Chairman Paladini Interviewed/Speaks!

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Interview with Gianni Paladini in The London Paper, March 14, by Matt Butler

"Face to Face: Gianni Paladini"

EXCERPTS

"QPR Chairman Gianni Paladini is not well. He says the stomach ulcer he has is due to the stress of running QPR...."

"....But he vows he will not walk away and leave the club in the lurch. Not because he loves the job, but because of his loyalty to his associates who have pumped in more than 8 million pounds...'I either have to carry on or go bust. The directors have put quite a lot of money into the club and without it we would have gone bust. Every single month the board is putting money in. Without this money, how was the club supposed to survive? When I took over at the club the losses were 4.5 million pounds - and now it is less than two [million pounds]. Next year we will probably break even and maybe even make a profit because the money from the players we sold this season will go into the budget for next year."

"It is not a nice thing to do to ask for people's financial help then jump ship.' But if someone came in with enough money to pay everybody off then I would do it tomorrow..."

[re John Gregory]:
"...If he doesn't keep us up then the fans won't be happy and...we'll have to look at that when the time comes..."

[re Former Press Secretary, Jackie Bass] "John told Jackie she wasn't allowed to go into the changing rooms. The players are in there walking around sometimes with no clothes on. It doesn't look right. Anyway she resigned, it's no big deal.."

re Tony Roberts: "The reason was that we had three goalkeepers and a coach. There may have been something else going on, but John's got his staff and he decides who he wants and who he doesn't.."

"...I have been called all sorts of things - Mafiaman, waiterman and pizzaman. I was called a wanker recently by some supporters. I want to know, when the club had to borrow 10 million pounds to stay open, when they were out with a bucket raising money for players, whether they needed a wanker like me. Because I am saving the club, they didn't. If every wanker is like me, vive les wankers"

The World According to Gianni Paladini

On the Positives of Running a Club
"There is nothing good about being Chairman of a football club"

On his past life as an agent:
"I used to have a fantastic Lifestyle, being invited to functions all the time, living in a nice house in the Canaries with a boat and another one in Italy. But I am stuck here like an idiot, being called things like cannelloni man."

On His Relationship with Fans
"If you are doing badly, the manager and the chairman gets stick. When things go well the manager gets praise - and the Chairman is still a wanker. I want them to see there is light at the end of the tunnel."

On the Stresses of Running QPR
"It affects your health. When I leve home I say to my wife: "I hope you don't get a phone call from the hospital telling you to pick me up feet first."