Road. After a goalless draw at Preston and a rare victory away to Charlton, Harford left the club later in the month and was replaced by Luigi De Canio. His first game in charge was a 2–0 victory against Hull City. Signs of recovery Following the arrival of De Canio, Rangers endured defeats at the hands of Coventry, Stoke, Blackpool and Crystal Palace before a brief run of four games without defeat in mid-December indicated signs of a recovery. On 11 December 2007 QPR were drawn away from home at Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup, a tie due to be played on 5 January 2008. The fixture would be the first competitive West London derby between the two sides since 1996. The Christmas and New Year period was largely successful for the club with Rangers bouncing back from a defeat at Plymouth on Boxing Day and picking up wins away from home at second-placed Watford (4–2) and at Loftus Road against fellow strugglers Leicester (3–1). Investment Shortly prior to the traditional Christmas fixture period on 20 December 2007 it was announced that the family of Lakshmi Mittal had purchased a 20 per cent shareholding in the club. As part of the investment Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law took a place on the board of directors. Continuing the theme of previous seasons a number of loan signings featured for the club including Gavin Mahon, Ákos Buzsáky and Rowan Vine. The investment potential of the club's new backers resulted in a number of speculative storylines in the football press throughout the season, including rumoured signings of former World Player of the Year winners Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane, the latter as a possible manager. New recruits Rangers signed several players during the January transfer window: Ákos Buzsáky who had previously been on loan from Plymouth Argyle, Hogan Ephraim from West Ham, Kieran Lee on loan from Manchester United, Gavin Mahon on loan from Watford, Matthew Connolly from Arsenal, Patrick Agyemang from Preston and Fitz Hall from Wigan. Early in January QPR also managed to secure striker Rowan Vine in a permanent move following his brief loan spell which had ended in December. January onwards Around 6,000 Rangers fans made the short trip to Stamford Bridge on the first weekend in January to see QPR put up a determined effort against their Premier League neighbours Chelsea in the FA Cup third