Bernie Ecclestone on Buying QPR, Interest in Chelsea and Football...Meanwhile QPR's Gianni Paladini Marks Five Years Since First Seeing QPR

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The National (UAE) - Ecclestone: bad enemy but a good friend
- ".....Then, without the slightest glimmer of a smile, he fixes me with an unblinking stare and avows: “What people should know about me is that I am a good and true friend – but I am a bad enemy.”- That is his mantra – and has been over the 30 years we have been friends – and in both instances there are many people who have good cause to remember his double-edged remark...."

- After throwing in off-handedly that he and Flavio Briatore, his friend and the Renault team principal, came close to bidding for the Premier League club Chelsea, before they bought Queen Park Rangers, and gave way to the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, he revealed he is now a confirmed football fan.- “We thought about buying Liverpool, too, and Manchester United,” he told me, “but I am a southern boy and having to travel up north, when I could get to QPR or Chelsea so easily, was a much more sensible plan and a better investment for us.”
- Now he is a frequent guest of Abramovich’s at Stamford Bridge – and returns the favours with VIP passes for the Monaco Grand Prix whenever the oligarch decides to park up his $200m yacht off Monte Carlo for a switch of sports.
- “Flavio and I were very serious about buying Chelsea,” says Ecclestone.
- “But it was really very complicated and would have taken too much time to go through the books.
- “And I certainly didn’t want to make it a battle with Abramovich and take him on at his own game, so I backed off.
- “In the final analysis it may not have been such a bad thing for the club – I am so tight-fisted with my money I wouldn’t have spent anywhere near the cash Roman has done in buying such fantastic players and that fantastic training facility in Surrey.
- “I used to say that if the two greatest football teams in the world were playing in my back garden I wouldn’t look through the window to watch – but now I am hooked.
0 “I love the game. I’ve even taken my own plane twice to Barcelona to watch Chelsea. And when I’m not at QPR I‘m at Stamford Bridge with Abramovich. His money has worked miracles for the club.
- “The game has been an eye-opener for me. When you get to see players like David Beckham you realise you are watching much more than just a footballer – and a great one at that – you are seeing a phenomenon with an extra ability to generate massive amounts of money and sponsorships.
- “And it is a case of....wow...I just wish he could drive a Formula One car. Maybe I should get one of the teams to give him a run out.”
At least he said that with the trace of a smile....The National


A Milestone for QPR's Sporting Director (and former Chairman) Gianni Paladini
- It's Five Years to the Day, since Gianni Paladini saw his First QPR Game: March 20, 2004, away to Wycombe in the second Division.
The QPR team: Camp, Forbes (sub HT Edghill), Carlisle, Gnohere, Rowlands, McLeod (sub 75 Cureton), Bircham (sub 86 Bean), Johnson, Gallen, Thorpe, Furlong - subs not used Day, Palmer Bookings: Carlisle (foul 42), Bircham (foul 59)
Scorers: Gallen (46), Rowlands (68) - Further Details: - Milestone for QPR's Sporting Director (and former Chairman) Gianni Paladini


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