-
Telegraph/Jeemy Wilson -Ray Wilkins fears billionaires will cost QPR
It is doubtful that Roman Abramovich has ever felt inadequate financially when entering the Chelsea boardroom. That could change tomorrow when Queens Park Rangers arrive at Stamford Bridge for an FA Cup third-round tie between what are, arguably, the two richest clubs in world football.
Abramovich's personal wealth is put at £9.35 billion, yet even his fortune falls well short of estimates for Lakshmi Mittal, the fifth-richest man in the world with £16 billion. The Mittal family have just purchased a 20 per cent stake in QPR and Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, is now a director. Also on board is Bernie Ecclestone, whose wealth is said to be £2.5 billion, while Flavio Briatore (worth around £70 million) has been pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Six players have already arrived since the January transfer window opened on Tuesday and more are certain to follow. The supporters, not surprisingly, are buoyant at the possibility of replicating the sort of success Abramovich has helped bring to Chelsea.
Yesterday, though, there were words of caution from Ray Wilkins, a former England captain with the rare distinction of having played for, coached and been sacked by both QPR and Chelsea.
"QPR is very much a family club and it would be lovely to think you could always keep that identity," said Wilkins. "But if Bernie Ecclestone and Briatore are serious in what they are doing you could lose that little bit of the heart and family atmosphere that belongs to Loftus Road.
"A lot of these guys - not so much Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore - have a lot of money but are not known in the world. The one way they can be known is to buy a football club because they will be straight on the back page of every newspaper in the country.
"But they are extremely successful businessmen and I wouldn't have thought they are going into this too lightly. They have bought Luigi de Canio from Italy as manager; he's obviously a man who knows his stuff, and the results in the last couple of weeks would bear that out."
QPR's recent run of form has included four wins and two draws in their last seven matches.
But Wilkins sees little chance of them defeating their fiercest rivals tomorrow. "You have to be a realist and go for Chelsea," he said.
"Unfortunately, the romance of the giant-killing in the Cup may have disappeared. The playing surfaces are so good that the big teams can play against you.
"You play on top of the surface now instead of running underneath it, and I think that used to give the underdog the chance because teams on the mud couldn't play."
While the financial advantages enjoyed by Premier League clubs has helped make FA Cup upsets rarer, the competition's relevance came under fresh scrutiny this week when Reading forward Dave Kitson admitted that he did not care about the FA Cup this season.
Wilkins, who scored in the 1983 final for Manchester United, understands the sentiment but disagrees.
"The FA Cup is still massively important - the final is watched by billions of people," he said. "It's a fabulous occasion to play in an FA Cup final and a lot of wonderful players have never had the opportunity to do so.
"I think Dave is probably a one-off. The FA Cup is very special and I'm sure if he were to be in the final he would realise that.,,,"
. Telegraph
Mail - Butch's words of warning to QPR boss
Ray Wilkins has warned Luigi De Canio he must learn to speak English fluently if he is to succeed as Queens Park Rangers manager.
More than two months after taking the job, De Canio still relies heavily on translator Ruben Reggiani.
Former QPR player and manager Wilkins learned Italian when he was playing for AC Milan in the Eighties and he knows De Canio cannot remain tongue-tied for much longer.
"As a coach in this country, you have to speak to the players and get your message across in English - as soon as possible," said Wilkins, who also played for Chelsea. "It is paramount that Luigi learns the language. When his English improves, he will succeed more."
Wilkins acted as an occasional translator when Claudio Ranieri was in charge of Chelsea but he admitted the situation was far from ideal.
"It is very hard to translate football chat," he said.
John Hollins, who played for both clubs, managed Chelsea and had a spell as QPR caretaker-boss, said: "It is vital Luigi learns English, even in terms of simple banter." Mail
Mail - Meet the man who gets De Canio's point across at QPR
If Queens Park Rangers achieve their dream of playing top-flight football again, it will surely be down to the millions injected by Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal - but a 22-year-old Anglo-Italian whose ambition is to row for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics is also playing an important role.
The Formula One power brokers Ecclestone and co-owner Flavio Briatore, as well as Indian steel magnate Mittal, have effectively made Rangers the world's richest club - but without translator Ruben Reggiani, their players would not be able to carry out the instructions of Italian manager Luigi De Canio.
Reggiani, who has an English mother and an Italian father, did not move from the country of his birth to England until he was 15.
With De Canio's grasp of the language still very limited, it will fall to Reggiani to relate the 50-year-old's thoughts to his players during Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie at Chelsea - even if it means giving them the hairdryer treatment.
Reggiani revealed: "De Canio is adamant that I have the same spirit as him when he is giving a team talk.
"So if he is ranting and raving, then I have to do the same. It was tough at first, because you wonder if the players will just think: 'Who the hell is this?' But it has helped me that I understand what it means to do sport at a high level."
Reggiani represented British rowing teams at the World Junior and European Championships.
Although a back problem has put the brakes on his ambitions, he hopes to be part of the British team in London in 2012. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University in exercise and health, he is studying for a Masters degree in sports science at Brunel University.
Only a gold medal would surpass the intense - albeit brief - level of fame he gained when he acted as Fabio Capello's translator for the new England manager's first press conference last month.
Reggiani was questioned in some quarters for the way he rendered the words of Capello in English and he admitted that his short time in the spotlight had been daunting.
"Doing the Capello press conference was mind-blowing," he said. "I have had to take a certain degree of criticism since but I don't think I got anything wrong.
"Capello said well done to me afterwards." Mail
Welcome to QPR REPORT - A completely unofficial and unaffiliated fan site focusing on G-d's Chosen Team, Queen's Park Rangers (QPR) FC. (Visit also QPR Report Messageboard and Follow on Twitter.) QPR Report accepts no sponsorship, advertising or financial contributions. In 2008, QPR Report was named as one of the top two blogs in the Football League
QPR Report Twitter Feed
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(1621)
-
▼
January
(182)
- Snippets...Briatore Q&A...Mancienne in England U-2...
- QPR's Brilliant England Winger, Dave Thomas - Prof...
- QPR Snippets: Bradford Extremely Unhappy..Injury U...
- Two Years Ago Today: QPR's Home Loss to Leicester ...
- QPR (Supposedly) Bid £1.5m for Preston's Simon Wha...
- Hull's Manager on Walton Loan...Says For Rest of S...
- No Ricketts to QPR
- QPR's "Discarding" of Home Grown Talent: Perspecti...
- Ricketts Signing Problems
- QPR Supposedly Make Increased Offer for Nottingham...
- QPR's League Position Compared to Year Ago....Ex-Q...
- QPR's Cardiff Defeat - Further Reports and Comments
- QPR's 3-1 Loss at Cardiff - Reports and Comments
- QPR Goalkeeper Liam O'Brien Trialing With Arsenal
- Teams for QPR vs Cardiff
- Teams for QPR vs Cardiff
- Simon Walton Joins Hull: QPR Say Till End of Febru...
- Ex-QPR John Hollins Appointed Manager of Weymouth
- The Changing Face of QPR
- Ricketts Reportedly Passes QPR Medical, Will be Si...
- Cardiff Preview "Moneybags Queens Park Rangers" Match
- And Yet Another QPR Departure: Dominic Shimmin
- Bradford and QPR Agree Fee for Jamaican Goalkeeper...
- Yet Another QPR Player Departs: Marc Nygaard
- "On This Day" Flashbacks...Arsenal Crush QPR...QPR...
- QPR Snippets: Parrett in England U-17 Squad...Curt...
- "Rangers Find Star in the Park" - QPR's Angelo Bal...
- Snippets: QPR Reportedly Bid for Kris Commons...Ro...
- No QPR in Football League Awards Shortlists
- Looking at QPR (and Newcastle's) Chances of Succes...
- Ex-QPR's Richard Pacquette Profiled
- Ex-QPR Ugo Ukah Update: Demotion Penalty Imposed o...
- Released QPR Winger Kieron St. Aimie Joins Barnet
- "To Do a QPR:" A New Expression in the Offing?.......
- QPR's Former Defender Ian Gillard Profiled and Int...
- QPR Supposedly Want Aston VIlla Goalkeeper, Thomas...
- Departures and Non-Arrivals including Nardiello to...
- Ainsworth and Bignot Proving Their Character...Ste...
- Two Italy-Experienced Managers: QPR's De Canio and...
- Alleged QPR Transfer Target Happy For Now
- Snippets: Barker Injury Update...Paying to Play at...
- QPR vs Chelsea Land Battle?
- Flashback One Year: QPR Luton Cup Exit...China Fri...
- Di Vaio to QPR This Week?
- Spurs Goalie Radek Cerny Prepared to Join QPR
- Fitz Hall Happy to Have Joined QPR
- Snippet re Di Vaio...Injury Update...Kanyuka on Le...
- QPR's Rowan Vine Makes Championship "Team of The W...
- Agent Claims QPR Want to Sign Two Spurs Players......
- Released QPR Defender Pat Kanyuka Joins Swindon
- QPR's Hall on Manager De Canio: "He's definitely t...
- QPR Interest in Genoa's Marco Di Vaio?
- QPR's "First Tentative Steps Towards World Dominat...
- Where Are They Now? Eddie Kelly, Rachid Harkouk, D...
- De Canio Warmly Profiled...Barnsley Victory: Furth...
- QPR' Win Against Barnsley: 11 Points From Playoffs...
- Teams for Today's QPR vs Barnsley Game...QPR's Ame...
- Good Short Preview For the New QPR
- Sebastian Rusculleda Claims Collapsed QPR Transfer...
- John Spencer's Barnsley Hatrick....Barnsley on QPR...
- Marcus Bignot Speaks About QPR and Millwall....Dag...
- Barnsley Preview QPR
- QPR's Vastly Changed Playing Squad
- QPR Plot to Rule The World
- QPR Release Two "Home Growns"
- QPR Have Another Defender: Hull's Delaney Signing ...
- QPR's New De Facto CEO Ali Russell Profiled and Pr...
- From Hotly-Pursued to Not-Wanted: Shabbaz Baidoo ...
- Snippets: Watch Return?....Ex-QPRs: Richard Pacque...
- Delaney Signing Day? - QPR Supposedly Beating off ...
- "Bid to Play at Loftus Road"
- Briatore's QPR Spending Plans
- Snippets: Mick Harford Luton's Manager, Warren Nei...
- QPR Transfers Continue: Bidding for Hull's Delaney...
- Ainsworth on Briatore's Renault Factory Tour and D...
- QPR Officially Announce Appointment of Ali Russell...
- Remembering Mick Leach
- Guide to QPR Websites - Updated
- Bignot Officially Joins Millwall
- Another QPR Player Linking Up With Yeovil?
- QPR's Briatore:- De Canio Remaining in Charge at QPR
- Goalie Stefan Postma Allowed to Join QPR
- Next: QPR vs Barnsley
- Steve Slade Back in Action
- Gordon Jago: Profiled and Interviewed
- Snippets: Leeds' Jermaine Beckford - QPR Lost out
- Hearts' Ali Russell Officially at QPR
- Nick Ward Revived
- Bignot Leaves QPR...But Has Not Yet Signed for Ano...
- QPR Trying Again for Spurs' Wayne Routledge
- Bignot Reportedly Signing for Millwall
- Ex-QPR: Adam Miller Makes Team of the Week...Mille...
- QPR's Mahon: Promotion Comes From More Than Just M...
- De Canio Explains Process QPR Signs Players
- Ian Holloway's Final QPR Victory
- Additional Reports of QPR's Loss to Sheffield United
- Ex-QPR Update - John Spencer Turns Down Chicago He...
- QPR vs Sheffield United - Further Reports and Comm...
- QPR Manager De Canio on His Way Out?
- QPR Lose to Sheffield United - Reports and Comments
-
▼
January
(182)