Cast your mind back to the summer of 2015 when Mark Warburton was a coach in great demand.
After securing his first managerial position at Brentford via the unconventional route of first being their sporting director (and the even more unusual claim of previously being a city trader) Warburton took the Bees up to the Championship in his first season in charge, then strengthened his burgeoning reputation further by guiding a team hardly furnished with stars into the playoffs.
A fundamental disagreement over the club’s future strategy regarding transfers was what led to his exit at Griffin Park but with his footballing credentials to that point only impressive and progressive it was inevitable that a queue of potential suitors would line up to offer this promising new face another hot seat to warm. When his decision was finally made it was to the hottest one around.
His short time at Ibrox was initially successful, as Warburton took a reformed and rejuvenated Rangers back into the Scottish top flight. That was until harsh realities set in, the expectation for the fierce competition with Celtic to immediately resume despite there being a gulf in class between the sides. Warburton has spoken of his frustration in Scotland, particularly the manner of his departure which he discovered by tuning into Sky Sports.
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So it was off to Nottingham Forest he went, another club that demanded the squaring of its past. His time at the City Ground was a tumultuous and difficult period for both Warburton and the club and he was sacked on New Year’s Eve a mere nine months after taking the reins.
Few would have blamed Warburton had he felt embittered at this juncture. After all, in his five seasons as a head coach he had presided over two promotions and an unanticipated playoff charge. Now here he was on the proverbial scrapheap. There was no longer a queue to his door.
Cast your mind back again to the summer of 2015. That May QPR had suffered relegation to the Championship but with a recent history of yo-yoing between the top two leagues and with a squad abundant with genuine quality they are considered likely to bounce straight back.
They don’t. Instead the Hoops see their better players depart, one after the other and each subsequent season has seen a battle to avoid the drop rather than any promotion charge. In the four years since they last graced the Premier League seven managers have been at the helm, six of them leaving deemed failures.
Find out a how a world-record-holding freestyler got on with the worst football in the world in the video below…
The seventh boss was Mark Warburton who was appointed in early May and presently the West London outfit reside in a playoff spot after stringing together six wins from their opening eleven games. These results include eye-catching away wins at Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday while their attacking partnership of Nahki Wells and Jordan Hugill has garnered 12 goals and promises much.
It may be early days so it seems like a club in need of restoration and a manager in need of redemption have found each other. And it might yet prove to be a match made in heaven.
