Julien Stephan just matched terrible ten-year-old QPR record that should have alarm bells ringing

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Julien Stephan’s QPR suffered an embarrassing 7-1 defeat away to Coventry City this weekend, on the day the Sky Blues announced their purchase of the stadium.

This purchase came 20 years after their first game in the stadium, when their opponents were QPR, and on that day Coventry secured a 3-0 win.

To celebrate this momentous occasion for Coventry City, they doubled the winning margin as they completely dominated the match and ended up as 7-1 winners.

QPR fans are not pleased at the performance of their players under new manager Julien Stephan, and the Frenchman may soon be feeling the pressure, particularly as he matches an unwanted record with the defeat.

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Stephan has matched Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s start as QPR manager

QPR are a long way off where they were 15 years ago, when they were at the top of the Championship and, in alternate seasons, part of the Premier League.

This was a chaotic period for the club, as they had several high-profile managers in charge.

When they appointed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2015, there was an expectation he could turn their fortunes around after his tenure as Burton Albion manager.

However, he struggled in charge of QPR, particularly at the beginning of his tenure, as he failed to win his first four competitive matches, something that Julien Stephan has matched, as he became the first manager since then to do so.

Hasselbaink would last a total of 47 matches in charge of QPR despite this poor start in a period not fondly remembered by fans.

There will be hopes Stephan can turn it around; however, from the evidence, it does not look like that will be the case at present.

The club finished in 12th in his first season, and he would be removed from his position early into the next season, as he was removed from the managerial role in November 2016.

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Need to copy 2018 tactics after 7-1 Coventry defeat

In August 2018 QPR lost 7-1 to West Brom, the exact same result the club suffered at the same point of this season, 2025, as they suffered an embarrassing defeat to Coventry City.

Seven years ago QPR went out and brought in several loanees to steady the ship, and the club may have to do something similar after the club suffered this embarrassing result against Coventry.

There may be frustration towards Stephan, as he has failed to win any of his opening four competitive matches; however, the squad clearly needs some recruits who could be signed from the money they received from the Eberechi Eze deal, or it could be a long season for the London club.