THROUGH the tedium of the current futile international break, many a thought crosses the minds of football fans across the country. None more so than myself, who, while debating whether to actually watch the England game at the time of writing, has come up with an ingenious idea.

THROUGH the tedium of the current futile international break, many a thought crosses the minds of football fans across the country. None more so than myself, who, while debating whether to actually watch the England game at the time of writing, has come up with an ingenious idea.

I present to you – the ‘Football Manager X Factor’. Forget the auto-tuning malarkey, we’re here to separate the Sir Alex Fergusons from the Paul Harts, to praise the Ian Holloways and mock the Glenn Roeders and to unearth the underlying attributes of a good football manager.

QPR fans will be racking up their phone bills as they look to put in their votes for current manager Neil Warnock. With a reputation of being never one to shy away from a bit of controversy, Warnock has consistently been able to instil resilience and a battling spirit into his teams and has been successful wherever he has been at the helm.

Surely one of the best managers outside the Premier League, are these the key characteristics that make a high-quality manager?

Many ask the question – if Jose Mourinho was to manage Bristol Rovers would he be able to achieve the success previously experienced with teams like Inter Milan and Porto? Eddie Howe of Bournemouth has worked wonders on a shoestring budget – would Jose be able to do the same?

I think we’ll let Simon Cowell figure that one out.

While we all love watching Paul Merson attempt to report on players with surnames consisting of more than six letters on a Saturday afternoon, it was apparent he wasn’t up to the challenge of managing a football team in a short spell that was littered with difficulties on and off the pitch at Walsall.

Maybe some have that ‘X Factor’ and some just don’t.

The Fergies and Wengers of the footballing world have got their tactics and mind games down to a fine art, while the Holloways and Warnocks have developed their motivation skills to find success.

What we do know, is that the managerial world is very fickle – one minute a manager can be the best the club has ever embraced, the next they could find themselves on death row.

So while QPR fans may still be having a party up on cloud nine, let’s not forget that the Rs will eventually lose a game – maybe even four or five.

But instead of turning our heads away in disgust at the thought of losing, let’s leave that capricious nature to the Spurs fans of this world and continue to inculcate our belief onto our beloved blue and white hoops.

As far as QPR fans are concerned, Warnock most certainly has that elusive managerial X Factor.