Mark Warburton could trigger an automatic contract extension should QPR end the season on a high, chief executive Lee Hoos has revealed.
Hoos, speaking exclusively to Standard Sport, has dismissed talk that Warburton is set to face the sack after four straight defeats dented Rangers' push for the top six - and issued a rallying cry to players ahead of the final six games.
Warburton's contract is up at the end of the season and Hoos conceded that club and manager could still part ways at the end of the campaign, but added that there is every chance the former Brentford boss could earn a new deal - and a big finish to the season may take the issue out of QPR's hands.
“Mark came out after someone asked directly does his contract end [this summer],” Hoos tell Standard Sport. “It's not quite that simple. There are three avenues that we could go down.
"One which would be the contract ends this summer and we shake hands and say, ‘Let's everybody just take a step back and take a deep breath and figure out where we're going to go’.
"Second the contract ends, and we renegotiate another contract, and we continue on, or he hits certain trigger points in the contract, in which case is automatically renewed."
Hoos is reluctant to give specifics on what would trigger that clause, but adds: “[If it is triggered] we will have had a very good end to the season.”
Ahead of last month's international break, QPR had beaten Luton to move fourth in the table. However, Warburton's side have lost four on the bounce since then and now sit five points outside of the play-offs with six games to go.
Tempers have been raised among a disappointed fan base - something Hoos understands - but there is a clear message that the season is far from over just yet.
“The fans have always been behind us,” says Hoos. “One thing I never forget [about football], is that it is about venting. The whole thing is about venting.
“When it goes well it is fantastic and it goes great, but when it does not you just want to get it out. I do it just as much as the next man, I just can't do it publicly - my wife has to bear the brunt of that.
“I am in the same boat, so is Mark Warburton and Les [Ferdinand]. There is a level of frustration. I mean everybody needs to remember this team is good. Players, you guys are good. Just reconnect with that, don't overthink it, just go out and do what comes naturally.”
Whether QPR make the play-offs or not, there can be heart taken from the fact they are no longer betting the house on pushes like these and will be well placed to go again this season.
However, few inside the club like to see it that way.
“You can say look how far we have come,” Hoos says. “I know how far we have come but it is about making sure we continue on that journey.”
In continuing that journey, Hoos and those around him at senior level must find a way to compete with those clubs - such as Fulham, Norwich and Watford - who happily bounce between the Premier League and Championship aided by the parachute payments each season.
Parachute payments are a double benefit now, a soft landing and a boost.
FA figures released last month revealed that their London rivals had spent more than £10million on agents fees between February 2021 and the end of the January transfer window - almost a quarter of all the cash spent on such fees in the entire Championship and more than 10 times what QPR spent.
“It is tough,” says Hoos.
“It is one of the reasons why the Football League are saying - from a competitive standpoint - we have to do something about parachute payments.
“Clubs have said all along that they are a problem and they hurt. They are supposed to be a soft landing. It's a double benefit now, they get a soft landing and a boost.
“I don't want it to sound like we've hit a headwind and now we're moaning, this isn't sour grapes.
“The Premier League has to play ball on this if we're going to get traction, and they're clearly not. It is in their interest to keep kicking the can down the road. Football is incapable of changing unless the government comes in, the reality is that it is incapable of governing itself.”
