Wheeler-dealer Harry can get QPR back on the road and revving again

'Arry surveys QPR at Old Trafford

The sack race was offically started as a pair of west London clubs said farewell to their head honchos. Romilly Evans looks at the recent managerial comings and goings in the Premier League and he's backing Harry to steer QPR to safety...

London buses and the managerial merry-go-round have been the mixed metaphors of choice this week, after a flurry of activity saw both Mark Hughes and Roberto Di Matteo leave their posts, replaced respectively by Harry Redknapp and Rafa Benitez.

The expected departure was that of Hughes, but he was surprisingly pipped in the sack race by Di Matteo, who was still trading at fancy prices to be the first managerial casualty of the 2012/13 season before Chelsea's midweek loss in Europe to Juventus.

Whereas Hughes had yet to win a game with his Superfluous Hoops, the Italian was given his marching orders from the Blue Army only six months after Chelsea's milestone Champions League victory - and despite being a solid third in the top-flight table.

Then again, dismissals of the unexpected go with the territory of the Roman Abramovich Empire, so perhaps we should've all been piling into that 10-1 on Di Matteo. And in fairness to the Russian dictator - easy as he is to criticise along Henry VIII guidelines - his ruthless reign of decapitations hasn't denied Chelsea consistent additions to their trophy cabinet. If there's no method in the madness, at least there's a king's ransom.

Consistent additions are exactly what Hughes made to the QPR side in the off-season, splashing a reported 200m of Tony Fernandes' hard-earned on 10 new acquisitions. A bright dawn to the campaign seemed assured. However, a false one has ensued, as some of Sparky's signings were quickly branded fragile flowers by the hardened perennials who had brought Rangers back up to the Premier League.

Far from a bed of roses, a divided dressing room, riven with pernicious jealousies and resentment, is what Redknapp inherits. Still, Harry's always going on about how much time he's had to play golf and tend to the garden of late. So now is the perfect chance to display his magic green fingers again, weeding out the venomous individuals and giving others the space and light in which to grow. QPR's 3-1 defeat at Old Traffordon Saturday was an improvement for team cohesion, but the road ahead remains a rocky one - as evidenced by the fact that Rangers are odds-on to go down at 1.9 to back.

Of course, Redknapp has long been praised above all others for his man-management skills. He expects his players to work hard, but steadfastly backs them on and off the pitch with supportive avuncular wit. It's an attitude which has endeared him to English fans and hacks alike.

Still, that hasn't prevented some from churlishly concluding that this savvy operator merely exploits bargain-basement opportunities - another canny East London lad trading on the gift of the gab. Little more than a second-hand car salesman, who only takes over when a team that's proving less than the sum of its parts hits rock bottom. A couple of tweaks, a lick of paint, gun the motor and then move on to restoring the next old banger.

But even this discourteous analogy does seem to have some substance to it. Redknapp's spell at West Ham, and two subsequent residencies at Portsmouth, smacked of opportunist pickings, saving beleaguered but talented clubs from the relegation abyss. Even at Tottenham in 2008, Harry took over when Spurs were bottom of the pile and the only way was up for a squad brimful of ability. Only at Southampton in 2004/5 did he fail to work the oracle of recovery (the Saints slipping into the Championship for the first time in 27 years).

Nevertheless, even an upward curve can have its erroneous points, and Spurs was the experiment that finally and firmly elevated Redknapp out of the sales park. He got them into the Champions League places, playing an attractive brand of fast-paced football to boot, and was only denied a return to Europe's premier club competition last year after Chelsea's shock heroics in the final.

No such miracles will be expected of the new saviour of Loftus Road. Fernandes will settle for survival this season and stable structure for future prosperity. Whether that includes funding another supermarket sweep in the forthcoming transfer window, though, is a moot point. After the trolley-like excesses of Hughes, Redknapp may only be allowed to take a basket to the checkout counter. But he should still be able to cram his old skipper Michael Dawson in there as team talisman.

Otherwise, Redknapp will have to bridge the cultural and linguistic gaps of the existing squad as only he can. Then he can improve the players' mentality and instil some much-needed confidence and belief in their ranks. He's already officially revised his opinion on the mercurial Adel Taarabt, a forward he once described as a "complete fruitcake" before palming him off to QPR for 1m. Now, according to the good book of Harry, the Moroccan's "got amazing ability and can play anywhere - he's that good."

Redknapp's PR skills and flair for the soundbite are that good too. In fact, Chelsea's Public Relations Manager had better watch their back. Abramovich might soon want to make a change there as well. After all, restorations of power are undertaken at all levels of management.

But when your vehicle's probing the lows of the Premier League, one wheeler-dealer can fix her up better than most.