New claim made on why Marti Cifuentes and Christian Nourry relationship at QPR broke down | OneFootball

Marti Cifuentes is currently on gardening leave

Former Queens Park Ranger striker Kevin Gallen has claimed that issues with recruitment are why there a problem developed between Marti Cifuentes and the club's CEO, Christian Nourry.

What was supposed to be one of the most promising, progressive eras at Loftus Road in recent years effectively came to an end on Tuesday when it was announced that the club's Spanish manager had been placed on gardening leave, amid talks with other clubs.

QPR have essentially sacked Cifuentes, but by essentially suspending him instead of outright getting rid of him they retain the right to compensation if he goes on to join a new club before the expiration of his R's contract, which he signed in September.

Recruitment frustration the reason for Cifuentes & Nourry's relationship breakdown, claims Gallen

Nourry spoke very highly of Cifuentes at the fans' forum in which the 42-year-old's new deal was announced, but there has been a clear rift between the two since then.

Gallen, who played more than 350 games for the west London club across two stints at Loftus Road, believes that a misalignment of the manager and CEO's respective recruitment visions is what ultimately led to the breakdown. This issue may make life difficult for Cifuentes' replacement too, according to the club's former forward.

"It's going to be a difficult job," he told BBC London Sport. "I've always said this: recruitment is the main thing in football. And QPR, unfortunately, I feel last season got their recruitment really wrong.

"Out of 10 or 11 signings they made in the summer, they brought in nine from aborad with no Championship experience, and you can tell that it took too long for them to get going.

"Now I believe that the breakdown in the relationship between the manager and the CEO is because the CEO, Christian Nourry, will be saying to Marti 'These are your players. They're good enough. You coach them to make them good enough.' And Marti will be turning round saying 'These players aren't good enough, I can't coach them.' And that's where you have the clash."

QPR's full focus should now be on finding Marti Cifuentes' replacement

There's just one game left to go, a trip to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland, before the R's can break off for their summer break.

It's not a particularly meaningful game for either club. QPR aren't involved in the relegation battle and Sunderland are locked into fourth place in the league no matter the result. Therefore, the clear objective in the boardroom of Loftus Road should be to find a successor to the Spaniard that they appointed around 15 months ago.

The players will have some downtime to recharge their batteries. The likes of Nourry and other senior figures, though, will have to keep their head down and do some extra summer research.