QPR hopeful of taking Gareth Ainsworth as manager from Wycombe

Queens Park Rangers are hopeful of appointing Gareth Ainsworth as their manager after offering their former midfielder the chance to take the reins at the Championship club.

QPR are long-term admirers of Ainsworth’s work at Wycombe Wanderers and swiftly identified him as their No 1 target to succeed Neil Critchley, who was sacked on Sunday after a 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough. Shaun Derry, who recently left Crystal Palace, and Chris Wilder are among the other shortlisted candidates.

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Ainsworth extended his Wycombe contract in June but it is thought the lure of managing QPR, for whom he made 141 league appearances, may be too big to turn down.

He twice took caretaker charge of QPR, in 2008 and 2009, before signing for Wycombe, where he had spent a short loan, in 2010. He launched his managerial career with Wycombe in 2012, while player-manager, and has spent 11 years in charge, guiding them into the Championship via a playoff final in 2020.

Critchley, who worked as an assistant to Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa, replaced Michael Beale in December with the club targeting the playoffs. Beale left for Rangers six months into a three-year contract, a month after turning down Wolves citing loyalty and integrity. QPR felt they had to seek their third manager of the season after Critchley won one of his 12 matches.

Ainsworth and the former Blackpool manager Michael Appleton were on QPR’s three-man shortlist when Beale got the job last summer. Critchley was preferred to Ainsworth in December but QPR have moved quickly in the hope of tempting Ainsworth this time. QPR, who are 17th, host Blackburn on Saturday.