Queens Park Rangers announce departure of Gareth Ainsworth

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 28 October 2023

QPR announce departure of Gareth Ainsworth

Queens Park Rangers announce that they have parted company with head coach Gareth Ainsworth after the club's poor run of form in the Championship.

Gareth Ainsworth has been removed from his position as head coach of Queens Park Rangers.

The 50-year-old - a former player at Loftus Road - was regarded as the perfect appointment at the right time when he arrived at the Championship side in February.

However, despite his success at previous club Wycombe Wanderers over 550 matches, he has lasted just 28 games in charge of the Hoops.

As well as prevailing on just five occasions, Ainsworth has overseen as many as 19 defeats, the latest coming on Saturday as QPR lost 2-1 at home to Leicester City.

Ainsworth can count himself unfortunate to leave on the back of a narrow loss to the league leaders, particularly when his team had played much of the second half with 10 men.

Nevertheless, the damage had already been done in previous fixtures, QPR having also lost the five games before succumbing to the Foxes.

Queens Park Rangers manager Gareth Ainsworth before the match on April 22, 2023 © Reuters

QPR CEO Lee Hoos told the club's official website: "Making a call such as this is never easy, and it is even more difficult when you have such respect on both a personal and professional level for the individuals concerned - which we all do for Gareth and Richard (Dobson).

"Many supporters have told me in recent months that they have never wanted someone to succeed more than Gareth, which is an indication of the fondness everyone associated with QPR has for him.

"Unfortunately, results this season haven't gone the way we all wanted and we feel a change is necessary. Gareth has been a pleasure to work with from the moment he arrived and I am truly sorry this has not worked out as we all had hoped.

"On behalf of the board, I wholeheartedly thank Gareth for his commitment, desire, passion and professionalism. We all have the utmost respect for him, and he will always be welcome here.

"We understand the importance of appointing a new head coach quickly and an announcement on this will follow in the coming days."

The West Londoners sit six points adrift of safety in the Championship standings ahead of a huge fixture away at relegation rivals Rotherham United on November 4.