The Loftus Road club may be confident of luring Warnock from Crystal Palace but the manager who has become a promotion specialist will have to ready himself for a prolonged relegation wherever in London he decides to work.
QPR extend unbeaten run to eight matches against ReadingChampionship Round-up: Middlesbrough and Newcastle lead the way at top of tableAlan Pardew and Charlton Athletic go their separate waysHere at the Riverside, Warnock's prospective new charges made a bright opening before their hopes of easing their own relegation worries were quickly extinguished in the space of six minutes.
The visitors were all too easily brushed aside by Gordon Strachan's side whose own play-off aspirations are alive again thanks to two first-half penalties by Barry Robson who helped Boro dominate the crucial midfield exchanges.
Rangers tried to shoot themselves in the foot when Kaspars Gorkss appeared to punch Gary O'Neill's free kick but he was let off the hook by the referee and striker Neil Killen who thumped the ball over from six yards out in the 20th minute.
The visitors almost capitalised on their lucky escape ten minutes later when Jay Simpson surged into the penalty box but his rising shot appeared to clip the outside of Danny Coyne's near post.
Rangers were let off the hook again when Jeremie Aliadiere was allowed the time and space to pick his spot at the far post following Willo Flood's cross but the former Arsenal forward before firing wide from an inviting position.
The Frenchman was clearly keen to atone sooner rather than later and won a penalty for his side when he darted goalwards moments later only to be brought down by former Newcastle defender Peter Ramage.
Barry Robson grabbed the ball and fought off the claims of his team-mates such as Aliadiere and Leroy Lita to thump the ball straight down the middle of the goal into space vacated by Carl Ikeme in the 39th minute.
Rangers' caretaker manager Mick Harford saw his charges respond impressively and they almost equalised but Simpson had a rising shot pushed wide by Coyne.
There would be no let-off for Gorkss when he erred again as he pushed over Lita in the penalty box and was booked before Robson smashed home his second penalty of the afternoon in the 45th minute.
Substitute Adel Taarabt, on loan from Tottenham, almost halved the deficit in the 72nd minute with a sweetly-struck 20-yarder but Coyne turned his effort wide before Boro broke forward and Ikeme denied Lita.
Rangers stuck to their task and skipper Mikele Leigertwood struck a post late on as Boro sat back yet Gary O'Neil should have finished off a counter-attack but Ikeme came to his side's rescue.
Source: Telegraph
Source: Telegraph