Sunday, January 22, 2006
Chris Pennington - Past QPR Messageboard References
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[If anyone has anything else to add, feel free to email at QPRreport@hotmail.com]
CHRIS PENNINGTON
QPR OFFICIAL SITE Friday, January 20, 2006
QPR's CFO, Chris Pennington Departing " QPR's Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, is leaving the club and moving on to pastures new.Chris, who has agreed to stay on until the end of February, said;"I wish the club all the best for the future and I'll look forward to returning to Loftus Road to cheer on the Superhoops."QPR Chairman, Gianni Paladini, thanked Pennington for his help."I'd like to thank him for his help since we came to the club. I wish him all the best for the future and he'll always be welcome at Loftus Road."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~771465,00.html
FORMER QPR CHAIRMAN, BILL POWER December 12, 2005..
"....I have not listened to or read what the latest argument is about, but from what I have heard it seems to me that 2 very passionate followers of the Rs are being both misunderstood and misquoted, in fact I made this point only a day ago on the offish site following a call, I immediately defended myself.Every innocent remark made by whoever is disected to death.God forbid anyone should speak metaphorically.Now its tax evasion.This is about the only thing a company [yes i know we are QPR not a co'] of our size cannot hide. The taxmen [C&E or Income] doesn't send in an invoice saying we think you probably owe us £6 but we will wait until the end of the financial year to be sure.In laymans terms we the club inform whichever tax dept each financial month of what we we have withheld from our players and salaried staff [in the case of income tax well in excess of 100k per month] or quarterly what we have received in excess of what we have paid in VAT [to C&E and for instance VAT from season ticket sales up front and payable long before the club has received the money from the credit card companies].This is handled by the Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, he is the one who informs both tax depts of outstanding payments that we [QPR] need to make each month or qtr. There is no guess work and criminal charges could and should be made against anyone at the club with-holding any such information [and for the record i am not pointing a finger at the very able man I have just said is reporting these figures as I know he has and would have done]. Apparently, or alledgedly, or whatever is needed to say a comment is not chiseled in stone, Gianni passed a remark about payments not coming to light in his knowledge and I'm told he said tax or whatever. I'm certain it was frustration at the size of our debts and him perhaps not understanding the outstanding commitment, but its not for me to guess.What I know. as frustrating as that is, is the debt of the club is no more or less than we knew it to be for the last 15 months and quite frankly I am very relieved not to have that overwhelming pressure on me to try and resolve.Can we all stop 'casting the first stone'?None of us are perfect, lots of things are said and done in haste and repented at leisure.What we all know is that we are Hoops. ...Come on you Rs. .. http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=141640&t=42284
From Date? BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)bp also posted the following in January of this year."Board meetings are held monthly, the decision makers are always there, whether it is of any comfort to some I'm not sure but those people and them alone, Myself, Kevin McGrath, Mark Devlin and Chris Pennington discuss and decide all topics regarding the workings of QPR.I can categorically state that Moorbound, Barnaby and Wanlock have not interfered on a single occasion, but have continually offered any assistance they can including financially way beyond the recent offer that was fronted by Ross Jones."How things change eh?http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533519295
QPR 1st's Meeting with Paladini & Caliendo - ReportMinutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.docIn attendance:QPR Holdings Ltd Reps:Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officerQPR 1st Reps:Geoff Gibbs (GG) Treasurer; Tracy Stent (TS) ChairpersonOther: Tony Altieri; Italian translatorVenue: The Chairman’s office, QPR FC.http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc
SEPTEMBER 29 - STANDARD ON QPRjulia_ Posted on 29/9 1Standard Sport has obtained leaked documents from a Rangers board meeting on 24 August which set out in remarkable detail the way Power and club chief executive Mark Devlin were ousted.The minutes provide a rare and fascinating insight into the way QPR are now being run and are certain to interest the Football League who are watching events closely.Five directors - Paladini, Power, Carlos Dunga, Kevin McGrath and Gualtiero Trucco were present for the meeting. Non-board members including Devlin, company secretary Chris Pennington and Antonio Caliendo, the football agent who acts as a consultant for Barnaby and Wanlock Holdings - the two Monaco-based investment companies which own 30% of QPR - were also there......
.http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533632904
OCTOBER 2005OCTOBER 2005 --QPR1stQPR 1st Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 In attendance: QPR Holdings Ltd Reps: Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officer QPR 1st Reps: Geoff Gibbs (GG) Treasurer; Tracy Stent (TS) Chairperson Other: Tony Altieri; Italian translator Venue: The Chairman’s office, QPR FC. Foreword Friday’s meeting was the second in what we hope will be a series with the new board at QPR holdings ltd and with key club personnel. As per the first meeting, the agenda/format of the meeting was taken from questions arising from a document, which had been prepared by the Trust in advance. The meeting was a lunchtime one, which allowed for a slightly more relaxed atmosphere
..... Another issue raised was the one relating to the sponsorship of his son’s racing car, and if it costs the club anything? CP said that he could confirm the sponsorship does not cost the club anything ...
Whilst it became apparent that GP did not wish to speak about many of the recent events, including the alleged gun incident and the departures of Bill Power and Mark Devlin, we raised the subject of the board minutes which had been published in the evening standard from that meeting back in August, and said how when on asking to view them ourselves, the Trust had been informed that due to the confidential nature of some of the content relating to them, the club were unable to issue them to us, and then lo and behold only days later large chunks from those minutes had appeared in the ES for all and sundry to read. CP replied that he understood our frustrations but that the club themselves had been doubly frustrated by the leaked minutes and went on to say how as a business, they could not release board minutes due to the confidential nature but that they (the club/board) would try to be as open as they possibly could be. .....
GP and CP both said that the various departments are in charge of their own areas and therefore if anyone has any problems in relation to say tickets, then supporters need to contact the box office etc. .....
We then asked the question about Kevin McGrath and if they could inform us as to why he had resigned from the board? GP and CP informed that it had been a mutual agreement, that Kevin has political aspirations, and when asked what is happening about his shares, they said that they do not know. Finances The next part of the report relates to the financial issues discussed and for easy reading, we have sectioned the various topics into individual paragraphs. a) 2004/5 accounts GP/CP advised these are completed and will show a loss in the region of £2.5million. The club intend to publish these to the members and call an AGM shortly. b) 2005/6 budget When asked about the projected losses, CP explained the loss in the current season would be between £1 and £1.5 million. It was accepted that CP could be no more specific as we are only five months in to the club’s financial year. The amount of the loss will also be affected by and transfer activity in January. CP went on to say that that under the new regime, the budget would be drawn up each year on a break-even basis rather than under one of the previous regimes when up to £3 million loss was budgeted with the misplaced hope that new investors would come in to finance the deficit. GP stated that from now on the club would be run in “The Italian Way” in that he would be in charge of the day to day running and the club would look to break even. When asked to elaborate further on what he meant by “The Italian Way” he said that basically so far they cut back staffing “to help the club” and that basically the Italian way means streamlining in that there will be more work with less people. He also said that they have now stopped making payments ‘on invoice’ and that all payments now go out at the end of each month i.e. players wages one specific date each month, staff wages the next, and bills etc the next day. He and AC also said that previously any one from five signatories could authorise cheques. Now it is 3 signatories required. c) Agents’ fees We asked, once and for all, could we clear up the agent’s fees issues, including the Brian Hassall/Nygaard situation, and also how much are we likely to spend on agents this year? GP told us that agents’ fees are a fact of life in football and he was now in charge of authorising these. He stated that the club will no longer pay fees for the renewals of contracts, that these would be down to players to pay their agents direct, and stated that Nygaard’s agent's fee was to be paid in tranches, and related to a player who cost nothing on a “Bosman”. We did get the feeling that GP was unwilling to be specific as to the level of future agents fees but he was willing to say that these would be within the overall budget to be prepared by CP.
.... Next up to be discussed was the issue of new finance and further loans by directors. GP explained that any losses from now on would be financed by new loans from the Monaco shareholders or directors. CP went on to say these new loans would be interest free and unsecured. He also stated they would be structured in such a way that these loans will not be repayable on demand which meant that if the investors lost interest in the club they would not be able to demand their money back, expect immediate repayment and if this did not happen, put the club back into administration. e) Players Contracts The highest basic wage paid by the club is £3,500 per week, which is augmented by bonuses and incentives. The players’ budget is estimated at £3.5m. GP was unwilling to state if he felt we could keep to this amount for the current year. f) Paye and Vat CP confirmed that Paye was being paid each month shortly after the due date of the 19th. This means the current year (2005/6) is to all intents and purposes is up to date and no new arrears are being created. There were some unspecified arrears from previous years that are reducing and being repaid monthly. Despite being asked the direct question CP was not willing to divulge the exact amount of these arrears. It was confirmed that Vat was being paid on time and the club was not currently being subjected to any Vat surcharges as a result of late payments. g) Interest paid We asked why the club had paid £1,150,000 interest in the 2004 accounts when only £1,000,000 was attributable to ABC and were told the extra £150,000 was in relation to “old regime” directors and shareholder loans, as well as to late payment interest for Paye and Vat. ABC loan We asked the question if The ABC Corporation are connected with any of the Monaco consortiums or the investors behind them. GP and AC seemed to find this amusing and stated categorically that ABC and the Monaco groups are not the same! GP and CP explained they had no more clue than us as to who was behind ABC. There is very little copy correspondence in the QPR offices in relation to the loan. CP advised that he did not know if any arrangement fee or commission was paid on the loan when originally set up. CP also stated that at the beginning of each financial year on 1st June the figures showed a £1million loss. It is hoped that ABC may accept early repayment of the loan, which will be re financed with a more traditional identifiable lender. We asked GP if there were any update on this, and if so would he be able to tell us with which banks the club are hoping to renegotiate with. GP stated that so far there have been talks with two banks, one of which would offer an interest rate of 6.5, whilst the other would offer 7%. He is unable to inform us at the time being as to which banks they have been talking to but CP said if they could get the loan renegotiated with a traditional institution, they would feel safer. He also said that on such a renegotiated deal, £300,000 per year in interest charges could be saved which could be directed to repaying the £10 million originally borrowed. When asked about any fee charges for early repayment by ABC and CP said it would be negotiable. And what about any new bank, what kind of security would they look at in order to protect their money? It was stated that any bank would secure a charge on the assets i.e. the ground. And is there any truth in the rumour that the club have been behind in its payments to the ABC Corporation we asked? Absolutely not replied GP. BP shares and the Hoops Fund We asked who was going to buy Bill Power’s shares and it was suggested they would most probably be bought by one of the Monaco groups, or even possibly another Monaco consortium with different ownership to the two existing investors. We explained that the Hoops fund currently holds £12,500 of supporters money, which in order to comply with the original concept, has to be spent on buying shares in QPR Holdings, with the money going to the club for a specific good cause. We acknowledged that the company is not in a position to create new shares as the Authorised capital is all issued and any increase would cost in excess of £5,000 in legal fees. We asked AC if he would be willing to speak to the Monaco group/s that would be purchasing Bill Power’s shares to ask them if they would allow us to purchase a small portion of them before they buy them all. AC and GP said they would look into it for us sometime in the near future when there is not so much going on. CP then stated he may know of someone who would be prepared to sell their existing shareholding for a nominal sum at the same time as the balance of HF monies going to the club. We stated that we would hope to achieve a holding based on the same price as that for recent/pending share transactions and he said he appreciates that any money going in to the club would have to be allocated to a specific project e.g. disabled facilities. He suggested we put our request in writing to him and he will then talk to other shareholders, as well as to AC. Future of the club We firstly asked if the board could speak about the entire atmosphere at the club recently and if it feels it is positive for the players, staff, and supporters? All three board members present admitted that the recent months and weeks had been difficult ones, that it hadn’t been easy, but that they now felt things were stabilising more. AC spoke once again of the Italian method, how in Italy they (the board) run the clubs and the fans support the team. He said he likes the idea that boards and supporters are close and that he would like to go back to Italy and show them the English way. We moved on then to talk about ticket prices and asked if the fall off in attendances were leading to a loss of income greater than anticipated or budgeted for? CP confirmed that gate turnover is up in the current year in terms of monetary terms even though crowds are down. The likelihood of this continuing during the latter part of the season of course though will depend on future performances etc. Both GP and CP could not advise as to the split in the decreased season ticket numbers between Adults/Juniors/Student/OAP. AC said that when the season tickets went up they (GP and himself) were not consulted. We then asked a rather difficult question in that if AC could clarify as to the substance of the rumours we heard last year about a sale and leaseback of the ground having been mooted by him and other board members? And also would the current board consider doing a sale and leaseback of the Loftus Road ground in the future? AC said he would not respond to something like that as it was a complete non-goer. GP himself appeared to become quite agitated regarding this matter and said how he could not understand why so many people seemed to talk about the sale of the ground and insinuating that they (the new board) were a bunch of crooks. GG explained that there have been instances in the past of clubs having lost their grounds after false promises by their owners (Brighton and Maidstone were given as examples) and that supporters only wished to seek reassurances that their club would have a ground to play at in the future. Which then led to a rather interesting discussion about a potential new ground in which basically the idea is that QPR would ‘own’ a new ground on the Astroturf/park site in South Africa road, which would cost in excess of £40m to build. This would apparently be self-financing. GP stated twice that should such an idea become a reality, QPR would own the new ground, and would stay at the existing Loftus Road whilst it was being built. We stated that if such a new ground were to ever go ahead i.e. if the council were to give planning permission etc, then there would need to be a strict stipulation that QPR would remain playing at LR until the new ground would be built. GP agreed and said he would agree to this as being a written condition within any planning application. We did point out to GP that football is littered with architect’s models of new stadiums that have never happened hence our initial scepticism. One final question asked before CP and Tony had to leave the meeting was how the board envisage the various groups remaining at QPR for the foreseeable future, particularly so if we do not go up either for this or next season? GP responded by saying that as far as he is concerned he is here for the foreseeable future, that he only wants to do what is right for the club, and AC reiterated that the people in the Monaco groups have invested because of their trust in him and so he cannot see any reason as to why they would wish to pull out. AOB Season tickets and future ideas With Tony and CP having departed we then moved onto a couple of other specific issues with the first one being the season ticket/matchday ticket prices. We presented to GP and AC a document that the Trust had put together containing a number of proactive marketing ideas relating to this whole matter. The suggestion was for GP and AC to have a look at it all, for GP to liaise with Mike Pink at the commercial and marketing department, and also with Jenny Elliott, the box office manager, because they will be the people that will need to decide upon the feasibility of such ideas, and for us all to have a little chat about it in a month’s time or so. To view the documents (there are 2, one is suggested ideas for season tickets/matchday prices and the other is a doc with suggested student schemes) click on the links on the homepage from where the link for this report was posted. We welcome any feedback on this. GG also handed GP and AC a copy each of a Goodwood racecourse members’ booklet containing information on reciprocal events. The suggested idea of QPR looking into a similar reciprocal basis relating to other sporting events has been mentioned within the season tickets document as an idea to think about to give season ticket holders some kind of extra benefit. Football league letter The old chestnut of the football league letter, sent to the old board back in March 2002, in which it was apparently stated that in order to retain its membership of the FL, QPR needed to come out of administration by the time the fixture list came out, was raised, with TS asking GP if he would give the Trust permission to go to the football league, informing them that the supporters trust had the permission of the club to allow it to publish this letter on their website, thus clearing up the matter once and for all? GP said he would be happy to give us permission, said he hadn’t seen the letter himself, TS assured him it did exist, and so he is going to sign a letter to the effect asking the FL to allow us to do this. Fans Forum We asked if there were any update on this since our last meeting, TS pointed out that it was part of the club’s customer charter, and GP informed he would speak to Phil Harris and get something arranged for before Christmas. Ian Holloway The final question to be asked related to Ian Holloway, and if there were any news on a new contract for him? GP refused to be drawn on the subject and just said that Ian Holloway is the manager, and that any talks of new contracts would occur as and when. Summary We would like to thank Gianni Paladini, Antonio Caliendo and Chris Pennington for their time. The meeting lasted for over two and a half hours and was based on a part formal/part informal structure. Whilst there remain unanswered questions, we do feel that it was most certainly a worthwhile meeting and we hope that what we have reported on has been of interest to members and the fanbase in general alike. We are conscious that there are many on-pitch issues to be discussed but with time so scarce we opted to pursue the off-pitch matters that the Trust feels required flagging during the time that we had. We will though continue to push for a fans forum at which there will be plenty of opportunity for all kinds of issues to be discussed with GP and relevant club personnel. CP reminded us he has now been with the club for a year and stated that he was sleeping soundly at night for the first time in ages. He accepted that the club’s £9 million turnover meant it was not a particularly large business and appeared anxious to avoid falling into the trap of spending money as if it were a company with a larger turnover. It will be interesting to see if CP delivers the 2005 accounts on time (as promised by GP at our two meetings now) and with the exception of the Paye arrears, CP answered all our questions, and more, without having to research. Regarding the situation of a potential new ground, we are pursuing a meeting with the local authority, they have been frustratingly slow in getting back to us, but we will persevere with this. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc - -
QPR 1st Report on QPR Holdings Limited AGM report
July 15, 2005
Held at The Blue & White Club on 6 July 2005 at 3.00 pm By Geoff Gibbs The top table consisted of Bill Power (Chairman), Gianni Paladini (Director), Mark Devlin (CEO), Kevin McGrath (Director), Chris Pennington (Company Secretary & Chief Financial Officer), Antonio Caliendi (for Barnaby Holdings), Gualtiero Trucco (for Warnock LLC)
Although the meeting was notionally chaired by Bill Power it was generally ran by Kevin McGrath who commenced by apologising that the accounts to 31 May 2004 were delivered late and acknowledged that this was despite promises having been made at the previous AGM where he said accounts would be ready by the end of 2004. He went on to state the current year’s accounts to 31 May 2005 were on schedule to be completed by the end of 2005 and hoped that the next AGM would take place in January 2006. It was explained that Gianni Paladini is now a Director and his wife Olga, who previously represented his interests, had stood down. He then went on to state that, despite the success of achieving promotion in 2003/04, from a business perspective the financial year ended 31 May 2004 was disastrous. He emphasised that the accounts covered a period when the old executive team was in place and there were now considerably less people employed by the club who were collectively doing a lot more work than previously. Kevin and Chris both said that the draft accounts to 31 May 2005 were indicating a loss of £2.5m. In the current year to 31 May 2006 the recently prepared budgets had been drawn up on the basis that the club would break even. However, in reality a loss of somewhere between £500k to £1m is anticipated unless the club have a good cup run or some other similar windfall. When asked how the Club was going to sustain these ongoing losses, it was suggested this would be achieved through new money from the Directors. Chris Pennington was asked whether he considered the Company insolvent and he said no as the auditors were satisfied that it was able to keep trading for the foreseeable future and they had ratified the going concern note made in the Directors’ report. Kevin went on to say that in five years it was anticipated the Company should experience regular profit but all this money would be ploughed into the Club. One advantage of the club making a profit would be its likely exemption from Corporation Tax due to its substantial losses in the past. A question was asked about whether the Club was up-to-date with the repayments due on the ABC loan and it was explained that these were on schedule. Once the loan has been running for five years, ABC have a right to increase the interest rate. However, if they do, the Club have a right to repay the loan refinance. Otherwise this loan is scheduled to run for its original ten-year period. It was confirmed there were no exit fees arising after ten years on the loan but it is likely that such fees would be payable if the loan was repaid early. A question was asked in relation to Chris Wright’s old shares and Bill Power said they were sold to him with any extra proceeds being redirected to the Club. Kevin McGrath mentioned that in the current year there would be a big jump in TV revenue to over £1m due to the new Sky deal. In addition, there may be an extra £400k payable for sale of fixture lists, but this was currently in dispute. A question was asked in relation to David Davies’ redundancy and the substantial amount of £95,000 paid to him. Bill Power said it was like cutting his arm off to pay him as much as 1p, but faced with the situation that DD could have stayed in his position, the Club would then have had to carefully engineer disciplinary proceedings. Typically this process would take nine months throughout which DD would have had to be paid his normal salary. It was explained that the payoff was the best solution to a bad situation and would enable the Club to go forward under the new management. The Resolutions on the AGM Notice were all noted and carried almost unanimously. The floor was then opened for any other business. The first question was in relation to Gino but it was explained that he left at the end of the season and had now signed a contract with Nottingham Forest. A question was asked about the availability of the ex-Dairy site at White City and it was confirmed that Kevin McGrath had made initial enquiries and would follow these up. It was reiterated that the unique selling point of QPR was its location and it was appreciated that if they were to move to a new stadium, it must not be far from the current site if the atmosphere and support were to be maintained. Ian Holloway arrived at 3.30 p.m. and joined the top table. A question was asked in relation to Wasps. Bill Power replied that he handled the negotiations with Chris Wright himself and appreciated it appeared that QPR were the patsies in the deal and the outcome and negotiations were a one way street in Wasps favour. Bill went on to explain that the Wasps contract originally drafted by DD was not worth a penny and was full of holes. Although in terms of counter claim it was valued at £1.5m, this was only as a result of the Club attempting to maximise its situation from a negotiating point of view. Bill stated that the outcome was the best that could be obtained and Wasps would not be coming back. A question was asked in relation to the number of season tickets sold. This was answered unspecifically; it was stated the numbers had dropped but no actuals were given. Ian Holloway was asked about the new players. Simon Royce we are already familiar with and therefore needed no introduction. Ian Evatt was introduced to the Club via Gianni who had previously dealt with him in his agent’s capacity at Derby. There had been a corrupt situation there, which precipitated his move to Chesterfield and Gianni had travelled abroad to meet the player to finalise the deal. Tommy Doherty- Ian described him as a “pit bull justice enforcer”. Stefan Moore- He had really impressed Ian in training and had the ability to chase down paper bags from the air. Ian went on to explain that only two seasons ago Dean Sturridge scored 21 goals in 22 games and to all intents and purposes, was a new player. He thought that Dominic Shimmin, acquired from Arsenal at the end of last season, was the most exciting prospect he had seen for a long time and couldn’t wait to get his hands on him. The meeting then descended into farce with references to Gary Glitter by Kevin McGrath and Ian responding with a Michael Jackson joke. Sam Parkin had not been purchased by the Club as his price was too high and similarly if Richard Langley returned he would only have been offered half his Cardiff wages and therefore this situation would be a non-starter. A question was asked in relation to the new training ground and was answered by Kevin McGrath who said there was a new lease in existence at a fixed rental but in due course the Club intended to make an offer to purchase the training ground currently owned by Imperial College. The benefits of the new training ground are it’s modern facilities (on which Chelsea had spent a small fortune) and that that all the QPR teams would be “under one roof”. There was a question from the floor inquiring whether the supporters could get involved in the purchase of the ground but this was not really answered. Ian Holloway went on to explain his ideas about buying young, promising players and compared that with the policies of the past i.e. with the purchase of an over 30 Mike Sherron. It was summed up that Chris Wright had been very naive and believed what he was being told by the authorities to whom he had delegated the running of the Club. Similarly, he considered the large number of long contracts handed out to young trainees in the light of the Bosnan ruling was an understated source of the financial difficulties the Club had experienced leading up to Administration. Ian finished by hinting about further signings by saying “I can’t say anything at the moment but you will be so proud soon”. From the writer’s point of view Ian’s body language was good and he was very consistent in everything he said, in particular about not throwing the kids in at the deep end, which he had to do at Burnley last year. To sum up, there were a lot of questions unanswered at the AGM and the Trust will attempt to delve in to the specifics at our regular meetings at the Club. Unlike the 2004 AGM the top table were not slow this time in openly criticising the previous administrations. We will have some idea if this criticism is justified when the results for the current year to 31 May 2005 are published. If they arrive before the end of 2005 and are in line with Chris Pennington’s expectations, then this will at least be a step in the right direction. Overall it was an enjoyable meeting to attend but get the feeling that this is probably as a result of Ian getting good at dealing with the public and making his audience laugh out loud, he really must have a future in motivational or after dinner speaking. Geoff Gibbs - QPR1st Steering Group http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=14
Dave's QPR
2004 AGM Report
Yesterday saw the QPR Holdings PLC AGM and as ever it was an interesting meeting. Below is a report from the meeting written by Crash and posted on the qpr.org message board. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bring back Blackburn I say, at least we could have someone to loathe :-)
Todays AGM was well attended by the usual suspects, at the top table were: Chris Pennington - Finance David Anderson - company secretary Kevin McGrath - Chairman of plc Bill Power - Chairman of QPR Mark Devlin - CEO Azeem Malik - Director representing Moorbound Limited The motions were all passed, including the one to make the plc a Limited company. The votes were carried by 98-99%, only after Kevin had phoned Chris Wright to persuade him to change his mind - he originally was going to vote against the motion to allow the board of directors to sell the 30million shares they are holding. Kevin answered most of the questions and was an excellent chairman. Kevin resigned as acting Chairman of the plc at the end of the meeting and now bp is Chairman of both the limited company and QPR. It was stated that the board will sell the shares to anyone and you can expect a share scheme to be announced whereby fans can purchase shares at 6.5p. The big surprise for me was that Ross Jones attended, which I have to take my hat off to and he answered many questions about the financial dealings that had occurred in 2002-2003. However, he still held the GOT party line. He stated when challenged that there was no other option but to take the ABC loan as the league were about to shut us down. However, a previous Director from the floor challenged him that a loan of 6% interest was on offer at the time. Ross said that if that was true the club could sue Stoy Hayward, the Administrators. Then Kevin stated that Stoy are now acting as agents of ABC. Watch this space as hopefully the Board are going to do something about this. Ross then offered to sell his shares to anyone who wanted them for 6.5p, he would take 3p and would give 3.5p to the club - a marvelous jesture if taken up. Giani stated that Holloway wasn't at the AGM as he had sent him and his familiy on a holiday to Capri. He said if he will send him to Capri everytime we have a result like we did against Crystal Palace. Harold Winton was asked about moneys owing to the club, and he quite rightly got very upset and explained that the problem was due to the previous Board and was going to be resolved with the new Board. When you consider what the Wintons have put into the club, thought the question was a disgrace. Anyway, later on Harold got back up and gave a good rallying cry and said we would win promotion this season and implored fans to take a bet as the odds at the momment are so good!! The Board of Directors have provided between 3-3.5 Million to Holloway to keep our team in mid table. A long time was spent explaining how money is needed to get promotion. When we went down from the old 1st division players expenses over 7Million, so that puts it into perspective. The club needs to raise 2Million to break even and the Monaco deal is still in negotiation, but likely to be scaled down. It was confirmed that Binatone gave the club 70,000 first season, 80,000 second and 80,000 the third. They pay for their own box. Giani is looing to sign another shirt deal for a large amount. It was stated that the Fulham deal netted the club 330,000 profit, which is much hgher than we would have realised if Wasps were our tennants. The Wasps situation is being persued by the Board. Chris Wright is refussing to give his shares away and back to the club. 180k is the highest basic salary one of our players is being paid. Mark Devlin was going to investigate why fans could not get through to the box office this morning. He stated that all season tickets have been posted from somewhere up north (so the Bush post office flooding is not an issue). If anyone hasn't got their season ticket by Friday then they are to phone the box office and they will arrange a duplicate to be picked up on Saturday. The farce about the stewards was talked about. Mark said it was unadvisable to change the steward and catering company's at the end of the season as it does not give enough time. The stewarding company is going to bus people down from Manchester (they steward Man U) and it was the local council that is putting restrictions on QPR. Mark is expecting that the busing of stewards down will satisfy the local council, faxed them the details this morning and awaiting their reply. he is expecting to resume general sale of tickets.
http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/newsaugust5.htm
BOARDROOM BLUES
AGM ON 4 AUGUST [2004]- INTRODUCTION
Kevin McGrath, the chairman of the plc and of today's AGM, began his overview by saying that these are turbulent times for QPR. In spite of the success on the field there are still severe financial problems, which culminated in the resignations of Paul English, David Davies, Nick Blackburn, Ross Jones and Samantha Taylor. The new board has only had hands-on responsibility for a couple of months.
....Kevin McGrath then introduced the other directors and staff on the stage.
Azeem Malik is a director who represents Moorbound Ltd which in turn represents Gianni Paladini's business interest in QPR. Paladini has "boundless enthusiasm" for QPR and, having put some £650k into the club, is the largest single investor for several years. McGrath said Paladini has a fantastic knowledge of the game, and that it is a privilege to have him on the team at QPR.
Mark Devlin has returned to QPR as Chief Executive after helping reduce Swindon FC's losses from £3m to £300,000. He is "a QPR man" with inside knowledge both of QPR and of running a club in very difficult circumstances.
Bill Power, the chairman of the football club, joined the board after buying some 3m shares and bought a further 1m shares last week. McGrath said: "Bill has the potential to be the best chairman here since Jim Gregory, and I hope he's still chairman when he's 65."
David Anderson is a chartered accountant and the company secretary of QPR Holdings plc. He has put a huge amount of time and effort into the accounts, all on a voluntary basis.
Chris Pennington is not a director but has stepped in to work on the finances following the departure of Paul English, the old Finance Director.
Kevin McGrath made a short personal statement himself, explaining that he feels very proud and privileged to be on the board. He announced that at the end of the meeting he would be remaining a director but standing down as Acting Chairman of the plc and would be replaced by Bill Power. The club only needs one chairman, especially now that it is becoming a private company rather than a plc.
http://www.boardroomblues.co.uk/agmintroduction.htm
[If anyone has anything else to add, feel free to email at QPRreport@hotmail.com]
CHRIS PENNINGTON
QPR OFFICIAL SITE Friday, January 20, 2006
QPR's CFO, Chris Pennington Departing " QPR's Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, is leaving the club and moving on to pastures new.Chris, who has agreed to stay on until the end of February, said;"I wish the club all the best for the future and I'll look forward to returning to Loftus Road to cheer on the Superhoops."QPR Chairman, Gianni Paladini, thanked Pennington for his help."I'd like to thank him for his help since we came to the club. I wish him all the best for the future and he'll always be welcome at Loftus Road."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~771465,00.html
FORMER QPR CHAIRMAN, BILL POWER December 12, 2005..
"....I have not listened to or read what the latest argument is about, but from what I have heard it seems to me that 2 very passionate followers of the Rs are being both misunderstood and misquoted, in fact I made this point only a day ago on the offish site following a call, I immediately defended myself.Every innocent remark made by whoever is disected to death.God forbid anyone should speak metaphorically.Now its tax evasion.This is about the only thing a company [yes i know we are QPR not a co'] of our size cannot hide. The taxmen [C&E or Income] doesn't send in an invoice saying we think you probably owe us £6 but we will wait until the end of the financial year to be sure.In laymans terms we the club inform whichever tax dept each financial month of what we we have withheld from our players and salaried staff [in the case of income tax well in excess of 100k per month] or quarterly what we have received in excess of what we have paid in VAT [to C&E and for instance VAT from season ticket sales up front and payable long before the club has received the money from the credit card companies].This is handled by the Chief Financial Officer, Chris Pennington, he is the one who informs both tax depts of outstanding payments that we [QPR] need to make each month or qtr. There is no guess work and criminal charges could and should be made against anyone at the club with-holding any such information [and for the record i am not pointing a finger at the very able man I have just said is reporting these figures as I know he has and would have done]. Apparently, or alledgedly, or whatever is needed to say a comment is not chiseled in stone, Gianni passed a remark about payments not coming to light in his knowledge and I'm told he said tax or whatever. I'm certain it was frustration at the size of our debts and him perhaps not understanding the outstanding commitment, but its not for me to guess.What I know. as frustrating as that is, is the debt of the club is no more or less than we knew it to be for the last 15 months and quite frankly I am very relieved not to have that overwhelming pressure on me to try and resolve.Can we all stop 'casting the first stone'?None of us are perfect, lots of things are said and done in haste and repented at leisure.What we all know is that we are Hoops. ...Come on you Rs. .. http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=141640&t=42284
From Date? BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)bp also posted the following in January of this year."Board meetings are held monthly, the decision makers are always there, whether it is of any comfort to some I'm not sure but those people and them alone, Myself, Kevin McGrath, Mark Devlin and Chris Pennington discuss and decide all topics regarding the workings of QPR.I can categorically state that Moorbound, Barnaby and Wanlock have not interfered on a single occasion, but have continually offered any assistance they can including financially way beyond the recent offer that was fronted by Ross Jones."How things change eh?http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533519295
QPR 1st's Meeting with Paladini & Caliendo - ReportMinutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.docIn attendance:QPR Holdings Ltd Reps:Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officerQPR 1st Reps:Geoff Gibbs (GG) Treasurer; Tracy Stent (TS) ChairpersonOther: Tony Altieri; Italian translatorVenue: The Chairman’s office, QPR FC.http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc
SEPTEMBER 29 - STANDARD ON QPRjulia_ Posted on 29/9 1Standard Sport has obtained leaked documents from a Rangers board meeting on 24 August which set out in remarkable detail the way Power and club chief executive Mark Devlin were ousted.The minutes provide a rare and fascinating insight into the way QPR are now being run and are certain to interest the Football League who are watching events closely.Five directors - Paladini, Power, Carlos Dunga, Kevin McGrath and Gualtiero Trucco were present for the meeting. Non-board members including Devlin, company secretary Chris Pennington and Antonio Caliendo, the football agent who acts as a consultant for Barnaby and Wanlock Holdings - the two Monaco-based investment companies which own 30% of QPR - were also there......
.http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533632904
OCTOBER 2005OCTOBER 2005 --QPR1stQPR 1st Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005 In attendance: QPR Holdings Ltd Reps: Gianni Paladini (GP) Chairman; Antonio Caliendo (AC) Monaco groups’ consultant; Chris Pennington (CP) Chief financial officer QPR 1st Reps: Geoff Gibbs (GG) Treasurer; Tracy Stent (TS) Chairperson Other: Tony Altieri; Italian translator Venue: The Chairman’s office, QPR FC. Foreword Friday’s meeting was the second in what we hope will be a series with the new board at QPR holdings ltd and with key club personnel. As per the first meeting, the agenda/format of the meeting was taken from questions arising from a document, which had been prepared by the Trust in advance. The meeting was a lunchtime one, which allowed for a slightly more relaxed atmosphere
..... Another issue raised was the one relating to the sponsorship of his son’s racing car, and if it costs the club anything? CP said that he could confirm the sponsorship does not cost the club anything ...
Whilst it became apparent that GP did not wish to speak about many of the recent events, including the alleged gun incident and the departures of Bill Power and Mark Devlin, we raised the subject of the board minutes which had been published in the evening standard from that meeting back in August, and said how when on asking to view them ourselves, the Trust had been informed that due to the confidential nature of some of the content relating to them, the club were unable to issue them to us, and then lo and behold only days later large chunks from those minutes had appeared in the ES for all and sundry to read. CP replied that he understood our frustrations but that the club themselves had been doubly frustrated by the leaked minutes and went on to say how as a business, they could not release board minutes due to the confidential nature but that they (the club/board) would try to be as open as they possibly could be. .....
GP and CP both said that the various departments are in charge of their own areas and therefore if anyone has any problems in relation to say tickets, then supporters need to contact the box office etc. .....
We then asked the question about Kevin McGrath and if they could inform us as to why he had resigned from the board? GP and CP informed that it had been a mutual agreement, that Kevin has political aspirations, and when asked what is happening about his shares, they said that they do not know. Finances The next part of the report relates to the financial issues discussed and for easy reading, we have sectioned the various topics into individual paragraphs. a) 2004/5 accounts GP/CP advised these are completed and will show a loss in the region of £2.5million. The club intend to publish these to the members and call an AGM shortly. b) 2005/6 budget When asked about the projected losses, CP explained the loss in the current season would be between £1 and £1.5 million. It was accepted that CP could be no more specific as we are only five months in to the club’s financial year. The amount of the loss will also be affected by and transfer activity in January. CP went on to say that that under the new regime, the budget would be drawn up each year on a break-even basis rather than under one of the previous regimes when up to £3 million loss was budgeted with the misplaced hope that new investors would come in to finance the deficit. GP stated that from now on the club would be run in “The Italian Way” in that he would be in charge of the day to day running and the club would look to break even. When asked to elaborate further on what he meant by “The Italian Way” he said that basically so far they cut back staffing “to help the club” and that basically the Italian way means streamlining in that there will be more work with less people. He also said that they have now stopped making payments ‘on invoice’ and that all payments now go out at the end of each month i.e. players wages one specific date each month, staff wages the next, and bills etc the next day. He and AC also said that previously any one from five signatories could authorise cheques. Now it is 3 signatories required. c) Agents’ fees We asked, once and for all, could we clear up the agent’s fees issues, including the Brian Hassall/Nygaard situation, and also how much are we likely to spend on agents this year? GP told us that agents’ fees are a fact of life in football and he was now in charge of authorising these. He stated that the club will no longer pay fees for the renewals of contracts, that these would be down to players to pay their agents direct, and stated that Nygaard’s agent's fee was to be paid in tranches, and related to a player who cost nothing on a “Bosman”. We did get the feeling that GP was unwilling to be specific as to the level of future agents fees but he was willing to say that these would be within the overall budget to be prepared by CP.
.... Next up to be discussed was the issue of new finance and further loans by directors. GP explained that any losses from now on would be financed by new loans from the Monaco shareholders or directors. CP went on to say these new loans would be interest free and unsecured. He also stated they would be structured in such a way that these loans will not be repayable on demand which meant that if the investors lost interest in the club they would not be able to demand their money back, expect immediate repayment and if this did not happen, put the club back into administration. e) Players Contracts The highest basic wage paid by the club is £3,500 per week, which is augmented by bonuses and incentives. The players’ budget is estimated at £3.5m. GP was unwilling to state if he felt we could keep to this amount for the current year. f) Paye and Vat CP confirmed that Paye was being paid each month shortly after the due date of the 19th. This means the current year (2005/6) is to all intents and purposes is up to date and no new arrears are being created. There were some unspecified arrears from previous years that are reducing and being repaid monthly. Despite being asked the direct question CP was not willing to divulge the exact amount of these arrears. It was confirmed that Vat was being paid on time and the club was not currently being subjected to any Vat surcharges as a result of late payments. g) Interest paid We asked why the club had paid £1,150,000 interest in the 2004 accounts when only £1,000,000 was attributable to ABC and were told the extra £150,000 was in relation to “old regime” directors and shareholder loans, as well as to late payment interest for Paye and Vat. ABC loan We asked the question if The ABC Corporation are connected with any of the Monaco consortiums or the investors behind them. GP and AC seemed to find this amusing and stated categorically that ABC and the Monaco groups are not the same! GP and CP explained they had no more clue than us as to who was behind ABC. There is very little copy correspondence in the QPR offices in relation to the loan. CP advised that he did not know if any arrangement fee or commission was paid on the loan when originally set up. CP also stated that at the beginning of each financial year on 1st June the figures showed a £1million loss. It is hoped that ABC may accept early repayment of the loan, which will be re financed with a more traditional identifiable lender. We asked GP if there were any update on this, and if so would he be able to tell us with which banks the club are hoping to renegotiate with. GP stated that so far there have been talks with two banks, one of which would offer an interest rate of 6.5, whilst the other would offer 7%. He is unable to inform us at the time being as to which banks they have been talking to but CP said if they could get the loan renegotiated with a traditional institution, they would feel safer. He also said that on such a renegotiated deal, £300,000 per year in interest charges could be saved which could be directed to repaying the £10 million originally borrowed. When asked about any fee charges for early repayment by ABC and CP said it would be negotiable. And what about any new bank, what kind of security would they look at in order to protect their money? It was stated that any bank would secure a charge on the assets i.e. the ground. And is there any truth in the rumour that the club have been behind in its payments to the ABC Corporation we asked? Absolutely not replied GP. BP shares and the Hoops Fund We asked who was going to buy Bill Power’s shares and it was suggested they would most probably be bought by one of the Monaco groups, or even possibly another Monaco consortium with different ownership to the two existing investors. We explained that the Hoops fund currently holds £12,500 of supporters money, which in order to comply with the original concept, has to be spent on buying shares in QPR Holdings, with the money going to the club for a specific good cause. We acknowledged that the company is not in a position to create new shares as the Authorised capital is all issued and any increase would cost in excess of £5,000 in legal fees. We asked AC if he would be willing to speak to the Monaco group/s that would be purchasing Bill Power’s shares to ask them if they would allow us to purchase a small portion of them before they buy them all. AC and GP said they would look into it for us sometime in the near future when there is not so much going on. CP then stated he may know of someone who would be prepared to sell their existing shareholding for a nominal sum at the same time as the balance of HF monies going to the club. We stated that we would hope to achieve a holding based on the same price as that for recent/pending share transactions and he said he appreciates that any money going in to the club would have to be allocated to a specific project e.g. disabled facilities. He suggested we put our request in writing to him and he will then talk to other shareholders, as well as to AC. Future of the club We firstly asked if the board could speak about the entire atmosphere at the club recently and if it feels it is positive for the players, staff, and supporters? All three board members present admitted that the recent months and weeks had been difficult ones, that it hadn’t been easy, but that they now felt things were stabilising more. AC spoke once again of the Italian method, how in Italy they (the board) run the clubs and the fans support the team. He said he likes the idea that boards and supporters are close and that he would like to go back to Italy and show them the English way. We moved on then to talk about ticket prices and asked if the fall off in attendances were leading to a loss of income greater than anticipated or budgeted for? CP confirmed that gate turnover is up in the current year in terms of monetary terms even though crowds are down. The likelihood of this continuing during the latter part of the season of course though will depend on future performances etc. Both GP and CP could not advise as to the split in the decreased season ticket numbers between Adults/Juniors/Student/OAP. AC said that when the season tickets went up they (GP and himself) were not consulted. We then asked a rather difficult question in that if AC could clarify as to the substance of the rumours we heard last year about a sale and leaseback of the ground having been mooted by him and other board members? And also would the current board consider doing a sale and leaseback of the Loftus Road ground in the future? AC said he would not respond to something like that as it was a complete non-goer. GP himself appeared to become quite agitated regarding this matter and said how he could not understand why so many people seemed to talk about the sale of the ground and insinuating that they (the new board) were a bunch of crooks. GG explained that there have been instances in the past of clubs having lost their grounds after false promises by their owners (Brighton and Maidstone were given as examples) and that supporters only wished to seek reassurances that their club would have a ground to play at in the future. Which then led to a rather interesting discussion about a potential new ground in which basically the idea is that QPR would ‘own’ a new ground on the Astroturf/park site in South Africa road, which would cost in excess of £40m to build. This would apparently be self-financing. GP stated twice that should such an idea become a reality, QPR would own the new ground, and would stay at the existing Loftus Road whilst it was being built. We stated that if such a new ground were to ever go ahead i.e. if the council were to give planning permission etc, then there would need to be a strict stipulation that QPR would remain playing at LR until the new ground would be built. GP agreed and said he would agree to this as being a written condition within any planning application. We did point out to GP that football is littered with architect’s models of new stadiums that have never happened hence our initial scepticism. One final question asked before CP and Tony had to leave the meeting was how the board envisage the various groups remaining at QPR for the foreseeable future, particularly so if we do not go up either for this or next season? GP responded by saying that as far as he is concerned he is here for the foreseeable future, that he only wants to do what is right for the club, and AC reiterated that the people in the Monaco groups have invested because of their trust in him and so he cannot see any reason as to why they would wish to pull out. AOB Season tickets and future ideas With Tony and CP having departed we then moved onto a couple of other specific issues with the first one being the season ticket/matchday ticket prices. We presented to GP and AC a document that the Trust had put together containing a number of proactive marketing ideas relating to this whole matter. The suggestion was for GP and AC to have a look at it all, for GP to liaise with Mike Pink at the commercial and marketing department, and also with Jenny Elliott, the box office manager, because they will be the people that will need to decide upon the feasibility of such ideas, and for us all to have a little chat about it in a month’s time or so. To view the documents (there are 2, one is suggested ideas for season tickets/matchday prices and the other is a doc with suggested student schemes) click on the links on the homepage from where the link for this report was posted. We welcome any feedback on this. GG also handed GP and AC a copy each of a Goodwood racecourse members’ booklet containing information on reciprocal events. The suggested idea of QPR looking into a similar reciprocal basis relating to other sporting events has been mentioned within the season tickets document as an idea to think about to give season ticket holders some kind of extra benefit. Football league letter The old chestnut of the football league letter, sent to the old board back in March 2002, in which it was apparently stated that in order to retain its membership of the FL, QPR needed to come out of administration by the time the fixture list came out, was raised, with TS asking GP if he would give the Trust permission to go to the football league, informing them that the supporters trust had the permission of the club to allow it to publish this letter on their website, thus clearing up the matter once and for all? GP said he would be happy to give us permission, said he hadn’t seen the letter himself, TS assured him it did exist, and so he is going to sign a letter to the effect asking the FL to allow us to do this. Fans Forum We asked if there were any update on this since our last meeting, TS pointed out that it was part of the club’s customer charter, and GP informed he would speak to Phil Harris and get something arranged for before Christmas. Ian Holloway The final question to be asked related to Ian Holloway, and if there were any news on a new contract for him? GP refused to be drawn on the subject and just said that Ian Holloway is the manager, and that any talks of new contracts would occur as and when. Summary We would like to thank Gianni Paladini, Antonio Caliendo and Chris Pennington for their time. The meeting lasted for over two and a half hours and was based on a part formal/part informal structure. Whilst there remain unanswered questions, we do feel that it was most certainly a worthwhile meeting and we hope that what we have reported on has been of interest to members and the fanbase in general alike. We are conscious that there are many on-pitch issues to be discussed but with time so scarce we opted to pursue the off-pitch matters that the Trust feels required flagging during the time that we had. We will though continue to push for a fans forum at which there will be plenty of opportunity for all kinds of issues to be discussed with GP and relevant club personnel. CP reminded us he has now been with the club for a year and stated that he was sleeping soundly at night for the first time in ages. He accepted that the club’s £9 million turnover meant it was not a particularly large business and appeared anxious to avoid falling into the trap of spending money as if it were a company with a larger turnover. It will be interesting to see if CP delivers the 2005 accounts on time (as promised by GP at our two meetings now) and with the exception of the Paye arrears, CP answered all our questions, and more, without having to research. Regarding the situation of a potential new ground, we are pursuing a meeting with the local authority, they have been frustratingly slow in getting back to us, but we will persevere with this. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc - -
QPR 1st Report on QPR Holdings Limited AGM report
July 15, 2005
Held at The Blue & White Club on 6 July 2005 at 3.00 pm By Geoff Gibbs The top table consisted of Bill Power (Chairman), Gianni Paladini (Director), Mark Devlin (CEO), Kevin McGrath (Director), Chris Pennington (Company Secretary & Chief Financial Officer), Antonio Caliendi (for Barnaby Holdings), Gualtiero Trucco (for Warnock LLC)
Although the meeting was notionally chaired by Bill Power it was generally ran by Kevin McGrath who commenced by apologising that the accounts to 31 May 2004 were delivered late and acknowledged that this was despite promises having been made at the previous AGM where he said accounts would be ready by the end of 2004. He went on to state the current year’s accounts to 31 May 2005 were on schedule to be completed by the end of 2005 and hoped that the next AGM would take place in January 2006. It was explained that Gianni Paladini is now a Director and his wife Olga, who previously represented his interests, had stood down. He then went on to state that, despite the success of achieving promotion in 2003/04, from a business perspective the financial year ended 31 May 2004 was disastrous. He emphasised that the accounts covered a period when the old executive team was in place and there were now considerably less people employed by the club who were collectively doing a lot more work than previously. Kevin and Chris both said that the draft accounts to 31 May 2005 were indicating a loss of £2.5m. In the current year to 31 May 2006 the recently prepared budgets had been drawn up on the basis that the club would break even. However, in reality a loss of somewhere between £500k to £1m is anticipated unless the club have a good cup run or some other similar windfall. When asked how the Club was going to sustain these ongoing losses, it was suggested this would be achieved through new money from the Directors. Chris Pennington was asked whether he considered the Company insolvent and he said no as the auditors were satisfied that it was able to keep trading for the foreseeable future and they had ratified the going concern note made in the Directors’ report. Kevin went on to say that in five years it was anticipated the Company should experience regular profit but all this money would be ploughed into the Club. One advantage of the club making a profit would be its likely exemption from Corporation Tax due to its substantial losses in the past. A question was asked about whether the Club was up-to-date with the repayments due on the ABC loan and it was explained that these were on schedule. Once the loan has been running for five years, ABC have a right to increase the interest rate. However, if they do, the Club have a right to repay the loan refinance. Otherwise this loan is scheduled to run for its original ten-year period. It was confirmed there were no exit fees arising after ten years on the loan but it is likely that such fees would be payable if the loan was repaid early. A question was asked in relation to Chris Wright’s old shares and Bill Power said they were sold to him with any extra proceeds being redirected to the Club. Kevin McGrath mentioned that in the current year there would be a big jump in TV revenue to over £1m due to the new Sky deal. In addition, there may be an extra £400k payable for sale of fixture lists, but this was currently in dispute. A question was asked in relation to David Davies’ redundancy and the substantial amount of £95,000 paid to him. Bill Power said it was like cutting his arm off to pay him as much as 1p, but faced with the situation that DD could have stayed in his position, the Club would then have had to carefully engineer disciplinary proceedings. Typically this process would take nine months throughout which DD would have had to be paid his normal salary. It was explained that the payoff was the best solution to a bad situation and would enable the Club to go forward under the new management. The Resolutions on the AGM Notice were all noted and carried almost unanimously. The floor was then opened for any other business. The first question was in relation to Gino but it was explained that he left at the end of the season and had now signed a contract with Nottingham Forest. A question was asked about the availability of the ex-Dairy site at White City and it was confirmed that Kevin McGrath had made initial enquiries and would follow these up. It was reiterated that the unique selling point of QPR was its location and it was appreciated that if they were to move to a new stadium, it must not be far from the current site if the atmosphere and support were to be maintained. Ian Holloway arrived at 3.30 p.m. and joined the top table. A question was asked in relation to Wasps. Bill Power replied that he handled the negotiations with Chris Wright himself and appreciated it appeared that QPR were the patsies in the deal and the outcome and negotiations were a one way street in Wasps favour. Bill went on to explain that the Wasps contract originally drafted by DD was not worth a penny and was full of holes. Although in terms of counter claim it was valued at £1.5m, this was only as a result of the Club attempting to maximise its situation from a negotiating point of view. Bill stated that the outcome was the best that could be obtained and Wasps would not be coming back. A question was asked in relation to the number of season tickets sold. This was answered unspecifically; it was stated the numbers had dropped but no actuals were given. Ian Holloway was asked about the new players. Simon Royce we are already familiar with and therefore needed no introduction. Ian Evatt was introduced to the Club via Gianni who had previously dealt with him in his agent’s capacity at Derby. There had been a corrupt situation there, which precipitated his move to Chesterfield and Gianni had travelled abroad to meet the player to finalise the deal. Tommy Doherty- Ian described him as a “pit bull justice enforcer”. Stefan Moore- He had really impressed Ian in training and had the ability to chase down paper bags from the air. Ian went on to explain that only two seasons ago Dean Sturridge scored 21 goals in 22 games and to all intents and purposes, was a new player. He thought that Dominic Shimmin, acquired from Arsenal at the end of last season, was the most exciting prospect he had seen for a long time and couldn’t wait to get his hands on him. The meeting then descended into farce with references to Gary Glitter by Kevin McGrath and Ian responding with a Michael Jackson joke. Sam Parkin had not been purchased by the Club as his price was too high and similarly if Richard Langley returned he would only have been offered half his Cardiff wages and therefore this situation would be a non-starter. A question was asked in relation to the new training ground and was answered by Kevin McGrath who said there was a new lease in existence at a fixed rental but in due course the Club intended to make an offer to purchase the training ground currently owned by Imperial College. The benefits of the new training ground are it’s modern facilities (on which Chelsea had spent a small fortune) and that that all the QPR teams would be “under one roof”. There was a question from the floor inquiring whether the supporters could get involved in the purchase of the ground but this was not really answered. Ian Holloway went on to explain his ideas about buying young, promising players and compared that with the policies of the past i.e. with the purchase of an over 30 Mike Sherron. It was summed up that Chris Wright had been very naive and believed what he was being told by the authorities to whom he had delegated the running of the Club. Similarly, he considered the large number of long contracts handed out to young trainees in the light of the Bosnan ruling was an understated source of the financial difficulties the Club had experienced leading up to Administration. Ian finished by hinting about further signings by saying “I can’t say anything at the moment but you will be so proud soon”. From the writer’s point of view Ian’s body language was good and he was very consistent in everything he said, in particular about not throwing the kids in at the deep end, which he had to do at Burnley last year. To sum up, there were a lot of questions unanswered at the AGM and the Trust will attempt to delve in to the specifics at our regular meetings at the Club. Unlike the 2004 AGM the top table were not slow this time in openly criticising the previous administrations. We will have some idea if this criticism is justified when the results for the current year to 31 May 2005 are published. If they arrive before the end of 2005 and are in line with Chris Pennington’s expectations, then this will at least be a step in the right direction. Overall it was an enjoyable meeting to attend but get the feeling that this is probably as a result of Ian getting good at dealing with the public and making his audience laugh out loud, he really must have a future in motivational or after dinner speaking. Geoff Gibbs - QPR1st Steering Group http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=14
Dave's QPR
2004 AGM Report
Yesterday saw the QPR Holdings PLC AGM and as ever it was an interesting meeting. Below is a report from the meeting written by Crash and posted on the qpr.org message board. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bring back Blackburn I say, at least we could have someone to loathe :-)
Todays AGM was well attended by the usual suspects, at the top table were: Chris Pennington - Finance David Anderson - company secretary Kevin McGrath - Chairman of plc Bill Power - Chairman of QPR Mark Devlin - CEO Azeem Malik - Director representing Moorbound Limited The motions were all passed, including the one to make the plc a Limited company. The votes were carried by 98-99%, only after Kevin had phoned Chris Wright to persuade him to change his mind - he originally was going to vote against the motion to allow the board of directors to sell the 30million shares they are holding. Kevin answered most of the questions and was an excellent chairman. Kevin resigned as acting Chairman of the plc at the end of the meeting and now bp is Chairman of both the limited company and QPR. It was stated that the board will sell the shares to anyone and you can expect a share scheme to be announced whereby fans can purchase shares at 6.5p. The big surprise for me was that Ross Jones attended, which I have to take my hat off to and he answered many questions about the financial dealings that had occurred in 2002-2003. However, he still held the GOT party line. He stated when challenged that there was no other option but to take the ABC loan as the league were about to shut us down. However, a previous Director from the floor challenged him that a loan of 6% interest was on offer at the time. Ross said that if that was true the club could sue Stoy Hayward, the Administrators. Then Kevin stated that Stoy are now acting as agents of ABC. Watch this space as hopefully the Board are going to do something about this. Ross then offered to sell his shares to anyone who wanted them for 6.5p, he would take 3p and would give 3.5p to the club - a marvelous jesture if taken up. Giani stated that Holloway wasn't at the AGM as he had sent him and his familiy on a holiday to Capri. He said if he will send him to Capri everytime we have a result like we did against Crystal Palace. Harold Winton was asked about moneys owing to the club, and he quite rightly got very upset and explained that the problem was due to the previous Board and was going to be resolved with the new Board. When you consider what the Wintons have put into the club, thought the question was a disgrace. Anyway, later on Harold got back up and gave a good rallying cry and said we would win promotion this season and implored fans to take a bet as the odds at the momment are so good!! The Board of Directors have provided between 3-3.5 Million to Holloway to keep our team in mid table. A long time was spent explaining how money is needed to get promotion. When we went down from the old 1st division players expenses over 7Million, so that puts it into perspective. The club needs to raise 2Million to break even and the Monaco deal is still in negotiation, but likely to be scaled down. It was confirmed that Binatone gave the club 70,000 first season, 80,000 second and 80,000 the third. They pay for their own box. Giani is looing to sign another shirt deal for a large amount. It was stated that the Fulham deal netted the club 330,000 profit, which is much hgher than we would have realised if Wasps were our tennants. The Wasps situation is being persued by the Board. Chris Wright is refussing to give his shares away and back to the club. 180k is the highest basic salary one of our players is being paid. Mark Devlin was going to investigate why fans could not get through to the box office this morning. He stated that all season tickets have been posted from somewhere up north (so the Bush post office flooding is not an issue). If anyone hasn't got their season ticket by Friday then they are to phone the box office and they will arrange a duplicate to be picked up on Saturday. The farce about the stewards was talked about. Mark said it was unadvisable to change the steward and catering company's at the end of the season as it does not give enough time. The stewarding company is going to bus people down from Manchester (they steward Man U) and it was the local council that is putting restrictions on QPR. Mark is expecting that the busing of stewards down will satisfy the local council, faxed them the details this morning and awaiting their reply. he is expecting to resume general sale of tickets.
http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/newsaugust5.htm
BOARDROOM BLUES
AGM ON 4 AUGUST [2004]- INTRODUCTION
Kevin McGrath, the chairman of the plc and of today's AGM, began his overview by saying that these are turbulent times for QPR. In spite of the success on the field there are still severe financial problems, which culminated in the resignations of Paul English, David Davies, Nick Blackburn, Ross Jones and Samantha Taylor. The new board has only had hands-on responsibility for a couple of months.
....Kevin McGrath then introduced the other directors and staff on the stage.
Azeem Malik is a director who represents Moorbound Ltd which in turn represents Gianni Paladini's business interest in QPR. Paladini has "boundless enthusiasm" for QPR and, having put some £650k into the club, is the largest single investor for several years. McGrath said Paladini has a fantastic knowledge of the game, and that it is a privilege to have him on the team at QPR.
Mark Devlin has returned to QPR as Chief Executive after helping reduce Swindon FC's losses from £3m to £300,000. He is "a QPR man" with inside knowledge both of QPR and of running a club in very difficult circumstances.
Bill Power, the chairman of the football club, joined the board after buying some 3m shares and bought a further 1m shares last week. McGrath said: "Bill has the potential to be the best chairman here since Jim Gregory, and I hope he's still chairman when he's 65."
David Anderson is a chartered accountant and the company secretary of QPR Holdings plc. He has put a huge amount of time and effort into the accounts, all on a voluntary basis.
Chris Pennington is not a director but has stepped in to work on the finances following the departure of Paul English, the old Finance Director.
Kevin McGrath made a short personal statement himself, explaining that he feels very proud and privileged to be on the board. He announced that at the end of the meeting he would be remaining a director but standing down as Acting Chairman of the plc and would be replaced by Bill Power. The club only needs one chairman, especially now that it is becoming a private company rather than a plc.
http://www.boardroomblues.co.uk/agmintroduction.htm
Monday, January 16, 2006
Paladini Q&A - QPR Net
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Interesting QPR Net Interview with Chairman, Gianni Paladini
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/743792/index.html
Interesting QPR Net Interview with Chairman, Gianni Paladini
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/743792/index.html
Friday, November 25, 2005
WELCOME TO QPR ISSUES
Welcome to QPR Issues.
As of November 24, this is just a very lengthy semi-chronological compilation of statements by, Q&A with and articles about the people running Queens Park Rangers (QPR). It's focused on the OFF-The-Field activities of QPR.
As is self-evident, most of the material comes from the LSA website http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk Also the QPR1st website. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/ And some additional material to come!
This is very much a work-in-progress. Hopefully some of the material will be deleted to make it slightly more accessible. I just thought it would be a useful exercise to combine all the various interviews and statements made by QPR's Officials.
IF there are any other interviews or articles you are aware of please send them to me at QPRReport@hotmail.com
Thanks
As of November 24, this is just a very lengthy semi-chronological compilation of statements by, Q&A with and articles about the people running Queens Park Rangers (QPR). It's focused on the OFF-The-Field activities of QPR.
As is self-evident, most of the material comes from the LSA website http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk Also the QPR1st website. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/ And some additional material to come!
This is very much a work-in-progress. Hopefully some of the material will be deleted to make it slightly more accessible. I just thought it would be a useful exercise to combine all the various interviews and statements made by QPR's Officials.
IF there are any other interviews or articles you are aware of please send them to me at QPRReport@hotmail.com
Thanks
Other Links
Antono Caliendo's World Champions Club http://www.worldchampionsclub.com/index2.htm
Some Port Vale Fans Discussing Paladini in light of his new position at QPRhttp://www.onevalefan.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=13161 Also old Paldini Discussion on a Port Vale Fans Sitehttp://www.onevalefan.co.uk/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t943-0.html
Some Port Vale Fans Discussing Paladini in light of his new position at QPRhttp://www.onevalefan.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=13161 Also old Paldini Discussion on a Port Vale Fans Sitehttp://www.onevalefan.co.uk/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t943-0.html
Thursday, November 24, 2005
QPR EVENTS - November
Holloway on Loan Signing Possibilities Before Transfer Deadline
ClubCall - Q.P.R. - Holloway targets new additions 23 Nov 2005
Ian Holloway is hoping to add to his Queens Park Rangers squad before Thursday's emergency loan deadline as he battles a crippling injury-list at Loftus Road.The Rangers boss saw his injury-hit side slip to a fourth straight defeat on Tuesday night but Holloway went into the game without eight injured players and Paul Furlong suspended.With the transfer deadline looming large Holloway will now be working to try and add to the squad."I have got two days and I will talk to the board and see if there is anything we can do. I don't know what we have got but I'll see what we can do," said Holloway."We have a boat-load of injuries. I think we are short defensively and we are letting in too many goals at the moment. We might be ok up front if we get everyone back but we shall see."http://www.clubcall.com/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,5034-169529-19728-36699-212401-13916-5024-layout104-186747-news-item,00.html
QPR's Possible Transfer Moves
Holloway on the Official SiteMORE GOALS REQUIREDTalking to QPR World about his sides start to the season, Holloway pinpointed his sides main area for improvement.As usual, Ollie wasn't keen to give too much away at this point of the season, choosing instead to focus on that position Rangers find themselves in next April.Of course the Rangers boss was keen to see more action up front and he has already set his sights on improving that area."We need to score more goals, we are lacking a few from the chances we created. I want to work on that, getting more goals in that column."Ian Holloway and his staff will take advantage of the free weekend by going out on a scouting mission.Holloway told QPR World: "I'll be giving my players the weekend off and I'll be off with my staff looking at players. We also have some exciting prospects waiting to come over.""It's exciting times, I feel we are stabilising. We are now on top of the water - ready to sail off into the sunset."With the transfer window opening in less than two months Holloway will be talking to the board regarding the playing budget."I might be close to taking a player in on loan with a view to taking over his contract. I wouldn't mind some more defensive cover too."When we were in the second division we had the better players becuase we had the biggest budget."Ollie was also keen to clear up some other business. In a recent Q&A on QPR World Holloway referred to a quote in a Newspaper attributed to QPR fan Paul Finney."Typical me, I said some things I shouldn't of said. It turns out the guy I spoke about had some threats from other fans."I didn't want that - this guy is a QPR fan! He explained things to me and I apologised to him. If my words got him that kind of abuse I am ashamed of myself."Elsewhere, after only three starts this season Martin Rowlands was a welcome sight as he started back in full training."I thought I had a new signing today some little lad with blonde hair. It's great to have him back although I'm not sure whether he will be match fit for the game at Plymouth because he has been out quite a while." http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~739623,00.html
Dunga (supposedly) buys £1.1million stake in QPR
The SunBRAZILIAN World Cup winner Dunga has bought a £1.1million stake in QPR.Hoops chairman Gianni Paladini hopes the move will help end rumours that Dunga is just a figurehead.Dunga has been on the Rangers board since last year — but fans have accused him of having no interest in the club.He has seldom been seen at Loftus Road but has now bought ex-chairman Bill Power’s 17.6 per cent stake in the club.Paladini said: “Dunga’s investment shows he is more than a good advert for QPR. He would like to come to more games but he has business interests in Japan and Brazil.”http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2005520366,00.html[And then the story is repeated here "QPR receive £1.1million Brazilian stake"http://www.worldfootballers.com/news.php?id=10698
Paladini Promises Holloway Funds for January
Ben Kosky/ Kilburn TimesFunds ready for HollowayQPR chairman Gianni Paladini has promised funds to help Ian Holloway pep up his forward line when the transfer window opens in January.Rangers have looked short of firepower all season, despite having five senior strikers on their books and Holloway is eager to add another face in the new year.And Paladini, who took over as chairman in September, confirmed that the club are 'keeping tabs' on several possible targets, including a promising youngster in South America and another in Japan."It's up to Ollie who he wants and, provided it's the right player for this club and he fits into our wage structure, we will definitely try to bring him in," Paladini told the Times."As long as it's not silly money, there shouldn't be a problem. We've already brought in seven or eight players this year and if we need to get someone else, it would probably be a striker."Kevin Gallen is Rangers' top scorer this season with four goals, despite spending the majority of his time in midfield, while summer signing Marc Nygaard has banged in three in five starts.But Paul Furlong has struggled to reproduce the form that saw him voted Player of the Year last season, while Dean Sturridge has been wrestling with fitness problems ever since joining the club in March.Speculation has suggested that Holloway may make another move for Millwall striker Barry Hayles, a player he once managed at Bristol Rovers and attempted to bring to Loftus Road 18 months ago.Hayles has hit five goals - including one against QPR - for the troubled Lions this campaign, but turns 34 in the spring and might represent too much of a gamble.Meanwhile, Paladini plans to build on the recent upturn in attendances at Loftus Road by offering a regular £1 ticket concession for juniors.The scheme was initially launched for next month's clash with Coventry and remains in place although the match has been switched to a Monday night for TV coverage.Attendances dropped by around 2,000 earlier in the season, but Rangers' last two home games, against Norwich and Reading, have both topped the 15,000 mark."It's been much better again and if we had 15,000 plus every week, we'd be laughing," said Paladini. "Having a full ground is the most important thing."We might try to sell at half-price for Christmas and we'll make it £1 a head for the kids another time as well - maybe we'll do it for every single game until the end of the season."http://www.camdentimes.co.uk/content/camden/camdentimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportboxing&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportcamt&itemid=WeED08%20Nov%202005%2020%3A00%3A39%3A490
Lengthy Profile/Interview with Ian Holloway in the IndependentIan Holloway: In a league of his ownAnger management, mixed metaphors, gun threats and the odd game of football are all in a day's work for Queens Park Rangers' colourful manager Ian HollowayInterview by Robert ChalmersPublished: 06 November 2005Is there anything that has happened at your club recently, I ask Ian Holloway, that has surprised you? "Surprised?" The Queens Park Rangers manager leans forward and cradles his chin in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "Surprised? No. Surprised is not the right word. You would need a different word. Like shocked," he says. "Or stunned. Or amazed."Holloway's use of language, like his view of the world, is bold and distinctive to the point that - like Eric Cantona, Ron Atkinson or the late Bill Shankly - he has become familiar to a constituency which has no interest in football. In June he came 15th in Time Out magazine's list of the 50 funniest Londoners - ahead of Paul Merton and Ali G, among others - no mean feat when you consider that Ian Holloway neither comes from, nor lives in, the capital."They say every dog has his day," Holloway declared, after Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Coca-Cola Championship. "And today is Woof Day. I want to go out and bark."And yet, when he discusses recent events at Queens Park Rangers, it's clear that even the small man from Bristol knows Woof Day is definitely over.A few minutes before the kick-off of QPR's home game against Sheffield United in August this year, one of the club's directors, Gianni Paladini, had a gun held to his head, in the boardroom, by a gang allegedly seeking to persuade him to sign a letter of resignation. Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail, and joint possession of a firearm with intent to commit GBH.Gianni Paladini has since been appointed chairman of Queens Park Rangers - the latest in a bewildering series of upheavals at board level. Paladini, a former footballers' agent who was once a wine waiter in Birmingham, recently issued a writ against a newspaper which alleged improprieties in his transfer dealings. He inherits a club with debts of around £10m.I ask Holloway when it was that he first heard about the supposed firearm incident. "After the game. We're walking off the pitch. We've just won, 2-1. The ref's given us a goal that was blatantly offside, so I'm absolutely elated. Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, is going ballistic. Anyhow," he continues, "I am shouting at Neil, as we walk off: 'I always supported you. But now I see I was wrong. Everybody else in football is right. You are a twat.'"In the dressing room afterwards, "I'm saying congratulations to my team..." Holloway searches for a way to summarise his speech and settles - perhaps unfortunately - for the phrase: "Well done lads... bang, bang, bang."Then, he adds, "Bill Power [former QPR chairman] gets hold of me. He's in a daze. He says: 'Er... something... has...' I said: 'What?' He said: '... ah... happened. I don't know quite how to tell...' So I'm like: 'Bill, do us a favour. Don't tell me.' That way, when I met the press after the match I didn't know what had - allegedly - gone on."Since then, the CID have been regular visitors to Loftus Road, the club's west London stadium. "It has," says the manager, "been absolutely horrendous."The whole thing sounds like a surreal black comedy."Yes," says Holloway. "I kept expecting Harry Potter to fly in."In a precarious and hostile trade, the general run of football managers tend to espouse the kind of haughty machismo perfected by Jose Mourinho. Ian Holloway is not like this. Holloway paints huge, abstract canvases. He has wept on camera, talking about his love for his wife. He has difficulties with reading and says so in public. Though fiercely combative by nature, he meets life head-on with a frank and disarming vulnerability.In his photograph in the club programme - one place where even the most thoroughly tormented manager can usually strike a pose of imperious tranquillity - Holloway's expression is a mixture of determination and foreboding: he has the look of a man who has just led a breakout from Colditz, and is glancing back to the perimeter wall, only to see that all of his fellow escapees have been machine-gunned.When I arrive at his house in St Albans, Holloway, wearing a blue dress shirt and jeans, answers the door and leads the way to his living room, talking to a colleague on his mobile. I sit on the sofa, under the scrutiny of his rottweiler, Nathan, while the manager, who is 42, discusses the club's situation. (omega)Holloway's end of the phone conversation is the usual blend of candour and mixed metaphors; he has a tendency to start one sentence before he has completed the last, and speaks in a strong West Country accent which lends a kind of poetry to the most banal phrase."Directors are calling me for advice," he says, the last word rhyming with "choice". "It's like they're holding on to my shirt tails. It should be the other way round. It's getting to the point where other managers would start thinking bugger this, I'm off into the river and joining another boat... the tail," he adds, "cannot wag the dog."There are whole web sites devoted to so-called "Ollyisms". Invited to analyse one hard-fought victory, over Chesterfield, he responded as follows: "To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good-looking and some weeks they are not the best. Our performance today," he went on, "would not have been the best-looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi. She was not the best-looking lady we ended up taking home, but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."When a journalist enquired about his health, following a leave of absence, Holloway told him: "My arms withered and my body was covered with puss-like sores, but no matter how bad it got I consoled myself by remembering that I wasn't a Chelsea fan."He shares his tastefully decorated, large modern house with his wife Kim, son William, 17, and three younger teenage daughters - Chloe, Eve and Harriet. Each of the girls - for reasons doctors have been unable to explain - was born deaf. The family moved to St Albans to be close to a state school that teaches British sign language.On the wall is Promotion, Holloway's abstract canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. He painted it while being filmed for the 2004 BBC programme Stress Test. The documentary addressed the fits of rage which were disrupting his home life, with the help of psychologists and an anger management expert - who, Holloway recalls, "was constantly trying to get my goat up". The experience might have destroyed some people. Ian Holloway emerged as a national treasure.I tell him that I honestly believe that going on that show is the bravest thing I've ever seen a footballer do, on or off the pitch."Bravest?" Holloway asks, "or most stupid?"It's probably true that Sir Alex Ferguson, say, might have taken some persuading before he consented - as Ian Holloway did - to have his stress levels monitored while he performed an a cappella version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?""But if I hadn't done that programme," Holloway says, "I wouldn't be sitting here now. Before I did it, I believed that I was a person who was kind, considerate, and believed in free speech. The anger management expert showed me I was a jumped-up, obnoxious little get who wouldn't listen at home because of what happened at work. If I'd carried on the way I was," he says, "I would have destructed everything I had."Stress Test showed him addressing his players before a game."One of their staff was as rude as [beep] to us," he said. "So [beep]ing get on your [beep]ing toes. All my life I've been on a [beep]ing crusade. I want us [beep]ing focussed. Because you can [beep]ing win without being [beep]ing rude."To his deaf daughters, Holloway's furious gesticulations must have made him look like James Finlayson, the bald, apoplectic straight man to Laurel and Hardy, in one of their silent shorts. The painting was part of his therapy."I said, 'But I always have an original to copy.' They said, 'That's your problem.' I sprayed something on the paper and I thought, 'Oh God, I've ruined it.' By the end, I was throwing paint at it. Doing that picture set me free. I had always worried whether I was doing the right thing; always believed that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I realised all of that is bullshit. Most of my life," he adds, "is bullshit."You mean your life in football?"No, I'm talking about that perception I once had of what I ought or ought not to say. Now I feel I have got to tell it how it is."In one scene he faced the camera alone, talking about the effects of his explosive anger."Kim," Holloway said, in one scene from the programme - facing the camera alone, in an emotional state - "don't love the fella I am. A lot of things used to scare me. None of them do now. Only the fact that I might lose her. Without your family," he adds, "you've got nothing. I wouldn't want to carry on living without them. There would be no point."Kim, who has been his girlfriend since she was 14 years old, appears with coffee. "I used to shout her down," Holloway says. "I used to be vile."Has anyone mocked you for appearing on that programme?"Not to my face."Holloway - 5ft 8in tall and not heavily built - has had to rely on passion, integrity and commitment to gain the respect he commands in his dressing room, and throughout the game. Before he went into management nine years ago, he was a midfield player who gave devoted service to both Bristol Rovers and QPR - admired, it has to be said, for full-blooded endeavour rather than grace and flair.Was his anger worse, I ask Kim, when he became a manager?She laughs. "Just a bit.""Am I better now?" he inquires."Yes," she says."I nearly lost her twice," Holloway tells me. She was briefly engaged to someone else, when she was in her teens. Shortly after they married, Kim developed lymph cancer, from which she has fully recovered.Some years ago, I tell Holloway, I was having lunch with a group of football writers, when the conversation turned to the question of why Bobby Charlton never succeeded as a manager. "Because," somebody said, "he is not a bastard.""I don't believe that you need to be a shit," Holloway counters. "You have to be consistent, and strong, and your values need to be right. I live the way I want my players to be. I keep things in the open."If the fans love this eccentric, inspirational figure - and most do - it's because he embodies the kind of fierce loyalty usually associated with the terraces."I remember meeting him years ago, when he'd just taken over as manager at Bristol Rovers," says Steve Tongue, this newspaper's football correspondent. "I was early and I sat down to wait for him in his office. When he arrived, he made me exchange chairs with him because mine was blue and his was red [the colour of loathed rivals Bristol City]."Holloway also banned red vehicles from the training ground."When I was at Bristol Rovers," he says, "there was a journalist who wrote a match report where he said that if Bristol City had my two strikers - who, in that game, were rubbish - then City would be a team Bristol could be proud of. Oooof!""So," Kim calls through from the next room, "you dragged the poor sod in, didn't you?""I got him to the training ground. He didn't know why. I said: 'You are going to apologise to my team, you bastard.' I sat all my players down. I had the two centre halves stand up. I said: 'Right, now tell these two - who you only gave five out of 10 each - just how well you think they played, you asshole.'"Did that ensure more sympathetic coverage?"Well, he started killing me in the paper every week. From then on I said, 'OK, I'll laugh at myself. And I'll try to be honest.'"Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, near Bristol; his mother still lives in the same council house now. His father Bill, an outstanding amateur footballer, was a seaman, then a factory worker. Family, Holloway says, was everything to him."He never knew who his father was. When he was 14 he'd just lost the man he believed was his dad, in the Blitz. The life assurance rep knocked on the door and said: 'Is your step mum in, Bill?' That's how he learned he was adopted."Bill died of a heart attack aged 59, when Ian was 25."He never made a lot of money and at the end he was thinking: 'Oh God, I am a failure.' He actually said that on his death bed. He was so wrong. The destructive side I used to have that would not accept anything that wasn't perfect, I saw that in my dad."Holloway was due to play a match on the day his father died."I got in the car to go to the ground. I just sat there with the engine off, staring ahead of me, gripping the steering wheel. I decided not to go. Then I looked across, and I saw an indentation in the passenger seat. I swear to you that it was there. I put the key in the ignition."During the match, he says, "It was as if my dad was there alongside me. We won 4-0. It was the best game I'd had for years."At another critical stage in his life, he recalls, "I was driving along, and 'One Sweet Day', that Mariah Carey song about light 'shining down on you from heaven' came on the radio. The volume went up to the maximum. My car was full of light, and the tears were just pouring down my face. I was like a bloody river and yet I had never felt so good. It was as if someone had opened up my head, poured a load of love in, then put the top of my skull back down. When the song finished, the volume fell again. I swear to you on my kids' lives, that that happened." Again, he says, "it was as if Dad was there, looking after me."If ever Ian Holloway has needed the help of his spirit guide, it is now. The predominant theme in his life has been the struggle to fulfil his responsibilities as head of a household he cherishes. But, while his own domestic arrangements have stabilised, at Queens Park Rangers he has found himself presiding over an increasingly wild and dysfunctional family.Holloway became manager of an ailing QPR side in the spring of 2001, and was unable to save them from relegation to the game's third tier, then League Division Two. The club spent the following season in financial administration and survived by taking out a £10m loan from a Panamanian-registered company. In the summer of 2004 Holloway led Rangers back up into the Coca-Cola Championship. From their current position in the top-half of the table, QPR's more optimistic supporters have started to eye the Premiership above them.Holloway believes the only way he will become a manager at that level is to get QPR promoted. "Nobody," he says, "is going to want to hire a bumpkin from Bristol."Within the game, Holloway's achievement is recognised as extraordinary: if clubs were ranked by their financial means, QPR would be in the bottom four of the Championship. What success they have achieved is the result of the manager's ability to communicate his own galvanic commitment to his players.The £10m loan from the ABC Corporation of Panama carried a 10 per cent interest rate and the resulting annual payment of £1m horrified some directors. The deal was concluded under the reign of former chairman Nick Blackburn, who resigned in the summer of 2004. He was replaced by Bill Power, who was ousted by Gianni Paladini in August this year. Over the past two years, board members have departed with a frequency that is staggering. The surreal preliminaries to the Sheffield United game are indicative of the turmoil within the club, which at the time of writing has no chief executive."We had two people," Ian Holloway explains, "Gianni Paladini and Bill Power, in the highest positions and they had a great relationship. I liked them both. Their relationship has broken down and things aren't stable any more. I have never been a child who has been in a divorce. But now I feel like their kid."Until last year, Gianni Paladini was a Fifa-registered football agent, who represented high-profile players such as Benito Carbone and Fabrizio Ravanelli. He bought a 22 per cent stake in QPR for around £650,000, but is also closely linked to two Monaco consortiums, Wanlock and Barnaby Holdings, that have invested £1.7m in the club; together, they own 46 per cent of QPR.Paladini, now 60, was a striker on Napoli's books until injury forced him to retire at the age of 22. He settled in the Midlands in 1968, and build up a portfolio of restaurants and clubs. Certain aspects of his CV - the fact that he's a Neapolitan, who went from waiting on tables to owning nightclubs, and brokered many football deals in southern Italy - have led some to leap to stereotypical judgments. As Paladini said recently, "People must think there is Mafia involvement. But I want the best for QPR and I'm getting the right people to achieve this." The chairman describes allegations that he has signed players to QPR with a view to enriching his agent friends as "stupid".I ask Holloway how he gets on with Gianni Paladini."His personality is electric. You want to be in his company." At the same time, he says, "You wouldn't want to do anything wrong. He loves you or he hates you. When he loves you, there is no better company in the world. You can talk about Gianni being a waiter. You can talk about Gianni being Italian. You can talk about Gianni being an agent. But Gianni is a bloke. Gianni is a fella. A nice fella."What if you "do something wrong"?"If you upset him," Holloway explains, "he will hurl abuse at you. He doesn't mean it the following day. Hopefully I can help him learn from my experience of how I used to scream at deaf children."Does he swear in Italian?"Normally in English."Last year, Holloway recalls, he was at home, suffering from chronic diarrhoea, when he answered a call from Paladini."I was sat on the toilet - actually I couldn't leave the toilet. I had this virus. There had been rumours about me going to Wolves. Three days before, I'd bought flowers for some ladies in the office. Gianni assumed they were a leaving present."So you were on the toilet..."And Gianni was going: 'You fucking bastard I am going to kill you. I am going to kill you, you fucking bastard... where are you, you fucking... fucking hell where are you.'"And you said..."I am on the toilet. My wife is in the house. Ask her. He said: 'She could be at fucking Wolves with you.'"In the end, Holloway says, he had to drive up to Leeds, to reassure the Italian. It was a journey he remembers."It was a terrible virus. It was coming out of both ends. I had to stop at every service station. I shouldn't have gone. It was horrendous. I was totally dehydrated. My lips were stuck to my teeth. I ended up in hospital, the following day. I was in for a week. I had six drips put into me."It wouldn't be reasonable to invite any manager to criticise his chairman in public, but..."Well I have seen people saying Holloway 'supports' Gianni Paladini. Holloway supports QPR. But I am a man of principle. If I thought there was any just cause for [the unease some have voiced about the Italian], I wouldn't be here."Scotland Yard, Holloway points out, "has been looking into everything that's happened at the club. If there was anything untoward Mr Paladini had done, would he still be where he is?"It can't be pleasant to be under such scrutiny."It isn't. As a football manager you are like... a doorstop."A doorstop?"You are in between the floor and the door. There's the board of directors, and the fans and the players, trying to push the door."So who does the door represent - the board?"Sorry?"Is the board the door?"Well you've got the door and the floor. I am the wedge. And someone is trying to force the door. But really it needs to be the other way round, because the board are above me."But who is the door? (omega)"Er... OK... forget the door." Holloway draws a triangle in the air. "I am in a three-way struggle involving the fans, the players and the board. I don't know of anybody else who has been in this situation, ever."You did once say that you can never have complete harmony at a football club."Yes. But there is a difference between complete harmony and complete chaos."And at QPR is it complete..."Everybody out there makes it look like it's complete chaos." Gianni Paladini, says Holloway, "is Caesar and at the minute the old thumb is wobbling. The crowd are going wait a minute. I want to be Maximus. But I get a bit of a waft of fish sometimes."This is a volatile situation that can communicate itself to the players via the fans - that's what you're saying?"Yes. Normally you need support when things are going wrong. That is what I've found in my own life. I've needed the support of my wife and family. To me, if you're a football supporter, your love should be unconditional."I'd expected to talk to Ian Holloway for 90 minutes. In the end we are together for four hours, during which time he covers - as well as such topics as the 4-5-1 formation, Sven Goran Eriksson and QPR's increased season ticket prices - the questions of divine fallibility and the theory of evolution."We are an offshoot of apes - allegedly - but who knows? We don't really, do we? How long have we been on this planet?" Holloway muses. "How long are we going to be here? What is it all about? We reproduce. Our offspring carry on. But that will only happen for a limited time. Before the whole thing blows up and we are sucked into a black hole. You know what I mean?"The QPR manager will explore such themes further in his forthcoming autobiography, titled Thanks, Steve."I went to Southampton the other week, with Kim. These kids shouted, 'Oh Holloway, you're a legend. Sign this.' Then they said, 'Thanks, Steve.' It was the same in the Chinese chip shop when I was at Bristol Rovers. They started off by calling me 'Horroway'. But before long it was: 'Salt and vinegar, Steve? How much you earn, Steve?' Why," Holloway asks, "is it always Steve?"At various points during our conversation he speaks of his admiration for Jose Mourinho who - with his inexhaustible transfer budget and terse, supercilious manner - is, in many respects, everything Ian Holloway isn't."Even to be in Mourinho's company must be amazing," he says. "When he gets doubts, how long do they stay in his head? What support does he have to help him banish those doubts?"About £2.1bn and a club with more power than any in the history of the game, I suggest."But he still has to get those grossly paid players to perform."Of the two, I know whose history I find more inspirational, and who I'd rather have as a dinner companion, manager, or friend, and he wasn't born in Setubal. There's no doubt which of the managers is going to have the more captivatingly unpredictable season. It could, I suggest, be a very long year for Ian: there will be little or no money for fancy signings, and the ongoing police inquiry, like the Paladini libel suit, is guaranteed to keep the club in the headlines for the least enviable reasons."The things that matter to me," he says, "are commitment and trust. So the last few months haven't been easy. I don't know what to trust, or what to think, or what to do. It might turn out that certain alleged facts are true. I don't know yet. But I do know that I won't work without trust. I have to believe."What can he teach his players from his own experience?"That winners are made, not born. And that winners are made by not fearing. I can sense fear in the eyes of players. I could see it in Kim's eyes when she had cancer. I have dealt with fear," Holloway adds, "all my life. My own fear has been a selfish dread that I might not be good enough."But life, he continues, "is like the The Emperor's New Clothes. Don't you think that story says it all? I think part of all of us has doubts. Because of the animal that we are. You can't take away from the fact that we are an animal. Aren't we? This is a sofa," Holloway continues. "I am an animal. But we have evolved into sitting by the fire, and thinking, and to be fair when you see a fire... it does make you... you know if chimps had done that, maybe they would be the ones..."Hang on - if chimps had done what?"They'd found fire before... it was us that found fire, wasn't it?"I think Holloway can see that his Emperor's New Clothes monologue has left me slightly perplexed."My main ambition," he goes on, "is to leave this planet knowing that I gave my best and that I was there for my children. And I am trying to make them independent and able to live happily, for many years after I have gone. By the way," he adds, as I'm getting up to leave. "You're stark, bollock naked, mate."Is there anything that has happened at your club recently, I ask Ian Holloway, that has surprised you? "Surprised?" The Queens Park Rangers manager leans forward and cradles his chin in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "Surprised? No. Surprised is not the right word. You would need a different word. Like shocked," he says. "Or stunned. Or amazed."Holloway's use of language, like his view of the world, is bold and distinctive to the point that - like Eric Cantona, Ron Atkinson or the late Bill Shankly - he has become familiar to a constituency which has no interest in football. In June he came 15th in Time Out magazine's list of the 50 funniest Londoners - ahead of Paul Merton and Ali G, among others - no mean feat when you consider that Ian Holloway neither comes from, nor lives in, the capital."They say every dog has his day," Holloway declared, after Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Coca-Cola Championship. "And today is Woof Day. I want to go out and bark."And yet, when he discusses recent events at Queens Park Rangers, it's clear that even the small man from Bristol knows Woof Day is definitely over.A few minutes before the kick-off of QPR's home game against Sheffield United in August this year, one of the club's directors, Gianni Paladini, had a gun held to his head, in the boardroom, by a gang allegedly seeking to persuade him to sign a letter of resignation. Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail, and joint possession of a firearm with intent to commit GBH.Gianni Paladini has since been appointed chairman of Queens Park Rangers - the latest in a bewildering series of upheavals at board level. Paladini, a former footballers' agent who was once a wine waiter in Birmingham, recently issued a writ against a newspaper which alleged improprieties in his transfer dealings. He inherits a club with debts of around £10m.I ask Holloway when it was that he first heard about the supposed firearm incident. "After the game. We're walking off the pitch. We've just won, 2-1. The ref's given us a goal that was blatantly offside, so I'm absolutely elated. Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, is going ballistic. Anyhow," he continues, "I am shouting at Neil, as we walk off: 'I always supported you. But now I see I was wrong. Everybody else in football is right. You are a twat.'"In the dressing room afterwards, "I'm saying congratulations to my team..." Holloway searches for a way to summarise his speech and settles - perhaps unfortunately - for the phrase: "Well done lads... bang, bang, bang."Then, he adds, "Bill Power [former QPR chairman] gets hold of me. He's in a daze. He says: 'Er... something... has...' I said: 'What?' He said: '... ah... happened. I don't know quite how to tell...' So I'm like: 'Bill, do us a favour. Don't tell me.' That way, when I met the press after the match I didn't know what had - allegedly - gone on."Since then, the CID have been regular visitors to Loftus Road, the club's west London stadium. "It has," says the manager, "been absolutely horrendous."The whole thing sounds like a surreal black comedy."Yes," says Holloway. "I kept expecting Harry Potter to fly in."In a precarious and hostile trade, the general run of football managers tend to espouse the kind of haughty machismo perfected by Jose Mourinho. Ian Holloway is not like this. Holloway paints huge, abstract canvases. He has wept on camera, talking about his love for his wife. He has difficulties with reading and says so in public. Though fiercely combative by nature, he meets life head-on with a frank and disarming vulnerability.In his photograph in the club programme - one place where even the most thoroughly tormented manager can usually strike a pose of imperious tranquillity - Holloway's expression is a mixture of determination and foreboding: he has the look of a man who has just led a breakout from Colditz, and is glancing back to the perimeter wall, only to see that all of his fellow escapees have been machine-gunned.When I arrive at his house in St Albans, Holloway, wearing a blue dress shirt and jeans, answers the door and leads the way to his living room, talking to a colleague on his mobile. I sit on the sofa, under the scrutiny of his rottweiler, Nathan, while the manager, who is 42, discusses the club's situation. (omega)Holloway's end of the phone conversation is the usual blend of candour and mixed metaphors; he has a tendency to start one sentence before he has completed the last, and speaks in a strong West Country accent which lends a kind of poetry to the most banal phrase."Directors are calling me for advice," he says, the last word rhyming with "choice". "It's like they're holding on to my shirt tails. It should be the other way round. It's getting to the point where other managers would start thinking bugger this, I'm off into the river and joining another boat... the tail," he adds, "cannot wag the dog."There are whole web sites devoted to so-called "Ollyisms". Invited to analyse one hard-fought victory, over Chesterfield, he responded as follows: "To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good-looking and some weeks they are not the best. Our performance today," he went on, "would not have been the best-looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi. She was not the best-looking lady we ended up taking home, but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."When a journalist enquired about his health, following a leave of absence, Holloway told him: "My arms withered and my body was covered with puss-like sores, but no matter how bad it got I consoled myself by remembering that I wasn't a Chelsea fan."He shares his tastefully decorated, large modern house with his wife Kim, son William, 17, and three younger teenage daughters - Chloe, Eve and Harriet. Each of the girls - for reasons doctors have been unable to explain - was born deaf. The family moved to St Albans to be close to a state school that teaches British sign language.On the wall is Promotion, Holloway's abstract canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. He painted it while being filmed for the 2004 BBC programme Stress Test. The documentary addressed the fits of rage which were disrupting his home life, with the help of psychologists and an anger management expert - who, Holloway recalls, "was constantly trying to get my goat up". The experience might have destroyed some people. Ian Holloway emerged as a national treasure.I tell him that I honestly believe that going on that show is the bravest thing I've ever seen a footballer do, on or off the pitch."Bravest?" Holloway asks, "or most stupid?"It's probably true that Sir Alex Ferguson, say, might have taken some persuading before he consented - as Ian Holloway did - to have his stress levels monitored while he performed an a cappella version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?""But if I hadn't done that programme," Holloway says, "I wouldn't be sitting here now. Before I did it, I believed that I was a person who was kind, considerate, and believed in free speech. The anger management expert showed me I was a jumped-up, obnoxious little get who wouldn't listen at home because of what happened at work. If I'd carried on the way I was," he says, "I would have destructed everything I had."Stress Test showed him addressing his players before a game."One of their staff was as rude as [beep] to us," he said. "So [beep]ing get on your [beep]ing toes. All my life I've been on a [beep]ing crusade. I want us [beep]ing focussed. Because you can [beep]ing win without being [beep]ing rude."To his deaf daughters, Holloway's furious gesticulations must have made him look like James Finlayson, the bald, apoplectic straight man to Laurel and Hardy, in one of their silent shorts. The painting was part of his therapy."I said, 'But I always have an original to copy.' They said, 'That's your problem.' I sprayed something on the paper and I thought, 'Oh God, I've ruined it.' By the end, I was throwing paint at it. Doing that picture set me free. I had always worried whether I was doing the right thing; always believed that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I realised all of that is bullshit. Most of my life," he adds, "is bullshit."You mean your life in football?"No, I'm talking about that perception I once had of what I ought or ought not to say. Now I feel I have got to tell it how it is."In one scene he faced the camera alone, talking about the effects of his explosive anger."Kim," Holloway said, in one scene from the programme - facing the camera alone, in an emotional state - "don't love the fella I am. A lot of things used to scare me. None of them do now. Only the fact that I might lose her. Without your family," he adds, "you've got nothing. I wouldn't want to carry on living without them. There would be no point."Kim, who has been his girlfriend since she was 14 years old, appears with coffee. "I used to shout her down," Holloway says. "I used to be vile."Has anyone mocked you for appearing on that programme?"Not to my face."Holloway - 5ft 8in tall and not heavily built - has had to rely on passion, integrity and commitment to gain the respect he commands in his dressing room, and throughout the game. Before he went into management nine years ago, he was a midfield player who gave devoted service to both Bristol Rovers and QPR - admired, it has to be said, for full-blooded endeavour rather than grace and flair.Was his anger worse, I ask Kim, when he became a manager?She laughs. "Just a bit.""Am I better now?" he inquires."Yes," she says."I nearly lost her twice," Holloway tells me. She was briefly engaged to someone else, when she was in her teens. Shortly after they married, Kim developed lymph cancer, from which she has fully recovered.Some years ago, I tell Holloway, I was having lunch with a group of football writers, when the conversation turned to the question of why Bobby Charlton never succeeded as a manager. "Because," somebody said, "he is not a bastard.""I don't believe that you need to be a shit," Holloway counters. "You have to be consistent, and strong, and your values need to be right. I live the way I want my players to be. I keep things in the open."If the fans love this eccentric, inspirational figure - and most do - it's because he embodies the kind of fierce loyalty usually associated with the terraces."I remember meeting him years ago, when he'd just taken over as manager at Bristol Rovers," says Steve Tongue, this newspaper's football correspondent. "I was early and I sat down to wait for him in his office. When he arrived, he made me exchange chairs with him because mine was blue and his was red [the colour of loathed rivals Bristol City]."Holloway also banned red vehicles from the training ground."When I was at Bristol Rovers," he says, "there was a journalist who wrote a match report where he said that if Bristol City had my two strikers - who, in that game, were rubbish - then City would be a team Bristol could be proud of. Oooof!""So," Kim calls through from the next room, "you dragged the poor sod in, didn't you?""I got him to the training ground. He didn't know why. I said: 'You are going to apologise to my team, you bastard.' I sat all my players down. I had the two centre halves stand up. I said: 'Right, now tell these two - who you only gave five out of 10 each - just how well you think they played, you asshole.'"Did that ensure more sympathetic coverage?"Well, he started killing me in the paper every week. From then on I said, 'OK, I'll laugh at myself. And I'll try to be honest.'"Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, near Bristol; his mother still lives in the same council house now. His father Bill, an outstanding amateur footballer, was a seaman, then a factory worker. Family, Holloway says, was everything to him."He never knew who his father was. When he was 14 he'd just lost the man he believed was his dad, in the Blitz. The life assurance rep knocked on the door and said: 'Is your step mum in, Bill?' That's how he learned he was adopted."Bill died of a heart attack aged 59, when Ian was 25."He never made a lot of money and at the end he was thinking: 'Oh God, I am a failure.' He actually said that on his death bed. He was so wrong. The destructive side I used to have that would not accept anything that wasn't perfect, I saw that in my dad."Holloway was due to play a match on the day his father died."I got in the car to go to the ground. I just sat there with the engine off, staring ahead of me, gripping the steering wheel. I decided not to go. Then I looked across, and I saw an indentation in the passenger seat. I swear to you that it was there. I put the key in the ignition."During the match, he says, "It was as if my dad was there alongside me. We won 4-0. It was the best game I'd had for years."At another critical stage in his life, he recalls, "I was driving along, and 'One Sweet Day', that Mariah Carey song about light 'shining down on you from heaven' came on the radio. The volume went up to the maximum. My car was full of light, and the tears were just pouring down my face. I was like a bloody river and yet I had never felt so good. It was as if someone had opened up my head, poured a load of love in, then put the top of my skull back down. When the song finished, the volume fell again. I swear to you on my kids' lives, that that happened." Again, he says, "it was as if Dad was there, looking after me."If ever Ian Holloway has needed the help of his spirit guide, it is now. The predominant theme in his life has been the struggle to fulfil his responsibilities as head of a household he cherishes. But, while his own domestic arrangements have stabilised, at Queens Park Rangers he has found himself presiding over an increasingly wild and dysfunctional family.Holloway became manager of an ailing QPR side in the spring of 2001, and was unable to save them from relegation to the game's third tier, then League Division Two. The club spent the following season in financial administration and survived by taking out a £10m loan from a Panamanian-registered company. In the summer of 2004 Holloway led Rangers back up into the Coca-Cola Championship. From their current position in the top-half of the table, QPR's more optimistic supporters have started to eye the Premiership above them.Holloway believes the only way he will become a manager at that level is to get QPR promoted. "Nobody," he says, "is going to want to hire a bumpkin from Bristol."Within the game, Holloway's achievement is recognised as extraordinary: if clubs were ranked by their financial means, QPR would be in the bottom four of the Championship. What success they have achieved is the result of the manager's ability to communicate his own galvanic commitment to his players.The £10m loan from the ABC Corporation of Panama carried a 10 per cent interest rate and the resulting annual payment of £1m horrified some directors. The deal was concluded under the reign of former chairman Nick Blackburn, who resigned in the summer of 2004. He was replaced by Bill Power, who was ousted by Gianni Paladini in August this year. Over the past two years, board members have departed with a frequency that is staggering. The surreal preliminaries to the Sheffield United game are indicative of the turmoil within the club, which at the time of writing has no chief executive."We had two people," Ian Holloway explains, "Gianni Paladini and Bill Power, in the highest positions and they had a great relationship. I liked them both. Their relationship has broken down and things aren't stable any more. I have never been a child who has been in a divorce. But now I feel like their kid."Until last year, Gianni Paladini was a Fifa-registered football agent, who represented high-profile players such as Benito Carbone and Fabrizio Ravanelli. He bought a 22 per cent stake in QPR for around £650,000, but is also closely linked to two Monaco consortiums, Wanlock and Barnaby Holdings, that have invested £1.7m in the club; together, they own 46 per cent of QPR.Paladini, now 60, was a striker on Napoli's books until injury forced him to retire at the age of 22. He settled in the Midlands in 1968, and build up a portfolio of restaurants and clubs. Certain aspects of his CV - the fact that he's a Neapolitan, who went from waiting on tables to owning nightclubs, and brokered many football deals in southern Italy - have led some to leap to stereotypical judgments. As Paladini said recently, "People must think there is Mafia involvement. But I want the best for QPR and I'm getting the right people to achieve this." The chairman describes allegations that he has signed players to QPR with a view to enriching his agent friends as "stupid".I ask Holloway how he gets on with Gianni Paladini."His personality is electric. You want to be in his company." At the same time, he says, "You wouldn't want to do anything wrong. He loves you or he hates you. When he loves you, there is no better company in the world. You can talk about Gianni being a waiter. You can talk about Gianni being Italian. You can talk about Gianni being an agent. But Gianni is a bloke. Gianni is a fella. A nice fella."What if you "do something wrong"?"If you upset him," Holloway explains, "he will hurl abuse at you. He doesn't mean it the following day. Hopefully I can help him learn from my experience of how I used to scream at deaf children."Does he swear in Italian?"Normally in English."Last year, Holloway recalls, he was at home, suffering from chronic diarrhoea, when he answered a call from Paladini."I was sat on the toilet - actually I couldn't leave the toilet. I had this virus. There had been rumours about me going to Wolves. Three days before, I'd bought flowers for some ladies in the office. Gianni assumed they were a leaving present."So you were on the toilet..."And Gianni was going: 'You fucking bastard I am going to kill you. I am going to kill you, you fucking bastard... where are you, you fucking... fucking hell where are you.'"And you said..."I am on the toilet. My wife is in the house. Ask her. He said: 'She could be at fucking Wolves with you.'"In the end, Holloway says, he had to drive up to Leeds, to reassure the Italian. It was a journey he remembers."It was a terrible virus. It was coming out of both ends. I had to stop at every service station. I shouldn't have gone. It was horrendous. I was totally dehydrated. My lips were stuck to my teeth. I ended up in hospital, the following day. I was in for a week. I had six drips put into me."It wouldn't be reasonable to invite any manager to criticise his chairman in public, but..."Well I have seen people saying Holloway 'supports' Gianni Paladini. Holloway supports QPR. But I am a man of principle. If I thought there was any just cause for [the unease some have voiced about the Italian], I wouldn't be here."Scotland Yard, Holloway points out, "has been looking into everything that's happened at the club. If there was anything untoward Mr Paladini had done, would he still be where he is?"It can't be pleasant to be under such scrutiny."It isn't. As a football manager you are like... a doorstop."A doorstop?"You are in between the floor and the door. There's the board of directors, and the fans and the players, trying to push the door."So who does the door represent - the board?"Sorry?"Is the board the door?"Well you've got the door and the floor. I am the wedge. And someone is trying to force the door. But really it needs to be the other way round, because the board are above me."But who is the door? (omega)"Er... OK... forget the door." Holloway draws a triangle in the air. "I am in a three-way struggle involving the fans, the players and the board. I don't know of anybody else who has been in this situation, ever."You did once say that you can never have complete harmony at a football club."Yes. But there is a difference between complete harmony and complete chaos."And at QPR is it complete..."Everybody out there makes it look like it's complete chaos." Gianni Paladini, says Holloway, "is Caesar and at the minute the old thumb is wobbling. The crowd are going wait a minute. I want to be Maximus. But I get a bit of a waft of fish sometimes."This is a volatile situation that can communicate itself to the players via the fans - that's what you're saying?"Yes. Normally you need support when things are going wrong. That is what I've found in my own life. I've needed the support of my wife and family. To me, if you're a football supporter, your love should be unconditional."I'd expected to talk to Ian Holloway for 90 minutes. In the end we are together for four hours, during which time he covers - as well as such topics as the 4-5-1 formation, Sven Goran Eriksson and QPR's increased season ticket prices - the questions of divine fallibility and the theory of evolution."We are an offshoot of apes - allegedly - but who knows? We don't really, do we? How long have we been on this planet?" Holloway muses. "How long are we going to be here? What is it all about? We reproduce. Our offspring carry on. But that will only happen for a limited time. Before the whole thing blows up and we are sucked into a black hole. You know what I mean?"The QPR manager will explore such themes further in his forthcoming autobiography, titled Thanks, Steve."I went to Southampton the other week, with Kim. These kids shouted, 'Oh Holloway, you're a legend. Sign this.' Then they said, 'Thanks, Steve.' It was the same in the Chinese chip shop when I was at Bristol Rovers. They started off by calling me 'Horroway'. But before long it was: 'Salt and vinegar, Steve? How much you earn, Steve?' Why," Holloway asks, "is it always Steve?"At various points during our conversation he speaks of his admiration for Jose Mourinho who - with his inexhaustible transfer budget and terse, supercilious manner - is, in many respects, everything Ian Holloway isn't."Even to be in Mourinho's company must be amazing," he says. "When he gets doubts, how long do they stay in his head? What support does he have to help him banish those doubts?"About £2.1bn and a club with more power than any in the history of the game, I suggest."But he still has to get those grossly paid players to perform."Of the two, I know whose history I find more inspirational, and who I'd rather have as a dinner companion, manager, or friend, and he wasn't born in Setubal. There's no doubt which of the managers is going to have the more captivatingly unpredictable season. It could, I suggest, be a very long year for Ian: there will be little or no money for fancy signings, and the ongoing police inquiry, like the Paladini libel suit, is guaranteed to keep the club in the headlines for the least enviable reasons."The things that matter to me," he says, "are commitment and trust. So the last few months haven't been easy. I don't know what to trust, or what to think, or what to do. It might turn out that certain alleged facts are true. I don't know yet. But I do know that I won't work without trust. I have to believe."What can he teach his players from his own experience?"That winners are made, not born. And that winners are made by not fearing. I can sense fear in the eyes of players. I could see it in Kim's eyes when she had cancer. I have dealt with fear," Holloway adds, "all my life. My own fear has been a selfish dread that I might not be good enough."But life, he continues, "is like the The Emperor's New Clothes. Don't you think that story says it all? I think part of all of us has doubts. Because of the animal that we are. You can't take away from the fact that we are an animal. Aren't we? This is a sofa," Holloway continues. "I am an animal. But we have evolved into sitting by the fire, and thinking, and to be fair when you see a fire... it does make you... you know if chimps had done that, maybe they would be the ones..."Hang on - if chimps had done what?"They'd found fire before... it was us that found fire, wasn't it?"I think Holloway can see that his Emperor's New Clothes monologue has left me slightly perplexed."My main ambition," he goes on, "is to leave this planet knowing that I gave my best and that I was there for my children. And I am trying to make them independent and able to live happily, for many years after I have gone. By the way," he adds, as I'm getting up to leave. "You're stark, bollock naked, mate."http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article324844.ece
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Barnaby Holdlings Buys ex-Chairman, Bill Powers' Shares
QPR Official Site - BARNABY HOLDINGSBarnaby Holdings have increased their shareholding in Queens Park Rangers.The consortium, which already enjoyed a 10% stake in the Club, have purchased the shareholding of former Chairman Bill Power for a sum in the region of £1.1million.This now takes their overall stake in the Club to 27.8%.QPR Chairman Gianni Paladini is delighted with the news and believes it underlines Barnaby's commitment to the Club."Barnaby are investing in both the short and long term future of Queens Park Rangers and I am very pleased to know that they share my optimism about the prospects for this great club."I would also like to personally thank Bill Power for everything he has done and although he is no longer financially involved, he will always be a big part of the club and someone I will always love and respect."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~736268,00.html
BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)
Posted on This Board last year...Watcher_of_the_game Posted on 7/2 12:54 re: FAO Bp one quick question though BP.How much power (no pun intended) do you really have at QPR? We know that you invested into the club but it was, by football standards, quite minimal. As the board is heavily influenced by the Monaco consortium who I presume are all quite rich and probbally more waelthy than yourself, how is the power divided?If the Monaco boys wanted something to happen and said they would withdraw all thier money if they didn't get it, would they get what they want? bp650 Posted on 7/2 13:07 frightening as it may seem....... to some and in particular me. The answer to that question is I am where the buck stops, we do talk thru' things but if its down to a vote that is divided it is me.I actually posted this when asked about board meetings very recently on here following an item by Billy Rice on the offish site.Board meetings are held at the club monthly and normally involve Kevin, Mark, Chris P and myself.Wanlock is a pure investment group who having looked at the way the club is now run and with its potential for growth invested. They have never involved themselves with the running of the club although we send them monthly reports including the minutes of board meetings.If they want to get their money out it is up to them to sell their shares. If you're interested I can let them know?
Link : BP Exchange
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Tracy_S Posted on 16/10 10:51
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re: BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)
bp also posted the following in January of this year."Board meetings are held monthly, the decision makers are always there, whether it is of any comfort to some I'm not sure but those people and them alone, Myself, Kevin McGrath, Mark Devlin and Chris Pennington discuss and decide all topics regarding the workings of QPR.I can categorically state that Moorbound, Barnaby and Wanlock have not interfered on a single occasion, but have continually offered any assistance they can including financially way beyond the recent offer that was fronted by Ross Jones."How things change eh?
http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533519295
October 13, 2005
Paladini Interviewed
Paladini on his plans on Holloway, on BP, etcExclusive Gianni Paladini interviewKilburn Times/Camden Times nwl.sport@archant.co.uk12 October 2005 QPR chairman Gianni Paladini NEW QPR chairman Gianni Paladini has revealed his plans for the club in an exclusive interview with the Times, writes Ben Kosky.Paladini, who was already Rangers' majority shareholder, took over last month after winning a boardroom battle with previous chairman Bill Power.The Italian explains why he has adopted a 'hands-on' role in the day-to-day running of the club since the departure of chief executive Mark Devlin.Paladini also believes he can make Rangers a profitable company - and pledges that if he fails, the shortfall will be made up by himself and fellow major shareholders.And the Rangers chairman plans to reintroduce a family section at Loftus Road, possibly as soon as next week, to counter falling attendances since the summer rise in ticket prices.Read the full interview in this week's Times.Full article posted at http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threadsandp=119508andt=36750
Link : Paladini Interviewed
Among the interesting comments...!"... I've had discussions with Ian Holloway about his new contract - .... Ian can be my best friend and I love him to bits, I'd do anything for him and he does the same for me, he's been sticking with me through the tough times."He knows I back him 100 per cent,... "Opinion among fans was divided as to whether Bill Power or yourself should be chairman of QPR. How would you convince the doubters?"I must tell the truth - since I've been here there isn't one fan who's come to me with a bad word to say. .. If you talk to Bill now, he enjoys coming to watch a game and knowing it's not his responsibility."I had a fantastic relationship with Bill Power and Kevin McGrath, I respect them and that will always be the same. .."
http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533539409
call spin control if you want, but at the moment he is the only thing we have > TO say the Loftus Road boardroom has seen a degree of turbulence so far > this > season would be a severe understatement.Three chairmen, the departure of > the club's chief executive and a police > investigation give off the odour of Dream Team or Footballers' Wives plot > lines rather than real-life events at Queens Park Rangers.But the dust > appears to be settling, with majority shareholder Gianni > Paladini now installed as QPR chairman and keen to discuss the future of > the > club.Here the one-time Napoli youth team player and former agent > exclusively > reveals to the Times his thoughts on managing and financing the club, his > plans to bring back its' 'missing' fans and keep Rangers in their > traditional heartland.Attendances have dropped by around 2,000 since > ticket prices went up in the > summer - what can you do to reverse this?"Right now I'm trying to work out > the best thing to do, to facilitate people > who are not coming to the ground without upsetting people who already > bought > the tickets. We have to be fair to them - they paid a lot of money."Maybe > we can do something next season to make it up with people who feel > they've been overcharged and we definitely need to do something for the > children. I'm trying to work out a way that we can use one section of the > ground as a family section."If we have one section where we can > exclusively sell to families and kids, I > will do it, guaranteed. I don't know if we can do that in time for > Plymouth, > but I'll see if I can do something for the game after that."Presumably > your ambition is to be a Premier League chairman in the near > future. Have you set a timescale for achieving that?"I don't put any > pressure on anybody. At the start of the season, we felt we > had a chance to improve on last year and when all the players come back > fully fit, we are a decent team, competitive enough to be in the > play-offs."If it's not this year, we'll try again next year until we get > there. I've > had discussions with Ian Holloway about his new contract - we've been > together for the last 18 months and we are moving forward. Ian can be my > best friend and I love him to bits, I'd do anything for him and he does > the > same for me, he's been sticking with me through the tough times."He knows > I back him 100 per cent, he knows the way I think and he knows > there is only one way - to be successful."I try to help him as much as I > can and we will get in the Premier League > together."Opinion among fans was divided as to whether Bill Power or > yourself should > be chairman of QPR. How would you convince the doubters?"I must tell the > truth - since I've been here there isn't one fan who's come > to me with a bad word to say. Bill Power is a fan. What's the dream for a > football fan? To have one of them at the helm of a football club."But > sometimes it doesn't work because you can be personally affected. If you > talk to Bill now, he enjoys coming to watch a game and knowing it's not > his > responsibility."I had a fantastic relationship with Bill Power and Kevin > McGrath, I respect > them and that will always be the same. Bill and Kevin didn't do anything > wrong, but things change and it was time for us to have a go ourselves."My > way is different - I look at this as a business, to be successful and if > I don't do that, I fail, I put my hands up and goodbye. If there's someone > out there who thinks they can do a better job, buy us all out."But why > didn't they come before, when the club was in a lower division and > they'd have had to pay the taxman's bill or the club would be closed down > and forget about promotion?"QPR have been losing money for several years. > Can you see the club breaking > even or even making a profit in the near future?"Forget the past - it's up > to us now and there's no more sweet sugar daddy, > it's all on the shoulders of myself and my other partners, Barnaby and > Wanlock. I'm protecting my own investment and by doing that, I'm > protecting > QPR as well, simple as that."We'll try to take this club forward and make > sure that, in a year or two, we > run it as a profit-maker. If we lose money at the end of the season, there > won't be the old situation where I need to borrow this or that - it's our > fault and we put in money out of our own pockets."If we are successful, > QPR are successful, the fans will be happy and there's > no secret agenda, no skeletons. I couldn't get any help in England, so I > relied on one of my best friends, someone I'd known for years, > [businessman] Antonio Caliendo."I asked Antonio to help me out and he came > up with Dunga, he found > [Monaco-based consortia] Barnaby and Wanlock and they put in money to help > QPR survive."It's no secret that Dunga put money in out of his own pocket > to help me, > because I've known him for many years, as well as Juninho, Branco and lots > of players from Brazil."How is the club being run since Mark Devlin was > made redundant?"We got rid of the chief executive position because I think > we couldn't > afford it. I don't follow the idea of a chief executive or managing > director > or general manager - it's our money, it's our job to be here and make sure > the club is run properly."When I came here there were 54 people on the > staff and the wage bill was > bigger than the wage bill of the playing staff - how can you sustain that? > Now everything functions okay and the club is under control."I've been 30 > years in football and I'm here every day. There are others who > are employed by the people from Monte Carlo and they pay their own way - > it > doesn't cost QPR anything."Long-term, do you see QPR staying at Loftus > Road or moving to a new stadium?"If you've got no money and you're driving > a Mini, you always see someone in > a Rolls Royce and you wish you could buy that. When I go to Southampton, > Leicester and Coventry, then I come to White City and I see workmen > building, I wish they were building a new Loftus Road."We can't build > anything at Loftus Road - we already tried that and there's > no chance to make this football ground bigger, it's impossible. So the > only > alternative would be to move and if not, we stay here and that's not so > bad."If someone said 'I'll give you a brand new football ground down the > road for > 50,000 people, pay off the loan and give you some spare money to buy > players' - then it would be good business and you'd be a fool not to agree > to that."But it must be not far away. The moment you move QPR to a > different area, > there's no more QPR and then it's just like Wimbledon."This football club > has a fantastic history and I cannot come here and change > all this by moving the club to Hyde Park - it's a lovely park, but I don't > think you can play football there. The fans can rest assured, this will > never, never happen as long as I'm alive."
http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=119508&t=36750
ClubCall - Q.P.R. - Holloway targets new additions 23 Nov 2005
Ian Holloway is hoping to add to his Queens Park Rangers squad before Thursday's emergency loan deadline as he battles a crippling injury-list at Loftus Road.The Rangers boss saw his injury-hit side slip to a fourth straight defeat on Tuesday night but Holloway went into the game without eight injured players and Paul Furlong suspended.With the transfer deadline looming large Holloway will now be working to try and add to the squad."I have got two days and I will talk to the board and see if there is anything we can do. I don't know what we have got but I'll see what we can do," said Holloway."We have a boat-load of injuries. I think we are short defensively and we are letting in too many goals at the moment. We might be ok up front if we get everyone back but we shall see."http://www.clubcall.com/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,5034-169529-19728-36699-212401-13916-5024-layout104-186747-news-item,00.html
QPR's Possible Transfer Moves
Holloway on the Official SiteMORE GOALS REQUIREDTalking to QPR World about his sides start to the season, Holloway pinpointed his sides main area for improvement.As usual, Ollie wasn't keen to give too much away at this point of the season, choosing instead to focus on that position Rangers find themselves in next April.Of course the Rangers boss was keen to see more action up front and he has already set his sights on improving that area."We need to score more goals, we are lacking a few from the chances we created. I want to work on that, getting more goals in that column."Ian Holloway and his staff will take advantage of the free weekend by going out on a scouting mission.Holloway told QPR World: "I'll be giving my players the weekend off and I'll be off with my staff looking at players. We also have some exciting prospects waiting to come over.""It's exciting times, I feel we are stabilising. We are now on top of the water - ready to sail off into the sunset."With the transfer window opening in less than two months Holloway will be talking to the board regarding the playing budget."I might be close to taking a player in on loan with a view to taking over his contract. I wouldn't mind some more defensive cover too."When we were in the second division we had the better players becuase we had the biggest budget."Ollie was also keen to clear up some other business. In a recent Q&A on QPR World Holloway referred to a quote in a Newspaper attributed to QPR fan Paul Finney."Typical me, I said some things I shouldn't of said. It turns out the guy I spoke about had some threats from other fans."I didn't want that - this guy is a QPR fan! He explained things to me and I apologised to him. If my words got him that kind of abuse I am ashamed of myself."Elsewhere, after only three starts this season Martin Rowlands was a welcome sight as he started back in full training."I thought I had a new signing today some little lad with blonde hair. It's great to have him back although I'm not sure whether he will be match fit for the game at Plymouth because he has been out quite a while." http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~739623,00.html
Dunga (supposedly) buys £1.1million stake in QPR
The SunBRAZILIAN World Cup winner Dunga has bought a £1.1million stake in QPR.Hoops chairman Gianni Paladini hopes the move will help end rumours that Dunga is just a figurehead.Dunga has been on the Rangers board since last year — but fans have accused him of having no interest in the club.He has seldom been seen at Loftus Road but has now bought ex-chairman Bill Power’s 17.6 per cent stake in the club.Paladini said: “Dunga’s investment shows he is more than a good advert for QPR. He would like to come to more games but he has business interests in Japan and Brazil.”http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2005520366,00.html[And then the story is repeated here "QPR receive £1.1million Brazilian stake"http://www.worldfootballers.com/news.php?id=10698
Paladini Promises Holloway Funds for January
Ben Kosky/ Kilburn TimesFunds ready for HollowayQPR chairman Gianni Paladini has promised funds to help Ian Holloway pep up his forward line when the transfer window opens in January.Rangers have looked short of firepower all season, despite having five senior strikers on their books and Holloway is eager to add another face in the new year.And Paladini, who took over as chairman in September, confirmed that the club are 'keeping tabs' on several possible targets, including a promising youngster in South America and another in Japan."It's up to Ollie who he wants and, provided it's the right player for this club and he fits into our wage structure, we will definitely try to bring him in," Paladini told the Times."As long as it's not silly money, there shouldn't be a problem. We've already brought in seven or eight players this year and if we need to get someone else, it would probably be a striker."Kevin Gallen is Rangers' top scorer this season with four goals, despite spending the majority of his time in midfield, while summer signing Marc Nygaard has banged in three in five starts.But Paul Furlong has struggled to reproduce the form that saw him voted Player of the Year last season, while Dean Sturridge has been wrestling with fitness problems ever since joining the club in March.Speculation has suggested that Holloway may make another move for Millwall striker Barry Hayles, a player he once managed at Bristol Rovers and attempted to bring to Loftus Road 18 months ago.Hayles has hit five goals - including one against QPR - for the troubled Lions this campaign, but turns 34 in the spring and might represent too much of a gamble.Meanwhile, Paladini plans to build on the recent upturn in attendances at Loftus Road by offering a regular £1 ticket concession for juniors.The scheme was initially launched for next month's clash with Coventry and remains in place although the match has been switched to a Monday night for TV coverage.Attendances dropped by around 2,000 earlier in the season, but Rangers' last two home games, against Norwich and Reading, have both topped the 15,000 mark."It's been much better again and if we had 15,000 plus every week, we'd be laughing," said Paladini. "Having a full ground is the most important thing."We might try to sell at half-price for Christmas and we'll make it £1 a head for the kids another time as well - maybe we'll do it for every single game until the end of the season."http://www.camdentimes.co.uk/content/camden/camdentimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportboxing&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportcamt&itemid=WeED08%20Nov%202005%2020%3A00%3A39%3A490
Lengthy Profile/Interview with Ian Holloway in the IndependentIan Holloway: In a league of his ownAnger management, mixed metaphors, gun threats and the odd game of football are all in a day's work for Queens Park Rangers' colourful manager Ian HollowayInterview by Robert ChalmersPublished: 06 November 2005Is there anything that has happened at your club recently, I ask Ian Holloway, that has surprised you? "Surprised?" The Queens Park Rangers manager leans forward and cradles his chin in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "Surprised? No. Surprised is not the right word. You would need a different word. Like shocked," he says. "Or stunned. Or amazed."Holloway's use of language, like his view of the world, is bold and distinctive to the point that - like Eric Cantona, Ron Atkinson or the late Bill Shankly - he has become familiar to a constituency which has no interest in football. In June he came 15th in Time Out magazine's list of the 50 funniest Londoners - ahead of Paul Merton and Ali G, among others - no mean feat when you consider that Ian Holloway neither comes from, nor lives in, the capital."They say every dog has his day," Holloway declared, after Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Coca-Cola Championship. "And today is Woof Day. I want to go out and bark."And yet, when he discusses recent events at Queens Park Rangers, it's clear that even the small man from Bristol knows Woof Day is definitely over.A few minutes before the kick-off of QPR's home game against Sheffield United in August this year, one of the club's directors, Gianni Paladini, had a gun held to his head, in the boardroom, by a gang allegedly seeking to persuade him to sign a letter of resignation. Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail, and joint possession of a firearm with intent to commit GBH.Gianni Paladini has since been appointed chairman of Queens Park Rangers - the latest in a bewildering series of upheavals at board level. Paladini, a former footballers' agent who was once a wine waiter in Birmingham, recently issued a writ against a newspaper which alleged improprieties in his transfer dealings. He inherits a club with debts of around £10m.I ask Holloway when it was that he first heard about the supposed firearm incident. "After the game. We're walking off the pitch. We've just won, 2-1. The ref's given us a goal that was blatantly offside, so I'm absolutely elated. Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, is going ballistic. Anyhow," he continues, "I am shouting at Neil, as we walk off: 'I always supported you. But now I see I was wrong. Everybody else in football is right. You are a twat.'"In the dressing room afterwards, "I'm saying congratulations to my team..." Holloway searches for a way to summarise his speech and settles - perhaps unfortunately - for the phrase: "Well done lads... bang, bang, bang."Then, he adds, "Bill Power [former QPR chairman] gets hold of me. He's in a daze. He says: 'Er... something... has...' I said: 'What?' He said: '... ah... happened. I don't know quite how to tell...' So I'm like: 'Bill, do us a favour. Don't tell me.' That way, when I met the press after the match I didn't know what had - allegedly - gone on."Since then, the CID have been regular visitors to Loftus Road, the club's west London stadium. "It has," says the manager, "been absolutely horrendous."The whole thing sounds like a surreal black comedy."Yes," says Holloway. "I kept expecting Harry Potter to fly in."In a precarious and hostile trade, the general run of football managers tend to espouse the kind of haughty machismo perfected by Jose Mourinho. Ian Holloway is not like this. Holloway paints huge, abstract canvases. He has wept on camera, talking about his love for his wife. He has difficulties with reading and says so in public. Though fiercely combative by nature, he meets life head-on with a frank and disarming vulnerability.In his photograph in the club programme - one place where even the most thoroughly tormented manager can usually strike a pose of imperious tranquillity - Holloway's expression is a mixture of determination and foreboding: he has the look of a man who has just led a breakout from Colditz, and is glancing back to the perimeter wall, only to see that all of his fellow escapees have been machine-gunned.When I arrive at his house in St Albans, Holloway, wearing a blue dress shirt and jeans, answers the door and leads the way to his living room, talking to a colleague on his mobile. I sit on the sofa, under the scrutiny of his rottweiler, Nathan, while the manager, who is 42, discusses the club's situation. (omega)Holloway's end of the phone conversation is the usual blend of candour and mixed metaphors; he has a tendency to start one sentence before he has completed the last, and speaks in a strong West Country accent which lends a kind of poetry to the most banal phrase."Directors are calling me for advice," he says, the last word rhyming with "choice". "It's like they're holding on to my shirt tails. It should be the other way round. It's getting to the point where other managers would start thinking bugger this, I'm off into the river and joining another boat... the tail," he adds, "cannot wag the dog."There are whole web sites devoted to so-called "Ollyisms". Invited to analyse one hard-fought victory, over Chesterfield, he responded as follows: "To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good-looking and some weeks they are not the best. Our performance today," he went on, "would not have been the best-looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi. She was not the best-looking lady we ended up taking home, but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."When a journalist enquired about his health, following a leave of absence, Holloway told him: "My arms withered and my body was covered with puss-like sores, but no matter how bad it got I consoled myself by remembering that I wasn't a Chelsea fan."He shares his tastefully decorated, large modern house with his wife Kim, son William, 17, and three younger teenage daughters - Chloe, Eve and Harriet. Each of the girls - for reasons doctors have been unable to explain - was born deaf. The family moved to St Albans to be close to a state school that teaches British sign language.On the wall is Promotion, Holloway's abstract canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. He painted it while being filmed for the 2004 BBC programme Stress Test. The documentary addressed the fits of rage which were disrupting his home life, with the help of psychologists and an anger management expert - who, Holloway recalls, "was constantly trying to get my goat up". The experience might have destroyed some people. Ian Holloway emerged as a national treasure.I tell him that I honestly believe that going on that show is the bravest thing I've ever seen a footballer do, on or off the pitch."Bravest?" Holloway asks, "or most stupid?"It's probably true that Sir Alex Ferguson, say, might have taken some persuading before he consented - as Ian Holloway did - to have his stress levels monitored while he performed an a cappella version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?""But if I hadn't done that programme," Holloway says, "I wouldn't be sitting here now. Before I did it, I believed that I was a person who was kind, considerate, and believed in free speech. The anger management expert showed me I was a jumped-up, obnoxious little get who wouldn't listen at home because of what happened at work. If I'd carried on the way I was," he says, "I would have destructed everything I had."Stress Test showed him addressing his players before a game."One of their staff was as rude as [beep] to us," he said. "So [beep]ing get on your [beep]ing toes. All my life I've been on a [beep]ing crusade. I want us [beep]ing focussed. Because you can [beep]ing win without being [beep]ing rude."To his deaf daughters, Holloway's furious gesticulations must have made him look like James Finlayson, the bald, apoplectic straight man to Laurel and Hardy, in one of their silent shorts. The painting was part of his therapy."I said, 'But I always have an original to copy.' They said, 'That's your problem.' I sprayed something on the paper and I thought, 'Oh God, I've ruined it.' By the end, I was throwing paint at it. Doing that picture set me free. I had always worried whether I was doing the right thing; always believed that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I realised all of that is bullshit. Most of my life," he adds, "is bullshit."You mean your life in football?"No, I'm talking about that perception I once had of what I ought or ought not to say. Now I feel I have got to tell it how it is."In one scene he faced the camera alone, talking about the effects of his explosive anger."Kim," Holloway said, in one scene from the programme - facing the camera alone, in an emotional state - "don't love the fella I am. A lot of things used to scare me. None of them do now. Only the fact that I might lose her. Without your family," he adds, "you've got nothing. I wouldn't want to carry on living without them. There would be no point."Kim, who has been his girlfriend since she was 14 years old, appears with coffee. "I used to shout her down," Holloway says. "I used to be vile."Has anyone mocked you for appearing on that programme?"Not to my face."Holloway - 5ft 8in tall and not heavily built - has had to rely on passion, integrity and commitment to gain the respect he commands in his dressing room, and throughout the game. Before he went into management nine years ago, he was a midfield player who gave devoted service to both Bristol Rovers and QPR - admired, it has to be said, for full-blooded endeavour rather than grace and flair.Was his anger worse, I ask Kim, when he became a manager?She laughs. "Just a bit.""Am I better now?" he inquires."Yes," she says."I nearly lost her twice," Holloway tells me. She was briefly engaged to someone else, when she was in her teens. Shortly after they married, Kim developed lymph cancer, from which she has fully recovered.Some years ago, I tell Holloway, I was having lunch with a group of football writers, when the conversation turned to the question of why Bobby Charlton never succeeded as a manager. "Because," somebody said, "he is not a bastard.""I don't believe that you need to be a shit," Holloway counters. "You have to be consistent, and strong, and your values need to be right. I live the way I want my players to be. I keep things in the open."If the fans love this eccentric, inspirational figure - and most do - it's because he embodies the kind of fierce loyalty usually associated with the terraces."I remember meeting him years ago, when he'd just taken over as manager at Bristol Rovers," says Steve Tongue, this newspaper's football correspondent. "I was early and I sat down to wait for him in his office. When he arrived, he made me exchange chairs with him because mine was blue and his was red [the colour of loathed rivals Bristol City]."Holloway also banned red vehicles from the training ground."When I was at Bristol Rovers," he says, "there was a journalist who wrote a match report where he said that if Bristol City had my two strikers - who, in that game, were rubbish - then City would be a team Bristol could be proud of. Oooof!""So," Kim calls through from the next room, "you dragged the poor sod in, didn't you?""I got him to the training ground. He didn't know why. I said: 'You are going to apologise to my team, you bastard.' I sat all my players down. I had the two centre halves stand up. I said: 'Right, now tell these two - who you only gave five out of 10 each - just how well you think they played, you asshole.'"Did that ensure more sympathetic coverage?"Well, he started killing me in the paper every week. From then on I said, 'OK, I'll laugh at myself. And I'll try to be honest.'"Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, near Bristol; his mother still lives in the same council house now. His father Bill, an outstanding amateur footballer, was a seaman, then a factory worker. Family, Holloway says, was everything to him."He never knew who his father was. When he was 14 he'd just lost the man he believed was his dad, in the Blitz. The life assurance rep knocked on the door and said: 'Is your step mum in, Bill?' That's how he learned he was adopted."Bill died of a heart attack aged 59, when Ian was 25."He never made a lot of money and at the end he was thinking: 'Oh God, I am a failure.' He actually said that on his death bed. He was so wrong. The destructive side I used to have that would not accept anything that wasn't perfect, I saw that in my dad."Holloway was due to play a match on the day his father died."I got in the car to go to the ground. I just sat there with the engine off, staring ahead of me, gripping the steering wheel. I decided not to go. Then I looked across, and I saw an indentation in the passenger seat. I swear to you that it was there. I put the key in the ignition."During the match, he says, "It was as if my dad was there alongside me. We won 4-0. It was the best game I'd had for years."At another critical stage in his life, he recalls, "I was driving along, and 'One Sweet Day', that Mariah Carey song about light 'shining down on you from heaven' came on the radio. The volume went up to the maximum. My car was full of light, and the tears were just pouring down my face. I was like a bloody river and yet I had never felt so good. It was as if someone had opened up my head, poured a load of love in, then put the top of my skull back down. When the song finished, the volume fell again. I swear to you on my kids' lives, that that happened." Again, he says, "it was as if Dad was there, looking after me."If ever Ian Holloway has needed the help of his spirit guide, it is now. The predominant theme in his life has been the struggle to fulfil his responsibilities as head of a household he cherishes. But, while his own domestic arrangements have stabilised, at Queens Park Rangers he has found himself presiding over an increasingly wild and dysfunctional family.Holloway became manager of an ailing QPR side in the spring of 2001, and was unable to save them from relegation to the game's third tier, then League Division Two. The club spent the following season in financial administration and survived by taking out a £10m loan from a Panamanian-registered company. In the summer of 2004 Holloway led Rangers back up into the Coca-Cola Championship. From their current position in the top-half of the table, QPR's more optimistic supporters have started to eye the Premiership above them.Holloway believes the only way he will become a manager at that level is to get QPR promoted. "Nobody," he says, "is going to want to hire a bumpkin from Bristol."Within the game, Holloway's achievement is recognised as extraordinary: if clubs were ranked by their financial means, QPR would be in the bottom four of the Championship. What success they have achieved is the result of the manager's ability to communicate his own galvanic commitment to his players.The £10m loan from the ABC Corporation of Panama carried a 10 per cent interest rate and the resulting annual payment of £1m horrified some directors. The deal was concluded under the reign of former chairman Nick Blackburn, who resigned in the summer of 2004. He was replaced by Bill Power, who was ousted by Gianni Paladini in August this year. Over the past two years, board members have departed with a frequency that is staggering. The surreal preliminaries to the Sheffield United game are indicative of the turmoil within the club, which at the time of writing has no chief executive."We had two people," Ian Holloway explains, "Gianni Paladini and Bill Power, in the highest positions and they had a great relationship. I liked them both. Their relationship has broken down and things aren't stable any more. I have never been a child who has been in a divorce. But now I feel like their kid."Until last year, Gianni Paladini was a Fifa-registered football agent, who represented high-profile players such as Benito Carbone and Fabrizio Ravanelli. He bought a 22 per cent stake in QPR for around £650,000, but is also closely linked to two Monaco consortiums, Wanlock and Barnaby Holdings, that have invested £1.7m in the club; together, they own 46 per cent of QPR.Paladini, now 60, was a striker on Napoli's books until injury forced him to retire at the age of 22. He settled in the Midlands in 1968, and build up a portfolio of restaurants and clubs. Certain aspects of his CV - the fact that he's a Neapolitan, who went from waiting on tables to owning nightclubs, and brokered many football deals in southern Italy - have led some to leap to stereotypical judgments. As Paladini said recently, "People must think there is Mafia involvement. But I want the best for QPR and I'm getting the right people to achieve this." The chairman describes allegations that he has signed players to QPR with a view to enriching his agent friends as "stupid".I ask Holloway how he gets on with Gianni Paladini."His personality is electric. You want to be in his company." At the same time, he says, "You wouldn't want to do anything wrong. He loves you or he hates you. When he loves you, there is no better company in the world. You can talk about Gianni being a waiter. You can talk about Gianni being Italian. You can talk about Gianni being an agent. But Gianni is a bloke. Gianni is a fella. A nice fella."What if you "do something wrong"?"If you upset him," Holloway explains, "he will hurl abuse at you. He doesn't mean it the following day. Hopefully I can help him learn from my experience of how I used to scream at deaf children."Does he swear in Italian?"Normally in English."Last year, Holloway recalls, he was at home, suffering from chronic diarrhoea, when he answered a call from Paladini."I was sat on the toilet - actually I couldn't leave the toilet. I had this virus. There had been rumours about me going to Wolves. Three days before, I'd bought flowers for some ladies in the office. Gianni assumed they were a leaving present."So you were on the toilet..."And Gianni was going: 'You fucking bastard I am going to kill you. I am going to kill you, you fucking bastard... where are you, you fucking... fucking hell where are you.'"And you said..."I am on the toilet. My wife is in the house. Ask her. He said: 'She could be at fucking Wolves with you.'"In the end, Holloway says, he had to drive up to Leeds, to reassure the Italian. It was a journey he remembers."It was a terrible virus. It was coming out of both ends. I had to stop at every service station. I shouldn't have gone. It was horrendous. I was totally dehydrated. My lips were stuck to my teeth. I ended up in hospital, the following day. I was in for a week. I had six drips put into me."It wouldn't be reasonable to invite any manager to criticise his chairman in public, but..."Well I have seen people saying Holloway 'supports' Gianni Paladini. Holloway supports QPR. But I am a man of principle. If I thought there was any just cause for [the unease some have voiced about the Italian], I wouldn't be here."Scotland Yard, Holloway points out, "has been looking into everything that's happened at the club. If there was anything untoward Mr Paladini had done, would he still be where he is?"It can't be pleasant to be under such scrutiny."It isn't. As a football manager you are like... a doorstop."A doorstop?"You are in between the floor and the door. There's the board of directors, and the fans and the players, trying to push the door."So who does the door represent - the board?"Sorry?"Is the board the door?"Well you've got the door and the floor. I am the wedge. And someone is trying to force the door. But really it needs to be the other way round, because the board are above me."But who is the door? (omega)"Er... OK... forget the door." Holloway draws a triangle in the air. "I am in a three-way struggle involving the fans, the players and the board. I don't know of anybody else who has been in this situation, ever."You did once say that you can never have complete harmony at a football club."Yes. But there is a difference between complete harmony and complete chaos."And at QPR is it complete..."Everybody out there makes it look like it's complete chaos." Gianni Paladini, says Holloway, "is Caesar and at the minute the old thumb is wobbling. The crowd are going wait a minute. I want to be Maximus. But I get a bit of a waft of fish sometimes."This is a volatile situation that can communicate itself to the players via the fans - that's what you're saying?"Yes. Normally you need support when things are going wrong. That is what I've found in my own life. I've needed the support of my wife and family. To me, if you're a football supporter, your love should be unconditional."I'd expected to talk to Ian Holloway for 90 minutes. In the end we are together for four hours, during which time he covers - as well as such topics as the 4-5-1 formation, Sven Goran Eriksson and QPR's increased season ticket prices - the questions of divine fallibility and the theory of evolution."We are an offshoot of apes - allegedly - but who knows? We don't really, do we? How long have we been on this planet?" Holloway muses. "How long are we going to be here? What is it all about? We reproduce. Our offspring carry on. But that will only happen for a limited time. Before the whole thing blows up and we are sucked into a black hole. You know what I mean?"The QPR manager will explore such themes further in his forthcoming autobiography, titled Thanks, Steve."I went to Southampton the other week, with Kim. These kids shouted, 'Oh Holloway, you're a legend. Sign this.' Then they said, 'Thanks, Steve.' It was the same in the Chinese chip shop when I was at Bristol Rovers. They started off by calling me 'Horroway'. But before long it was: 'Salt and vinegar, Steve? How much you earn, Steve?' Why," Holloway asks, "is it always Steve?"At various points during our conversation he speaks of his admiration for Jose Mourinho who - with his inexhaustible transfer budget and terse, supercilious manner - is, in many respects, everything Ian Holloway isn't."Even to be in Mourinho's company must be amazing," he says. "When he gets doubts, how long do they stay in his head? What support does he have to help him banish those doubts?"About £2.1bn and a club with more power than any in the history of the game, I suggest."But he still has to get those grossly paid players to perform."Of the two, I know whose history I find more inspirational, and who I'd rather have as a dinner companion, manager, or friend, and he wasn't born in Setubal. There's no doubt which of the managers is going to have the more captivatingly unpredictable season. It could, I suggest, be a very long year for Ian: there will be little or no money for fancy signings, and the ongoing police inquiry, like the Paladini libel suit, is guaranteed to keep the club in the headlines for the least enviable reasons."The things that matter to me," he says, "are commitment and trust. So the last few months haven't been easy. I don't know what to trust, or what to think, or what to do. It might turn out that certain alleged facts are true. I don't know yet. But I do know that I won't work without trust. I have to believe."What can he teach his players from his own experience?"That winners are made, not born. And that winners are made by not fearing. I can sense fear in the eyes of players. I could see it in Kim's eyes when she had cancer. I have dealt with fear," Holloway adds, "all my life. My own fear has been a selfish dread that I might not be good enough."But life, he continues, "is like the The Emperor's New Clothes. Don't you think that story says it all? I think part of all of us has doubts. Because of the animal that we are. You can't take away from the fact that we are an animal. Aren't we? This is a sofa," Holloway continues. "I am an animal. But we have evolved into sitting by the fire, and thinking, and to be fair when you see a fire... it does make you... you know if chimps had done that, maybe they would be the ones..."Hang on - if chimps had done what?"They'd found fire before... it was us that found fire, wasn't it?"I think Holloway can see that his Emperor's New Clothes monologue has left me slightly perplexed."My main ambition," he goes on, "is to leave this planet knowing that I gave my best and that I was there for my children. And I am trying to make them independent and able to live happily, for many years after I have gone. By the way," he adds, as I'm getting up to leave. "You're stark, bollock naked, mate."Is there anything that has happened at your club recently, I ask Ian Holloway, that has surprised you? "Surprised?" The Queens Park Rangers manager leans forward and cradles his chin in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. "Surprised? No. Surprised is not the right word. You would need a different word. Like shocked," he says. "Or stunned. Or amazed."Holloway's use of language, like his view of the world, is bold and distinctive to the point that - like Eric Cantona, Ron Atkinson or the late Bill Shankly - he has become familiar to a constituency which has no interest in football. In June he came 15th in Time Out magazine's list of the 50 funniest Londoners - ahead of Paul Merton and Ali G, among others - no mean feat when you consider that Ian Holloway neither comes from, nor lives in, the capital."They say every dog has his day," Holloway declared, after Queens Park Rangers were promoted to the Coca-Cola Championship. "And today is Woof Day. I want to go out and bark."And yet, when he discusses recent events at Queens Park Rangers, it's clear that even the small man from Bristol knows Woof Day is definitely over.A few minutes before the kick-off of QPR's home game against Sheffield United in August this year, one of the club's directors, Gianni Paladini, had a gun held to his head, in the boardroom, by a gang allegedly seeking to persuade him to sign a letter of resignation. Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail, and joint possession of a firearm with intent to commit GBH.Gianni Paladini has since been appointed chairman of Queens Park Rangers - the latest in a bewildering series of upheavals at board level. Paladini, a former footballers' agent who was once a wine waiter in Birmingham, recently issued a writ against a newspaper which alleged improprieties in his transfer dealings. He inherits a club with debts of around £10m.I ask Holloway when it was that he first heard about the supposed firearm incident. "After the game. We're walking off the pitch. We've just won, 2-1. The ref's given us a goal that was blatantly offside, so I'm absolutely elated. Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager, is going ballistic. Anyhow," he continues, "I am shouting at Neil, as we walk off: 'I always supported you. But now I see I was wrong. Everybody else in football is right. You are a twat.'"In the dressing room afterwards, "I'm saying congratulations to my team..." Holloway searches for a way to summarise his speech and settles - perhaps unfortunately - for the phrase: "Well done lads... bang, bang, bang."Then, he adds, "Bill Power [former QPR chairman] gets hold of me. He's in a daze. He says: 'Er... something... has...' I said: 'What?' He said: '... ah... happened. I don't know quite how to tell...' So I'm like: 'Bill, do us a favour. Don't tell me.' That way, when I met the press after the match I didn't know what had - allegedly - gone on."Since then, the CID have been regular visitors to Loftus Road, the club's west London stadium. "It has," says the manager, "been absolutely horrendous."The whole thing sounds like a surreal black comedy."Yes," says Holloway. "I kept expecting Harry Potter to fly in."In a precarious and hostile trade, the general run of football managers tend to espouse the kind of haughty machismo perfected by Jose Mourinho. Ian Holloway is not like this. Holloway paints huge, abstract canvases. He has wept on camera, talking about his love for his wife. He has difficulties with reading and says so in public. Though fiercely combative by nature, he meets life head-on with a frank and disarming vulnerability.In his photograph in the club programme - one place where even the most thoroughly tormented manager can usually strike a pose of imperious tranquillity - Holloway's expression is a mixture of determination and foreboding: he has the look of a man who has just led a breakout from Colditz, and is glancing back to the perimeter wall, only to see that all of his fellow escapees have been machine-gunned.When I arrive at his house in St Albans, Holloway, wearing a blue dress shirt and jeans, answers the door and leads the way to his living room, talking to a colleague on his mobile. I sit on the sofa, under the scrutiny of his rottweiler, Nathan, while the manager, who is 42, discusses the club's situation. (omega)Holloway's end of the phone conversation is the usual blend of candour and mixed metaphors; he has a tendency to start one sentence before he has completed the last, and speaks in a strong West Country accent which lends a kind of poetry to the most banal phrase."Directors are calling me for advice," he says, the last word rhyming with "choice". "It's like they're holding on to my shirt tails. It should be the other way round. It's getting to the point where other managers would start thinking bugger this, I'm off into the river and joining another boat... the tail," he adds, "cannot wag the dog."There are whole web sites devoted to so-called "Ollyisms". Invited to analyse one hard-fought victory, over Chesterfield, he responded as follows: "To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good-looking and some weeks they are not the best. Our performance today," he went on, "would not have been the best-looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi. She was not the best-looking lady we ended up taking home, but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."When a journalist enquired about his health, following a leave of absence, Holloway told him: "My arms withered and my body was covered with puss-like sores, but no matter how bad it got I consoled myself by remembering that I wasn't a Chelsea fan."He shares his tastefully decorated, large modern house with his wife Kim, son William, 17, and three younger teenage daughters - Chloe, Eve and Harriet. Each of the girls - for reasons doctors have been unable to explain - was born deaf. The family moved to St Albans to be close to a state school that teaches British sign language.On the wall is Promotion, Holloway's abstract canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock. He painted it while being filmed for the 2004 BBC programme Stress Test. The documentary addressed the fits of rage which were disrupting his home life, with the help of psychologists and an anger management expert - who, Holloway recalls, "was constantly trying to get my goat up". The experience might have destroyed some people. Ian Holloway emerged as a national treasure.I tell him that I honestly believe that going on that show is the bravest thing I've ever seen a footballer do, on or off the pitch."Bravest?" Holloway asks, "or most stupid?"It's probably true that Sir Alex Ferguson, say, might have taken some persuading before he consented - as Ian Holloway did - to have his stress levels monitored while he performed an a cappella version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?""But if I hadn't done that programme," Holloway says, "I wouldn't be sitting here now. Before I did it, I believed that I was a person who was kind, considerate, and believed in free speech. The anger management expert showed me I was a jumped-up, obnoxious little get who wouldn't listen at home because of what happened at work. If I'd carried on the way I was," he says, "I would have destructed everything I had."Stress Test showed him addressing his players before a game."One of their staff was as rude as [beep] to us," he said. "So [beep]ing get on your [beep]ing toes. All my life I've been on a [beep]ing crusade. I want us [beep]ing focussed. Because you can [beep]ing win without being [beep]ing rude."To his deaf daughters, Holloway's furious gesticulations must have made him look like James Finlayson, the bald, apoplectic straight man to Laurel and Hardy, in one of their silent shorts. The painting was part of his therapy."I said, 'But I always have an original to copy.' They said, 'That's your problem.' I sprayed something on the paper and I thought, 'Oh God, I've ruined it.' By the end, I was throwing paint at it. Doing that picture set me free. I had always worried whether I was doing the right thing; always believed that nothing I did would ever be good enough. I realised all of that is bullshit. Most of my life," he adds, "is bullshit."You mean your life in football?"No, I'm talking about that perception I once had of what I ought or ought not to say. Now I feel I have got to tell it how it is."In one scene he faced the camera alone, talking about the effects of his explosive anger."Kim," Holloway said, in one scene from the programme - facing the camera alone, in an emotional state - "don't love the fella I am. A lot of things used to scare me. None of them do now. Only the fact that I might lose her. Without your family," he adds, "you've got nothing. I wouldn't want to carry on living without them. There would be no point."Kim, who has been his girlfriend since she was 14 years old, appears with coffee. "I used to shout her down," Holloway says. "I used to be vile."Has anyone mocked you for appearing on that programme?"Not to my face."Holloway - 5ft 8in tall and not heavily built - has had to rely on passion, integrity and commitment to gain the respect he commands in his dressing room, and throughout the game. Before he went into management nine years ago, he was a midfield player who gave devoted service to both Bristol Rovers and QPR - admired, it has to be said, for full-blooded endeavour rather than grace and flair.Was his anger worse, I ask Kim, when he became a manager?She laughs. "Just a bit.""Am I better now?" he inquires."Yes," she says."I nearly lost her twice," Holloway tells me. She was briefly engaged to someone else, when she was in her teens. Shortly after they married, Kim developed lymph cancer, from which she has fully recovered.Some years ago, I tell Holloway, I was having lunch with a group of football writers, when the conversation turned to the question of why Bobby Charlton never succeeded as a manager. "Because," somebody said, "he is not a bastard.""I don't believe that you need to be a shit," Holloway counters. "You have to be consistent, and strong, and your values need to be right. I live the way I want my players to be. I keep things in the open."If the fans love this eccentric, inspirational figure - and most do - it's because he embodies the kind of fierce loyalty usually associated with the terraces."I remember meeting him years ago, when he'd just taken over as manager at Bristol Rovers," says Steve Tongue, this newspaper's football correspondent. "I was early and I sat down to wait for him in his office. When he arrived, he made me exchange chairs with him because mine was blue and his was red [the colour of loathed rivals Bristol City]."Holloway also banned red vehicles from the training ground."When I was at Bristol Rovers," he says, "there was a journalist who wrote a match report where he said that if Bristol City had my two strikers - who, in that game, were rubbish - then City would be a team Bristol could be proud of. Oooof!""So," Kim calls through from the next room, "you dragged the poor sod in, didn't you?""I got him to the training ground. He didn't know why. I said: 'You are going to apologise to my team, you bastard.' I sat all my players down. I had the two centre halves stand up. I said: 'Right, now tell these two - who you only gave five out of 10 each - just how well you think they played, you asshole.'"Did that ensure more sympathetic coverage?"Well, he started killing me in the paper every week. From then on I said, 'OK, I'll laugh at myself. And I'll try to be honest.'"Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, near Bristol; his mother still lives in the same council house now. His father Bill, an outstanding amateur footballer, was a seaman, then a factory worker. Family, Holloway says, was everything to him."He never knew who his father was. When he was 14 he'd just lost the man he believed was his dad, in the Blitz. The life assurance rep knocked on the door and said: 'Is your step mum in, Bill?' That's how he learned he was adopted."Bill died of a heart attack aged 59, when Ian was 25."He never made a lot of money and at the end he was thinking: 'Oh God, I am a failure.' He actually said that on his death bed. He was so wrong. The destructive side I used to have that would not accept anything that wasn't perfect, I saw that in my dad."Holloway was due to play a match on the day his father died."I got in the car to go to the ground. I just sat there with the engine off, staring ahead of me, gripping the steering wheel. I decided not to go. Then I looked across, and I saw an indentation in the passenger seat. I swear to you that it was there. I put the key in the ignition."During the match, he says, "It was as if my dad was there alongside me. We won 4-0. It was the best game I'd had for years."At another critical stage in his life, he recalls, "I was driving along, and 'One Sweet Day', that Mariah Carey song about light 'shining down on you from heaven' came on the radio. The volume went up to the maximum. My car was full of light, and the tears were just pouring down my face. I was like a bloody river and yet I had never felt so good. It was as if someone had opened up my head, poured a load of love in, then put the top of my skull back down. When the song finished, the volume fell again. I swear to you on my kids' lives, that that happened." Again, he says, "it was as if Dad was there, looking after me."If ever Ian Holloway has needed the help of his spirit guide, it is now. The predominant theme in his life has been the struggle to fulfil his responsibilities as head of a household he cherishes. But, while his own domestic arrangements have stabilised, at Queens Park Rangers he has found himself presiding over an increasingly wild and dysfunctional family.Holloway became manager of an ailing QPR side in the spring of 2001, and was unable to save them from relegation to the game's third tier, then League Division Two. The club spent the following season in financial administration and survived by taking out a £10m loan from a Panamanian-registered company. In the summer of 2004 Holloway led Rangers back up into the Coca-Cola Championship. From their current position in the top-half of the table, QPR's more optimistic supporters have started to eye the Premiership above them.Holloway believes the only way he will become a manager at that level is to get QPR promoted. "Nobody," he says, "is going to want to hire a bumpkin from Bristol."Within the game, Holloway's achievement is recognised as extraordinary: if clubs were ranked by their financial means, QPR would be in the bottom four of the Championship. What success they have achieved is the result of the manager's ability to communicate his own galvanic commitment to his players.The £10m loan from the ABC Corporation of Panama carried a 10 per cent interest rate and the resulting annual payment of £1m horrified some directors. The deal was concluded under the reign of former chairman Nick Blackburn, who resigned in the summer of 2004. He was replaced by Bill Power, who was ousted by Gianni Paladini in August this year. Over the past two years, board members have departed with a frequency that is staggering. The surreal preliminaries to the Sheffield United game are indicative of the turmoil within the club, which at the time of writing has no chief executive."We had two people," Ian Holloway explains, "Gianni Paladini and Bill Power, in the highest positions and they had a great relationship. I liked them both. Their relationship has broken down and things aren't stable any more. I have never been a child who has been in a divorce. But now I feel like their kid."Until last year, Gianni Paladini was a Fifa-registered football agent, who represented high-profile players such as Benito Carbone and Fabrizio Ravanelli. He bought a 22 per cent stake in QPR for around £650,000, but is also closely linked to two Monaco consortiums, Wanlock and Barnaby Holdings, that have invested £1.7m in the club; together, they own 46 per cent of QPR.Paladini, now 60, was a striker on Napoli's books until injury forced him to retire at the age of 22. He settled in the Midlands in 1968, and build up a portfolio of restaurants and clubs. Certain aspects of his CV - the fact that he's a Neapolitan, who went from waiting on tables to owning nightclubs, and brokered many football deals in southern Italy - have led some to leap to stereotypical judgments. As Paladini said recently, "People must think there is Mafia involvement. But I want the best for QPR and I'm getting the right people to achieve this." The chairman describes allegations that he has signed players to QPR with a view to enriching his agent friends as "stupid".I ask Holloway how he gets on with Gianni Paladini."His personality is electric. You want to be in his company." At the same time, he says, "You wouldn't want to do anything wrong. He loves you or he hates you. When he loves you, there is no better company in the world. You can talk about Gianni being a waiter. You can talk about Gianni being Italian. You can talk about Gianni being an agent. But Gianni is a bloke. Gianni is a fella. A nice fella."What if you "do something wrong"?"If you upset him," Holloway explains, "he will hurl abuse at you. He doesn't mean it the following day. Hopefully I can help him learn from my experience of how I used to scream at deaf children."Does he swear in Italian?"Normally in English."Last year, Holloway recalls, he was at home, suffering from chronic diarrhoea, when he answered a call from Paladini."I was sat on the toilet - actually I couldn't leave the toilet. I had this virus. There had been rumours about me going to Wolves. Three days before, I'd bought flowers for some ladies in the office. Gianni assumed they were a leaving present."So you were on the toilet..."And Gianni was going: 'You fucking bastard I am going to kill you. I am going to kill you, you fucking bastard... where are you, you fucking... fucking hell where are you.'"And you said..."I am on the toilet. My wife is in the house. Ask her. He said: 'She could be at fucking Wolves with you.'"In the end, Holloway says, he had to drive up to Leeds, to reassure the Italian. It was a journey he remembers."It was a terrible virus. It was coming out of both ends. I had to stop at every service station. I shouldn't have gone. It was horrendous. I was totally dehydrated. My lips were stuck to my teeth. I ended up in hospital, the following day. I was in for a week. I had six drips put into me."It wouldn't be reasonable to invite any manager to criticise his chairman in public, but..."Well I have seen people saying Holloway 'supports' Gianni Paladini. Holloway supports QPR. But I am a man of principle. If I thought there was any just cause for [the unease some have voiced about the Italian], I wouldn't be here."Scotland Yard, Holloway points out, "has been looking into everything that's happened at the club. If there was anything untoward Mr Paladini had done, would he still be where he is?"It can't be pleasant to be under such scrutiny."It isn't. As a football manager you are like... a doorstop."A doorstop?"You are in between the floor and the door. There's the board of directors, and the fans and the players, trying to push the door."So who does the door represent - the board?"Sorry?"Is the board the door?"Well you've got the door and the floor. I am the wedge. And someone is trying to force the door. But really it needs to be the other way round, because the board are above me."But who is the door? (omega)"Er... OK... forget the door." Holloway draws a triangle in the air. "I am in a three-way struggle involving the fans, the players and the board. I don't know of anybody else who has been in this situation, ever."You did once say that you can never have complete harmony at a football club."Yes. But there is a difference between complete harmony and complete chaos."And at QPR is it complete..."Everybody out there makes it look like it's complete chaos." Gianni Paladini, says Holloway, "is Caesar and at the minute the old thumb is wobbling. The crowd are going wait a minute. I want to be Maximus. But I get a bit of a waft of fish sometimes."This is a volatile situation that can communicate itself to the players via the fans - that's what you're saying?"Yes. Normally you need support when things are going wrong. That is what I've found in my own life. I've needed the support of my wife and family. To me, if you're a football supporter, your love should be unconditional."I'd expected to talk to Ian Holloway for 90 minutes. In the end we are together for four hours, during which time he covers - as well as such topics as the 4-5-1 formation, Sven Goran Eriksson and QPR's increased season ticket prices - the questions of divine fallibility and the theory of evolution."We are an offshoot of apes - allegedly - but who knows? We don't really, do we? How long have we been on this planet?" Holloway muses. "How long are we going to be here? What is it all about? We reproduce. Our offspring carry on. But that will only happen for a limited time. Before the whole thing blows up and we are sucked into a black hole. You know what I mean?"The QPR manager will explore such themes further in his forthcoming autobiography, titled Thanks, Steve."I went to Southampton the other week, with Kim. These kids shouted, 'Oh Holloway, you're a legend. Sign this.' Then they said, 'Thanks, Steve.' It was the same in the Chinese chip shop when I was at Bristol Rovers. They started off by calling me 'Horroway'. But before long it was: 'Salt and vinegar, Steve? How much you earn, Steve?' Why," Holloway asks, "is it always Steve?"At various points during our conversation he speaks of his admiration for Jose Mourinho who - with his inexhaustible transfer budget and terse, supercilious manner - is, in many respects, everything Ian Holloway isn't."Even to be in Mourinho's company must be amazing," he says. "When he gets doubts, how long do they stay in his head? What support does he have to help him banish those doubts?"About £2.1bn and a club with more power than any in the history of the game, I suggest."But he still has to get those grossly paid players to perform."Of the two, I know whose history I find more inspirational, and who I'd rather have as a dinner companion, manager, or friend, and he wasn't born in Setubal. There's no doubt which of the managers is going to have the more captivatingly unpredictable season. It could, I suggest, be a very long year for Ian: there will be little or no money for fancy signings, and the ongoing police inquiry, like the Paladini libel suit, is guaranteed to keep the club in the headlines for the least enviable reasons."The things that matter to me," he says, "are commitment and trust. So the last few months haven't been easy. I don't know what to trust, or what to think, or what to do. It might turn out that certain alleged facts are true. I don't know yet. But I do know that I won't work without trust. I have to believe."What can he teach his players from his own experience?"That winners are made, not born. And that winners are made by not fearing. I can sense fear in the eyes of players. I could see it in Kim's eyes when she had cancer. I have dealt with fear," Holloway adds, "all my life. My own fear has been a selfish dread that I might not be good enough."But life, he continues, "is like the The Emperor's New Clothes. Don't you think that story says it all? I think part of all of us has doubts. Because of the animal that we are. You can't take away from the fact that we are an animal. Aren't we? This is a sofa," Holloway continues. "I am an animal. But we have evolved into sitting by the fire, and thinking, and to be fair when you see a fire... it does make you... you know if chimps had done that, maybe they would be the ones..."Hang on - if chimps had done what?"They'd found fire before... it was us that found fire, wasn't it?"I think Holloway can see that his Emperor's New Clothes monologue has left me slightly perplexed."My main ambition," he goes on, "is to leave this planet knowing that I gave my best and that I was there for my children. And I am trying to make them independent and able to live happily, for many years after I have gone. By the way," he adds, as I'm getting up to leave. "You're stark, bollock naked, mate."http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article324844.ece
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Barnaby Holdlings Buys ex-Chairman, Bill Powers' Shares
QPR Official Site - BARNABY HOLDINGSBarnaby Holdings have increased their shareholding in Queens Park Rangers.The consortium, which already enjoyed a 10% stake in the Club, have purchased the shareholding of former Chairman Bill Power for a sum in the region of £1.1million.This now takes their overall stake in the Club to 27.8%.QPR Chairman Gianni Paladini is delighted with the news and believes it underlines Barnaby's commitment to the Club."Barnaby are investing in both the short and long term future of Queens Park Rangers and I am very pleased to know that they share my optimism about the prospects for this great club."I would also like to personally thank Bill Power for everything he has done and although he is no longer financially involved, he will always be a big part of the club and someone I will always love and respect."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~736268,00.html
BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)
Posted on This Board last year...Watcher_of_the_game Posted on 7/2 12:54 re: FAO Bp one quick question though BP.How much power (no pun intended) do you really have at QPR? We know that you invested into the club but it was, by football standards, quite minimal. As the board is heavily influenced by the Monaco consortium who I presume are all quite rich and probbally more waelthy than yourself, how is the power divided?If the Monaco boys wanted something to happen and said they would withdraw all thier money if they didn't get it, would they get what they want? bp650 Posted on 7/2 13:07 frightening as it may seem....... to some and in particular me. The answer to that question is I am where the buck stops, we do talk thru' things but if its down to a vote that is divided it is me.I actually posted this when asked about board meetings very recently on here following an item by Billy Rice on the offish site.Board meetings are held at the club monthly and normally involve Kevin, Mark, Chris P and myself.Wanlock is a pure investment group who having looked at the way the club is now run and with its potential for growth invested. They have never involved themselves with the running of the club although we send them monthly reports including the minutes of board meetings.If they want to get their money out it is up to them to sell their shares. If you're interested I can let them know?
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Tracy_S Posted on 16/10 10:51
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re: BP on Wanlock and Board power (from last year)
bp also posted the following in January of this year."Board meetings are held monthly, the decision makers are always there, whether it is of any comfort to some I'm not sure but those people and them alone, Myself, Kevin McGrath, Mark Devlin and Chris Pennington discuss and decide all topics regarding the workings of QPR.I can categorically state that Moorbound, Barnaby and Wanlock have not interfered on a single occasion, but have continually offered any assistance they can including financially way beyond the recent offer that was fronted by Ross Jones."How things change eh?
http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533519295
October 13, 2005
Paladini Interviewed
Paladini on his plans on Holloway, on BP, etcExclusive Gianni Paladini interviewKilburn Times/Camden Times nwl.sport@archant.co.uk12 October 2005 QPR chairman Gianni Paladini NEW QPR chairman Gianni Paladini has revealed his plans for the club in an exclusive interview with the Times, writes Ben Kosky.Paladini, who was already Rangers' majority shareholder, took over last month after winning a boardroom battle with previous chairman Bill Power.The Italian explains why he has adopted a 'hands-on' role in the day-to-day running of the club since the departure of chief executive Mark Devlin.Paladini also believes he can make Rangers a profitable company - and pledges that if he fails, the shortfall will be made up by himself and fellow major shareholders.And the Rangers chairman plans to reintroduce a family section at Loftus Road, possibly as soon as next week, to counter falling attendances since the summer rise in ticket prices.Read the full interview in this week's Times.Full article posted at http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threadsandp=119508andt=36750
Link : Paladini Interviewed
Among the interesting comments...!"... I've had discussions with Ian Holloway about his new contract - .... Ian can be my best friend and I love him to bits, I'd do anything for him and he does the same for me, he's been sticking with me through the tough times."He knows I back him 100 per cent,... "Opinion among fans was divided as to whether Bill Power or yourself should be chairman of QPR. How would you convince the doubters?"I must tell the truth - since I've been here there isn't one fan who's come to me with a bad word to say. .. If you talk to Bill now, he enjoys coming to watch a game and knowing it's not his responsibility."I had a fantastic relationship with Bill Power and Kevin McGrath, I respect them and that will always be the same. .."
http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533539409
call spin control if you want, but at the moment he is the only thing we have > TO say the Loftus Road boardroom has seen a degree of turbulence so far > this > season would be a severe understatement.Three chairmen, the departure of > the club's chief executive and a police > investigation give off the odour of Dream Team or Footballers' Wives plot > lines rather than real-life events at Queens Park Rangers.But the dust > appears to be settling, with majority shareholder Gianni > Paladini now installed as QPR chairman and keen to discuss the future of > the > club.Here the one-time Napoli youth team player and former agent > exclusively > reveals to the Times his thoughts on managing and financing the club, his > plans to bring back its' 'missing' fans and keep Rangers in their > traditional heartland.Attendances have dropped by around 2,000 since > ticket prices went up in the > summer - what can you do to reverse this?"Right now I'm trying to work out > the best thing to do, to facilitate people > who are not coming to the ground without upsetting people who already > bought > the tickets. We have to be fair to them - they paid a lot of money."Maybe > we can do something next season to make it up with people who feel > they've been overcharged and we definitely need to do something for the > children. I'm trying to work out a way that we can use one section of the > ground as a family section."If we have one section where we can > exclusively sell to families and kids, I > will do it, guaranteed. I don't know if we can do that in time for > Plymouth, > but I'll see if I can do something for the game after that."Presumably > your ambition is to be a Premier League chairman in the near > future. Have you set a timescale for achieving that?"I don't put any > pressure on anybody. At the start of the season, we felt we > had a chance to improve on last year and when all the players come back > fully fit, we are a decent team, competitive enough to be in the > play-offs."If it's not this year, we'll try again next year until we get > there. I've > had discussions with Ian Holloway about his new contract - we've been > together for the last 18 months and we are moving forward. Ian can be my > best friend and I love him to bits, I'd do anything for him and he does > the > same for me, he's been sticking with me through the tough times."He knows > I back him 100 per cent, he knows the way I think and he knows > there is only one way - to be successful."I try to help him as much as I > can and we will get in the Premier League > together."Opinion among fans was divided as to whether Bill Power or > yourself should > be chairman of QPR. How would you convince the doubters?"I must tell the > truth - since I've been here there isn't one fan who's come > to me with a bad word to say. Bill Power is a fan. What's the dream for a > football fan? To have one of them at the helm of a football club."But > sometimes it doesn't work because you can be personally affected. If you > talk to Bill now, he enjoys coming to watch a game and knowing it's not > his > responsibility."I had a fantastic relationship with Bill Power and Kevin > McGrath, I respect > them and that will always be the same. Bill and Kevin didn't do anything > wrong, but things change and it was time for us to have a go ourselves."My > way is different - I look at this as a business, to be successful and if > I don't do that, I fail, I put my hands up and goodbye. If there's someone > out there who thinks they can do a better job, buy us all out."But why > didn't they come before, when the club was in a lower division and > they'd have had to pay the taxman's bill or the club would be closed down > and forget about promotion?"QPR have been losing money for several years. > Can you see the club breaking > even or even making a profit in the near future?"Forget the past - it's up > to us now and there's no more sweet sugar daddy, > it's all on the shoulders of myself and my other partners, Barnaby and > Wanlock. I'm protecting my own investment and by doing that, I'm > protecting > QPR as well, simple as that."We'll try to take this club forward and make > sure that, in a year or two, we > run it as a profit-maker. If we lose money at the end of the season, there > won't be the old situation where I need to borrow this or that - it's our > fault and we put in money out of our own pockets."If we are successful, > QPR are successful, the fans will be happy and there's > no secret agenda, no skeletons. I couldn't get any help in England, so I > relied on one of my best friends, someone I'd known for years, > [businessman] Antonio Caliendo."I asked Antonio to help me out and he came > up with Dunga, he found > [Monaco-based consortia] Barnaby and Wanlock and they put in money to help > QPR survive."It's no secret that Dunga put money in out of his own pocket > to help me, > because I've known him for many years, as well as Juninho, Branco and lots > of players from Brazil."How is the club being run since Mark Devlin was > made redundant?"We got rid of the chief executive position because I think > we couldn't > afford it. I don't follow the idea of a chief executive or managing > director > or general manager - it's our money, it's our job to be here and make sure > the club is run properly."When I came here there were 54 people on the > staff and the wage bill was > bigger than the wage bill of the playing staff - how can you sustain that? > Now everything functions okay and the club is under control."I've been 30 > years in football and I'm here every day. There are others who > are employed by the people from Monte Carlo and they pay their own way - > it > doesn't cost QPR anything."Long-term, do you see QPR staying at Loftus > Road or moving to a new stadium?"If you've got no money and you're driving > a Mini, you always see someone in > a Rolls Royce and you wish you could buy that. When I go to Southampton, > Leicester and Coventry, then I come to White City and I see workmen > building, I wish they were building a new Loftus Road."We can't build > anything at Loftus Road - we already tried that and there's > no chance to make this football ground bigger, it's impossible. So the > only > alternative would be to move and if not, we stay here and that's not so > bad."If someone said 'I'll give you a brand new football ground down the > road for > 50,000 people, pay off the loan and give you some spare money to buy > players' - then it would be good business and you'd be a fool not to agree > to that."But it must be not far away. The moment you move QPR to a > different area, > there's no more QPR and then it's just like Wimbledon."This football club > has a fantastic history and I cannot come here and change > all this by moving the club to Hyde Park - it's a lovely park, but I don't > think you can play football there. The fans can rest assured, this will > never, never happen as long as I'm alive."
http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=119508&t=36750
