Post by Bushman on May 11, 2013 11:59:58 GMT
12:00 11th May 2013
by @officialqpr
Co-owner reveals the crucial role R’s supporters played in their takeover two years ago …
This is something we are going to be involved in for a very long time"
Ruben Emir Gnanalingam
ALONG WITH Chairman Tony Fernandes, Ruben Emir Gnanalingam and Kamarudin Bin Meranun bought into QPR in August 2011, and Gnanalingam has revealed what a crucial role the R’s supporters played in that decision.
“I like the fact that our fans are truly behind the club, no matter what,” he told www.qpr.co.uk. “That’s one of the best foundations we have at this club. When me and Tony first stepped into Loftus Road, one of the key aspects which helped us make our decision was the fact the fans were so passionate.
“We really liked that. Going forward, it’s one of the best assets we have. I have great admiration for them. Even at recent games when things have not been going well, they are still shouting, cheering, singing. It has been fantastic. I don’t see many clubs with fans doing that.”
Like Fernandes and the R’s supporters, Gnanalingam is dealing with the disappointment of relegation from the top flight.
“The reality of going down set in quite a few weeks ago,” he admitted. “I have come to terms with it and now we are just focusing on how we can come back up.
“It has been extremely difficult to accept. The season we have had has been really, really tough. There have been so many disappointments, even from day one, but we are just focusing now on how to rebuild and come back stronger.”
R’s Chairman Fernandes recently admitted mistakes had been made and the club would learn from them moving forward. His fellow shareholder Gnanalingam echoes those views.
“We have learnt a lot over the last two years,” he said. “It has been a very, very steep learning experience. I always say that people are a company’s greatest asset. And that is definitely the case in football, more so than any other business in the world. And I don’t just mean the players, I mean the
management, the fans, all of our people here.
“Going forward, we know there are some things we should not do from experience, and of course we have also learnt what we should do. We will try to apply that.”
Gnanalingam also has a word of caution for anyone who feels an immediate return to the Premier League will be achieved with ease.
“The Championship is a really, really tough league,” he added. “We are not kidding ourselves that we are going to come back up easily. It is going to be really tough but we are going to try and do some things right to see if we can return sooner rather than later.”
Last month, with QPR on the brink of relegation, the shareholders committed to the development of a multi-million-pound training complex at Warren Farm.
Gnanalingam took the opportunity to e-mail the club’s staff, telling them ‘This is a great milestone and a really important one in our long journey to rebuild this club. I am just glad to be a part of it’.
He explains his use of the word ‘rebuild’ was key.
“The club we inherited unfortunately did not have very good foundations in terms of the facilities,” he said. “The training complex is nowhere near Premier League standard, or even Championship standard.
“If you want to go far you have to have good foundations, and we don’t have that now. That’s what we need to build going forward. Warren Farm will be the first step in that direction. We will have a training ground which will at least be able to compare with some of the Championship clubs and maybe even compare to some Premier League clubs. If we want to challenge in the big league we should have at least that.”
With some predicting Fernandes and Co would walk away following relegation, Gnanalingam was keen to point out this couldn’t be further from their thinking.
“We don’t have a short-term ambition, we only have a long-term ambition,” he said. “This is not a five-year involvement or a ten-year involvement. This is something we are going to be involved in for a very long time. My family, Tony’s family, Din’s family, we are going to be involved in this business for a very long time and involved with this club for a very long time.
“We don’t see us moving away from this anytime soon. It has always been long-term for us, from day one.
“When we came in we knew about the club. We made sure we studied a lot about the club before we came in but our passion has grown tremendously. I now know a lot more and I don’t think I will support another club after this.”
Read more at www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/110513-ruben-fans-our-greatest-asset-814170.aspx#lgdV3tetsBtPgrWV.99
