MARK HUGHES IN FOR THE LONG HAUL AT QPR QPR boss Mark Hughes and chairman Tony Fernandes Tuesday November 6,2012 By Matthew Dunn Have your say(0) QUEENS PARK RANGERS chairman Tony Fernandes says it would be âsuicidalâ to sack manager Mark Hughes at this stage of the season â but warned him he will not be able to buy his way out of trouble in January. Fernandes was at Loftus Road on Sunday to watch his side extend their run to 10 games without a win this season with a 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Reading. There was a loud chorus of boos at the final whistle from the home fans and a section of them had been chanting the name of jobless former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp during a tepid first half in particular. However Fernandes, who had felt the need to back Hughes in his programme notes, reiterated his stance yesterday and said the need for stability was more important than what he hinted were a string of freak results. Fernandes said: âI am not sure what language I have to say it in or how else I can express it, but I am 100 per cent committed to Mark Hughes and we will not be distracted by fans or the media. âWe are confident in our approach and changing a manager now would be suicidal in my opinion. âMark is a good guy. He has got a good record before him. He needs a bit of luck, but I say cream always rises to the top and you cannot keep a good man down. He has our backing. âHe has done it before. He has brought teams up from the bottom to mid-table. We just need a bit of luck and I am sure things will turn around. It is amazing what a couple of wins can do.â Many managers have heard the dreaded âvote of confidenceâ only to find themselves out on their ears within days. However Fernandes, 48, is adamant that his words carry more weight, especially as the club had a difficult period of boardroom turmoil before he took over last summer. The turbulence of the previous regime under Flavio Briatore had been highlighted warts-and-all in a controversial BBC documentary which exposed their hire-and-fire culture. In the four years following their arrival at the club in 2007, Briatore and his board dispensed with the services of some eight managers. The man who survived the madness, Neil Warnock, himself became an uncharacteristic Fernandes victim after five months in the Premier League when the Air Asia magnate lost his nerve. But with Hughes, the backing is unwavering. Fernandes insisted: âI wonât have a change of heart. We made a change with Neil Warnock, although it is not in my nature to do that, as we felt that we had to make that change going forward. âTrue fans know that stability is needed. QPR does not need another âFour-Year Planâ of chopping and changing every few weeks. My whole life has been about stability and building on things. I am sure it is going to turn around.â That desire for stability, though, rules out wholesale changes in the playing personnel when the window opens in January. âI donât think we will invest heavily again in January; we have a good enough squad,â he said. âWe made a lot of changes and brought in a lot of players over the last three transfer windows. We may trade a bit, like other clubs. âBut just as the manager needs stability, also the players need stability. They need to play with each other and get to know each other better. I am not saying there wonât be any transfers â there may be one or two, some in, some out. âI have done whatever I can to put QPR in the right place. It is now up to the players and the manager to perform â and I am sure they will.â
I have highlighted the two most concerning things from what he said for me. Saying that "true" fans know that stability is needed is alienating all those fans who pay ridiculous money to watch and who are of the opinion that Hughes isn't right for us. Also, our squad is CLEARLY not good enough. I have a lot of respect for Tony and what he has done for us, but I fear he is treading a very fine line here. He could feel the wrath of some very disappointed fans if he's not careful.
i just think he cant afford more quality players on huge wages in case we go down mind you what quality players would want to come if we are still down the basement come jan
He cant afford to sack MH and his team of staff. Unless Mittal steps in or MH walks,he isnt going anywhere chaps!.I though TF looked a bit nervy and fuddled a few of his wors on SSN.
'A string of freak results'...........................? Am I missing something here? I thought its because we just haven't been good enough, nothing freakish about that.
God what do want him to say In true Dad's Army style "Doomed I'tell ya"[video=youtube;w7RIgs3eygo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RIgs3eygo[/video]
I too lost a lot of sleep after this interview, it's the end of the world as we know it!! He's a secret Chelsea fan who will not rest til we are scratching around in non league obscurity, drawing in crowds of 200-300 playing vauxhall motors again, only this time as underdogs.......
TF's right we don't need another blood transfusion in Jan. Quality in, is all important. 2 excellent defenders and a striker would do it imo. I agree with what Col says about alienated fans. At present, there is still some hope within the soul of most fans that MH will come good. But if something positive doesn't happen in the next three or four games, we could move towards a Blackburn situation, where the fans views on the manager and those of the owner are diametrically opposed. Strange, isn't it, how quiet Amit Bhatia is in all this. He wasn't at the game on Sat. His executive role at the club seems to be progressively marginalised, whether voluntary or not. Are the Mittals standing back to see if TF fails?
As usual no source given and 30 seconds on the Internet shows it to be bollocks - AirAsia HQs remains in Kuala Lumpur, setting up a regional hq in Jakarta. You obviously don't like TF, which is fine by me, but I wish you would refrain from posting every little lie from conspiracy theory blogs you seem to trawl so avidly. I'm sure he isn't a saint, but he scrubs up very well compared to the Mittals. For those of you worried that TF is 'poor' and his businesses are failing, his personal net worth ( ie this is not cash in his pocket)rose from $450m in 2011 to $615m in 2012 (source Forbes). AirAsia is the biggest budget airline in the world. In the same period Mittals wealth fell by £4.8 billion to £12.7billion (source Sunday Times). So Mittal is astoundingly rich but has had a crap year. If there is any doubt why TF is involved, this is what he said in August 2011, during the takeover "Many people do not realise the power of sport to market a brand," said Fernandes, whose Lotus Formula One team is sponsored by AirAsia, which also sponsored last year's British Grand Prix and, for a time, Manchester United. "You can spend £40m on advertising and have nothing like the same effect. Around the world, everybody watches Premier League football." It is vital for him that we stay up, and this will drive his decisions. One of his partners in QPR is Kamarudin Meranun, also his partner in AirAsia, net worth $560m. I think the third partner is G Gnanalingam, chair of Westports Malaysia, net worth a mere $360m (sources for both - Forbes).
SB...on a personall note..I'vce always loved reading your posts and opinions. Seems to me that you are getting a bit too involved with the "daily spats" that posters like me do. I really and look forwad to reading your posts when they are well constructed and fact bearing. Please, for my sake; leave the in fighting and petty srgumentss to those of us ho do it well...AND stick to postingwell written, articulate posts that we all enjoy reading... i.e. stop bickering with us kids and go play with the adults !! Love your posts SB..you are my fav read...sorry Swords ..you clown!!
Interesting read, SB. I've found that the men behind TF are, unlike him, shrouded in some mystery. Good to learn a bit more.
Thanks for the concern Queens! For the record, not getting involved in spats, just calling out bollocks/misinformation when it is posted. I can live with anybody's opinion, but get riled when opinions/rumour/gossip are presented as facts, or people are simply too lazy to spend 30 seconds checking - just adds to the hysteria on here, which is bad enough anyway. Also for the record, Imaz is one of my favorite posters, always has a strong opinion and an interesting perspective, clearly a well travelled man. And he's even older than me! He just has this habit of posting unsubstantiated, often libelous stuff. Let us old dinosaurs deal with it! PS don't think I could have squeezed any more facts into that post!
Fair enough SB..you old boys deal with it, but please dont stop your usual well informed and excellent posts... good luck mate (and you IMAZ).
