Harry’s Houdini act fails as QPR plan for life in Championship

QPR 0 Stoke City 2

Harry’s Houdini-style ability to get out of near impossible situations has failed him this time, with his arrival at Loftus Road last November coming too late to rescue a club left in a mess by previous manager Mark Hughes. Too many overpaid and under performing players and too few points meant survival was always going to be an uphill task. Ultimately it proved too much for Redknapp, who transformed Tottenham from the relegation zone to the Champions League in 18 months not so long ago.

At White Hart Lane, Redknapp inherited a squad including Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, but at QPR he is woefully short of such talent. He thought he had added firepower by signing Loic Remy from Marseille in January, but the Frenchman has not been able to forge the partnership with Bobby Zamora that Redknapp envisaged.