New Queens Park Rangers director of football Les Ferdinand has spoken of his desire to "nurture young talent" at the club rather than spend money in the transfer market.

Ferdinand, who was formerly head of football operations at Loftus Road, was promoted to his new role earlier today in the wake of Harry Redknapp's shock departure as manager.

QPR have splashed the cash without much success in recent seasons, and Ferdinand acknowledged that a change of strategy was needed following their past "mistakes" when buying players.

"I've had many messages from supporters, of all ages, who aren't - for one reason or another - satisfied with what's going on at QPR at the moment, but I can reassure all Rangers fans that we are putting the building blocks in place to move things in the right direction for the future," he told the club's official website.

"We've made a number of mistakes in the transfer market over the last few years and it's something we want to change.

"We don't want to be a buying club - we want to nurture young talent and build a young, ambitious team."

QPR, who currently sit 19th in the Premier League table, will host Southampton on Saturday looking to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.