HAVE A HART, QPR!

PAUL Hart has stood down as manager of London Championship side Queens Park Rangers after just five games in charge, the Gulf Air-sponsored club announced at the weekend.

Life at the football club makes the stormy recent times at Bahrain's national carrier appear like a mild bout of turbulence.

Assistant manager Mick Harford took over for Saturday's trip to Blackpool in his second spell as QPR caretaker boss. He is the ninth man to take charge at Loftus Road in the two-and-a-half years that former Renault Formula One chief Flavio Briatore has been the club owner.

The 56-year-old, who was sacked by Premier League side Portsmouth late last year, had been expected to stay in the job until the end of the season.

Some reports suggested the decision came after Hart fell out with the Rangers board over transfers, while an argument with on-loan midfielder Adel Taarabt has also been reported. A QPR statement read: "The club can confirm that manager Paul Hart has decided to leave Queens Park Rangers Football Club with immediate effect."

Harford admitted he was shocked by Hart's walk-out, but is keen to take the job on a permanent basis. He was made caretaker manager once before in 2007 but was overlooked for the permanent job in favour of Italian Luigi De Canio.

He told QPR's website: "It's a sad occasion with the manager leaving his post but that happens in football. I have been given what I consider an opportunity to stake my claim for the job."

Hart's final game in charge was last week's 3-2 Cup defeat by Sheffield United, watched by Briatore and fellow co-owner Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone. The team has only won once in 10 games.

A crowd of only 5,780 watched Rangers fall 3-0 behind and booed Hart when he brought off midfielder Alejandro Faurlin, to replace him with Taarabt.

The Hoops are currently 11th in the Championship, the second tier of English football, but still teasingly within reach of a coveted play-off place for promotion to the lucrative Premiership.

Under Briatore, permanent managers John Gregory, De Canio, Iain Dowie, Paulo Sousa, Jim Magilton and Hart have departed while Harford, Gareth Ainsworth (twice) and youth coaches Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham have had spells in caretaker charge.

Magilton had a fiery spell as boss earlier in the season and was suspended following reports that he allegedly headbutted midfielder Akos Buzsaky after a 3-1 defeat at Watford. He left QPR 'by mutual consent' and denied wrongdoing.

Harford saw his side earn a battling 2-2 draw against Blackpool, managed by another former QPR boss, Ian Holloway, and then called for calm. He said: "I think what this club needs after a difficult time is a period of stability. The board has asked me to take charge of the first team and I shall continue to do that."

Charlie Adam opened the scoring in the ninth minute but Rangers' Taarabt converted a penalty in the 55th minute to level. Gary Taylor-Fletcher drove in a cross from Keith Southern in the 77th minute to put Blackpool back in front, but Rangers hit back again when Matt Connolly fired home from 20 yards in the 84th minute.

Former Charlton and West Ham manager Alan Curbishley has already been linked with the manager's post.

Amid the off-field instability at QPR, co-owner Briatore's tenure at the club remains under threat. He faces the possibility of having to relinquish his holding because of his alleged involvement in the Formula One 'Crashgate' race-fixing scandal which is now being fought out in the courts. F1's governing body, the FIA, insisted that the lifetime suspension from motor sport imposed on the former Renault boss still applies despite it being overturned by a Paris court.

Briatore and Ecclestone are not the only wealthy men at the club. Also on the board is Indian metals magnate Lakshmi Mittal, whose family bought a stake in QPR in December 2007.

FACT-FILE

Paul Hart, right, on Thursday became the sixth manager to leave English Championship club QPR since chairman Flavio Briatore arrived at Loftus Road in November 2007.

Briatore, who co-owns the west London team along with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has gone through managers at an alarming rate as he strives to take the club into the Premier League.

Here is a full list of the six bosses and caretakers who have served under Briatore:

John Gregory - October 2006 to November 2007

Mick Harford (caretaker) - November 2007

Luigi De Canio - November 2007 to May 2008

Iain Dowie - May 2008 to October 2008

Gareth Ainsworth (caretaker) - October 2008 to November 2008

Paulo Sousa - November 2008 to April 2009

Ainsworth (caretaker) - April 2009 to May 2009

Jim Magilton - June 2009 to December 2009

Steve Gallen (caretaker) - December 2009

Hart - December 2009 to January 2010

Harford (caretaker) - January 2010 to present