And back then
"It's nothing to worry about." QPR
GIANNI PALADINI
Dave McIntyre - West London Sport - Paladini’s six-year reign is over
Gianni Paladini is no longer QPR chairman and the club’s new-look board are to discuss his future in the coming days.
Paladini was Rangers’ longest-serving chairman since Jim Gregory, having held the position since 2005.
Tony Fernandes was on Wednesday confirmed as company chairman and majority shareholder at Loftus Road, with Amit Bhatia returning to the post of company vice-chairman.
Paladini’s position as club chairman has not been affected by a number of changes to the company board in recent years, but this time around he has not survived the cull.
Fernandes is this week taking soundings from Bhatia with a view to announcing a restructure of the club in the near future.
But the decision has already been taken to strip Paladini of the title he has held since prevailing in a boardroom coup six years ago.
Paladini, who is still under contract, has always been seen by the Mittal family as someone with a contribution to make because of his experience in the game.
But disagreements between the controversial Italian and Bhatia’s trusted friend Ishan Saksena caused acrimony prior to Saksena being removed as company chairman and managing director in May.
He will also no longer be used as a bridge between the manager and board, which became his primary job under the Flavio Briatore-led regime.
Paladini’s function as a meeter and greeter, which he has retained by virtue of being the only QPR director who attends every match, also hangs by a thread, with a number of alternatives for the role already being considered.
The Fernandes-led restructure will include the appointment of Philip Beard as chief executive.
Beard, a senior member of the successful London 2012 Olympic bid team and former CEO of The O2, will formally start work once Premier League approval is received. West London Sport
Paul Warburton-Fulham Chronicle - Gianni Paladini set to leave QPR
CONTROVERSIAL chairman Gianni Paladini is set to leave QPR with a two-year pay off.
The current Rangers club supremo was the focal point for fans' ire when he was deemed to have made mistakes over the transfer of midfielder Alejandro Faurlin.
As a result, the FA at one stage threatened a points deduction that would have derailed Hoops promotion hopes last season - only lifted on the morning of the final match against Leeds.
After the game, the Italian was roundly booed when answering questions over the loudspeaker system. But the man born in Naples in 1946 was seen as a saviour when he rescued Rangers from administration in 2003" Fulham Chronicle
Evening Standard -Tony Fernandes axes Gianni Paladini on his first day in charge
Tony Fernandes has sacked chairman Gianni Paladini in his first act as Queens Park Rangers' new owner and taken on the role himself.
Fernandes moved swiftly after his company, Tune Group, took on a 66 per cent stake in QPR buying out previous majority shareholders Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone.
Paladini, who sold his stake in the club in 2007, is disappointed by the move but it is believed the 65-year-old feels he has reached an age where he is happy to free himself from the stress of helping to run the club.
In 2005, Paladini was held up at gunpoint at Loftus Road shortly before a home game but seven men were later cleared of charges of conspiracy to blackmail, false imprisonment and gun possession.
Paladini has bought two seats in the directors' box and is expected to attend QPR's home games regularly as a fan.
Paladini has enjoyed a close working relationship with Neil Warnock but the manager has warmly welcomed the arrival of Fernandes, with the deal also seeing Amit Bhatia rejoin the board, three months after he quit.
QPR were hammered 4-0 by Bolton on the opening day of the Premier League season but Warnock now hopes to strengthen his squad before the transfer window closes on August 31.
"It is so exciting," he said. "It is going to be hard work because we need to find the right players and do our business in a short space of time, but this will give us a fighting chance.
"To have Amit back on board is great because he is the reason I joined the club as manager in the first place.
"Tony and Amit have got the same vision and it is not short-term - it is long term but this is the best thing regarding the fans and I am sure they will be delighted.
"Tony and Amit know that I'm looking to bring a number of players in and they will do all in their power to get my targets. We have a number of transfer targets in every position and we are looking to strengthen. I have backups in place in case we can't get my first choice. The most important thing is to get the right players in by the end of the window."
Fernandes, the founder of AirAsia and boss of Team Lotus, has high hopes for his new club and said: "QPR are a raw diamond and hopefully I can contribute into turning them into a diamond. I am thoroughly impressed with Warnock's passion and enthusiasm." Standard
Talksport/Ian Cruise - Exclusive - Curle: 'QPR can now go shopping at Harrods
Can Listen to Audio
* Exclusive - Curle: 'QPR can now go shopping at Harrods'
Keith Curle has told talkSPORT Neil Warnock can now ‘go shopping at Harrods’ after Tony Fernandes’ takeover of the Loftus Road club.
The Malaysian tycoon secured a 66 percent stake in the west London club on Thursday and immediately pledged there would be money to spend.
And, although he insists he won’t be splashing out crazy money on new signings, Rangers’ fans can look forward to some new arrivals before the close of the transfer window.
“Tony’s come in and it’s changed the focus. We’re now shopping at Harrods rather than lesser shopsâ€Keith Curle
And assistant manager Keith Curle admits the club can begin to focus on targets towards the top end of the market rather than the bottom.
Curle told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast: “We had a meeting with Tony last week to talk about some targets. You can tell by the acquisitions we’ve made, they’ve been frees, that we’ve been scouring the market for value for money.
“Now Tony’s come in and it’s changed the focus. We’re now shopping at Harrods rather than lesser shops.â€
QPR started their Premier League campaign with a 4-0 thrashing at home to Bolton, and Curle admits they have to wise up.
He added: “The lads didn’t deserve a 4-0 hammering but we’ll be looking for a response on Saturday [at Everton]. We need to be more ruthless and professional . Kevin Davies nearly reffed the game [last week] and we need to be more street wise.†Talksport
www.qprreport.blogspot.com/2011/08/qpr-report-friday-takeover-compilation.htmlAnd some of the other...on QPR Report August 2011
QPR Report Tuesday: Trasnfer Day?...CEO Beard Talk...
A QPR Odyssey - QPR Club Secretary of the 1960s, 1...
QPR Report Monday Update: Transfer Gossip...(Remin...
QPR Report Sunday Update: Wigan Loss
QPR Report Friday: Transfer Waiting!...Malaysian ...
Video: QPR Fan Interview With Neil Warnock
QPR Report Thursday: Ray Jones (RIP)...Fernandes: ...
QPR Report Wednesday: Rochdale Loss: Reports and C...
QPR Report Tuesday: Warnock on Transfers...Ticket ...
QPR Report Monday Update and Transfer Gossip
QPR Report Sunday: Fernandes on Possible Loftus Ro...
QPR Report Saturday: Everton Play...Warnock Speaks...
QPR Report Friday Takeover Compilation: Exuberance...
QPR Deal: Done and Dusted! - Tony Fernandes (and A...
QPR Report Thursday (Takeover Day?)
QPR Report Wednesday: Fernandes Wants Mittal Share..
www.qprreport.blogspot.com/2011/08/qpr-report-wednesday-bullard-to.html .
QPR Report Tuesday Update: Fernandes Takeover?...P...
QPR Report Monday: QPR Fernandes Takeover Update.....
QPR Report Sunday: Bolton Loss (!5,195 Attend)...Q...
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Last Edit: Feb 20, 2013 at 4:50am by Macmoish
"There is nothing wrong with Queen's Park Rangers Football Club that sheer enthusiasm can't put right" -- Alec Stock: 1959
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Feb 19, 2014 at 2:51am
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 19, 2014 at 2:51am
Bump a year - Now 2 1/2 Years in Charge
- What posted last year
Feb 21, 2013 at 4:10am
Wrote a year ago: Metro Blog piece
The Tony Fernandes era at QPR hits the 18-month mark – what have we learned?
Mike/QPR Report Metro Blog - Feb 21, 2013
The Tony Fernandes era at QPR hits the 18-month mark – what have we learned?
This week marks 18 months since Tony Fernandes and his Tunes associates acquired their controlling (66 percent) owning in Queen’s Park Rangers shares; Fernandes became Club Chairman while Amit Bhatia (Lakshmi Mittal’s son-in-law) owning the remaining 33% of the shares, returned to the QPR board as Vice Chairman.
18 months later, QPR are on their third manager of the Fernandes era (with a fourth one possible in the summer?). In fairness, Fernandes was keen to stick with manager Mark Hughes; his partners were not. The club have signed dozens of players and spent millons of pounds.
Last season, on the final day of the season, QPR barely stayed up and then-manager Hughes famously said that the situation would never reoccur as long as he was manager. This season hoewever, to the surprise of almost all fans and pundits (and to the delight of the club’s enemies), QPR have been struggling all season and are seemingly headed back to the Championship (but hopefully not beyond!)
Like so many new Chairmen, Fernandes came in preaching prudence and frugality - while declaring his willingness to make funds available – but not “crazy money.”
Mixed with this were declarations of passion and commitment; and talk of big plans and long-term planning, and eventually making a profit. Fernandes also spoke of increasing fan involvement with the big decisions - citing his use of Twitter as a communications toool.
“QPR is a raw diamond and hopefully I can contribute into turning it into a diamond.” Fernandes also praised Manager Neil Warnock: “I feel very good about Neil. He has similarities to me.
“He’s very impulsive…I love his passion and that word is key in my psyche…My gift is analysing people and there is something special with Neil.”
Fernandes wasn’t Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone or Gianni Paladini. That remains the case. He’s clearly made mistakes - but this is not the time to start assessing those.
Fernandes will ultimately be judged not on last season or this, but over what occurs over the next season or two. Whether he adheres to his committment to remain involved with QPR; whether he leads QPR back to the Premier League; how much money is spent on developing the club.
Despite everything, Fernandes and Bhatia remain exceptionally popular in the eyes of most fans eyes (including this one). There are very few – if any – demands for - resignation. If anything, fears are expressed when the Chairman implicitly threatens to quit.
There is a widespread continued affection for Fernandes – taken in some instances to the extent that even moderate criticism of Fernandes are denounced by some fans. That these are in the end, businessessmen, not fans seems to be overlooked in some instances.
That the current ownership could be a lot worse is certainly something to always bear in mind.
blogs.metro.co.uk/sport/the-tony-fernandes-era-qpr-hits-18-month-mark-learned/
Last Edit: 2 minutes ago by Macmoish
"F1 and the English league are phenomenally successful sports watched around the world. That’s a huge captive market. Having AirAsia and Tune Hotels beamed straight into people’s homes is more powerful than putting out a print ad.”
“Sport helps to put the Tune out there. Branding impacts the bottom line, even if you can’t measure it. The aura of our brand has attracted a lot of partnerships and sports is a large part of that aura.” - QPR Chairman, Tony Fernandes on owning QPR and Caterham
_______
Feb 21, 2013 at 10:52am
And Reuters
QPR owner Fernandes prepared for long haul
22 Feb 2013,
Chairman of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and AirAsia's Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes (R) shares a light moment with QPR players Park Ji-sung (L) of South Korea and Anton Ferdinand of England as they walk to an AirAsia aircraft dedicated in memory of QPR's former captain Alan McDonald during its launching ceremony at an airport in Sepang outside Kuala Lumpur July 18, 2012. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
Chairman of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and AirAsia's Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes (R) shares a light moment with QPR players Park Ji-sung (L) of South Korea and Anton Ferdinand of England as they walk to an AirAsia aircraft dedicated in memory of QPR's former captain Alan McDonald during its launching ceremony at an airport in Sepang outside Kuala Lumpur July 18, 2012. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad
LONDON (Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers owner Tony Fernandes plans to stick with the club even if they are relegated from the English Premier League this season.
LONDON (Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers owner Tony Fernandes plans to stick with the club even if they are relegated from the English Premier League this season.
QPR are bottom of the Premier League, seven points adrift of safety with only 12 games to play. New television contracts that kick in next season mean that relegation from the 20-team top tier will be more costly than ever.
However, Fernandes said QPR could follow the example of Newcastle United and West Ham United and bounce back if they were to slip into the Championship (second division).
"Building a football club is not something that will be done in a year and we have an enormous job at QPR to do, not just in terms of player infrastructure, but the academy infrastructure," Fernandes told Reuters in an interview.
"We're going to build a new academy, we're looking to build a new stadium," he added.
"Whether we're in the Championship, whether we're in the Premier League, we have to do those investments anyway."
Fernandes, chief executive of Malaysia's Air Asia, became majority shareholder at QPR 18 months ago.
Manager Harry Redknapp spent heavily in the January transfer window, bringing in players including defender Christoper Samba for a reported 12.5 million pounds ($19.1 million) from Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala.
Fernandes, who also owns the Caterham Formula One motor racing team, denied that QPR's wage bill was dangerously high.
"Our salary wage bill is probably lower than clubs in the top half (of the League)," he said.
"There is a reality that when you buy something and its under-invested, you have to invest in it," he added.
(Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Ed Osmond)
www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1739684/QPR-owner-Fernandes-prepared-for-long-haulRead more:
qprreport.proboards.com/thread/35197/fernandes-2-1-years-qpr#ixzz2tkgrBPFQRead more:
qprreport.proboards.com/thread/35180/flashback-year-fernandes-takes-over#ixzz3Aj0M8zoA