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Earlier this season, in a press briefing at QPR, Chris Ramsey was asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t sampling the pressures of Premier League management.

Would he be a train driver or putting up scaffolding? He looked at his questioner and gave a wry smile.

“I’ve got two degrees,” he said. “So probably no.”

He wasn’t rude. He wasn’t offended (I think). And if he was, he did superbly well not to show it.

In fact, the Rangers boss has so far been impressive in keeping his head when other managers around him have been losing theirs.

(Image: Reuters)

Ramsey is no John Carver, floundering out of his depth at Newcastle. The man soon to be confirmed as QPR boss has just as much respect inside the dressing room as he has in the game.

Rangers may be going down under his watch but they are departing the Premier League with more fight over the last three months than they showed over the previous six.

Most of the senior players at the club will be leaving when their contracts are up at the end of the season.

Their performances, however, in the 4-1 win at West Brom, the 3-3 draw at Aston Villa and even the last-gasp 1-0 defeat at home to Chelsea, illustrate the way in which they have responded to Harry Redknapp’s successor.

The brutal truth is that even their best has not been good enough. But they have also been unlucky in some games - they should have had two penalties at Spurs - and shot themselves in the foot in others.

(Image: Reuters / Dylan Martinez)

They had a perfectly good goal denied them against West Ham but also missed a penalty in that game.

They would probably have picked up at least a point at Hull had Joey Barton not been sent off for striking Tom Huddlestone.

In the dressing room after the match Barton’s team-mates made their feelings perfectly clear to him. Since then, to be fair, Barton has been excellent.

In many respects, though, going down to Ground Zero is probably just what QPR need. They haven’t been good enough, neither on the pitch nor off it.

That £50million penalty for breaching FFP rules awaits them but the feeling inside Loftus Road is that - with their wealthy custodians - they can suck it all up if it means they can come back stronger.

In pictures: Liverpool 2-1 QPR

What they need to do is clear the decks of the players that have been content to sit on the bench (or not even make it) while still shamelessly picking up their unjustifiably fat wage packets.

What they need to ensure is that the agents that took the club for a ride under previous regimes stretching back to their first return to the top flight are given short shrift.

Whey they don’t need is another supposed footballing Messiah to get them out of the mess they are in.

What they need is a Chris Ramsey.

It is easy to look at the results under the former Tottenham coach - just two wins out of 12 - and assume he hasn’t earned his shot.

Chris Ramsey at QPR 3 Wins 2 Draws 9 Defeats

Rangers, however, know that it is about more than that. Ramsey had been fed a hospital pass. He has been working with players that were not his.

Confidence was low when he took over after Redknapp had stepped down, six and a half hours after the January transfer window had closed.

QPR had something of the comedy club about them at the time. A tag they have been keen to shed.

Ramsey and Head of Football Operations Les Ferdinand will help them to do that.

The pair worked with Tim Sherwood at Spurs to ensure the likes of Harry Kane and Nabil Bentaleb bypassed the complacent first-teamers who felt they were doing the north Londoners a favour by being there.

(Image: Ian Horrocks)

Ramsey and Sherwood are already scouring the top flight and the lower leagues for talented youngsters and capable, hungry players who are not motivated my money.

No player coming into QPR this summer will get anything like the kind of salary that some of the wasters over the last five years have enjoyed.

There will be no ‘will-he, won’t-he’ dramas over any of the big names either. Charlie Austin will go regardless.

Robert Green, who has been outstanding this season, will almost certainly get an offer to stay in the Premier League. The club will not stand in his way with Alex McCarthy behind him.

Clint Hill is likely to join the coaching staff. Joey Barton, Rio Ferdinand, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Richard Dunne and Bobby Zamora are all set to leave.

(Image: Nigel Roddis)

There will be a clear direction. A plan. A reason to be optimistic about the future. The Hoops know that they probably won’t get straight back into the big time in 12 months.

They know that it may take even longer than that.

They also know, however, that they are about to put a talented manager in charge. Which is why QPR fans should not be despondent about the news first revealed by MirrorFootball this morning.

Ramsey’s credentials are such that he should have been in management before now.

He has the required badges coming out of his ears. He graduated from University with 10 diplomas. He has coached in Malta and America. He has been the FA’s Regional Director of Coaching. He scouted for former England boss Kevin Keegan.

(Image: Steve Bardens)

He has been Head of Player Development at Tottenham. He has worked with Martin Jol, Harry Redknapp and Andre Villas Boas as well as Sherwood.

He worked with Ashley Cole and Peter Crouch when he guided England’s Under-20’s. He collaborated with Les Reed - now continuing the conveyor belt of talent at Southampton - at Under-16 level.

The On Board course that enabled Ramsey and Ferdinand to become boardroom directors was the latest in a long, long line of qualifications that Ramsey has worked hard to achieve to put himself in the best position to seize a chance when it presented itself.

Now he has one. Bournemouth have shown that with a collective will, a sensible transfer policy and the right man in charge anything is possible.

QPR fans should be optimistic about the future. The dead wood is going. The club is ready to bring in and support some exciting young talent - starting with the manager.