Pearson and Cotterill speak to QPR about manager’s job

Nigel Pearson and Steve Cotterill have spoken to QPR about the manager’s job at Loftus Road.

Tim Sherwood is director of football Les Ferdinand’s first choice to take over following the recent sacking of Steve McClaren.

Gary Rowett, Mark Warburton and Michael Appleton are the other front-runners.

Sherwood is set for talks with QPR’s owners about the long-term financial position of the club and the job is very much his to turn down.

Several others have applied for the position, including Pearson, Cotterill and Marc Bircham.

Bircham made more than 150 appearances for QPR as a player and has since coached youngsters at the club and more recently worked as Ian Holloway’s assistant. He left soon after Holloway was sacked as manager last year.

Pearson had two spells as Leicester boss and has also managed Hull, Derby and Southampton.

Cotterill, like McClaren, had a spell on the coaching staff at QPR during Harry Redknapp’s time as boss.

Cotterill has also managed Cheltenham, Bristol City, Stoke, Burnley, Notts County, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and Birmingham.

Former Forest and Derby manager Billy Davies is also among those keen on the job.

The financial constraints Rangers are under mean they want a manager with ability to develop young players.

Former Brentford boss Warburton, who has also managed Glasgow Rangers and Nottingham Forest, is well regarded in that respect.

So too is Appleton, who has managed Blackburn, Portsmouth and Blackpool – all in troubled circumstances – and has more recently managed Oxford United and been assistant boss at Leicester.

Sherwood, meanwhile, achieved some success bringing through players at Tottenham, where he worked closely with Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey.

Ramsey, now QPR technical director, ended up being given the manager’s job in 2015 after Ferdinand unsuccessfully tried to have Sherwood installed in place of Redknapp.

Rowett, who was sacked by Stoke in January, has also previously been pursued by Ferdinand, who wanted to replace Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink with him in 2016.

Rowett was then at Birmingham and, when Ferdinand was unable to prise him away, Rangers’ owners brought Holloway back for a second spell as manager.