please log in to view this image PARIS (Reuters) - Queens Park Rangers owner Tony Fernandes would like to see Harry Redknapp stay at the Championship leaders for years to come and is confident he can keep him despite interest from elsewhere. Source Reuters If some Tottenham Hotspur fans still have a hankering for their former boss Redknapp, with the North Londoners seeking a replacement for sacked Andre Villas Boas, Fernandes is confident his manager is settled. "You don't have to be a professor at the London School of Economics to realise that the most successful teams have been teams with the longest managers, whether it is (Arsene) Wenger at Arsenal or Alex Ferguson or David Moyes when he was at Everton," he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "I hope and pray that Harry will be with me for a long time. He is the best of the best in my opinion. "He is a top quality manager. Many people come after him but I think he is very happy working with me. I think he has found me a very different chairman from others," added the Malaysian aviation entrepreneur. Fernandes said he would be the last person to say 'he'll be with me until I die' but added he would like that to be the case. QPR were relegated from the Premier League last season after Redknapp replaced the sacked Mark Hughes, now manager of Stoke City, but they are currently two points clear at the top of the Championship. The club have big ambitions, unveiling this month plans for a new 40,000 seat stadium not far from their historic 18,000 seat Loftus Road home in West London. The ground may change but Fernandes was adamant that traditions would be upheld. The AirAsia boss said he was open to selling naming rights for the stadium if that allowed him to keep ticket prices down but he ruled out a change of home kit from blue to red, as Malaysian-owned Cardiff City did. "My life is about making it cheaper. It is not cheap going to watch a football game," said Fernandes, speaking after announcing his latest Airbus plane order worth $6 billion for AirAsia group. "Anything that can help me reduce the price for the average fan I will do." Nor would he countenance a situation like Hull City, where Egyptian-born owner Assem Allam has applied to change the name to Hull Tigers despite a fierce backlash from fans. "I take a different approach to life. I like to talk to my fans, I like to get their feedback. You see me on Twitter talking about whether the stadium should be 30,35,40,000," said Fernandes. "I don't think we have had a single fan against our move because we have managed it differently. I am in the pub with the fans, I am in the stands with the fans. Although they may not physically own the club, the fans are part of the club, without them there is no club, so I think their views have to be taken into consideration. "You buy a tradition," continued Fernandes, who also owns the Caterham Formula One team. "So you try and maintain it. "That doesn't mean we won't alter the badge. I'd love to change (the strip) to red but we bought a club that's blue, so we'll stick with blue. I think QPR is unique name but it's like buying Harrods, why do you want to change it?" (Writing by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond) http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/12/19/qpr-want-redknapp-long-term-fernandes?
The Harrods of football. Good comparison, I like it Feelgood news just keep on coming. If we manage to keep Redknapp and persuade him to manage for years to come then we're destined for success. Keep up the good work Tony! From a grateful R.
These quotes are from the QPR Podcast interview. He did say a lot more about the club than has been written above and I personally think that we are very fortunate to have have such an honest and open chairman.
I hate the fact he uses twitter but then again I hate Twitter so Im biased. i think TF is a decent boss to work for and he seems to back his team As for Harry, I may be in the minority (?) but I like the bloke and think he's a good manager. No suprise what happened to West Ham & Spurs after he left. I accept that hes a bit of a wheeler dealer 'dodgy character but he bloody good at what he does and our position, as was that of Spurs & WHU shows that. All we need to do is keep him away from the finance and brown paper bags and we'll be fine !!
Bang on Queens .............. I really don't need to comment further except to say that having Harry as the manager has and will bring certain players to the club that may not have come with a less known manager
"Even with a squad of players that had £93m lavished on it during the summer, Tottenham cannot get anywhere close to the level they were playing at during the height of Redknapp’s reign there. One cannot help but think back to QPR’s own visit to White Hart Lane in 2011/12 when the R’s had to be at their absolute best just to hold onto Spurs coat tails sufficiently to only lose 3-1. Tottenham were lightning fast, beautifully balanced, wonderful to watch and ruthlessly efficient in attack. Now they’re slow, ponderous, struggling to score or even pose much of a threat and with all the balance of Ashley Young after a 12 hour drinking session. Nobody before or since Redknapp has managed to get Spurs playing as well as he did, or finishing as high in the league." Clive Whittingham.
I would love us to have managerial stability and some form of managerial dynasty. This is something I have never experienced despite supporitng the R's since the early 70's. I think we probably top the league table of most managers! I personally am happy with Harry, but dream that he could make us play fast, attacking, exciting football as he did with Spurs. That is my Chrstmas wish to Santa!
Must be both. But there were positive signs in the second half against Blackpool when we were quick and sharp going forward. The second goal and Carroll's chance being good examples.
I love TF..... I think he is pretty honest. I think he is a little niave, but he learns pretty fast. And yes he wants to build up "his" club....but appreciates that if he alienates the fans he has no club. So he does a sensible juggling act He knows we have to move from Loftus Road, but knows, we cannot go far without trouble from us fans...and has sorted that. He knows we wanted a top class training ground and academy, to grow our own players....sorted that He knows we wanted thicker hoops....he sorted that. I bet he changes the badge soon too He sorts things Thank you TF
Shame his second paragraph could almost be describing us on some days. Agree with Ski, if Harold had us playing the football he at least tried to get his previous teams playing my level of dissatisfaction would be much lower, my dislike of him would be purely personality based rather than personality and football. Queens, cut and paste your usual 'what do people want, 2 points clear at the top of the league' response here. TF has a very difficult task - the short term targets - promotion, then survival, are going to cost a lot in transfers and wages and don't actually build for the long term. The fact that the training ground is going to take another 2 years is a big setback I think. Totally agree with Tone that we need a long term manager/coach, but he's being disingenuous suggesting that this will be Harold, a 66 year old who has talked about not needing a job, being happy to retire and not needing the hassle of managing challenging players within the last six months, who is also a manager who builds teams by buying/transfers not developing kids or establishing a recognizable style/ approach running through the club (you'd have thought that someone would have learnt from the Ajax/Barca model by now). The most important people at the club, after TF and Beard, are the youth/development team coaches, and until they get a flow of young players holding down first team places on a consistent basis the jury has to be out on them. Sounds moany, but I genuinely think we are on the road with TF, best thing about the club "My life is about making it cheaper" Classic.
I would have preferred that McLaren stayed and forged a formidable duo with Harry and to one day take over the reins from him.
I agree with you. That was a an excellent team with options for future continuity. But unfortunately is no more.
Why does TF state he would love to change the kit colour to red? Dennis The Menace as first team kit??!
Its a Far Eastern thing, red is a lucky colour in many `east Asian cultures, but with much more significance than we would place on a 'lucky colour' in the West. It really can be a decisive factor in which team to support (in any sport). What I don't understand is how they operate competitive games in China when every team wants to play in red...... Other cultural trivia, white rather than black is the colour of mourning in China and Japan, and probably other countries round there. In China three and eight are lucky numbers (and number plates with these could fetch huge sums at the Government run auction in Hong Kong in the old days. but 4 is very unlucky, because the word used for it sound exactly the same as the word for death, just said in a different tone.
I don’t see Harry going back to Spurs as being on the cards. I think the much more likely scenario remains Harry being poached by England, despite everything that he has had to say about the FA recently. Given the group England have been drawn in for the World Cup I can easily see us not making out of the group stages. If that happens Hodgson will go for sure, and there will be an inevitable clamour to appoint Redknapp as his replacement, especially if he’s just got us promoted back to the Premiership the previous month. The FA may have little choice but to give in to public demand, particularly with there being so few other potential candidates. That’s all a bit Mystic Meg I know, and hopefully that situation doesn’t arise (i.e. hopefully we get promoted and then England win the World Cup!). I’d like to see the manager stay a long time and build something.
It's not just an eastern thing; it's just that Christianity has driven some of the older beliefs from the mainstream: red was/is the colour of Mars, the Roman god of war. Also, the number 3 is still significant in the West: the Holy Trinity being the most prominent example. Anyway, TF is doing a good job. He did a walk-round prior to KO against Donny. Hope he brings the old badge back.
