-
The Times/Alex Wade - February 11, 2008
QPR fans give thanks a billion times over
Throw money at Loftus Road? That’s rich, says Bernie Ecclestone (worth £2.24bn)
Bernie Ecclestone does not mince his words. “One thing’s for sure,” he says. “If we owe anything, we pay it back.”
Ecclestone, one of the wealthiest men in sport with an estimated fortune of £2.24 billion, was not referring to his family policy on monthly credit card repayments. The Formula One impresario was alluding to the debts he inherited when, along with Flavio Briatore, another of motor racing’s more colourful characters, he took over Queens Park Rangers.
Their arrival was greeted with rapture by long-suffering fans who in recent years have seen the club teeter from one calamity to another. The subsequent arrival of an even wealthier investor – Lakshmi Mittal, reputedly the world’s fifth-richest man – consolidated a new nickname for the club. With Mittal having bought 20 per cent of Briatore’s shareholding, fans were chanting “1-0 to the billionaires” when their team opened the scoring in a Coca-Cola Championship match against Barnsley last month.
But for all the excitement – even Naomi Campbell, the supermodel, has been seen in the directors’ box – QPR’s recent history is fraught. Since relegation from the top division in 1996, the club have gone into administration and been dogged by a succession of controversies. There have been off-field tragedies involving young players, the infamous “Great Brawl of China” – when a match against the China Olympic team descended into violence – and a remarkable court case in 2006 when seven men were acquitted of charges of conspiracy to blackmail, false imprisonment and handgun possession after Gianni Pala-dini, the chairman, alleged that a gun had been held to his head before a home match against Sheffield United.
But if high noon at Loftus Road seemed, at times, in danger of becoming a weekly event, QPR emerged from administration in 2002 thanks to a £10 million loan from the ABC Corporation. The benevolence of the Panama-registered company came at a price – a cool £1 million in annual interest – and, until the Formula One duo turned up, seemed set to dog any attempt to escape the lower reaches of the second tier.
Yet even as Ecclestone and Co took the reins there were murmurs of disquiet. One newspaper made much of the fact that, some two months into the new regime, the ABC loan had yet to be discharged. Ecclestone is happy to set the record straight.
“We will pay the debt when we can – at the end of June this year,” he says. “That’s when the loan matures, so that’s when we can pay it back.” Likewise, debts to Antonio Caliendo, a former director and major shareholder, reportedly owed £2 million after the takeover. “We’re finalising the balance sheet with Mr Caliendo in order that we can clarify what is owed to him,” Ecclestone says. “When this is completed he will be paid immediately.”
The settling of such obligations will be good news for QPR fans; so, too, Ecclestone’s sense of the club and their future, despite what appeared to be some rather heretical confessions. He cheerfully admits that he was “never all that interested in the domestic game” and that, if anything, QPR’s sworn rivals, Chelsea, were his team, thanks to watching matches at Stamford Bridge with Roman Abramovich.
Moreover, Ecclestone says that QPR “wasn’t on my radar” and that he initially thought that they were not even a football team. “Flavio had been telling me he was looking at buying a restaurant, so when he called me one day to talk about QPR, that’s what I thought he was talking about,” Ecclestone says. Since getting involved, however, he has been delighted by the fans’ response. “They’ve been great,” he says. “They’re incredibly loyal and passionate, a really good bunch of supporters.”
The new owners see this season as one for consolidation, with a push for promotion in 2009. The idea of moving to a new stadium is not on the agenda, although Ecclestone agrees that Loftus Road, with a capacity of fewer than 19,000, is on the small side. “But we can’t move the place so we’re looking at ways to upgrade and refurbish it,” he says. “We need to work out how we can get the maximum use out of the ground.” Money has been spent, with Akos Buzsaky, the Hungary midfield player, Matthew Connolly, the defender signed from Arsenal, Hogan Ephraim, the former West Ham United winger, and Rowan Vine, the striker recruited from Birmingham City, among several players to commit their futures to the club. Luigi De Canio, the Italian manager, has overseen a steady climb towards mid-table safety.
Ecclestone is proud to have “saved the club from going out of business” but adds cautionary words for those who think a bottomless pit of money is available. “QPR isn’t a wealthy club. It’s a club that’s owned by some wealthy people,” he says. “No one is going to be lashing out lots of money. Things need to be done correctly and that’s what we’re going to do.”
After the club’s helter-skelter existence of recent years, a strong dose of pragmatism mixed with a healthy bank balance may be what the doctor ordered. The Times
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
Monday, February 11, 2008
QPR's Financial Situation Under its New Owners: Bernie Ecclestone's Perspective
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(1621)
-
▼
February
(128)
- Ex-QPR's Stefan Moore Joins Walsall
- QPR vs Stoke...Stoke Signing....No Curtis to Hull....
- Ireland Not Playing at Loftus Road...Sinclair Join...
- Ex-QPR's Liam O'Brien Explains Why He Joined Ports...
- Clarke Carlisle's on How Alcohol Rehab Clinic Chan...
- Walton, Curtis and Clement at Hull...Portishead Fo...
- Ex-QPR Danny Murphy Returns to Ireland...AFC Wimbl...
- De Canio's QPR Plans
- Perspectives of Ainsworth, Vine and Delaney
- Former QPR, Nick Ward Extends Australian Stay
- QPR's Point at Barnsley - Additional Match Reports
- Flavior Briatore Speaks About QPR (and Other Thin...
- QPR Draw at Barnsley - Reports and Comments
- Recent QPR Loanee, Bob Malcolm Joins Motherwell.
- De Canio Settling in...Ephraim Happy to Be Here
- Deaths Announced of Two Former QPR Players - RIP
- Nick Ward Set to Sign
- Buzsaky on Joining QPR, QPR Promotion Prospects an...
- Ex-QPRs - Steffan Moore Trial...Gallen Reaches Wem...
- Fanzine Awards Voting Ends Tomorrow
- Seven Year Flashback: Ian Holloway Appointed QPR M...
- Barnsley vs QPR Preview
- QPR's Liam O'Brien Signs for Portsmouth - Official...
- QPR Hire Goalkeeping Coach
- QPR Six Months Ago and a Year Ago
- Updated QPR Odds: Relegation, Promotion and Champions
- Ex-QPR Snippets: Steffan Moore...Frank Clarke....P...
- QPR's Home Draw Against Sheffield United - Reports...
- Briatore and Ecclestone on QPR
- Andrew Howell: Two Years Ago Made the Squad Play S...
- Sheffield United vs QPR - Previews
- Snippets: Chris Kamara on QPR's Promotion Chances....
- Three Ex-QPR Birthdays: Ian Dawes, Andy Gray and J...
- QPR vs Sheffield United: United's Last Visit to Lo...
- The Allen Family - Three Generations
- Marking A Decade Since the Death of Robbie James
- QPR Fanzine Awards Nominations
- Andy Sinton Profiled and Rembers His QPR Experience
- Snippets - Mittal's QPR Involvement
- QPR's De Canio on Additional Player Loans
- Steffan Moore Returns to England...Nick Ward Set t...
- Ainsworth Still Wanted as a QPR Player and on Bein...
- Agyemang on His Scoring Streak - Best Since Rodney...
- Ex-QPR Richard Pacquette Speaks About Liverpool an...
- Ex-QPR Danny Cullip On Gillingham ...Son of QPR to...
- Loftus Road Rumoured Site for Ireland Game...Peter...
- QPR Snippets and Flashback One Year "Kinnear for G...
- Italians who have Managed in Britain
- Meanwhile, Back in Portugal...
- Flashback: 35 Years Ago Today, Stan Bowles' First ...
- QPR Stats - Agtemang among Leading Scorers...Used ...
- "Flashback" - Seven Years Since Gerry Francis Resi...
- Photos of QPR in Portugal and Gareth Ainsworth is ...
- QPR's Pre-1967 Goal Machine, Brian Bedford Profile...
- Snippets: couple of Ex-QPR Birthdays..Yet Another ...
- Snippets: A Brace of Goals for Ex-QPR Steffan Moore
- QPR's Squad Off to Portugal
- QPR's Spending on Agents Fees - Latest Report
- Snippets: Team Off to Portugal...Changing Face of ...
- League's Football Agents Report Due?...QPR's Owner...
- Snippets: Ainsworth on Burnley and Bolder...Stand-...
- Chelsea's Ben Sahar Talks about His QPR Experience
- QPR's Crash at Home to Burnley - Reports and Comments
- Tonight's Teams - QPR vs Burnley
- Connolly and Vine Happy to Have Joined QPR
- QPR-Burnley Preview II: When Played Burnley Last, ...
- Flashback: One Year ago, Lee Camp Joined on Loan.....
- Previewing Burnley's Trip to QPR - No Clarke Carlisle
- QPR's Pat Agyemang Again Makes Championship Team o...
- Football League's "Goals Report" - QPR Supporters'...
- QPR's Odds of Winning Promotion
- QPR's Southampton Win: Further Match Reports
- Snippets: Nardiello on QPR...Ex-QPR John O'Rourke ...
- QPR's Financial Situation Under its New Owners: Be...
- QPR and Pakistan's Zesh Rehman Cited in Article "W...
- Fulham's David Healy to QPR?
- QPR's Victory Over Southampton - Match Reports
- QPR Win at Southampton...Now Six Points From Playo...
- Teams: Southampton vs QPR - QPR's American goalie,...
- " Pickens Heads to England to Live Out A Dream"......
- Four QPR Goalies in the News - O'Brien, Pickens, J...
- Ex-QPR and Arsenal Defender Dominic Shimmin Joins ...
- Perspective of a Football (QPR) Message Board Reader
- Portsmouth Win Chase...Sign QPR Goalie, Liam O'Brien
- Patrick Agyemang's QPR Experience
- "De Canio's Future Safe" - Although Had Been Club ...
- Ex-Blackpool's Tony Green Recalls QPR's 1967/1968 ...
- Yet Another QPR Exit: Adam Bolder Joins Sheffield ...
- Southampton vs QPR Preview
- A Tale of Two Goalies
- Chicago Fire's American Goalie, Matt Pickens Signs...
- Another QPR Departure: Sampsa Timoska
- Ex-QPR's Richard Pacquette Makes His Dominica Inte...
- Liam O'Brien Reportedly Joins Portsmouth
- Snippets: On Switching to QPR....QPR Fanzine's Cli...
- Nostalgia: On This Day, QPR Reach Wembley...Also M...
- Flashback: QPR's China "Encounter" One Year Ago
- Plymouth Chairman on Akos Buzsaky Sale to QPR and ...
- Timoska on His Way...Mancienne on Playing But Not ...
- QPR and "The World's Richest People - The Soccer B...
-
▼
February
(128)