QPR v Southampton

Adkins: Futures not resting on QPR game

November 15, 2012
By ESPN staff

Southampton manager Nigel Adkins does not believe defeat against QPR will lead to his sacking, and feels the same is true for opposite number Mark Hughes should Saints win.

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GettyImagesNigel Adkins: Yet to oversee a Southampton victory in the Premier League

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The Premier League's bottom two do battle at Loftus Road on Sunday with Adkins and Hughes under considerable pressure to claim a morale-boosting victory.

Despite the two managers receiving public support from their respective clubs, it has been suggested that behind the scenes Southampton and QPR's patience is wearing so thin that both bosses are at risk of the sack should they not mastermind a win.

However, Adkins disagreed with the notion that a defeat would spell the end of the losing manager's tenure.

"I don't think it will have any relevance whatsoever for either manager," Adkins said. "I'll be perfectly honest because that is what you're going to build it up as, because we've got two managers, two football clubs at the wrong end of the table.

"I am pretty sure, I am pretty confident that both managers will be in situ come on Monday. I am looking forward to another game. It has been a good week's training. I feel fit, I feel fresh and I've got an energy about myself.

"I feel stimulated and I am looking forward to the next game in the Barclays Premier League game, which is away to Queens Park Rangers. It's the next game in the journey that we're on. Every game that you look at has three points up for grabs.

"That's what we've got to go and do. We've already established that we're at the wrong end of the league table. We can't hide away from that and so the importance of the next game is always going to be highlighted. But it is going to be like that for us for the remainder of the campaign.

"It's a tough league that we're in, we're well aware of that, but one we love being in and one we expect to be in for many, many years to come.''