sport news QPR are on a budget - and on the up - as they chase Premier League return and ...

Queen's Park Rangers' chief executive Lee Hoos looks remarkably relaxed for a man doing an impossible job – running a Championship football club.

The affable American has seen a lot in the six years he has spent at the helm of QPR, which began with picking up the pieces after relegation from the Premier League in 2015 and the hefty financial fair play penalty that followed.

But under his stewardship, the Hoops are looking up again.

Sixth in the Championship, QPR make the short trip to arch-rivals, fifth-placed Fulham this weekend.

QPR have lost four and drawn two of their last six meetings with the Cottagers, but this is a mouth-watering fixture for fans and players.

There is a stability and solidity about QPR now that has been missing in recent years and it has supporters dreaming of a return to the top flight.

For a start, manager Mark Warburton is the club's longest serving coach for 15 years, as he enters his third season in charge, and progress has been built on player development, rather than marquee signings.

'Continuity is important,' said Hoos. 'What Mark has done is help us to lay the foundation.

'We have been trying to get a manager who can imprint our DNA. And we have got that now. Les Ferdinand helps with that, so recruiting is geared towards that DNA.'

Two wins in the two games before the international break – a 2-0 win over Birmingham City and a 3-2 success against Preston North End – has eased QPR into a play-off spot.

'Will it be enough to get promoted? Who knows? I cannot answer that,' added the chief executive, who was an enthusiastic amateur footballer in his youth and admits he mentally kicks every ball on matchdays.

'All we can do is say this is the budget. We have to stay within these confines. Recruit these types of players and stay in budget. If we get a bit of luck, we are capable of getting promoted. But anyone who thinks spend enough money and we will get promoted – that is the recipe for disaster.'

QPR have been down that road before and there appears to be no desire to go there again.  

Hoos is not keen to fan the flames of expectation, but he is satisfied with where the club is now and believes the Covid pandemic has bound everyone – staff, players and fans – closer together.

'Literally everyone pulled together. The owners own a shipping business and low-cost airline – it was a tough time for them – and then you have the football club that was bleeding cash as well.

'They continued to write the cheques. From the fans point of view a lot of them said 'I do not want a refund on my season ticket, keep the money I want to help the club'.

'Every employee here took a pay cut. The players took a pay deferral and then a pay cut. Everyone pulled together and that has made us more resilient. Everyone sacrificed to make sure everyone was looked after.

'What I am most proud of is we did not have to shed one job.'

Now, gates are above 14,000 and revenue is rolling back in. But underpinning last season's ninth-placed finish and this season's early promise is a long-term plan.

'It is very much under control,' said Hoos. 'We are playing the type of football we envisaged we would play. We have got the type of players Premier League clubs would be interested in having. We have had quite a bit of interest in our players over the summer, but we said 'no'. We want to keep the band together.'

Among those delivering for QPR on the pitch this season are Scottish international, Lyndon Dykes, 25, who has four goals to his name and two 23-year-olds who are making waves in the second tier.

Ilias Chair, a Moroccan attacking midfielder who came through the club's U23 set up after signing from Lierse in Belgium, is flourishing in his role behind Dykes, scoring four with one assist. While Chris Willock, who developed in Arsenal's academy, has started all 11 league games this term and has two goals and two assists.