Good interview this. http://talksport.com/football/exclu...ggled-championship-says-fernandes-14032885269
Very good interview, he is a top man. And good to see there is obviously no bad blood between him and Warnock. He's certainly more patient with the fans than I would be in his shoes. I think there is a heavy hint in there that he is getting out of Caterham, and it actually makes me happy that his main focus is his airline.
Yes, I think he said 'watch this space' or something similar. I would obviously much rather he concentrated on us. There were some great comments about the fans at the end as well.
Good interview, cheers CCJ. It's something of a contrast to how this fan perceives him............. Hopefully QPRâs owners donât care about the club Posted on March 26, 2014 If you ask QPR fans for their opinion of Flavio Briatore and his tenure as owner of our club I think that it is safe to say the response would be full of, at least, a few expletives. During his ownership (well co-ownership to be specific) we went through about 726 managers, both Football League and Football Association investigations, demonstrations and us fans were deemed basically pointless and ungrateful by the powers that be. My beloved QPR went from everyones favourite second team and a fantastic âold schoolâ away day, to being both detested and ridiculed in equal measure by both other fans and the national media. However, the big âhoweverâ I must stress, despite their methods we completely destroyed the Championship eventually under Neil Warnockâs guidance, playing some utterly fantastic football whilst spending jack diddly squat. They had a plan and it was a plan that, eventually, worked. Enter Tony Fernandes and his consortium. Our new Malaysian owners purchased a West London Premier League football team with a relatively minuscule amount of debt. The debt being a £10 million mortgage on Loftus Road that was acquired way before Flavio et al took over. Today we are playing God awful dire football under Harry Redknapp, fighting for the play-off spots in the Championship and are more than £177million in debt. I say more than as the recent accounts are for our last Premier League season. Doing some basic maths we, as of today, are circa £220 million in debt. Nearly a quarter of a billion. So a debt free entertaining Premiership club ends up going backwards beyond belief with accounts that would make any CEO debate jumping out of the highest window he can find. A debt so large that the club are looking at being hit with a season long transfer embargo or an extra £48 million fine depending on what league we are playing in next season. The fans are surely demonstrating, calling for blood and going batshit mental. Alas, no. It seems many of my fellow fans have been so suckered in by âUncle Tonyâ (something he actually calls himself somewhat sickeningly) and his PR that they have managed to sleepwalk into this situation. I personally started getting worried after our non footballing CEO was caught out at a fansâ forum lying (broadcast live on the official website no less) through his teeth to fansâ representatives. A situation which disgusted the Official Supporters Club so much that they resigned en-mass. We actually still have no Official Supporters Club since that incident. The majority of fans never battered an eye lid, they were so hoping that they could âtrustâ our new found saviour. Specifically, due to the distrust we rightly had with regards to the previous regime. Scapegoats have been constantly found from players to Mark Hughes to agents to, quite ridiculously in fairness to them, the previous owners. Many people have taken Fernandesâ tweets (he loves to tweet whilst drunk it seems, either that or he failed English at school) that he is learning and that all will be alright as something to cling onto. Until now. As a proportion of the QPR fanbase wake up to the facts of the situation, there has actually been more and more reports of punch ups in the stands between fellow QPR fans. Something that was unheard of during our promotion winning season. There are calls to back the board, there are calls to back `Arry, there are those that recognise the peril we are now in and there are those that have just had enough of watching dire football. QPR are not a big club and we know that. QPR are not going to win the Premier League and we know that. We are a working class historic football club whose genuine fans come from working class backgrounds. All we expect is to be entertained a bit and to watch players that would run through brick walls for the shirt. We are not getting entertained and the team is completely unrecognisable from the âthem and usâ never say die attitude and joint team/fan spirit that existed under Neil Warnock. Under Tony âUncleâ Fernandes and his useless CEO Phil Beard that has all been destroyed. Part of me hopes the truth behind all of this complete and utter ineptitude is that the board doesnât actually care about the football club and that we are just a vehicle for the new stadium, housing and retail development under review up the road from Loftus Road. The football club is just a means to an end of building the âAir Asia Stadiumâ and all the lucrative contracts that come with the associated area and construction projects. Losing a few hundred million quid is âwhateverâ if they secure their goal of owning that development â and profiting billions from it no doubt. I hope that they do not care about us and have as much interest in the paying fans as Flavio Briatore did. The opposite is even more scary. If they do care, if this is how they try to run a professional football club, if this is them giving 100% to Queens Park Rangers FC, our history, our fans â then that is beyond scary. I remember a fight kicking off outside Hammersmith Palais back in the day after we played Manchester United (up yours Cantona for that late goal!) and one local youth took on a bunch of drunk Mancs who had tried to disrespect his girlfriend in some way. He could clearly handle himself and I remember him shouting at them as they ran away âBush Boys, donât test ya know!â. Thatâs something our owners should pay heed to; donât mess with our football club â you will regret it. By Scott Jones â QPR fan - @ScottJonesy - See more at: http://natterfootball.co.uk/2014/03...-about-the-club#sthash.Z4pC89Z4.krDtivKn.dpuf
I still think that we're lucky to have Tony, and there's no doubt that if he had to choose between us and Caterham he'd be waving goodbye to the boys in the pit lane without a second thought.
Yes, we are very fortunate to have a wealthy owner, willing to splurge hundreds of millions on our club. But not that sure we have moved proportionally with the quantum of financing received. Yes, it takes considerably long time to get results from investment, just look at Man city, still struggling at European level, and how long did it take Chelsea, to achieve consistent success, not that we will ever be at that level. Just feel real progress (not necessarily results, but the development of the club) could have been achieved faster by investing long term in the playing squad, and there are many examples, Southampton and Swansea are two examples. No idea of the investment those two clubs have had over the same time period, but certainly that is the direction we should be heading.
Scott Jones is a grade a pencil necked bin dipper. He was one of GPs poodles. He's probably just pissed off that TF won't give him free tickets. Kind of how free seat Pete has disappeared from fantasy island. TF said he'd sell caterham if they didn't make strides, they've gone backwards and now marussia are quicker than them. In other news, he's just taken out another £25m bank loan for us.
TF always sounds very down to earth and in control. Thanks for posting that up Jack. This. Scott Jones definitely has his own agenda, but strip away the rhetoric and distill the essence out of what he says his position isn't that different to many on here. The new £27m bank loan replaces the £15m which has been fully repaid.
Considering our debts it is a drop in the ocean. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/28/queens-park-rangers-27m-loan-barclays-bank Queens Park Rangers have agreed a £27m loan with Barclays, secured against the club's assets and Premier League parachute payments including potential TV revenue over the next two seasons if they return to the top flight. It is the second time the Championship club have agreed a loan with the bank in the past year and comes at a time when their financial security has come under intense scrutiny. In March 2013 QPR borrowed £15m from Barclays and their recent financial results, for the year to May 2013, revealed a loss of more than £65m. The QPR chairman, the Malaysian airline entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, agreed the £27m loan on 13 March. The club say the deal strengthens their relationship with the bank ahead of plans to build a new stadium and training ground. It was agreed in accordance with Fernandes's Malaysian business partners and QPR's remaining shareholders – the family of the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. The club says that the £15m borrowed last year has been paid back, however, given that Rangers reported debts of £177m this month, supporters may be concerned that outgoings remain significant. A QPR spokesman said: "As an extension of our relationship with Barclays and following an initial loan last year, which has now been repaid in full, the club has agreed a second loan. As with the previous loan, this demonstrates the clear backing banks want to give our shareholders and the future long-term plans for the club. The loan is personally guaranteed in full by the club's shareholders, who remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives." Fernandes has previously stated that all QPR's debts are stadium-related, yet the publication of the club's most recent financial results caused serious alarm. They revealed that Rangers paid more on wages during the last financial year than the Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and that the club are in severe danger of a significant fine under Football League Financial Fair Play regulations. The new £27m loan is secured against assets including Loftus Road and parachute payments that the club are due to receive following their relegation from the Premier League last season. Rangers have received £23m this year, will be paid £18m next season and then £9m in each of the following two seasons. In December QPR unveiled ambitious plans for a new 40,000-seater stadium, as part of a major regeneration project in the Old Oak area of west London. The club also recently secured permission to build a new £30m training complex on Warren Farm in Hanwell, expected to be completed in 2016. Harry Redknapp's side are currently third in the Championship, 10 points off second-placed Burnley, with eight matches remaining.
I know, we almost went bust over £10m and that amount doesn't even get a second look now which shows you how bad its got.
"They revealed that Rangers paid more on wages during the last financial year than the Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund" Not good ????
It says secured !! Secured on LR and other TF assets !! Happy with the risk - absolutely (they are) !! So who is taking the risk - TF !!!!!
Its secured in the parachute payments, eg our future. Were using next years money to get us through this year, hardly a sustainable business model.
Tony is someone we should be very proud to have. Loves QPR and respects the fans. All the best Tony's Mum
Is there no area in which you are not a self appointed expert? Are we to take seriously critique of business practice from a man who struggles to find the cash for a trip to Loftus Road from Southampton? The loan is to a business owned by shareholders with a collective wealth in excess of £12bn and a pretty good record in running companies which turn in consistent profits.. I think Barclays will sleep easy at night.
Definitely feared the worst for this season and would have gladly taken a play-off place at the start of the season. It is the dire football we play which has been the major disappointment.
Tony continues his confident line, that we'll be OK even if we don't gain promotion this season. He is an astute businessman, and has stood up to acknowledge his, and the boards, mistakes (as expensive to the owners). The timing of this loan to the go-ahead and moving forward with the training ground is a sign that they need to get this project started and prove their credibility to deliver the training facilities as planned (with the much bigger and much more lucrative Oak Common project to come, they will need to show they're capable of delivering). I am sure the loans, and ability to pay back these loans, is also linked to developing credit worthiness. Once again, it is this summer that gets ever more important for the staff side. Many of the contracts are expiring this summer which will change things considerably on the wages front. So I don't think we'll be anywhere near top clubs wages bills next season. However, it does mean we will be looking to bring in 'new blood'. Now there's a topic for a new OP!!! Who should stay, who should we look to bring in, or even who should be moved up from the youth system???
