OTD in 2011 Amit Bhatia & Saksena Exit #QPR

[Bushman]

May 25, 2011 21:17:52 GMT @harlowranger said:

May 25, 2011 21:09:03 GMT Macmoish said:

By the time Briatore is finished I doubt it will even be "the hoops" any more

Maybe he will change the new crest back to the old one as a softener for us !

All i ever wanted to do was support a normal Club , why oh why did i choose QPR , Orients only just up the road !


Fit and Proper test my ar-e.

Orient !!!!! . Wash your mouth.

[FloridaR]

Ruse .. I'm thinking its all bs as Amit still has business interests with Briatore.

[marianqpr]

I have been out all day and just got a snippet of the resignation on Sky Sports.
I was hoping that I had misheard but unfortunately the scenario I was dreading has come to pass.
I have read all your posts on the subject and just feel so sad now.
I was really hoping for a Mittal family takeover and that our beloved club would be run by people who care about football and the fans.
I doubt those idiots running our club can even explain the offside rule!!
Since the day of the Leeds game it has been great, despite the trouble with the FA and lack of a victory parade.
Why oh why, is it so difficult to be a QPR supporter.
Did some higher being decide that it would never be plain sailing for us?

[cpr]

Certainly seems that way Marian, unreal sin't it, perhaps surreal is more appropriate.

I wonder what damage limitation rubbish starts coming out of the club.

[Macmoish]

As Eusebio noted on another thread: It's already started coming out through their "proxy" site.

[cpr]

I really couldn't give a shit what the "proxy" site says.

The club has to pacify the fans officially somehow.

The holding company is a headless chicken.

The football club has a headless chicken.

[Macmoish]

Pacifying fans is usually done through the appointment of someone they like...even if have no real power.
Who that would be, not sure: Chairman Gerry Francis? or Rodney Marsh or BP...

Or some name signings (even if manager doesnt want them) Peter Crouch...

Many fans will quickly turn their attention..

[Lonegunmen]

I'm off to see a psychic, we're gonna do a special saonce (Spelling). We'll be wishing for three massive heart attack which will surprisingly happen to an Orange Donut, A Chelsea fan and a Village idiot whose surname starts with a "P". Fingers crossed this will work. If not a voodoo doll has been ordered - well three actually.

[blueeyedcptcook]

Agree with you lone, I have just found a curse for a trio, in a book, of how to get rid of demons, written by PaPa Doc Duvalier. I have scattered the chicken bones and entrails, and have to wait for the curse to happen.

[blueeyedcptcook]

When I read this report this morning, like the rest of you, I once again felt the black cloud of despair discending on our club.

In view of the recent action taken by the FA, against this club, and the dubios backgrounds of the triumvirate, now in control, I feel that the FA should show some steel, and consider a case of Fit and Proper.

[canadaranger]

Is there any suggestion that the Mittals wanted Paladini out following the FA situation and found they didn't have the support in the Boardroom to facilitate it?

[coitparkrangers]

Smudge's tweets (thought we'd seen the last of him didn't we!)

Smudge1962 25 May They will probably trump Fayed soon and stick statues of each other outside Loftus Road
Smudge1962 25 May Football belongs to the working class so Ecclestone and Briatore should stick to the rich boys playground like Formula One football and when he retired from the game got employed by the FA
Smudge1962 25 May Football is fast becoming a bullshit world full of bullshit people. It's littered with uncaring vanity owners like Ecclestone and Briatore
Smudge1962 25 May The sad thing is it's always the supporters that invariably suffer. And that pair of twats know they can hold everyone to ransom
Smudge1962 25 May All is not well with Neil Warnock either. Restrictive budgets means he will have his work cut out keeping QPR in the PL if he stays
Smudge1962 25 May Clearly Ecclestone and Briatore have no interest in QPR other than to treat it like a boutique club for the rich
Smudge1962 25 May Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore are losing the plot at QPR. Up to £72 to watch Premier League football. Treating fans like shit Smudge1962 25 May Outrageous developments at QPR today. As I stated previously despite holding a 33% stake in the club the Mittal's have no power at the club.

[Macmoish]

BBC Report

QPR vice-chairman Amit Bhatia quits over board fall-out
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 18:13 UK

By 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

[blueeyedcptcook]

I am going to market a new ointment for anus discomfort. How does the name "BURN-EZE" sound. ;D

[gibraltar]

i don't understand why people are saying that Mittal should buy QPR.

we aren't worth £100million. FULL STOP.

he's not stupid. he has always said he doesn't want to do a roman, and buy success. he wants a business that makes money. and this is why we have always appreciated him.

[thetfordranger]

its just shamefull that the QPR in the prem will now be a different QPR to the outstanding team that got promoted from the championship.

This is a massive step to moving towards the 'QPR' we all feared led by ecclestone and briatore.

Real fans priced out of going to games
A new manager brought in without giving warnock a proper chance
Crazy signings from paladini

It seems they just want to take our beloved QPR away from us fans and create it in their own image.

What makes me laugh is the fact them two openly admit they dont have an intrest in football while Bhatia and Mittal openly show passion for QPR. Ecclestone needs to be realistic and sell his part of the club to the mittals and just walk away. he wont loose out financially or personally as he couldnt even trvel to watford to watch us.

i know this has all been said on here but i need to vent my frustration and let it all out.

Just think of the club we would have if the Mittals was able to buy the club. It would be unreal. id be partying like i was at the leeds game!

Like most people have stated being a QPR fan is never easy.

[gibraltar]

thetford, i would even accept ecclestone saying "Mittal/Bhatia, I keep my shares but you 2 run the club as you see fit. I'll cash out whenever I want to"

[thetfordranger]

May 26, 2011 7:50:12 GMT gibraltar said:

thetford, i would even accept ecclestone saying "Mittal/Bhatia, I keep my shares but you 2 run the club as you see fit. I'll cash out whenever I want to"

i cant agree more.

i just dont understand why they are so insistant of being heavily involved in something they openly admit to not caring for. its a joke. Why not let someone take the reigns who is passionate and clearly proven to know the best route to take (appointing warnock)

its just a joke.

the happy days of looking forward to the prem are now tainted in my eyes

[ingham]

Wasn't Bhatia the man who defended a huge increase in season ticket prices in the second tier, so that QPR supporters were being asked to pay more to see Sc**thorpe than Fulham supporters were paying to see Manchester United?

If that was down to him, he's changed his tune, hasn't he?

Perhaps it was nothing to do with him, except that he was Ecclestone's and Briatore's mouthpiece. But if that was the case, why was he putting forward THEIR plans as if they were his own?

He didn't own the Club. Neither did Mittal.

So before we fall on our swords about the loss of Mittal, I'd like to see some evidence first that he was ever involved. Or, for that matter, that Bhatia ever did anything he wasn't told to do by the people who owned a controlling interest.

And, for that matter, that he isn't doing what he's told now.

If Ecclestone and Briatore owned the shares, what possible role could the others have, except to do whatever job they were given? What was the nature of that job? And why were the representatives of such independent wealth fetching and carrying for such lovable creatures as Ecclestone and Briatore?

They didn't have to sit in their laps in board meetings in order to buy them out.

And if Bhatia wasn't in control, and Mittal wasn't in control - and how could they be without a controlling interest? - we might ask how much they were paid for whatever roles they discharged for their masters? Unless they did it all for free.

Perhaps they had no roles at all. But that isn't the impression Bhatia gives, is it?

It would be reasonable to speculate that they got something for their trouble. Just as it is not beyond the bounds of probability that Ecclestone thought QPR was too small to be worth associating himself with long-term, and in that case, he might find the Mittal name and money handy to impress supporters, the press, and prospective buyers.

Perhaps Paladini suggested it? Or perhaps Paladini just laughed when Ecclestone did? The losses, the debt, the manoeuvrings about the Ground. Who cares if Mittal's fortune is there to smooth over everything?

But then there is the little matter of arranging their departure once the job is done, whatever that job might be. Having built up their involvement, the significance of Mittal's money, and QPR's bright future, how could they just depart disappointing everyone's expectations - or those who had them, anyway. A boardroom 'disagreement'? Who knows in the absence of covert eavesdropping and surveillance.

Bhatia made it look as though he was in for keeps. But now it's a different story.

Surprise.

I have no idea if the stories on this board and elsewhere are true. But I'm quite prepared to wait until they come up with the next one - and there are usually quite a few.

We may not be getting the full picture, or any picture at all, so we could do worse than keep an open mind. Even to the extent of allowing, however reluctantly, that the Mittal Magnates' 'acrimonious departure' is not necessarily because they wanted to stay 'hands on'.

But because they never were.

[gibraltar]

oh dear.... oh dear, oh dear

[Macmoish]

FINANCIAL TIMES

Mittal son-in-law quits QPR in Ecclestone row

By 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.

www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1179e5b0-8725-11e0-b983-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NRlfjyh5

[cpr]

I woke up hoping it had all been a nightmare.

It was, a real one!

£47 to sit in H block? I don't bloody think so!!!!!

[ingham]

Be interested to see if they sell the 33% holding.

No is the answer, of course. Their commitment is there for all to see.

What is the expression? Someone will 'monitor the family's shareholding'.

Bill Shankly eat your heart out. Living, breathing and sleeping football? Wrong, wrong, wrong. Can't you see, man? You should have been 'monitoring your family's shareholding'.

'The directors are only there to sign the cheques'.

And they can't even do that when they resign. Even if they are 'monitoring their family's shareholding'.

Expect a bid. It may have to be a big one, but that won't put Mittal off. Will it? Unless he's grieving for Mr Saksena.

Next saviour please!

[gibraltar]

no, mittal will sell out now

[qprdaveqpr]

mittal won't sell, he is playing a waiting game. When next season kick off fans are going to protest for Briatore and Ecclestone out. They won't hang around long term

[klr]

May 25, 2011 23:12:58 GMT Macmoish said:

As Eusebio noted on another thread: It's already started coming out through their "proxy" site.

Some of those comments are truly beyond the pale.

Its a sad sign of the times when I read something & almost feel like assaulting fellow QPR supporters.

Just disgraceful, they cant be real QPR fans surely ?!

[gibraltar]

klr, wheres that?

[cpr]

As i've mentioned already, I truly couldn't care less what the "proxy" site is saying.

I will most certainly not be visiting it to find out.

[Macmoish]

Strange they still haven't updated the Directory. Usually they do it the minute the manager/or the board changes

So as of now still says

Contacts

QPR Holdings Limited Chairman / Managing Director - Ishan Saksena

QPR Holdings Limited Vice-Chairman - Amit Bhatia

QPR FC Chairman - Gianni Paladini

Stadium Director - John MacDonald

Finance Director - Rebecca Caplehorn

www.qpr.co.uk/page/StaffDirectory/0,,10373,00.html


* Unless they're waiting till Paladini also "departs" and so don't have to duplicate efforts!

[gibraltar]

u think paladini will leave? i see that happening even less than i see warnock leaving