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Friday, May 04, 2012

QPR Report Friday: Tony Fernandes Q&A...Mark Hughes #9 on Managerial "Rich List"...Wanting Diakite...QPR Community Trust Nominated for Top Prize...Rowlands Released...Next Stoke



Courtesy of Haqpr1963: How Last Season's Final Table would have looked!


From HarlowRanger "15th May 1951: Stoke City footballer George Mountford and family.
Prior to joining QPR"



_______________________________________________________________________________




Neck and Neck!

Aston V 36 -14 37
Wigan 36 -22 37
QPR 36 -23 34
_____________
Bolton 36 -31 34
Blackburn 36 -28 31
Wolves 36 -41 24






QPR Official Site - FERNANDES EXCLUSIVE IN 'HOOPS!'
Posted on: Fri 04 May 2012

Tony Fernandes speaks exclusively in Sunday's matchday programme - setting the record straight on a number of key issues as the 2011/12 Barclays Premier League campaign nears its finale.

The R's Chairman opens his heart up to the QPR faithful, with the message quite simply being - 'I'm no quitter.'

"I have come up the hard way in life. Nothing has been handed to me on a plate, so I know what it takes to be successful and I'm certainly no quitter," he tells 'Hoops.'

"We have a stable infrastructure in place and myself and my fellow shareholders - Din and Ruben, and of course Amit and the Mittal family - all share the same common goals in terms of our long-term objectives for this Club.

"We have a structured long-term strategy in place that will, in time, bear fruit for the foreseeable future."

Fernandes continues: "Myself and my fellow shareholders will leave no stone unturned to ensure that every QPR fan can hold their heads up high and say 'I'm a Queens Park Rangers fan' - wherever they are in the world - and be proud.

"My only regret is that I didn't arrive at QPR slightly earlier, but regardless of whether our fight to beat the drop is a successful one - and I sincerely hope it is - this Club is in great hands going forward."...
QPR OFFICIAL



Malaysian - The Star - Chasing the dream

Power Lunch by MARINA SUWENDY


This week’s Power Lunch was special. Not only were we fortunate to get to meet with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia, but, we got to celebrate his 48th birthday with him. He probably felt otherwise about having to spend his birthday giving an interview to MetroBiz, but we’re grateful that he obliged. The week had been busy for all at AirAsia and we wanted to know first-hand about his reflections on the calling off of the share swap with Malaysian Airlines.

What were his thoughts going into the collaboration initiated last August? Where do they go from here?

First, a good lunch to get the conversation going. Fernandes heartily indulged in the itik golek and fish curry dishes.

“Very nice lunch. Thank you. The curry was awesome. Can I have a bit more rice?” was the response that our chef Salmiah Isa received when she came over to greet Fernandes. Over the course of the meal, he answered all our questions candidly.

Bridging competition?

For a seemingly very outspoken man, Fernandes has kept rather quiet on the MAS and AirAsia share swap.

“I’d never been in a situation like this. Do you come in and defend yourself? I was a confused puppy. For the first time in my life I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t feel I had enough control to defend myself,” said Fernandes.

We spoke about how he could have overlooked the questions raised about this collaboration, especially in the realm of competition.

Speaking of the competition, he said, “Ultimately the consumer decides. There was no AirAsia 10 years ago. And, competition in terms of international routes, there’s plenty of it. And, domestically, AirAsia survives on low fares. We have 100 planes. It’s very hard for (MAS subsidiary airline) Firefly to compete against us. Our competition is the consumer. If we charge too much, who’s going to fly? We survive on volume.”

Despite the unravelling of the share swap, Fernandes still appears to hold the belief that the tie-up with MAS would have been for the greater good of the country.

And, he seemed somewhat disappointed that it is being viewed differently.

“I never expected the negativity that surrounded this transaction. I thought that it would be welcomed universally by the country. I’m an optimist. I thought everyone would support it. Everyone would think it’s a great idea. Because, up to that point so many said: ‘Why don’t you get into MAS and fix it?’ I thought everyone would support it. Team Malaysia, right?” he added.

Fernandes offered his view on what transpired when this deal came to light.

“I am a dreamer and I am a believer. And, I thought Malaysia would welcome it because MAS has had continual losses. And ultimately who’s paying for it? Malaysian tax payers. So, I thought that we could turn the airline around so that it’s not a burden on the state. That’s only good.”

He paused for thought before addressing the issues behind the deal.

“I think this whole transaction has been distracted by noise. The detractors have won in terms of creating so much noise that it distracted management from effectively putting in a very good business plan. And if MAS doesn’t change or continues to bleed money, the loser is the Malaysian public. I would rather that money be spent on education, poverty eradication ... rather than billions going into inefficiency. Simple as that.”

A question of logic

During the lunch, I also had to bring up and talk about the speculation that had been circulating online that AirAsia stood to benefit more than MAS from this collaboration. That seemed to irritate Fernandes slightly.

He said, “This is where the negativity of Malaysia frustrates me, sometimes. Some people just wanted to shoot (it) down. But it’s rubbish. This favoured both (parties). When they said we benefited more — how? We never even audited the books. We never looked at MAS’ books. That’s the truth. We went in there purely because we thought it was a great thing for the country — if AirAsia and MAS worked together. And the tax payer pays less. And the public gets better service. And if we can provide more for the tourism industry, more jobs and compete against Emirates and Singapore Airlines (SIA) more effectively.”

Fernandes elaborated, “We are dreamers. Is it logical to go and buy Queens Park Rangers? Is it logical to start a Formula 1 team? You live your life once. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. I can say that I’ve done things that people only dream about doing. It’s not logical. There’s no rationality in owning it. As a kid when you’re watching football, and you dream of one day owning a football team ... I’ve done that. And I was offered a chance to go help fix MAS. I did it as a Malaysian. I’m someone who would rather work together than fight. So, I just did it. There was no big analysis of it.”

What’s the score?

The night before our interview, Fernandes’ team, QPR, unfortunately did not fare that well in their Premiership match against bitter rivals Chelsea. While presenting a birthday cake and song, one of the bosses at The Star, couldn’t help but give Fernandes a ribbing on that result (Chelsea beat QPR 6-1).

But he laughed it off and took it in good light. When asked why he chose to buy QPR and whether he’s resigned to accepting the fate of the club, Fernandes shrugged off the recent loss and negative vibes.

“I watched us lose 4-0 to Bolton. Then I bought the club. You don’t buy a club for just one season. You buy something when you see the potential for what it could be. It’s in London. It has a good fan base. It has the potential to build a great training academy. A great stadium. My whole life has been about building things. If you buy Manchester United — what are you buying? You’re buying someone else’s success. What could I do for Manchester United? At QPR, I can do loads.”



Speed and success

Further along, the conversation moved on to Fernandes’ other sporting purchase, his Caterham F1 team.

With great pride, he said: “I’m thrilled with how we started off. We’re competing against teams that have been there much longer with much larger budgets. Two years ago we had nothing. We’re now 1.5 seconds away from Red Bull who are the world champions. We’re closing the gap. You can’t build Rome in a day. We try to push our sports stars too quickly. If you look at Fahmi (Fahmi Khairuddin, AirAsia-SIC-Ajo team’s Malaysian rider), we’re going stage by stage.

“He will be a world champion. I have no doubts about it. He has a chance. I don’t want to push him. Step by step. It takes time.”

Although, with slight disappointment, he spoke of the lack of national support for Caterham.

“While I was building a Formula 1 team, I was being sued by my own countrymen. We’re the only true Formula 1 team developed in Malaysia. Nevermind that we were not sponsored, that’s a company’s prerogative. But, we were sued. We don’t have a Malaysian sponsor, just AirAsia, but that doesn’t really count,” he said.

However, Fernandes takes this in his stride. Fernandes spoke of a young boy who came up to him and said, “You’ve changed my life. Now I see Malaysia on a global stage. I see QPR at a Premier League game and we have a Malaysian Formula 1 team. You made me believe that anything’s possible.”

He explained that, that was the real reason behind his ventures.

“I used to go watch racing at Batu Tiga with my dad. When I was older, I would camp outside the Brands Hatch circuit (in England) to watch Formula 1. We didn’t have money to go in. We couldn’t afford to go in. We’d have a tent and stay there a week just to get the atmosphere. It’s unbelievable. And hopefully others will aspire to it. People will think that if he can do it, I can do it. It’s unbelievable for me. That’s what Kamarudin (Kamarudin Meranun, deputy CEO of AirAsia) and I wanted to do — get Malaysians to believe that they can do anything.”

From what we’ve heard, it appears that Fernandes bases much of his decision on passion and we have found no evidence to disprove this.

“We are an emotionally driven company. There is a lot of passion and emotion in the company. It’s how I run the company. There has to be a good balance,” said Fernandes.

With that said, and considering that it was his birthday, we drew our interview to a close and wished Fernandes many happy returns. The Star



MARK HUGHES at #9 on MANAGERIAL RICH LIST



Huffington Post - Roy Hodgson Joins The Sunday Times Managerial Rich List, With Sir Alex Ferguson In Top Spot


The Huffington Post UK  |  By  
New England manager Roy Hodgson's worth has been estimated at £11m in The Sunday Times' 2012 Rich List.
Hodgson's exit from Liverpool in January 2011, after only 191 days in charge, is believed to have cost the Reds £3m after he had a sack clause inserted into his contract when appointed in July 2010.
Now earning a reported £2.5m per year with England after he penned a four-year deal this week, he is likely to rise up the managerial money ladder next year.
Second in the league to Manchester City, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson however is top of the league when it comes to personal assets. His fortune now stands at £32m.
And Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp, overlooked in favour of Hodgson by the FA for the Three Lions hot seat, sits above Hodgson by one spot with £12m in the bank.
Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger is the highest paid manager in the Premier League, with a salary recently reported to be £7.5m a year, which has seen his fortune rise by £7m to £26m.

THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORT RICH LIST 2012: THE RICHEST FOOTBALL MANAGERS
1 Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United £32m £27m
2 Roy Keane £29m £30m
3 Arsene Wenger, Arsenal £26m £19m
4 Giovanni Trapattoni, Republic of Ireland £20m £20m
5 Roberto Mancini, Manchester City £18m £16m
6 Sven-Göran Eriksson £16m £16m
7 Steve Bruce £14m £11m
8 Harry Redknapp, Tottenham £12m
9 Roy Hodgson, WBA/ England £11m
9= Mark Hughes, Queen’s Park Rangers £11m
11 Martin O’Neill, Sunderland £10m
11= David Moyes, Everton £10m Huffington Post




HUGHES WANTS DIAKITE


Chronicle By Jacob Murtagh May 4 2012  - QPR boss eyes midfielder swoop

MARK Hughes wants to make Samba Diakite's move to QPR permanent in the summer – even if they're relegated.

The midfielder has been a big hit since joining on loan from Nancy in January, despite being sent-off on his debut against Fulham.

However, the Mali international has cemented a spot in the R's engine room with a string of impressive displays.

Boss Hughes revealed Rangers have already agreed a fee believed to in the region of £3.5million with Nancy to make the deal permanent at the end of the campaign.


And the Welshman has already seen enough of the 23-year-old to convince him to sign the player in the close season.

He told the Chronicle: “Everything's been agreed. There's a figure we have to pay if we want to make it permanent.

“I'm not going to go into details but we hope we'll be able to make it permanent because he's done very well.

“There's a number of factors, but we'd like to think he's enjoyed his time here so we wouldn't have thought there would be any hurdles in his way.

“He's done very well. The start was a little bit difficult for him but he's overcome that and learned from it very quickly. He's been outstanding.”

Diakite should return to the side for Sunday's crunch clash with Stoke after missing last weekend's derby drubbing at Chelsea with a virus. http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-....#i xzz1tt2WZqRc



Martin Rowlands Released by Colchester

COLCHESTER UTD - Rowlands not bitter despite U's exit

Friday 4th May 2012 in Colchester Utd Exclusive By Jonathan Waldron

Martin Rowlands has admitted he is disappointed not to have been offered the chance to stay at Colchester United.

But the experienced midfielder has insisted he has no hard feelings about not being given a new contract at the U’s.

Rowlands has made a positive impact for John Ward’s side over the last three months, after signing on a free transfer from Queens Park Rangers.

But the 33-year-old’s short spell at Colchester was disrupted by injuries, which restricted him to only seven starts in League One.

That has prompted boss Ward to decide against offering Rowlands a longer deal.

Rowlands said: “The manager has made his decision that he doesn’t want to keep me at the club next season.

“I know that there are budget cuts there and it’s slightly disappointing but it’s just one of those things.

“I feel that I did well when I played and that I did well for the team.

“But hopefully that bodes well for me and other clubs will see that."

See Friday's Gazette for more on this story and all of the latest Colchester United news, including a full preview of the U's final game of the season at Notts County tomorrow. Colchester United



Beyond Sport - QPR in the Community Trust

Award Entered:
Sport Team of the Year
Parent Organisation:
Queens Park Rangers Football Club
Project Host Nation:
United Kingdom
Overview of Project:
The Tiger Cubs uses sport to tackle social inclusion and provide an opportunity for children with a disability to participate in football how their able bodied peers do. Through football, this project aims to create a multi-tier learning environment that will improve the participants overall physical, social and emotional health. While participants are learning physical skills, they are simultaneously increasing their own social and emotional abilities. For many of the Tiger Cubs, this is one of the few times (other than school) where they are interacting with adults other than their parents and interacting with other people with Downs Syndrome. Approximately 85% of people with DS attend mainstream school. Having the ability to train and play at a similar level increases their ability to reap all of the potential benefits. There have been benefits for the parents who have formed a tightly knit support network where they can discuss issues with each other and provide friendship and encouragement. The success of the project has attracted additional funding from Sportsmatch and Global Relief Initiative enabling us to triple the size of the project by starting sessions in 3 new London Boroughs and also start up a session for adults with DS.  Beyond Sport




QPR Official Site - LISTED FOR TOP GONG

Posted on: Thu 03 May 2012

Queens Park Rangers Football Club and QPR in the Community Trust have been shortlisted in the Beyond Sport Awards 'Team of the Year' category.

Beyond Sport - the global organisation that promotes, develops and supports the use of sport as a tool for positive change across the world - unveiled their official shortlist yesterday (Wednesday), with the R's joining Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, RIHP North Queensland Rubies and Tottenham Hotspur in the running for the award.

The Beyond Sport Awards programme provides support worth £2 million annually to projects across the world that use sport to address issues within their communities.

Thirty projects have been shortlisted that reach nearly 40 countries, and use more than 20 different sports. They were chosen from 322 entries from 135 countries that submitted applications to this year's Beyond Sport Awards.

By reaching this stage of the judging process, each project has secured an invitation to attend the fourth annual Beyond Sport Summit, taking place from July 23rd to 25th in London. Throughout the Summit, the shortlisted projects will have the opportunity to interact with Beyond Sport's extensive network of corporate business, government, philanthropy, international aid organisations and sporting federations, all with the ability to significantly impact the reach and capabilities of the sport and development movement.

The Beyond Sport Award winners, to be selected by the panel of Beyond Sport Ambassadors, will then receive a substantial package of business support to help them grow and become sustainable in the future.

Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, commented: "The Beyond Sport Awards unearth leaders using sport as a tool for positive change and provide them with the resources, platform, contacts and opportunities to turbo-charge their growth and impact.

"We are delighted to reveal this year's shortlist, which comes after many hours of deliberation from more than 25 experts in their field. To be chosen from more than 300 entries for a place on this shortlist represents a fantastic achievement on the part of all these projects."

QPR in the Community Trust CEO, Andy Evans, added: "2012 will be a massive year for sport and in particular community sport, as the greatest show on earth - the Olympics - comes to London. This will no doubt encourage more young people to get involved in sport.

"We have a unique opportunity to inspire our young people and to encourage them to gain the rewards from participating in sport on a regular basis, leading to better health and having a sense of being part of a team and a community.

"The Trust, alongside the Club, has a wonderful opportunity to use its global reach for the good of both its supporters worldwide, as well as the local community.

"QPR's players are idolised in the playgrounds and estates that we serve and the Club is building its reputation through QPR in the Community Trust as a focal point in the local community.

"We are delighted to be one of the nominated five teams in the Team of the Year category and we look forward to the Summit in late July in London."  QPR


Congratulations to QPR: Beyond Sport Announces Official Shortlist For Beyond Sport Awards 2012
 
Beyond Sport, the global organisation that promotes, develops and supports the use of sport as a tool for positive change across the world, is delighted to unveil the official shortlist for the Beyond Sport Awards 2012.

30 projects have been shortlisted that reach nearly 40 countries, and use more than 20 different sports. They were chosen from 322 entries from 135 countries that submitted applications to this year’s Beyond Sport Awards.

By reaching this stage of the judging process, each project has secured an invitation to attend the fourth annual Beyond Sport Summit, taking place from July 23rd to 25th in London. Throughout the Summit, the shortlisted projects will have the opportunity to interact with Beyond Sport's extensive network of corporate business, government, philanthropy, international aid organisations and sporting federations, all with the ability to significantly impact the reach and capabilities of the sport and development movement.

The Beyond Sport Award winners, to be selected by the panel of Beyond Sport Ambassadors, will then receive a substantial package of business support to help them grow and become sustainable in the future.

Nick Keller, the Founder of Beyond Sport, commented: “The Beyond Sport Awards unearth leaders using sport as a tool for positive change and provide them with the resources, platform, contacts and opportunities to turbo-charge their growth and impact. We are delighted to reveal this year’s shortlist, which comes after many hours of deliberation from more than 25 experts in their field. To be chosen from more than 300 entries for a place on this shortlist represents a fantastic achievement on the part of all these projects.”

For more information on Beyond Sport, the Beyond Sport Summit and the Beyond Sport Awards visit www.beyondsport.org.

The official shortlist for the Beyond Sport Awards 2012 is below:

BEYOND SPORT AWARDS 2012 OFFICIAL SHORTLIST

Sport for Social Inclusion

•    A Ganar

Parent Organisation: Partners of the Americas

•    Girls Kick It, Chicken House Project

Parent organisation: Global Youth Partnership for Africa

•    Skateistan

•    Sport & Territory

Parent organisation: Positive Futures North Liverpool

Sport for Health

•    Sitball 4Life

Parent organisation: Association des Handicapées Universitaires au Rwanda (AHUR)

•    Sports Training and Outreach Program on HIV

Parent organisation: ONOC

•    WASH United

Parent organisation: WASH United GmbH

Sport for Conflict Resolution

•    AMANDLA EduFootball

Parent organisation: AMANDLA EduFootball e.V.

•    Dance 4 Peace Philippines

Parent organisation: Dance 4 Peace, Inc.

•    Twinned Basketball Clubs

Parent organisation: PeacePlayers International - Middle East

Sport for Education

•    Craig Bellamy Foundation Youth Development League

Parent organisation: Craig Bellamy Foundation

•    Sports for Education, Education for the Future

Parent organisation: Policy Center for Roma and Minorities

•    Tiny Toones Breakdance School

Parent organisation: Tiny Toones

Sport for the Environment

•    NHL Water Restoration Project

Parent organisation: NHL

•    NRDC Sports Greening Project

Parent organisation: Natural Resources Defense Council

•    The Council for Responsible Sport’s ReSport Certification

Parent organisation: Council for Responsible Sport

Best New Project

•    Global Outreach and Love of Soccer (GOALS) Haiti

Parent organisation: Global Outreach and Love of Soccer

•    Isiqalo - Waves for Change

Parent organisation: Isiqalo Foundation

•    Sports for Change

Parent organisation: Groundwork West Midlands

Federation or Governing Body of the Year

•    Australian Rugby League Commission

•    Commonwealth Games Association of Canada (CGC)

•    Premiership Rugby

Corporate of the Year

•    Standard Chartered Bank

•    Telkom South Africa

•    Visa

Team of the Year

•    Boston Celtics

•    Memphis Grizzlies

    Queens Park Rangers FC

•    RIHP NTH QLD RUBIES

•    Tottenham Hotspur  Beyond Sport








QPR's TERRIBLE AWAY RECORD - Even Worse Under Mark Hughes!

QPR Away Results this season. Now obviously stats can lie. Or results don't + performance. But overall, statistically seems our home record (results) have improved under Hughes. A lot. And our away record has declined. (This with various additional players). And our first two away wins were largely with last season's team...



QPR FAN FORUM COMING?

- Last Thursday on QPR London Call In, asked about QPR Fan Forums (the last one held five years ago), QPR CEO Philip Beard said there should and would be Fan Forums. (The exact comments can be heard some 25 minutes into the broadcast."  QPR London Call In (April 26)









Courtesy of haqpr1963: A New Way of Looking at the Bottom of the Premiership!


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