It started with a 4-0 embarrassment so it was fitting it ended with one, too. Queens Park Rangers’ recent history has been a timeline of tumult and it is hard to know where to begin when recapping how dark clouds of negativity slowly turned into green shoots of optimism.

Losing 4-0 against Watford on the opening day of this season was by no means the beginning of the mess but it felt like a nadir. They went behind just 36 seconds into the campaign and then manager Gareth Ainsworth was already talking about ‘survival’.

QPR finished day one of the season in the relegation zone and fans - and seemingly Ainsworth, too - had genuine fears the club were there to stay. A week earlier, they had lost 5-0 to League One Oxford United in a pre-season friendly.

It was a meaningless match that yielded a meaningful result. QPR were a team only heading one way. Just nine months earlier, they were top of the Championship under the management of Mick Beale but ended up finishing 20th, winning just four games after his controversial exit.

Sandwiched in between Beale and Ainsworth was Neil Critchley, who has since returned to Blackpool. The former Liverpool coach publicly threw his players under the proverbial bus and the dressing room turned against him. He lasted just 12 games.

Marti Cifuentes inherited a rudderless team at QPR but has turned them around with quick, passing football and won over the fans 

Ainsworth was - and still is - a club legend from his playing days, plus boasted a stellar record at former team Wycombe. But he was a square peg in a round hole and his tenure, just five wins in 28 games, was summed up by a bizarre episode at their Heston training base.

The part-time rock singer brought in some dancers to perform the traditional Maori Haka routine. It went out on the club’s social media feeds and players’ bemused faces are memorable. The All Blacks rugby team instil fear with their Haka but QPR just resembled a laughing stock.

Things were no better off the pitch. When the club lost 4-0 to Blackburn in October - a theme was developing - chairman Amit Bhatia was busy on the golf course. Director of football Les Ferdinand had also departed a few months earlier.

A source close to a former QPR manager told Wonders of the Pyramid how they missed out on signing a top striker in 2021 as a member of the hierarchy was late to a meeting with his agent. Said striker is now a prolific forward in a top European league.

There is still work to do off the field. Bhatia has left his role and Lee Hoos now oversees the day-to-day operation. Since Eberechi Eze left for Crystal Palace in 2020, they have stalled on cashing in on big-money assets, though he does have a 20 per cent sell-on clause.

But on the pitch, things are looking bright. The man to thank for that is a young Catalan born just down the road from the great Pep Guardiola, Marti Cifuentes. He has overseen their rise from that 4-0 opening-day defeat to one of the results of the season, a 4-0 win over Leeds last Friday.

That victory confirmed safety. For those not privy to the shambolic mess at Loftus Road in the last few years, QPR staying up might come as no surprise. But when Cifuentes took over, it looked like he would need a minor miracle to achieve that.

He inherited a rudderless team, 23rd in the table after six straight losses when Ainsworth was sacked. His first job was to get the fans on side. They were welcoming but unsure of him given his experience was limited to Spain’s fourth tier and three Scandinavian clubs.

Cifuentes’ appointment was almost like QPR’s data analysts had asked their supercomputers to find the polar opposite of Ainsworth. He switched the style from direct and pragmatic to a faster-paced, passing game. It was a risk but it has paid off.

‘I am very used to being inexperienced, too young, whatever,’ he said in December. ‘I’m just a very optimistic person. I don’t have any magical recipe.’ But looking at the table since his appointment - QPR are 10th in that 31-game mini-league - it feels like he does.

In similar fashion, young Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl is another who looks like he has the magical recipe. The Owls won 47 of their 50 points under the 34-year-old German and are nearly safe despite looking destined for the drop and winless when he took over in October.

Ipswich’s high-flying Kieran McKenna richly deserved his gong for manager of the season, after leading them to within one point of back-to-back promotions on a limited budget. But young Cifuentes and Rohl also deserve a strong dose of plaudits for fine work against the odds.

Your guide to this weekend’s play-off action

LEAGUE ONE

Barnsley v Bolton, Friday 7.30pm

Barnsley sacked boss Neill Collins just 11 days before the play-offs and the Tykes could be the first club in EFL history - historians, correct me if I’m wrong - to be promoted without a manager.

But two wins in the last 12 regular-season games makes that look unlikely. Bolton manager Ian Evatt is going for a third promotion and second at this club - after taking Barrow to the Football League - and they have looked a classy, hard-to-beat team.

Oxford v Peterborough, Saturday 7.45pm

Oxford started the season with nine wins from the first 11 and looked like automatic promotion contenders but young manager Liam Manning jumped ship for Championship side Bristol City. They stumbled under journeyman boss Des Buckingham at first but have recovered.

Buckingham, 39, started his coaching career at Oxford’s academy and has come full circle via the beautiful destinations of Wellington, Melbourne, Mumbai and… Stoke. They face a tough task against experienced Darren Ferguson and EFL Trophy winners Peterborough.

LEAGUE TWO

Crawley v Milton Keynes, Monday 3pm

One outsider pick for manager of the season in the Football League would be Crawley boss Scott Lindsay. They were bookies’ favourites for relegation this season and looked a bit of a basket case under the ownership of crypto firm WAGMI United.

Now they have a shot at play-off glory but will again be against the odds to beat Milton Keynes. Their boss Mike Williamson took the step up from National League Gateshead and inherited them in 16th place. With a full season, they would be a top-three candidate.

Crewe v Doncaster, Monday 5.30pm

As documented in last week’s Wonders, Doncaster were 20th in League Two as recently as March but finished the season with a run of 10 wins and one draw. To put it bluntly, Grant McCann’s men look like the team to beat in the play-offs.

Lee Bell’s Crewe, on the other hand, have stumbled their way to the top seven with just two wins in their last 12. But the Railwaymen have punched above their weight and belied a small budget - the young squad are well worthy of a play-off place.