Harry Redknapp Feeling the Pressure as He and QPR Enter Critical Month

Harry Redknapp would never admit it, but, as speculation over his job security at Queens Park Rangers continues to grow, it certainly seems the building pressure is starting to get to him.

On Friday, Redknapp cut a belligerent, almost aggressive figure as he faced questions from the media about his future at Loftus Road.

The 67-year-old insisted he has no concerns about his immediate future, despite a start to the season that has seen QPR lose five of their opening seven league games and plummet to the foot of the Premier League table.

At board level, there certainly appear to be grave concerns. Redknapp's contract expires next summer, yet there are currently no ongoing talks about an extension between him and the board.

"I love this job and football management. I've got a great desire for the job still," Redknapp told reporters, per BBC Sport. "I talk to [owner] Tony Fernandes every day. I'm having dinner with him tonight. I'm doing my best and he knows that.

"There's still so much time left this season. There are still so many games to play. I'm confident we'll be fine."

Redknapp might be confident everything will be fine eventually, but ultimately it is how Fernandes feels the club will end up faring that will decide the manager’s future.

Fernandes has already experienced relegation once in his time as QPR's owner and benefactor, and knows that both he and the club cannot really afford for the same thing to happen again—least of all because there is a risk, however small, of the club being demoted all the way to the Conference over financial fair play issues.

Last time QPR were relegated, in 2013, Redknapp had been the man parachuted in to try and save the club, after predecessor Mark Hughes (who himself had kept QPR up the year before, following Neil Warnock’s January dismissal) had stumbled through a difficult start to the season. After 12 games, the west Londoners were bottom of the table with just four points.

Wind on two years and at least the Hoops already have four points (from just seven games), although they are once again in 20th.

It would seem logical to think that Redknapp will be given a similar timeframe to show whether or not he might be able to keep this team up—if QPR are still bottom of the table after the next four or five games, Fernandes will have to think long and hard about pulling the trigger.

Unfortunately for Redknapp, that span starts with Sunday’s home game with Liverpool—followed by matches against Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester City.

"I don't need assurances from anybody," Redknapp said. "It is up to Tony what he does. If he is not happy come and talk to me—I’m a big boy."

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Of course, there is an argument that Fernandes should have made the decision that he seems to be heading inexorably towards so much sooner. It should not be forgotten that, in Redknapp, he has a manager who admitted, in the aftermath of last year's play-off final victory, that he would have retired from the game if the result had gone a different way.

"With 10 minutes to go I was thinking 'which golf club should I join this year—should I play here or there?' Then, suddenly, Bobby ruined it all," Redknapp said in July (again per BBC Sport).

"Now I am excited again. To go to Anfield and Old Trafford is fantastic, I am so lucky to be able to do that."

That hardly sounds like a man enthused about the job he is doing, although after more than 30 years in the dugout, perhaps that is not surprising.

But simply being in the Premier League is unlikely to have washed away the underlying malaise as the man himself hoped it might, and Redknapp's summer signings hardly gave the impression of a man bringing fresh ideas and new strategies to a style of management that has long been considered a touch antiquated.

That QPR's net spend was only £24m (per Transfermarkt) indicates the greater financial issues that linger, but even so, many of the signings that were made did not inspire confidence. Steven Caulker and Leroy Fer, both impressive young players, had nevertheless both been relegated the season before—a worrying omen for a side hoping to go on and do the opposite.

Defensive midfielder Sandro arrived from Tottenham with concerns about his injury record, while the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Mauricio Isla and Eduardo Vargas arrived on sizeable wage deals with genuine concerns about either their enduring quality, or their desire and/or ability to adapt to English football.

So far, the August victory over Sunderland apart, those new signings have failed to jell into a cohesive unit, just as many observers feared (in that regard Sunday’s opponents Liverpool are not massively different).

Redknapp has struggled to either inspire or organise them to date, going so far as to use "fitness" as an excuse for performances as recently as the 2-0 defeat to West Ham United at the beginning of the month.

"Two years ago I thought they were a shambles in the Premier League, all the way through the season," Gary Neville, now a pundit for Sky Sports, said following that game. "What we’re watching [now] is diabolical.

"The basic premise of a football team is to work hard... There’s nothing there. I’ve watched them a few times this season and it’s repeated. When you see it three, four times that’s a worry, a real worry. You saw Harry Redknapp at the end on the bench and it’s not even worth getting up, standing in your technical zone trying to get your team back in it."

The situation is complicated by the fact that there are attractive options out there on the open market for Fernandes, should he decide to make a change.

Tony Pulis is looking for new employment, having left Crystal Palace on the eve of the current season. The Welshman would not come cheap, but having kept Palace up last season following a similarly ad-hoc summer spending spree by another manager (in that case, Ian Holloway), it is not hard to see why his services would be extremely attractive to Fernandes—especially if he could put him on an incentive-based deal.

Tim Sherwood has also been mentioned in the press, although on Friday Redknapp was more dismissive of the ex-Spurs coach's credentials.

"What am I supposed to say?" Redknapp scoffed. "Yeah, I think he’s a great man to replace me, he'd do a great job!"

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All that being said, Redknapp probably has at least a few more games in which to make his case to remain as QPR manager, although everything seems to point to the fact he will get the chop eventually.

If we include the 25 games he oversaw at Loftus Road during the ill-fated 2012/13 season, Redknapp has won just 21 points from his last 33 games in the top flight—not even close to survival form. What is worse, over that period he seems to have shown little ability to find either the root of the problem or any solutions for it.

Everything points to a man who has lost enthusiasm with the job he is currently doing, and a playing squad, already poorly compiled, that has picked up on that disillusionment (or whatever you want to call it) and is consequently unable to produce performances to the required standard.

Whether a new manager can fashion something better from QPR's current squad remains impossible to know. But the chances have to be better than with Redknapp in charge; or at least a compelling body of evidence suggests that would be the case.

Barring a miracle, over the next month Fernandes will find himself forced to wield the axe. With every game he waits, the job just gets more difficult for the new man.