Kilburn Times/Ben Kosky Flavio and Bernie couldnât care less about QPR fans Ben Kosky, (a personal view) Thursday, June 2, 2011 There canât be many neutral football fans who felt anything but delighted when AFC Wimbledon won promotion to the Football League. .. It was a triumph for Dons supporters, who refused to roll over when their club was commandeered by money men and literally snatched away from them. Instead, the proud guardians of their clubâs heritage determined to rebuild Wimbledon from scratch and, in less than a decade, have ensured that the ârealâ Dons will again figure on the Leagueâs fixture list. For the first time in 15 years, QPR will not be among the Football Leagueâs membership. They are back in the Premier League â something that should be cause for great celebration. Yet is there actually much for Rs fans to celebrate right now? Like Wimbledon fans before them, they are learning how it feels to have their club taken away. Unlike Wimbledon, Rangers have not â as yet â been physically transferred to another city but, make no mistake, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone would quite readily do that if it suited them. Whether supporters like it or not is utterly irrelevant to this pair. They have consistently displayed at best indifference and more often total contempt towards QPR fans ever since they arrived in 2007. That is why there were no consultations with supportersâ groups before the decision to go ahead with outrageous ticket price rises. That is why fansâ forums have remained a relic of the past. They donât care. They never did. Briatore and Ecclestone have only ever had one ambition for QPR â using it as a vehicle for corporate crowing and boasting, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Roman Abramovich, Malcolm Glazer and Mohamed Al-Fayed. Now they finally have the chance to indulge themselves â although letâs not forget that, for two and a half years, they made a total pigâs ear of it, leaving a trail of sacked managers, sub-standard players and embarrassing public relations disasters in their wake. Only when the pair adopted a low profile, allowing Amit Bhatia and Ishan Saksena to take centre stage and make the astute decision to recruit Neil Warnock as manager â did QPR begin to enjoy success on the pitch. Now Bhatia â a man who genuinely wanted to engage with supporters and threw his backing behind the work of the QPR Community Trust â has gone and Saksena, bizarrely, seems to have been the scapegoat for the Alejandro Faurlin fiasco. Meanwhile, the real culprit, chairman Gianni Paladini, remains safely in his position, and will presumably continue to oversee player recruitment in a way that has already caused several disasters for the club. As for Warnock, even if he survives the summer, his position is enormously weakened by the departures of Bhatia and Saksena. It is easy to envisage a situation in which Rangers suffer a couple of heavy defeats and the manager finds himself walking the plank. According to the risible propaganda churned out by the QPR website, Briatore and Ecclestone saved the club â and the implication is that therefore they have the right to do whatever they wish with it, with no duty of care. Many now realise that, far from saving QPR, this self-serving duo have in fact ruined the club. I am one of those fans. I have supported Rangers since the age of six, held a season ticket in the Upper Loft and experienced the rare highs and numerous lows with thousands of others. The Easter massacre of Chelsea, the Milk Cup final, relegation from the Premier League, the FA Cup exit to Vauxhall Motors, the 2003 play-off final and the joy of promotion at Hillsborough. And, although I have viewed more games from the press box than the paid seats in recent years, it is still a very painful wrench to admit that I no longer want anything more to do with âmyâ club. I do not wish to set foot inside Loftus Road while Briatore and Ecclestone remain in control and I will not purchase club merchandise or anything else to further swell their already bulging wallets. Oh, to be a Wimbledon fan⦠http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/qpr/flavio....r_fans_1_909462
Owners come and go, the club endures. I can't understand someone saying that when we get new owners ,then he'll return as a supporter; until then he'll support someone else? You've got to stick with it!!
That's exactly how I felt when I wrote my 'AFC QPR' thread. QPR are OUR club, we have contributed untold amounts over the DECADES we have been supporting OUR club. Then these two smart-arsed shysters, aided and abetted by Palaslimey, roll up and destroy the heart and soul of OUR club! When it all goes tits-up, as it inevitably will, we'll still be here, supporting OUR club... Just don't spend anything that will aid and abett THEIR profit...
Sad to see us losing a fan, and personally I'm not quite ready to abandon our club, but apart from that I have to say that I agree with everything he's said. Grim reading indeed.
Very depressing indeed. I know the ticket price hike is outrageous but aren't we still meant to be celebrating our return to the top tier after 15 years? I can't think of any other club where supporters would be so down-in-the-mouth after their best season in a generation. Let the board room battle play out but don't let it spoil the summer completely.
While we all may agree with the article, why does he only ever critise our club, I have never seen him write anything positive even last season when we were doing so well. I also am not going to abandon the club now we are back where we belong after supporting us through 15 years of pain
Don't abandon the club - but watch the Goons like hawks. If they start turning QPR into a playground for the rich, many decent fans won't have the choice - the club will abandon them...
Flavio and Bernie couldn’t care less about QPR fans I'm amazed by this story I was under the impression that they didn't care at all about money but loved the fans to bits
once brad pitt and anjolie have been spotted at loftus rd their wont be a need for supporters...all tickets will be sold every week to celebrity spotters..mind you if she could be persuaded to leave brad at home and bring along some friends
The Goons' vision of high prices and little or no investment in the team means there'll be a lot of random tourists watching the home team getting battered against the top clubs; and fewer tourists watching us getting battered by the less interesting opposition. Of course it's a recipe for disaster. We didn't cause that and neither could Bhatia be seen to be part of it. I still think that those of us who can afford to, need to attend as many games as we can stomach - just to make visible our outrage at this cultural kidnapping by three of the most odious characters to have 'bought' into football to date. The Goons outstrip even the Glazers for cynicism. For those of us who think this is just a passing shower, don't blame the weatherman of the press for forecasting a torrent of disappointment and broken dreams. This one's on the Goons for sure. Enjoy whilst you can. Green and white scarf, anyone? Indian flag?
When the fixtures are announced we need to try to agree on an early home match against a less fashionable team, and mark it as our "protest" match. We then need to ALL go along with our green and white scarves and Indian flags for maximum impact. Maybe we should also agree on which block to buy tickets for (those of us without season tickets that is).
