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Bernie Ecclestone Speaking re QPR and Football
"....It is not poker, however, but football that has become his other sporting foray away from F1. Along with Flavio Briatore and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, he is a co-owner of Queens Park Rangers, making them the world's richest football club . . . on paper at least.
Ecclestone does not exactly talk with enthusiasm about the Championship outfit. He admits he would struggle to name a player in Neil Warnock's squad, he has only been to two or three matches although might go to more this season, and his footballing allegiances lie elsewhere.
“QPR? I don't have a real passion for it at all,” he admits. “I got into it by accident. I'm a Chelsea fan. I got involved through Flavio Briatore. It's difficult not to buy into his enthusiasm for things. I took some shares, I don't care. It's just something I've done.”
On the broader subject of the state of football, Ecclestone is quite scathing, especially when it comes to the multi-millionaires who have become club owners.
“People are either passionate enough to get into it or else they want to massage their ego,” he adds, although then insists he does not fall into either camp. “Football commercially is a disaster and is going to be in trouble until they start sorting out the costs. Look at most of the clubs in the Championship. They're all in trouble financially.”
His lack of footballing ambition is quite clear at QPR. When asked if he dreams of promotion to the Premier League for the club, quick as a flash, he replies: “I hope not. That's just even more aggravation.”
Complete Mail/Standard Article
Bernie Ecclestone: If there are no fires to fight then I’m happy to start one
Matt Majendie
21.07.10
Hopes had been high of a home winner at this year's British Grand Prix, much as they were at Silverstone in 1950 when Reg Parnell lined up on pole for the inaugural Formula One World Championship race.
As it was, the British public were denied a dream start as Parnell was upstaged by the similar Alfa Romeo of Giuseppe Farina.
Watching in the stands was an impressionable teenager. The 19-year-old in question did not have his heart set on a Parnell victory nor was there anyone else he was particularly rooting for. In fact, Bernie Ecclestone claims he only had one hero behind the wheel of a car at the time — himself.
“I don't think I really had a hero — I thought I was my own hero, that I was it as a racing driver,” he admits. “I was competing in the F3 race that weekend. I'd driven up to Silverstone and slept in my car. At the time, I was just a kid racing — I was only 19.”
In the intervening six decades since the world championship's inception, F1 has changed beyond all recognition and it is perhaps appropriate that the sport's ringmaster was among the crowd at that first race.
Ecclestone, though, is not one for nostalgia. There is no dewy-eyed look as he casts his mind back to 1950 and the great championships since then.
“Yesterday's finished. I worry about today and tomorrow,” is his frank assessment. At the moment, though, Ecclestone, who turns 80 a few days after October's inaugural Korean Grand Prix, insists he has no major worries, unsurprising for a man who is thought to have made about £2.5billion for him and his family from F1.
He is not concerned about a row brewing between him as F1's commercial rights holder and the Formula One Teams' Association over sponsorship branding at grand prix weekends, leading him to claim in an earlier interview that “there is no space for FOTA”.
As he does with all his comments — however outlandish they might sometimes seem — he sticks by them but downplays suggestions of a new political spat in F1.
“I'm not on a collision course with FOTA, they're on a collision course with each other,” he insists. “Competitors will never be together. You can't expect 12 race teams to all be together on everything.”
As for the specifics of the row itself, Ecclestone adds: “The teams were putting sponsorship on property that belongs to us. I explained to them that's fine and maybe we wouldn't have a problem with that if we could put some things on their cars.”
Ecclestone looks to have got his way in this particular disagreement, which has tended to be the case since he became F1's commercial rights holder.
He clearly enjoys the individual battles. In fact, when he talks about it — he calls it “firefighting” — it's the closest he comes to a smile in our interview.
His assessment of himself is quite simple. He says: “I like achieving things and I see myself as something of a firefighter and I never get tired of it. And if there are no fires, we light a few of our own.”
There have been plenty of fires over the years and one wonders why, approaching his ninth decade, Ecclestone is still squabbling over the future of F1. The son of a trawlerman from Suffolk insists neither the money nor the power drive him on.
“Solving things in F1 drives me and the satisfaction of achieving something,” he says. “For example, the Texas thing was satisfying,” in reference to the deal for Austin to host the United States Grand Prix from 2012, “and I have no desire to stop. When I can't do what I think I should be doing, then I think I'll stop.”
That does not look likely to come any time soon. Not even heart surgery and a triple coronary bypass in 1999 got him to cut back. He talks proudly of defying the doctors who told him not to drive for three months — “I didn't drive for 10 days” — and talks of the operation as though he had just popped out to the shops.
“I called the doctor, said are you busy on Wednesday and that was it,” he recalls. “It worked well, although I had to come back for them to stitch me up again. But I was back in the office in two weeks' time.”
Ecclestone has an incredible work ethic although hates the term workaholic'. When I ask if he falls into that category, he says: “It's a strange word. I'm happy when I'm successful and when doing what I'm trying to achieve. If it takes a little bit longer to achieve things sometimes then so be it.”
He brushes off his own operation and furthermore his mortality, insisting he does not think about either. “These sorts of operations are just like going to the dentist,” he points out. “It's like a while-you-wait service. I wasn't worried. Why should I be,” before claiming he never considers his own mortality. “I don't think long term — that just gets you in a mess,” he says.
Ecclestone likes to think in the shorter term. As for more immediate goals, he wants an F1 race in both Russia and Africa but talks about both as though he is plotting a family holiday.
“We should make more of an effort to go to Russia and we need to think about Africa,” he says, although refuses to be drawn on a possible location for an F1 return to the continent in question. Just as his thoughts turn to an African Grand Prix, our interview is interrupted by his mobile phone ring tone — and an unlikely one at that, the theme tune to the western the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
His whispering tone evaporates and his voice noticeably softens as he discusses a charity cause. As the call ends, he mutters “my daughter” by way of explanation and returns to the sort of glare that makes him a good poker player, one of his few past times.
It is not poker, however, but football that has become his other sporting foray away from F1. Along with Flavio Briatore and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, he is a co-owner of Queens Park Rangers, making them the world's richest football club . . . on paper at least.
Ecclestone does not exactly talk with enthusiasm about the Championship outfit. He admits he would struggle to name a player in Neil Warnock's squad, he has only been to two or three matches although might go to more this season, and his footballing allegiances lie elsewhere.
“QPR? I don't have a real passion for it at all,” he admits. “I got into it by accident. I'm a Chelsea fan. I got involved through Flavio Briatore. It's difficult not to buy into his enthusiasm for things. I took some shares, I don't care. It's just something I've done.”
On the broader subject of the state of football, Ecclestone is quite scathing, especially when it comes to the multi-millionaires who have become club owners.
“People are either passionate enough to get into it or else they want to massage their ego,” he adds, although then insists he does not fall into either camp. “Football commercially is a disaster and is going to be in trouble until they start sorting out the costs. Look at most of the clubs in the Championship. They're all in trouble financially.”
His lack of footballing ambition is quite clear at QPR. When asked if he dreams of promotion to the Premier League for the club, quick as a flash, he replies: “I hope not. That's just even more aggravation.”
Back to his overriding passion of F1, he describes 2010 to date as a good season but not great and believes Sebastian Vettel will upstage British duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to be crowned world champion at the end of the season.
As for the rest of the championship contenders, he admits to having solely been surprised by Button and Silverstone winner Mark Webber this season, and is of the belief that Michael Schumacher, now with Mercedes, will eventually come good on his return from three years out of the sport.
“Jenson has surprised me and not so much with his ability but the car,” says Ecclestone. “I didn't think McLaren would have been so good.” As for Schumacher, F1's puppet master is certain it was not an error coming back. “No, not at all,” is his assessment. “I just don't think he's in the right car. He's still got enough talent to win races.”
While the seven-time world champion battles to climb up the grid, Ecclestone looks certain to dictate the ever-changing face of F1 behind the scenes for the foreseeable future.
As for the legacy he will leave behind when he steps down, he is not concerned about people's perceptions of him. “I don't care what people think,” he insists . . . and I tend to believe him. This is London
QPR OFFICIAL SITE - NW: 'SO FAR, SO GOOD'
Posted on: Wed 21 Jul 2010
'So far, so good' - that's the verdict of Neil Warnock after less than 24 hours of the R's pre-season tour in Italy.
Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk ahead of tonight's friendly against Equipe Romagna, Warnock said: "It's great to be out here.
"The facilities are great - the hotel and the training ground are just what we were looking for.
"The staff have been first class and the lads are enjoying it."
With temperatures already reaching 85 degrees at this mornings 9.00am training session, the R's gaffer is aware of the need to rotate again tonight, commenting: "It's very hot, so I've had a chat with them about the game tonight and it's all about keeping possession and letting the ball do the work in this heat.
"It won't be a Championship type game tonight - it's all about fitness and getting game time under their belts.
"We'll use all the squad again- we'll have to because of the heat."
R's centre-back Fitz Hall is likely to miss out with a knock tonight, but Warnock expects the giant defender to return to full training in the coming days.
"Fitz felt a little bit tight last week, but it's possible he'll play Sunday," said Warnock.
"He wants to play - he loves his football and he's looking really good."
Looking ahead to tonight's clash at lo Stadio dei Pini, Warnock added: "We're helping the Italian FA out tonight.
"It's a trial game for the opposition - they're all free transfers from Clubs in Serie A.
"They'll be up for it - there's no doubt about that - but we're looking forward to the challenge that awaits." QPR
QPR Official Site - RESERVE REPORT
Posted on: Wed 21 Jul 2010
Damion Stewart will be involved for the QPR Reserve side this evening as they take on Taunton in Cornwall after the Jamaican was unable to travel to Italy with the First Team owing to visa issues.
The R's centre back, who featured for the First Team in Cornwall last week, is likely to start tonight, and Jepson told www.qpr.co.uk: "With him unable to go to Italy, it was important that we got him down here as it gives him the chance to get more match minutes under his belt.
"It will be nice for Damion to start tonight and build his levels because that's what pre-season games are all about.
"It can be beneficial to take players away from their normal training environment. You can do as much preparation work as you like but nothing beats actually playing matches."
Tonight's match at Taunton comes just two days after Jepson's side beat Saltash United 3-2, coming back from 2-0 down in the closing stages of the game.
Goals from Rowan Vine, Danny Fitzsimmons and Romone Rose grabbed victory for the R's, although QPR could have had the game wrapped up far earlier.
"To be honest, we created enough chances to win three games," Jepson added. "Their goalkeeper just had one of those nights between the posts but the result isn't important at this stage of the season.
"To score three goals late on says a lot about our improving fitness levels and hopefully we are starting to get there.
"We've got a good mixture down here of senior pros and younger lads and it is beneficial for them all.
"After Taunton tonight, we've got Hayes & Yeading on Saturday. By that point, our fitness levels should be at such a point that our football will really start to come through." QPR