Chris Ramsey was a very busy man the day he got the Queens Park Rangers job. According to his chairman Tony Fernandes, Ramsey took the first-team session, made an appearance with the Elite Development Squad, trained the Under-14s and was back in his office completing paperwork, when the pair spoke by telephone.

‘It was a phenomenal call,’ said Fernandes, who had already told fans he had found his dream manager. By the end of the conversation, he had decided Ramsey was his track-suited vision instead.

They do a lot of dreaming at Loftus Road. Sadly there is no awakening from the one where they lose 2-1 at Hull City and the captain gets sent-off and banned for three games against Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace. Still, no doubt the 14-year-olds looked really sharp at the weekend.

Chris Ramsey has been tasked with keeping Queens Park Rangers in the Premier League this season

Tony Fernandes claimed Ramsey also took charge of QPR's Under14 side on the day he was appointed

QPR defender Yun Suk-young looks on as Hull celebrate a goal during the Hoops 2-1 defeat on Saturday

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One wonders how Fernandes appoints the senior employees at his other businesses. Whether he expects Aireen Omar, chief executive officer of Air Asia, to be greatly involved with the interns and work experience. If Fernandes called and Omar was, say, at departure gate 17D checking passports, would he think this the greatest use of her skill-set?

Stop me if you’ve heard it before, but Martin O’Neill tells a wonderful story from his time at Leicester City. Arriving from Norwich City he did not win for eight games and the fans turned spectacularly against him. In one match, they tried to enter the tunnel area to confront the players. He was at his wits end.

O’Neill says he feared the situation might be irretrievable and he would have to resign. He was sitting, alone, in his office when David Nish entered. Nish was Leicester’s youth development officer and a club legend. He knew Leicester better than anyone. O’Neill poured out his heart — his frustrations, his fears, his belief the next game could be his last. Nish listened intently. ‘It’s not as bad as you think, Martin,’ he said, when O’Neill at last fell silent. ‘We’ve got some fantastic 14-year-olds coming through.’

O’Neill thought about this for a moment. ‘And what f****** use to me is that?’ he asked. And that’s the difference between the manager, and the academy coach.

O’Neill had to win his next game, or he was out. Nish was talking about five years ahead. Yes, a manager needs to know what is next off the production line, but the idea Ramsey has time to be immersed in the progress of 14-year-olds, while keeping a struggling team in the Premier League is fanciful.

Fernandes, pictured with Les Ferdinand, appointed Ramsey as caretaker boss until the end of the season

Martin O'Neill struggled during his early days at Leicester and needed wins rather than hope for the future

Former Leicester player and coach David Nish attempted to give O'Neill a boost regarding the youth system

We hear stories about Sir Alex Ferguson paying personal visits to Darren Fletcher’s parents’ house near Edinburgh and think every manager should sweat the small stuff. Yet Ferguson wasn’t plunged into a relegation battle mid-season at a club that had lost every league game away from home.

If Ramsey works with academy kids occasionally as a way of staying sane, that’s different; but for Fernandes to give the impression his new manager must have a wider focus than simply keeping Rangers afloat, is madness.

QPR have rarely looked like a club with a plan in recent years. If members of the development squad have not progressed it may be because Fernandes and his cohorts have obstructed their pathway with a pile of expensive, over-rated recruits.

Now money is tight we are to believe the answer was at home all along — and not just in Ramsey, but in youngsters like Darnell Furlong and Michael Doughty, whose five-minute substitute appearance against Sunderland Fernandes described as his highlight of the match.

QPR's 22-year-old midfielder Michael Doughty made his debut against Sunderland and also featured at Hull

Furlong played full back at Hull on Saturday and did OK. But it was his poor touch that panicked him into making the foul tackle that provoked the confrontation ending with Joey Barton’s dismissal.

The ban is Barton’s fault, not Furlong’s, but the young man is raw, like many 19-year-olds, and it is far-fetched to believe Rangers have a group of brilliant teenagers, ripe for the Premier League but inexplicably ignored until now. So too the thought that Ramsey can attend to schools’ teams and development squads, while efficiently planning a way to outwit Arsene Wenger a week on Wednesday.

Like so much of what happens at Rangers, the latest thoughts of chairman Fernandes are poorly conceived. The last time the club was threatened with relegation the answer was a January transfer spree of more than £20m, buying up Loic Remy, Christopher Samba and Jermaine Jenas. Now the children are the future.

There is no consistency, no grand plan. One question: if it’s suddenly all about the long-term at Loftus Road, why is Ramsey, this man of Hoops dreams, only a caretaker until the end of the season?

Young defedner Darnell Furlong made the foul which led to confrontation and Joey Barton's sending off

QPR splashed the cash during their last relegation battle - signing Christopher Samba for £12.5million in 2013

BANTAMS SNUB WAS NO SHOCK

The BBC did not ignore Bradford City’s FA Cup quarter-final. They merely looked at the four fixtures and concluded that the meeting of an aspirational team from League One and Championship mediocrities Reading was the least appealing of the available options.

Too much fuss has also been made about the failure to screen Bradford’s fixture with Sunderland in the previous round. Yes, it was a better game than Aston Villa’s uninspiring meeting with Leicester City — but not by such a margin that it should cause a national furore.

Many football fans wanted the match screened because they suspected there could be a shock — but a shock that is anticipated isn’t much of a shock anyway. Bradford beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in round four, now that was a shock, and whatever happens the match with Reading cannot match it.

Equally, everyone who genuinely wanted to see the Sunderland tie was catered for: it was a 24,000 sell-out, close to double Bradford’s average attendance. We often forget the real answer to the frustrations of armchair fans: go to the game.

Much fuss was made about BBC's failure to screen Bradford’s victory over Sunderland in the FA Cup

Bradford defenders Rory McArdle and Andrew Davies celebrate the League One side's Fifth Round victory

The Bantams produced a real shock when they defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the previous round

So the PGA of America sat down and had a long, cold, hard look at their Ryder Cup misadventures, before deciding to do exactly what they did in 2012. You know, when they lost.

Davis Love III will be their Ryder Cup captain next year, reprising his role from Medinah when he steered the United States to a final day singles reverse that was so catastrophic Europe’s win is still referred to as a miracle. It means America will not be able to put the past behind them as Love’s very presence is a reminder. That it was well known the players wanted Fred Couples is another built-in flaw, becoming an excuse for failure before a ball has even been struck.

The European Tour sensibly plumped for Darren Clarke, a Ryder Cup hero of experience, the players’ choice and as a character now far removed from the days when he was known as the Prince of Darkness. We hope.

Davis Love III will captain America in the Ryder Cup, reprising his role from Medinah

FA LEAVE ARSENAL FANS HIGH AND DRY

Back in September, travellers on a 10.40am train from London Euston to Manchester were surprised to be inconvenienced and delayed by some very important passengers.

Those who had reserved tickets in two of the first class coaches were relocated due to a block booking. Then the train made an unscheduled stop at Watford Junction; and another at Lichfield Trent Valley.

The precious cargo was the England football team, travelling to their convenient base in Burton-on-Trent, 138 miles from Wembley.

Fans attending Arsenal's FA Cup trip to Old Trafford may struggle for travel after the Monday evening fixture

Virgin Trains said they always tried to accommodate the needs of the England team, but let’s see if they are as obliging to another group for whom the Football Association have responsibility.

On March 11, Arsenal visit Old Trafford for an FA Cup quarter-final, helpfully switched to Monday evening for television.

Arsenal’s ticket allocation is 11,000, but the last train back to London leaves at 9.15pm. Arsenal have commissioned and heavily subsidised one additional train, which will depart at 11.15pm, carrying 450.

What about the other 10,550? Will Virgin consider them, as they did Hodgson’s squad, and lay on extra services to assure their timely return? What do you think?

Olivier Giroud finds the net against Middlesbrough to secure Arsenal's place in the FA Cup quarter-finals

Stevan Jovetic will not be involved when Manchester City play Barcelona on Tuesday.

He has been left out of the Champions League squad to accommodate Wilfried Bony and is, unsurprisingly, considering his future.

He says Manuel Pellegrini has ‘killed’ him with the decision.

Stevan Jovetic admitted the decision to leave him out of Man City's Champions League squad 'killed' him

Hardly. Jovetic featured in five Champions League games for City this season, mostly as a substitute, playing a total of 91 minutes. He did not score.

In the one game he started, at home to CSKA Moscow, he was taken off at half-time.

As City only scraped through to this stage with an unlikely victory away against Roma, it could equally be argued that Jovetic nearly killed them.

Jovetic was dropped to accommodate Man City's Januray signing Wilfried Bony who arrived from Swansea

Valentin Balakhnichev served close to 25 years as president of the Russian athletics federation

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

Valentin Balakhnichev served close to 25 years as president of the Russian athletics federation. He leaves with the World Anti-Doping Authority conducting an investigation into systematic performance-enhancing drug abuse on his watch.

Race-walking alone has seen over 20 Russian athletes banned, with blood samples showing a similarity that would suggest an organised programme.

Balakhnichev’s last act before stepping down was to appoint Valentin Maslakov senior sprinting coach. Maslakov was previously head coach of the Russian athletics team, leaving his position in January when three race walkers were banned.

Typically, the discredited Balakhnichev resigned claiming a western conspiracy. ‘When 90 blood tests are taken from Russian sportsmen and just over nine from British in the same period, this is unfair,’ he said. ‘The law of averages will work against us.’

Not if you don’t dope they won’t, pal.

'FAIR PLAY MODEL IS A GIFT TO BAYERN'

Arjen Robben made a stout defence of the Bundesliga last week. ‘You don’t get any presents in this league,’ he said. ‘Before Christmas, everyone was saying the Bundesliga is boring because Bayern Munich are dominating. But it is not easy.’

Since then, Bayern Munich have played two league matches, against Hamburg and SC Paderborn, winning 8-0 and 6-0. This left them 11 points clear with a goal difference of plus 50 from 22 matches. Last season, they won the league on March 25.

Germany finds a way of changing its economic model and structure or, with the introduction of Financial Fair Play, their domestic competition is over: it is as simple as that.

Arjen Robben (right) celebrates Bayern Munich's win over Paderborn having defended the Bundesliga

Bayern Munich players celebrate winning the Bundesliga last season having claimed the title on March 25

FIFA GO FOX-CATCHING

Nobody knows where the 2026 World Cup will be held — but we know it will be on Fox in the United States. FIFA have taken the extraordinary step of selling the rights 11 years early.

Why might that be? Well, Fox have been opposing the switch to a winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022, and there has been talk of legal action. That won’t be happening now the company is in bed with FIFA. Draw your own conclusions, but it seems Sepp Blatter made Fox an offer they couldn’t refuse.

LOAN ABUSE MUST STOP

It just keeps getting better at Parma, the Serie A club built on the turnover of hundreds of loan players, parked across several leagues, and countries. The club has not paid its players or staff since the summer and this weekend’s match with Udinese was cancelled as a result.

It is scandalous that Parma were allowed to trade in this way. The financial meltdown of the club is as great in significance as the collapse of Portsmouth, Leeds United and Rangers and the abuse of the loan system cannot be allowed to continue after this sobering lesson.

Parma fans protest on Sunday after it was revealed the Serie A club had failed to pay it's players and staff

Assem Allam, owner of Hull City, is the first to break ranks and announce he will not reduce ticket prices in the wake of the new television deal. There is a reason for this. The KC Stadium holds 25,586 and has enjoyed an average attendance over 90 per cent of capacity this season. In any other industry it would be considered that Allam has priced his commodity about right.

Leyton Orient owner Francesco Becchetti has assured fans he is at the club for the long haul. This is a pity as, with Orient still 23rd in the table despite Saturday’s 3-0 win over Oldham Athletic, Becchetti packing it in was one of the few hopes they had.