Iain Dowie is on the verge of being dismissed as manager of Queens Park Rangers after clashing with Flavio Briatore, the club’s Italian co-owner.

Dowie has patched up some of his differences with Briatiore, but his position as manager of the Coca-Cola Championship club remains in doubt after an argument about a proposed transfer of an unknown striker from the Middle East.

Briatore is understood to have told Dowie that he would be dismissed, but stopped short of formalising the decision and it had been unclear whether the manager would report for work this morning. Some of the club’s hierarchy have been given the task of finding a successor, should the differences not be resolved, but this looks unlikely before the club’s first Championship match of the season, at home to Barnsley on Saturday. The club’s list of targets is likely to include Sam Allardyce and Mike Newell. There are no obvious internal candidates.

Briatore and Dowie have had disagreements about transfers this summer. The club spent £250,000 to sign Kaspars Gorkss from Blackpool, while three players arrived on free transfers and two on loan. Dowie dismissed the reported row as “rumours” last night.

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Dowie was appointed as the successor to Luigi De Canio because it was felt that he had the credentials to lead the club to promotion. However, the appointment was not backed unanimously at Loftus Road.

Many of QPR’s problems in recent years have stemmed from a £10 million debt to the ABC Corporation, a company registered in Panama, which provided a loan that helped the club to exit administration six years ago. The 10 per cent interest payments have been a considerable burden and QPR’s owners yesterday lent the club £10 million to repay ABC, with the money repayable to them in two years’ time and at an interest rate of 8.5 per cent.

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