Cifuentes has it all to do to clean up mess at QPR as he begins reign with six-pointer

"IT'S HARD to believe we sat at the top of the table a mere 12 months ago.

- Dom Smith

What has happened over the past 12 months is as confusing as it is unimaginable." For fans of QPR, the departing words of Amit Bhatia, who on Wednesday stood down after 16 years as chairman, certainly ring true.

Championship leaders on October 24 last year, QPR plummeted and only escaped relegation by six points last season. Now they are second-bottom and winless in two months.

Tomorrow, in a relegation clash at Rotherham, new head coach Marti Cifuentes takes charge for the first time following his appointment this week.

"Something has gone from the heart of the club", says Neil Jackson, a board member of QPR1st, an independent supporters' trust. "I don't know what it is, but that's what the manager has got to get back." Perhaps the biggest reason for QPR's decline is their dire financial state.

Much of the problems stem from overspending in the promotion-winning 2013-14 season, which led in 2018 to a £40million fine. At the time, that was the biggest fine in the history of global sport, and parachute payments from QPR's 2015 Premier League relegation soon ran out.

The club loses £2.06m every month, according to its latest set of accounts released in March.