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Express - Sunday October 31,2010
By Colin Mafham
MEGABUCKS QPR TO SHEIKH UP CITY
Amit Bhatia said “the dream is to get into the Champions League" QPR are waiting in the wings to match Manchester City’s millions next season.
As things stand now they will be up there with the Premier League giants in every sense of the word.
And while Manchester United and others wrestle with massive debts, the club that has a staggering £20BILLION behind it is prepared to go pound for pound with City if necessary to conquer Europe.*
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We have a target. We will make it happen no matter what it takes, within reason,” said vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, whose father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal has a staggering fortune that is more than a match for Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour.
“The dream is to get into the Champions League and if we are promoted we will put our hands in our pockets,” Bhatia added.
“My father-in-law didn’t get where he is settling to finish fourth. We want to finish top,” he added.
Backed by two of the richest men in the world – and a third who is no pauper – the Championship promotion chasers can match the buying power of Mansour and also pay the sort of mind-boggling players’ salaries they will ultimately need to in order to achieve their goal.
It is an amazing prospect for a club whose owner spent £34million on his daughter’s wedding.
The cash-fuelled rise of QPR since Indian steel tycoon Mittal, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore took over three years ago also adds up to a real rags to riches rise for manager Neil Warnock.
This time last year Warnock didn’t know where his next penny was coming from at Crystal Palace.
Now he is looking forward to one last crack at the Premier League at the age of 62, despite hints from Briatore that he would like Italian Marcello Lippi at the helm if they do go up.
“We have some quality players who never give up and that’s what good teams do,” said Warnock, whose high-flyers achieved a club record at Bristol City last week by staying unbeaten for 13 league games since the start of the season.
www.express.co.uk/posts/view/208530/Megabucks-QPR-to-Sheikh-up-City
