Sousa`s Head On The Block? Update!

Today`s Sunday Mirror is reporting that, should Sousa fail to halt QPR`s slide down the Championship table and if Briatore does not see evidence of an improvement in the next two games, Paulo Sousa will be axed as QPR First Team Coach.

Furthermore, the paper links QPR with ex-Blackburn and MK Dons manager, Paul Ince, who is apparently a friend of Gianni Paladini, should Sousa be sacked. Ince apparently recently rejected the chance of becoming manager of Brighton supposedly because he does not want to manage at anything less than Championship level now.

There are many reasons to doubt the veracity of this story, not least because we have hardly been on a slide down the table. Yes, we have dropped to 11th - but we`ve been 11th for several weeks now. Ok, that is largely because teams around us haven`t taken advantage of our poor run of late. But hey! That`s what football is all about.

Then there`s the fact that what manager could possibly work miracles if he isn`t given the funds to buy the right players - Sousa admits our lack of goals is costing us points. I, for one, do not believe that he did not have a top striker on his January shopping list. But did we get a striker - er, no!

Personally, I believe that Briatore should stick with Paulo Sousa. The man came in to the job in the middle of the season so had no pre-season with which to work with the players and get to know them. He`s probably spent the best part of the last five months getting to know the squad, their abilities and weaknesses, time which Ian Dowie had in the summer.

Also, Sousa is supposedly Briatore`s man - in which case, it wouldn`t look too good for the boss to get rid of his own choice so soon into the man`s "reign". Egg on face springs to mind - and I don`t picture Briatore as the sort of man who likes to look stupid.

Furthermore, I believe that we need stability and constancy at the Club now. Sousa should be given till at least the end of 2009/2010 as well as funds and a clear path to bringing in those players he wants - not Paladini!

Since I wrote this article, this morning, I have spotted that Paladini has been very quick out of the blocks to deny that there is any truth in this report, stating:"I know for a fact that they(the QPR Board)want to keep Paulo Sousa . . . about him having two games left is completely wrong as well."Paladini has also denied emphatically that he and Paul Ince are friends and also that they have not spoken. Good, I say!

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