PORTUGAL legend Paulo Sousa has agreed to take on the hottest seat in English football when he was confirmed as the new first-team coach of QPR.
The 38-year-old, capped 51 times by his country and a Champions League winner with both Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, signed a two-and-a-half year contract at Loftus Road yesterday. Sousa becomes Rangers' sixth manager in a little over a year with
John Gregory, Luigi De Canio and Iain Dowie, as well as caretaker managers Mick Harford and now Gareth Ainsworth, having all been dispensed with since Flavio Briatore arrived on the scene.
Dowie was axed last month amid claims Renault Formula 1 team managing director Briatore, the club chairman and co-owner, wanted too much of a say in team selection. But Sousa, who worked under Luiz Felipe Scolari on the coaching staff of the Portuguese national team, is believed to have insisted on being in sole charge of team affairs.
"Paulo is a very good appointment for this football club," said Briatore. "I have been keeping track of his work for the last few months and he is the right man for our project. He has great experience after working with the Portuguese national team and he is part of the new generation of coach. He has worked with some of the world's best players and we are excited about having him. His football career was highly impressive and he has great knowledge of the game. After five years with Portugal, he is ready for a new challenge and I'm delighted he has agreed to join us."
Ainsworth's chances of landing the full-time role disappeared after Saturday's disappointing 2-1 home defeat by Burnley, which saw Rangers slip to tenth in the Coca-Cola Championship, but the popular winger will stay on as a member of Sousa's backroom team.
Sousa will be expected to mount a promotion bid this season, and the former midfielder has no qualms about dealing with the expectation surrounding the club since sugar daddies Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal took control.
"It is an honour to be part of this project. I have always wanted to work for a big club and I am very excited about the opportunity to work for Queens Park Rangers," he said. "I have great belief in my ideas and my coaching ability and I firmly believe I can achieve the objectives set by the management.
"I believe in playing positive, attacking football. To achieve positive results you have to maintain a focused outlook and my team will aim to do this, both for ourselves and for the fans. I am looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead."
Sousa's first game in charge will be Saturday's trip to struggling Watford.
• Carlisle United are considering an official complaint with the Football Association in the wake of Tuesday's abandoned FA Cup first-round replay at Grays Athletic.
The match was called off after 20 minutes when the lights went out 60 seconds after the Blue Square Premier outfit had taken a 1-0 lead.
Rather than relief that the League One side had been spared a potentially embarrassing defeat, however, Carlisle chief executive David Allen was furious that the club and its fans must make the gruelling journey to Essex again a week on Saturday.
He said: "We're obviously very disappointed. It is very unfair on the club. They were blaming the water in the Thames rising and the damp getting into the electrics. It's 2008. I think excuses like that, they should be doing something better."
The full article contains 607 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
