http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...League-club-will-not-become-a-Portsmouth.html The Malaysian entrepreneur said that if QPR were relegated from the Premier League it would not lead to a financial meltdown. âIâm an accountant, I run businesses. We are sensible with what we are doing,â Fernandes said, claiming that the clubâs wage bill had actually been reduced in January, because of the number of players who had gone out on loan, and despite the arrival of high-earners Christopher Samba, for £12.5 million, and Loïc Rémy for £7 million. On the pair, Fernandes denied that Samba was being paid as much as £100,000-a-week and insisted that the defender would stay at the club should they be relegated â and did have a clause in his contract reducing his salary. Rémy, however, would be sold. âIf you analyse it we havenât spent that much money on transfers and as for our wage bill, when I look at other clubs when they put their results out then ours is not too bad and there is now value in the squad,â Fernandes said. âI donât think there is any recklessness there.â Nevertheless he conceded that owning a football club was a âgambleâ. âNo one can guarantee anything in football,â he added. âBut you try to minimise the risk as much as possible and thatâs where the expertise of the management comes in and they say 'this is what we need to surviveâ and you look at it and if it makes sense then the board and myself support it. âAnyone who says we are gambling then, of course, we are.â It is the degree of that gamble that matters and Fernandes has been irked by the criticism he has faced â that he is playing fast and loose with the clubâs future and its finances, that relegation from the Premier League could lead to a Portsmouth-style administration. âPeople have not seen the balance sheet, have not seen the P and L [profit and loss account], have not seen the five-year plan,â Fernandes argued. âThere are no debts like at other clubs. Weâve put in a lot of money and itâs no different from setting up a car business or an airline. âBut it takes time. QPR were an underinvested club. Simple as that. Iâm not in it for one year, Iâm investing for the future. Iâm investing to build a stadium, to build a training academy, to build a proper business. âOf course when you buy a small club you are going to incur some losses at the beginning.â That was well understood? âYes, we didnât want to be at the bottom of the division and, yes, if we go down it will hurt. But we are businessmen who are prepared for all eventualities. âWe, QPR, have to move out of the small club syndrome and for constant security have to build a bigger stadium, a better infrastructure. So far it hasnât worked but we wonât be the first club for whom everything hasnât gone exactly to plan. âWe inherited a squad where every single player who has left is no longer playing in the Premier League, doesnât that say something? We have replaced and replenished the squad at a very low cost because most of them were free transfers. This is the first window that we have spent big money [last January Bobby Zamora was bought for £4.5 million and Djibril Cissé for £4 million]. One is Chris Samba who weâve wanted for three transfer windows. It has been our problem from day one â a centre-back. Chris is a good guy, heâs 28 and whether we go up or down he will be with us. We are building a team around him. âWe paid £12 million for Samba but West Ham paid close to that for Matt Jarvis [£10.75 million] and Sunderland did for Adam Johnson [£10 million]. I think every club has an £8-9 million player, In Rémyâs case we paid £7 million for a very good striker who is 24 and has a resell value. If you go on [the website] transfermarket.com we have one of the best valued squads but our squad has not performed well. âWeâve also let eight players go on loan [in January] which has taken a massive chunk off the wage bill. And there may be one or two more going in the Russian transfer window and the American transfer window. Itâs gone down. I can categorically state that not a single player is on £100,000-a-week. The wage we are paying Loïc Rémy is the wage that Newcastle were offering him. I just persuaded him that our project and London was a better project than Newcastleâs. âWe paid what Newcastle were offering. I spent a lot of time and effort and he saw something in this project that he wanted to take a risk. If it doesnât work then we can find him somewhere else. âItâs not always about money. QPR are the bottom club and you donât come to the bottom club for the dollar sign. And Iâm not going to get players for the dollar signs.â If QPR are relegated Fernandes and his backers â including the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal â will stay, he insisted. Fernandes also clarified what he meant when he said he might walk away if it was felt he was not doing a good job. âI have to take the responsibility,â he said. âBut leaving the club didnât mean I was going to take my investment out â it just meant someone else might be better suited to be chairman.â
Well said. If only the idiots out there who think we're the next Portsmouth can comprehend this. How can we be another portsmouth when the money is coming directly from the owners? They have the right to put as much as they want into the club and the more they invest, the harder it is to just 'walk away'.
Well, these comments re-affirm my thoughts of Tony Fernandes .................. we fans are very lucky to have him on board. Hats off to you, Tony!
I hope reading that goes a hell of a long way in making a few of the doubters on here in a better frame of mind. Next time some Wum twat comes on here, spouting on about financial meltdown or Portsmouth, can someone kindly 'copy and paste' the OP as an answer.
There's your direct answers At one point yesterday I was livid with rage as they sung Are you Pompey in disguise I would of torn into them years ago and bitten out their wimpy tongues A few of us tried to spark up We buy who we want We buy who we want We Queens Park Rangers We buy who we want Yet the rest of the ground stayed its wimpy selfs with the odd u r's If you want us to stay up get behind the team There is no problem re money Has anyone mentioned the parachute payments next season? And we get people worried about money that isn't even theirs About time a few grew a pair on here and focused on what you should be doing supporting your team after all that's all we are
Great reposte from TF clearly stating out the facts - which of course most media whores don't want to hear as it doesn't make sensationalistic headlines that they love to put out (or is that "put down"). We're extremely lucky to have TF as our Chairman. Accountants make great business owners (in my experience) as they never forget the balance sheet - clearly the same here with TF. We need to support him too, he is a very important part of our team and he is showing great focus and "big picture" vision. Feeling less optimistic after yesterday's results; however as DT keeps saying we have to keep fighting, keep believing until the facts tell us we're planning for a yo-yo season. It isn't over! It's on to the next game, now we have to make up for yesterday and get 3pts from the taffs next week.
I would like to tick that artical in TalkSports 'Micky Quimm' and 'Richard Keys' face as well as all the bitter jealous muppets who have invaded our board. Said all along that TF and the Mittals were in this for the long haul. (so all you 'Mittals are leaving' muppets on our board, go and support Chelsea because all your rubbish rumours only cause upset to real fans)! I'm glad this has come out now and it seems whatever happens the new stadium, training ground get the go ahead. I am also happy that he wants rid of the 'small club' mentality by building for the future.
To be fair Dave, if you sit where the most vocal singers are - i.e. Loft or Loft End of Ellerslie - you rarely hear what the away supporters are singing - can only recall Southampton (great support) and Liverpool making a real noise this season. Its difficult to react to nothing. Yesterday only heard faint, unintelligible noise from School End. On the TF article - ****ing brilliant. To all the doom mongers on here who think they know everything about football finances, and indeed the way any business is run, and assume relegation equals administration, please print out and sellotape to your PC screen, re-read before you are tempted to post bollocks. Ellers, Eamonn and to a small extent myself have been responding for months to the grim reapers along the lines that TF has just outlined. I take great satisfaction in saying 'told you so'.
No Chairman is going to de-stabilise his club by saying "If we don't stay up I'm pulling the plug". The real crunch will come in May when our fate is decided and, if we go down, firstly, TF decides what HE is going to do, and secondly, Harry decides what HE is going to do. If they both go we are f*cked, if they both stay, I'd back us to come straight back up...
We are not down as yet .............. For a positive spin on it, try these ....... Knees up Mother Brown. A stiff upper lip is required. Press on Regardless. If that doesn't work .............. you may need to locate your nearest bottle shop.
unbelievable Sooper. So what you are saying is that you don't believe TF, whatever he says, and that Harold is the only good manager out there. By the way, Harold may well go even if we stay up - if England don't qualify for the World Cup, a distinct possibility, Roy gets the elbow, the FA will come knocking again. Just so you are prepared for Armageddon......
The point I'm making sb is no-one can foresee what TF will do if we go down. He may think he'll tough it out now but you've seen how easily the fans turn on a 'scapegoat' and he might just think he doesn't need all this sh*t. I personally hope he and Harry will stay as our only real hope is a stable management which will get things right eventually, whether we stay up or go down and have to battle our way back up again...
