FIRST QPR GAME UNDER FLOODLIGHTS!
Above From the Bushman Photo Archives - QPR History in Photos: From the 1880s to the 21st Century
- QPR HISTORY 1965-1972 By Gordon Macey as originally posted on the QPR Official Site
- QPR: 8 and 9 Summers Flashback
- QPR: 8 and 9 Summers Flashback
NEIL WARNOCK ON BHATIA AND PALADINI
Neil Warnock from the Book Acknowledgments "...Thanks also to Amit Bhatia for taking me to QPR where I had a wonderful experience turning the club around and worked with Gianni Paladini, who always made me smile and still does"
Look Inside the book...
Mirror/ Oliver Holt
Ex-QPR boss Warnock reveals 'Shaun Wright-Phillips treated me with contempt ... I was disgusted"
6 Jun 2013 22:30
England winger's reaction to being fined made his then-manager realise how hard it is to discipline players with big wages - and egos
Sticky situation: Wright-Phillips mocked disciplinary letter by taping it to his training top Sticky situation: Wright-Phillips mocked disciplinary letter by taping it to his training top
Ian Walton
Neil Warnock’s life-long love of football was sapped by his spell in charge of Queens Park Rangers.
In particular, Warnock has told how he despaired of the attitude of some of his players and their disruptive antics.
QPR's Moroccan playmaker, Adel Taarabt, had to be indulged constantly - to the point where Warnock had to plead with other players to make allowances for him.
There were fierce dressing-room rows between players and a rebellion about the London club's training ground facilities.
And that was before Warnock - who took the Londoners up to the Premier League as champions, but was sacked halfway through the following season - had to deal with the eccentric input of the club's former co-owner Flavio Briatore.
But a low point for the now 64-year-old manager came when he imposed a routine fine on Shaun Wright-Phillips for being booked for dissent.
“Wright-Phillips was informed of his fine by letter, which is the procedure,” Warnock writes in his new book, The Gaffer.
“Instead of seeing me, knocking on the door, and complaining, he Sellotaped the letter on to his back at training in front of all the players, treating it like a joke.
“It was a lack of respect and I was disappointed with that and I told him so.
“That was the moment that I realised just how difficult it was for managers in the modern day to discipline players with such big egos, on such big wages.
“That was one of the most disappointing mornings for me at QPR. Inside I was disgusted with Shaun yet to him it was a joke.
“I kept thinking I was the manager that got him out of the hell of Man City when no one else would touch him, gave him a cracking contract, brought him back to his home in London and then was treated with such contempt.
“I didn’t think I deserved it.”
Click here for Warnock on why David Moyes is bad news for Mourinho
The Gaffer: The Trials And Tribulations Of A Football Manager, by Neil Warnock, is published by Headline Books. Out now £16.99. Mirror
MIRROR
By John Cross, Darren Lewis
Redknapp QPR quit threat saga rolls on as club's chiefs don't blink - and target Bridge joins Reading
6 Jun 2013 22:30
Manager hinted he'd walk if relegated Rangers' chiefs didn't back him on transfers, and now he's missed out on defender he wanted
What now? Harry Redknapp's future seems up in the air What now? Harry Redknapp's future seems up in the air
Scott Heavey
Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp's future is still in doubt, after it emerged the club was unmoved by his threat to quit.
Redknapp warned on Wednesday that he was ready to walk out on the newly-relegated west Londoners if their top brass interfered over transfers.
And Wayne Bridge - whose signing was blocked by QPR to spark Redknapp's fury - delivered a hammer blow to the isolated boss on Thursday night when he joined Championship rivals Reading.
Former Manchester City and England defender Bridge has turned down interest from the Premier League to sign a one-year deal with the Royals, because he is convinced by manager Nigel Adkins' plans for the club.
Redknapp made a last-ditch plea to stop Bridge, a free-agent after his City contract expired, going to Reading.
But Rangers continued to block his move for the left-back.
Chief executive Philip Beard, who has been put in charge of overseeing transfers by owner Tony Fernandes, is standing by the Loftus Road club's transfer policy.
Bridge will turn 33 in August and Rangers do not want to make further big financial mistakes stung on older players after being stung by the arrival of the likes of £70,000-a-week Jose Bosingwa, 30, in recent transfer windows.
Rangers are already struggling with a massive cash crisis following their relegation, as they have a string of players under contract on big salaries and can't get of them.
The club insist they now have a strict financial structure that they refuse
to deviate from, particularly for older players.
Costly: QPR's decision to sign Bosingwa didn't pay off
QPR
They are also unwilling to sanction the sort of big payments to agents they made last summer and, in desperation, during the winter window as they spught players who could save them from relegation.
The stance has placed Beard - currently at the Football League AGM in Portugal - on collision course with Redknapp, who wants assurances from Fernandes.
Redknapp said on Wednesday: "You can't have other people have a say at all.
I'm a football person and I've got a staff around me of football people. We've got to make the decisions and, if we make the right ones, we will
have a chance.
"Otherwise, if other people want to make the decisions, we've got no
chance. If I don't get that, then I wouldn't stick around.
"I'll speak to Tony Fernandes. They've got to back me with the people I
want. I'm not asking him to spend money, I'm looking at a couple of free
transfers." Mirror
Ealing Gazette - Council to challenge Warren Farm protestors
Jun 6 2013 By James Gates
EALING Council has pledged to fight legal action by a residents group over the Warren Farm sports facility.
Hanwell Community Forum has served papers against the council, alleging that it has illegally ‘gifted’ the site to Queens Park Rangers Football Club, which is investing £30million in the project.
The group, which is working with Hanwell law firm DH Law, also wrote to the Mayor of London as it believes Ealing has given QPR permission to build on protected Metropolitan Open Land, the equivalent of a green belt.
Carolyn Brown, chair of the forum said: “Warren Farm’s playing fields, currently open for everyone to use, would be fenced off.
“The council has approved buildings equivalent in height to four to six-storey blocks of flats, in a design more suited to Heathrow Airport than to green space.
“Only a third of the land would remain available for community use. At the moment we have many full size and junior pitches spread across the fields, so football and cricket matches and other sports tournaments can be played in adjacent spaces without interfering with each other.”
Ms Brown stressed that the forum was not anti-football or anti-QPR: “What we actually need is a new sports pavilion with 21st century changing facilities and a social and catering space, to service the existing pitches which are already the best in the Borough. This could be achieved through sports grants without having to give the land away for seven generations.”
Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council said: “During the toughest economic times in our history, the council is trying to secure long-term investment in high-quality community sporting facilities that will benefit generations of Ealing residents.
“Before this agreement goes ahead, QPR will have to commit to significant investment in Warren Farm and its public facilities, so to suggest it is a gift is nonsense.
“If this legal action results in a judicial review it will put the council’s finances under even more strain, but we will be able to demonstrate that the decision by our planning committee was sound and based on proper planning conditions, and that the council was acting in the best interests of the people of this borough.”
Ms Brown said: “It’s both shocking and disappointing that the community has to involve the legal system in order to get their council to listen.
“We do not want to spend our council taxes in challenging the council, but they are effectively giving away two thirds of this important green space to a commercial organisation, considerably diminishing the existing space used for community sports.
“The vast majority of QPR’s investment would be in their own facilities, for their own use, not in community sports.
“As far as we are aware, Mayor Boris Johnson, as protector of our city’s metropolitan open land, has yet to endorse the council’s planning approval. And the final decision to go to Judicial Review is entirely in the council’s hands. Ealing Gazette
”
QPR Official Site - Statement
Club aware of latest action regarding Warren Farm ...
THE club is aware of action being taken by the Hanwell Community Forum (HCF) against the London Borough of Ealing in relation to Warren Farm.
In response, the council have issued the following statement from Council Leader, Councillor Julian Bell.
‘During the toughest economic times in our history, the council is trying to secure long-term investment in high-quality community sporting facilities that will benefit generations of Ealing residents. Before this agreement goes ahead, QPR will have to commit to significant investment in Warren Farm and its public facilities, so to suggest it is a gift is nonsense. If this legal action results in a judicial review it will put the council’s finances under even more strain, but we will be able to demonstrate that the decision by our planning committee was sound and based on proper planning conditions, and that the council was acting in the best interests of the people of this borough.’
Queens Park Rangers Football Club remains committed to the project and will continue to work closely with the council to ensure that the planning permission and decision to lease the site to the club stands.
We will be making no further comment at this stage. QPR Official Site
SEVEN YEAR FLASHBACK!
June 8, 2006 - QPR Official Site - PALADINI SPEAKS
With the start of a new season beckoning, Gianni Paladini would like to clarify the position and goals of QPR:
Last year was a difficult season both for the club and for me personally. I feel that resultant media coverage and speculation has obscured what the Board are striving to achieve with the club, so I would like to take this opportunity to re-state our goals.
Let us state up-front that our ultimate goal is to get the club back into the Premiership where we believe QPR belong, but we know that this will only be achieved with a gradual step by step approach.
To achieve this goal we need to provide the club with financial stability and to improve the quality of playing squad and coaching staff.
As stated previously, the aim of the current Board is for the underlying business of the club to break-even.
Next season will see further improvements and we expect the losses fall to below £1m - a significant improvement on the years before I became involved with the club.
Without the financial support of the current Board, the club would have gone into administration last season. With the financial resources being made available, the club will not go into administration with the current Board in control.
All the members of the Board are people who love football and are committed to QPR.
The Board has already put in place our financing for next season and we will continue to bring in new investors, to help fund further improvements to the squad and the club.
We are currently engaged in discussions with potential new investors, who are very enthusiastic about QPR, and we hope to make an announcement about this in the near future.
The Club would also like to highlight three commercial deals that the current Board have done for the club.
The new four year deal with our shirt manufacturer Le Coq Sportif will bring in an additional £250,000 per annum; the new shirt sponsors Cargiant will bring in £150,000 per annum; and the new stand and shorts sponsors GJ Electrical will also bring in another £150,000 per annum.
In addition, there are two other high value commercial deals, currently in the final stages of negotiation, that will be announced soon.
There would appear to be a contradiction between the club breaking even and improving the quality of the squad. Recent experience has taught us that just spending money on players will not guarantee results, unless of course you have the resources of Russian oligarch at your disposal.
However, with a solid financial and administrative base established at the club, the Board and new investors will feel confident enough to provide further resources for the playing squad.
As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.
What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is.
The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.
Just to confirm what has been stated previously, Gary Waddock is the Manager-designate and once the situation with Ian Holloway has been resolved then Gary will formally be announced as the Manager.
Recent speculation in the press about a dispute regarding compensation between Ian Holloway and the club is wholly untrue.
We continue to have an amicable relationship with Ian, who is still being paid in full. Ian hopes to have a managerial position sorted out with a new club shortly.
Gary has been responsible for selecting next season's squad and coaching team. The first team squad for next season will comprise of 26 players which is only two players less than the squad we started last season with.
Many old favourites are still here such as Dan shiteetu, Lee Cook, Gareth Ainsworth, Paul Furlong and Kevin Gallen.
Martin Rowlands and Matthew Rose will also be back from injury. We are spoilt for choice with two excellent goalkeepers in Simon Royce and Paul Jones as well as Jake Cole and Sean Thomas waiting in the wings.
We have a superb group of youngsters coming through with Scott Donnelly, Shabazz Baidoo, Stefan Bailey, Dominic Shimmin and Pat Kanyuka.
Our new signings include Damion Stewart, who had a good game for Jamaica against England and Armel Tchakounte from Cameroon. We look forward to announcing the final three signings that we are currently negotiating with as soon as we are able.
I would like to thank all the fans that have already renewed their season tickets for next season.
The volume of season tickets processed so far at 6,300 is slightly down on the number of tickets processed at this stage last year, a pattern that has been reflected across other clubs, but we expect further sales once we confirm next season's signings.
The vast majority of these are full price season ticket renewals and 443 are new full price season ticket holders.
There are 417 free tickets for kids so far and I am personally delighted that we have attracted these young season tickets holders as they are the fans of the future.
We have put our finances in order, our losses will continue to fall towards a break even situation, we have a new manager ready to take us forward and we have a new and younger squad that will form the basis of a team to challenge for promotion to the Premiership.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the first home game of next season, and I thank you for your continued loyal support.
Come on you R's!
R
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