QPR Championship Odds: Stephan’s first season brings excitement

QPR are looking ahead to the 2025/26 campaign with a new manager at the helm, after Marti Cifuentes’ slightly messy exit from the club. He was placed on gardening leave before the final match of last term, and has since made the move to Leicester City after 82 matches in charge of the R’s.

The R's once again flirted with relegation at the start of last season before improving to finish 15th, but below you can find my QPR Championship Odds for the upcoming campaign. 

QPR are such a difficult team to predict at this moment in time and a lot rests on how Julien Stephan will fare in his first season in English football. His work in France is extremely impressive, with a win rate of over 40% across two spells at Rennes, where he also won the French Cup in 2018/19. 

I’m more positive about Stephan than a number of the new managers to the division this season, and he could push QPR to new heights, but in a stronger division they may also just be left to sink closer to the relegation zone. Honestly, they could be the surprise package, or this managerial appointment may backfire.

Championship Odds

Transfer business

In: Karamoko Dembele (Undiscloed), Rumarn Burrell (£1m), Kealey Adamson (£300k), Kwame Poku, Amadou Salif Mbengue (both free). 

Out: Charlie Kelman (£3m), Kenneth Paal, Morgan Fox, Nathan Shepperd, Jack Colback, Lucas Andersen (all free).

This transfer business could make QPR the most exciting team to watch in the entire second tier. Karamoko Dembele makes his loan deal permanent while they have pulled off a coup convincing former Peterborough United winger Kwame Poku to come to the capital. 

He’s thrilling to watch when he’s on the ball, and when you mix him in with Dembele, Ilias Chair and Paul Smyth, they have a trio capable of providing some serious excitement behind the striker. Rumarn Burrell and Kealey Adamson are unknown quantities so it’s difficult to place them, while Ronnie Edwards has returned to Southampton after an impressive loan spell last term.

Jimmy Dunne won QPR’s Player of the Season last term and will be key again, and QPR have some decent Championship players, but Cifuentes was doing well with those at his disposal. It will be interesting to see whether they progress or regress under Stephan. 

Key Player: Michael Frey

This isn’t suggesting that Frey is QPR’s best player, but his role in the team is absolutely vital and his injury last term was a big reason why they lingered near the relegation zone. He scored seven league goals last season in 23 matches and with Zan Celar not quite cutting it, it feels like Frey will take on the responsibility of leading the line once again. 

It isn’t even his goals I’m interested in this term particularly, but what the 31-year-old old can do in terms of bringing others into play. Chair is a class act on his day, while in Dembele and Poku the R’s could possess two of the finest dribblers in the league out wide. 

Plenty of crosses could lead to plenty of goals, and Frey’s physical dominance could prove to be a key factor in QPR’s success this season. He may not even score 10+, but he could be worth far more than that to the team. 

Prediction: 19th

It’s easy for me to get carried away with QPR this season, but I think I’ll take a risk-averse view of their chances this season. They are more likely to be near the bottom three than the top six and although Stephan has a serious chance to impress, the squad doesn’t seem that well balanced. 

Football Odds

It’s packed full of tricky dribblers, they have a big number nine and a couple of decent defenders in the form of Dunne and Jake Clarke-Salter. Steve Cook is now 34 which is a concern, but midfielder Jonathan Varane has room to improve after a season at this level. My main worry with them is not the first XI as such, but the squad depth which in my eyes is severely lacking. 

They will be clear of danger, but even though I’m excited to see how he gets on, I’m not expecting miracles from Stephan in his first season. 

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