Harry Redknapp today vowed to manage Queens Park Rangers in the Championship next season should the club be relegated.

QPR are seven points from safety in 19th place ahead of Sunday’s clash against fellow-strugglers Wigan at Loftus Road with their Premier League status under huge threat.

Redknapp has not managed outside the top flight since the 2005-06 season after staying on following Southampton’s demotion from the Premier League — he resigned just four months into the subsequent campaign — but insists he will remain as long as owner Tony Fernandes deems it ­financially viable.

Redknapp, who signed a two-and-a-half year contract in November thought to be worth £3million per season, told Twentyfour7 Football magazine: “I’d want to take it if the chairman wanted me to stay. I would stay with the club and have a go at it [the Championship]. I’d do that, but if he said we needed to cut back and I had to go I’d understand as well.

“It is so difficult to go back up. There are some decent teams in the Championship. The chairman would have to look at the situation carefully. It is well documented that there are a lot of players getting a lot of money here, they would be earning way in excess of what they’d get in the Championship. I know I should be preparing but I don’t even want to think about it.”

Midfielder Shaun Derry believes it is vital Redknapp remains in charge to give the club much-needed stability after sacking Mark Hughes and Neil Warnock last year.

“The fact of the matter is we have got rid of two managers in the best part of 18 months,” he said. “Appointing Harry the way we did, with Mark Hughes leaving us, it can’t just be for the short term.

“There needs to be a longevity of an appointment now. I feel that the board and Tony Fernandes would want Harry to stick around.

“If we were to get relegated, yes Harry would be the man to get us to bounce straight back the season after.”

Fernandes also felt moved to reiterate his commitment to the club amid fears of a financial catastrophe should QPR go down.

The latest club accounts revealed their wage bill had more than doubled to £56m — a figure excluding the signings of Loic Remy and Christopher Samba — but Fernandes said: “This is not a one-year or two-year project at QPR. This is a lifelong commitment. We need a new training ground, a new stadium and a more successful academy. The path in front of us is exciting.”