Another new manager for Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers have appointed Jim Magilton as the Club's new manager, following the departure of Paulo Sousa last April.
The former Northern Ireland, Ipswich and Southampton midfielder has signed a two year deal at the Loftus Road club.
Speaking to QPR's official website Magilton said: “I'm really looking forward to the challenge of managing this great football club. The Board are highly ambitious but they are very realistic at the same time. I have huge ambitions to achieve as a manager though, and our aim is to keep progressing year after year.
“There is a very strong group of players at the Club and with one or two additions over the summer, we can expect to be in a position to drastically improve upon the eleventh place finish secured last season,” he added.
QPR chairman Flavio Briatore said Magilton was the right man for the job: “We had an incredibly hight number of applicants but Jim was the stand-out candidate for the role. We (the board) sat down with him on four separate occasions over the last month to discuss our goals and ambitions and he has really impressed myself, Mr Ecclestone, Mr Mittal and Mr Bhatia with his knowledge, understanding and passion for football,” he told the Club's official website.
Magilton becomes the fifth permanent manager at QPR since Briatore arrived at Loftus Road in October 2007. He follows John Gregory, Luigi De Canio, Iain Dowie and Paulo Sousa whose contract was terminated by the Club on 9 April.
Magilton himself was sacked by Ipswich in April after failing to guide them into the Championship play-offs.
Former QPR striker Bradley Allen said the 40-year-old had a tough job ahead of him: “It's a big job at Queens Park Rangers. These new owners want success, instant success," he told BBC Radio London. “How long he's going to be given to move Rangers towards those play-offs is going to be interesting. But there's some big, strong teams in that league this season and it's going to be hard for Jim.”
QPR striker Rowan Vine, made a comeback last month after a long-term injury. He was positive about Magilton's appointment: I think this is a good appointment, and it's nice for the guessing games to be over," he told the Club's official website.
“Jim has got a lot of experience. He's played loads of games in this league as well as in the Premiership, and I think it's got all the ingredients of a good decision. Jim knows this division inside-out, so he knows most of the players as well as the teams.”
June 10, 2009