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Guardian/Dominic Fifield - Chelsea v QPR, FA Cup third round
Seconds out for the world's richest derby
QPR meet Chelsea with a wealth and ambition that masks three years of hell
Stamford Bridge hosts the richest club in English football this afternoon, a club whose fans plan to brandish £20 notes and gloat at their relatively impoverished opposition. The club is not Chelsea. Queens Park Rangers, from the wrong end of the Championship, travel the short distance across town to resume a local rivalry that has simmered without engagement for 12 years. These two teams have spent most of that time moving in opposite directions, yet many among the swaths sporting blue and white hoops in the away end will hope for not just an FA Cup giant-killing but perhaps a glimpse of the shape of things to come.
West London is experiencing a second footballing revolution. Roman Abramovich may have shifted the landscape of the Premier League by pouring millions into Chelsea, establishing glamorous underachievers as a real force among the elite, but the wealth boasted by the QPR owners sitting in the directors' box dwarfs the Russian's considerable fortune. Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, the formula one magnates who purchased a club struggling at the foot of the second tier in September for £1m and guaranteed debts of £13m, last month sold a 20% stake in Rangers to Lakshmi Mittal, the world's fifth richest man.
The Indian steel magnate is worth an estimated £19bn. Two years before Abramovich splashed £30m on Andriy Shevchenko Mittal lavished the same amount on his daughter Vanisha's wedding. Some £4m was spent on flowers.
The numbers, presumably like the table decorations, are staggering when Ecclestone's £2.5bn worth is added to Mittal's and compared with Abramovich's £10.8bn-odd. Briatore is valued at a mere £110m and recently admitted he had been seeking to buy a "high end pizzeria or maybe a churrascaria" when he stumbled upon QPR, thinking initially it was a barbecue restaurant. Yet the mind-boggling story slips snugly into the recent history of this club.
Rangers used to be as unassuming as Chelsea were flash. In the years since Simon Barker equalised John Spencer's goal to earn Ray Wilkins' side a point on their last visit to Stamford Bridge, the drama which has enveloped this pocket of Shepherds Bush would have been considered too outlandish for a failing soap opera.
There have been two relegations and a promotion in that time, as well as seven managerial appointments, but that tells only a fraction of the story. There were the allegations of boardroom gun plots, the 30-man brawl with the visiting China Olympic team, a player accused of rape, the murder of a bright youth team hope and, most recently, the death of a hugely promising striker, all played out in the shadow of administration. Any putative "Westenders" would need a broadcast slot after the watershed.
"It's been a long tunnel and there was never any light at the end of it, until now," said the midfielder Gareth Ainsworth. "To go from those dark days to this is unbelievable. Chelsea in the FA Cup is suddenly a game between potentially two of the biggest clubs in the world."
Ainsworth is this team's longest-serving player, having joined from Cardiff in 2003, and he has since witnessed the best and worst of the club. QPR, then in League One, had already suffered one spell in administration with the stop-gap loan negotiated with ABC Corp - at an eye-watering 11.59% interest - stunting the board's attempts to recover fully. The chairman, Gianni Paladini, did well to stave off the administrators. "We were promoted at Sheffield Wednesday four years ago but none of us knew whether we'd be paid the next week," said Ainsworth. "Mr Paladini deserves credit for keeping us going but the threat of administration was always there. When we heard about Mr Ecclestone and Mr Briatore we thought it might be another false dawn. Then again, that's understandable as we've had our fair share of things going wrong."
The ugly scrap with the Chinese during a friendly at the club's Harlington training complex - the visiting player Zheng Tao was knocked unconscious and had his jaw broken in two places - was embarrassing, though other traumas were more unsettling. Paladini was allegedly held up at gunpoint after being ambushed by a fellow director, David Morris, in the boardroom in August 2005. Morris and six other men were later cleared but the scandal was pursued by tragedy.
The stabbing of the youth-team player Kiyan Prince, who had intervened to prevent the bullying of another boy outside his school in Edgware, sent shockwaves through the club. Six months later Tu Quang Hoang Vu, a Vietnamese student, died at Earl's Court tube station after falling under a train. It was claimed at the time that Harry Smart, a 17-year-old QPR youth-team player, had been on a friend's shoulders and fell, knocking the bystander on to the track. Police later deemed the incident to have been an accident but Smart himself was badly hurt.
"At times it was practically unmanageable," admitted the former head of youth, Joe Gallen. "A combination of the China brawl, the Harry Smart incident and the stabbing of Kiyan meant I was dealing with police every day. There was a stage where the police did not leave the building for about three weeks and all I seemed to be doing was giving statements, making sure the players weren't getting into further trouble and arranging solicitors to represent them. I wondered at times whether I was still a coach and not working in a young offenders' institute or a police station."
Then, last August, the 18-year-old forward Ray Jones was killed in a road accident after his VW Golf collided with a double-decker bus in East Ham. Two other teenage passengers in the car also died. Jones's death demoralised a threadbare squad, perhaps contributing to a dismal start which saw John Gregory's side take three points from their opening eight games. "What happened to Ray was devastating," said Ainsworth. "Losing a friend like that put football into perspective: his locker's still downstairs and we still think about him all the time. But Ray will be looking down on us and he'll be really pleased by what's happening now at QPR. We've come out of the dark days and there's a massive aim for all of us now."
This afternoon it is Chelsea although, ultimately, the aim is a return to the Premier League. Briatore and Ecclestone have been hugely enthusiastic - the latter was in the dressing room after the New Year's Day victory over Leicester - but utterly realistic in their expectations since assuming control. "We were going to buy Chelsea, then Roman came along," admitted Ecclestone recently. "But there's no point buying Ferrari. The only way is down. At QPR we're in Formula Renault. Next we want to move up to GP2 and then GP1."
That is putting this sport into a context the 77-year-old perhaps better comprehends, though already huge strides are being made. The former Udinese and Napoli manager Luigi de Canio took over in October. The Italian speaks little English and is still coming to terms with the Championship, but he signed seven new players of genuine pedigree at this level last week with others to follow.
"I took a step back to join this club and, hopefully, realise the dream," said De Canio. "The owners told me it was about laying foundations that can be built on in the future. There is a very long road ahead. They are excellent entrepreneurs and they know how to invest their money and take this team to the level they are aiming for. It is nice to be starting out on this journey with everyone here but I'm not equipped to perform miracles: Chelsea may be suffering in terms of numbers at the moment but they are still a team of champions and we are a Championship team."
They are an improving side with De Canio having hoisted them to 18th place, three points from the cut-off, with one defeat in seven. Watford, the division's leaders, were beaten 4-2 at Vicar- age Road last week and the arrivals of youngsters such as West Ham's Hogan Ephraim and Matthew Connolly from Ars- enal, allied to the experience recruited in Watford's Gavin Mahon, Fitz Hall from Wigan and Patrick Agyemang from Preston, bodes well. All will revel in the creative supply-line offered by Akos Buzsacky, who completed a £500,000 move from Plymouth this week having scored six fine goals in a 13-match loan. The Hungarian played alongside Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira, and under Jose Mourinho, at Porto. He is a player who could grace the top flight.
"There is a real sense of optimism that we are growing and going forward, and I wanted to be part of a big club," said Buzsacky. "When I arrived we were bottom of the league but everyone knew things were going to change. We've improved since but the investors here are not thinking about instant success. They first want us to maintain our league position and stabilise, then move forward. If that is to the Premiership, so be it. If it is further, great."
"Mr Ecclestone and Mr Briatore have told us in no uncertain terms that the Premier League's where QPR have got to be within two or three years," added Ainsworth. "They're winners. We've got to be winners with them. They've invested emotionally as well as financially in this club, so we know what's expected of us. The fans deserve this game at Chelsea. They've put up with some really bad days and it must have been like a scene out of The Football Factory in some pubs when the draw was made."
Rangers have had very little to crow about while their local rivals have been propelled by Abramovich's millions to the pinnacle of the Premiership yet, with the backing this club now boasts, there is hope that they can be caught. "At the moment the chance of QPR being bigger than Chelsea out on the pitch is still a dream," added De Canio. "But there is no law against having dreams." Too much of this club's recent past has been a nightmare. Better times lie ahead.
Troubled times and takeovers
July 2004
Terrell Forbes, with five other men, is accused of rape. After a lengthy trial, he is cleared at Kingston Crown Court
August 2005
The chairman, Gianni Paladini, alleges he was held at gunpoint by his fellow director David Morris and ordered to sign documents that would see him relinquish the club. At the trial, Morris and six other men were cleared
May 2006
The promising youth player Kiyan Prince is stabbed to death outside his school in Edgware
November 2006
Tu Quang Hoang Vu, a 25-year-old Vietnamese student, dies at Earl's Court station after falling under a Piccadilly Line train. It was claimed that the QPR youth player Harry Smart fell, knocking Hoang Vu with him on to the track. Smart was badly hurt but police later said the incident was accidental
February 2007
Rangers' reserves are involved in a 30-man brawl with the Chinese Olympic team. Rangers are fined £40,000
August 2007
The striker Ray Jones is killed in a road accident in the early hours of Saturday, August 25 in East Ham
September 2007
Formula one magnates Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone complete their £14m takeover at Loftus Road
December 2007
Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian steel magnate worth some £19bn, buys a 20% stake in the club
December 2007
Bob Malcolm, the Derby defender on loan at Loftus Road, is charged by police with drink-driving - Guardian
The Independent- Luigi de Canio: The other Italian job
His appointment generated less fanfare than Fabio Capello's, but Luigi de Canio is already quietly making a difference. As his QPR side prepare to take on FA Cup holders Chelsea today, the Italian talked to Paul Newman about the benefits to be gained by linking two great footballing cultures
It is the day before Luigi de Canio's toughest assignment yet, an away match against Watford, one of the Championship's pace-setters. With an interpreter at his side, the Italian coach is out on the training ground at Harlington with his Queen's Park Rangers squad. The second half of the session is devoted to a single exercise, as player A begins a run from deep, accelerates through an imaginary opposition defence, in a passing move involving players B and C, and finishes it with an angled shot into the net from about 10 yards.
Twenty-four hours later and Rangers have already shocked Watford by taking an early two-goal lead when Martin Rowlands (player A) begins a run from deep. The Rangers midfielder accelerates through the middle of the Watford defence as a passing move involving Adam Bolder (player B) and Dexter Blackstock (player C) ends with the latter finding Rowlands, who finishes it with an angled shot into the net from about 10 yards. No wonder there is a smile on De Canio's face.
The 50-year-old coach has been in charge for only two months following his appointment as John Gregory's successor, but the early signs are encouraging. While even the most ardent Rangers fan will prepare for today's visit to Chelsea in hope rather than expectation of FA Cup glory, De Canio has already started to turn around the club's fortunes. Last weekend's 4-2 trouncing of Watford was followed by a 3-1 victory on New Year's Day over Leicester City, as Rangers continued to pull away from the bottom of the table. They have lost only once in their last seven matches, when Plymouth Argyle scored a controversial winner deep into injury time at Home Park on Boxing Day.
The club's faith in De Canio has been underlined during the January transfer window. Backed by their owners' huge personal fortune – the Indian steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal, who is rated the world's fifth richest person, recently joined the Formula One moguls Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone in taking a stake in the club – Rangers signed seven players in the first four days of this month, recruiting Patrick Agyemang (Preston), Matthew Connolly (Arsenal), Akos Buzsaky (Plymouth), Hogan Ephraim (West Ham), Fitz Hall (Wigan), Gavin Mahon (Watford, loan deal) and Kieran Lee (Manchester United, loan deal).
Negotiations were underway yesterday to complete the signings of Stefan Postma (Den Haag), Rowan Vine (Birmingham), and Sebastian Rusculleda (Tigre, Argentina).
Observers had been expecting a big influx of Italian players, but the club's recruitment suggests a more balanced policy. "I do believe that a team needs a base of players from the host nation," De Canio said, talking through his interpreter. "There has to be an English soul. After that there might be one or two Italians – or Brazilians, or anyone else for that matter."
While English voices will continue to dominate on the pitch at Loftus Road, Italian will be the language of the boot room. Like Fabio Capello, who will move into his new office a few miles up the road at Soho Square next week, De Canio has brought his coaching team with him.
It was Silvio Berlusconi, the country's former prime minister, who said how proud every Italian was of Capello's appointment as England manager, but De Canio was quick to add a rider. "I'm proud and happy for Capello as well, but I should also say that I'm very proud and happy for myself, as the first Italian coach to work here having actually managed an Italian club," he said.
His opponents today might have something to say about that, having seen Claudio Ranieri at the helm for the best part of four seasons. De Canio added: "You can't really consider Gianluca Vialli because he'd never actually managed in Italy before he took over Chelsea. I consider myself the first Italian to be appointed an English manager." To say De Canio is steeped in Italian football would be like pointing out that spaghetti is made of pasta. His playing career did not amount to much – the highlight was one season in Serie B with Matera, his hometown club – but since 1989 he has rarely been out of work as a coach.
Having made a name for himself with a number of clubs in the lower divisions, his achievement in taking Pescara to the brink of Serie A persuaded Udinese to appoint him coach in 1999.
After initial success – Udinese briefly led Serie A, qualified for the Intertoto Cup and went on to play in the Uefa Cup – a run of bad results led to his dismissal two years later. De Canio has since worked at Napoli, where he narrowly failed to win promotion from Serie B, and at Genoa, where he had the tough task of succeeding Roberto Donadoni, but arguably his greatest successes have been in keeping some of Serie A's lesser lights in the top flight. His most recent job in his home country saw him preserve Siena's status two seasons in a row.
What did he regard as the high points of his career? "As far as national and international recognition is concerned, getting to the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup with Udinese and being top of Serie A for a month were probably the most important moments. But keeping Reggina and Siena in Serie A, when everyone thought they would be relegated, keeping Genoa up after Roberto Donadoni left and everyone expected them to go down, and even the fifth place in Serie B with Napoli, when the club had great financial problems, gave me just as much pride."
De Canio was immediately attracted by the chance to work in England when he was approached in the autumn. Briatore made the initial contact before another Italian, Gianni Paladini, the club chairman, negotiated a contract until the summer of 2010.
"I know they contacted other Italian coaches as well," De Canio said. "I think they felt that the mix of an English squad of players and Italian coaching techniques would be a good one. Rather than recruit Italian players and have them work under an English coach, they decided to do things the other way round. The new owners had a few contacts with Italy and they knew me and what I had achieved there.
"I was very happy to come. I looked forward to the chance of acquainting myself better with England and English culture, as well as getting to know England from a football point of view. I knew Queen's Park Rangers were a club with a lot of history, that they'd had an Italian chairman for a couple of years and were based near the middle of London. I was also aware of the rivalry with Chelsea.
"I've watched a lot of English football over the years. There's always been good contact between English and Italian football, and English clubs have also been regularly involved at the sharp end of European football. And because of Sky arriving in Italy, English football is almost as popular there as our own. Nearly all the English matches are televised in Italy on Sky."
Since his arrival De Canio has been pleasantly surprised by the technical ability of players here. "At the top levels in Britain I think the standards generally are very high, perhaps even better than in other countries," he said. "In Latin countries players might have more 'fantasy' and the coaches might have a slightly more flexible approach, both technically and tactically, but I think bringing together Italian and English football cultures can be a winning mix.
"I hope I can bring a bit more variety from a tactical point of view and I think I can help the players to gain a wider technical knowledge of the game. We've changed the training, so that the players spend more time with the ball, which is, after all, the major part of a footballer's equipment. It's important for us to try to repeat on the training ground the sort of situations that we might be expected to encounter in a game."
If there has been one major frustration it has been the lack of time to prepare the players. Starting with his first match against Hull City early in November, De Canio's team will have played 15 matches in 64 days by the time they leave Stamford Bridge tonight.
Not that the Italian is complaining about working over the festive period. "Until a few years ago in Italy we always kept training all the way through Christmas," he said. "Although there weren't any games, there were only a few days off. We'd use that period to recover and work on a few things in training.
"I do think there are too many matches here at this time of the year. The players risk injury because they play so often and they struggle to show their best football on the pitch because they're playing so much. I think it penalises both the players and the public who come to watch them."
De Canio said that he was generally satisfied with his work so far, but when asked whether Rangers were playing in the style he would like he shook his head. "We're still quite a long way off, mainly because we don't have the chance to train as much as we would like because of the sheer number of matches at the moment. The match schedule prevents us from following a training programme with any sort of continuity."
The Italian's own education has also suffered some interruptions of late. "I've been having English lessons but they had to stop for a couple of days because Capello took my teacher away," he said. "At the moment the only problem I have with the language is being unable to talk fluently with the media. Day by day,working with the players, they are starting to understand me, and my English is improving."
What did De Canio make of Capello? "My teams played his a few times in Italy, but I always lost. He's always coached the big clubs, so he's very accustomed to managing the big players. He knows how to do the job. I'm sure he will do well with England."
Was there any advice he would pass on to his fellow countryman? "I don't think I could help him, because managing a national squad is different to managing a club team, anywhere in the world. He wouldn't face the sort of problems that I have."
One of those problems could be managing the weight of expectation at Loftus Road, after Mittal joined forces with Briatore and Ecclestone.
Briatore has been the most visible of the new regime – an Italian multi-millionaire tends to stand out on a wintry December afternoon at Scunthorpe – but there can be no doubting the seriousness of all three investors.
De Canio insisted that they would be spending their money sensibly. "These are successful and rich men because they've always handled their finances well," he said. "Just because we have the potential to spend a lot of money doesn't mean that we will necessarily do that. We're following a carefully planned project in which we must get the balance right between investment, footballing success and technical results.
"It will obviously require a bit of time, and we need to grow step by step. If we don't build the foundations properly we might still get to the top, but eventually it will all collapse. If we can create solid foundations, and we then reach the top, we will have a much better chance of staying there." De Canio was happy to admit that his role in recruiting players would be limited. "Not being too well acquainted with English football I obviously have to rely a lot on other people," he said. "I've not been responsible for signing players before – it doesn't work that way in Italy. The directors decide on the transfers, though they might seek the coach's opinions.
"I've seen how the manager has a much bigger say in transfers in this country. That's one area where I think English football is better developed than Italian football. It makes sense for the person who's in charge of the players to have a major say in decisions about the squad."
Climbing up the Championship table has clearly been De Canio's first priority, but he raised his eyebrows at the suggestion that today's match might be an unwelcome diversion from the serious business of winning league points. "It's certainly not a distraction," he said. "I've seen already how important the match is to the club and to our supporters.
"In Italy we've always followed the FA Cup closely because it was always clear how important it was in English football. We always ask ourselves: 'How come the FA Cup is almost more important than the Premiership itself, when we attach so little to our own cup competition?' This is my chance to find out."
From the Bald Eagle to the Tinkerman: A brief history of Italian coaches in England
* ATTILIO LOMBARDO
(Crystal Palace 1997-99)The Bald Eagle made immediate impact as a player, scoring on his debut, in a win at Everton. Became a huge fans' favourite, but his spell as joint caretaker-manager with Tomas Brolin was disastrous. He remained with the Eagles despite relegation, before the club's financial struggles forced his sale to Lazio. Voted into the club's Centenary XI, despite making just 49 appearances.
* GIANLUCA VIALLI
(Chelsea 1998-2000, Watford 2001-2002) Arrived at Stamford Bridge as part of Ruud Gullit's Chelsea revolution, taking over as player-manager when the Dutchman was sacked. Led Chelsea to five trophies in less than three years but was fired himself four months after winning the FA Cup. Dismal spell at Watford, followed by a bitter pay dispute after his dismissal. Now working in the media in Italy, and pursuing coaching qualifications in England.
* CLAUDIO RANIERI
(Chelsea 2000-2004) The Tinkerman arrived with little English but much enthusiasm. Led Blues to runners-up slot and semi-finals of Champions League but was "dead man walking" long before owner Roman Abramovich replaced him with Jose Mourinho. Now coaching Juventus.
Chelsea £10.8bn, QPR £21.8bn: Why Abramovich is overshadowed today
Chelsea
* ROMAN ABRAMOVICH: Russian oil billionaire, orphaned at three; began selling plastics on a market stall. Spent £500m-plus on Chelsea, £155m on his divorce. Estimated worth: £10.8bn
Queen's Park Rangers
* LAKSHMI MITTAL: India-born steel magnate; describes himself as a 'son of the desert', but followed his father into the business. Spent £30m on his daughter's wedding. Estimated worth: £19.25bn
* BERNIE ECCLESTONE: Son of a Suffolk trawler captain, he made his fortune selling TV rights and spin-offs to F1. Estimated worth: £2.25bn
* FLAVIO BRIATORE: Former ski instructor who was sentenced to jail for fraud early in business career. Made his fortune through Benetton clothing then moved into F1. Has had a string of supermodel girlfriends. Estimated worth: £80m
Independent
THE TIMES Nouveau riche Rangers urged to go easy on poor relations -Matt Hughes
Queens Park Rangers travel to Stamford Bridge for their FA Cup third-round tie today having surpassed Chelsea as the richest club in world football and keen to let Roman Abramovich know what it feels like to be the poor neighbour. However, Paul Finney, of the QPR supporters group, Independent R’s, has given warning to fans who were intending to wave £20 notes at their Chelsea counterparts that they have yet to earn the right to gloat.
“We’ve always been morally better than Chelsea, but we should wait until we are above them in the league before we do that,” Finney said. “It might only be a couple of years before that happens, so let’s save it up for when we give them a thrashing in the Premier League.”
Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, is well placed to tell Luigi De Canio, his opposite number at QPR, how to deal with a billionaire backer. The combined fortunes of Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, the Coca-Cola Championship club’s owners, far outweigh that of Abramovich, giving QPR a competitive advantage over their Championship rivals that could result in the return of this West London derby as a regular fixture.
The thrust of Grant’s advice to De Canio is to treat his employers as normal human beings and concentrate on his areas of responsibility. In keeping with his penchant for charming the rich and famous, Grant is also close to Ecclestone and Briatore and is sympathetic towards QPR’s bid to keep up with their neighbours.
"I know Bernie and the other guy and I wish them all the best. If QPR become a big club and there’s another derby, then fine,” Grant said. “Just do your job. It doesn’t matter [how rich they are]. We’re managers and we need to do our best for the team. We need to know the vision and targets for the club and then to do it on and off the pitch in the right way. Owners, like everyone else, are human, not monsters.”
While Grant is waiting to complete the signings of Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic, De Canio has embarked on a spending spree reminiscent of Abramovich’s first summer in charge of Chelsea in 2003. Fitz Hall became the seventh player to arrive at Loftus Road in the past four days yesterday when he completed a £1 million move from Wigan Athletic and more will follow, with Rowan Vine, the Birmingham City striker, Stefan Postma, the Den Haag and former Aston Villa goalkeeper, and Sebastián Rusculleda, of Tigre, the Argentine club, expected to sign in the next few days.
De Canio’s team have won four of their past six matches to climb away from the relegation zone and Grant is expecting a difficult afternoon. “They have bought a lot of players in the last few days and they have won a lot of games,” he said. “They will be difficult opponents.”
Grant had little to report on the proposed signings of Anelka and Ivanovic that are expected next week, though one mischievous soul at the club’s training ground yesterday saw fit to write the name of Anelka, the France and Bolton Wanderers striker, in the visitors’ book. “[Dimitar] Berbatov and Kaká were also in there [in the book],” Grant said. “Maybe Anelka’s here, I don’t know. We’re following many players, but not just thinking about the next two months or four months. We’re thinking about the next few years, and maybe beyond. I’ll always look for players who can make the team better.”
West London spending sprees
Chelsea stunned football by spending £110 million on ten players in six weeks five years ago, but Queens Park Rangers are doing their best to catch their neighbours.
Here are QPR’s first signings of their new era . . . Kieran Lee, Man United, loan; Gavin Mahon, Watford, loan; Akos Buzsaky, Plymouth, £500,000; Hogan Ephraim, West Ham, £800,000; Matthew Connolly, Arsenal, undisclosed; Patrick Agyemang, Preston, £350,000; Fitz Hall, Wigan Athletic, £1m
. . . and this is how they compare to Chelsea’s first seven signings Glen Johnson, West Ham, £6m; Gérémi, Real Madrid, £7m; Damien Duff, Blackburn, £17m; Wayne Bridge, Southampton, £7m; Juan Sébastian Verón, Manchester United, £15m; Joe Cole, West Ham, £6.6m; Adrian Mutu, Parma, £15.8m - The Times
Telegraph/Sarah Edworthy - QPR and Chelsea billionaires at the Bridge
Bernie Ecclestone is a familiar figure in the directors' box at Stamford Bridge, just as Roman Abramovich had clocked up a number of Formula One grid walkabouts.
Today Ecclestone is again a guest of his Russian friend, along with QPR co-owner Flavio Briatore and investor Lakshmi Mittal.
Their attendance not only renders the Chelsea box with Guinness Book of Records potential — the highest density of millions per man per square foot — but also marks a new era in sporting rivalry: the battle of the billionaires.
Chelsea have enjoyed a glorious renaissance under Abramovich. Now it is the turn of their former West London rivals to relive glory days.
A measure of the excitement engendered by the investment of Ecclestone, Briatore and Mittal is that long-suffering QPR fans are already referring to new signing Akos Buzsaky (the Hungarian international) as 'the new Stan Bowles'.
"Excitement is the key word after the uncertainty of years of administration and lack of money," acknowledges Gareth Ainsworth, the much-travelled midfielder now in his fifth season at Loftus Road.
"I joined QPR just after the club had missed out on the First Division play-offs in 2003. Administration hung over us and we used to worry. Were we going to get paid? Were we not going to get paid? I was part of the team that got promotion to the Championship at Sheffield Wednesday. It was probably one of the club's greatest hours in recent years and yet we still had the financial issue hanging over us.
"Suddenly, now, to have some of the richest men and best business brains invest in the footballing future of the club has removed the worries. It's just total excitement in the dressing room. The new owners are winners. Their target is to get to the Premier League. The expectation is massive and it's great to be a part of that. It's buzzing."
As they have proved in Formula One, Ecclestone and Briatore are hands-on with their sporting interests. "Mr Briatore came in, introduced himself to us all and said, 'Lads, this club is going to go to the Premier League.' When you see what he's done in Formula One – creating world champions in probably the biggest sport in the world – to have him backing you is fantastic,'' added Ainsworth.
"They're in the dressing room before a match. Mr Ecclestone was in before the Leicester game last Saturday, just to make the lads aware that they are behind us."
As the new manager, Luigi de Canio, says, it is "a long, long road" for the club to go from 18th in the Championship to considering themselves equals to Chelsea.
Today's FA Cup third-round tie is more of an emotional symbol of their prospective renaissance than a marker in footballing terms.
"It's a welcome distraction from the league," Ainsworth said. "Our aim is to get to the Premier League. The FA Cup has never been mentioned. This game is fairytale time for us and our fans."
De Canio has added a catalogue of new players in the January transfer window: Hogan Ephraim from West Ham, Arsenal's £1million defender Matt Connolly, Manchester United loanee Kieran Lee, Watford's Gavin Mahon, Preston striker Patrick Agyemang, Buzsaky and Fitz Hall from Wigan.
"The new manager has power. If you're not doing it for him, he can bring in new players. It's good, it's creating competition for places."
Ainsworth says the gelling process is not a concern, though he admits De Canio's arrival was not an instant assimilation.
"The transition period took longer than anyone expected. The language thing is a big issue. The England set-up will find this out – though that's a bit more part-time. But we've got to know Gigi better and he's got to know us better. Telegraph
DAILY MAIL/Matt Barlow
'Paupers' Chelsea to host the jet set as QPR make the short trip to Stamford Bridge
Bernie Ecclestone tapped a friend on the shoulder after QPR had lost at home to Crystal Palace and demanded to know the identity of the loud man across the room.
More to the point, he wanted to know what he was doing in his boardroom.
Whether it was Ecclestone's mischievous sense of humour or blissful ignorance of Palace chairman Simon Jordan is open to question. Either way, the Formula One supremo seems to be settling into his new environment.
Today, he will be a guest of Roman Abramovich in the Chelsea boardroom, alongside his fellow recent investors at Loftus Road.
The combined wealth of Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore shot Rangers towards the top of football's rich list when they joined the club in September.
But the introduction of Lakshmi Mittal last month gives them a potential pool of resources greater than Abramovich, who has spent more than £500million on Chelsea in less than five years.
Mittal is Britain's richest man, the fifth wealthiest in the world, with an estimated £19.25billion.
The excitement is hard to disguise after years of gloom on the pitch and drama behind the scenes.
A gangster power struggle hit the boardroom in August 2005 when chairman Gianni Paladini was allegedly held at gunpoint and ordered to sign letters of resignation during a game against Sheffield United.
Less than a year later the club suffered the loss of Kiyan Prince, a promising 15-year-old who was stabbed to death.
When it seemed the club could take no more, tragedy struck again in August last year when striker Ray Jones, 18, was killed in a car crash.
"Football meant nothing in the days after Ray had gone," said winger Gareth Ainsworth, who joined the club from Cardiff in 2003 and has seen the soap opera unfold.
"His locker is still at the training ground and there are pictures of him. We think about him all the time. In a way, Ray will be looking down now on us and he'll be really pleased the way it's going at QPR."
Ainsworth, 34, remembers when a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday clinched promotion to the Championship but the players left the pitch unsure whether they would be paid their wages, never mind their bonus, as the threat of administration loomed.
"We've come full circle," said Ainsworth. "We've got Chelsea in the Cup and it's potentially the two biggest clubs in the world playing each other. It's amazing." Mail
MIRROR - AINSWORTH: LAST TIME I PLAYED THERE IT ENDED IN A 16-MAN BRAWL
THE FA CUP e-on CHELSEA v QPR, STAMFORD BRIDGE, TODAY, KICK-OFF 3PM My battle of the Bridge John Cross 05/01/2008
Gareth Ainsworth has colourful memories of Stamford Bridge and one of the most notorious tunnel bust-ups ever.
The Queens Park Rangers midfielder was a member of Wimbledon's Crazy Gang when they were involved in a 16-man brawl at Chelsea in February 2000.
It left former Wimbledon boss Egil Olsen with a pair of broken glasses and ex-assistant manager Mick Harford taking on the world as the Crazy Gang lived up to their reputation.
But even that mad day cannot compare to the soap opera which 34-year-old Ainsworth has observed at Loftus Road in the past five years since he joined QPR.
Rangers have lurched from one financial crisis to another, chairman Gianni Paladini was famously threatened at gunpoint in the boardroom, and then there was the training-match bust-up with the Chinese Olympic team last season.
But now Ainsworth is seeing light at the end of the tunnel after Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal took over the club in a £14million buy-out.
Ainsworth (below) was injured and did not play when Wimbledon went down 3-1 at Stamford Bridge in 2000 and, he insists, a spectator of the tunnel bout. He said: "I played with the Crazy Gang in 1998, against Frank Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly.
"Things have changed, though not that much - they've still got World Cup winners in their side - but I'll be getting every lad up for it just as we did 10 years ago.
"There was also that little incident at the end where we accidentally went into the home dressing room at the end and had a few words.
"But those days have gone. I'm one of the older, more experienced guys. I'll just be trying to win the battle on the pitch.
"We'll give a good account of ourselves and we'll be up for it. Our fans deserve this. They've put up with some really bad days at QPR.
"It must have been like a scene out of The Football Factory in some pubs when the draw was made.
"It's a real rivalry. The money adds spice, but we're only thinking about getting a good result."
Ainsworth - lead singer of his own rock band Dog Chewed The Handle - is now relishing the better times under the club's new owners.
And the midfielder aims to make the most of a rare FA Cup adventure under new boss Luigi De Canio.
Ainsworth added: "I've seen a complete change here - from the real dark days to the unbelievable days today.
"I remember getting promoted at Sheffield Wednesday in 2004 and still realising administration was hanging over us, with none of us knowing whether we'd be paid the next week and that we might not be getting our bonuses.
"We've come full circle since then. We've got Chelsea in the FA Cup and suddenly it's potentially two of the biggest clubs in the world playing each other.
It's amazing.
"Now, with new faces and a big game coming up, it's fantastic to be at QPR. The players were over the moon when we heard what was happening in the boardroom.
"The guys who have come in are total winners in business and in sport, so we know what's expected of us now. We want to be winners.
"They haven't just invested their money, they've invested their time and their hearts. "They've been in the dressing room before games - Bernie Ecclestone was in the dressing room before the Leicester game, and Flavio's been in the dressing room before a few games, not talking football but just shaking hands with the lads, wishing us the best and backing us.
"That's fantastic to know, that they're supporting us emotionally as well as financially.
"It's not a hollow thing. Look at them up in the stands when we score and it means as much to them as it does to us."
Qpr have not won away at Chelsea since a League Cup game in January, 1986 Mirror
MIRROR (2nd article) BOSS AVRAM: THESE FANS LOVED MOURINHO . . BUT I'M WINNING THEM OVER
THE FA CUP e-on CHELSEA v QPR, STAMFORD BRIDGE, TODAY, KICK-OFF 3PM My battle of the Bridge Martin Lipton Chief Football Writer
Avram Grant last night told the Chelsea fans still pining for Jose Mourinho that the start of his managerial reign has been a "dream" for the club.
Grant is still struggling to develop a rapport with the supporters nearly four months after replacing Mourinho at the helm.
But on the eve of the beginning of the club's defence of the FA Cup they won at Wembley in May, he pledged to bring silverware in a more eye-catching manner than his predecessor - and insisted he had surpassed all reasonable expectations.
Grant, who has an outside chance of welcoming Didier Drogba back for one game before he flies off on African Nations Cup duty, said: "When I took over the team, if I'd said we'd win 16 of our first 23 games, that would have been kind of a dream for me and the supporters.
"Our target in the next few months is to try to keep our position in the league, stay in the cups, and then the other players will come back from Africa and injury. Then, anything can happen.
"Yes, the target is to win trophies. But what's most important for me is the way to the trophy. But I want to do it in the right way.
"The way to win them is very important for me.
"What we've done up to now shows that better than anything I can say.
"Okay, so those magic words 'three points' are very important, but just as important is how we do it.
"In want us to do it through good character, good spirit, good style and a good atmosphere in the camp. Then in May you can ask me whether we've had a successful season."
Chelsea take on neighbours QPR in a battle of the west London megarich, with the Loftus Road side reaping the instant benefits of the investments from Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.
But where Mourinho's rift with Roman Abramovich became too cavernous to be healed, Grant - still without nine first-teamers - had some advice for opposite number Luigi De Canio.
"What would I say to him?" asked Grant. "Do your job. Nothing else matters.
"We need to know the vision and targets for the club, and then to do it on and off the pitch in the right way. Owners, like everyone else, are human, not monsters.
"I enjoyed working with the previous manager. I needed to do my job, he did his. I don't compare myself to other managers."
Defeat would be unthinkable for the Blues but Grant counselled against his players thinking they only have to turn up to win.
"In other sports 90 per cent of what you expect to happen, does. But in football only 60 per cent actually happens," he said. "Like fans, excited about FA Cup third round day." Mirror
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