"I left 10 years ago and QPR are still in the Championship!" Ex-fan favourite is stunned by Hoops' lack of progress

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone in Nijmegen

Champions League play-ofg first-leg

Nec Nijmegen 1-3 Bodø/Glimt

Tjaronn Chery admitted to being blown away by QPR’s lack of progress since he left the Hoops nearly 10 years ago.

Chery spent 18 months at the club between the summer of 2015 and January 2017, carving out a reputation for pulling rabbits out of his hat with the occasional wonder goal.

Since their relegation to the Championship, just a few months before his arrival from Groningen 11 years ago, the west Londoners have failed to bounce back to the top flight.

In the meantime, bitter rivals Fulham and Brentford have both done just that.

While fans temper their expectations, Chery doesn't.

And the player, who left following a lucrative offer from Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng, exclusively told Capital Football that the Championship is a tough place to escape once you are in it.

He said: “I left 10 years ago and they are still in the Championship!

“But I know how difficult the league is. It’s not really easy to come back from the Championship to the Premier League.

“I hope they come back as soon as possible.”

Over the years, the attacker has never tired of reiterating how grateful he is to have plied his trade with a traditional club like QPR.

To the point that he is still an avid supporter who keeps an eye on their results.

“It was an amazing time,” the emotional Dutchman said with a lump in his throat.

“I played there one and a half years. It was a nice season. The best players I played with there are probably Fer and Sandro.

“The club is always in my heart, man. I still follow them and I wish them nothing but the best.”

Despite the passage of time, his wand of a right foot, which put so many smiles on QPR fans’ faces, remains as potent as ever.

In NEC Nijmegen’s 3-1 first-leg home defeat to Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League play-offs yesterday, he twice came close to scoring in the first half.

Only superb reflex saves from the goalkeeper denied him on both occasions.

He said: “You know me a little bit from 10 years ago, something like this.

“I always try to shoot from distance a little bit.

“Today I had two shots and it was unlucky that they did not go inside, but you know, we keep going.”

Next week in Norway, NEC need to emulate QPR’s win at Portsmouth in the season-opening game if they are to stand a chance of making the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.

A 3-1 win in the Arctic Circle would send the tie to extra time.

And Chery said: “It will be difficult to go there, but we believe in it and we need to score in the opening minutes of the game.

“We need to be really sharp and we cannot make any mistakes there.”

NEC and Chery will need a bit of QPR and Ilias Chair inspiration next week. And the west Londoners could certainly do with some of Chery’s unwavering belief that they belong back where they should be: the Premier League.