In an exclusive conversation with Sky Sports, Marti Cifuentes describes how he helped alter Queens Park Rangers’ fortunes in the Championship and why the team’s connection with their supporters is so important to him. When Marti Cifuentes came at Queens Park Rangers in late October, the club was one place from the bottom of the Championship. Morality was low. It was a big ask for a relatively unknown coach to turn things around and keep them in the division. That’s exactly what he did, and QPR eventually finished outside the bottom six. In fact, only two teams in the Championship gained more points from mid-January onward. One of those was Leeds United, who were thrashed 4-0 at Loftus Road in late April. Cifuentes, a 41-year-old Spanish coach who had spent the previous five seasons developing his skill in Scandinavia, accomplished this by playing a style of football more in line with what QPR fans demand from their team, lowering the club’s melancholy.
It’s no surprise that he has been connected with Premier League roles.
“It means people value what you are doing,” Cifuentes tells Sky Sports. “However, this was a team effort. I’m totally focused on QPR and thrilled about the future. He speaks from his home on the Girona coast, near Barcelona. “A needed break, I would say.” As he reflected on a tumultuous year, it is clear that even those close to Cifuentes saw this transfer as both a danger and an opportunity. If he hadn’t made such an impact, his next opportunity in England would most likely have passed him by. “I never think much about what if.” He just saw possibilities. “I think the fact that I’d been in similar situations before helped. We anticipated it would be a difficult situation when I arrived. However, I was persuaded that it was doable. That was my thinking.” QPR had had a poor start, but the troubles went deeper. “We realised it wasn’t just about the start of the season.” Unfortunately, QPR has been in a not-very-positive trajectory for the previous 12 to 16 months. To reverse that, all credit goes to the players.” How did they do it? The beginning point was to adopt a new playing style. QPR’s possession numbers were among the lowest in the Championship, as the team struggled under predecessor Gareth Ainsworth. Cifuentes changed that.
He encouraged players low on confidence to believe that more was possible. “I always felt that when we grew up playing football, we wanted to have the ball at our feet not to be going around chasing it. That principle of being proactive should never change.”
He explains: “We wanted to create that spark, to get the player thinking about why they wanted to play football. We tried to trigger this from the first session. I wanted to see players laughing and enjoying themselves, while working hard. I think we achieved that.”
“It was a fresh start for everyone. I wanted to make sure we had an identity as a team that was connected to the club. I knew that QPR had this history with a lot of technical players, attacking football. That was very aligned with my way of thinking.
“We wanted the players to forget a little bit about where in the table we were. To give them a new way of thinking because they were the ones who were suffering from being in a relegation battle for a long time. That can be draining from a mental point of view.”
Easy to say but harder to do. And yet, players responded, showing they were capable of more. “Players such as Ilias Chair and Chris Willock were more suited to playing in a team that tries to attack, that tries to have the ball on the ground,” says Cifuentes.
“Players such as Jake Clarke-Salter, Jack Colback and Sam Field could develop into that kind of football. One of the things that made me most proud is that we could see the progress as we developed into a team that we could recognise more and more.”
Training was transformed with a huge focus on positioning. “It is key. If you get two seconds of space rather than one because of your position, that will help you to execute better because you have twice the time that you would have with the wrong position.”
Interestingly, the consequences of this in-possession work was that QPR’s defensive record improved dramatically. According to the expected-goals data, they have had the second-best defence in the Championship since Cifuentes was appointed.
It was not achieved through dogged resistance. It was all linked to that more ambitious approach. “Of course, we work a lot on pressing and on how we defend the box, but a big part is the way we attack and then what we do very quickly when we lose the ball.”
Cifuentes even has a name for that. “It is a concept called zero-second reaction, that for us is very key. The moment we lose the ball, there is no regret, no complaints. We just try to regain the ball very quickly and as high up the pitch as we can,” he explains.
“If you ask our players how we turned our defence into a strength, it was by working on how we attack. Only one time did we conceded three goals. Only one time did we lose by more than two goals. The identity was getting more and more into the players.”
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Not that it was all straightforward. “We won three in a row and it looked like it would work quickly. The reality of the league is that it was not that easy. The lowest moment was against Millwall on Boxing Day. That made everyone realise we had to push harder.”
But Millwall were beaten 2-0 at Loftus Road in the rematch just weeks later and QPR have gone from strength to strength ever since. “It clicked.” The win over Leeds was an obvious highlight but it is one of many for Cifuentes. He smiles at the memories.
“It was the connection that we built with the fans. When we were playing away, at Leicester we had thousands supporting us. Plymouth on a Wednesday night, it was incredible. We created that feel-good factor with the supporters. It was a weapon.”
Particular favourites include a stoppage-time win over Birmingham. “Jimmy Dunne’s volley, a fantastic strike to win a six-pointer.” And a poignant draw at home to West Brom. “It was a special night for us in Stan Bowles’ memory. It was a turning point.”
The fact that Cifuentes mentions Bowles, a 1970s fan favorite who died in February, shows that he thoroughly embraces the club’s history. With the assistance of a club ambassador, he has even received history lessons on the Hoops.
“Andy Sinton is a key figure in helping me understand what this club means to people, the ups and downs.” This has changed the way I see our football. It is about the players we have now, but it must be tied to the way this club operates.”
Cifuentes has brought back that feeling at QPR. Such is the nature of football, supporters will now be expecting for more, given the fantastic form from the first half of
2024 and wondering if it can continue and return to the Premier League is a possibility. Cifuentes is hesitant to get carried away. “We should be really humble. There are a lot of good managers and clubs with more money than us. It’s unrealistic to assume that simply having a positive trend will guarantee success.
However, pre-season will help. “That is important.” And whatever happens, regardless of the outcome, there is a sense that QPR are back. “We’ll lose games. That’s football. But I always want the supporters to leave feeling proud of what we were trying to accomplish.”
Pride was restored. So, what does this mean for him? “A lot, and not just because it was difficult, but because of how we handled it. That’s why I’m so delighted. The unity among the supporters has been remarkable. Hopefully, we can continue to appreciate it.
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