Amit Bhatia: Compilation of Bhatia QPR Statements

[QPR Report]

From just over a year ago:

Amit Bhatia and QPR - In Depth Bhatia Interview re Bhatia and QPR, The Mittal Involvement and Relations With Briatore and Eccelstone -
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- Fascinating Amit Bhatia Interview re QPR
Campden FB- Marc Smith/ No41 Nov/Dec 2008 - The beautiful game

- While many wealthy individuals are happy to leave their lifestyle investments at the latest sports car or superyacht, some prefer to pour their money into what is rapidly becoming the ultimate status symbol – buying a sports team.
- From George Steinbrenner's purchase of baseball's New York Yankees to Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai Indians cricket team, the world of sport is awash with billionaires hoping to create an intoxicating but often elusive mixture of profit and sporting success.
- Add in the potential adulation from fans that beats shareholder applause and any industry award hands down, and you can begin to understand why so many are bitten by the bug.

- In particular, English football has become one of the most popular sports for successful businessmen looking to gamble their reputations on. In the last five years, the Glazer family, Roman Abramovich and a partnership between George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks have purchased Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool football clubs respectively.

- Amit Bhatia (pictured) is the latest businessman to get involved with an English club. As the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, patriarch of the family-owned steel giant ArcelorMittal, Bhatia is heading up his adopted family's 20% investment in Queen's Park Rangers FC.

- The club has a rich history that dates back to 1882 when it was formed after a merger between two London teams: St Judes and Christchurch Rangers. Famed for playing attractive football it is located just down the road from the Mittals' London home.

- Yet QPR is, in many respects, an unusual choice. Currently playing in the second-tier of the English football pyramid, the club has had a chequered recent history with the real threat of bankcruptcy hanging over it and a boardroom battle that ended with the then chairman accusing seven men of forcing him to resign at gunpoint during a game. All seven were later acquitted.

- It was against this background that Formula One empresario Bernie Ecclestone and F1 Renault team owner Flavio Briatore stepped in to save the club which was just days from closure, crippled by debt and a €12 million loan whose interest payment alone were €1.2 a year.

- Briatore's Sarita Capital investment vehicle and Ecclestone spent an initial €16.5 million on buying the club in September 2007, but it wasn't long before they began leaning on a few old friends to get involved.
- "We have known Bernie and Flavio for many years and consider them very close friends," Bhatia told Campden FB, who revealed he first learnt of the duo's acquisition when he saw the news on TV.

- "Soon after I was approached by Flavio who said I should come over to discuss a few things. We sat and talked and then he asked if we would like to be involved in QPR, a club that he said had a great history and great tradition."

- The Mittals had been invited to become financially involved in a number of other English clubs, but Bhatia says he was attracted to QPR for a number of reasons.

- "The club felt like an unpolished diamond that just needed a bit of nurturing and caring. There are a lot of people, everyone from the management to the fans, who I felt wanted good things for QPR and I think it has the potential to be great," says Bhatia.

- Cynics naturally would point out that this is a low-risk investment for a family that, despite the credit crunch, is still worth over €16 billion. The only way is up for this investment and, if it comes off, then Bhatia and co will be hailed as saviours.

- Yet the man himself is keen to demonstrate that the investment is more than just a simple punt on a club down on its luck. "At the end of the day I don't think you do anything in life hoping to lose money but this is not a monetary investment for me or my father-in-law – it is an investment of passion," he said.

- "There is a joy that you get out of being involved in sport that you do not get in business, so this is an investment that came about because of our love for sport."

- The family's investment has certainly had an impact. The club is today worth more than what the Mittals and the F1 moguls paid for it and is currently sat in its highest league position for 12 years. The ultimate aim is promotion to the Premier League – where it would face the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal – within three years and then European football where it aims to compete with giants such as Real Madrid and AC Milan.

- Away from the pitch, the owners have used their contacts to create a new identity by redesigning the club logo, attracting high level sponsors including Gulf Air, Lotto and the Santander Group, and modernising the club's facilities by introducing fine dining courtesy of Cipriani's.

- As vice chairman, Bhatia says his role is to help overall decision-making at the club and there have been a number of important one's he has had to make – not all of which have been popular. He admits a new ticket pricing structure that outraged fans was a mistake and took personal charge, resulting in an open letter on the club's website, of resolving the matter.

- The day we met in his office in London's Mayfair, the board had just sacked its fouth manager in the 13 months since they all bought into the club. A clash of personalities was the conduit for the latest coach's departure and Bhatia shows he has quickly picked up English football-speak.

- "It is part and parcel of the game unfortunately," he said with the air of a man who has been around the game a lot longer than 10 months. "There are tough decisions to be made and we are not too proud to say that we have made decisions that have not always been the best ones – but we always try to do the right thing."

- Bhatia grew up in New Delhi, India where his family is involved in real estate and is independently wealthy. He moved to London aged 15 to attend school before heading to the US where he studied economics and investment management at Cornell University. Jobs at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse in London and New York followed before he married Lakshmi's only daughter, Vanisha Mittal, at a famously lavish ceremony at the Palais de Versailles in France.

- Opportunities arose at both his father's and father-in-law's businesses, but Bhatia says he likes doing things for himself. To prove the point, he set up his own private investment house, Swordfish, that today has its own hedge fund and a private equity business. Both businesses manage assets of several hundred million dollars each.

- Clearly very passionate about finance, he is keen to reveal his love of sport. "My whole life I have been involved in sport – cricket is obviously the number one sport in India so I played it to a quite high level. Then I started to play a bit of tennis and competed at Junior Wimbledon. Now I play golf, a bit of football and a lot of squash. I play anything that I can," he said.

- QPR is not the first time he has combined sport and business – a dream scenario in his own words. Alongside his father-in-law, Bhatia set up the Mittal Champions Trust, a non-profit venture that supports and funds talented Indian sportspersons and potential Olympic medal winners to enable them to access the best specialists in the world. MCT was behind India's first ever individual gold medallist at the Olympics in Beijing and Bhatia hopes to help his home country to achieve a level of success comparable to its size.

- QPR is just his latest venture and although he admits it is taking up increasingly more of his time, given the tone of his voice it is a privilege not a chore.

- In particular, it is the human side of the investment that most appeals to him and says he has a very active role with the players. "I spend quite a lot of time with them. We had a dinner for all the players and their wives plus all the management and their spouses at our house." he said.

- "We want to get to know the players and our families to get to know their families so they realise that we are all here for a common goal which is to win football matches."

- While it appears to be all happy families so far, there is a risk that one of the three investors will want to pull out or that a difference of opinion will lead to a split in the future. This is exactly the situation that has happened at Liverpool where Hicks and Gillett Jr have fallen out.

- Bhatia claims such an evantuality is extremely unlikely at QPR. He describes both Briatore and Ecclestone as close friends and says they even take holidays together. "If anything I think this leads to a much better dynamic because it allows communication to be very open and very forthright on a regular basis," says Bhatia.

- Consequently, he scotches recent rumours that the Mittals would buy out their two partners saying it was a comment taken out of context. "When you truly love something you want to own as much as you can. However, the idea of one of us buying the other out is as far away from the truth as it can be for the simple reason that we are all involved in it because of each others involvement."

- Although the Mittals have a minority stake, Bhatia says they have just as much of a voice as those who own a majority stake. "We are very good friends who have a lot of respect for each other so I think that in the long run we will be able to make much better decisions as a family for the club."

- If passion counted for on the field success then the club is well set for success. "I absolutely adore the club and I am first and foremost a fan," says Bhatia. Only time will tell whether his dream becomes a reality. Camden FB

[Hogan]

I must have missed something. In case what is Bhatia?

[QPR Report]

Feb 2, 2010 18:06:27 GMT Hogan said:

I must have missed something. In case what is Bhatia?

In case Briatore moves on and Amit Bhatia takes over, thought would be interesting to reread one of the profiles/interview re QPR. (Obviously said other stuff on the QPR site over the past couple of years)

[Hogan]

Ah ok i see.

Well if FB goes and if Amit and his father-in-law take over at least we can be reasonably sure that they will be a little more tactful and understand the need for fans to be given information and treated as paying customers.

Whether serious funds are spent on the team is another matter, and i would doubt very much if they would go down that route. More likely they will do it slowly without a fanfare and keep a low profile and let the people they employ get on with their jobs.

Unlike FB they (the Mittals) can afford it, he its clear to see has limited funds when it comes to football clubs and has created a rod for his own back.

[QPR Report]

GUess I'll Bump!

[QPR Report]

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

"The Masterplan" - QPR's Prospects and Plans According to QPR's Mittal Family Rep., Vice Chair, Amit Bhatit
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Mail/This is London We are nothing like Chelsea, says QPR vice-chairman Bhatia as he reveals Rangers' masterplan

Amit Bhatia has outlined the Mittal family's masterplan to usher in a new era of success at Queens Park Rangers.

The Rangers vice-chairman, and son-in-law of billionaire owner Lakshmi Mittal, claimed that last week's £20million shirt sponsorship deal with Lotto Sport Italia is a signal of the club's intent to stop at nothing in their bid to become a Premier League powerhouse.

The key points include:

• No plans to move from Loftus Road "for now".

• The club will not "lose control" over spending because "we are nothing like Chelsea".

• QPR will remain "quintessentially English" and no names or badges will change. • Lakshmi will stay "as a fan rather than an owner" otherwise "he will not get involved unless it is necessary". • Missing out on promotion next season "would not be a failure".

Bhatia is the public face of the Mittal family's interest in QPR and is keen to allay fears among fans that the London-born Indian businessman will change the identity of the club and move away from their present ground.

"One of the most attractive things about this club is the stadium, so we have no desire to move from here at all," he said.

"If the day came where a move was warranted - and I guess that would be when the results were great, we get promoted and we need a 35,000-seat stadium - then, yes, maybe we'd explore it. But we don't need it today.

"Shareholders should not determine what a club looks like. QPR have a great history and a great tradition and for us to maintain that is of prime importance.

"Consequently, there are no plans to change the logo, club colours or stadium name.

"There is a need to ensure things are kept fundamentally English. If you look through the roster, there are mostly English players here and we like it that way."

Comparisons with Chelsea are inevitable. Mittal's estimated £26billion fortune dwarfs that of their more illustrious neighbour's owner and should they one day decide to move, the club could outbid Roman Abramovich for potential sites at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, White City or Earls Court.

Mittal, the fourth-richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, has lavish tendencies - Bhatia's wedding to Vanisha Mittal in June 2004 was reported to be the most expensive in history at a cost of £30m - but fans should not expect a similar approach to the club's finances. 

"We are nothing like Chelsea and we will not lose control over spending," said Bhatia. "The expenses involved with QPR are far smaller. The £20m deal will go a long way to making us profitable, as would promotion. 

"My father-in-law's involvement on an emotional level is already known. He is involved firstly as a fan. If and when something warrants his involvement with the media, he will get involved but, for now, he believes the best way to be involved is as a fan and not an owner."

With money comes expectation, but the club's officials insist the team are not under pressure to deliver immediate results.


"We started off by setting a three-year target for promotion," Bhatia added. "If we didn't get promoted in three years, I don't think it would be a failure. We would be disappointed, of course, but I am sure we are going to get there. 

"I don't think any of us has got into this to be second best. We have a specific plan and we will do anything it requires to get the club where we want them to be."

Workmen are at present relaying South Africa Road leading up to Rangers' stadium. Given Bhatia's confident blueprint for success, fans could be forgiven for thinking they will be paving it with gold.
qprreport.blogspot.com/2008/04/qprs-prospects-and-plans-according-to.html

[QPR Report]

A year ago, (december 2008) Amit Bhatia was talking re QPR...Wonder how Amit Bhatia Feels Now!.

UPDATED: TEAMTALK Bhatia happy with Rangers progress
- QPR Holdings Ltd vice-chairman Amit Bhatia is pleased with the progress made by the club during his first year at Loftus Road.
- The wealthy businessman is determined to guide Rangers to success, and believes Paulo Sousa's men are set for a bright future if this year is anything to go by.
- He told the club's official website: "I'd say it's been exciting, it's been challenging, but none the less we've had a great time
- "I think that there is a marked improvement in the club, as compared to last season I think we are far more competitive this season, which goes a long way to show we are making strides in the right direction.
- "There is a hell of a lot of work to be done still but as we always said it's a long-term plan and the idea is to build from the ground up, and I think if this is the start of the foundations we are laying, I think we are pleased.
- "It's only 12 months which is a very short time. This is a long-term commitment and a long term project, so I like to think we are on the right path to go ahead and to take the club to new heights." Teamtalk

QPR Official Site - LONG TERM SUCCESS
"Amit Bhatia talks about the upcoming transfer window - and naming his son after Rangers!" -

[QPR Report]

The Telegraph January 10, 2008

QPR's Owners - "QPR Tycoons Hesitate on Spending Spree"-

For a club just two hours from going bust, the transformation in the financial fortunes of Queens Park Rangers is one of the most amazing stories seen in English football since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003.

But for those QPR fans hoping that new investor Lakshmi Mittal has joined forces with Formula One tycoons Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore to bankroll an Abramovich-style spending spree at Loftus Road, there is likely to be disappointment.

Despite being worth around £19.25 billion, Britain's richest resident has spent only £200,000 on acquiring his 20 per cent stake in the club from flamboyant Team Renault boss Briatore. He has also pledged £1 million to help cover debts and buy new players. To put that figure into context, Mittal spent £30 million on his daughter Vanisha's lavish 2004 wedding in Paris.

All of which begs the question why the Indian steel magnate, an entrepreneur with more than enough money to buy every club in the Premier League and still have change, chose to spend a relatively tiny sum to buy into QPR, a club languishing at the wrong end of the Championship. Although Mittal has access to an executive box at Chelsea and went to the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy, he is not a big fan of the game.

A clue to the reason for his interest may be found in the involvement of his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, himself a wealthy investment banker from a rich Delhi family. Bhatia is to take up a place on the QPR board and is said to be the one with a keen enthusiasm for football.

Bhatia was also the driving force behind the foundation of the Mittal Champions Trust, a £4.5 million funding programme set up to boost India's Olympic team in time for the London 2012 Games.
Vinod Mehta, editor of Indian magazine Outlook, said: "Although he is very rich, Lakshmi Mitall is a very simple man. He is not a man of extravagant taste. He is not star-struck, so buying into this is not to get publicity or to elevate his status. I suspect this is just for the benefit of his son-in-law."

Ecclestone explains Mittal's involvement in more simple terms. "I told him he should come on board and he took my advice," he said last month. The two became close after Ecclestone sold his house in Kensington Palace Gardens to Mittal for £70 million in 2003.

Mittal is understood to be happy to remain a silent investor in the project, leaving Briatore and Ecclestone to drive the push for the Premier League. "It would be wrong to give your readers the impression that Mittal is about to become another Abramovich," said one source.

But even if Mittal decides not to dent his considerable fortune, these are still heady times for long-suffering QPR supporters. Briatore, worth £110 million, and Ecclestone, worth £2.25 billion, have pledged to turn the club into a Premier League force within the next three years.

The pair completed their £14 million takeover in November, spending £690,000 to acquire their 69 per cent majority stake in the club. Ecclestone spent £150,000 on his 15 per cent, while Briatore, through his British Virgin Islands registered company, Sarita Capital, bought 54 per cent for £540,000. He has since sold on 20 per cent of his stake to Mittal.

Another 31 per cent of smaller shareholders turned down the Briatore and Ecclestone offer of 1p a share, choosing to hold on to their stake, perhaps sensing even greater profits in the future. Briatore and Ecclestone have also pledged another £5 million in convertible loan facilities to help buy players and have covered £13 million of debt, taking their total commitment to nearer £20 million.

But so far they have made no attempt to pay off a £10 million loan to the ABC Corporation which carries a punitive £1 million annual interest charge - a massive burden on a team with an annual turnover of £10 million-£15 million a year. Another £2 million is owed to former director and major shareholder Antonio Caliendo who waived £4.5 million of loans he was owed when he sold out to Briatore and Ecclestone.

Although the former football agent Gianni Paladini has been retained as chairman of the football club board for the time being, the business is now being overseen by the QPR Holdings chairman Alejandro Agag. Married to the daughter of Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, he has close links to the F1 business and is one of the most powerful men in his country.

Despite talk of a property plan which would see the new owners sell Loftus Road for redevelopment and move to a new ground - perhaps on a BBC-owned site at White City - he has assured fans they have no immediate plans.

He maintains the strategy is to build the club up slowly ahead of funding a major push for the Premier League next season. They have also vowed to refurbish the existing home and use their F1 experience to increase sponsorship revenues. A new chief executive is expected in the next few weeks.

The owners have wasted no time in matching their words with action in the transfer market, signing five players since the window opened 10 days ago, including the £800,000 capture of Hogan Ephraim from West Ham and the £350,000 signing of Preston's Patrick Agyemang. More signings are said to be imminent.

The question now is whether Mittal, Ecclestone and Briatore are prepared to up their investment to put the club on the same level as their Russian-owned neighbours.

[QPR Report]

[This is not all-comprehensive; there were others. There were also fan/club meets reports]

[QPR Report]

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Amit Bhatia's Perspective: Indian Involvement in English Soccer...English Involvement in Indian Soccer-
Dhiman Sarkar, Hindustan Times - Vision India for English clubs
- Zurich, November 12, 2008
- Alex Ferguson wasn’t there but his comment of a successful manager being able to see tomorrow --- made twice by different people here --- put in perspective India being a buzzword among some of football's most influential backroom boys here. For, as former Premier League chairman Keith Harris mentioned in a different context on Tuesday, the only people who made money from yesterday was The Beatles.
- "We can't ignore the economic powerhouse India is projected to be by 2020. India has a knowledgeable football audience, young population and is big enough for more than one sport, so it's not about competing with cricket," Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon said here, four months after Manchester United boss David Gill spoke of India being a destination.
- Both Kenyon and Arsenal's David Dein agreed at the black cube that FIFA's headquarters look like that the interest won't translate into their teams flying into India for heavyweight friendlies. Kenyon mentioned the facilities, the monsoon being a deterrent to a pre-season tour and also "taking a team in isolation doesn't work."
- On Tuesday, as the 10th anniversary seminar of the International Football Arena (IFA), ended, Dein said Arsenal are looking at "doing something about youth development at the moment." Calling his club a work in progress, Amit Bhatia, vice-chairman Queen's Park Rangers and Laxmi Mittal's son-in-law, spoke on similar lines after stating his disappointment at most Indian corporates' reluctance to help sport.
- The clubs' statements were in sync with what Max Van Den Doel, director sports marketing at Adidas, said during a discussion on football's business prospects in India. "Bear in mind that this is a long-term journey. Don't think of returns in the first five-seven years and don't make the mistake of clubbing India with China," he said.
- For Kenyon, who's visited India thrice over the past 12 months, "the right way of entry to build the sport" is through "knowledge transfer with regard to coaches and club administration". "We've given the AIFF a menu saying this is what we can offer and asked them to see where we can help. I am planning a pre-Christmas visit to New Delhi when we want to announce the specifics of the tie-up," he said.
- The possibility of getting involved through Chelsea's sponsors --- Samsung and Adidas for instance --- too could be explored, Kenyon said, because "we all want the same thing."
- In step with FIFA president Sepp Blatter's assertion of the importance of self-help when he visited India in April 2007, Kenyon ruled out providing infrastructure support. "We can support, educate but no one's coming to build stadiums," he said.
- Having inaugurated the seminar, Blatter heard Franz Beckenbauer's childhood recollections of kicking football among debris in post-war Munich, Der Kaiser's plea to uphold football's emotional quotient and his remembrance of a "smiling Peter Kenyon" after the Champions League final of 1999 but was absent during the deliberations on India.
- Also missing was Bob Houghton who failed to make the trip because his travel documents were not in order. Given his dislike for top clubs making whistle-stop tours and his insistence on development step by step, Houghton would have liked revisiting the country one of whose teams, Malmo, he got within touching distance of European glory. Hindustan Times


Rob Hughes/International Herald Tribune - Eager to awake the sleeping giants
- ZURICH: The fascination with India as a rising marketplace for global sports slowed, but did not halt, with the financial crises.
On Monday, while India's cricketers were wrapping up their emphatic test series victory over Australia in Nagpur, 150 of the most entrepreneurial people in soccer were being told in Zurich that if they ignore the subcontinent they risk missing the boat in the developing world.
- "Cricket and Bollywood have taken off with a $2 billion television-friendly version of their game," said Max van den Doel, a speaker at the conference of the International Football Arena. "The NBA has a 10-year plan to make basketball the No. 2 sport in India, and the fact that American basketball has such a plan already in place shows that soccer cannot afford to ignore the potential there."
- Van den Doel has a vested interest in developing the sporting markets. He is the Adidas marketing director for Asia and Oceania, with an awful lot of shoes to sell. And who can say for how much longer David Beckham can remain the iconic Adidas figure in Asia?
- From the sporting aspect, it was intriguing to hear Hasan Al Sabah, once a Bahrain national team player and now the director of education for the entire Asian soccer confederation, point out that, as role models go, there can be no comparison between aspiring to play like Beckham and trying to emulate the infinitely more gifted Zinédine Zidane.
Zidane, now retired, also remains an Adidas figure.
- However, whether now is the time to discuss expanding into new areas is a debate without end. The International Football Arena, at which I also spoke, explores the fertile ground between the sport and the business of soccer. The organizers planned Monday's conference long before banks started collapsing - and with them the loans underpinning many of the world's soccer clubs.
- This financial uncertainty inevitably fogs all issues. Chelsea is one of the sponsors of the IFA, but the London club, bankrolled exclusively by the Russian Roman Abramovich, set a trend five years ago. Now 12 clubs in England have foreign ownership. In a twist to the discussion about whether European clubs should be helping India to build a soccer infrastructure, Amit Bhatia, whose father-in-law is part owner of another London club, Queens Park Rangers, said he would be surprised if more wealthy Indians did not buy English clubs.
- "The potential is there," Bhatia said. "And now is the time."
- But Bhatia admitted he saw no young Indian talent to nurture as the iconic figures of the future.The childhood dream, he knows, is to follow cricket's Sachin Tendulkar or Sourav Ganguly to riches. Ganguly was apparently a gifted soccer player and even preferred that game before turning into one of cricket's most acclaimed batsmen, up to his final test this week.
- Meanwhile, soccer, introduced into India by the British in the 1870s, is the poor relation. Alan Durante, a businessman who has searched for the Indian soccer hero for 25 years as chairman of Mahindra United, in Mumbai, said that no team in the new Indian Premier League made one rupee out of soccer.
- So the sport, trailing behind cricket, which has hit a gold mine of Bollywood money by reinventing itself for TV, and even behind basketball in overseas investment, has no concerted plan to build itself up.
- No help seems to be coming from any of FIFA's richer nations either.
- Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, would not discuss rumors that Abramovich, the club owner, had taken a hit in the crash of Russia's commodity markets, but he did say it was unlikely that the club would buy any new players in the January transfer window.
- He also confirmed that Chelsea is reducing its global network of talent scouts from 22 to seven.
- Mindful that FIFA, soccer's international governing body, is trying to impose a quota system that in years to come would mean clubs have to field six homegrown players - a principle far from accepted by the European Union - Chelsea has already begun focusing resources on its academy that trains English youngsters.
- Kenyon spoke of the immediate plan, to win the Champions League, and the long-term plan, under Abramovich, of financial self-sufficiency.
Culling the scouts makes sense. Chelsea already employs at least two international-quality players for every position. It would not take Einstein to spot the few players in the world who might improve the talent now coached at Chelsea by the Brazilian Felipe Scolari.
We heard older administrators onstage in Zurich talking of building slowly, slowly. And we heard brash, young Indians saying they want Bollywood in soccer, and they want it now. Off microphone, even the architects of England's three-year £1.7 billion, or $2.65 billion, global television deal cannot say what happens when that deal expires after 2010.
- Kenyon suspects there will be downward pressure on spending and on player wages. He gave a straight no to any question of Chelsea's investing in Indian club soccer in the near future.
The call to help or explore India came at the time when England's elite are reconsidering how rich or how vulnerable they really are. Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has urged, again and again, that the time has come to waken the "sleeping giants" of China and India. With burgeoning economies and almost half the world's population between them, they might have to help themselves.
- India's soccer is not in the best of health. Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, the minister of information and broadcasting who has been president of the All India Football Association for the past 20 years, is ill. No heir apparent has been nominated. Durante, vice president of the fledgling Indian Premier League, does not see a road ahead paved with gold boots or new stadiums.
- As for China, the only population that dwarfs India, its performance on the soccer field this year has not come anywhere close to matching its 100-medal Olympics. The national team players took an oath on Jan. 1 in which each player recited: "We pledge to advance to the World Cup.
"We swear by death to kill along the bloody road to defend the honor of the motherland and release our youthful dreams."
They were eliminated in round one of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The audience at the conference heard a young, female TV sports presenter, Mayanti Langer, say: "Who are we? We are young India, we love Bollywood, we are flashy, we love our glamour.
"And we want it now."
She had flown halfway across the world to tell the old fogies that.
Maradona to visit Calcutta
Diego Maradona will visit Calcutta on Dec. 6, Shamik Lahiri, a regional lawmaker organizing the trip, said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The new Argentina coach will inaugurate a soccer academy and participate in a charity dinner where some of his playing gear is to be auctioned, Lahiri said. IHT

[QPR Report]

FLASHBACK ONE YEAR: DECEMBER 20, 2007: MITTAL INVESTS IN QPR
QPR Official Site - CLUB STATEMENT
QPR Announcement: The Mittal Family is Investing in QPR and Joining QPR's Board
- Queens Park Rangers Football Club is delighted to announce today (Thursday 20th December 2007) that the Mittal Family has taken a 20 per-cent shareholding in QPR Holdings Limited.
- Alongside Mr Bernie Ecclestone, Mr Flavio Briatore and Sarita Capital, the Mittal Family will now be a significant shareholder in the Club.
- As part of the agreement, the Mittal Family have appointed Mr Amit Bhatia as a Director to the board of the Club.
- Speaking on behalf of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, the Board of Directors, said: "This investment in QPR by the Mittal Family is a great stepping-stone towards the future development of the Club and supports the ambition of the current shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future.
"The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the programme that is needed to help us achieve this target."
On behalf of the Mittal Family, Mr Bhatia, who is Mr Lakshmi Mittal's son-in-law, said: "The Family is excited about becoming involved with Queens Park Rangers Football Club.
"As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football, and alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope that we can improve the Club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League."
*The Club will be making no further comment at this stage. QPR

[QPR Report]

PRESS COVERAGE OF THE MITTAL INVESTMENT

AP - Britain's richest man invests in Queens Park Rangers soccer club
LONDON (AP) -The family of the richest man in Britain, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, has bought a 20 percent stake in League Championship soccer club Queens Park Rangers.
The club, which was taken over by Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone and Renault team boss Flavio Briatore in November, did not disclose the sum paid for the stake.
Mittal will be represented on the club's board by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia.
"This investment in QPR by the Mittal family is a great stepping stone towards the future development of the club and supports the ambition of the current shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future,'' the club said in a statement. "The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the program that is needed to help us achieve this target.''
Italian coach Luigi De Canio was appointed in October but the club is currently last in the 24-club league, which is one tier below the Premier League. Despite that, Bhatia said the family was excited about the club's prospects.
"As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football, and alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope that we can improve the club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League,'' Bhatia said.
Mittal was ranked the fifth-richest man in the world this year by Forbes magazine, which estimated his worth at US$32 billion (?22.3 billion) in August.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was ranked 16th on the Forbes List. Chelsea is located just 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) from Queens Park Rangers in West London.
In 2004, Mittal bought a residence from Ecclestone in Kensington, London, for 70 million pounds. CNN/Sports Illustrated

MAIL - Billionaire Mittal buys £1.6m stake in Rangers
Lakshmi Mittal, an Indian steel magnate worth a reported £26billion, has joined Formula One supremos Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore as an investor in the Championship club.
QPR chose not to make public the amount Mittal has paid for his shareholding but it is believed to have cost him around £1.6million. Mittal will be represented on the club's board by his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.
A club spokesman said: "This investment is a great stepping stone towards the future development of the club."
Mittal, 57, is a friend of Ecclestone after buying his £70million house in Kensington.
Bhatia added: "Our ultimate ambition is a place in the Premier League." Mail

Sporting Life/PA Sport - Andy Sims QPR BOOSTED BY MITTAL CASH INJECTION
QPR have received a major cash injection after the family of the world's fifth richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, bought up a 20% shareholding of the Coca-Cola Championship club.
Mittal, an Indian steel magnate who is worth a reported £50billion, will be represented on the club's board alongside Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore by his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.
In a statement, the QPR board said: "This investment in QPR by the Mittal family is a great stepping stone towards the future development of the club and supports the ambition of the current shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future.
"The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the programme that is needed to help us achieve this target."
Formula One chief Ecclestone and Renault team boss Briatore took over at Loftus Road in November and had already pledged hefty transfer funds for manager Luigi De Canio.
Rangers are currently bottom of the Championship, but they could now potentially rival west London neighbours Chelsea in the transfer market should Mittal dip into his vast fortune.
Bhatia added: "The family is excited about becoming involved with Queens Park Rangers Football Club.
"As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football, and alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope that we can improve the club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League." Sporting Life

BBC - QPR secure huge investment boost
QPR have been given a cash boost after the family of the world's fifth richest man bought a 20% stake in the club.
The son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who is worth a reported £50bn, will join Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore on the club's board.
"This investment is a great stepping stone towards the future development of the club," said a club statement.
"It supports the ambition of the current shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future."
QPR are currently bottom of the Championship, but they could now potentially near neighbours and FA Cup third round opponents Chelsea in the transfer market, should Mittal wish to spend his cash.
"The family is excited about becoming involved with QPR," said Mittal's son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.
"As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football, and alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope that we can improve the club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League." BBC

SKYSPORT - Major cash boost for QPR
Mittal family joins Championship club's board - Sky <a href="http://qprreport.blogspot.com/2007/12/lakshmi-mittals-qpr-involvement-hits.html">QPR Report</a>


QPR Overtake Chelsea - QPR's New Owners: Various Reports-
The TIMES -The Insider - December 21Kevin Eason - QPR outdo the neighbours
Chelsea are no longer the richest club in West London. In fact, the rest of the Barclays Premier League combined would struggle to match the wealth that swung behind Queens Park Rangers yesterday. Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s richest man, took a 20 per cent stake in the Coca-Cola Championship strugglers to line up with Bernie Ecclestone, his old friend, who bought the club this year with Flavio Briatore.
The combined wealth of Mittal and Ecclestone is a staggering £21.4 billion, according to the Sunday Times Rich List – more than double the fortune Roman Abramovich can call on to fund Chelsea. And even a trip to the ramshackle directors’ box at Loftus Road last weekend did not put off Mittal, the Indian steel magnate.
Nobody is entirely sure how much influence Mittal will exert for his 20 per cent but the signs are not good; he has appointed Amit Bhatia, his son-in-law, to take his place on the board, while Ecclestone, too, has his hands full running Formula One. Briatore is not exactly short of things to do either, running the Renault Formula One team plus his aptly-named Billionaire clothing and nightclub empire. There may be loadsamoney, but who is in charge? The Times

Mirror - Lo£tus Road - Why are some of the world's richest men buying into QPR? By Neil Mcleman 21/12/2007
Britain's richest man yesterday bought a 20 per cent stake in Queens Park Rangers, the worstside in the Championship.
Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian-born steel magnate who is worth £25bn, has invested an undisclosed sum in the club taken over last month by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. Mittal was ranked the fifth-richest man in the world this year ahead of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich in 16th place.
Qpr plan to use the 57-year-old's money to get into the top flight and challenge their west London neighbours. The two clubs meet in the FA Cup third round next month and Mittal, who has lived in London since 1995, will be represented on the Loftus Road board by his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.
"As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football," said Bhatia.
"Alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope we can improve the club's performance, with the ultimate ambition of a place in the Premier League."
In 2004, Mittal bought a house in Kensington from Ecclestone for £70million - still the record price paid for a private residence in the UK.
New Italian manager Luigi De Canio has already been promised a large budget to invest during the January transfer window.
Qpr fan chief Paul Finney said: "Santa must be wearing blue and white hoops at the moment." Mirror

The INDEPENDENT -QPR welcomes the billionaire effect as Mittal strikes a deal By Danny Fortson, Business Correspondent
Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy a championship-winning football team, a truism lavishly proven by Roman Abram-ovich at Chelsea.
The board of Queen's Park Rangers was yesterday hoping that the arrival of a new billionaire owner in the form of Lakshmi Mittal, head of the world's largest steel company and the richest man in the UK, would herald a similar change of fortunes for the long-suffering club.
The West London club revealed yesterday that the steel baron paid an undisclosed sum for a 20 per cent stake, becoming the latest fabulously wealthy businessman to add an English football club to his trophy case. QPR, currently bottom of the Championship, welcomed the arrival of Mr Mittal, who has an estimated net worth of £20bn. "This investment ...is a great step towards the development of the club and supports the ambition of the shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future."
Mr Mittal joins the club's other high-profile owners, Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, and Flavio Briatore, the Renault team manager, who took over the club in September. Mr Mittal will be represented on the board by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia.
QPR declined to comment on spending plans beyond a statement saying: "The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the programme that is needed to help us to achieve this target."
If recent history is a guide, QPR, which last played in the Premier League in 1996, is probably on the cusp of a liberally bankrolled make-over. It needs it. The club descended into farce last year when details emerged of a boardroom confrontation in which former director Gianni Baldini said he was held at gunpoint to force him to resign and sell his shares.
Mr Mittal's dip into the football world is the latest in a string of such deals. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, bought Manchester City last summer and immediately splashed out tens of millions of pounds to hire former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson and a raft of pricey foreign players.
The Independent

The Guardian - Matt Scott/The Digger -
"...Mittal feathers the nest
A delegation of Queens Park Rangers fans' groups was received by the club's new board last week but there was no indication then that the billionaires' nest at Loftus Road would soon be joined by another. Rumours began to circulate that Lakshmi Mittal, left, had an interest when he was pictured sitting next to Bernie Ecclestone during the Wolverhampton Wanderers game on Saturday. Mittal's arrival was confirmed yesterday when he took a 20% stake and his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, took a place on the board. But there is still no convincing word on what has drawn a crowd of Croesuses to the Championship's bottom team." The Guardian
qprreport.blogspot.com/2007/12/qpr-overtake-chelsea-and-other-stories.htm

The Sun - QPR are richest club in the world - By PAUL JIGGINS
CHELSEA fans will be choking on their cappuccinos today when they discover they are no longer the country’s richest club.
In fact, they are not even the wealthiest in West London any more.
That honour now goes to unfashionable neighbours Queens Park Rangers after Lakshmi Mittal — the fifth most minted man on the planet — bought a 20 per cent stakeholding.
And with the Rangers board already boasting F1 tycoons Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, it means the Championship’s bottom club have a fortune of more than £22BILLION — even bigger than Real Madrid.
Indian steel magnate Mittal topped last year’s Sunday Times Rich List with a near £20bn fortune — almost double that of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
F1 supremo Ecclestone is worth £2.5bn, while Renault chief Briatore has a cool £60m.
Chequebook
The three wealthy directors have pledged to splash the cash to turn Rangers into the game’s next big force.
And boss Luigi de Canio will be given an open chequebook to strengthen his squad during next month’s transfer window.
Mittal will be represented on the board by son-in-law Amit Bhatia.
He said: “The family is excited about becoming involved with QPR. As a family, we love sport and particularly enjoy English football.
“Alongside Bernie and Flavio, we hope we can improve the club’s performance, with the ultimate ambition of a Premier League place.”
Rangers were on the brink of going back into administration before Ecclestone and Briatore bought the club for £14m in September.
Paul Finney, of the Independent R’s supporters group, said: “Santa must be wearing blue and white hoops.
“It’s been a crazy season and now it looks set to be even more surreal.” The Sun

The Telegraph - Lakshmi Mittal pushes QPR up the rich list
By Kevin Garside
Roman's is no longer the pre-eminent pocket in west London. In one cursory flourish of his platinum card, the world's fifth richest man, who is worth £26 billion, has restructured the pecking order in Kensington and Chelsea. Ronaldinho is practically a Queens Park Rangers player. You never know, David Beckham might be supplying the crosses. He'd look good in hoops.

Fantasy is part of the infrastructure at Queen's Park Rangers. Ordinarily it extends no further than the absent fans, the thousands who proclaim allegiance, who convince themselves that they are supporters but so rarely trouble the turnstiles. Now Lakshmi Mittal is on board, to the tune of a 20 per cent holding, the missing Rangers hordes will be knocking down the doors before you can say Jose Mourinho for manager.

Money men: Lakshmi Mittal has joined forces with Bernie Ecclestone at Loftus Road
In 1974, a record 35,353 turned up to watch Don Revie's Leeds. The capacity now, albeit all-seated, is a more modest 19,100, a figure unlikely to be challenged by the visit of Colchester tomorrow. Make the most of the modest fare; the club is not planning to wither much longer in the nether regions of the game.

Just two months ago the catalyst among the Loftus Road magnates, Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone, sat in the Fuji paddock eulogising Rangers. Earlier that day Mount Fuji emerged from behind the clouds that had cloaked its wondrous peak. One wondered whether Bernie had the right Rangers, whether his state had not been altered by the mind-bending properties associated with Japan's magical mountain.

He spoke of a commitment to revisit the days of Thomas and Francis, of Marsh and Bowles, of a desire to parade Rangers in Europe, to dip the old place in stardust and give Loftus Road a facelift. The unveiling yesterday of Mittal as a partner in this preternatural project added weight to the fancy.

"Mittal is a mate of mine as you know," Ecclestone said. "I told him he should come on board; he took my advice. We want this to work. This is a great old club - they haven't always been where they are today. They were challenging Liverpool for the league title back in the Seventies. That is where we want to see them again, in the top flight.

advertisement"What surprises me is the number of people who are supporters that you never dreamt would be. I speak to people and they tell me they have been supporting QPR all their lives. We'll tidy the whole place up now and see what we can come up with. There will be investment in the club to make it the best it can be. There is a proper board in place and they will decide what the spend will be."

Having spent £30 million sending his daughter down the aisle, Mittal is unlikely to be counting the pennies. When asked if Mittal's involvement was a statement of intent, Ecclestone, hardly thrifty himself, replied: "Absolutely."

Seventeen years ago, a former sheet metal worker from Blackburn sold his company to British Steel for £360 million. Twelve months later, fans of Blackburn Rovers thought they must have died and gone to football heaven. Jack Walker was the new chairman and splashing millions on new stands and Alan Shearer. The result, in 1995, was a first championship since 1914.

Under Kenny Dalglish, Blackburn bloodied the noses of the football aristocracy. Under Mourinho, propelled by Roman's rubles, Chelsea added a second and third title 40 years after claiming their first. The mind boggles at the potential inherent in the bank balances of Messrs Mittal, Ecclestone and [Flavio] Briatore.

January offers the first opportunity to measure intent. This improbable triumvirate could blow the transfer window off its Roman-plated hinges. The teams immediately above QPR in the Championship table are all a whiter shade of pale this morning.

Briatore is the man pulling the strings. This is the same former ski instructor who made niche Italian knitwear sell like hot cakes. He then made Benetton winners in grand prix racing, introducing a chap called Michael Schumacher to the global stage. Ten years later he repeated the feat at Renault, making Fernando Alonso a double world champion.

Blackburn were decaying in the old Second Division when Walker blew into Ewood Park. Within a year they were founder members of the Premiership. Dizzying progress is the minimum requirement at QPR. This quaint, harmless club is about to be fast-tracked into the big league. If manager Luigi de Canio cannot fashion it, Briatore will find another who can. And don't be surprised were he to speak Portuguese.

www.telegraph.co.uk/garside
Loftus Road magnates
Lakshmi Mittal
Born: Sadulpur, India.
Age: 57.

Reputed to be the fifth-richest man in the world, Mittal owns 44 per cent of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel company. He began his career by working in his family's steel business, but in 1994 he branched out to take over the company's international operations, eventually becoming president of the board of directors.
Worth £26 billion
Bernie Ecclestone
Born: Bungay, Suffolk. Age: 77

Ecclestone, the 'ringmaster' for F1 motor racing, he made his mark by buying the Brabham team in 1972. Became chief executive of the F1 Constructors Association in 1978 and pioneered the sale of TV rights for the sport. Was at the centre of a controversy in 1997 when he gave the Labour Party a £1m donation.
Worth £2.25 billion
Flavio Briatore
Born: Cuneo, Italy. Age: 57.

Managing director of the Renault F1 team. Made his fortune after going into business with clothing company founder Luciano Benetton. Became managing director of the Benetton F1 team and then took on a similar role when it became Benetton-Renault, and then simply Renault.
Worth £50 Million

Telegraph QPR welcomes the billionaire effect as Mittal strikes a deal - By Danny Fortson, Business Correspondent
Published: 21 December 2007
Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy a championship-winning football team, a truism lavishly proven by Roman Abram-ovich at Chelsea.

The board of Queen's Park Rangers was yesterday hoping that the arrival of a new billionaire owner in the form of Lakshmi Mittal, head of the world's largest steel company and the richest man in the UK, would herald a similar change of fortunes for the long-suffering club.

The West London club revealed yesterday that the steel baron paid an undisclosed sum for a 20 per cent stake, becoming the latest fabulously wealthy businessman to add an English football club to his trophy case. QPR, currently bottom of the Championship, welcomed the arrival of Mr Mittal, who has an estimated net worth of £20bn. "This investment ...is a great step towards the development of the club and supports the ambition of the shareholders to reach the Premier League in the near future."

Mr Mittal joins the club's other high-profile owners, Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, and Flavio Briatore, the Renault team manager, who took over the club in September. Mr Mittal will be represented on the board by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia.

QPR declined to comment on spending plans beyond a statement saying: "The new capital being invested in QPR will help fund the programme that is needed to help us to achieve this target."

If recent history is a guide, QPR, which last played in the Premier League in 1996, is probably on the cusp of a liberally bankrolled make-over. It needs it. The club descended into farce last year when details emerged of a boardroom confrontation in which former director Gianni Baldini said he was held at gunpoint to force him to resign and sell his shares.

Mr Mittal's dip into the football world is the latest in a string of such deals. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, bought Manchester City last summer and immediately splashed out tens of millions of pounds to hire former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson and a raft of pricey foreign players. ttp://qprreport.blogspot.com/2007/12/qpr-are-richest-club-in-world-and-other.html

Newspaper Stories Before The Official QPR Announcement

DAILY TELEGRAPH - QPR seek slice of Lakshmi Mittal's £26bn - By Tom Collomosse
Queens Park Rangers hope to persuade Lakshmi Mittal, the world's fifth-richest man, to invest some of his estimated £26 billion fortune in the club.
The Indian steel magnate was a guest of Rangers co-owners Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore for the 0-0 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Loftus Road last Saturday which left QPR bottom of the Championship.
Mittal, 57, is a friend of Ecclestone after buying the Formula One rights holder's £70 million house in Kensington.
A Rangers source said: "The club heard Mittal had been interested in Wigan and Everton, but this is a lot closer to home. He already knew Bernie from the time when he bought his house. The real worry is what clubs are going to want for players when Rangers try to buy them."
Ecclestone is thought to be worth about £2.5 billion, while multi-millionaire Briatore is the managing director of the Renault F1 team and has diverse business interests including fashion, nightclubs and pharmaceuticals.
Were Mittal to be brought on board, Rangers' spending power would dwarf even that of their west London rivals Chelsea, who are bankrolled by Roman Abramovich's £9.5 billion fortune.
Mittal's Kensington Gardens home is known as the 'Taj Mittal' as it is decorated with the marble taken from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal mausoleum in Agra, India. In June 2004, Mittal paid more than £30 million to host his daughter Vanisha's wedding.
Even if Mittal, who has been linked with Birmingham City, as well as Wigan Athletic and Everton, were not to get involved, QPR's financial future appears secure, but it is the present which causes most concern.
Since appointing Italian Luigi de Canio to succeed John Gregory as manager in October, Rangers have shown little improvement.
De Canio is expected to invest heavily in new players during next month's transfer window, and he will be expected to lead a rapid upturn in Rangers' results, as Ecclestone and Briatore are not accustomed to presiding over failing institutions.
The pair took control of Rangers on Nov 7, since when they have attended the majority of home games. Briatore is frequently at the club's Harlington training base near Heathrow Airport and holds regular discussions with his compatriot, De Canio. Telegraph

This is London - Fifth-richest man in the world set to buy into Queens Park Rangers
Mittal: Latest big name linked with Rangers
Multi-billionaire Lakshmi Mittal — the world's fifth-richest man — is to become a director of QPR.
The London-based Indian steel magnate, a friend of the club's coowner Bernie Ecclestone, is ready to pour some of his estimated £26billion fortune into the Championship club.
A QPR source said: 'The club heard Mittal had been interested in Wigan and Everton, but this is a lot closer to home for him.' This is London

The Sun - It's a Steel By MAX SHORT
MULTI-BILLIONAIRE Lakshmi Mittal — the world’s fifth-richest man — is poised to become a director of QPR.
The Indian steel magnate is a friend of Rangers co-owner and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, and is ready to pour some of his £50billion fortune into the Championship strugglers.
Mittal bought Ecclestone’s house in Kensington for £70m and was a guest of Ecclestone and co-owner Flavio Briatore for Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with Wolves.
An R’s source said: “We heard Mittal had been interested in Wigan and Everton but this is a lot closer to home.
"The worry is what clubs are going to want for players when Rangers try to buy them.” The Sun

[QPR Report]

Saturday, December 22, 2007

For Lakshmi Mittal: An Indian Newpspaper's Guide to the "Language of English Football"
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The Telegraph - Culcutta, India - Amit Roy
Tycoon, mind your language - With stakes in football club, time for Mittal to learn the right noises

London, Dec. 22: Lakshmi Mittal ought to be “over the moon” now that he has picked up a 20 per cent stake in a well-known English football club for a bargain price — and his rivals correspondingly “gutted”.

With this new investment, the Mittal family — his son-in-law Amit Bhatia will represent him on the board of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) — will have to learn the language of English football, especially the game’s distinctive slang.

Even after a defeat, he will have to defend his players by insisting the lads gave “110 per cent”. Even when the opposition has won through being the better team, his view will always have to be: “We woz robbed.”

Should QPR be behind at half time, the line is: “At the end of the day, it’s a game of two halves and our injury list is extensive.”

And if QPR is beaten by a side considered weaker on paper, the correct response is: “Each game as it comes, there are no easy games in qualifying any more.”

While it is difficult enough for Indians not brought up in England to get used to English colloquialisms (for example, “not bad” means good), it is even more challenging for foreigners to master footballing language.

Mittal arrived in London in 1995 from Indonesia. After more than a decade in London, he will have appreciated that it is no longer cricket but football that has long been the national sport of Britain.

He cannot be expected to be a master of statistics, nor of who won the Cup in which year, nor enter the debate about whether George Best was the most talented footballer the UK has witnessed. However, it would be wise for him to learn about the summer of 1966 when England beat Germany to win the World Cup.

“The lads done good,” he would be advised to murmur after his third or fourth pint at QPR’s local pub when recalling the glories of the past.

If a QPR player is brought down in a fair tackle near the opposition goal, the automatic lament should be: “It was a clear penalty.”

When the “boys” lose, which may prove to be a frequent occurrence with QPR — currently languishing at the bottom of the Championship (the highest football division after the Premier League) — he must confess to being “sick as a parrot”.

Footballing language owes much to the television commentators, who are handsomely paid national figures. The satirical magazine Private Eye kept a tally of the more quotable observations of the former presenter, David Coleman, and listed them as “Colemanballs”.

Typical was Coleman’s comment: “Nottingham have now lost six matches in a row without winning.”

Many of the commentators are former players turned managers or coaches. “I felt a lump in my throat as the ball went in,” Terry Venables remarked on one occasion. On another, he urged: “If you can’t stand the heat in the dressing room, get out of the kitchen.”

Ron Atkinson, another manager, once said: “The Spaniards have been reduced to aiming aimless balls into the box.”

And he also said: “If Glenn Hoddle (a coach) said one word to his team at half time, it was concentration and focus.”

The philosophy that Mittal has pursued in expanding his steel empire — “buy cheap and then build up your acquisition” — appears to have been applied in the case of QPR.

Formula One duo Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone bought QPR for £14 million last month. Of this, £1 million was for the club’s shares and £13 million to clear QPR’s debts, with a further £5 million promised as investment in new players.

By this reckoning, Mittal should have paid £2.8 million for a 20 per cent stake. But according to the Daily Mail, “QPR chose not to make public the amount Mittal has paid for his shareholding but it is believed to have cost him around £1.6 million”.

If the Indian steel tycoon can bring some Indian Mittalisms into English football, he may yet be embraced by the nation. Meanwhile, he must learn to socialise with WAGS — the “wives and girlfriends” of footballers. The Telegraph (of India)

[QPR Report]

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Mittal's Representative Promises De Canio More Transfer Money
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Sporting Life - DE CANIO PROMISED TRANSFER FUNDS
Amit Bhatia, vice-chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd, insists there is money available for boss Luigi De Canio to work with.
Bhatia, son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, who's family owns a 20 per cent stake in the club claims becoming involved with Rangers was a "super opportunity" and has "the best platform to go forward."
"It was an idea that had been in the back of our minds and when this happened we kind of looked at Rangers as a super opportunity to be involved in a club that we believe has the best platform to go forward," he told the club's official website.
"It's got magnificent fans, a super stadium, everything just seems to be right with QPR and we were very excited when Flavio (Briatore) and Bernie (Ecclestone) got involved and asked us to get involved
"We bought 12 new players in the January transfer window and with Bernie and Flavio as partners I feel very secure in saying that we will spend money but we will spend it wisely.
"We need to buy the best players and we will go out and buy them when the time is right. So it will it cost money and we are willing to do it." Sporting Life



Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Snippets II: Lakshmi Mittal's QPR Involvement
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Khaleej Times - itain sees biggest ever Indian take-away By Tusdiq Din (Letter from the UK)
"THE rise of India as a global economic superpower goes from strength to strength. With Indian companies now routinely called on for IT, commerce and industrial expertise, the purchase of two distinctly British motoring marques from the Ford motor company, namely Jaguar and Land Rover by the Indian conglomerate the Tata Group should come as no surprise....
....Another high profile Indian business concern has also been in the news this week, with the world's fifth richest man Lakshmi Mittal cementing his involvement at the west London football club Queens Park Rangers. Along with Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Renault racing team owner Flavio Briatore, Mittal is now an owner and director of QPR holdings, and has appointed his son-in-law Amit Bhatia as the club's vice-chairman to oversee the steel magnates' 20 per cent stake in Rangers.
The ever smiling Bhatia was happy to do the media rounds as QPR look set to announce a major future club shirt sponsor, and also unveil stadium development plans and the upgrading of facilities as Rangers attempt to gain promotion to the Premier League from the second tier of English football come next season.
Mittal's investment and that of his Formula 1 associates has made QPR the richest club in the UK, to the dismay of fellow west London club Chelsea, where the controversial Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has seen tangible on field success, courtesy of his seemingly endless financial reserves, the likes of which Mittal would surely welcome.
However, it is not known at this stage whether, the Mittal family have any plans of tapping into the potentially huge pool of Indian footballing talent, but given the global presence of all things Indian, that prospect too may soon come to fruition. Khaleej Times

[QPR Report]

Friday, December 18, 2009

QPR's Bhatia and Ishan...Times of India - Bhaichung Bhutia to play exhibition match
- MUMBAI: Indian football skipper Bhaichung Bhutia will take part in an exhibition match that will kick-off the inaugural South Mumbai Junior Soccer
- Bhutia, who is the guest of honour for the event, will be a part of the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's 5, that will face the Colaba Municipal Secondary School.
- His team also includes MP Milind Deora, Amit Bhatia (Vice-Chairman Queens Park Rangers) and Ishan Saksena (CEO & MD, Queens Park Rangers) besides Patel, who is also the chief guest.
- 204 schools have registered for the two-day event to be held at the Cooperage Football Ground here on December 19 and 20. More than 60 Municipal Schools are also in the fray.
-Ex-India player Santosh Kashyap will conduct a talent hunt programme to pick 24 players that will attend the camp to be conducted by the coaches of Queens Park Rangers towards the end of this year. Times of India

[QPR Report]

QPR in India qprreport.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=8396&page=1

[QPR Report]

London Informer/Paul Warburton - Banker ready to replace Briatore as chairman
Sep 30 2009
- AMIT BHATIA has told friends he's willing to become QPR chairman if Flavio Briatore is forced to quit.
- But the club is also worried a bidding war could erupt over the 30 per cent shareholding the Italian might be forced to sell if the Football League bans him under its 'fit and proper person' code.
- Briatore was banned for life by the FIA last week in his other role as Renault team boss following the events of 'Crashgate'.
- The League is awaiting reports from the FIA and is due to thrash over the findings next Thursday - but Rangers are already clearing the decks for an upheaval at the top.
- What could turn out to be his last live match for the man who brought millions to the club two years ago is ironically the 2-1 win over cash-strapped Accrington Stanley in front of just 5,000 fans on August 25.
- Briatore is unwilling to face the wrath of supporters at games until his fate is known - and Bhatia is standing by to take over.
- The 30-year-old son-in-law of billionaire Lakshmi Mittal was brought in as vice-chairman as part of a 20 per cent investment by the family and is understood to be willing to take over Briatore's 30 per cent, should it be needed.
- An insider said: "Under company rules, the shares have to be offered publicly - and that might allow someone else to show an interest.
- "But for once in the club's recent history, it won't be left financially high and dry if Briatore decides to leave. It appears Amit Bhatia is more than willing to take over."

[QPR Report]

June 11, 2009

QPR Official Site - BHATIA "BLOWN AWAY" BY R'S FANS
- Amit Bhatia was keen to praise the generosity of the R's faithful last night after he completed his first ever triathlon to raise a staggering £21,200 for QPR In The Community Trust.
- The QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman, who is also Chair of the Trust, told http://www.qpr.co.uk: "I can't get over the level of support I received from the QPR fans.
- "Their generosity and encouragement has blown me away. I try to have as much contact with the supporters as I can and every time I am involved with them, they surprise me.
- "I received loads of messages of support, and I cannot tell you how much that means.
- "I want to thank each and every one of them for their backing and kind donations."
- Bhatia completed the 750m open-water swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run in a time of 1hr 40minutes, after he entered the triathlon with brother-in-law Aditya Mittal and friend Tim Blakey.
- Although it was tough going, Bhatia says it was definitely worthwhile.
- "It was a great challenge for a fantastic cause," he added. "I feel very passionately about the Trust and I saw this as a good way to raise money and awareness.
- "I would like to think this shows the Board's commitment to the community as well as to the Football Club.
- "The community that we're part of is important to us. QPR is a family Club and we want to make a difference."
- Turning his attentions to the recent appointment of Jim Magilton, Bhatia said: "We were very hands-on with this.
- "We believe we have learned from our mistakes over the last year, and I hope that experience has taught us some good things.
- "Jim is very positive and bullish, and I believe he is the right man for the job.
- "When everyone in the squad is fit we have a pretty formidable team, so I am really excited about next season.
- "This is a very important year for us and we understand that." QPR

[QPR Report]

June 11, 2008

QPR Official Site - PULLING POWER: QPR Vice Chairman, Amit Bhatia

As the countdown continues to what we all hope will be an exciting 2008/09 campaign, Amit Bhatia has revealed that he is relishing the start of the new season just as much as anyone else.
The QPR Holdings Limited Vice-Chairman told http://www.qpr.co.uk: "We are continuing discussions with a lot of very exciting players.
"Hopefully before the start of the season we will announce the arrival of some new faces, and everyone will be happy.
"QPR now has the ability to attract players that, in the past, might not have been as interested in coming to the Club, and that's great."
The R's have been installed by many Bookmakers as the favourites to win the league next season, and Bhatia admitted: "I can understand why that has happened.
"Someone told me recently that last season we were 160/1 to win the Championship - and now we're 6/1 to do it. "It's flattering more than anything else, and let's just hope that we can do it justice. "What is important is that our results on the pitch justify all the hype that surrounds the Club right now."QPR

[QPR Report]

Friday, May 15, 2009

Bhatia Speaks on QPR's New Manager Search and Promotion Prospects...

QPR Official Site - EXCLUSIVE: BHATIA LOOKS AHEAD

- Amit Bhatia is already looking forward to the start of the 2009/10 Coca Cola Championship campaign.
- Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk from the United States, where he is currently on business,
the QPR Holdings Ltd Vice Chairman revealed he is counting down the days to the new season.
- "I'm missing the football already," he said.
- "Of course we'd love to be involved in the play-off's right now, but it wasn't to be this year,
but that doesn't mean we won't be involved in the shake up for promotion in 2009/10."

- Bhatia added: "We've made fine progress this season.
= "Our final point's total of 61 is the best we've registered in recent seasons and I firmly believe
we've got a squad that can compete in the upper echelons of the Championship.
- "We were very unlucky with injuries last season. We lost key players throughout the season, but we
still occupied a top half place for the duration of the campaign, so if we can keep everyone fit,
we'll have a great chance to progress even further over the next 12 months."

- Bhatia revealed that the search for a new boss is a 'top priority' of the Board,
and that talks are on-going with a number of interested applicants.
- "We've talked to a lot of people and we're nearly there," he said.
- "We didn't want to rush into making an appointment, because we know just how important this decision is.
- "It affects everyone connected to the Football Club; the Board, the staff, the fans. It's a crucial decision."
- With the Early Bird Season Ticket deadline looming, Bhatia also touched upon the role the QPR supporters will
play next season, adding: "There were many highs and lows last season, but the fans stood by us through it all.
- "I've said it before and I'll happily say it again, the fans are our twelfth man, be it home or away, and their
support is vital.
- "The atmosphere at Loftus Road is up there with the very best I've ever witnessed and I can't wait to see the
ground rocking again at the start of the season."

BEAT THE DEADLINE! QPR supporters are reminded that the Early Bird Season Ticket deadline of May 17th is fast approaching
. For more information on the latest Season Ticket news, click here QPR

[Macmoish]

A compilation I prepared years back, when thought Bhatia

Flashback when Briatore stepped down and Bhatia/Mittal via Saksena in charge for year +

[Macmoish]

Guess I'll Bump!