In light of the fact that the majority of us will now have watched the 4 year plan and with the events that it depicts being relatively fresh in our minds now maybe a good time to reassess the reign of Flavio Briatore. The cold facts are that when he and Bernie Ecclestone took over our club we were in deep, deep financial trouble. Four years later when they finally sold their shares we were in the Premier League. Not only did they achieve their objective, and our dream, of returning top flight football to Loftus Road, they got Amit Bhatia on board and left the club in the hands of Tony Fernandes, seeing him celebrate our equalising goal on Saturday in with the fans has surely removed any lingering doubts that anyone had about him. So who would actually argue that Briatore was bad for our club?
Its hard to say, its like borrowing money from a loan shark to keep your house. He might have helped you save it but you still hate him for doing so. What i can say is i wish Paladini was nowhere near the club, he might have had good intentions but he was so incompetent.
The 'Unholy Trinity' of Flav, Bernie and Gianni were hopeless and you have to look to when Amit took over from Flav along with Saksena before we finally realised our potential. Yes, he saved our club, but he also nearly ruined it as well, for without Warnock we'd have gone down...
I watched it this afternoon and found it fascinating to see. I guess my main reflection (except for once again being a little shocked at just how many managers we got through) having seen it is that I actually think a little bit more of Paladini than I had done previously purely because of his obvious emotion throughout...be it joy at a win, or the utter relief he clearly felt when we weren't docked points. Sadly though, he also came across as a bit of a lapdog for Flav...who is shown to have no patience, no real understanding of football, and no appreciation of a long term view on what was going on. A good watch though...
The net effect of Briatore's involvement with the club has been by some miracle positive both financially and in Prem status. The miracle is Amit and the Mittals. Briatore is an entirely amoral ****. He has avoided prosecution by running away for fraud in Italy (which has a very short statute of limitations, as Berlusconi has found to his joy) and been banned from F1 for cheating in such a way that could have caused death. He has not shown an iota of regret or contrition, ever. If the lack of preparation for this season ultimately dooms us, we are still better off back in the Championship with TF and Amit at the helm, well worth the trade in my view. Please do not develop any soft spots or put on rose tinted glasses for this disgrace of a human being. For those of you who hate Barton on 'moral' grounds, at least he has been punished, shown regret and attempted to change himself. Briatore is completely unrepentant and deserves nothing but scorn, in perpetuity. I feel quite strongly about this. Interesting that he and Paladini seemed to recruit a succession of weak, characterless managers ( unless the editing was really cruel) until Amit got Neil in, so obviously streets ahead of all those other guys.
I'd maybe argue that the attainment of our Prem place was achieved despite Flav and his meddling. The only time the plan really came on track was when NW was taken on board and left to manage. Prior to that we'd become a laughing stock and were starting to circle the drain. Whatever their motives for including Amit were, I guess we'll never know, but I doubt it was for the long-term good of the club. If the club was so close to their heart, they'd never have postured around so long over the summer before selling up, leaving us 10 days to catch up on what every other Prem club had been doing all summer. We were nothing more than an investment, they got their return despite their own manifest incompetence, and that's all the thanks they'll get from me. I agree with Flyer's loan shark analogy. Thinking back on the scene with him stood on SA Road asking for the names of genuine R's booing him for turning our club into a joke, I could never be grateful to somebody as arrogant, obtuse and nasty as this guy.
I dont disagree SB but you've got to admit that it was a mad crazy ride whilst it lasted . Look at the past 15 years at our club - its all been a complete roller coaster At least they got us promoted - in style - plus we signed some truly great players in the foreign legion - Ledesma Parejo Di carmine Alberti Tommasi Lopez And of course.....Pellicori You can't tell me that it wasn't fun??
Our journey includes Flavio Briatore and I love the fact that out of chaos comes more chaos and I for never want order ... it's over rated and in the long term... sterile. We Are Queens Park Rangers, We play attractive sexy football, have a great compact home stadium and don't do things in the normal way. We will be playing European football next year this I know to be true as I recently discovered you can determine almost anything using scatology
Funnily enough, our chances of European football were good before Christmas as we were 2nd in the Fair Play table until a spate of red cards...
WBA, Briatore and Ecclestone put the most strain on my support of this club in 40 years. I was embarrassed for my club to be associated with these people, who I have detested for decades due to their malign influence on F1. I understand that the roller coaster was in a perverse way fun (in retrospect) but it was in spite of these guys. To be honest, if they really saved us from going under, then I would be hypocritical to say I wished they had never come within a thousand miles of us. But we can never know this for certain, and I would have traded not having their cash for another couple of seasons out of the Prem. But now we are back it would be churlish not to enjoy staying up.....
Thought I’d just ask. Personally I hate him with a passion. Anyone who can treat our club with such contempt deserves nothing less. Yes, he did bankroll the club when it was desperately needed, but the payback has been enormous. I am very, very proud of the traditions of our club, not just the history of stylish football, but the friendly atmosphere, the quirkiness and being firmly grounded in the local community. He rode roughshod over these, attempted to alienate the traditional fan base and tried to turn the club into an extension of himself. Thank God for Amit Bhatia.
I wonder whether at our next home game, we should think of a nice loud song to tell Orange Flav just how grateful we are, with a few choice posters telling him that his knowledge of football is second only to every other football supporter on the whole planet. Pity we never got to see what happened with Gigi Di Canio.
Neil Warnock on the Four Year Plan aired on BBC2 last night Neil Warnock is asked about the rotating door of managers as witnessed in the Four Year Plan documentary at QPR. He admitted he didn’t like the policy, but added of the owners; “It’s their club, they own the club these people, and if they want to sack the manager then, they’re quite entitled to do it. “Flavio bought the club at a difficult period, and as you saw in the film, if he didn’t like someone, he got rid of them. And that’s his prerogative. “ Also seen in the Four Year Plan was Favio Briatore questioning the managers decisions and forcing him to make a substitute during a game. “I don’t think that happens very often if I’m honest, but I think that a chairman can make a point to a manager after a game and – even before a game – he might say ‘I didn’t think you’d play him today’ “In his own way he can make comments, they do with me now. Not my chairman at the moment [laughs], but people always try, and I don’t mind that! “After the game, people always ask ‘why didn’t you do this, why didn’t you substitute him, I thought he was rubbish today’. [That's OK] in the boardroom, but not in a space for the media to hear. You’ve got to do that as a club, and keep certain things to yourself and that’s the way I’ve always dealt with it “I don’t think there’s many chairman that’ll be ringing down demanding subs. I think the Four Year Plan was quite a unique documentary.”
I just came across to ask about that. Did they only start the shooting after he'd left? (the documentary, not guns in the boardroom)
Totally agree with you Roller. For me, the film showed what a complete prat Flav is. His money helped save the club and of course that shouldn't be forgotten. But Christ on a bike, what an egotistical twat!! Asking for the names of the fans booing him highlighted this perfectly. The film also showed that Bernie was hardly ever around and had no interest in the club whatsoever, other than to make a profit (fair enough I suppose to an extent, but **** me, didn't he and Flav screw us fans over?). Finally, I must admit that I now have a soft spot for Pallidini. He came across as a bit of an idiot and obviously would do anything to keep Flav onside, but I believe he really cared passionately about the club and the scene where he ran to the dressing room with the news that there was to be no points reduction was really touching.
I especially liked the bit when he kicked in the seat in front on him! Classic stuff We are QPR, embrace the chaos
Paldini always had the best interests of the club at heart. You saw his passion throughout the doc especially when he found out there was no points deduction, although that was probably more out of relief of not costing us promotion than anything else. At the end of the day without Briatore's and Ecclestones money we wouldnt be in the Prem and probably wouldnt even be in existance so although they are both twats you have to somewhat thank them. Also thanks god for Amit Bhatia, Ishan Saskensa and of course the legend Neil Warnock! How Warnock turned us around and got us promoted the next season is quite unbelievable. On another note my favourite part of the film (there were many but this one tops it) is when Ecclestone made a breif cameo appearance to moan about the money being spent on drinks on matchdays. Ha Ha.
