http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...ngs-have-made-me-a-bloody-happy-man-but-never Interesting news about the new ground search.
What a good read, the man only has our interests at heart,talk of a new ground training facility academy taking the club forward,everytime he speaks its all positive,i feel there are great times ahead for all Rangers fans, Cling on and enjoy the ride.
'Our new signings have made me a bloody happy man - but never say never on David Beckham' - QPR owner Tony Fernandes on his plans for the Premier League newcomers - Goal.com EXCLUSIVE By Wayne Veysey | Chief correspondent It is three hours before Tony Fernandes' first Loftus Road match as the new owner of QPR. He has just returned from pitchside of this atmospheric old stadium, where he has been mingling with Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen, one of his many A-list guests for the evening. As monarch of all he now surveys, how is the latest tycoon to buy a Premier League club feeling? "I'm kind of devoid of emotion I'm so excited, if that makes sense," explained the 47-year-old Malaysian. "I'm also damn bloody nervous because the expectation is tremendous, isn't it? It's a new team and it takes time to gel. But, overall, I'm loving every moment, to be honest." Fernandes cuts a relaxed figure. During the entertaining goalless draw against Newcastle United later that evening, TV pictures show him laughing and chatting amicably in the directors' box, where he is sat alongside the more publicity-shy Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest billionaire. The former Virgin and Warner music executive, who amassed his fortune from the budget airline AirAsia before moving into F1 with Team Lotus, is pinching himself at entering the madcap Premier League world. TONY FERNANDES ON... - The right way to run a club When the benefactor goes it can all collapse. It's better to build a proper infrastructure and legacy - Missed transfer targets We were close to signing Sebastien Bassong. I would have loved to have got Scott Parker - The new signings If you had said to me 'Tony, at the end of the window we will have these five players' I would say, 'well I would be a bloody happy man' - Warnock Others can get ideas but there has to be one captain of the ship. I am very happy with Neil Speaking in a hospitality box overlooking the halfway line, Fernandes said: "I listened to football when I was a nine-year-old on the BBC World Service - tuning in on short wave radio. It is unreal for me in many ways. Formula One, an airline – but this is it for me, a London club. If there was a comic strip, it would be Roy of the Rovers. "I enjoy everything I do but it is a little extra. Running an airline I love. I love my people and I love the challenge but owning a football club and running it as a business is a bit more exciting." As a student Fernandes lived above a kebab shop on London's Uxbridge Road while taking his accountancy degree at the London School of Economics. "I walked past here everyday. It was great that I had a few minutes before [this interview], it was nice to walk around, very surreal. To suddenly think that I kind of own this is really cool." Not that Fernandes regards QPR as a trophy. Despite taking over the club little over three weeks ago in a blaze of publicity and overseeing a massive recruitment drive in the final week of the transfer window that saw Joey Barton, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Anton Ferdinand, Luke Young, Armand Traore and Jason Puncheon (on loan) arrive, the club's new owner said: "We have kind of put our mark on the table, to say we will do what it takes. But also we are not a Man City or a Chelsea or Man United. We are not because I do think businesses need to be run as businesses. When the benefactor then goes, it can all collapse. It has got to be run properly. "Nothing can guarantee that the owner will not say, 'I have had enough'. Then what happens? It's better to build a proper business and a proper infrastructure. Whoever is chairman, whoever is in charge will then carry on the legacy." Yet big names are on Fernandes' radar, among them David Beckham, who the club want to sign when his LA Galaxy contract expires in November. Will English football's most famous export be pitching up next at Loftus Road? "I don't know. Never say never. There is no policy at QPR, whether it's David Beckham or Joey Barton or Scott Parker or whoever. We have to look at each situation and evaluate if it makes good sense to the club. We have got to have a long-term plan. The key is not just signings but delivering a good academy, a good scouting system, a good training facility. There is a lot of work to be done." Fernandes recognises that the club are hamstrung by their cosy but proportioned home, which holds just 18,000 spectators, and a training ground in Harlington under the Heathrow flight path which is a world away from the magnificent purpose built headquarters of the likes of Chelsea and United. "You can't have £150,000-a-week players if you have a stadium like this," he said. "One day we will have to look at something. It's been less than a month [since the takeover]. "Training is very important, it's more important than the stadium. When I took over AirAsia, after only seven planes I built an academy. People were like, 'why are you building an academy when you only have seven planes?' "I had a vision of having 100 planes. You can have all the metal you want but if you don't have the right people, you can forget about it. So the academy is important. The stadium is a big thing and we have to look at where we are going to be, I would definitely like a big stadium." Manager Neil Warnock and new chief executive Philip Beard have already been detailed to source a new training base. Fernandes is a man in a hurry. PROFILE | Tony Fernandes - Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 30, 1964 - Worked as financial controller for Richard Branson's Virgin Records in the late 1980s - Bought troubled airline AirAsia in 2001 shortly after 9/11. A year later the company broke even and cleared all its debts - Launched Team Lotus Formula 1 in 2010 - Is president of the ASEAN Basketball League of South East Asia "I asked Neil for a paper and he was, like, 'Can we get through the transfer window first?' We have got to work fast. He has to double up his efforts. We can't wait because the world doesn't wait for anybody. We are looking within the west London area. I have left it to the boys. "We might take a site that we can add to it. I don't know. It's too early in the day. We have got to have a good facility. Neil and Phil will look at what those are. Whether we take a purpose built site, whether we take something we can add to or it's just a piece of land, I don't know yet." Fernandes has brought the feelgood factor back to the club, something generally absent during the turbulent reign of Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, the former owners whose 66 per cent share of the club he bought for £45 million. Reflecting on the "very tense, very exciting" final days of the transfer window, which he spent at his Malaysia base (he also has a home in Belgravia "opposite Kevin Pietersen") and principally on the phone to Warnock, Fernandes was satisfied with the club's business even if a few transfers did not materialise. "We looked at Sebastien Bassong. That came close but at the end of the day there were issues with Spurs getting Gary Cahill and stuff like that so it didn't go through. I still would have loved somehow to have got Scott Parker in here but it wasn't to be. Overall, if you said to me, let alone the fans, 'Tony, at the end of window you will have these five players plus Puncheon', I would have said, 'I would be a bloody happy man if I was able to do that'." Further reinforcements are expected in the next window. "We will have to see where we are in January and what our ambitions are. It's hard for me to say that right now. We will have to see how everyone performs and whether we need to strengthen and whether we have enough. We have a good squad, I have to say, looking at what we have got. And we have good back-ups as well. Neil's got a bit of choice." Fernandes' objective for his first season at the club is clear. "Number one is to keep the club up," he said. "That is the right target to set and the objective I have set Neil. Anything more is a bonus for me. From that we will grow and build something better. As someone who loves sport, you have to have lofty ambitions. Of course we want to do better but let's not get carried away." Fernandes talks well about allowing his manager to manage and insists he will have no input in team selection. "I don't even know what the team is tonight," he explained. "He would tell me if I asked but it's not for me to ask." The Rangers owner tells one off-record anecdote of a player at a top-six Premier League club whom he suggested to Warnock they could buy and the idea was strongly rejected by the manager. "Others can give their ideas but there has to be one captain of the ship," said Fernandes. "I'm very happy with Neil. I haven't got much to compare him with, because I haven't worked with lots of managers. But I have enjoyed him thoroughly. We have a very open relationship. "I will let him get on and do his job, the same as with Mike Gascoyne at Team Lotus. They are both emotional and highly charged people and very passionate about what they are doing, and have had many run-ins with their previous clubs and owners. I was in the media business for 12 years. I like people with passion and I can deal with emotion, so I will give him my full support." Upon purchasing Fulham in 1997, Mohamed Al-Fayed declared his vision to make them "the Manchester United of the south", a statement that has had an increasingly hollow ring to it over the years. Can QPR, a club with a bigger traditional following and profile, ever achieve such status? "It is feasible but that is a big statement," Fernandes cautioned. "Nothing wrong with ambition but a lot wrong with saying it and not doing it. So let's just see where we get to in the years that come. You can say, 'Tony you did it' or 'Tony you talked rubbish'. I would rather just go out and do it." As a man of action, you kind of sense he will do just that. Follow Wayne Veysey on iReader
Great read and Fernandes says all the right things yet again. If I'm being honest I am a little disappointed that training facilities are being prioritized above a new ground. It will take at least a year to build a new stadium so this approach means we are probably several years away from a move. I can't see how we can move on as a club within our current limitations. I also infer that the plan is to buy land that can possibly accomodate both a training ground and stadium in the future. That would almost certainly mean a move away from Central London which is not a great idea in my view. The one part of the vision that Briatori got right was the attractiveness of a PL club in the heart of the city.
Sadly, the only way to increase LR would be to buy up the surrounding houses - and then you'd still not have any parking. Much as we all love LR, the plain truth is that a new stadium will be built elsewhere. However, there's some things that will need to be taken into account: 1. Proximity of fans to the pitch. Alan Pardew said before Monday's game that our pitch was small. It's actually bigger than St James Park, it's just that you don't have space for a running track around the outside. The new place must retain this element, as it's what helps provide that 'cauldron' atmosphere. 2. Access and parking. Access to LR is fine with the tube stations and all the rest, but having no parking whatsoever is very unusual, and will need to be addressed. Public Transport links also need to be taken into consideration when choosing the location. 3. Cost. Naturally. 4. What to then do with Loftus Road? Sell it? Develop it ourselves? Lease it to Chelski for their League 1 games in three years time?
