Championship watch: QPR boss comes out fighting amid sacking speculation

QPR boss Mark Warburton has come out fighting amid speculation surrounding his future at Loftus Road. The Rs chief has seen his side’s play-off hopes dwindle in recent weeks and Saturday’s 2-0 defeat courtesy of an Aleksandar Mitrovic double against Fulham leaves them with just one win in six.

Reports late on Sunday night in the national media claimed Warburton would be sacked by bosses at the West London club, but speaking ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to play-off rivals Sheffield United, Warburton says he expects to see out the remaining 10 games of the campaign, though he remained coy about his longer-term future given his contract expires in the summer.

“We’re in a results industry and speculation will come out. You can’t control that, unfortunately,” the former Rangers and Nottingham Forest boss said. “The simple fact is that I’ve got a contract here until the end of the season. My job is to get the best out of the team.

“I don’t want to come across as a cliche-laden football manager, but everything is committed towards getting the best out of this team over the next seven, hopefully, 10 games, to take us to where we want to get to. That’s the focus. Then we’ll see what happens in the summer. The truth is that I’ve got a contract here to the end of the season and I’m hoping very much I’ve got 10 games left as QPR manager to get us to where we want to get to.

“If we have a really good season and achieve what we want to achieve then hopefully there’s an opportunity to extend that. Our focus is the next seven league games and hopefully the three ensuing games to get us to where we want to get to. That is our sole aim. If beyond that, there’s no opportunity, then that’s football and what happens happens. But right