Amit Bhatia - May 25, 2011
"It is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as vice chairman of Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club. It has been the greatest honour to have served this club as an owner and board member for the past three years.
Although there have been challenges, the last 15 months have been a period of stability and success
and it gives me immense pleasure to see QPR back in the Premier League where I feel the club belongs.
However, it is clear to me from recent board meetings that my vision, strategy and direction for the club
is very different from that of the other shareholders and board members.
The recent decisions to sack club CEO and Chairman Ishan Saksena and significantly increase season ticket prices are just two of the decisions I disagree with. While it saddens me to leave QPR after such a successful season
and at the beginning of an exciting new phase, I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility
for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly.
The Mittal family had been in discussions concerning the possible acquisition of the club. However we have been unable to reach agreement on this matter and therefore those discussions
have now come to an end. Although no longer a decision-maker at QPR,
I shall continue to be a 33% owner and a 100% fan of the club.
In due course, we will appoint a board representative to monitor my family’s investment in the club.
I shall look forward to supporting the club as a fan next season and would like to thank Neil Warnock
for his leadership and friendship over the past 14 months. It has been my pleasure to work with him
and be part of the club’s recent success and wish the club every success in the premiership.
Amit Bhatia QPR BOARD UPDATE.
Posted on: Wed 25 May 2011
Club Statement - Board UpdateQueens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm Vice Chairman, Amit Bhatia, has tendered his resignation.
Bhatia represents the Mittal Family, who hold a minority shareholding in the Club.
Bhatia has stated his disagreement with some of the decisions taken by the Board majority, namely Season Ticket prices and changes in the Club management following the handling of the FA inquiry.
The Board are keen to stress that the prices are in line with other London-based Premier League Clubs, and are encouraged by early sales figures following the release of Season Tickets earlier today.
The Club can also confirm QPR Holdings Ltd Chairman, Ishan Saksena, has parted company with the Club.
The Club will be making no further comment at this time.
GUARDIAN
Neil Warnock's key ally resigns as Queens Park Rangers vice-chairman• Amit Bhatia cites differences with rest of QPR board
• Bhatia's family to retain 33% shareholding in the clubguardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 May 2011 2
There will be further questions raised over the future of the QPR manager Neil Warnock following the resignation of his close ally Amit Bhatia. Photograph: Tony O'Brien/Action Images
Amit Bhatia has resigned as the vice-chairman of Queens Park Rangers citing differences with the rest of the board on the day the club decided to raise season ticket prices by almost 40%.
The departure of Bhatia, a key ally of Neil Warnock, may again raise questions over the manager's future after some reports claimed earlier this month that the club wanted a higher-profile figure to lead them in their first season back in the Premier League for 15 years.
Bhatia, whose family retain a 33% shareholding in the club, also revealed that they had failed in a bid to buy out Bernie Ecclestone's 62% holding. In an open letter to fans the Indian businessman said: "It is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as vice-chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club. Although there have been challenges, the last 15 months have been a period of stability and success and it gives me immense pleasure to see QPR back in the Premier League where I feel the club belongs.
"However, it is clear to me from recent board meetings that my vision, strategy and direction for the club is very different from that of the other shareholders and board members. It has been the greatest honour to have served this club as an owner and board member for the past three years.
"The recent decisions to sack club CEO and chairman Ishan Saksena and significantly increase season ticket prices are just two of the decisions I disagree with. While it saddens me to leave QPR after such a successful season and at the beginning of an exciting new phase, I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly.
"The Mittal family had been in discussions concerning the possible acquisition of the club. However, we have been unable to reach agreement on this matter and therefore those discussions have now come to an end. Although no longer a decision-maker at QPR, I shall continue to be a 33% owner and a 100% fan of the club. In due course, we will appoint a board representative to monitor my family's investment in the club.
"I shall look forward to supporting the club as a fan next season and would like to thank Neil Warnock for his leadership and friendship over the past 14 months. It has been my pleasure to work with him and be part of the club's recent success and wish the club every success in the Premiership."
Fans will now be charged up to £72 for match-day admission, while season tickets have been raised by almost 40% from last term.
QPR said in a statement: "The board are keen to stress that the prices are in line with other London-based Premier League clubs, and are encouraged by early sales figures following the release of season tickets earlier today."
BBC Report
QPR vice-chairman Amit Bhatia quits over board fall-out
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 18:13 UKBy Dan Roan
BBC Sport news correspondent
QPR vice-chairman Amit Bhatia has resigned following disagreements with the club's board.
He quit on the day it was revealed fans will be charged up to £72 to watch a Premier League match next season.
Bhatia said he strongly disagreed with the price increases to season tickets.
Bhatia also revealed that the Mittal family had failed in its bid to buy the club from fellow co-owners Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore.
Bhatia joined the Loftus Road board in December 2007 as representative of father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal after the Indian steel magnate bought a shareholding alongside Ecclestone and Briatore.
Continue reading the main story
I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly
Amit Bhatia
However, Bhatia has grown disillusioned of late, revealing the sacking of former chairman Ishan Saksena and a near 40% increase in season ticket prices following promotion to the Premier League had forced him to stand down.
In a letter to the club's board seen by the BBC, Bhatia said: "It is clear to me from recent board meetings that my vision, strategy and direction for the club is very different from that of the other shareholders and board members.
"The recent decisions to sack club CEO and chairman Ishan Saksena and significantly increase season ticket prices are just two of the decisions I disagree with.
"While it saddens me to leave QPR after such a successful season and at the beginning of an exciting new phase, I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly.
"The Mittal family had been in discussions concerning the possible acquisition of the club. However, we have been unable to reach agreement on this matter and therefore those discussions have now come to an end.
"Although no longer a decision-maker at QPR, I shall continue to be a 33% owner and a 100% fan of the club. In due course, we will appoint a board representative to monitor my family's investment in the club."
QPR have defended the price hike in season tickets.
"The board is keen to stress that the prices are in line with other London-based Premier League Clubs, and are encouraged by early sales figures following the release of season tickets earlier on Tuesday," said a club statement.
QPR fans will be charged up to £72 a game for their first season back in English football's top flight.
The cheapest price for a league match at Loftus Road will be £47, with season tickets up by almost 40%.
But with five fewer home games in the top flight, the increase is around 67% in real terms.
Continue reading the main story
Not only is that a slap in the face of QPR supporters, it is not in the long-term interests of a club that has two other Premier League clubs on its doorstep
Paul Finney Independent Rs website
Paul Finney, of the Independent Rs website, said of the news: "It's an absolute disgrace.
"Yet again it underlines the total contempt the owners of QPR have for the fans. Flavio Briatore's dream is a 'boutique' club, which has an exclusive feel to it and is the place for wealthy people to be seen.
"Not only is that a slap in the face of QPR supporters, it is not in the long-term interests of a club that has two other Premier League clubs [Chelsea and Fulham] on its doorstep."
The cheapest adult season ticket for the new campaign will be £549, with £999 the most expensive - up from £699 in last year's Championship winning season - while under-16s will be charged £199 and under-eights up to £99.
By comparison, the cheapest season ticket at Manchester United is £513. At Arsenal it is £893 and at Blackburn £224, the most and least expensive in the top flight respectively.
Rangers fan Clive Whittingham, who runs the Loft For Words website, said the club was in the position of knowing that, with only 15,000 home seats to fill, it could charge what they like for tickets and still sell them all.
"The worst thing about it, apart from the scandalous walk-up fees which again come back to not having many seats to sell, is the lack of reward for loyalty," he said. "As a season ticket holder of 18 years standing, I am receiving no discount for renewing."
news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/13550798.stm
FINANCIAL TIMES
Mittal son-in-law quits QPR in Ecclestone rowBy Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent
The alliance between Lakshmi Mittal and Bernie Ecclestone that led to the two billionaires becoming owners of Queen’s Park Rangers FC has ruptured.
The bust-up came after the steel magnate failed to buy the Formula One commercial supremo’s majority stake in QPR and a member of the Mittal family quit the club’s board in protest.
Amit Bhatia, son-in-law of Mr Mittal who looks after his interests in the club, announced on Wednesday that he was resigning as vice-chairman of QPR, which was promoted to the Premier League this month.
Mr Bhatia said his strategy for the football club differed from that of other shareholders and board members.
“I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly,” Mr Bhatia said in a statement.
He said the Mittal family, which owns 33 per cent of QPR, had been in talks about buying the club, but that “we have been unable to reach agreement on this matter and therefore those discussions have now come to an end”.
Mr Ecclestone, 62 per cent shareholder of QPR, now looks likely to increase his involvement in the running of the club, along with Flavio Briatore, the former team principal of Renault F1 who was QPR chairman until last year and who retains a stake.
Mr Ecclestone denied there had been talks with the Mittals over acquiring his shareholding.
“Lots of people say they are going to buy things until they eventually find these things are not for sale,” he said.
“They are just a minority shareholder.”
Mr Bhatia said he could not live with recent board decisions to sack Ishan Saksena as chief executive and chairman and to increase season ticket prices, which in some categories are rising by up to 40 per cent.
Mr Ecclestone said it was the board, rather than him personally, that took the decision to increase season ticket prices.
“It was based on [ticket prices at] all the other clubs that are around,” he said.
Asked if he intended to be a long-term majority shareholder, Mr Ecclestone said: “You can’t start making decisions on that at the moment.”
He said he had invested in the club, adding that the board would “do what it is necessary to do” to make the squad of players competitive in the Premier League.
Mr Bhatia said the Mittals would retain their stake in the club.
“In due course, we will appoint a board representative to monitor my family’s investment in the club,” Mr Bhatia said.
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May 25, 2011 "It is with a heavy heart that I tender my resignation as vice chairman of Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club.
It has been the greatest honour to have served this club as an owner and board member for the past three years.
Although there have been challenges, the last 15 months have been a period of stability and success and it gives me immense pleasure to see QPR back in the Premier League where I feel the club belongs. However, it is clear to me from recent board meetings that my vision, strategy and direction for the club is very different from that of the other shareholders and board members.
The recent decisions to sack club CEO and Chairman Ishan Saksena and significantly increase season ticket prices are just two of the decisions I disagree with.
While it saddens me to leave QPR after such a successful season and at the beginning of an exciting new phase, I do not wish to be associated with or take responsibility for decisions made by the board and with which I disagree so strongly. The Mittal family had been in discussions concerning the possible acquisition of the club.
However we have been unable to reach agreement on this matter and therefore those discussions have now come to an end. Although no longer a decision-maker at QPR, I shall continue to be a 33% owner and a 100% fan of the club.
In due course, we will appoint a board representative to monitor my family’s investment in the club. I shall look forward to supporting the club as a fan next season and would like to thank Neil Warnock for his leadership and friendship over the past 14 months.
It has been my pleasure to work with him and be part of the club’s recent success and wish the club every success in the premiership. Amit Bhatia