before his arrival, bouncing between the First Division and Premier League under Roy McFarlane and Colin Todd. They lost to Ipswich in the play offs in his first season but hammered Preston in the final second time around, gaining promotion to the Premiership for the 2001/02 season. Although two relegation struggles ensued they were successful on both occasions and haven’t been back to the second tier since – qualifying for Europe and pushing for Champions League places before Sam’s departure last summer.

On the face of it his CV, up to Newcastle, is impressive. Littered with promotions and high league placings. Like I say if we’d been linked with him this time last year we’d probably all be jumping for joy – and yet the mere mention of his name this week has had QPR supporters burying their heads in their hands and shaking uncontrollably. That’s because despite the success, Sam comes with baggage.

First his teams play horrendous football based exclusively around the Stan Cullis style percentage game – if the ball is pumped into the penalty area often enough you’ll score. Bolton relied heavily on Kevin Davies bullying defenders under long balls and long throws. Set pieces were key. Every week at the Reebok was like another round of the world paint drying competition. This would be a massive, massive departure from the free flowing attacking football we’ve seen and enjoyed under Luigi De Canio.

He also comes with massive question marks over his conduct in the transfer market. Agents Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison both told the BBC Panorama programme that they had paid Allardyce through his son Craig when Bolton were signing players. Lord Stevens’ Quest inquiry specifically named Allardyce and his son Craig in transfers they had concerns about citing a conflict of interest in one working with the other. Allardyce doesn’t speak to the BBC as a result, great for our new brand and media building image, but has never quite got round to suing them as he promised. You’d have to ask him why that is.

Rumours that Allardyce would look to bring in Loftus Road favourite Les Ferdinand in as an assistant, Les played for Sam at Bolton, may placate fans angry at De Canio’s free flowing attacking football being replaced by Sam’s uncompromising hoof-a-thon.

Conclusion: Hasn’t managed at this level for a long time, plays abysmal football and is yet to take any action against people who alledge he’s involved in transfer market corruption. Having said that he has been a very successful manager in his time and could win us promotion if we could stomach the long ball game. An unpalletable choice who doesn’t fit well with anything Briatore has said about building a global brand – Allardyce’s Bolton side was loathed the world over.

Iain Dowie
Dowie is the bookies’ favourite and tipped by some to be in the job by this time on Monday despite the main players on our board having a Grand Prix to attend this weekend. He certainly seems the most likely to get the job at the moment.

In my opinion Dowie is the best of the British names being thrown around at the moment – but that’s essentially like going down the park to compare the shapes and sizes of the various dog turds lying on the ground. Dowie has been an assistant manager at Loftus Road before of course, but was overlooked as a replacement for Ray Harford despite excellent results as a caretaker manager. He coached under Gerry Francis as well but was again passed over for the main job when Francis was replaced by Ian Holloway. It was clear he’d have to chance his arm elsewhere and he started his career as a number one at Oldham – creating a physical, pacy and powerful side that ultimately lost to QPR in the play off semi finals.

He walked out on Oldham to take charge of relegation threatened Crystal Palace midway through the 2003/04 season and he not only kept them up, but took them into the Premiership via the play offs. Palace were unlucky to be relegated at Charlton on the final day when the Addicks bagged a late equaliser to condemn the Eagles to the drop. Nobody had given Palace a hope pre-season and in the end they deserved to stay up, although Dowie’s critics will point to the 21 goals scored by Andy Johnson that season that made Palace artificially competitive.

Dowie took Palace back to the play offs the following season but suffered a heavy defeat to Watford and then left Selhurst Park to ‘move closer to his family in the north’. It turned out that he actually meant a little under eight miles further north at Charlton where he pitched up less than a week later and was promptly issued with a writ by Palace chairman Simon Jordan. Jordan had the last laugh though as Dowie lasted barely half a season at The Valley – sacked after spending more money than any other Charlton manager in history but leading them into the bottom three and serious trouble despite that. The club is still struggling to recover both in league position and bank balance from Dowie’s time in charge.

His next job came at Coventry who he kept in the Championship and took on a good League Cup run, including a 2-0 win at Man Utd earlier this season. However the financial situation at the Ricoh was a dire one and when things didn’t improve following a takeover by Ray Ransom Dowie started to speak out and was dismissed with the Sky Blues hovering just above the relegation zone. He has since been a regular on Sky Sports’ various football programmes.

Dowie, like Allardyce, is a manager QPR fans would have been overjoyed to snare in seasons gone by. Certainly some lamented Holloway’s selection ahead of Dowie after Francis was sacked and he went onto to enjoy success at Oldham and Palace. His reputation that was growing by the game during his time at Boundary and Selhurst Park has taken a battering after he made a mess of the Charlton job and failed to refloat the sinking ship at Coventry. I’d have him down as the best British candidate because Charlton wee in serious decline a long time before he arrived and Coventry, as I’m convinced we’ll see next season, are a club in no position off the field to compete at this level on it.

Conclusion - Best of the British candidate and the bookies’ favourite but neither of those things are saying very much. I think he might do a decent job for us but I’d say it would be a backwards step from De Canio. Hard to imagine Dowie fitting in with the image Briatore wants QPR to have, or putting up with the current system where Paladini has a massive say in player purchases, but he’s a notoriously good interviewee and may do enough in the boardroom to persuade the powers that be to give him a shot. At the moment I reckon he's the most likely to get the nod.

Steve McLaren
If Allardyce’s Bolton side was loathed, that’s nothing compared to national opinion of the brolly wally himself, who was apparently seen leaving Loftus Road on Friday afternoon after his interview. Unlike Allardyce McLaren achieved little and impressed few as a player, bouncing round the lower leagues with the likes of Hull and Oxford before retiring in 1992. He’s similar in many ways to Everton’s David Moyes who focussed on coaching very early on in his playing career after realising he was never going to be quite good enough to make it at the highest level as a player. Unlike Moyes though McLaren has struggled to make the transition from world class coach, which he undoubtedly is, to competent manager, which he clearly isn’t.

As a coach and assistant manager McLaren has been part of some huge successes. He spent time working with Dennis Smith at Oxford when they were punching above their level in the First Division (now Championship) before moving onto Derby to work with Jim Smith as the Rams, with the likes of Eranio and Wanchope to the fore, held their own and upset the big boys of the Premiership. Derby have never returned to those heights since McLaren left for Old Trafford in 1998 – United didn’t lose a game in his first five months at the club and lifted the Championship, Champions League and FA Cup. His reputation cemented, he was introduced to the England camp as a coach by Peter Taylor and continued in the role under Sven Goran Eriksson.

His first managerial post came at Middlesbrough and in my opinion his achievements at the Riverside are grossly over rated and over stated and certainly not enough to qualify him for the England job which he took on five years after starting at Boro. McLaren lives off a League Cup success against Bolton and a run to the UEFA Cup Final. A run built on local boys produced for McLaren by the Boro academy coaches, and amazing come backs from hefty aggregate disadvantages in the knockout stages. It was amazing to watch at times, but the goal gluts and dramatic late winners didn't really mask the fact that in just about every tie Boro looked well beaten and escaped by the skin of their teeth only by throwing on every striker they had on the bench in the last 20 minutes. It doesn't take much of a tactician to know that if you need three goals in a quarter of an hour you shouldn't really have Italian international strikers stretching their hamstrings by the corner flags.

When he came up against Ramos and his Sevilla team in the final, a Sevilla team that cost less than the Boro one, McLaren was shown up and soundly thrashed. Boro finished 14th in the league that year as well. He spent the thick end of £50m accomplishing all of this. He has no experience of the Championship either as coach or manager.

His failings as England manager are well documented and the fact that the BBC have hired him to commentate on the European Championships this summer, paying him several thousand pounds of license payers’ money for the privilege, when it’s his fault that England aren’t there has done nothing to improve his popularity among football fans. He called the players JT and Stevie G, but the players had the look of teenagers when an elderly granddad is round to babysit – “yeh Steve - JT, Stevie G, you’re one of the lads. Nice one…. Fetch the booze.” Between them McLaren and the England players he struggled to control, motivate or organise let the country down.

Conclusion - The man is a national laughing stock and again would be no good for the brand Briatore is looking to build at Loftus Road. He’s been reduced to doing free coaching work for League Two side Darlington in recent weeks. Superb results as a coach but had Boro fans running onto the pitch to throw their season tickets in his face at one stage. He’s certainly not a manager for my money, very good coach but not a manager. Wouldn’t touch him with a 10ft barge pole.

Another Italian Job
The last time I sat and wrote an article like this, sizing up the candidates being linked with the vacancy after John Gregory’s departure I concluded by saying it wouldn’t surprise me if a previously unknown Italian candidate nipped in at the last minute to snatch it. Two days later Luigi De Canio got the job. With the list of British candidates reading like a who’s who of unmitigated disasters in British football many Rangers fans, myself included, are hoping for something similar to happen again. If it does it seems like Walter Novellino will be the man to step forward.

De Canio was, as you’ll remember, the second choice to Francesco Guidolin last time. Guidolin elected for a 635th spell in charge of Palermo instead and has predictably since done a good job, fallen out with the chairman and been sacked again. If it was just the lure of Palermo that prevented him taking our job last time it makes sense to think we may go back for him again, particularly with a CV as impressive as his, but he hasn’t been mentioned anywhere so far so clearly he didn’t fancy it last time and is not under consideration now.

Novellino has a better CV than Guidolin and De Canio put together, and is out of work after his recent departure from Torino – the first sacking of his career. Novellino was a Milan player and Italian international before moving into coaching and has a reputation as a strong disciplinarian and master tactician. He has won promotions in his career with Gualdo (from C2 to C1), Vanezia (from B to A), Napoli (from B to A), Piacenza (from B to A) and Sampdoria (from B to A). After promotion he took Sampdoria to fifth place in the top division and a UEFA Cup spot. Recently at Torino he kept them up last season after arriving midway through the campaign, but they struggled in Serie A this season and he was sacked, for the first time, in April.

It’s a magnificent CV, far superior to anything the other candidates linked with this post have to offer. The appointment of De Canio suggested that our board had taken advice, done their homework and found somebody with a history of arriving midway through a season and rescuing a club from relegation trouble. De Canio has done that his whole career and did a super job for us this season. If we follow the same pattern again then in theory they’ll now be looking for somebody with a track record of taking a team from this level to the top division and keeping it there. There are few coaches as adept at this in world football as Novellino – four promotions from Serie B to Serie A, including two with Vanezia and Piacenza who are relatively unfashionable clubs not normally expected to make up the list of Serie A clubs.

I would hesitate to appoint a manager who cannot speak English again. It was definitely more of a problem than anybody let on and an issue the players were uncomfortable with. Whether Novellino speaks English or not is unclear, and while everybody loved De Canio in spite of his lack of language it may become more of an issue if Novellino was to keep up is reputation as a strict disciplinarian. Players get you the sack, and if there was concern over the language barrier between them and a man they liked I can’t imagine they’d be too chuffed if somebody started being horrible to them in Italian. You may think they should just get on with it and do what they’re paid to do and you’d be right, but like I say players get you the sack and it’s important not to alienate them – just ask Gary Waddock.

There are other Italian options as well, such as Gianluca Vialli who is a friend of briatore's and has been a semi-regular attendee at QPR matches this season. His time at Watford was a disaster, an expensive one, and he never looked very comfortable as the top dog at Chelsea either. He tends to bring Ray Wilkins with him as well which is another negative. Hasn't been linked nearly as strongly as he was last time but has been mentioned all the same.

Conclusion - I’d be wary of appointing a non-English speaker again but Novellino inspires me more than any of the other names linked and is the only one that I feel would represent a step forward from De Canio. English or no English, I’d be delighted to see him in W12 this summer.

Poaching League Two success stories
The top two in the bottom division are both managed by bright, up and coming young managers with growing reputations – Paul Ince at MK Dons, and Darren Ferguson at Peterborough. Ince is often held up by commentators as an example of the disadvantage black coaches have in making the transition to management because while other former Man Utd players and coaches Mark Hughes, Brian Kidd, Steve McLaren, Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and, unbelievably, Bryan Robson have all walked into numerous jobs in the top two leagues Ince had to go down to the very bottom of League Two with Macclesfield Town. Mac were seven points adrift at the bottom but avoided relegation on the last day of the season after a tremendous turn around.

This season he’s done an equally superb job with MK Dons, winning the title and the Johnstones Paint Trophy. This has led to him being linked with some Premiership jobs and he’s immediately the choice of most fans whenever their club gets rid of the man in charge. MK are adamant he’ll be going nowhere but they nicked him from Mac and I’ve no doubt he’ll not think twice about walking out on them if the right offer comes along. Whether we’ll even be making an offer, never mind one good enough to tempt him down to W12, is unclear. It’s also worth remembering that in 1995 at Old Trafford QPR fans sang ‘Paul Ince is a w**ker’ for nearly an hour without pausing for breath to the point where even his Man Utd team mates were struggling to play for laughing. I he remembers that he may not be so keen. The other thing counting against him is the same thing that may count in our favour should we go for him – I don’t think he’ll think twice about walking out on us or anybody else if a better offer comes along.

Darren Ferguson has also done well in the basement division since taking over as Peterborough manager 18 months ago. The Posh, like MK, have a big budget but the football they play is excellent. Ferguson signed two non-league wingers Aaron Mclean from Grays and George Boyd from Stevenage and has converted them into a plus 50 goal strike force. He strikes me as a more loyal man than Ince which will make him harder to tempt away from London Road but easier to keep if he does come to W12. Again there’s been no indication whether we’ll make a move for him or not.

Conclusion - Both very bright young managers, and Ince is certainly a big enough name to fit in with the Briatore brand. Neither has any experience of the Championship and while both have done well this season, they’ve both had a big budget for League Two to do it with – Ince of course did superbly on a shoe string at Macclesfield. I wouldn’t say no to either of them truth be told – certainly better than the so called bigger names.

Appoint a big name, regardless of experience
This time last week everybody was talking about the impending appointment of Zinedine Zidane as manager. The People led with it on Sunday morning, although they withdrew it from later editions, and it certainly served to fill the ground early with QPR fans and members of the press in equal numbers all half expecting the French footballing legend to be paraded on the pitch before kick off. In the end it turned out to be nonsense, although several media outlets have rehashed the story this week following De Canio’s departure – some going so far as to say Luis Figo would also be arriving in some sort of coaching capacity. The news that ZZ was in the capital this week only served to pour fuel on the fire.

Zidane and Figo have no coaching or managerial experience and, needless to say, no experience of the Championship or English football whatsoever. Quite what the pair would make of Mikele Leigertwood and Gavin Mahon and their approach to playing midfield one can only imagine. Similarly I’m not sure how good their English is either. This would be a crowd pulling, headline attracting appointment and would certainly fit with the QPR brand idea, but it could turn out to be a total disaster. It would be a big risk.

Conclusion - Not going to happen surely?

The best, or should that be worst, of the rest
John Collins has been named by many message board users as their pick for the job, he's been out of work since resigning as Hibs boss earlier this season. To the outsider he did a good job at Easter Road but Hibs fans are less convinced, pointing to a players' rebellion against him and the fact that Mowbray left him with a great side in the first place. Yet to be linked by any media to QPR. Martin Jol was mentioned to me at the end of last week but then almost immediately ruled out by somebody else who said he's on the verge of joining Hamburg. Still, wouldn't say no to him if he was interested.

It shouldn’t take long to round up the rest. A sad collection of no hopers who have also had a name check this week. Mickey Adams’ appointment as the new Brighton manager on Thursday came just hours after those ‘in the know’ had said he was at Loftus Road for an interview and his name can now thankfully be scratched from the list. As can that of Glenn Roeder, heavily tipped last time but safely ensconced in employment at Norwich now where he’s very busy telling everybody what a wonderful job he’s doing. Glenn Hoddle was the favourite for a long time last time but hasn’t been mentioned this week – like Guidolin it’s unclear who turned who down last time and whether or not that means we won’t be making another move. Steve Cotterill is out of work and has been mentioned but he’s another one that favours dire long ball football and whether or not he was a success at Burnley, with a decent budget for this league, is open for debate. Billy Davies has the temperament and man management skills of a mentally deranged velocer raptor – like many names on this list his reputation is battered after his last job and the ease and frequency at which he upset the players at Derby, often refusing to play superior players over ones he’d bought because they weren’t ‘his’, makes him a big no no for us or anybody else at the moment I would suggest. If anybody mentions the name of Bryan Robson in relation to our job I will go on the rampage with some serious firearms. I’d rather serve a life sentence in Broadmoor than watch a QPR side managed by Bryan Robson even for one match. Thankfully nobody has mentioned him apart from me, and I’ve only brought him up as an absolute worst case scenario.

In Conclusion
The thing that strikes me most about this list of candidates is the lack of real quality names. Last time I remember thinking that three or four of the men tipped for the job would do us a good job – and De Canio wasn’t one of them at that point. This time I’m really only taken by the idea of Novellino, and I have my reservations about appointing another non-English speaker if indeed he is.

The three leading British candidates, Allardyce, McLaren and Dowie, don't exactly inspire. If it is to be one of them I’d go for Dowie, but it’s like picking from a kick in the head, one in the stomach or one in the bollocks. Ideally you’d go for secret option D and I’m hoping one presents itself over the next few days. Unlike when we appointed De Canio there’s no real need to rush – the players are all off for the summer and it’s Paladini picking the players at the moment as we may well see this week with Ramage and Cerny due to put pen to paper any day now. If it needs six weeks to get the right man then lets take six weeks – I wouldn’t like to think of us rushing to appoint Dowie only for a much better candidate to become available once the dust has settled on the play offs and seasons abroad.

If it is a British man that gets the nod the first thing is I haven’t seen a name yet that strikes me as a forward step from De Canio. The second thing is I don’t know where it leaves Paladini because there’s isn’t a British coach around that would accept our current continental style of him buying the players while the manager does the coaching. I also haven’t seen a name that strikes me as somebody that Briatore would want as part of the ‘QPR brand’ – I mean we got rid of Mick Harford despite his good caretaker spell and I don’t rate any of the men linked so far as highly as Big Mick.

If we want to continue in the same vein then I’d go for Novellino, and I'm really hoping that it's either him or another top Italian coach rather than any of the uninspiring British coaches mentioned so far.

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Come on Bernie, Flavio & Mr. Mittal. Put your money where your mouth is, you can afford it and if you're real serious about success, go for "The Special One". Bring Mr.Mourinho to W12. -mlinneym

One Brit who has been overlooked is Peter Taylor. Admittedly his recent experieces at Palace and Stevenage didn't quite go to plan, but he proved his worth in nurturing young players as England under 21 boss. Him and Ray Wilkins could make an interest management team. Can't get excited over Big Sam or Stevie Mac. - Probbo

Got it in one! - Jamie

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