Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink hopes he is allowed to spend the £4m fee paid by Southampton for Charlie Austin.
The QPR boss revelled in a first win in a nine-game tenure at Rotherham, but still wants replacements for the man with 10 goals in 16 appearances before his shock visit to the manager’s office yesterday morning.
Hasselbaink said: “A month ago, Charlie said he didn’t want to go.
“Yesterday morning he came to see me and said he wanted to take that opportunity (to go to Southampton).
“The owners had no choice because he wanted to go, and yes, we need another striker or two.
"Hopefully that money I will get. There are two vacancies, because I wanted one before Charlie went.”
In contrast, to a lack lustre FA Cup exit last week at Nottingham Forest, Hasselbaink put an encouraging arm around shoulders in the dressing room at half time - and it paid off big time.
Strikes from Junior Hoilett, Matt Phillips and Sebastian Polter gave Rangers their first win since the beginning of December.
But their boss would like more from mercurial Hoilett, who while going down in the box still managed to get his shot away to open the scoring.
“I think I would have gone down and asked for a penalty,” said JFH. “Fair play to him for the goal. He gave us a break, but he needs to enjoy his football, and he can do so much more, and we expect more.
“We need to play him and Sebastian Polter in more, and make more use out of them.”
Massimo Luongo got his first league start since the dim and distant 1-0 defeat to Brentford at the end of October.
This time, the manager gave his player an unqualified thumbs up.
Hasselbaink added: “He is someone who wants to get on the ball and hurt you with a pass. He needed to do the dirty stuff first - and he did.”
