QPR chief executive Lee Hoos has suggested that manager Mark Warburton could end up signing a new contract at the west London club.
It comes after recent reports that Warburton was about to be sacked proved to be wide of the mark.
His contract is up at the end of the season and it appears that he could be on the way out.
But Hoos told the Evening Standard: “Mark came out after someone asked directly does his contract end.
“It’s not quite that simple. There are three avenues that we could go down.
“One which would be the contract ends this summer and we shake hands and say, ‘Let’s everybody just take a step back and take a deep breath and figure out where we’re going to go’.
“Second the contract ends, and we renegotiate another contract, and we continue on, or he hits certain trigger points in the contract, in which case it is automatically renewed.”
Hoos did not give details on the nature of the clause but it is believed it would be triggered if Rangers reached the play-offs. They are currently ninth, having lost four matches in a row.
Hoos said Rangers “will have had a very good end to the season,” if the clause is triggered.
Reports emerged on Saturday night that Warburton was about to lose his job following a defeat to Fulham.
But Warburton has stayed at the helm and will be hoping Rangers’ get their play-off bid back on track at Sheffield United tonight.
However, comments made by Warburton ahead of the game at Sheffield United, where the R’s lost 1-0, suggested he could well be coming to the end of his time in charge.
West London Sport had revealed that Warburton is in fact approaching the end of his contract despite being given a new deal last year.
Many assumed that he had signed a long-term contract, but it transpires that it was simply an improved rather than extended deal.
“We’re in a results industry and speculation will come out. You can’t control that, unfortunately,” Warburton told West London Sport.
“The simple fact is that I’ve got a contract here until the end of the season. My job is to get the best out of the team.
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“I don’t want to come across as a cliche-laden football manager, but everything is committed towards getting the best out of this team over the next seven, hopefully 10 games, to take us to where we want to get to.
“That’s the focus. Then we’ll see what happens in the summer.
“The truth is that I’ve got a contract here to the end of the season and I’m hoping very much I’ve got 10 games left as QPR manager to get us to where we want to get to.
“If we have a really good season and achieve what we want to achieve then hopefully there’s an opportunity to extend that.
“Our focus is the next seven league games and hopefully the three ensuing games to get us to where we want to get to.”
Rangers’ slump comes after they had been challenging at the top end of the table for most of the season.
Injuries have hit them hard – veteran keeper Kieren Westwood was recently signed because Seny Dieng, David Marshall, Jordan Archer and Joe Walsh are all sidelined.
The loss of attacker Chris Willock for the rest of the season because of a hamstring injury has also been a heavy blow.