After £7 Million Deal, QPR Owners Expressing Optimism, Confidence, Caution and Patience

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UPDATE: The Times - July 4, 2008 QPR sign record £7m deal with Gulf Air Kaveh Solhekol
The sky's the limit for Queens Park Rangers after the Coca-Cola Championship club yesterday signed a record £7 million, three-year sponsorship deal with Gulf Air.
QPR will be paid £1 million next season by the Bahrain national carrier in return for displaying the Gulf Air logo on their shirts, and if they are promoted to the Barclays Premier League, they will bank about £6 million over the next two seasons. Five years ago, JD Sports paid £37,000 a year to sponsor QPR and before yesterday, Birmingham City's £500,000 deal with F&C Investments was the most lucrative in the second tier of English football.
“It is great for QPR to have a strong partnership with a strong brand,” Flavio Briatore, the QPR co-owner, who is also the managing director of the Renault Formula One team, said. “We want to consolidate the club and when we are promoted, we want to stay up.”
QPR were in the relegation zone when Briatore bought the club last November with Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, two of the richest men in the UK. Briatore has changed the club's crest, appointed Iain Dowie as the first-team coach and promised supporters that they will be in the Premier League by 2010. Off the pitch, improvements are being made to Loftus Road, their home since 1917, and four months ago the club signed a £20 million, five-year kit deal with Lotto, the Italian manufacturer.
Last month, Abbey, the high street bank, signed a deal to become the club's official financial partner. “Money does not buy success,” Briatore said. “We have to remember where we came from. Before we arrived the club was in a lot of trouble.”
Briatore dismissed reports that Dowie was under pressure and would be dismissed if the club were not promoted this season. Dowie replaced Luigi De Canio four months ago. “I have never said to the manager that you have to deliver or you are out,” Briatore said. “That is not the way I do business.” The Times


Photos from Today's Event QPR Official Site Photos


ITV - Briatore: I'm no Abramovich
Queens Park Rangers chairman Flavio Briatore today announced a lucrative sponsorship deal with Gulf Air but warned supporters he is no Roman Abramovich and that promotion to the Premier League could take up to three years to achieve.
The flamboyant Renault Formula One team boss and fellow racing magnate Bernie Ecclestone raised eyebrows when they bought the Championship outfit last September.
The takeover rescued Rangers from the brink of a financial abyss and drew inevitable comparisons with neighbours Chelsea, whose Russian billionaire owner Abramovich has spent in excess of £600million since arriving at Stamford Bridge in 2003.
Given the combined wealth of co-owners Briatore, Ecclestone and billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Rangers are arguably the richest club in world football and bookmakers rate Iain Dowie's side as favourites to win promotion this season after their steady if not spectacular recruitment drive so far this summer.
However, Briatore, 58, said: "There is no pressure to go up this season - absolutely not - because it was always a four-year programme.
"One year has passed and that wasn't easy, and this year we are looking to consolidate the club and be more consistent so it's now a three-year programme.
"Last year QPR were in a very dangerous situation.
"I believe that without us coming in the club might not have existed anymore, so people have very short memories and need to show a bit of patience."
The deal with Gulf Air will see the Bahrain-based airline company sponsor Rangers' home and away kit for the next three years with the club receiving an undisclosed fee.
It is another major boost to their coffers after a five-year multi-million pound deal with kit supplier Lotto was agreed earlier this year.
And yet despite the club's wealth, Briatore insists Rangers will not spend lavish amounts of money on players as Abramovich has done at Chelsea.
The Italian explained: "Chelsea have done fantastically and Roman has done an amazing job.
"They should be proud of what they have achieved there. However, we are a Championship club and will take a different approach."
The appointment of Dowie in May, meanwhile, left Rangers fans distinctly underwhelmed, especially after France legend Zinedine Zidane had been mooted as a potential successor to Luigi De Canio.
Dowie has been sacked by Coventry and Charlton since he left Crystal Palace under a cloud two years ago but Briatore insists the former Rangers striker does not have to win promotion this season in order to keep his job.
"Iain is very much part of our project here at QPR," said Briatore, who hopes to use his friendship with Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon to exchange and borrow players from the Spanish giants.
A move to a new stadium remains further down the line and Briatore added: "First, let us fill Loftus Road.
"If you have a small restaurant then you try and make sure all the tables are busy at night before you move on to the next restaurant." ITV


Setanta/Tom Kell - Briatore's grand plans remain-
Queens Park Rangers co-owner Flavio Briatore is convinced the club are on track to meet his ambitious target of Champions League football within the next four years.
Moneybags QPR have become the envy of The Championship since Briatore and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone took over last season, a move that prompted grand plans from the pair.
The top table of European football was targeted within four years and, having appointed Iain Dowie as their new manager this summer, Briatore is full of confidence.
“We bought the club for it to be successful and that’s important,” he said on Setanta Sports News.
“Only last year we tell everybody it’s a four-year programme for this project. Think to this time last year and we’ve done very well to survive in The Championship.
“Now we pick up the business again. We have a good foundation, a good coach, good organisation and good players.” Setanta


BBC - QPR unveil new sponsorship deal
QPR have announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Gulf Air.
Flavio Briatore, the Championship club's co-owner said "We are looking at globalisation. I want to have a recognisable brand for QPR."

QPR Holdings vice-chairman Amit Bhatia told BBC London 94.9: "What's there not to be excited about? It's a club that I believe is going places.
"The feedback that I have got from supporters has been very positive. People seem excited."
Bhatia, the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal and the steel tycoon's representative on the QPR Holdings board, added: "We have set a record number of season tickets and towards the end of last year we had record attendances.
"The gameplan was not to go out and throw money at the club because we didn't believe that was the right recipe for success.
"Our commitment is long term. We want the best for the club. Therefore we buy younger players to build the club around."
Bhatia reiterated that the ultimate aim of the club's ambitious owners is a place in the Champions League.
He said: "In life you have to set achievable goals. The first was to avoid relegation last season.
"The next step is to be promoted. Whether that comes this season or in three years is not really super important.
"Subsequent to that, does the Champions League figure? Of course it does.
"I dream just like anybody else does. Should we be competitive in the Premiership? Of course, otherwise there's no point going up there."
And Bhatia insisted that there are no plans for Rangers to leave their Loftus Road home in the near future, despite the capacity being limited to just under 19,000.
"We don't want to move," he said.
"However, if we were promoted and if the club becomes much larger and we needed a 35-40,000-seat stadium, at that point in time if we couldn't increase the capacity would we move? We'd definitely have to explore that.
"Today there is no desire to move and that's justified by the fact that we've just spent an enormous amount of money on refurbishing the stadium. If a move was imminent we wouldn't be spending the money here." BBC