QPR sack manager Dowie

Queens Park Rangers, one of the wealthiest English football clubs outside the Premier League, on Friday announced the sacking of manager Iain Dowie just 12 games into the season.

QPR, bought last September by Flavio Briatore, the manager of the Renault Formula One team, and Grand Prix supremo Bernie Ecclestone, are currently ninth in the second-tier Championship.

Only the top two sides at the end of the season are guaranteed automatic promotion to the lucrative Premier League, with the next four teams in the table competing in a series of play-off matches for the third and final top-flight spot on offer.

Dowie, 43, only took over from previous manager Luigi de Canio in May and leaves Loftus Road with the west London club just a point adrift of the play-off places.

Experienced winger Gareth Ainsworth was placed in caretaker charge ahead of Saturday's match away to Reading.

“The board of Queens Park Rangers Football Club has terminated the contract of manager Iain Dowie with immediate effect,” said a club statement.

Dowie took charge of just 15 games in all competitions – exactly the same number as during his ill-fated spell at Charlton two years ago.

The former Northern Ireland striker guided Rangers into the last 16 of the League Cup, where they face a trip to Manchester United after knocking out Aston Villa in the third round.

His last game in charge was a goalless draw at Swansea on Tuesday, where the opposition played for more than an hour with defender Alan Tate in goal.

Rangers were one of the pre-season favourites for promotion with the cash injection provided by the motor racing duo bolstered when Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, described as the wealthiest man in Britain by the Sunday Times rich list, took a 20 percent stake in the Hoops.

But QPR's only victory in their last six games was a 2-1 success over bottom side Nottingham Forest.

Dowie was also reported to have clashed with Briatore over the club's transfer policy earlier this season, with Damiano Tommasi, the former Italy midfielder, brought in on a one-year contract but yet to make an appearance.

Former Inter Milan manager Roberto Mancini has already been touted as a possible full-time replacement for Dowie.

Earlier this year, Briatore announced a five-year, 20 million pounds (40 million dollars) sponsorship deal with Italian sports manufacturers Lotto.

The funds coming into Loftus Road since Briatore's arrival have drawn comparisons with QPR's west London rivals Chelsea.

The Blues' Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has spent more than 600 million pounds (1.2 billion dollars) since taking charge at Stamford Bridge in 2003.

However, Chelsea were already in the Premier League when Abramovich arrived and back in July, Briatore insisted: “There is no pressure to go up this season – absolutely not – because it was always a four-year programme.”