Betsy keen to stay in QPR role
Kevin Betsy has insisted there is no prospect of him being promoted to the role of QPR head coach.
Betsy and fellow coach Xavier Calm presided over a 1-0 win at Sunderland in Rangers’ final match of a troubled season.
They were placed in caretaker charge following the recent axing of Marti Cifuentes.
Asked if he might be in the running to take the job on a full-time basis, Betsy said: “No. I’m very clear; the club recruited me for a specific role.
“My role has been first-team coach, working 80% with individual players to improve – I’ve got a real expertise, I would say, in helping individuals develop – and hopefully I’ll be going back to that role. That’s very clear.”
In fact Betsy suggested there are no guarantees he will be retained by the club when a successor to Cifuentes is installed.
The former Fulham striker, 47, was brought to Loftus Road as individual development coach last summer, having previously coached at Arsenal and managed Crawley and a number of England youth sides.
“The club will take time to look at what they want to do going forward,” he said.
“We’ve got a few reviews and a few meetings in the next week. The staff have committed a lot of time to the players, so will then have a break.
“Then we’ll listen for the phone to say you’re required at the club or perhaps not. That’s football.
“That is the nature of football. If you want security and regularity in your life then maybe a different job is for you.
“Who doesn’t want to be involved in these types of stadiums with the type of pressure you’re feeling? It’s a privilege – and it’s even more of a privilege to work for a club like QPR, with so much history.
“You just hope that you continue. If not, that’s football.”
Is Betsy’s job at QPR safe?
Almost certainly.
Calm was brought to QPR by Cifuentes – the pair are close friends and had previously worked together – and looks likely to follow him out of the club.
Betsy, on the other hand, was a key appointment made by chief executive Christian Nourry – very much a club appointment, and seen as part of the model any head coach will be expected to work within.
Despite his modesty after the Sunderland game, it seems highly unlikely that Betsy will not be retained, regardless of who takes over as head coach.
As explained by QPR’s head of methodology Jon De Souza – another appointed by Noury – in a recent West London Sport podcast, the club’s model is intended to prevail whenever there is a change of head coach.
