Paul Warburton/Fulham Chronicle Mittal won't be held to ransom by Briatore and Ecclestone over sale of QPR LAKSHMI Mittal is unlikely to make any fresh bid to take control of QPR â unless majority shareholders Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore invite him back to the table. The richest man in Britain offered £33million for the pairâs stake described as âinsultingly lowâ by Briatore, who wanted closer to £70m for the duoâs controlling interest. The fall-out made casualties out of son-in-law Amit Bhatia, who resigned as vice chair, and the departure of chief executive Ishan Saksena. Sources close to Mitta believe the former racing chief is holding out for a bigger offer from a man who could buy QPR 200 times over. It looks as if they are in for a long wait. The source said: "Itâs not good business sense just to pay what someone demands â even if you can afford it. There are no plans to make an improved bid, or sell the Mittal stake in the club (33%)." http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-..../#ixzz1OlBhBXPs
Yup - pretty much what I suspected. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the following is probably true: Bernie and Flav are happy to sell the club, but they are looking to either maximise the profit, or minimise the loss. It'll be the former, because they didn't pay that much for the club, it all depends on how much the carpet in the W12 Club cost.... Lakshmi Mittal and Amit Bhattia want to buy the club, but they are also aware, as businessmen, that there's a 'true' value for the club, and they don't want to pay what they consider is an inflated price for the club. The shirt sponsorship deals (and most likely loads of other deals) are being renegotiated, and the Gulf Air one was ended most likely because they were asked to pay an indreased premium for the shirt rights, and they didn't want to commit to another three year deal. So expect an announcement, but I think it'll be a 12-moonth deal with options to extend should we stay up. Players and Agents are aware that it's a strange time at QPR, and as such all kinds of people are being touted, basically because they are unsure whether big money is going to appear, but if it does they want to get their hands on a slice of the pie. Until this is sorted, the only signings you're likely to see are those like Helguson, who (for all his heart and ambition) are probably so happy to be playing in the Premiership that they will play for anyone. I predict that the next signing will probably be Hulse on a 12-month extension. The media are lapping all this up, because if there's one thing that the papers want during the close season, it's a circus. And we are the biggest circus in town. Not even a repeat shooting by Ashley Cole would knock us off the red-top's hit list at the moment. and there's plenty of material for them to base their 'stories' on.
As i read the gossip collums of various web sites and papers it seems normal service is resumed for QPR. As teams start signing new recruits for the season ahead, 90% of our press coverage is 'Warnock's job not safe' and 'Mitalls v Goons'. Sometimes i question my love for this bloody club!!
It's a start to the negotiation I hope the mittal have backed up the story from a couple of weeks ago I suspect this is to make them the innocent ones in all this I think 33 mill is about right for our club not 70 mill
Willy, I agree with all your thoughts except for number 5. We will make new signings, maybe not of the caliber that we'd hoped for, but we will see new faces next seson. Love them or hate them, the goons are businessmen and are fully aware that if they can't make a quick sale to Mittal, then they have to make sure that we survive in the Premiership in order for them to see a maximum return on their investment. They will be fully aware that if they don't invest and we are relegated then the likelihood of seeing a profit on their investment will be almost nil. The article itself is promising, as it seems both sides are using the media to state their position. Hopefully now Ecclestone will give Mittal another figure and they can go from there. It's obvious that bernie and flav are basing the value of the club based on the money gained for playing in the premiership. Obviously the club and its assets are not worth 70 million, but with an earning potential of that figure then the clubs true value is increased. It is true of any commodity that it's true value is the amount that someone is willing to pay for it, at the moment Mittal isn't willing to pay what the goons want for the club. So who will give? I reckon that Mittal will eventually buy us and the figure will be around 45 million, which seems about fair for both parties. Let's just hope it's soon so we can get a better squad than the one that's likely to be ours while the goons are still in charge. And rrrrrs, it hurts me to hear fans questioning their love for the club. Remember it should never matter who owns the club, it is 'our' club and it shouldn't matter what happens to our club, our love should always be there. We just need to make it clear to the owners that we do not approve of their methods, and that we were there first and will be there after they have gone. Because if we all turned our backs on the club and team just because we don't like the owners or their methods, then there wouldn't be a club.
Interesting how people believe this and think that everything else in the paper is tosh. You can "read between the lines" and spin anything to fit your own point of view. This article could equally have been written the other way round. "Briatore and Ecclestone won't be held to ransom by Mittall over sale of QPR." I have already pointed out my thoughts on this subject. I am not surprised to see Paul Warburton jump on the Mittal bandwagon. The sponsorship deal had come to its natural conclusion. I can't see Bernie trying to negotiate another deal with Gulf Air because of the situation in Bahrain. We are now in the Premiership and their should be many more companies that we can approach. Just like with selling players, you want to get as much as you can so don't take the first offer you get. There will be signings. There IS money available (how much is open to question).
Its a game of poker. The value of Mr. Ecclestone's stake is currently at its premium. But this can only go down, firstly when the transfer window closes and we have signed nobodys, then dropping lower when we are bottom of the league in September. There will be an optimum time in the next month or so when this penny willl drop, not that its helping moving the club forward at the moment. Then come January we will have to buy the Barcelona squad to avoid relegation.
TheLoanRanger, QPR to me at the moment is like a very naughty son. He pisses me off more often than not, does incredibly stupid that push me to the limit and make me say things that perhaps i don't mean but at the end of the day he's my lad and i love him anyway!!
Hi there, First post (but been following you al since the demise of 606). My opinion of the current soap opera is that, with the departure of Bhatia and the stability and rationale that he seemed to bring, we will, unfortunately be destined for a period of turmoil (although all but the last 14 months have been this anyway). I fear that Briatore will start interferring, I dread that Warnock will be made the scape goat and that the upshot will be a return to the Championship. The ONLY benefit will be that the Mittals would then be allowed to purchase and steady the ship (before it sinks) as the goons get bored with us. I hope I'm wrong and that a buy out does go ahead. I'm also really angry that I, an eternal optimist, am predicting doom and gloom after waiting 15 years for top flight football.
Afternoon lads. Frankly I don't know why most of you get drawn into this cycle of rumour / tea leaf reading and soothsaying every close season. This is QPR and has; and in my opinion always will be, the asylum the lunatics have taken control of. Its never really been any different has it? My approach is to believe nothing at all until its posted on the offish - ie. player signings, new directors, manager proclamations etc etc. Don't get drawn into it. I'm off to Le Mans for the weekend for beers, cars and a QPR-free 4 days. The only point I would make is that Flav & Bern are no mugs. They know that relegation will reduce the value of the club and therefore it stands to reason that as every Summer players will be signed and players will be released. So I will roll with it and see what players eventually sign and will as per usual spend away days in Wigan / Bolton / Wolverhampton sampling quality pies and regional ales. We will win and lose games and maybe even draw. Nothing ever changes really so don't fight it, instead invite it in for a pint. Up the R's!
Well somehow he's managed to accumulate slightly more cash than I have so he's either a. Very lucky b. No mug when it comes to business or c. He scooped on EuroMillions Look if he sells QPR and walks away with £20m or some wildly speculative number then he might be a plank but a rich and clever one.
Yeah he's rich, still say he's a mug though, the way he behaved Pre-Bhatia. You're right Bernies no mug, horrible little **** though!
I do think that Flav will do everything he can to protect his interests (and will sanction new players) but, if history is anything to go by, he'll want to take centre stage (and we're on a bigger platform) and will do what he knows best (bringing Dino Zoff out of retirement and stick him in the holding role) and then will blame the manager when it goes wrong. If a manager merry go round starts then I can't see us surviving (no matter who we bring in). He's a crafty business man but he knows sweet FA about football (but still likes to have a go).
Mittal has no love affair with QPR and will only pay a fair price. The deadly duo have no love affair with QPR and will sell but only for a fair price. Lets hope both parties can come to the same fair price.
I think our only consolation in this stand-off is the fact that all parties know we have to strengthen the team and, most likely, we will bring in three or four bargains in the Premier equivalent of Derry & Hill and probably three or four loans, Kyle Walker may be one of them according to reports this morning. I still believe Bernie & Flav will be gone by Christmas, hopefully QPR won't be 'gone' by that time.
The first rule in successful negotiating is never bid against yourself - which is what Eccles is trying to get Mittal to do. The second rule, is try to get the other side to bid against themselves - which is why Eccles is doing it. We have a stalemate. What is needed is for both sides to appoint accountants as valuers, and see what common ground they can find...
It's a shame that Bernie wasn't reading the papers when QPR were valued at 10M or 15M with Les Ferdinand - might have a more realistic figure in mind then. Alternatively, we could buy Heskey and then the club's value would nose-dive to 10p.
