Cifuentes wants his QPR team to honour the legacy of club legend Terry Venables
Marti Cifuentes has said it would make him proud if supporters can enjoy watching his QPR side play as much as they did Terry Venables’ team of the 1980s during his time at Loftus Road.
Venables, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 80, had spells as both a player and manager at QPR, and during his time in the dugout was responsible for guiding the club to the FA Cup final in 1982 before leading them to promotion to the First Division a year later.
His team is best remembered for playing progressive, attacking football and Cifuentes hopes that his current side can do that legacy justice.
“The impact that he had on the game was amazing,” said the Spaniard. “I know he is a big legend not only at QPR but also in English football.
“The expression of the attacking game that he tried to play is a little bit of the foundation of what QPR is today.
“One of the things that would make me very proud is that if people can connect again with that way of playing, with that way of approaching the game.
“If we can achieve a little bit of what he did, that will be really good news.”
Following his success at QPR, Venables moved on to Barcelona in 1984 and helped the Catalan giants win their first La Liga title in 11 years in his first season in charge.
Cifuentes, who was born not far from Barcelona and bases much of his coaching style on the club’s world-famous footballing philosophy, explained that the former England manager holds an important role in the history of the five-time champions of Europe.
“He was one of the first [English] managers who made the step to a club like Barcelona,” he said.
“I was only a little boy when he moved there but everybody talks really highly about how he was both as a manager with his approach to the game and as well as a person. He was a real gentleman, very respectful with everybody.
“It is not easy at a club like Barcelona, with the pressure that it has, to still be a genuine person.
“I know some players from under his management and they speak very highly of him. Everybody in Barcelona has a big respect for him and I know that in Spain it has been very sad news.”
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