I’m an EFL manager who released debut rock album in summer… now I’m back aiming for Premier League promotion
GARETH AINSWORTH has been revelling in the release of his rock band’s debut album this summer.
But now he wants to get QPR hitting the right notes in the Championship.
The Loftus Road boss in his spare time is the frontman of Cold Blooded Hearts, who brought out their album Cold Light of Day on July 21.
Ainsworth, though, has promised that the only chart he wants to do well in is the Championship league table after narrowly avoiding relegation last season.
He told SunSport: “We’ve released 11 originals. The album has been well received and I’m glad to say it has even been played at half-time in a couple of pre-season friendlies so I’m really proud of that.
“But that is definitely on the back-burner now. I’ve apologised to the fans and told them I’ve definitely got a day job that’s more important. There’s plenty of years for music later!
“The only videos I’m watching at the moment are not music but analysis ones on how to help the team get better.”
After replacing the sacked Geoff Critchley, who was a complete flop in West London, in February, Ainsworth saw QPR lose eight of their 13 remaining league games.
They won only three of those and beat the drop by just five points after back-to-back away wins at champions Burnley and Stoke.
But he has brought in some of his own players this summer with more on their way before the transfer window closes.
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The most notable is former Chelsea, Bournemouth and Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic, 36, from Everton.
Ainsworth said: “We conceded too many goals last year so we’ve got to be more solid than we’ve ever been but we have the players to go and win games.
“Chris Willock and Ilias Chair are good attacking players but they’ll play their part in defensive duties and we must be more solid than we were last year.
“Asmir coming in as our No1 has made a huge statement about the calibre of player I want to bring in and what we’re all about.
“His experience was one of the reasons I brought him in and I intend to bring in another couple of other older heads too because we’ve got a brilliant young squad but the average age can sometimes be 22-23.
“We need leadership, we need those people that have been in tough times out on the pitch and Asmir has won just about everything he can in the game and captained his country.
“I’m humbled by attracting a player like Asmir because he’s had a fantastic career and hopefully it’ll send signals to other players who may not have been thinking about joining QPR to think ‘they mean business this year’.
“We want to be more solid and then work on some patterns that we enjoyed going forward and mixing the game up rather than sticking to one way of playing.
“Last season we played a lot of football in front of teams, never got in behind them to penetrate but from what I’ve seen in pre-season we have got the ability to do that. It’s just making sure that the boys do it at the right time.
“Any style I employ is going to be winning football and I’m sure every fan will appreciate that at Loftus Road because last year we were nowhere near good enough.”
Ainsworth has also signed Morgan Fox from Stoke, Taylor Richards from Brighton, Ziyad Larkeche from Fulham and brought back Paul Smyth from Orient.
The R’s boss had limited funds to play with but is still confident the club can build a squad that can mix it with the Championship big boys over the next couple of years.
Ainsworth said: “Every agent under the sun has been ringing me and thinking QPR can take anyone and pay extreme amounts of money but those days are gone.
“It’s a different culture from what I left this club 2009-10. It’s seen everything since then — Premier League, Championship, relegation, play-off finals.
“It’s great to be back here and I aim to put a stamp that secures this club moving forward.
“The top teams in this league are huge and we’re probably going to be underdogs in a lot of games and I don’t mind that at all.
“I’ve had this tag throughout my career as manager with Wycombe of upsetting the odds and I don’t think there is any difference this year with QPR.
“The bookmakers have us as favourites to struggle so we’ve got to prove them wrong.”
Ainsworth points to those wins at Burnley and Stoke as evidence of what his team are capable of — and is determined to build a no-fear culture at the club.
He said: “You can work all the tactics in the world but the mental side of this game is huge and you’ve got to talk to these players and make them believe that they can have their day no matter where they go.
“We’ve got Leicester, Southampton and Leeds this year as well as Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich and Plymouth coming up. There are some huge sides there so we’re going to have to be at our absolute best to be better than last season.
“We want to be competitive in the Championship because this club does need to build over a few years.
“It’s not going to be a quick fix, and hopefully I’ll be given the time to do that.
“I’m not saying it’s going to go swimmingly from the start, there’s going to have to be some patience but it’s something I’ve done and something I’ve got a proven record of doing but it’s a step up and there are some brilliant players in this league and some fantastic teams and it’s an honour to be here managing the club I love.”
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