Smith turns down QPR role

Former QPR boss Jim Smith has rejected the chance to re-join the club – but did not rule out a return in the near future.

Rangers placed manager Ian Holloway on “gardening leave” on Monday and chairman Gianni Paladini offered Smith – who managed Rangers from 1985-88 – a role alongside caretaker-boss Gary Waddock.

Smith revealed: “I held talks with Gianni Paladini, but given the circumstances at the club I did not feel it would have been politically correct to go there right now.”

But when asked whether he would reconsider his decision were Holloway – who has been linked with managerless Leicester – to leave the club definitively, Smith told Sky Sports News: “That is always a possibility.

“I think I will be back in full-time football in the near future. I have turned down opportunities, and this is the longest I have been out of the game.”

Smith also believes “there is no going back” for Holloway at Loftus Road.