How QPR's season unravelled under Mark Warburton as once-promising tenure comes to end

At the end of January, QPR were fourth in the Championship – only two points and a game in hand away from the automatic promotion places.

Fans were hailing it as the best season since an Adel Taarabt-led team took the Championship by storm in 2010/11. But three months later, manager Mark Warburton looks set to leave the club. Speaking on Thursday, per West London Sport, he said: “I think if [staying] was the case, communication about contract talks would already have been held.

“But my job, rest assured, is that while you are in post you do the job to the best of your ability and that will always be the case.” QPR fans have a lot to thank Warburton for. Despite the poor end to this season, during his tenure QPR have gone from a team constantly looking over their shoulder in fear of relegation to a solid top-half side.

After the sale of Eberechi Eze ripped out the team’s attacking core, Mark Warburton bedded in a series of players brought in for pocket change and created a better-balanced side with a handful of standout performers.

But a few familiar old problems have come back to haunt him. QPR have improved defensively under Warburton, especially with a move to a back three that got the best out of Yoann Barbet, but the team’s inability to defend set pieces has now returned in force.

Complaints about sideways and backwards passing didn’t seem to matter when at any given moment Chris Willock or Ilias Chair could unlock the defence with a bit of magic – but dips in form and injuries around the team have rendered QPR unable to get in behind teams that play a lower block.

Warburton has been vocal about the targets he sets himself - mainly, to steadily improve on the final league position season-by-season - and this