QPR boss Neil Warnock says Paul Jewell has the nucleus of a very good side at Town and will be looking to follow his successful lead next season. The former Sheffield United manager believes that Jewell has a great opportunity to bring the good times back to Portman Road.
Warnock says ex-boss Roy Keane was a touch unlucky that a number of tight games didn’t go his way: "I think they were a bit unfortunate. Roy had a number of opportunities to get decent results and couldn’t quite get a run going.
"It’s like when I came here, the initial part, you do well and keep them up, now you’ve got to stay up,” Warnock said of the Blues’ turnaround in form since Jewell took over last month.
The 62-year-old says the new Town manager will be searching for players ahead of his first full season in charge with many of the building blocks already in place at Portman Road: "They’ve got some decent players. I’m sure Paul is like me, he’s already looking around at where he can get players in to do what we’ve done — to get up the top end of the table.
"He’s got the nucleus of a very good side, the club’s very stable, there are good people behind him, Marcus is a good person to work for.
"And the fans down there, bloody hell, they’re second to none, aren’t they? It’s a great opportunity for everybody down there.”
But Warnock felt his side deserved Tuesday’s 2-0 victory: "I thought we were better than them. I thought we deserved it in the end.
"Sometimes you’ve got to hang in there for the first 10 or 15 minutes and we’re going to get teams like that at home and away. But in the second half I thought we were super.”
Jewell dismissed suggestions that his side tired after the break: "We looked a little bit ragged and we came under the cosh, they’re a big strong team that rely on long throws and corners.
"At 0-0, it was a good result for us, but we were still looking to win the game. I don’t think tiredness was a factor, I don’t think the players can blame tiredness. We’ve had a lot of games in a short space of time, but so have QPR.”
The Town boss was pleased with the opening period - although he thought QPR keeper Paddy Kenny should have been tested more - but he feels his side need to keep that sort of performance going for the entire game: "I thought for 45 minutes we were by far the better team but we just didn’t take advantage when we were on top.
"QPR threw bodies forward at corners and throw-ins and to get done by a corner was disappointing.
"We’ve got to do it for 95 minutes, whatever it takes. We’ve been on a smashing run, so I’m not going to lambast the players, but I just said to them in there, if we want to be a serious team we've got to do it for 90-odd minutes."
Meanwhile, Town's reserves are in action at Playford Road against Southend this afternoon (KO 2pm).