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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Dunga's Time at QPR

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Carlos Dunga and QPR

August 2004:
Soccernet " Dunga revealed as QPR benefactor
Brazilian World Cup-winning captain Dunga has been revealed as one of the benefactors pumping money into QPR.
Rangers chairman Bill Power has confirmed that the star is a backer of Barnaby Holdings, the firm hoping to take a 29.9% stake in the Loftus Road club.
The company recently acquired 10% of the club's shares and is likely to make a further investment in the next two weeks, increasing the stake by a further 19.9%, reports the club's official website.
Power is clearly excited at such high-profile interest, as well as the £1.7million it could bring the club.
'Dunga is part of a football consortium that has shown a real desire to be involved in what we are doing here at QPR and I believe that their investment underlines what excellent progress we are making as a club,' he said.
'I'm thrilled to welcome a former player of the very highest calibre to Loftus Road - his standing and achievements in the game are there for all to see.'
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=307947&cc=5739

Evening Standard

Dunga shares in lofty ambitions for Rangers
Evening Standard (London), Aug 24, 2004 by WAYNE VEYSEY

BRAZIL World Cup-winning captain Dunga is set to attend his first Queens Park Rangers match within weeks.
The football great has emerged as one of the figures behind the Monacobased consortium poised to buy nearly a third of Queens Park Rangers.
Barnaby Holdings has already purchased 10 per cent of the club's shares, worth around Pounds 550,000, and are hoping to wrap up another 19.9 per cent in the next fortnight.
Dunga, 40, is one of five men who have invested equally in the club.
The former Fiorentina and Stuttgart midfielder didn't join his fellow investors, three Italians and a Frenchman, at Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Derby and will not attend tonight's Carling Cup game against Swansea.
But Rangers chairman Bill Power said it was only a matter of time before the Brazilian, who won 90 caps before retiring from international football after the 1998 World Cup, makes his first visit to Loftus Road.
"Dunga is definitely coming to watch some games," Power said. "All the investors were sent a DVD of the highlights of last season - whether or not it has impressed them I don't know."
Majority shareholder Gianni Paladini and director Kevin McGrath went to Monaco a fortnight ago to tie up the deal and were introduced to Dunga.
"He doesn't speak much English, but they said he was courteous, polite and charming," Power added. "He knew all about QPR and has shown a real desire to be involved.
"I am thrilled to welcome a former player of the very highest calibre to Loftus Road."
Meanwhile, Ian Holloway has vowed to put out a full-strength team for tonight's home game against Swansea.
"I don't have the luxury of resting or rotating any player at the moment," the Rangers manager said.
"We will be going for the win against Swansea."
(c)2004. Associated Newspapers Ltd.. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_200408/ai_n12093969


August 2005: Dunga Flies in for The Bill Power/Ouster Board Meeting
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Tom DartQueens Park Rangers 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0EVEN by Ian Holloway’s unmatched standards it was an extraordinary post-match press conference. The Queens Park Rangers manager launched an impassioned defence of his club and their two feuding directors after last night’s dull goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday.Bill Power, the chairman, was removed from his post, and Mark Devlin, the chief executive, was sacked after Gianni Paladini, a director, ousted Power at a board meeting on Wednesday with the help of Carlos Dunga, the former Brazil captain, who flew in from Japan to vote.Holloway said that the uncertainty was affecting his players and used the analogy of a dysfunctional family. Given that a director is alleged to have been involved in the threatening of Paladini at gunpoint before the previous home game, dysfunctional may be an understatement.“......
.Power intends to challenge his removal on the basis that Dunga, although a director, was ineligible to vote. ..http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1752939,00.html


The Sun - Gianni in Power at QPR -By VIC HOLLYGIANNI
PALADINI has seized control of QPR — with former Brazil captain Carlos Dunga’s help.The Italian director was recently alleged to have been threatened by an armed gang at Loftus Road.But yesterday Paladini ousted chairman Bill Power and claimed victory in a bitter struggle for control of the club.Dunga represents a Monaco-based group that owns a stake in Rangers and little had been heard of him since he was made a director last year.But he stunned lifelong fan Power by flying in from Japan and voting with Paladini at a crunch board meeting.Power, hugely popular among fans and club staff, was voted out and chief executive Mark Devlin sacked. .” http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2005390649,00.html


Also: The Evening Standard report on that Board Meeting http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/papersoct0105.htm


MAY 2006
Sporting Life: " DIRECTOR DUNGA EYEING PLAY-OFFS ""As Brazil legend Dunga believes QPR are capable of reaching the play-offs next season after becoming a director at Loftus Road.Dunga - who captained Brazil to victory in the 1994 World Cup - was appointed a non-executive director of the club in September last year, when Gianni Paladini took over as chairman."We need to look at getting into the play-offs," Dunga told the club's official website. "This is a big club, and it is what the fans want."The most important thing is to build foundations here. You cannot always be changing from one day to the next."At any club, a manager needs to be given the chance to work effectively."http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/qpr/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=nonwire_soccer/06/05/26/manual_160354.html&TEAMHD=qpr&DIV=nat1&TEAM=QPR&RH=QPR&PREV_SEASON=



May 2006: QPR OFFICIAL SITE - EXCLUSIVE: DUNGA SPEAKS
It's the interview they all wanted, but only we got. Over the course of the next few days, QPR World speaks exclusively to Carlos Dunga.The Brazilian World Cup winner and QPR non-executive director took time out from his hectic Soccer Aid schedule to give a candid interview about life with the Superhoops and his thoughts on the forthcoming FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.The midfield maestro will line-up for Ruud Gullit's 'Rest of the World' side against Terry Venables' England in the Soccer Aid showdown at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.But he had time to speak to QPR World about his role on the board at Loftus Road; his thoughts on the forthcoming Coca Cola Championship campaign; and also revealed his favourites for the summer showcase in Germany.And as if we needed another big name to add to the mix, Gustavo Poyet is our translator in this exclusive QPR World interview.Dunga happily pulled on the Hoops and Poyet was full of praise for the new away kit.Even the big names can't get enough of QPR World! http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~833154,00.html


re Dunga


After missing QPR targets, Dunga has switched tribes
Evening Standard (London), Jul 26, 2006 by WAYNE VEYSEY


FROM director of Queens Park Rangers to manager of Brazil.
That is some quantum leap for Carlos Dunga, the midfield footsoldier who lifted the 1994 World Cup and has now been trusted with guiding Brazil to the top of the tree in South Africa in 2010.

It is an extraordinary show of faith from the five-times winners, given that Dunga has no managerial experience and has turned down dozens of offers to move into coaching since retiring seven years ago.

A knock-on effect of the 42-year-old's appointment is that he has resigned as a non-executive director at QPR - even though he was not required to do so under FIFA rules.

Rangers say Dunga will continue to be a shareholder "for the time being" but it seems only a matter of the i's being dotted and t's being crossed before the final whistle is blown on one of English football's most bizarre relationships.

The Brazilian icon became involved with QPR 22 months ago when he emerged as the figurehead for two mysterious Monaco-based consortia, Barnaby and Wanlock, who had invested Pounds 1.7million for a 30 per cent stake in the club. But what exactly has he contributed to the Super Hoops?
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Still instantly recognisable with the buzz-cut hairstyle that he paraded as one of football's most reliable midfield enforcers, Dunga was greeted with enthusiasm by supporters when he first arrived at Shepherds Bush.

He explained he had been persuaded to come on board by his friends at Barnaby, who included QPR kingpin Antonio Caliendo, a former football agent, and looked forward to being an ambassador for the club, promoting their name across the globe and using his South American contacts to alert them of any top young talent. In an interview with Standard Sport, Dunga displayed a deft touch in public relations by naming all the Loftus Road heroes of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s.

Some were sceptical of his involvement but others appreciated the muchneeded glitz and glamour he brought to Loftus Road, qualities which had been absent in the post-administration era.

There were fears that Dunga had been recruited to unseat manager Ian Holloway but the multilingual Brazilian stressed he had no ambitions in that field, ironic as that now appears.

"I've got no intention of being a football manager," he explained. "I get phone calls every week from clubs asking me to be their manager. In Brazil, I've been asked three or four time this season to manage Flamengo."

However, Dunga was to have little time for QPR in a hectic schedule that centred on his work as an ambassador for the Brazilian national team and consultant to one of his former clubs, Jubilo Iwata in Japan.

He went to only a handful of Rangers games in two years and failed to bring in any South American talent, blaming work permit restrictions on the players.

When quizzed by one supporter at last year's AGM what he actually brought to the Loftus Road plate, Dunga was evasive before chairman Gianni Paladini leapt to his defence, claiming: "He brought in money to save this club, that's what he has helped with."

The former Fiorentina and Stuttgart star was one of five men said to have invested equal sums of around Pounds 500,000 in QPR, a shareholding that now stands at 49 per cent.

Yet it would appear not to be a match made in heaven for Dunga, who cynics suggest may have been recruited by the Monaco consortia as a frontman to appease supporters dubious of investment from unknown foreigners.

Apart from the cash and the publicity, it seems his legacy to Rangers will prove to be the role he played in ousting Bill Power and Mark Devlin, the former chairman and chief executive, from the board last summer.

This dramatic coup ultimately paved the way for Paladini and Caliendo, now a director, to assume full control at the cash- strapped club.

Dunga had not attended any of the previous six board meetings before he flew into London to use his casting vote to axe Devlin and Power. Maybe it was that kind of ruthlessness which so impressed the powerbrokers at the Brazil Football Federation.

Brazil Star in a nutshell

After missing QPR targets, Dunga has switched tribes Brazil star in a nutshell Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri (nicknamed Dunga, which is Portuguese for Dopey) Born: 31 October, 1963, Rio Grande do Sul Position: midfielder Clubs: Internacional (1980-84, 1999-2000), Corinthians (1984-85), Santos (1986-87), Vasco da Gama (1987), Pisa (1987-88), Fiorentina (1988-92), Pescara (1992-93), VfB Stuttgart (1993-95), Jubilo Iwata (1995-98) International career: Brazil (1987- 98) - 91 games, six goals; led country to 1994 World Cup triumph Post-retirement: QPR director 2004-2006, Appointed Brazil head coach July 2006
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