Championship - Sousa named QPR boss

Eurosport - Thu, 20 Nov 15:16:00 2008

Queens Park Rangers have named Portuguese legend Paulo Sousa as their new manager.

FOOTBALL - Paulo Sousa, Portugal assistant manager - 0

Sousa, who earned 51 caps for his country and won the Champions League twice, signed a two-and-a-half year contract at Loftus Road.

He was assistant to Chelsea manager Luis Felipe Scolari in the Portugal set-up for five years after injury curtailed his playing career.

"It is an honour to be part of this project," Sousa said. "I have always wanted to work for a big club and I am very excited about the opportunity to work for Queens Park Rangers.

"I have great belief in my ideas and my coaching ability and I firmly believe I can achieve the objectives set by the management."

The former Benfica, Juventus, Internazionale and Borussia Dortmund midfielder said he would bring an attacking brand of football to the Hoops this season.

"I believe in playing positive, attacking football," he said. "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."

Rangers caretaker manager Gareth Ainsworth has been retained on the backroom staff and will be in charge for the Championship match against Watford on Saturday.

QPR chairman Flavio Briatore revealed the work that had gone into identifying Sousa as the chief candidate.

"Paulo is a very good appointment for this football club," he said. "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 coaches.

"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 am delighted he has agreed to join us.

"I would like to thank Gareth Ainsworth for his contribution as caretaker manager and confirm that he still has a very important role to play at this club.

"He is QPR through and through and will work very closely with Paulo as we build for a successful future."

Sousa captained Juve to the Champions League title in 1995-96 and repeated the success with Dortmund in 1996-97.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 20 of 20

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  1. Great! If he can be as good as he was as a player, QPR­ will made the best choice for their team. GOOD LUCK­ PAUL SOUSA we are sure you will make as proud once­ again this time as a manager . We love you. Joel Da­ Naia from Canada

    From joeldanaia, on Thu 20 Nov 11:46PM

  2. Omg where did he come out from?! Completely forgot­ about him but what a player he was!!!

    From Mladen86, on Thu 20 Nov 7:50AM

  3. he was one of last generation portugese great players­ along with louis figo, rui costa, and pauleta...etc,­ they gave us memory of fantastic attacking football­ with beautiful skills. can't remember which year­ exactly but should have been early 90's, the under­ 21s' portugese were really really amazing!!! good­ luck Sousa!!

    From edwaywang, on Thu 20 Nov 7:22AM

  4. Ah theres a name i aint heard in Years!!!

    if u aint­ heard of him ever mate your footy knowledge is well...­ lets say limited!

    Paulo Sousa ...anybody remember­ playing champ manager and buying him from benifca he­ was amazing just like real life..im sure man utd tried­ and failed to buy him!

    Dunno what he will be like as a­ manager tho.

    From marc.oconnor16, on Thu 20 Nov 6:23AM

  5. Allen H - you W@nQuer!!!

    From digits, on Thu 20 Nov 5:16AM

  6. good luck to sousa as a fan who remembers hoops playing­ at the White city stadium and winning and losing in­ wembley finals(not bad for team thats never been­ big)I'm looking forward to a new attacking brand of­ football at Loftus Road,only concern is you can attack­ all day long but somebody has to have the ability to­ score and that is lacking at the moment but lets be­ optimistic and see what the transfer window brings us­ could still be a merry christmas and a happy new year

    From grahamenspain, on Thu 20 Nov 3:19AM

  7. well at least he is bigger than the poisen dwarf

    From not printable, on Thu 20 Nov 2:21AM

  8. Well I like his attacking philosphy... but can he kick­ out the lazy 'sit back' culture of QPR that­ we've had for years as soon as we score?

    From , on Thu 20 Nov 2:15AM

  9. To be fair to darronblackmore, I appreciate that an­ english manager may not always be the answer but­ let's be honest, the english managers you had­ hardly "failed", the issue was that it IS­ hard to attract top players to a club like QPR whether­ they've got money or not and they were never a big­ club in the top flight! I really hope they do well and­ maybe that'll be with Sousa, I think the real­ problem though is that they will be left behind by­ Championship clubs who are prepared to invest big­ straight away to get in the premier league and it seems­ that even though you have the money now, the moneymen­ are not prepared to sign the best players and the best­ players probably wouldn't sign for QPR money or no­ money!

    From Hookstar, on Thu 20 Nov 1:47AM

  10. Post 7 and 5 oh, and 1. Nice positive sportsmanship­ being displayed in those comments. Thanks chaps, come­ again :-/

    From andymiller68, on Thu 20 Nov 1:18AM

  11. Are Queens Park Rangers by royal appointment?

    From drfelectrical, on Thu 20 Nov 12:41AM

  12. Who are QPR? are they in one of the Scottish leagues,

    From FREDDIE P, on Thu 20 Nov 12:26AM

  13. Who the cluck is he?

    From FREDDIE P, on Thu 20 Nov 12:19AM

  14. I noticed none of pessimistic commentators mentioned­ what clubs they support,sound`s like jealously to­ me,British football is full of so called foreign­ appointees ie Arsenal,Chelsea, in our heyday QPR were a­ quality side those days are coming again sooner rather­ than later but they are coming. Come on you R`sssssss

    From Stub, on Thu 20 Nov 12:04AM

  15. Good luck to QPR, suppose he will soon have them tuned­ up and marching up the table

    From vikings02uk, on Wed 19 Nov 11:01PM

  16. Bring back attractive,attacking football? Since when­ have QPR played good football? Every football fan­ expects good football but it doesn't happen.I'd­ rather win every game 1-0.A small club they have always­ been and always will be.Get over it..

    From grecianchris1972, on Wed 19 Nov 10:02PM

  17. Allen H, obviously you are not a QPR fan as you would­ know that all of our problems started when a certain­ English coach by the name of Ray Wilkins became­ Manager. He blew the £6m received for Les Ferdinand on­ such esteemed talent as Ned Zelic ?! (signed for £1m­ and then back to German football after about 12 games­ for nothing). We also had other British Managers such­ as Stewart Houston (failure), Ray Harford (failure),­ John Gregory (failure) and recently Iain Dowie. QPR­ fans don't expect trophies (good job)but they do­ expect decent football and the chance of getting back­ into the top league. None of these managers have­ provided either. I don't care where the manager is­ from as long as long as he does the job. As for paying­ extortionate money, there are many clubs in the­ Championship who have signed a lot more players on much­ higher wages than we have (even though we have the­ money)and Briatore has stated that he wants to build a­ club for the future through proper management of the­ business rather than simply throwing money at it. We­ are not another Chelski. Good luck Sousa, bring back­ attractive attacking football to Loftus Road and the­ fans will support you.

    From CommonSenseWins, on Wed 19 Nov 9:37PM

  18. He states "I have always wanted to work for a big­ club and I am very excited about the opportunity to­ work for Queens Park Rangers." so why join QPR­ because as far as i am aware they are not a big­ club.Never have been, never will be.

    From p p, on Wed 19 Nov 9:33PM

  19. nice to see someone in who wants to play attacking­ football after gigi... dowie wasnt playing the rite­ stuff and wasnt get results either.. i mean 4-5-1 at­ home!? wild thing has done a good job but im optomistic­ with sousa in charge... will be interesting to see what­ happens.

    From carrie, on Wed 19 Nov 9:19PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Another foreign appointee who knows next to nothing­ about life in the championship. When are teasm going to­ go for British coachs and stop paying extortionate­ money for a fancy foreign coach. I hope QPR fail and­ drop down the league.

    From Allen H, on Wed 19 Nov 9:11PM
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