10 Years Ago: Bhatia on Big Spending/Striving #QPR

Is it April Fools Day already?

Certainly we can see how much Bhatia spent in the Summer, etc.

Or maybe Warnock wouldnt have wanted to spend some millions on some forwards?

I think that when people say we want and will be and champions league that they do not understand football.
As it stands we are in the championship not the champions league.

And even if we go up which i think we will it good take a few seasons even after massive spending to get near the top four.
Now also to get the best players in the world to feed that dream you need to match the best in the world on and off the pitch and that is also about the training ground and so on.

How about Amit and his family buy out the others invest in the youth set up and training ground keep our best young players.
Invest in the fans we have as in keep us able to still back this club as we always have done prices can and should stay the same for next season.

They are dreams you can do in one board meeting the champions league can wait more hard work needs to be done before we can even think about it.

Invest in Youth,community and Fans

The thing that makes me laugh is he is talking about spending millions and matching man city i bet Man City do not have buckets out for their Girls team ?

More dreary old PRspeak. Do they talk like this at home?

Hello, dear, you're home early. I know, dear, the Champions League is the dream, isn't it? Is it, dear? Oh dear. That's what all the losers do. Dream about it.

No, no, dearest, we have big spending plans, dear. Of course, beloved, but not with OUR money. You are doing what I told you and making sure you lose the Club's money, not yours?

Oh yes, I lost nearly £20 million of QPR's money. And in just one season. More than anyone else ever has.

EVEN MORE THAN PALADINI! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

won't hold my breath.

Its important to have dreams. Yes with the financial backing we are in a better position than anytime to get promotion and move forward into the big time. This may take time so until it happens let's not ramp up our expectations and hope for modest achivements, promotion to the premier league is a step in the right direction.

Fantastic to hear that they are prepared to spend and really elevate our club to those high levels, as long they do it with their own money as did Jack Walker and Jack Hayward.

I dont want my club riddled further and further into debt thanks, so Mr Bhatia if you do it dont lend it to us, give it to us, if you cant or wont do that then let the club live within its means.

Also, there are plenty of exit signs around should you decide to move on.

"Secondly, our squad read the papers, now they know that if they get promoted, your looking to replace them with big money purchases rather than reward them for getting us promoted. Nice."

Exactly what i thought Mark, as soon as i read it.

Ian Gibb/The Standard

Amit Bhatia’s Euro dream for QPR
QPR manager Neil Warnock must sometimes wonder whether he needs the pressure of the Loftus Road hotseat.

First, Flavio Briatore's claimed he wanted Italian legend Marcello Lippi as manager if the club reach the Premier League. And now, Amit Bhatia, son-in-law of owner Lakshmi Mittal, is vowing to splash the cash until they reach the Champions League.

QPR dropped off the top of the Championship after a 1-1 draw with Burnley, their fourth consecutive stalemate. Jamie Mackie, the Championship's leading scorer, has now gone seven games without a goal, while striker Rob Hulse showed he has still to settle in west London.

But that didn't stop QPR vice-chairman Bhatia saying: “We have a target, we'll make it no matter what it takes. My father-in-law didn't get where he is by finishing fourth — we want to finish top.”

And he wasn't talking about the Championship!



www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-sport/football/article-23893222-amit-bhatias-euro-dream-for-qpr.do

Not the first time Bhatia speaks out...and (some) fans get all gushy at all that Billionaire money all being spent at QPR!


Flashback: November 5, 2008 - Amit Bhatia Speaking About QPR, Owners' Involvement - and Ainsworth Future-

Sandy Macaskill/TelergaphQueens Park Rangers owners want to get their 'hands dirty', says Amit Bhatia

- For Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal – between them the richest club owners in English football - buying Queens Park Rangers last year must have been like shunning a shiny new Bugatti in favour of a beaten-up old banger.
- Of the 24 teams in the Championship, QPR were positioned dead last when they assumed control; they were hardly buying into glory.

- But, according to Amit Bhatia, the club's vice-chairman and Mittal's son-in-law, that was not what it was, and is still, about. "We could have gone out there and bought a club that is already winning everything – I'm sure it is a lot of fun for those people that do it," he explained.
- "But we love the club. That they need improvement is part of the excitement. This is much more than an investment that sits in a portfolio. We want to enjoy the football."

- Their love affair with the club this past year has not always run smooth. A mediocre start to the season has brought with it rumours of boardroom interference in team affairs, culminating in Iain Dowie's departure last month after just 15 games in charge.
-Dowie was said to have been frustrated with the board's interest in team selection and overbearing approach to the transfer market.
- Suggestions that caretaker manager Gareth Ainsworth's decision to introduce Samuel Di Carmine and Damiano Tommasi, two players brought in by chairman Briatore but overlooked by Dowie – and rumours that Briatore has bought himself a tactics board – have done nothing to down play such rumours.
- It is an accusation that is, in the current climate that condemns meddling owners, far from complimentary, and one that Bhatia is keen to dispel.

- He accepts that the board maintains a close interest in team affairs, and has revealed how, instead of observing events from afar, they are desperate to "get their hands dirty".
- He also admits to having conversations with the manager in the dressing room, and putting forward selection suggestions, but he vehemently denies claims that either his or Briatore's interest in team matters spills over into an unhealthy attempt to force the direction of team selection.
- "A lot has been said about Flavio picking the team," Bhatia said. "I don't know how involved other owners or other chairmen are, but at our club we care a great deal and as a result we might be more hands on than most people.

- "But we respect the fact that the manager is there to do a job, and the team selected, regardless of what anybody around us says, has to be the manager's. Otherwise, we should be the ones standing on the sidelines in tracksuits.
- "Do I have suggestions over what the team should be, of course I do, like any fan. But when Gareth puts out a team, it is Gareth's team."
- Those who maintain an interest in the club have been bewildered by the fact that the three owners, all billionaires who have shown no shyness in flashing the cash in the past – Mittal's house in Kensington, for example, cost a reported £75 million – have made no major signings to speak of.
- Briatore has said in the past that he wants QPR to provide "boutique football", so their continued decision not to bring in attractive players seems odd, especially considering their moves off the field in attracting Premier League-style sponsors.
- Indeed, the board moved quickly to secure a £20 million five-year kit contract with the Italian firm Lotto, and a three-year sponsorship with Gulf Air earlier this year. They also attempted to increase ticket prices this season, although the scheme was quickly withdrawn after causing uproar among fans.
- The club now understand that to hike prices, they need promotion. Bhatia refuses to countenance suggestions that there is a huge weight on the manager and players to achieve promotion this year, but he does accept that QPR must be competitive. And competitive means reaching the play-offs.
-"Just like any other fan, I wish that we could be promoted this season," he said. "But realistically, if we didn't get promoted this year, but were very competitive and made the play-offs, I would define that success."
- So Ainsworth has his target. Bhatia says that he is "thrilled" with the caretaker manager's performance to date – but allows that there is uncertainty about what the immediate future holds.
- "If Gareth is the best man for the job, then we have to give him a fair shot at it," he said. "He may not have much experience of being a manager, but he has the respect of all of the players.
- "It is only fair that Gareth gets the chance that he deserves, and for now I am absolutely thrilled.
- "Improvement is important," he added. "There is not a lot of pressure to go up, but there is a lot of pressure to perform well and get good results." Telegraph

Doubt if Bhattia would say anything lke that. The press look for stories. An interviewer can practically write his own interview.

Unless the strategy is four low score draws in a row as the prelude to the Great Leap Forward.

I knew it reminded me of something, although I think I was thinking more of the Notts County debacle than the Great Leap Forward!

SPIN ,SPIN,SPIN ! more spin at QPR than in a laundrettes!

Bump another year

I see on the Staff page - Tony Fernandes is QPR FC AND QPR Holdings Ltd Chairman. While Amit Bhatia is just listed as QPR Holdings Ltd - Any significance to this?


QPR FC / QPR Holdings Ltd Chairman - Tony Fernandes

QPR Holdings Ltd Vice-Chairman - Amit Bhatia

Board members - Tony Fernandes, Amit Bhatia, Kamarudin Bin Meranun

www.qpr.co.uk/club/staff-directory-and-contacts/