Furious Hughes read riot act to QPR players

Mark Hughes read the riot act to QPR’s under-performing team following their diabolical display against Southampton.

Hughes had previously been placid towards his players during a dire run that has seen them fail to win a league game this season.

But it was a different story after the weekend horror show and the under-fire manager declared: “We’re at the point where something needed to be said.

“Whatever I said remains private, but I was well within my rights to say what I said.”

Hughes believes he should stay in charge at Loftus Road despite many fans making it clear they want chairman Tony Fernandes to wield the axe.

But the former Fulham boss has performed a U-turn, conceding that a top-half finish is now beyond Rangers and they are in a relegation battle.

He had predicted they would climb away from trouble and not be involved in a serious fight to stay up.

Hours before the Southampton game he boldly suggested that finishing in the top 10 was a realistic target.

Saturday’s debacle changed all that and Hughes admitted: “We’re at a point where we need to understand where we are. We’re not talking about a successful mid-table finish now.

“Given the manner of that performance we have to accept we’re in danger of going down and we need to have the right mentality to move us forward.”

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