Post by QPR Report on Feb 25, 2010 16:28:04 GMT
Amit Bhatia Q&A
QPR Official Site - AMIT Q&A ON QPR PLAYER!
From season ticket prices to why he isn't the new Chairman, from improving communication with the fans to dealing with poor attendances, QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman Amit Bhatia has spoken exclusively to QPR PLAYER regarding the issues which are most important to YOU!
Amit on new Chairman Ishan Saksena...
- "The biggest change since the restructuring is that Ishan is now the Chairman of QPR.
- "I believe he has a set of instructions and a vision for how decisions are made and how the Club should be, as well as the stability and security that should come with running a Football Club."
About the new man in control...
- "Ishan is somebody that I have known for a very long time, and who I have an awful amount of trust in.
- "I believe that QPR needs someone who is full-time, aware to its needs and has 100 per cent commitment. It was the best decision therefore to appoint Ishan."
- On taking the Club forward...- "Our vision as a family is to reintroduce stability into the Football Club. It's of great importance. An organisation cannot succeed if there's no stability at the top.
- "By empowering the right people and by doing the right things we will achieve great success."
To hear much more from Amit, tune into QPR Player later today where you will find the first of our three-part exclusive interview with the QPR Vice Chairman.
Not registered to QPR Player? Click here to join for less than 10p a day! - www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1975787,00.html
Part II
Now up on the Official Site QPR Player (World)
Posted on: Thu 25 Feb 2010
In the second of our three-part exclusive interview with Amit Bhatia, the QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman discusses the issues which matter to YOU. Today, he shares his thoughts on season ticket prices and improving communiation with the fans.
Amit on season ticket prices…
"What I can say to the fans is that I have individually spoken with each of the groups involved with QPR and I have challenged each of them to come up with the best solution possible."
Article continues
Advertisement
MPU Pre-Order The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Regarding attendances at Loftus Road…
"It's a great experience for the fans to come to a packed house, a great experience for the players to play in a packed house and it would be great to see that we were able to do something that brought Loftus Road back to its rocking best."
On improving communication with the supporters…
"If we can better the communication, then people can learn about my aspirations for QPR and I can learn about the history that this Club has, so it is something that we definitely need to work on."
To hear much more from Amit, tune into QPR Player later today where you will find the second of our three-part exclusive interview with the QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman.
Not registered to QPR Player? Click here to join for less than 10p a day!
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/thread/edit/11453#ixzz587l2V5Cm
Amit Bhatia Q&A - Part III -
www.qpr.co.uk/articles/20100226/e....8149~1,00.h tml
VitalQPR Transcript www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189769
Thanks to Sandy and the guys at VitalQPR
FROM VITAL QPR FROM back then
I Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part one
Amit Bhatia must have been gagged! Last season he seemed to have become the "voice" of the Board. But this season not only had we, the fans, heard nothing from Bhatia (or the Board, let`s be honest); but Bhatia himself had hardly been seen around Loftus Road. If he came to the matches, he rarely sat in the Directors` Box until, that is, last Saturday.
With the well-documented Boardroom changes can a refreshing change in attitude towards the fans. First, came an unusually verbose announcement of those Boardroom changes themselves. Next, Bhatia was back in his seat in the front row of the Directors` Box for our first win in 2010 against Doncaster - and jumping up and down like a crackerjack experiencing all the highs and lows the rest of us "mere mortals" were experiencing during the match!
Now, Amit Bhatia - the so-called "voice of the Board" aka Vice Chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd - has spoken to QPR Player - and said so much they have had to split the interview into three parts! I listened in to part one and decided that, delighted as I am to be hearing his thoughts and opinions once more, I wanted to share with my fellow Vitallers. But I want you all to "hear" him as I did - without my interpretation. So read on for a Q&A with Amit Bhatia as given yesterday to QPR Player.
Q. What did the announcement last Friday mean for the future of QPR?
AB "Well, I think that it is an important event and it`s important less from a shareholding perspective but it`s more important from a decision-making perspective, from a vision perspective, from a direction perspective. The biggest change that has happened since the restructuring is the fact that Ishan Saksena is now the Chairman on the Club.
"I believe that he has a different set of instructions and vision for the Club for how the decision-making within the Club should be. And the stability and security that should come with running a football club are all things that I believe will be very different going forward."
Q. Why was long-term friend and associate, Ishan Saksens, named Flavio Briatore`s successor and not you?
AB "Ishan is somebody who I have known for a very long time and I have an enormous amount of trust in. The reason Ishan was made Chairman rather than myself is because I believe that it`s important to make a distinction between owners and Chairmen of the Club. I believe that QPR needs somebody who is full-time attentive to QPR and its needs. It is 100% commitment. It`s not a position that I take lightly or, I believe, should be taken lightly. I believe that the right person for Chairman is somebody who dedicated 100% of their time and attention and focus on the job in hand.
"Obviously I have other interests and business that I am involved in that also require my attention. And so, I didn`t want to be in a position where I was not able to commit the kind of love that this Club needs by being the Chairman. And I thought that it was probably the best decision, at that point in time, to make somebody who could do the best job at hand."
Q. Could the timing of the change been better - namely before the closure of the January transfer window?!
AB "I guess in a way I`m disappointed that we were in a position that it had to happen at all! I wish that things had continued very smoothly in the Club but obviously things were not going very smoothly in the Club and so a change had to happen for the betterment of QPR. So the timing was not ideal, of course, because it seems that we are in a situation today where we can make less changes - whether it be to strengthen the squad or otherwise - than we would have been able to do had we been able to had this restructuring have happened prior to the January transfer window. In that regard, I think the timing could have been better for sure! "
Q. What is the most important factor which you believe, as a decision-maker on the QPR Board, needs to be reintroduced to QPR?
AB "The vision of myself, of the family as well as of the Board of QPR is, first and foremost, to reintroduce stability into the Club. It`s of great importance in any organisation. An organisation cannot succeed and the people involved in the organisation cannot succeed if there`s no stability from the top.
"The most important change should be that the Club is now stable. Secondly, I think that we need to have long-term, strong decision-making. Things need to be done by professionals who excel at those particular fields.
" And it should not be a situation where we fall back on some of the old mistakes that were made - many of them made, not because of any bad intention, but simply as a lack of experience or know-how. So I think that, by empowering the right people, and by doing things the right way, that we will achieve great success."
Well - he certainly has my attention!! I can`t wait to hear his thoughts on, amongst other topics, season ticket prices … Watch this space ;-)
We want to know YOUR thoughts!
To have your say you can comment in the space provided below, or chat about it on the forum.
Read more: www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189582#ixzz1F6hnqcKn
II Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part two
After listening to Amit Bhatia speak so openly to QPR Player yesterday, I could not wait to hear what he had to say today, in part 2 of his mega-interview. I was certainly enthralled.
The bulk of this part of the interview concentrated on the somewhat thorny issue of next year`s season ticket prices. I am sure all Rs` fans will be delighted to hear that, once again, Bhatia is willing to listen to fans` concerns regarding prices and is prepared to act on those concerns.
Last season, Bhatia championed our cause, when the Board proposed that matches be categorised and prices adjusted according to the category of match we were watching. This was subsequently scrapped thanks to Bhatia who had listened to fans` concern - written and oral - and had helped veto the idea at Board level. It was Bhatia himself who wrote the open letter which we all read on the website allaying our fears.
Now, Bhatia is turning once again to the fans. He has met with representatives of various groups involved with QPR and issued them with a challenge to find a way to resolve the pricing issue for next year fairly for all the parties concerned.
ut the challenge does include one proviso, a personal desire of Bhatia: "We fill Loftus Road every single time we have a home game."
Bhatia went on to acknowledge that he realises that attendances depend on "how a club does in terms of performance on the pitch. But I believe we have a loyal fan base, that if we can make it competitive for them, affordable for them, to come and watch the games; that they will do so,"Bhatia continued.
Bhatia also admitted that there needed to be: "a better solution than exists and to find if that solution does exist. And if it does exist I will find it and I will make sure that we act upon it," he vowed.
Fans` will know just how much of a listener Bhatia is. He reads all letters written to him and he tries "to take on board the bits that I think are important. And I know for a fact that people are concerned about season ticket prices. And I think that we can do something to help," he acknowledged.
"It may not be necessarily just about the price," Bhatia continued. "But we can somehow make it more affordable by re-introducing the Early Bird Special for a longer period of time; by seeing if we can help people finance their tickets.
"I want to look at every option so that when the decision is made it is a good decision, and it`s a strong decision and it`s a decision that is better than any previous decision," Bhatia admitted somewhat intriguingly!
Bhatia seems to be sold on filling Loftus Road to the rafters so that we can all enjoy the match-day experience in a great atmosphere of enthusiastic and noisy support (well, I`ve added those adjectives personally - let the "boo-boys" stay away!!) Bhatia has met with internal staff at QPR, including the players and managerial staff, and has been left in no doubt that they all believe it is of the utmost importance that the crowd support the team on a match day (please note, that is my personal italics - as I, too, believe it is of paramount importance that we fans support our team!)
"It is a better experience for the fans to come to a packed house, for the players to play in a packed house, and for us to be able to see that we were able to do something that brought Loftus Road effectively to its rocking best. And I want that, I want it very badly. I want people to come. I want the whole QPR experience to be better," Bhatia reiterated passionately.
Bhatia has issued a further challenge to the internal staff at Loftus Road - to make the whole viewing experience better (I think, well hope, that he means he`s spoken to the players and management because, quite frankly, what we`ve been watching on the pitch has been woefully short of entertainment at times this season!)
Bhatia concluded his thoughts - for today - by acknowledging the need to improve communication with the QPR fans. Bhatia has been involved in fan-group meetings, his business schedule permitting, so that he can get a sense of the fans` feelings at any given moment.
Tellingly, he observed: "I have learnt, over the past couple of years, that fans know much more about the football Club than I think sometimes owners have given them credit for in the past. And I most definitely learn from them when I meet them."
In fact, some lucky, loyal fans who have held their season tickets for a long time, are to be invited to join Bhatia on a match day, "to sit in C Club and to watch from the Directors` Box. It gives me the opportunity to spend time with them, to understand people`s concerns, and hopefully it won`t always be about concerns but to learn something about the history of the Club," he added.
"If we can better the communication then they can learn more from me about my hopes and aspirations for the Club and I can learn from them about their experiences with the Club in the past and about the history that this Club has. That`s something I think we need to work on, definitely."
Ticketing and communication - two topics of great concern amongst Vitallers of course - although Bhatia did acknowledge, with a wry smile, that we fans do also bring to his attention our need for a new striker or even a left back!
What will he say tomorrow? I can`t wait to find that out!!
www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189632#ixzz1F6hHGXbG
IIII - Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part three
Amit Bhatia is a trustee of QPR in the Community Trust and is an active member as well. His work for the Trust has earned him the Emerald Knight Community Business In Sport award. He is clearly a man who loves to help others - he is doer not a talker!
Bhatia believes that a football club has "a greater service to its community than just providing the football side of it. It`s something I feel very passionately about since I`ve got involved in it." He has even spoken to the QPR players to remind them that they have a service to their community; but equally he feels that the fans should also remember that we need to do our part in supporting the Trust`s work specifically and the community in general.
It is especially heartening to know that the Vice Chairman of our Club has such deep-rooted interests in the wider QPR community - and that we already have seen the work he has done. Because, it goes a long way to show how genuinely passionate Bhatia is about QPR and, ultimately, gives us all renewed heart that the right people are now running our Club (at last!)
For example, Bhatia went on to talk about the transfer policy starting with this summer`s transfer window. We all know, quite clearly, what the transfer policy was of the previous regime. But Bhatia`s thoughts on this point made for very, very interesting listening (whilst also containing yet another slightly veiled dig at his predecessor!) "One of the big changes that I want there to be going forward is that I want to be able to explain, whether it be a budget or a vision for the Club, to the manager in charge. And from that point, it is the manager`s decision, with his professional people, to strengthen and make the squad the best that`s possible within that budget."
Are you getting the sense, as I have, that this Boardroom change will be more than mere window-dressing?! Wait for this then!
"What happens at the end of the season or in the January transfer window is a decision that I want to rest with the person who we have empowered to make those decisions."
Bhatia went on to reinforce his desire that we understand that he intends for things to change - and for the good of the Club! There may have been some difficult patches in the recent past - not just results but managerial changes - but he doesn`t believe we should take them too seriously, referring to them as "a small blip in this long history, even since I`ve been involved with the Club."
"Continue to have faith, continue to come out and support your team because the team needs you,"Bhatia continued.
"Have great trust that often in life things happen for a reason. If we`ve fallen upon hard times in the last few months, things are going to change!"
What you don`t get to see in my article, which I saw in the interview, was the enigmatic smile that accompanied this last comment - believe me when I say, that smile spoke a thousand words in itself! And they were all positive!!
Bhatia vowed:"I will endeavour, in my ability, to do the absolute best I can for this Club. My commitment to the Club is unwavering, is solid. Hence I found it important to get more involved, to step in and I`ll ask them that is, us the fans to support me in doing so."
So there you have it! The voice of an honest man who has my respect and trust and faith. With Bhatia involved I, personally, do think we can kick on - we just need to get those points on the board to ensure that we are kicking on from this league not a lower one (oh heaven forbid!!)
Read more: www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189769#ixzz1F6iCQLUS
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/thread/edit/11453#ixzz587lQVSRy
Part I Vital Football Transcript
www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189582
QPR Official Site - AMIT Q&A ON QPR PLAYER!
From season ticket prices to why he isn't the new Chairman, from improving communication with the fans to dealing with poor attendances, QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman Amit Bhatia has spoken exclusively to QPR PLAYER regarding the issues which are most important to YOU!
Amit on new Chairman Ishan Saksena...
- "The biggest change since the restructuring is that Ishan is now the Chairman of QPR.
- "I believe he has a set of instructions and a vision for how decisions are made and how the Club should be, as well as the stability and security that should come with running a Football Club."
About the new man in control...
- "Ishan is somebody that I have known for a very long time, and who I have an awful amount of trust in.
- "I believe that QPR needs someone who is full-time, aware to its needs and has 100 per cent commitment. It was the best decision therefore to appoint Ishan."
- On taking the Club forward...- "Our vision as a family is to reintroduce stability into the Football Club. It's of great importance. An organisation cannot succeed if there's no stability at the top.
- "By empowering the right people and by doing the right things we will achieve great success."
To hear much more from Amit, tune into QPR Player later today where you will find the first of our three-part exclusive interview with the QPR Vice Chairman.
Not registered to QPR Player? Click here to join for less than 10p a day! - www.qpr.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~1975787,00.html
Part II
Now up on the Official Site QPR Player (World)
Posted on: Thu 25 Feb 2010
In the second of our three-part exclusive interview with Amit Bhatia, the QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman discusses the issues which matter to YOU. Today, he shares his thoughts on season ticket prices and improving communiation with the fans.
Amit on season ticket prices…
"What I can say to the fans is that I have individually spoken with each of the groups involved with QPR and I have challenged each of them to come up with the best solution possible."
Article continues
Advertisement
MPU Pre-Order The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
Regarding attendances at Loftus Road…
"It's a great experience for the fans to come to a packed house, a great experience for the players to play in a packed house and it would be great to see that we were able to do something that brought Loftus Road back to its rocking best."
On improving communication with the supporters…
"If we can better the communication, then people can learn about my aspirations for QPR and I can learn about the history that this Club has, so it is something that we definitely need to work on."
To hear much more from Amit, tune into QPR Player later today where you will find the second of our three-part exclusive interview with the QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman.
Not registered to QPR Player? Click here to join for less than 10p a day!
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/thread/edit/11453#ixzz587l2V5Cm
Amit Bhatia Q&A - Part III -
www.qpr.co.uk/articles/20100226/e....8149~1,00.h tml
VitalQPR Transcript www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189769
Thanks to Sandy and the guys at VitalQPR
FROM VITAL QPR FROM back then
I Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part one
Amit Bhatia must have been gagged! Last season he seemed to have become the "voice" of the Board. But this season not only had we, the fans, heard nothing from Bhatia (or the Board, let`s be honest); but Bhatia himself had hardly been seen around Loftus Road. If he came to the matches, he rarely sat in the Directors` Box until, that is, last Saturday.
With the well-documented Boardroom changes can a refreshing change in attitude towards the fans. First, came an unusually verbose announcement of those Boardroom changes themselves. Next, Bhatia was back in his seat in the front row of the Directors` Box for our first win in 2010 against Doncaster - and jumping up and down like a crackerjack experiencing all the highs and lows the rest of us "mere mortals" were experiencing during the match!
Now, Amit Bhatia - the so-called "voice of the Board" aka Vice Chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd - has spoken to QPR Player - and said so much they have had to split the interview into three parts! I listened in to part one and decided that, delighted as I am to be hearing his thoughts and opinions once more, I wanted to share with my fellow Vitallers. But I want you all to "hear" him as I did - without my interpretation. So read on for a Q&A with Amit Bhatia as given yesterday to QPR Player.
Q. What did the announcement last Friday mean for the future of QPR?
AB "Well, I think that it is an important event and it`s important less from a shareholding perspective but it`s more important from a decision-making perspective, from a vision perspective, from a direction perspective. The biggest change that has happened since the restructuring is the fact that Ishan Saksena is now the Chairman on the Club.
"I believe that he has a different set of instructions and vision for the Club for how the decision-making within the Club should be. And the stability and security that should come with running a football club are all things that I believe will be very different going forward."
Q. Why was long-term friend and associate, Ishan Saksens, named Flavio Briatore`s successor and not you?
AB "Ishan is somebody who I have known for a very long time and I have an enormous amount of trust in. The reason Ishan was made Chairman rather than myself is because I believe that it`s important to make a distinction between owners and Chairmen of the Club. I believe that QPR needs somebody who is full-time attentive to QPR and its needs. It is 100% commitment. It`s not a position that I take lightly or, I believe, should be taken lightly. I believe that the right person for Chairman is somebody who dedicated 100% of their time and attention and focus on the job in hand.
"Obviously I have other interests and business that I am involved in that also require my attention. And so, I didn`t want to be in a position where I was not able to commit the kind of love that this Club needs by being the Chairman. And I thought that it was probably the best decision, at that point in time, to make somebody who could do the best job at hand."
Q. Could the timing of the change been better - namely before the closure of the January transfer window?!
AB "I guess in a way I`m disappointed that we were in a position that it had to happen at all! I wish that things had continued very smoothly in the Club but obviously things were not going very smoothly in the Club and so a change had to happen for the betterment of QPR. So the timing was not ideal, of course, because it seems that we are in a situation today where we can make less changes - whether it be to strengthen the squad or otherwise - than we would have been able to do had we been able to had this restructuring have happened prior to the January transfer window. In that regard, I think the timing could have been better for sure! "
Q. What is the most important factor which you believe, as a decision-maker on the QPR Board, needs to be reintroduced to QPR?
AB "The vision of myself, of the family as well as of the Board of QPR is, first and foremost, to reintroduce stability into the Club. It`s of great importance in any organisation. An organisation cannot succeed and the people involved in the organisation cannot succeed if there`s no stability from the top.
"The most important change should be that the Club is now stable. Secondly, I think that we need to have long-term, strong decision-making. Things need to be done by professionals who excel at those particular fields.
" And it should not be a situation where we fall back on some of the old mistakes that were made - many of them made, not because of any bad intention, but simply as a lack of experience or know-how. So I think that, by empowering the right people, and by doing things the right way, that we will achieve great success."
Well - he certainly has my attention!! I can`t wait to hear his thoughts on, amongst other topics, season ticket prices … Watch this space ;-)
We want to know YOUR thoughts!
To have your say you can comment in the space provided below, or chat about it on the forum.
Read more: www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189582#ixzz1F6hnqcKn
II Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part two
After listening to Amit Bhatia speak so openly to QPR Player yesterday, I could not wait to hear what he had to say today, in part 2 of his mega-interview. I was certainly enthralled.
The bulk of this part of the interview concentrated on the somewhat thorny issue of next year`s season ticket prices. I am sure all Rs` fans will be delighted to hear that, once again, Bhatia is willing to listen to fans` concerns regarding prices and is prepared to act on those concerns.
Last season, Bhatia championed our cause, when the Board proposed that matches be categorised and prices adjusted according to the category of match we were watching. This was subsequently scrapped thanks to Bhatia who had listened to fans` concern - written and oral - and had helped veto the idea at Board level. It was Bhatia himself who wrote the open letter which we all read on the website allaying our fears.
Now, Bhatia is turning once again to the fans. He has met with representatives of various groups involved with QPR and issued them with a challenge to find a way to resolve the pricing issue for next year fairly for all the parties concerned.
ut the challenge does include one proviso, a personal desire of Bhatia: "We fill Loftus Road every single time we have a home game."
Bhatia went on to acknowledge that he realises that attendances depend on "how a club does in terms of performance on the pitch. But I believe we have a loyal fan base, that if we can make it competitive for them, affordable for them, to come and watch the games; that they will do so,"Bhatia continued.
Bhatia also admitted that there needed to be: "a better solution than exists and to find if that solution does exist. And if it does exist I will find it and I will make sure that we act upon it," he vowed.
Fans` will know just how much of a listener Bhatia is. He reads all letters written to him and he tries "to take on board the bits that I think are important. And I know for a fact that people are concerned about season ticket prices. And I think that we can do something to help," he acknowledged.
"It may not be necessarily just about the price," Bhatia continued. "But we can somehow make it more affordable by re-introducing the Early Bird Special for a longer period of time; by seeing if we can help people finance their tickets.
"I want to look at every option so that when the decision is made it is a good decision, and it`s a strong decision and it`s a decision that is better than any previous decision," Bhatia admitted somewhat intriguingly!
Bhatia seems to be sold on filling Loftus Road to the rafters so that we can all enjoy the match-day experience in a great atmosphere of enthusiastic and noisy support (well, I`ve added those adjectives personally - let the "boo-boys" stay away!!) Bhatia has met with internal staff at QPR, including the players and managerial staff, and has been left in no doubt that they all believe it is of the utmost importance that the crowd support the team on a match day (please note, that is my personal italics - as I, too, believe it is of paramount importance that we fans support our team!)
"It is a better experience for the fans to come to a packed house, for the players to play in a packed house, and for us to be able to see that we were able to do something that brought Loftus Road effectively to its rocking best. And I want that, I want it very badly. I want people to come. I want the whole QPR experience to be better," Bhatia reiterated passionately.
Bhatia has issued a further challenge to the internal staff at Loftus Road - to make the whole viewing experience better (I think, well hope, that he means he`s spoken to the players and management because, quite frankly, what we`ve been watching on the pitch has been woefully short of entertainment at times this season!)
Bhatia concluded his thoughts - for today - by acknowledging the need to improve communication with the QPR fans. Bhatia has been involved in fan-group meetings, his business schedule permitting, so that he can get a sense of the fans` feelings at any given moment.
Tellingly, he observed: "I have learnt, over the past couple of years, that fans know much more about the football Club than I think sometimes owners have given them credit for in the past. And I most definitely learn from them when I meet them."
In fact, some lucky, loyal fans who have held their season tickets for a long time, are to be invited to join Bhatia on a match day, "to sit in C Club and to watch from the Directors` Box. It gives me the opportunity to spend time with them, to understand people`s concerns, and hopefully it won`t always be about concerns but to learn something about the history of the Club," he added.
"If we can better the communication then they can learn more from me about my hopes and aspirations for the Club and I can learn from them about their experiences with the Club in the past and about the history that this Club has. That`s something I think we need to work on, definitely."
Ticketing and communication - two topics of great concern amongst Vitallers of course - although Bhatia did acknowledge, with a wry smile, that we fans do also bring to his attention our need for a new striker or even a left back!
What will he say tomorrow? I can`t wait to find that out!!
www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189632#ixzz1F6hHGXbG
IIII - Amit Bhatia UnLeashed - part three
Amit Bhatia is a trustee of QPR in the Community Trust and is an active member as well. His work for the Trust has earned him the Emerald Knight Community Business In Sport award. He is clearly a man who loves to help others - he is doer not a talker!
Bhatia believes that a football club has "a greater service to its community than just providing the football side of it. It`s something I feel very passionately about since I`ve got involved in it." He has even spoken to the QPR players to remind them that they have a service to their community; but equally he feels that the fans should also remember that we need to do our part in supporting the Trust`s work specifically and the community in general.
It is especially heartening to know that the Vice Chairman of our Club has such deep-rooted interests in the wider QPR community - and that we already have seen the work he has done. Because, it goes a long way to show how genuinely passionate Bhatia is about QPR and, ultimately, gives us all renewed heart that the right people are now running our Club (at last!)
For example, Bhatia went on to talk about the transfer policy starting with this summer`s transfer window. We all know, quite clearly, what the transfer policy was of the previous regime. But Bhatia`s thoughts on this point made for very, very interesting listening (whilst also containing yet another slightly veiled dig at his predecessor!) "One of the big changes that I want there to be going forward is that I want to be able to explain, whether it be a budget or a vision for the Club, to the manager in charge. And from that point, it is the manager`s decision, with his professional people, to strengthen and make the squad the best that`s possible within that budget."
Are you getting the sense, as I have, that this Boardroom change will be more than mere window-dressing?! Wait for this then!
"What happens at the end of the season or in the January transfer window is a decision that I want to rest with the person who we have empowered to make those decisions."
Bhatia went on to reinforce his desire that we understand that he intends for things to change - and for the good of the Club! There may have been some difficult patches in the recent past - not just results but managerial changes - but he doesn`t believe we should take them too seriously, referring to them as "a small blip in this long history, even since I`ve been involved with the Club."
"Continue to have faith, continue to come out and support your team because the team needs you,"Bhatia continued.
"Have great trust that often in life things happen for a reason. If we`ve fallen upon hard times in the last few months, things are going to change!"
What you don`t get to see in my article, which I saw in the interview, was the enigmatic smile that accompanied this last comment - believe me when I say, that smile spoke a thousand words in itself! And they were all positive!!
Bhatia vowed:"I will endeavour, in my ability, to do the absolute best I can for this Club. My commitment to the Club is unwavering, is solid. Hence I found it important to get more involved, to step in and I`ll ask them that is, us the fans to support me in doing so."
So there you have it! The voice of an honest man who has my respect and trust and faith. With Bhatia involved I, personally, do think we can kick on - we just need to get those points on the board to ensure that we are kicking on from this league not a lower one (oh heaven forbid!!)
Read more: www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189769#ixzz1F6iCQLUS
Read more: qprreport.proboards.com/thread/edit/11453#ixzz587lQVSRy
Part I Vital Football Transcript
www.qpr.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=189582
