QPR owner Tony Fernandes - Does he have a Midas touch? posted 09 07 12 On the 7th November 2007 QPR were taken over by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone and basically saved the club from going out of existence. The fansâ worries seemed to be over; in truth theyâd only just begun. Bernie Ecclestone took a back seat while Flavio Briatore loved the limelight; it was to prove a false dawn at the club. They went through Managers like a knife through butter and QPR became a laughing stock. But through it all one man stood out; Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal who had taken a twenty per cent stake in the club. There is a documentary out called âthe four year planâ and it shows the club was run the wrong way. I would implore any football fan to watch it; somehow we survived and got promoted. It was great management on behalf of Neil Warnock and a coup that Amit Bhatia got him to the club after going through so many Managers. The Mittalâs did try and buy the club outright in 2010 but Tango and Cash (as they were known to fans) werenât interested. The FA wanted to know a bit more about Briatore and his Formula One business. They started to ask questions in 2007 and still hadnât had a proper explanation by 2011. Thankfully for all concerned he had had enough; but Amit Bhatia had resigned and it didnât look good. In August 2011 Tony Fernandes bought the club from the Formula One partners and to be honest I donât know what the fans were supposed to think. Tony Fernandes was another man who was heavily involved in motor racing so had we gone from the frying pan into the fire? So who is Tony Fernandes? He was born on the 30th April 1964 in Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia. He was educated at Epsom College then graduated to the London school of Economics. In the late eighties he worked for Richard Bransonâs Virgin group. Upon his return to Malaysia he was made Managing Director of Warner Music in the country of his birth. In October 2001 he met the Prime Minister of Malaysia who advised him not to start an airline but buy an existing one. Air Asia was losing money and at a rapid rate. Tony had confidence in his business ability and mortgaged and put his life savings into his new business venture. His plan was simple; a no frills airline that was cheap but at the same time provided a great service. He puts it down to luck the timing of his venture; the 11th September 2001 will always be remembered but it brought costs down and thatâs what helped Air Asia grow. Buoyed by the success of his airline in 2007 he started off a hotel chain, Tune Hotels. He thought, and rightly so, that if it can work for an airline then why not a hotel! Of course it worked and there are plans for more hotels across Asia. In 2010 he started up his own Formula One team; Lotus Racing - now Caterham Racing, and they have a GP2 team too. Not only a fan of motor sport, he also likes football. He tried to buy West Ham United but his bid was rejected; heâd gone on record as saying he was a Hammers fan but it didnât matter as they werenât interested. In August 2011 he took control of Queens Park Rangers but many fans I talked to werenât very sure about him; was it another false dawn or was this man really the next best thing for QPR? With just days left in the transfer market Tony gave Neil Warnock the funds to buy players that he wanted; but time was against them. It has to be said that Neil and Tony read from the same page and when he brought Amit Bhatia back into the fold fans loved it. He returned season ticket holders some money via a voucher; it was something he didnât need to do as he hadnât set the prices; that was Tango and Cashâs idea and the main reason Amit left in the first place. By the time we came to Christmas, Tony realised it wasnât working with Neil Warnock. A fansâ favourite after bringing us up as Champions; Tony made the decision to let the Yorkshireman go. It split the fans right down the middle but showed the owner wasnât afraid of making hard decisions. He appointed Mark Hughes and again some fans werenât too impressed; I think it was more to do with their loyalty to Neil Warnock. Hughes made the signings that he thought we needed to stay up and by the skin of our teeth we did. Iâm old enough to remember Jim Gregory; the man that built up QPR from practically nothing. Now owners have come and gone; some good but a great deal bad. The one thing I see when Tony speaks about the club is passion and I think we may have the next Jim Gregory. We are a club going forward and I for one believe that with the board of Directors we have and with a great leader at the helm the future is bright; the future is blue and white. Will Tony Fernandes continue to enjoy the support of QPR fans? What do you think of him?
Bloody good read Kiwi, did you write it? As far as I'm concerned, what Tony has put in place is astonishing. Whilst he's not quite a legend yet, he's certainly approaching legendary status - and if he carries on this way, with Hughes in charge we'll be looking at challenging for Europe this time next year!!
See my post on the deja vu thread. I was more than cynical and applied all he was doing and saying to my previous experience of managers and the club's previous owners. This man really is a breath of fresh air and potentially the best thing to ever happen to our club.
Like the great Jim Gregory the real legends of the football boardroom leave a legacy of infrastructure at a club and not just a temporary investment in the playing staff. TF is well on his well to doing exactly that after less than a year in charge. If he delivers a new stadium then we will forever be in his debt regardless what comes along later.
What happened to that WHU supporter's blog where all he ever did was trash TF and QPR instead of talking about his own team? Haven't seen anything from him in a fair few months, wonder whether he's enjoying the egg frying on his face and all that humble pie he's been eating in the last few weeks...
