Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes believes the club could have easily been a struggling at the bottom of the Championship if things had not been cleared up last summer.

The Hoops were relegated from the Premier League last season rock bottom and boss Harry Redknapp admitted he was staggered by the lack of commitment from his side.

The team have recovered this year and now are chasing immediate promotion back to the top tier at the first time of asking. However, after sitting in the automatic promotion spots for much of the season, they now trail second-placed Burnley by ten points with eight games remaining.

Asked by Danny Kelly and Neil Warnock on Sports Breakfask, whether he thought QPR would bounce straight back, Fernandes said: “No I never did. I expect nothing in football. It is one of the hardest leagues.

“After seeing some of the pre-season games and having to clear up what we had to clear up from the relegation season, we could have been struggling mid-table to the bottom.

“It was a good turnaround and I’m confident that if we hadn’t had these injuries we would be in the top two places but that’s football and we can’t cry about it we’ve just got to get on.

“The good thing is we’ve had a couple good wins in the last few weeks so we’re in there with a shout.”