Hughes remains at QPR

QPR have confirmed that Mark Hughes, pictured, remains at the club
20 November 2012

Mark Hughes remains in charge of QPR despite speculation that he had been sacked.

Rumours started circulating on Twitter that Hughes' 10-month reign at Loftus Road had come to an end after the club's terrible start to the season.

But Kia Joorabchian, who represents Hughes, told the BBC that claims the 45-year-old had been removed from his position were "not true at all".

Winless Rangers are rock bottom of the Barclays Premier League, five points behind 17th-placed Reading, who have a match in hand. Hughes met with QPR chief executive Philip Beard - the man chairman Tony Fernandes sent to fire previous manager Neil Warnock - at the club's training ground in west London on Monday.

Having signed 11 first-team players - some of them from Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Manchester United - Hughes was expected to guide Rangers to the top half of the table, but a 3-1 defeat to Southampton on Saturday stretched QPR's winless run to 12 matches.

Rangers have winnable games against Sunderland, Aston Villa and Wigan coming up, and former QPR striker Rodney Marsh thinks Hughes should be given four matches to prove his worth.

"If I was the owner, I would sit down now and say 'Mark, I am going to give you four games'," Marsh said."I would say 'We are in desperate trouble. If we don't improve our league position in four games, I am going to have to make a change'."

Hughes himself pleaded to be given time and even said last Friday that he was convinced he could achieve a mid-table finish this season.

Fernandes, who has given Hughes his unequivocal backing on Twitter in recent weeks, was less forthcoming following Saturday's loss. He said: "I feel gutted. I have put my heart and soul into this with my other shareholders. And done all we can to give support to players and all management. I can only apologise to the QPR fans. we keep fighting."

The Malaysian businessman spent the weekend in the United States before heading back home, and he hinted on Twitter that Hughes' position may be on his mind, saying: "Long long flught to think of many things. Just stopped of at osaka. Now back home to kuala lumpur."

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