Rob Green believes the fate of twice-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers should act as a warning to QPR next season.

Rangers begin life back in the Championship on August 3 as the bookies’ favourites to secure an immediate return to the Premier League.

However, goalkeeper Green believes complacency could lead to another relegation fight – and warned they could suffer a similar nightmare to Wolves, who have fallen from the Premier League to League One in two seasons.

“You look at what happened to Wolves and you can see just how tough it is,” Green told the Times.

“Obviously QPR are not even thinking along the lines of relegation, but it still acts as a warning. You have to approach every opposition with the right mindset.”

Green played a key role in helping Norwich City win Division One in 2004 – making 48 appearances as the Canaries secured promotion.

But he echoed the sentiments of QPR chairman Tony Fernandes in suggesting it may take more than one season to climb back out of the second tier.

And he believes Rangers will need to develop a steel to their game which has largely been absent in recent seasons if they are to finish top of the pile.

“It is relentless, and there will be major expectation on QPR for every game,” he added.

“You must start well and get into a winning mentality. Not many games will be free-flowing, you have to grind out results.

“When I was at Norwich we won Division One, but there were not a lot of games that lived in the memory, we ended up scrapping out a lot of games 1-0 away from home.

“There’s no room for any Samba-style football, you have to be more realistic than that.

“The owners might say it could take two or three attempts to get back up and I think it is right to be cautious, maybe they have learnt their lesson after last season – but at the same time we want to get back into the Premier League.”