Magic man, miracle worker and the messiah — QPR fans are not short of nicknames when it comes to Marti Cifuentes.
It is hard to blame them, because when Cifuentes was hired in October last year, QPR looked dead and buried. After sacking Gareth Ainsworth, they were 23rd in the Championship with just two wins from their opening 14 games.
QPR rolled the dice on Cifuentes, backing a data-driven approach for his hiring, and they secured safety last week with a 4-0 thumping of Leeds. It means tomorrow's trip to Coventry will have a party atmosphere.
Keeping QPR up is impressive enough, but Cifuentes has done it in style, balancing an attractive style of play with a pragmatic approach. The turning point came in January. After eight games without a win, QPR beat Millwall 2-0, and since then they have lost just four times.
The squad have been blown away by Cifuentes' attention to detail and tactical knowledge. In one of his first training sessions, a player skewed a shot wide and threw his hands up in frustration. The boss brought the session to a stop and told the player he had wasted four seconds moaning when he could have been getting back into position.
A workaholic, Cifuentes has thrown himself into life at QPR. On his first day off, he and his assistant, Xavier Calm, went to Loftus Road and introduced themselves to all the staff.
They learned about the history of the club, with Cifuentes quickly becoming a fan of a phrase from legendary manager Alec Stock: "Sweat and blood as well as technique and tactics, they're nothing without each other."
Cifuentes says: "I was convinced from day one we would stay up, that we would reach the target."
