The Insider: Steve McClaren has got QPR on a roll ahead of Portsmouth FA Cup tie

I think where QPR sit in the Championship is about right.

The big issue with them is financial fair play (FFP). They’ve had a long-running dispute with it and it’s only just been settled.

Part of that is a transfer embargo during January.

QPR are quite realistic about where they’re going in the next year or two.

Steve McClaren was brought in as manager to keep things stable and that’s what he’s done – they’re very much a mid-table Championship side.

In fairness, Ian Holloway before him didn’t do a bad job either.

Holloway was very good at raising the standards because players were previously coasting on big wages a little bit. 

The next step was then to have a bit more stability.

Holloway could be very up and down. It was difficult to preach to the fans about patience when the manager himself was so volatile.

That’s why they made the change to bring McClaren in. He’s seasoned, had success and failure but is level headed – that’s what the owners wanted. 

The goal is to just stay in the Championship at the moment.

They have spent money in the past but it hasn’t worked out, while there are lots of other clubs spending money.

It’s a case of sitting tight for two or three years and seeing if other teams who have big ambitions run into some problems regarding FFP.

In the interim, Rangers wanted McClaren to ensure the club didn’t sink any further. 

QPR’s record in the FA Cup is atrocious! In their win over Leeds in the last round, it was the first time they’d won a tie without a replay for 22 years.

McClaren is on a bit of a roll, though, because previously the Hoops hadn’t won at Nottingham Forest.

That’s a club they’ve played a lot but won there and have now also won a Cup game.

Eberechi Eze is a player that has come through the ranks and the club is quite proud of. 

He wears the number 10 shirt, which is quite special at Loftus Road. You’ve had the likes of Stan Bowles, Rodney Marsh and John Byrne wear it previously. 

Eze is also the mould of what the club has been trying to get back.

They want to develop players who have been let go elsewhere. Eze was released by Millwall and is having a pretty good season.

Nahki Wells has also been the difference between QPR being a mid-table side and not being scruffy.