Briatore Involvement With Team Matters (or Just Joking)?

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Telegraph/Stweart Jackson - Hand of Flavio Briatore evident as QPR start Championship season with a win

Queens Park Rangers opened their campaign with a scrappy 2-1 win over Barnsley, but whether the three points will ease the reported tensions between manager Iain Dowie and his hands-on millionaire chairman, only time will tell.

One thing is sure - Flavio Braitore will continue to get involved with team matters. While Dowie was dodging questions about a row with his boss last week with "I'm still here aren't I?" Braitore was down in the dressing room gently reprimanding match-winner Fitz Hall for missing a penalty.

Centre-half Hall, who was on a hat-trick having scored twice in the first half, said of the new owners: "Flavio asked me what I was doing taking the penalty. He was just having a joke...I think. I doubt I'll ever get another chance to score a hat-trick. I think it went to my head and I was already thinking about my celebration before I took it."
As unconvincing as the spot-kick was, Hall claimed he was the designated penalty taker. "I was picked last week to take them," he said, "but I think that will be the first and last time they ask me. I've been practising all week in training and didn't miss one. I must have been saving it for today."

After the fireworks - Briatore take note, your manager is not a fan of the pyrotechnics - the cheerleaders and the flag-waving air stewardesses, on-pitch matters for Rangers looked to be heading for damp squib territory for the first half an hour.

In relentless drizzle, the home defence were turned this way and that as Barnsley carved a number of openings, perhaps unfortunate that they registered only Iain Hume's first goal since his £1.2million switch from Leicester.

Having more than matched their hosts, Simon Davey's side found themselves behind before the break thanks to two goals within a minute by Hall.

First a free-kick from Emmanuel Ledesma was parried by Luke Steele, Dexter Blackstock poked the rebound against the bar and Hall was on hand to finish the job. Seconds later the centre-half found enough space at a corner to impressively hook home a volley from 12 yards. He was altogether less comfortable from the same distance in the second half, however.

There was only a cameo from the bench for Daniel Parejo, the much lauded 18-year-old loanee from real Madrid, and his chief contribution was to be on the receiving end of a nasty lunge from Barnsley left-back Peter van Homoet, for which he saw red.

Davey lamented one minute of slack defending at two set pieces that spoilt a good afternoon's work.

"We took the game to them," he said. "QPR have spent a lot of money and I felt we not only had the lion's share, we were actually the better side.

"I'm disappointed with the result but in terms of the performance, there were good things to come out of it and we'll take that and move on. We're a stronger squad than we were last season and we will be a better team."

If there was one man who was a difference between the teams it was Ledesma, a 20-year-old Argentine winger on loan from Genoa who tormented his opponents all afternoon. Rangers fans sense they have a new hero - and he could equally turn out to be a Ronaldo-esque character that opposition fans love to hate.

Quite apart from a few theatrical dives - "I've spoken to him about that," said Dowie - he has a hilarious habit of covering his face as well as his nether regions when lining up in a wall. Such antics will ensure he is a marked man.

Ledesma departed to a standing ovation five minutes from time and was mobbed by autograph hunters outside the stadium. If the rumours are true and Briatore, not Dowie, is overseeing transfers, the chairman's interference may not be such a bad thing after all. Telegraph


Mail/Graham Otway - Hall fits bill as relieved Rangers see off Barnsley

First impressions suggested a lot of money could already have been wasted backing Queens Park Rangers as the favourites to win automatic promotion this season.

Two goals in as many first half minutes from defender Fitz Hall earned new manager Iain Dowie a get out of jail free card and three points after a bright opening rightly saw Barnsley take an early lead through new boy Iain Hume.

Only five minutes in, Hall allowed Hume to latch on to Brian Howard's through ball, and finish emphatically.

The Rangers man made amends on 29 minutes by following up his own header against the bar, and then hooked a loose ball in after Barnsley could only half-clear a corner.

Barnsley pushed hard for an equaliser, but their hopes disappeared when Dutchman Marciano van Homoet was redcarded eight minutes from time for a late tackle on Daniel Parejo to ease Rangers' nerves.

First impressions, however, can be misleading. After a summer of hectic transfer activity, spending owners Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal's money, Dowie's new squad will take time to bed in.

And if Argentinian midfielder Emmanuel Ledesma can build on an impressive debut, Rangers may have found the key to unlock many defences this winter.

The 20-year-old is only on a year's loan from Serie A side Genoa, where he has yet to play a first team game, but he has a talent that could be worth millions, especially if he can cut out some of his theatrics.

'He's already a cult hero,' said Dowie. 'He's got some talent - he's one who can get bums on seats. He does have a side to him but I've talked to him about it. He does take some heavy challenges, but I think two or three games and he'll be up and running.'

And Ledesma has also fitted quickly into the Rangers dressing room. Hall added: 'He's been very good. Sometimes, when players come from other countries, you worry that they might not be able to adapt to the Championship.

'But you saw today that he got straight into it, he didn't shirk any challenges and he did well for us. He was quality today.' Dowie admitted it was not a great performance by his side, adding: ' Barnsley played well, and defensively we were too open.

'We were a little bit too gung-ho but we got a win out of a potentially difficult situation. It says a lot about the character of the team.

'We got the job done without being great - I' m not going to pretend otherwise. It's a result we're delighted with, without getting carried away.'

Rangers could have won by a more convincing margin had Hall, only given the chance to take a spot-kick as he was looking to complete his hat-trick, not missed a 57th-minute penalty.

His weak effort was easily saved by Luke Steele, whose heroics helped take Barnsley to last season FA Cup semi-final. Steele was then on loan from West Bromwich Albion, and was one of four players brought in by Simon Davey during the summer.

The Barnsley manager said: 'We had a fantastic start. Iain Hume finished well and we could maybe have scored more. In the second half there was only one team in it. We took the game to them.

'QPR have spent a lot and I felt we not only had the lion's share, we were actually the better side. I'm disappointed with the result but in terms of the performance there were good things to come out of it and we'll take that and move on.

'We're a stronger squad than we were last season and we will be a better team.'

First impressions suggest he could be right on that point. Mail