We tried to run QPR like F1 with cashmere jerseys and fur slippers......

23 May 2012


Given the box office story and Hollywood ending of Queens Park Rangers’ first season in the Premier League, they must be tempted to make a sequel to ‘The Four Year Plan’.

Mat Hodgson’s compelling documentary aired by the BBC in March still resonates as one of the most revealing insights into the machinations of a modern-day football club.
Amid the whirlwind of impatience created by Flavio Briatore, the scheming and fretting of Gianni Paladini and a cabal of disillusioned managers sacked with the ink still drying on their contracts, vice-chairman Amit Bhatia stood as a voice of reason.
Neil Warnock finally delivered promotion to the Premier League by navigating a way through the madness but Bhatia’s role in creating an environment to thrive was central to that success.
Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone saved the club from bankruptcy in late 2007 but the Italian’s involvement, as the film revealed, had since created an instability that was proving highly corrosive.
Allowing unprecedented access to Hodgson’s film crew and conceding editorial control were remarkably co-operative steps in the usually clandestine world of club management and it made for uncomfortable viewing in the boardroom. “I said when I first saw it that there was no way this thing could ever be released,” Bhatia told Standard Sport, when speaking for the first time about the film.
“I was flabbergasted. We may not have had creative control on it but we still had to sign off on the movie.
“The producers could have been sued if they hadn’t got everyone to sign a waiver but eventually everyone agreed to it because it was a story that had to be told. We tried to apply the principles from past experiences — business for me, Formula One for Flavio and Bernie — to QPR but it didn’t work.
“You can’t compare the fan who goes to the Monaco Grand Prix with the fan who goes to his local football team. They said ‘London has a lot of football clubs but it doesn’t have a sexy, boutique club. Let’s make QPR boutique, let’s make it the Monaco Grand Prix of football clubs. We have the smallest ground, let’s make it the most exclusive ground’. We had cashmere, embroidered jerseys, we had fur slippers. In retrospect, we learned you cannot run a football club like that because you lose your fanbase. It was a lack of experience. I look back and I see myself as such a rookie and knowing very little. You have to treat people better, make decisions that are orientated towards the longer term.”
Rangers are now in a position to learn those lessons after escaping relegation on a dramatic final day at Manchester City. Mark Hughes is the seventh permanent manager in five years but Bhatia is keen to ensure stability now exists where chaos once reigned. “We are trying to take our club to the next level and Mark is central to all that,” he said. “We are moving forward with a new training facility, working with the architects and designers and Mark is very important in that process.
“We want to invest in the academy and youth system. I don’t have that experience but we have a long-term vision and Mark is central to all those decisions.
“Our scouting system isn’t up to par, the infrastructure isn’t good — we need more medical people. We have a shortage of masseurs. He is walking us through all of these ideas. We are going to set new rules at the football club: how people dress, what time they show up, what time they leave. All of these are being rewritten at the moment.
“Setting targets is counter-productive. We were stupid enough to say ‘promotion in four years’. There is no new four-year plan. It is about getting a better infrastructure, a more respected club, a bigger fanbase and playing more attractive football. It would be frivolous to talk about a second four-year plan as we know football now.”
It won’t make a dramatic film sequel but the strategy is equally vital to Rangers’ future.
Bhatia on freezing ticket prices
QPR have frozen ticket prices for next season and Bhatia said: “The fans were vital last season and we are going to need them to come back and support the team. We assessed what it would cost us not to increase prices and decided it was worth it — we didn’t want to price the fans out of a second season in the Premier League.”
Bhatia on the new owners
The Mittal family attempted to buy the club last summer before Tony Fernandes took over.
Bhatia said: “There was a public back and forth that Flavio [Briatore] and Bernie [Ecclestone] believed our offer wasn’t good enough.
“That’s fine, that’s business. The eventual offer that Tony came in with wasn’t too far from what we had offered. I now have a fantastic relationship with Tony and the other two shareholders so it is fine.
“I had resigned over a fall-out involving ticket prices going into the Premier League. But relations remained good and Flavio called me to tell me I should meet Tony and he’d made a better offer. He asked if I wanted to exit but I said, ‘No’.
“I thought about countering Tony’s offer and maybe we would have done it if we didn’t see eye-to-eye with Tony. I didn’t know him well but we found out who he was and his plans. We spent many hours on the phone and he understood we lacked infrastructure.
“He kept using this phrase ‘unpolished diamond’ to describe the club. I wanted the fans to feel proud of the club and for the club to reconnect with them. Tony understood that.”
Bhatia on Kieron Dyer's new deal
Midfielder Kieron Dyer played just seven minutes last season — on the opening day — before suffering a series of injury setbacks but the 33-year-old has been handed a new contract. Standard Sport understands it is a one-year, pay-as-you-play deal, and Bhatia said: “Kieron is there training now and showing real commitment and dedication and Mark Hughes feels he offers a lot around the place off the pitch as well. When it comes down to player decisions, it is up to the manager.”
Bhatia on moving to a new ground
HE claims a move away from Loftus Road is inevitable if the club establish themselves as a Premier League force.
“We have been working on this for the last few years,” he said. “It has been a slow process. We have ambition to try and move to another stadium in the same area.
“We’ve done feasibility studies to try and develop Loftus Road but we can’t expand the stadium by more than a few thousand seats. It is not enough.
“If this club remain in the Premier League, we will need a bigger stadium and so it is smarter plan that we start from scratch and try and build something to make it state of the art. I don’t know where or when it will happen.”
Bhatia on sacking Neil Warnock
Bhatia formed a close bond with Warnock but QPR sacked him in January after eight games without a win. Bhatia said: “It was more difficult for me than for Tony. I had built a stronger relationship with him than any other manager, although we didn’t normally have managers around long enough to build one!
“Tony believed in him when he came on board but every once in a while, difficult decisions have to be made. We thought the club was slightly underperforming after doing well to bring in new players.”

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport...ers-but-that-cost-us-our-fanbase-7781973.html

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If we get more feelgood around this place now it's going to explode! Seriously though, this is another great piece and another example that we're moving in the right direction, rapidly. Couldn't be happier

 

He's been a bit quiet for a while, so it's great to hear from Amit again. Whenever I hear him speak it's re-assures me that the club is in great hands between him and Tony. Glad to hear that he hasn't lost any of his passion or enthussiam for this club.

 

Great to see Amit fully bought in to the dream. And they are beginning to manage expectations as well, the fact that it not all going to happen tomorrow just makes the future more exciting. Brilliant, not felt this good about the club since Tel was boss.

 

Oh! I wanted Ranjere to be Flab's sexy little boutique club...