Harry Redknapp finds excuses following QPR's relegation from the Premier League

Manager says he did not have a chance to build his own team

Redknapp in particular was very vocal on the touchline (AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

QPR manager Harry Redknapp believes he faced an uphill struggle to keep the club in the Barclays Premier League because he did not have a chance to build his own team.

Redknapp replaced Mark Hughes at Loftus Road in November with the club rock bottom of the table and with just four points to their name.

The former Tottenham boss could not save Rangers, who drew 0-0 at Reading yesterday meaning both clubs have been relegated to the npower Championship.

Despite bringing in expensive signings Loic Remy and Christopher Samba in January Redknapp felt he would have had a better chance at achieving survival if he had been able to shape the club in his own fashion

"If you had the job at the start of the year it would have been different because you build your team and that is your team," he said.

"You shouldn't be running around in the transfer window trying to patch a team up, it is very difficult then. I spent days and days away from home all over Europe trying to plug some holes.

"You build your team in the summer, that is when you build a team, do your training and get together. The club went 13 games without winning a game and that is quite a bad start by anyone's standards."

Reading won the Championship last season but struggled to adapt to the Premier League and will join Rangers in the second tier once again.

Unlike QPR, the Royals were frugal with transfer funds and player wages with only the contract given to Russia forward Pavel Pogrebnyak comparable to most other top-flight clubs.

Owner Anton Zingarevich, who sacked Brian McDermott in March and replaced him with Nigel Adkins, believes it is about the quality of players signed rather than their actual value.

"It is not the amount that decides things," he said.

"It is how you spent it, we need to sign the good players on good deals, we need to be cautious to pick the right deals."

Adkins has targeted an immediate return to the Premier League and admits he will start to look at the players he feels can achieve the task.

"There will be a recruitment process that goes on," he said.

"I want to be in the Premier League. The majority of teams in the Championship have been in the PL and all of those want to get back in there.

"The owner has been great and I have had some good meetings with him. There is a lot of hunger here. We want to make sure we give ourselves an opportunity to get back to the Premier League."

PA