QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand has admitted the club have made no progress in the last year, after showing no signs of improvement under former boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Rangers sacked Hasselbaink following a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest earlier this month, which left the club 17th in the Championship standings at that time.

Since then Ian Holloway has returned for a second spell as manager, and Ferdinand – who admitted that the former was not initially on their wish list to replace Hasselbaink – said they had little choice but to cut ties with the Dutchman after a disappointing spell in charge.

He told the Times: “You can’t see it as progress because if it was, Jimmy would still be here and he’s not. We know a number of players came in the summer but when we spoke to Jimmy originally, one thing we did say was this is the group of players – can you make them better?

“He was adamant that he could make them better and we knew the boys we were bringing in would need developing. I think the consensus was that we haven’t made the players better.

“That was what the decision was based around. It was the manner in which we were playing and whether the group of boys had developed from last year. And the answer to that was they hadn’t.

“We were looking for stability and that’s one word that has been spoken about a lot and we thought Jimmy would bring us that. We thought that was a part of the process. It didn’t work out how we wanted it to, unfortunately.”

Hasselbaink came under continued scrutiny from Rs supporters for his footballing philosophy while he was manager.

And Ferdinand believes the Rs can rediscover a long-standing club tradition of attacking football under fans’ favourite Holloway.

He added: “I think the QPR way has always been there. QPR have always been a frontfoot attacking team if you go back as far as you like to the Stan Bowles and Rodney Marsh eras.

“I remember people saying to me they didn’t support QPR but if their team was playing away they’d come to Loftus Road. QPR has always had that way. We’re pleased with the early signs already and the way Ian wants to play the game.

“He understands the football club and the fans and what was needed, so it was an obvious choice for us.

“As we all know it’s a results business though. Ian knows that, but we believe he’s the right man.”