Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes admits he was too trusting in his dealings with players Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes has revealed that Harry Redknapp and â60 per centâ of the clubâs players have clauses in their contracts requiring them to take significant pay cuts following relegation from the Premier League. Tony Fernandes takes his seat before the game against Reading that saw Queens Park Rangers officially relegated from the Premier League Learning lessons: QPR chairman Tony Fernandes admits he has made mistakes and may have been naive in his dealings with players Photo: PA Jason Burt By Jason Burt 11:59PM BST 03 May 2013 Comments3 Comments QPR confirmed last week that Redknapp would remain at the club and Fernandes has now revealed the managerâs Premier League salary, estimated at £2.5 million a year, will be cut. Fernandes described the clubâs season as âtragic in many ways. It is a Shakespearean play in the makingâ. When asked about relegation clauses, he added: âYes. All the players? No. At least 60 per cent. The manager? Yes. His salary goes down. We have been made out to not be sensible, stupid. [The] guys on TV have torn me apart. We are not stupid.â Not stupid, but the Malaysian entrepreneur revealed that he had sunk around âthe £50 million markâ of his own personal wealth into QPR and admitted that he had been ânaiveâ since he and his group of ambitious investors acquired the club in August 2011. âIâve seen all the parts that make football quite . . . maybe immoral is a strong word, but they would sell their grandmothers to do something,â Fernandes said. âWhat I am saying is there are people in the business where money comes first.â Fernandes and QPR have this season been accused of mismanagement, overspending and financial waste as the club have appeared to spend well beyond their means. They signed 24 players over the past four transfer windows, from players signed for free but on huge wages through to the £20 million splashed out on Christopher Samba and Loic Remy last January. Fernandes admitted that QPR would struggle to comply with the financial fair play rules that have been voted in by the Football League and which cover Championship clubs. Meeting those rules would force QPR to undertake a massive overhaul of the squad, he agreed. âThere is a market for many of these players in many parts of the world if England doesnât want them,â Fernandes argued. âThereâs Russia, thereâs Brazil, thereâs America. So when we look at it, it isnât hard.â Fernandes conceded he was guilty of being too trusting with some signings and in some cases had been âexploitedâ. âI think I was naive in thinking that everyone was alike. You have a one-hour discussion with a player and think âYeah, heâs going to go out there and die for the clubâ because thatâs what you would do,â he said. âYou model it on your own value system. âI donât think I will be exploited anymore. I think I allowed myself to be exploited, but thatâs my choice. Agents are trying to get the best contracts [but] we are not going to be taken for a ride anymore.â Fernandes, who made his fortune through the music industry and then by launching the AirAsia airline, said that part of the blame lay with the way football organised itself. âThere are people in the business where money comes first,â he explained. âI think ethics should come first. I think principles: principles of doing good business and principles of working a hard honest day. There are too many short-cuts and the system allows you to have short-cuts because thatâs the system that has been built.â He rejected suggestions that he had, in fact, been a victim of his âbetter natureâ in his dealings in football. âI think the airline business is as tough, the music business is as tough, as the football business. "Without sounding facetious, Iâve been pretty successful in both those businesses. Was I successful in year one of the airline business? No. Do you have to be a tough b------ in the airline business? Probably. But thereâs a manner in how you have to be a tough b------ or how you run it. I donât necessarily think I have to be an a------ to be successful in football. âI think I have to be smarter than I have and experience is something that you canât buy. Nobody can train you for relegation, nobody can train you for a player who refuses to play because he is substituted. You learn. And you begin to learn about personalities â in the same way you learn about artists. Madonna was a very different artist to Alanis Morissette, who was very different to Jamiroquai.â Chief among those high-maintenance individuals has been Joey Barton â who is on loan at Marseille and pushing to be released by the club. âI think he can play a role at QPR,â Fernandes said. âWe missed Joey. The team was better with Joey in it last year.â He rejected suggestions that he should pay up the remainder of the former captainâs contract to get rid of him. âIâm not going to do that,â Fernandes said, but admitted he would sell Barton if an offer was received. Remy, who has a release clause in his contract on relegation, will be sold as will goalkeeper Julio Cesar, while Fernandes spoke of his disappointment with the attitude of other players such as Jose Bosingwa â who Redknapp accused of refusing to be a substitute earlier this season. There was a regret at previous manager Mark Hughesâs failure, also. âI hoped he would be with us for a long, long time,â Fernandes said while, in response to a question as to whether he should have sacked him earlier, he added: âItâs one of those things that youâll never really know. "Do you know, I thought, âGod should I fire him after Swansea [the 5-0 loss on the opening day of the season]â but can you imagine what you guys would have done to me?â Fernandes added: âI have noticed some chairmen making their statements about QPR and how they built their clubs differently. "I think they should stick to [talking about] their own clubs. Should I go around criticising Chelsea or Swansea or Southampton, or say Wolves are finished now? Itâs none of my business. My focus is here. âIâve seen what some people have said about me on TV â calling me the joker of the Premier League and this and that. Itâs life.â
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...oo-trusting-in-his-dealings-with-players.html No merde Poirot. Timeline...err... time.... 25th March. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21896636 4th May. I'm not worried. Wow...just wow. **** me. Have any of these clubs' chairmen criticised us? If so then maybe Wolves are fair game, albeit with a far bigger support base. We had a choice of growing slowly on the field, retaining PL status, or maybe yo yoing for a season or four a la West Brom while we invested wisely in the future. So far we have decided against this. TF needs to get his act together.
"QPR chairman Tony Fernandes says that he has been "exploited" since he took over at Loftus Road in August 2011. "I don't think I will be exploited any more," said the Malaysian businessman. "Agents are trying to get the best contracts and there are no two ways about it, I had to pay premiums," he added. "I've seen all of the parts that make football quite - maybe immoral is a strong word - but they would sell their grandmother to do something. It's all part of the football ecosystem." Fernandes also revealed that letting midfielder Joey Barton join French club Marseille on a season-long loan was one of the club's major mistakes. "We missed Joey," he said. "We needed a workhorse midfielder and we tried to get Scott Parker. "We missed a real leader. We tried to get Michael Dawson." It's never nice to see an owner make these kind of comments (especially the "exploited" one - how incredibly naive about his knowledge of agents), which immediately suggest a future lack of transfer funds. Although I think it is fantastic that your club has the vision and determination to improve your training facilities and stadium. IMO, if you bring back Barton and Faurlin; combined with players such as Mackie, Green, Jenas...then you will be fine in the Championship. If it helps, just remember the squad that you came up with and how it has without-a-doubt improved. Sometimes, when I despair about Norwich's poor form, I remember some of the shockingly bad players that came up with us (e.g Wilbraham or Barnett) and laugh. It may seem one of the worst things in the world to be relegated, but sometimes, it is required for a phoenix to rise from the flames Who knows, if Wigan find form, we (Norwich) may be joining you seeing as we have no idea where the goals is (no shots on target vs. Stoke). You R's fans will also see the true meaning of loyalty when it comes to the start of next season - any of the so-called "mercenaries" who stay with you, will shed that tag and earn my respect. Good luck!
Takes a big man to admit to being naive and exploited. He's been let down by everyone else, and his own judgement. But he's still the best thing about the club. In fact he and M'bia are about the only personalities I warm to at the club - and both have the element of mug about them. After 2 years of trying to remain optimistic and upbeat I'm shattered, but I'm sure the mojo will return soon. At the moment can't even see myself celebrating much if by some miracle we pinch the result today. Have convinced myself its worth turning up today though, just.
Surely he surrounds himself with people who advise him,and stop him being exploited he does own a major airline????
Saw the article on BBC site and was shocked at the hatred and vitriol of QPR by others. TF has stood up and admitted his mistakes - fair play to him. I don't think he was looking for any sympathy - he was simply stating his opinion. Credit to the guy, he could have just shut himself away and said nothing; what he has done is stand up and show his steely determination to correct his mistakes, credit the fans for their support through such a hard season and to put things right. Well done Tony. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
I do worry about these pronouncements. I want TF to succeed. I find it difficult however to believe that he has genuinely learned any lessons from the fiasco of the last two years when he says: 1 I will sit down with Harold and we will try to keep everyone he wants to keep 2 I can't say that Mark Hughes will never return. Who knows? Well not at this moment. We live in an era of soundbite communication. When he actually outlines a transfer strategy which is dependent on value for money, future potential resale value and a proper evaluation of what they are going to add, where they are going to play and whether they are willing to have sensible limitations placed on the lengths of their contracts, I will sleep a bit easier. There must be a better transfer strategy than simply, Harold wants. Or Kia Joorabchian has this guy who is absolutely just right for you.
No thanks. I'm not for lynching TF but for the last 21 months or so I've been on this board, I have been saying time and again that chucking bucket loads of money on has-beens was not the way forward for a club like ours. Progress needed to be incremental and sensible. However if that time does come, I will certainly stake my claim to hurl the first stone.
from a outsider I really like T.F seems a genuine man, and in time I believe he will turn rangers around, this relegation will be for the better long term, he has been naïve, when he made a statement of intent, saying we don't have a budget, we are not man city, no wonder all the agents have come knocking the door down, and they are a shady bunch, I even thought about giving him a call, saying I can play midfield, I only wanted 20k a week!!!!
It's obvious your chairman has made mistakes but at least he has had the gumption and balls to own up and put his hands up. Granted this does not make it okay but I wish our owner fat Ashley did the same and explained himself rather then hide in the sand
Mohamed Al-Fayed has done more for Fulham than TF will probably ever achieve for us. You were very fortunate to have such an owner, shame he's now getting on a bit to put it mildly.
in our eyes he is a legend, for hen he came we were on par with orient and behind Brentford, every dream I had back in those days, has been delivered and much much more, little ffc in a major European cup final, f.f.s and we nearly won it, unbelievable
