The New QPR: Several Extensive Profiles, Interviews and Pre-Season Previews

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UPDATED: 9:30 am

Guardian/John Ashdown - Championship preview: QPR's nouveau-riches no guarantee in wide-open division
In a deliciously unpredictable league, most teams have a chance ... as long as they have luck on their side
As ever, the Championship is a tough, possibly even impossible, division to call. Perhaps as many as 18 of the 24 sides begin the season with hopes of reaching the top six, and, in all honesty, none of them are unrealistic. But despite -and even probably because of - the near-futility of predicting how events will unfold, it remains arguably the most interesting league in England.
Much of the pre-season hype has surrounded the nouveau ultra-riche QPR, with one signing in particular raising eyebrows in west London. Flavio Briatore and Iain Dowie have been effusive in their praise of Daniel Parejo, signed on loan from Real Madrid. Briatore described it as "an incredible coup" for the club to have signed "arguably the hottest prospect in European football". Forgive me for my scepticism, but let's be honest - continental giants don't tend to send the next Leo Messi or Bojan Krkic on loan to Championship sides. Nevertheless, it's certainly the division's most intriguing signing of the summer, if somewhat out of step with Rangers' other acquisitions.
Dowie's signings have been workmanlike rather than spectacular. Lee Cook has returned from a miserable time at Fulham, hoping that a year in the stiffs hasn't dimmed his attacking brightness. Peter Ramage and Radek Cerny have stepped up (or down) from Premier League reserve league, while solid centre-half Kaspars Gorkss may prove the most astute buy after joining from Blackpool. Samuel Di Carmine and Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma are unknown quantities (to me at least) from Fiorentina and Genoa respectively.
Rangers finished only six points away from the drop and 21 shy of Stoke in second - a vast improvement is required and, in a division likely to be stronger this year, it's tough to see the QPR squad as it stands threatening the top two (though Briatore has promised more signings before the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month). Whatever happens at Loftus Road, though, will be worth keeping an eye on....Elsewhere.....
Predictions
Champions: Birmingham
Promoted: Crystal Palace
Play-offs: Burnley, Derby, Bristol City, Sheffield United
Relegated: Blackpool, Southampton, Doncaster
Guardian


Bloombergs/Tariq Panja - Billionaire Owners of Soccer's QPR Aiming for Premier League

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Amit Bhatia, vice chairman of soccer's Queens Park Rangers, says the team's new billionaire owners plan to lift the second-tier club to the level of west London rival Chelsea with sound business practices, not buckets of cash.

``Throwing money is not the right way to do it,'' said Bhatia, 28. ``Will we spend enough money to make sure we are competitive because it's a sport where money needs to be spent? Of course and that's what we are committed to doing.''

Bhatia, the son-in-law of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, oversees his family's investment in QPR from his office in London's Mayfair, where he runs his private equity and hedge fund businesses, Swordfish Investments and Swordfish Capital Management LLP.

QPR starts its first full season tomorrow under new owners Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker; Bernie Ecclestone, chief executive officer of the commercial arm of Formula One; and Flavio Briatore, managing director of the Renault F-1 team. The club finished 14th in the 24-team Championship league last season, yet it was 9-1 second- favorite with U.K. bookmaker Ladbrokes to finish first and win promotion to the Premier League. QPR hosts Barnsley tomorrow.

The new owners have focused in the offseason on adding players with potential rather than proven stars. Their acquisitions included 19-year-old Spanish youth international Dani Parejo on a season-long loan from Real Madrid and Argentine-born Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma, 20, on loan from Genoa.

They hired a coach with experience getting a team promoted to the Premier League: Iain Dowie, who led London's Crystal Palace to the top division in 2004.

No Chelsea

It's a different strategy than the one followed by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who made the Blues a European powerhouse 3.5 miles away by spending more than $1 billion on players since buying the club in July 2003.

Ecclestone and Briatore bought QPR in September for 14 million pounds, including 13 million pounds of debt. Mittal, their friend, bought a 20 percent stake three months later.

Mittal is Britain's richest man, according to the Sunday Times; he and his family have a fortune of 27.7 billion pounds, the paper said in April. The paper has reported that the three owners together are worth about 30 billion pounds.

Reaching the Premier League would provide an immediate return. It's soccer's richest circuit, with revenue topping 1.5 billion pounds. Teams are guaranteed 30 million pounds a year each in television money, according to accountant Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Record Sponsorship

The new owners already have revenue gushing in at an unprecedented rate for the second echelon. Bahrain-based Gulf Air agreed to a three-year jersey sponsorship deal, which the Sunday Times says is worth 7 million pounds --more than four times the previous record for a second-tier club of 500,000 pounds a year. Lotto Sport Italia SpA signed a 20 million-pound, five-year contract to provide the team's uniform.

The profile and wealth of Mittal, Briatore and Ecclestone have driven the new sponsorship agreements, says Gareth Moore, international sales director for Cologne, Germany-based sports marketing consultant Sport+Markt AG.

``The aura that comes with them is going to have significant interest for investors,'' he said.

Images of Bhatia's 2004 wedding to Mittal's daughter Vanisha -- the ceremony cost $55 million, according to the BBC - - were beamed around the world. Briatore, 58, is married to 28- year-old model Elisabetta Gregoraci and has dated models Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum, with whom he has a child. Briatore says his friendship with Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon helped the club land Parejo.

In Administration

The changes may mean the end of a 13-year absence from the top league. In 1993, QPR was the highest ranked of six London clubs then in the Premier League, and was relegated in 1996. By 2001, it skidded to the third tier and was under administration, a form of protection from creditors.

``Rangers looked like going out of business before the money men came in,'' says Michael Lynagh, a 56-year-old fan who's lived his whole life in the White City housing project next to the club's Loftus Road stadium. ``I think every QPR supporter is overjoyed with it.''

As painters apply the club's royal blue and white colors to the 104-year-old stadium, fans' expectations are high. Season- ticket sales are up 40 percent even after a 30 percent rise in prices. The most expensive cost 699 pounds; the cheapest 450 pounds.

Lynagh, an unemployed electrician, still found the money to pay for his seat.

``I'd like to see them put us in the Premier League,'' he says, smoking a cigarette in the doorway of the Springbok, a pub festooned in Rangers memorabilia about 50 yards from the stadium. ``I'm born and bred here, and I've been coming since I was a kid when I used to sneak in.''

Bhatia said his family sees QPR as a value investment.

``If we thought it was a second-tier club we would never have been involved in it,'' Bhatia says, rolling up the sleeves of his starched white Oxford shirt. ``One day QPR is going to be a romantic story. That romantic story just happens to begin with the club where it is today.'' Bloombergs


Independent - QPR hatch plan to succeed in the rich man's game

Close to extinction last year but now the Championship favourites, Jason Burt sees the new board at Loftus Road change perceptions

If you are a Queen's Park Rangers supporter then it is time to salivate now. The vice-chairman, Amit Bhatia, is soberly laying out the "three-to-five year plan" which he and his fellow co-owners, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, have formulated to return the club to the Premier League... when he then outlines what could happen when they reach it.

"I think about it," Bhatia says. "It's an expensive sport, no doubt. But the Premiership is where everyone wants to be. It costs money because all the teams are so good. So do you have to spend? Yes. And players are expensive. Are we prepared to spend? Absolutely. When you get to the Premiership the level gets raised and you have to do it justice. And we will do it justice."

Doing it justice, when the combined wealth of those involved in owning the Championship club is conservatively estimated at £23bn – of which Bhatia's father-in-law, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, can account for around £20bn – is an intoxicating thought. Especially when Bhatia goes on to claim that there is no point being in the Premier League "to finish 14th". "How sad would that be if that was the height of our ambition?" he says. "Let's get promoted, then not get relegated. Then let us be super-competitive. Let's not say Champions League football because that is not realistic for now. We would be spitting in the wind. Things will take time and money and that will come."

The key phrase is "for now" which he interchanges with "at the moment". The feeling is that QPR are on the brink of something and not, as was likely last year, extinction. Understandably given what Bhatia, who speaks rapidly and animatedly, calls the "hoopla" surrounding the high-profile, glamorous, jet-setting takeover of QPR which saved the club, he and his fellow directors have spent virtually all the ensuing period dampening down expectation. And that can range from whether they were about to appoint Zinedine Zidane as manager, Luis Figo as star player, sign "two from Real Madrid" – or have Naomi Campbell, who has been to watch matches along with a coterie of celebrities, model their new kit.

"A lot of fans ask why we don't spend like Mr Abramovich," Bhatia says. "We don't need to buy big players to create headlines. If we get promoted then will we have to buy household names? We probably will need to. We are spending money – a dozen players in January and another half-dozen already this summer but they are players who can play Championship football."

Mention of Abramovich is inevitable. QPR's owners are always going to draw comparisons with what has happened a few miles across west London. After all, Mittal – who recently gave up his £1m-a-year executive box at Stamford Bridge – is alone worth around twice as much as the Russian billionaire, having made his fortune through the steel business. Mittal is now ranked as the richest man in Britain and the fifth richest in the world. Hoop dreams, indeed, for the Super Hoops.

But many of those dreams have already been fulfilled. What has happened in a year has certainly replaced the nightmare of the last decade. Before Briatore, the colourful – and not just because of his perma-tan – owner of the Renault Formula One racing team and his friend, and the sport's overlord, Ecclestone, acquired QPR last August, the club was going under. And not just because they were facing another relegation battle with an underperforming team and a boardroom beset with division and accusations of corruption.

Some said it was just a few hours from being wound up when they agreed to take control and clear £13m worth of debts at a club that had sunk after spending 12 years out of the top division – having finished as London's highest-placed club in 1993 – with three of those campaigns in England's third tier.

The next move was to involve Mittal. It helped that Briatore and Ecclestone were friends with the businessman – and that his son-in-law was a sports nut who had been a promising cricketer – he won a scholarship to England – and helped run the Mittal Champions Trust in India which helped fund athletes.

Bhatia, himself a wealthy banker in his late twenties whose family originate from Delhi, had been looking to get involved in football for some time and had held discussions with a variety of clubs, some in the Premier League. "With QPR we said 'sure, let's talk'," he says adding that it helped that Loftus Road "is just seven minutes' walk from our home". He goes on: "This a club with a great history. We've not bought a Championship club. It just happens to be in the Championship at the moment."

The proposal was tempting. It is believed Mittal had to pay just £200,000 for a 20 per cent stake, bought from Briatore who now owns 49 per cent of the club, with Ecclestone having 15 per cent and a further 31 per cent held by small shareholders, pledging £1m to cover debts. He has since put in comfortably more.

"It was the maximum we were offered," Bhatia says of the shareholding. "But I feel like I own the club, as does Bernie and Flavio. When decisions are made it's not like I have half their say. I wish I owned more, of course I do." That may come. Early dividends of the takeover – apart from obvious improvements on the pitch – have been QPR's deals. A £20m five-year kit contract with the Italian firm Lotto and a three-year sponsorship with Gulf Air – £1m a season which rises if the club reach the top flight – with record ticket sales and all corporate boxes sold.

There are no plans to move stadium – although there is concern that Loftus Road, as atmospheric as it can be, is too cramped and old. "It becomes an issue when we get promoted and we have 30,000 people wanting to watch us. When that time comes we'll increase capacity," Bhatia says. The new owners are hardly indulgent. Bhatia maintains that relations with the former coach Gigi Di Canio are good – but he was sacked at the end of last season even though he guided QPR from the relegation zone to 14th place. Iain Dowie was installed as his successor. "We wanted a coach who had got promoted at this level before," Bhatia says. They are the bookmakers' favourites to win the division, never mind promotion.

Not that it is all hard-headed business. Bhatia admits the owners have had to stay "disciplined" over transfer fees and wages – claiming that, like Chelsea, there is a premium when they come calling. But he also adds: "When we sit down together as shareholders we say that decisions have to be made as fans first. We never got involved in football as a money-making idea. We don't want to be wasteful but we do want to be successful."

As sober as he attempts to be, Bhatia is also an enthusiast. "This is unbelievably exciting," he says, admitting it is far more fun than anything else he is involved in in the world of finance. "But there is also pressure because I know there are expectations for us. But I like that."

When the Loftus Road cat's away... the fans will pay

The Independent was given a sneak preview of QPR's 18 new corporate boxes, complete with freshly buffed wooden floors, shimmering glass tables and finely upholstered sofas. A stylish 12-seater box is yours for £70,000 a season. Cipriani, the top Mayfair restaurant, provides the catering to the boxes. The biggest 30-seater one has been snapped up by the Mittal family.

But such glamour has not gone down well with the fans who are wary of the road down which the new owners are taking the club.

For a start there are the season ticket prices. Paul Payne, 41, agonised over whether to renew his family's season ticket when he learned the cost had shot up from £860 to £1,600. "In the end we bit the bullet and paid it," he says. "We didn't want to stop going just when there is so much excitement about our future."

And while summer has seen a total refurbishment of the corporate end of the ground, little has been done to improve seating for regular fans. "I think they painted the stairs," jokes Stephen Dedridge, chairman of supporters' group QPR 1st. "The ticket prices were a big shock to us, especially as it's the same old stadium."

Flavio Briatore's move to redesign the club badge has also proved controversial with the core support. The old badge has been replaced by a coat of arms. "I liked the old badge," says one fan, trudging round the club shop. He hitches up his right trouser-leg to show the old badge tattooed on his ankle.

Then there is the strange story of Jude, the club's black cat mascot who was a favourite with fans. The new owner was not so keen – black cats are bad luck in Briatore's native Italy. After a brief colour change to grey, Jude disappeared.
Independent



Reuters - INTERVIEW-Soccer-QPR coach says wealthy owners investing wisely
Fri Aug 8, 2008 - By Sarah Marsh

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers' billionaire owners are not like "kids in a sweet shop" and are building the English Championship (second division) club into a force to be reckoned with, said manager Iain Dowie.

He told Reuters in a telephone interview the owners were not splashing out on expensive signings but treating the club as a long-term business venture by acquiring young players with potential, revamping the stadium and courting sponsors.

"They have gone out and got big sponsors in which will help the club in the future, they have done the ground up so making a much more commercial enterprise," said the 43-year-old, who was appointed QPR manager in May.

The west London club, a founder member of the Premier League in 1992 before falling on hard times, announced a five-year 20 million pounds ($39.03 million) sponsorship deal with Italian clothing company Lotto in March that was its biggest ever.

"It is not similar to kids in a sweet shop... they're doing it for a long-term objective as well, which is very important," said Dowie, who has also managed Coventry City, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace and Oldham Athletic.

QPR fans have been boasting that the club is now one of the wealthiest around since it was bought by Renault Formula One boss Flavio Briatore last September with a group of friends including F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, who ranks as the world's fourth richest man according to the Forbes magazine list, has also taken a stake in the Loftus Road club.

Since the new owners took over, QPR has been on a much more stable financial footing and this week announced it had repaid a 10 million pounds loan taken out in 2002 to help QPR come out of administration which it entered the year before.

"(QPR) can now go forward and they can spend the money on the ground, which looks much more ship-shape now," said Dowie, whose team open the new Championship campaign full of optimism at home to Barnsley on Saturday.

BRIATORE SUPPORTIVE

He said QPR was also benefiting from its owners' contacts. This month they signed 19-year-old Spanish starlet Daniel Parejo on loan from Real Madrid, a deal many put down to Briatore's relationship with the Spanish club's president Ramon Calderon.

"I went to watch the Italian Under-21s... put together a list, went to see Flavio and subsequently we got Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma and Samuel di Carmine," said Dowie.

Midfielder Ledesma, a 20-year-old Argentine, and Italian striker Di Carmine, 19, have agreed one-year loan deals from Genoa and Fiorentina respectively, with QPR having the option to buy Ledesma for three million euros ($4.64 million).

"(Briatore) has used his contacts in Italy and Spain to get three very, very talented players and that's a fantastic bonus," added Dowie.

The QPR manager quashed media speculation that he and Briatore were at odds over player signings, saying he had found the Italian billionaire to be "very supportive".

"He has been down to the training ground three or four times and no more in the pre-season so he leaves me to get on with the coaching side absolutely," he said.

"He is not controlling or anything like that at all."

QPR have enjoyed their share of success, having won the League Cup in 1967 as a third division side and finished runners-up in the top flight in 1976 in the days of England players like Stan Bowles and Gerry Francis.

They were relegated from the Premier League in 1996 and even slipped into English soccer's third tier in 2001 but Dowie said the new owners had pushed QPR back into the limelight and raised the fans' hopes of a return to the top flight.

"It's a pressure but you have got to embrace that pressure and it is far better to come to a club with expectations rather than without them," said Dowie.

"We are a little way away from achieving our aim of being in the Premier League but we are going to try as hard as we can." (Editing by Ken Ferris)
Reuters


Square Football - Friday, 08 August 2008
Championship 2008-09 Preview - Queens Park Rangers

Given the financial backing at their disposal, there is no great surprise that Queens Park Rangers are regarded among the front-runners for the Championship. New manager Iain Dowie has something to prove after a couple of disappointing years, but he does know what it takes in getting a club to the Premiership. Despite the money in the boardroom, the summer recruitment campaign has been relatively low key, although much will be expected of loan signings from Italy and Spain.

MANAGER: Iain Dowie (appointed 14 May 2008)

STADIUM: Loftus Road

IN: Peter Ramage (Newcastle United); Radek Cerny (Slavia Prague); Matteo Alberti (Chievo); Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma (Genoa - loan); Samuel Di Carmine (Fiorentina – loan); Daniel Parejo (Real Madrid – loan); Kaspars Gorkss (Blackpool); Lee Cook (Fulham – loan)

OUT: Sean Thomas (out of contract); Aaron Goode (out of contract); Andrew Howell (out of contract); Stefan Bailey (Grays Athletic); Matt Pickens (out of contract); Jake Cole (Oxford United – loan); Simon Walton (Plymouth Argyle); Zesh Rehman (Blackpool – loan); Daniel Nardiello (Blackpool); Dominic Shimmin (out of contract); Chris Goodchild (out of contract); John Curtis (out of contract); Ed de Goey (retired); Marc Nygaard (Randers FC); Nick Ward (Melbourne Victory); Matthew Hislop (out of contract)

LEAGUE RECORD 2007-08 (Championship):

HOME AWAY
W D L F A W D L F A PTS POS
10 6 7 32 27 4 10 9 28 39 58 14

PREDICTION: 6th Square Football


AFP Desperation hangs over England football Championship madhouse
A sense of desperation hangs over the Championship as the race for the Premier League promised land starts again this weekend.
Everywhere you look clubs who have dined at English football's top table are struggling to come to terms with their reduced status ahead of Saturday's kick-off.
Even those who are well used to competing outside the elite are struggling to maintain their cool. Such is life in England's most cut-throat division.
The majority of the 24 teams will believe they can win the 60 million pounds jackpot that comes with promotion, even though most would struggle to survive more than a season against Manchester United and company.
In such a heated environment, Birmingham, Derby and Reading, fresh from Premier League relegation last season, should take nothing for granted.
All three have expectations of promotion but Birmingham look to have the best opportunity following the astute signings of former England striker Kevin Phillips and ex-Everton midfielder Lee Carsley...
..QPR's attempt to ensure Chelsea aren't west London's only glamour club is already in danger of dissolving into farce after reports that manager Iain Dowie could be sacked before taking charge of his first match.
Rangers have spent big to try to win promotion, but Dowie, who only joined the club three months ago when he replaced Luigi De Canio, has clashed with co-owner Flavio Briatore over a proposed transfer of an unnamed forward from the Middle East.
Briatore reportedly told Dowie that he would be fired but it is unclear whether the Italian will follow through with the threat.
Real Madrid's highly-rated young midfielder Daniel Parejo, who joined QPR on loan this week, must wonder what he has let himself in for
Welcome to the Championship madhouse Daniel..." AFP


Metro - Championship Guide
....Team: QPR
Manager: Iain Dowie
Position last season: 14th
Nickname: The Hoops, The Rs
Ground: Loftus Road
Capacity: 18,682
In: Peter Ramage (Newcastle, free), Radek Cerny (Sparta Prague, free), Matteo Alberti (Chievo Verona, undisclosed), Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma (Genoa, loan), Samuel Di Carmine (Fiorentina, loan), Lee Cook (Fulham, loan), Daniel Parejo (Real Madrid, loan),
Out: Sean Thomas, Aaron Goode, Andrew Howell, Stefan Bailey (Grays, free), Matt Pickens, Jake Cole (Oxford, loan),
Key man: Patrick Agyemang
Chances: Iain Dowie will be under the spotlight given QPR's mega-rich owners and he will rise to the challenge.
Prediction: Top six a possibility...." Metro


Croydon Advertiser - Warnock: We should finish twelfth
Crystal Palace should only finish twelfth in the Championship this season, according to their own manager....
“You’ve got Charlton, Wolves, QPR and Ipswich throwing money left right and centre.”
...“Birmingham, Derby, Reading are under pressure, Charlton and Sheffield United have got to go back up this year the money they’ve spent and are spending, so it’s a must.
“Wolves are an absolute must, as are Ipswich and QPR, probably the biggest money spenders of all.“There’s so much pressure so in a way although we are in there I don’t see the pressure of that. I think we can just be ourselves, even probably bring one or two other youngsters into the squad.” Croydon Advertiser