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Paladini


Official Site - AUGUST 1, 2006

Having just returned from the R's pre-season tour of Italy, QPR Chairman Gianni Paladini can't wait for the big kick-off."The trip to Sorrento was a great success, providing the players and coaching staff with an opportunity for some intense training and team bonding.
"Despite the players staying in one of the town's grandest hotels, and having been fitted with brand new QPR tailor-made suits for every player, the trip paid for itself and the Club even managed to make a tiny profit from it.
"Gary, Macca and the coaching staff are now ready for the new season. I believe we have a much improved squad, with summer signings including Armel Tchakounte, Jamaican international defender Damion Stewart, Egutu Oliseh, Adam Czerkas and the much talked about Nicky Ward, and the important re-signing of Lee Cook for two more years.
"Many of last season's first team have improved over pre-season and it has been particularly pleasing to see Martin Rowlands back to full fitness. A number of the youth squad have made tremendous steps forward during pre-season and will be fighting for places in Gary's first team.
"It is frustrating that, despite all the hard work everyone has been doing during pre-season, a tiny minority of people seem intent on damaging team morale and destroying the Club in the run up to our important first game.
"Not only have they once again invented wholly false rumours about the state of the Club, but unfortunately a couple of journalists with a record of writing stories against QPR, and with links to some of the individuals intent on destabilising the Club, have blown up these rumours and made up stories from nothing.
"Last week it was suggested in some of the press that we were putting QPR up for sale. Unfortunately the journalists responsible for this story failed to even check the official statement from Antonio Caliendo, Chairman of Holdings, on the Club's official website, making clear the Board's continued commitment to QPR.
"I have always said if someone with QPR's best interests at heart wants to come along and buy out the existing Board we would not stand in their way. Nothing has changed and nobody has come forward. We will continue to seek out new investors to take the Club even further forward, but as Antonio made clear last week, we are committed to QPR.
"The Club is in a better financial position than it has been in for a number of years. Things are still tough, but we have reduced the annual debt by millions and intend to reduce it further. Yet ridiculous rumours still seem to be invented by a few people for reasons beyond me.
"The latest is the absurd rumour suggested on a message board that the players were locked out of the Harlington training ground, when in fact Gary Waddock had just given them the day off as they had only recently arrived back from a busy schedule in Italy.
"The same newspaper that had to apologise for a series of inaccurate stories about me last season, the Evening Standard, then chose to repeat this wholly false rumour as fact without even checking with me, the coaching staff, or even Imperial College - the owners of the training ground.
"In an article by a journalist named Wayne Vesey, under the headline 'Locked-out Rangers are unable to train' the Standard claimed that the Club was locked out of the training ground on Monday. Such a clearly false statement damages the reputation of the Club, and the morale of the players and supporters. I have been advised it is libellous and our lawyers will be contacting the Standard immediately to demand a retraction.
"QPR fans will ask themselves why should people invent such rumours? The purpose can only be to destabilise the Club and to injure the morale of players and fans just days before the season kicks off. The Club will not allow another season to be derailed by these people.
"The Board, Gary Waddock and the coaching staff, and the players and other members of staff, are all united in our focus to move this great club forward and to achieve success this season on the pitch. We believe we have the squad and the resources to do so. We will not allow a tiny group of people, driven by an agenda that has nothing to do with football, to destroy this Club.
"I urge all fans to treat such rumour-mongers with the contempt and scepticism they deserve. They have been claiming we would go into administration every week for the past year, and they never admit they are wrong when we don't.
"They claimed we were locked out of the training ground before and even that the groundsmen would not cut the grass at the stadium. They predicted we would spend all the Club's money on agents' fees when we have spent less than nearly any other club in this division. They predicted we would sell off Loftus Road and all our best players because we could not afford their wages.
"Just yesterday they claimed we were locked out of the training ground because we could not afford the rent; but today, as scheduled, our players are training at the training ground. On each and every occasion their rumours have been proven false.
"As I believe you say in England, when someone cries wolf so many times, people stop listening. But every time the rumour-mongers are proven wrong they invent another rumour, so desperate to be proven right and for the Club to fail.
"For the last time I say to those who's criticism of the Board has developed into an agenda to undermine the Club, if you know of a better alternative to take QPR forward with the necessary funding to support it, then please let us know. Otherwise stop pursuing a divisive and destructive agenda. The Board, the players and staff and the thousands of fans of QPR will not allow a small selfish group to ruin the season for the rest of us.
"I know most QPR fans will be sensible enough to take every rumour and press speculation with a hefty pinch of salt. We seem to be in the 'silly season' right now - only today I saw an article in the Mirror claiming I had rejected an offer of £3million for Danny Shittu from Wolves and would only sell him for £10 million.
"The story is, of course, rubbish. As I have said all along, we don't want to sell Danny, but if someone comes in with an offer of £3million or above it will be up to him to decide. Nobody has made such an offer and so Danny will be starting the season with us.
"So as we prepare for the opening game at Burnley on Saturday, and then two exciting home games against Leeds United and newly promoted Southend United, I cannot wait for the football to start and for the players to do the talking on the pitch."And I urge every single QPR fan to get fully behind Gary and the boys and help them to turn this into a glorious season. Come on You R's!''
Gianni Paladini
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~875457,00.html

TURNOVER
Mark Devlin
Mike Pink
Communications Manager, Phil Harris

QPR1st News Update -Latest news update October 15, 2005.....The most recent annual return is up to May 13th 2005 .....The addresses of Wanlock and Barnaby are both in the financial district of New York [Albany, NY]. Barnaby holdings is based at the offices of USA Corporate Services Inc. Wanlock's address has several offices, including a law firm and an accountant. Both companies are LLC's (Limited Liability Companies).http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=35

Holloway After the Hull Game (Nov 26)
Holloway again bemoaned the behind-the-scenes problems at Loftus Road.
Gianni Paladini recently became chairman after a power struggle and a Monaco-based group now control the club.
Holloway said: "I'm just waiting for some direction. "Tell me another manager that has had to put up with what I have had to put up with. "I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall and it doesn't half hurt. "Why am I still here? It isn't because of the money, it's because of the passion I have and the belief I have in this club." http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/05/11/26/SOCCER_QPR_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1


HOLLOWAY
."Holloway offered few words about Gianni Paladini's decision to take legal action against the Evening Standard newspaper after a series of articles questioning the club's dealings with agents.However, the boss is firmly backing the chairman. He said: "One certain paper should just shut up because their facts are so wrong. So wrong, it's scary. "You do not quote five years' worth of agents' fees and call it a year. That's what's presumed, so it'll be very interesting to see what happens with that."http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/content/camden/kilburntimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportklbt&itemid=WeED05%20Oct%202005%2011%3A36%3A33%3A130

HOLLOWAY ON PALADINI & BP

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."....
.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....

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.".....http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article324844.ece



Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Highlights of Holloway's Q&AQPR OFFICIAL SITE- QPR World Interview with Ian HollowayWhat’s Going on With Richard Langley I didn't want to lose him and I'm the one who brought him back because I believe he will be, in the future, a fantastic ball playing midfielder.I want him to be able to go forward and back as I want the right balance. Chelsea have got people like Frank Lampard who can do both jobs.Richard isn't as fit as he should be both physically and mentally. Sometimes he can be a bit hesitant and that's not the Richard I know. He had a slight calf strain before the Preston game so he couldn't take part, but he had been involved before then and has been on the bench since.Can you play Langley and Rowlands together?There's no reason why I can't see it in the future. I think Rowlands is sadly missed at the moment. He gives us balance and closes better than anyone I've got when we haven't got the ball. Sometimes my other midfielders don't do that.My choices in midfield are something to be proud of. As long as I've got one or two of them on the bench they will put pressure on those out there.Why do you make substitutions so late on in games?I wanted to bring Georges Santos on the other day against Plymouth, but by the time I got him on there wasn't any time left as the fourth official had told me a bit of a porkie.If we're getting back in the game and creating chances, then I like to change it and I've got good help in my coaches.A lot of the team who is playing didn't have a complete full season. Dean Sturridge is trying to get fit by playing games, which isn't ideal.I've never picked a team that I don't believe is right for the team we are playing against. If it doesn't work I have to sit back and put my hands up and take responsibility.Has Georges Santos got a clause in his contract that says he has to play?No he hasn't, he's a fantastic war horse for us. He's been a great player for us, for nothing, but I think that's very unfair and harsh.He does make mistakes and when he does they are glaring. But I think he's performing above some of the others I've got here at the moment.Do you get a stiff neck talking to all the tall players we've got now?I make sure they all sit down first! But I am trying to increase the size of my players. Our back line used to be far too small. You've only got to look at the Premiership boys to see how big they are.In the modern day game you have to win the ball in both boxes. Peter Crouch has proved that you can have the height and a great touch.Is there a possibility that we could play a more attacking midfield?It depends who we're playing, who's fit, the report I get on the opposition and it depends on the week we're having on the training ground. I need a creative midfield but they need to be able to defend as well.You have to be fit to play the way I want, which is high tempo and a lot of closing down. Having just seen the video of our game against Norwich, I must say I thought our passing game was very good.I think Tommy Doherty will get better, but this is all about having options and being unpredictable for your opposition.What is your footballing philosophy and have you ever sent out a team to express it?I'd want to play similar to Chelsea but in Arsenal's formation. Vieira used to go forward for them but they're lacking that now. I love the way they get the ball down and pass it.You're only as strong as your weakest link and sometimes you break down, but I think we're getting better.Paul Furlong hasn't really been on form, why are you persevering with him?The fact is he hasn't scored as many, but his link play is still there. He was hated when he came here and then became a legend last season. But for me he's proving irreplaceable.If Swansea can turn down £1m for Lee Trundell how am I going to replace Paul Furlong?Yes we need to move past Paul Furlong eventually, but I need to have everybody fit. Have we got enough strength in depth? No, I don't think so.Scott Donnelly shouldn't have to be playing on a regular basis at the age of 16, I'll bet there isn't someone that age anywhere else in the Championship playing at that age.It's the most expensive place on the field and look at how much we've had to spend on it. If Furlong was still 26 how much would he be worth?I'll drop players as I see fit, and I'll stand and fall on my decisions.Do you feel under pressure?That's part of the job, but I don't like it when I hear people saying not to believe me because I'm just trying to get a new contract. I don't control the board I just pick the side.I've had four chairman, two Chief Executives and now I don't have one. But at the end of the day, QPR fans still have a club and that's one thing I'm proud of - totally.I have got the hump from the weekend because I believe certain things aren't right, there are rumours. But this will all take care of itself. You'll all know what happened, it will all be there. All you have to worry about is judging our players fairly.If I had to leave today I'd be very proud of what my team and staff, past and present, have achieved.Who has been a major factor for this club?It's everyone who buys a ticket - so don't leave us. If you don't agree with team selection, no problem. But don't pick sides in an argument you don't know anything about.Will we see any players coming in or out in the next transfer window?The board are trying to sort out all the bills at the moment. But I've been told I can look for some signings in the January transfer window, I just don't know how much I've got.As for letting people go, there are some who aren't happy and have been out on loan and might not like having to fight for a place here.What is the situation with Shabazz Baidoo?We had the chance to send him to Lincoln, but you can't loan scholars out. When he's 17 we can make him a pro and he can go out on loan then. He's working on his finishing and improving very quickly.It's hard to say how close he is, but that's up to him. We nicked him from Arsenal but he's been brought up our way and he seems very positive.There was a rumour that West Ham wanted him but that was just a rumour. I spoke to Alan Pardew and he assured me it wasn't the case.What's the latest on your future with the club?Gianni said he wanted to give some stability to the club, but I feel the most important thing is that the board get sorted and I get some direction regarding the future because that's what matters to the fans.My focus is on the team more than myself. If the board wants to talk to my agent that's fine, but I want to put that on the back burner. I'm more than happy to work for the new board in the same way that I was happy to work for the last board.As long as whoever is in charge is happy to pick up the baton and run with it, I'm happy to work for them.Do you want to increase the size of the squad and in what position?I've got some loan signings lined up if people get injured and we're also looking at some targets. The most I've ever spent was borrowed from a fan and that was £250,000Do you think Marc Nygaard can be a replacement for Furlong eventually?Well he's a different sort of player to Furs, it may be that I need two players to replace him when that day comes. But he's a great player, he's fresh and he's hungry.What did you think of the booing directed at Georges Santos last Saturday?Some players are liked and some aren't, but I don't understand it. If they were booing when he scored then they have a serious problem.What's the latest with the loan signings?Adam Miller and Aaron Brown have been sent back but Marcus Bean is still at Swansea and is doing very well. His contract is up at the end of the season but for now I think it's good for him to be there getting some experience.Have you ever considered watching the game from the Director's Box to get a different view?I have done it before, but I'm a bit superstitious and we've never done well when I'm up there. Plus I feel that the team need the encouragement of the coaches being down there on the touch line.http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~732152,00.html# posted by Administrator @ 11:44 AM 0 comments

PALADINI ON DUNGA BUYING SHARESDunga (supposedly) buys £1.1million stake in QPRThe 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



BILL POWER
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 IP: LoggedTracy_S Posted on 16/10 10:51Email this Message Replyre: 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



The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road -(David Conn/The Guardian)The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus RoadDavid Conn, sports news reporter of the year Wednesday October 19, 2005 The GuardianWe know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since. Now, after a string of boardroom showdowns, the club is run by Gianni Paladini, an Italian former players' agent and, increasingly, Antonio Caliendo, the one-time Mr Big of Italian agents who in 1991 received a 10-month suspended prison sentence for attempted corruption. QPR are mostly owned by two New York-registered companies, Barnaby and Wenlock, who operate from Monte Carlo. "I have fallen in love with Queens Park Rangers, its name and history," Caliendo told me, through an interpreter, this week. "We want to rebuild it both as a team and a business." Caliendo, 61, found early success selling encyclopaedias door-to-door, rose up the ranks of the De Agostini publishing group, then in 1979 fixed what were thought to be the first personal endorsements by an Italian footballer, for the international playmaker Giancarlo Antognoni. Caliendo claims that in the 1990 World Cup final between West Germany and Argentina, he represented 12 of the 22 players on the pitch, but he also dates his troubles in Italy from the same year, after his client Roberto Baggio's move from Fiorentina to Juventus, which provoked riots by Fiorentina fans. In 1991, officers from the Italian tax authorities raided Caliendo's offices, he was arrested, then on May 30 he did a deal, accepting a 10-month suspended prison sentence for attempted corruption. Caliendo told me he is intensely proud of his record and defends his reputation for "moral integrity" absolutely. He said he accepted the conviction only on his solicitor's advice, to secure a quick release from prison, and considered suing the government. A year later, in July 1992, an investigation into the collapse of the Italian club, Hellas Verona, led to Caliendo, among others, being arrested and remanded in custody, but, after a long investigation, he was not prosecuted. "I was never convicted of anything in relation to Verona," Caliendo said. "Several high-profile figures were attacked by the Revenue in Italy at that time." Caliendo said he is ready to "accept new challenges", and, like Paladini, a long-term associate, has given up his agent's licence to become fully involved at Loftus Road. Caliendo is shortly expected to become the club's new chairman. It is expected he will pass the Football League's "fit and proper person test" for directors, because his criminal conviction dates from long enough ago to be regarded as spent. QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division. In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud. In July 2003 a QPR fan and businessman, Bill Power, born and bred in Shepherd's Bush, bought some unissued shares and joined the board; QPR rallied and, with Ian Holloway their manager, won promotion to the Championship. Gianni Paladini told me that, like Caliendo, he was looking for a new challenge, and examined Port Vale and Derby - which also has a loan from the ABC Corporation, £15m - then eventually offered £670,000 for 10% of QPR. The club, facing another red tax bill, accepted the investment hungrily. This barely staunched the financial problems, however, so then, arranged by Caliendo, the two New York-registered vehicles, Barnaby and Wenlock, paid £1.7m for 29.9% of QPR, most of which went straight to the tax man. In August, following boardroom upheavals, Power quit, Mark Devlin was made redundant as chief executive, and the last London-based director, Kevin McGrath, resigned last month. QPR's directors now are Paladini, the former Brazil captain Dunga, representing Barnaby, and Gualtiero Trucco, a 34-year-old based in Monte Carlo, representing Wenlock. The club and its fans are reeling from a series of revelations, particularly about ballooning agents' fees paid out since Paladini became more closely involved. In the six months to June 30 2004, the Football League's list of agents' payments show QPR paid just £12,000 altogether. Then, from July 1 2004 to June 30 this year, QPR paid £320,935 in fees. Many of the payments were to agents who are friends or former associates of Paladini. Brian Hassall, a Midlands-based agent, was involved in a long-running legal claim against Paladini, which was eventually settled, and he was paid the highest single fee, £60,000, when QPR signed the Danish striker Marc Nygaard at the beginning of this season. Paladini told me the payment was absolutely legitimate and not connected to his legal battle: "Brian and I settled it, now we are friends, and of course I deal with people I know. Ian Holloway was looking for a big lad, Nygaard was at Brescia, I checked him out with Roberto Baggio, who said he would be perfect for English football. When you sign a player, you pay agents, that's how football works. Now, after all this fuss, we will try not to do it in future, but all the deals were above board and in the best interests of QPR." All the agents' payments are understood to have been registered with the League, as required by the rules, except one, £10,000 paid to Paladini's close friend Mel Eves when QPR signed Dean Sturridge from Wolves. Paladini explained that Eves was acting for QPR as a dealmaker and so the payment did not need to be registered. The League is understood to have discussed QPR's situation with the FA's financial advisory unit, but neither the FA nor the League is taking any action currently. "We are monitoring the situation," a League spokesman said. Paladini told me that he, Caliendo and the investors, are the only game in town: "What have we done wrong? Put money in to save this club? We want the club to succeed, then everybody, including the investors, will be happy." Talks have begun with a developer about possibly relocating from Loftus Road and building a new stadium in White City, which may clear QPR's financial problems and make them money. Paladini said he could understand, "100%", fans worrying that, in the hands of former agents, their club might be used to make money by moving players in and out. But he said: "Nothing under the table is going on. If anybody thinks there is, let them bring the evidence. But, actually, isn't it better to have people in who know football and have made a living out of it? Clubs got into a mess partly because rich people, who knew nothing about football, put money in - and they got ripped off." davidconn@guardian.co.uk.Additional research: John Hooper. Burns' Hoop nightmare When Lord Terry Burns was appointed last year to undertake the "structural review" of football's governing body, the FA, we were told he was a Queens Park Rangers fan; he was also a director of the club through its troubles, appointed by his old university friend, Chris Wright, in 1996, staying on the board until March 2001. QPR went into administration a month later and has still not recovered. Surprising, then, that Burns' mind-numbingly dull report, delivered in August, which focused on bureaucratic minutiae, seemed so uninformed by what might have been a formatively traumatic experience at QPR. "Football in general," he wrote, "continues to enjoy very good health in England." The next day at QPR's first match of the season against Sheffield United, Gianni Paladini was allegedly held up at gunpoint, an incident over which four men have been charged. Burns did not want to talk publicly this week about his time at QPR. As a non-executive director of the football club, it is understood he was largely "meeting and greeting" opposing clubs' directors on matchdays, but he was consulted on financial issues, the appointment of managers and major signings. Burns' structural review, however, deals only indirectly with clubs' financial management, and not at all with the financial gap between the Premier League and Football League, so damaging for clubs such as QPR. And his main answer to the FA's struggles to govern the game? Ah yes: appoint non-executive directors to the board. http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1595541,00.htm l?gusrc=rss

PALADINI PROMISING HOLLOWAY MONEY
Paladini Promises Holloway Funds for JanuaryBen 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


Thursday, November 03, 2005 Barnaby Holdlings Buys ex-Chairman, Bill Powers' SharesQPR 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


Paladini InterviewedPaladini 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=36750Link : 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=533539409call 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


PALADINI
QPR 1st's Meeting with Paladini & Caliendo - ReportMinutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005http://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


Gianni Paladini InterviewedKilburn TimesExclusive -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.http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/content/camden/kilburntimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportklbt&itemid=WeED12%20Oct%202005%2013%3A11%3A32%3A930Full Interview/Article posted at http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threadsandp=119508andt=36750


."Holloway offered few words about Gianni Paladini's decision to take legal action against the Evening Standard newspaper after a series of articles questioning the club's dealings with agents.However, the boss is firmly backing the chairman. He said: "One certain paper should just shut up because their facts are so wrong. So wrong, it's scary. "You do not quote five years' worth of agents' fees and call it a year. That's what's presumed, so it'll be very interesting to see what happens with that." http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/content/camden/kilburntimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportklbt&itemid=WeED05%20Oct%202005%2011%3A36%3A33%3A130

SEPTEMBER 29 - STANDARD ON QPRjulia_ Posted on 29/9 13:53Email this Message ReplyStandard articleThis is most of it, I'll post the rest later if I have time.PALADINI TIGHTENS HIS GRIP ON QPRGianni Paladini is poised to strengthen his control of Queens Park Rangers after it emerged today that former chairman Bill Power has agreed to sell his shares in the club.Wanlock and Barnaby Holdings, the two mysterious Monaco-based consortiums behind Paladini, have agreed a deal to buy Power's 19.5% stake which is worth around £1.2million.That takes Paladini, Wanlock and Barnaby way beyond the crucial 50% shareholding mark, giving the former football agent a free reign at the club.Paladini was appointed QPR chairman at a board meeting yesterday afternoon in succession to Power, who was dramatically removed last month.Lifelong fan Power, who has also resigned as a director, will now sever his links with the club by selling his shares to the new board. "They said they want to buy them," Power told Standard Sport today. "I wanted to sell. Part of the agreement when you buy shares is you have to offer them back to the club first."I'm not involved at QPR any more so it's pointless having my money tied up there. It gives someone else the chance to buy into the club."Paladini revealed Wanlock and Barnaby had reached an agreement with Power. He said: "The Monaco people are buying Bill Power's shares. Everything has been agreed and it's now in the hands of the solicitors."THE TRUTH BEHIND THE PALADINI POWER GAMEHow the former club chairman and chief executive were ousted in an extraordinary and clinical boardroom coup, reports Raoul Simons.Gianni Paladini's boardroom coup at Queens park Rangers is complete following his appointment as club chairman. And with his Monaco-based backers poised to buy predecessor Bill Power's 19.5% stake in the club, the Italian businessman is now in total control.But the extraordinary way the former agent and his associates prepared the ground for their dramatic seizure of power at Loftus Road can today be revealed for the first time.Standard 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.The meeting was held just 11 days after a gang of men allegedly held Paladini at gunpoint at Loftus Road - now the subject of criminal proceedings.For 90 minutes it was business as usual. Then finance chief Pennington delivered a report in which he claimed the club were on course to lose nearly £2million this year, mainly due to increased player costs.As revealed by Standard Sport last week, the club have vastly increased payments to agents since Paladini bought 16% of QPR last year.At 2.30pm Calinedo left the meeting just as the final item on the agenda, "Examination and modification of the management structure" was about to be raised. A minute later, Devlin followed him after being asked to leave by Trucco.The Italian financial expert, who represents Wanlock on the board and is a known associate of Caliendo, then put forward the following motion: "I put to this board that we have no confidence in the chairman Mr Power as both chairman and as a director and call for his immediate removal."The motion was carried by three votes to one with McGrath understood to have been the dissenting voice. Power was barred from voting.At this point, the meeting broke down as a furious row erupted which culminated in Power and McGrath storming out. Around 25 minutes later they returned to the room accompanied by Devlin.In a desperate bid to cling on to his chairmanship, Power then launched a counter-attack.He claimed the vote was invalid under the company's rules and also called for Dunga to be removed as a director for failing to attend six consecutive board meetings.Dunga hit back, claiming he had not been informed of the previous meetings, while the other directors insisted the vote was in accordance with QPR's articles of association.Standard Sport has since obtained copies of QPR's articles of association.Article 88 states that any director can be removed by "extraordinary resolution" before the end of his period in office. The term is taken to refer to a 75% majority.Given this provision, Dunga's presence at the meeting was crucial in making that threshold. Yet Power also had a right to question the Brazilian's eligibility because artisle 81, sub-section 7, states: "The office of a director shall be vacated if he shall for more than six months be absent without permission of the board for meetings of the board held during that period."With the legal arguments still raging, Paladini dropped a second bombshell. he called for Devlin to be made redundant with immediate effect.Taken aback, McGrath pushed for an immediate suspension of the meeting pending clarification of the legal issues. Power followed up this request by announcing that the meeting was now closed in any case because he had to leave to visit his ill father-in-law in hospital.But Paladini, Trucco and Dunga had still not completed their coup and, astonishingly, chose to carry on the meeting even though McGrath, Power and Devlin all left at 3.37pm.In farcical circumstances they passed a vote of no confidence in Power by three votes to nil before the three-man board approved a motion to make Devlin redundant with immediate effect. Power later spoke of possible legal action to challenge the result but has now accepted his fate and resigned as a director. As we reveal today, he has now agreed to sell his stake in the club. Devlin has left the club and there are no plans to replace him.Here's the rest of the article:Paladini defended his actions, saying: "There are people trying to destroy me but they won't win. My head is held high. We did the right thing at the meeting, it was all done properly."But for QPR fans and, potentially, the football authorities, there remain issues of concern.Standard Sport's investigation last week showed how agents are to be paid £473,000. Some of these agents are friends and former business associates of Paladini.In defence of his actions, the 59 year old stated that all the cheques relating to the deals were signed by Power and Devlin. By implication, the pair were acting as safeguards. With Power and Devlin gone, who's going to sign the cheques now?MINUTE BY MINUTE: THE MEETING THAT OUSTED A CHAIRMANMinutes of QPR Holdings board meeting on Wednesday 24 August 2005, 1pm, Loftus Road Stadium. Present: Bill Power (chairman), Kevin McGrath, Gianni Paladini, Gualtiero Trucco, Carlos Dunga. Also present: Mark Devlin (chief executive), Chris Pennington (company secretary), Antonio Caliendo, Andrea Primicerio. Extract from the minutes.......*2.30pm Caliendo leaves the meeting*2.31pm Trucco asks the board if Devlin can leave the room for the next part of the discussion. Devlin leaves.*2.35pm Meeting adjourned by Power and McGrath who leave the room after a vote of no confidence in Power is put to the board by Trucco and the motion carried by 3 votes to 1.*2.58pm Power, Devlin and McGrath return to the meeting. Power claims he could not be removed from the board in the above manner as per the company's Articles of Association. Power then states the meeting is closed as he has to leave for another engagement. The remaining board members (Paladini, Trucco and Dunga) tell Power that they will continue the meeting and wait for the clarification of the legal issues.*3.37pm Devlin, McHrath and Power leave the meeting. Paladini leaves the meeting shortly afterwards and returns five minutes later. Trucco then repeats a vote of no confidence in Power and asks Pennington "to take the votes count" for each board member. Motion carried by 3 votes to 0. The decision is that the board has no confidence in Mr Power and he will be removed from the board with immediate effect. Trucco is approved as interim chairman. Trucco proposes to the board that "Mark Devlin, chief executive, is made redundant with immediate effect" and this is also approved.*3.50pm Meeting closes.http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533632904Paladini as QPR's New Chaairman - Times & Independent ProfilesThe Times - Chairman sees himself as agent for QPR revivalGIANNI PALADINI was in typically expressive form. The former Fifa-registered agent had just been appointed as chairman of Queens Park Rangers and the phone would not stop ringing. Call after call came in, from well-wishers, QPR fans and, yes, one or two agents, with congratulations. Paladini — who looks at least ten years younger than his 60 years — talked animatedly in English and Italian. Loftus Road has rarely echoed to the language of Dante, but the club’s long-suffering fans would not be surprised if a scene from The Divine Comedy appeared in the programme for Monday’s Coca-Cola Championship fixture against Crystal Palace. QPR have become the club at which anything can happen.Confirmation of Paladini’s appointment yesterday comes on the back of events straight out of a soap opera. “Not a month has gone by without someone trying to get rid of me,” Paladini said of his 18-month involvement with the club.An acrimonious boardroom dispute turned nasty when, minutes before an early-season home match against Sheffield United, a gang burst into the inner sanctum at Loftus Road, held a gun to Paladini’s head and allegedly forced him to sign a letter by which he would resign from the board. Four men have since been charged with conspiracy to commit blackmail and joint possession of a firearm with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.This week, fresh controversy surrounded the affable Italian. It has been alleged in the press that he is using QPR to line the pockets of various agent friends with deals that the club cannot afford. Typical is the suggestion that one recent acquisition — Marc Nygaard, on a free transfer from Brescia — is said to have resulted in a £60,000 payment to Brian Hassell, an agent.Similarly, it is claimed that £40,000 was paid to Mel Eves, a Midlands-based, for the transfer of Ian Evatt.“These allegations are stupid,” Paladini said. “They are made by people with no understanding of how football works. If they want to paint a picture of me as a crook, they should find something I have done wrong. In fact, I have done nothing wrong, and they have no idea what they’re talking about.”The phone rings again, and it is Nygaard’s agent. The tall striker’s stock is high, with two goals in the past two matches, including a header against Millwall on Tuesday night. His agent is chasing payment. “The first payment is due, but I haven’t had a chance to sort it out. There has been so much chaos here,” Paladini said.First payment? “Yes, the first payment — the deal was for four payments over the term of Nygaard’s contract.” So there was no £60,000 lump sum? “Not at all,” Paladini said, clearly exasperated. “Contracts are never done like that. The deal is for four payments and I haven’t paid a penny yet.”This, according to Paladini, is how all the deals for which he has been responsible have been structured. He adds that he has overseen only three signings. “The others were all signed off by either the ex-chairman or the chief executive,” he said. “I am angry that I have been dragged through the mud like this. They have called me a thief with no evidence at all.“What does it prove, that I know other agents? I have spent my life in football. If you a solicitor, you know other solicitors. I need to know all the agents in the game, and knowing them means I can do a better job for QPR. I understand how transfers work. Football is a business and you need to know this side of it as much as the passion.” The phone rings again, and afterwards Paladini is coy. He alludes to a deal, nearly complete, in which QPR’s £10 million debt to the Panama-based ABC corporation — arranged when the club came out of administration — is renegotiated. The ABC loan costs the club £1 million in interest each year, but Paladini hopes to cut this in half.“People must think there is some kind of mafia involvement here, but I want the best for QPR and I’m putting together the right people to achieve this,” he said. “The moment I came here I felt an affinity for the club, its fans and its history, and I wanted to get involved. I want to be part of the team that takes QPR back to the Premier League.”Between 1958 and 1967, Paladini was on Napoli’s books wearing the No 10 shirt that, thanks to Stan Bowles, Rodney Marsh and Tony Currie, has iconic status at Loftus Road. It would be some joy for him — and QPR fans — if this thread had more than merely symbolic resonancehttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1804566,00.htmlIndependent - Paladini takes hot seat at QPRBy Gordon Tynan Published: 30 September 2005The Italian Gianni Paladini has been confirmed as the new chairman of Queen's Park Rangers. Paladini, a former football agent, takes over from interim chairman Gualtiero Trucco following the board meeting last month when former incumbent Bill Power was ousted and Mark Devlin sacked as chief executive.The Monaco-based consortiums Wanlock LLC and Barnaby Holdings, both of which have a substantial stake in QPR, had recommended the installation of Paladini as chairman. "Supporters will have been a little bewildered by recent events," Paladini told the club's official website, "but now I believe we have the right people in place to take the club forward."Reports last week claimed that QPR faced a Football Association investigation into the sums they had spent on agents' fees, reports Paladini has strenuously denied.Leicester and QPR have been charged by the Football Association with failing to control their players' behaviour after incidents in their match last weekend. Each side had a player sent off during the 2-1 win for QPR at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday, with both teams charged for a "mass confrontation".http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/coca_cola/article316041.ecePaladini Appointed Chairman of QPR FC & QPR HoldingsQPR OFFICIAL SITEGIANNI PALADINIGianni Paladini has been appointed Chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club and QPR Holdings Ltd.Interim Chairman Gualtiero Trucco has stepped down and the Board of Directors have unanimously chosen Paladini to take on the role on a full-time basis.The changes were agreed at a Loftus Road Board Meeting on Wednesday afternoon and Paladini is delighted by the honour of this 'challenging but exciting' role."The Monaco investors have recommended that I be appointed Chairman and I am deeply honoured that the Directors have allowed me this opportunity."I hope now that after a period of instability we can all look forward to the brightest of futures at Loftus Road."We have a wonderful manager, an exciting and improving squad and a real opportunity to push for a place in the play-offs and even the Premiership."I believe these are wonderful times to be a QPR supporter and I just want to play whatever part I can in bringing both success and stability to this Club."I fully appreciate that supporters will have been a little bewildered by recent events and I wish that so much of what has happened could have happened differently."But I believe we now have the right people in place, both on the pitch and behind the scenes, to take this club forward."I would like to thank every single fan for their continued, passionate support for QPR and I would also like to pay tribute to all the staff here."Life hasn't been particularly easy for them recently either but every single one continues to work as hard as ever for the benefit of this club."It has never been clearer to me that, both in the stands and behind the scenes, this is a wonderful place full of very special people."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~720129,00.html# posted by Administrator @ 6:51 PM 0 comments Holloway Criticizes Media Accusations re Paladini/Agents FeesHolloway slams Paladini claimsCamden Times, UK Ben Kowsky 28 September 2005QPR manager Ian Holloway has slammed an apparent vendetta against Gianni Paladini after media accusations that the club had made excessive payments to players' agents.Reports in last week's Evening Standard lambasted director Paladini, claiming that Rangers owe nearly £500,000 to agents, many of them friends or business contacts of Loftus Road's majority shareholder.The following day, the same newspaper claimed that QPR could be the subject of an FA investigation into the recent signing of defender Ian Evatt from Chesterfield.Holloway rubbished the reports, saying: "I think it's really misleading, I think they've done it deliberately and they should sort their facts out. I know for a fact that some of those figures refer to things that happened before a certain individual was even here."Taking figures for five years and equating them to one year is ridiculous - more times than not we've paid £10,000 to an agent because it equals five per cent of what the player was worth over his whole contract."All I can surmise is that they chose to write it like that because it makes good reading and makes QPR fans have a bit of a panic attack. I don't like us doing our washing in public - I'm sick of it."This is a fantastic club. We went into administration a few years ago and, if we go there again, we were told by the administrators that there wouldn't be a QPR - they'd close us down."Holloway's scathing view of the Standard article is understandable, given that their list of players whose agents were alleged to be receiving payment from QPR included Arthur Gnohere, Richard Johnson and Tony Thorpe - all of whom signed their final contracts with the club prior to Paladini's arrival in 2004 and have since moved on.Paladini, who is effectively in control of Rangers since ousting former chairman Bill Power at a board meeting last month, has also refuted the allegations http://www.camdentimes.co.uk/content/camden/camdentimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportrugby&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportcamt&itemid=WeED28%20Sep%202005%2011%3A32%3A36%3A610QPR's Gianni Paladini on his Napoli Playing Career (QPR1st)QPR1st Latest news update -September 26, 2005Since our meeting with Gianni Paladini a week or so ago, the Trust has continued to maintain dialogue with key personnel at the club. At the end of last week, bearing in mind the departures of Mark Devlin and Bill Power, we contacted the company secretary.....Then on Friday afternoon, during a courtesy phone call between Gianni Paladini and a Trust rep....One other issue that was raised was the Naples thing with GP saying how he understood people were confused on some of the messageboards regarding him playing for them. He was asked what the story was and a rather scattered explanation followed with him saying how he had signed for Naples at the age of 13 in 1958 and that in 1967, due to a broken kneecap, his playing career was cut short. He mentioned how it's quite easy to find the history on this and made the offer to talk this through in detail at a later date.http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/newsarticle.asp?id=29

QPR OFFICIAL SITE -AUSTIN DEPARTURECommercial & Marketing Director Mark Austin is to leave the Club

BBC's Tom Watt's Programme Notes re QPRTom Watt's Programme Notes - BBC LONDON 94.9's Tom Watt writes for the QPR Matchday Magazine17.09.05 QPR v Leeds UnitedThere have been a few distractions around Loftus Road just lately, haven’t there? More wrangles behind the scenes, in fact, than you’ll see at your average Wild West show. I can’t say I’m in any position to judge and you’d probably be right to point out that it’s none of my business anyway. What’s obvious to anybody who takes a passing interest in the business of football, though, is that – not just here, but at any club – uncertainty off the pitch, despite everybody’s protestations to the contrary, will almost always be reflected by uncertainty on it.Sometimes it’s a case of bad results and a team in decline that’ll bring divisions to a head in the boardroom. Sometimes it works the other way round and it’s the dressing room picking up on a row going on upstairs. A vicious cycle can spin things the wrong way very quickly indeed: just ask supporters in the School End this afternoon. One day they’re feeding the goldfish and living it up in Barcelona; the next, the administrator’s at the door and the road map’s marked up for the trip to Gresty Road.Most managers will make do with platitudes when a storm cloud gathers. Ian Holloway, mind, has never been ‘most managers’. Speaking to BBC London before that frustrating night at home to Sheffield Wednesday, he hit it on the proverbial head. Whether you’re talking about a family or a football club – or about QPR, which is both – the importance of communication is paramount. Honesty isn’t just the best policy, it’s what’ll keep the whole thing together.Over the past couple of seasons, I’ve hosted half a dozen Fans’ Forums at Loftus Road. I’ve come away from every single one inspired by what’s gone on in the room. There have been plenty of arguments, the criticism flying in every direction, but what’s counted above anything is that the board, the manager, the players and the supporters have looked each other in the eye and said what they wanted to say: no jollying along with half the truth, and no skulking in corners either.I’m convinced that a willingness to face up to conflicts of opinion has been very important in taking Rangers forward over the past few years. There’s been a strong sense of everybody being in it together, whatever their differences; bringing the club back from the brink was never going to be easy, after all, and was never going to be achieved by a wave of a benefactor’s chequebook. Whatever the immediate future holds, the long term depends on keeping that sense of a shared purpose strong.13.09.05 QPR v Luton TownThere’s always one. It may not bring economic rewards on the same dizzying scale as a place in the Premiership, but getting into the Championship brings with its own sense of the Big Time. Think back to the summer of 2004 and remember the feeling: winning out of League One – or whatever it was called at the time – brought a warm glow. It was as if the tide had turned and the Rs were headed in the right direction again at long last. Whether it’s the excitement that comes with promotion or just a case of momentum spilling over from a promotion campaign, one Championship new boy always seems to hit heady heights. Last season it was QPR. This time round, it already seems plain, it’s going to be Luton Town.I saw Luton beat Palace at Selhurst first day of 2005/2006. There was some talk, before and after, about whether the fixture should have been billed as a cup-tie, with the danger to the home team being that the little ‘uns were going to raise their game. Of course it didn’t play out like that at all. Luton were simply better all over the pitch. They won 2-1, a score that didn’t really do justice to their control of the game pretty much from first whistle to last. Since then, Mike Newell’s team has settled for more of the same. If Nicholls and Robinson get hold of midfield like they did against Palace, Luton will win plenty more games than they lose between now and next May. The loss of Curtis Davies on transfer deadline day won’t necessarily help. The extraordinary sum WBA paid for him, though, almost certainly will. Whatever level you’re playing at, after all, the bills have to be paid.In many respects, Luton and Rangers are worlds apart. They do, though, share a bit too, at least by way of tradition: not least, a finest hour at Wembley. There are plenty of Rs here today who’ll still remember being there to watch Rodney and company come from behind to beat First Division West Brom. Luton supporters don’t even have to go back that far. It’s not even twenty years ago that Town took care of Arsenal in the sunshine to win the League Cup, is it? Over the last decade, of course, both clubs have been to the brink and back. And for both, right now, the Championship is the penultimate rung on the ladder they’re climbing as they look to get clear of recent history’s mire.26.08.05 QPR v Sheffield WednesdayAnd there I was, along with everybody else at the start of the summer, wondering how much more foolish the cricket authorities could be. Why would you want the showpiece event of the international game, an Ashes series, running on deep into the football season? What chance would you have of anybody taking an interest once the national game had taken its grip on the country’s imagination for another nine months? The only explanation I could come up with was that the ECB expected the Australians to do what they usually do, and that another humbling for England would best be conducted away from the glare of the back page headlines.Week before last and the final day of the Third Test, though, at Old Trafford – not the Factory of Dreams but the place over the road from it – and something like 10,000 people were locked outside, weren’t they? Hope they all got to a telly or a radio in time is all I can say. Just like it had at Edgbaston the previous weekend, before England nicked that one by the narrowest of margins, the match ran on and on, the tension winding up ball by ball and over by over. A bit like a day-long penalty shootout, wasn’t it? Come Steve Harmison’s final – and ultimately fruitless – six deliveries, I just had to pull the car over and roll all the windows down. Having trouble breathing by that stage of the proceedings, I thought I was probably a danger, behind the wheel, to the public and to myself. Who’d have imagined eight hours spent in the company of the old buffers on Radio 4 Long Wave could get so exciting?The 20/20 competition, a talismanic all-rounder taking on the Botham mantle at last, and the best-balanced Test side we’ve produced in twenty years haven’t quite turned the clock back but it can’t be a bad thing that cricket’s caught the imagination over the past couple of months in a way it hasn’t for the past couple of generations. As the Fourth Ashes Test of the summer unfolds, it’s the start to the 2005/2006 football season that’s been in danger of passing us by, thanks to the exploits of Freddie Flintoff and company. There’ll be plenty of talk here before kick off, won’t there, about how England get on this afternoon at Trent Bridge before attention turns to the serious business of how the Rs are going to get on tonight?Saturday 13th August - QPR v Sheffield UnitedNearly £7 million seems a lot of money to have disappeared out of the game, which is what happened, effectively, to the percentages snaffled by agents involved in Championship deals last season. Over a quarter of that figure was handed over to agents by Leeds and a further £600,000 by Leicester. I’d bet companies who were frustrated creditors of those clubs a couple of years back weren’t best pleased when they got wind of the new figures.It’s a bitter aspect of the way football does business that those big boys should have been able to go on and re-invent themselves while underdogs like Wrexham have fallen foul of rules that – for the sake of the players and supporters, never mind any sense of natural justice – should never have applied in their circumstances. Mind you, nobody can blame agents for what’s happened at The Racecourse, even if ways are usually found to blame them for every other of modern football’s ills.Rangers were involved in a total of 57 player transactions last season, with that figure taking in new transfers, renewed contracts, cancelled contracts and loans. Agents were paid £320,935 for their part in the proceedings, which adds up to something like £5500 per deal. You can make your own mind up, I’m sure, about the value for money all that represents in W12.Myself, for all that I’m as nostalgic about the game as the next man, I can’t jump on the bandwagon that would take us back to the days of the maximum wage. If there’s money to be earned in football then, surely, it’s the players who should be earning it. They’re the ones we pay to watch, after all. Clubs will do their best to drive a hard bargain, presumably, and, in those circumstances, an agent’s role on behalf of the player shouldn’t cause any of us sleepless nights, should it?Of course, in football’s murkier corners, it’s not always as simple as that. And, without question, there have been plenty of instances where an agent has been devious enough to play both ends of a deal off against the middle. To make sure that kind of sharp practice doesn’t happen, any transparency must be a step in the right direction. As regards an individual club getting its money’s worth in the market, Rangers may already be ahead of the game. Gianni Palladini, who knows exactly how the agent’s game works, has lost his heart – if not his head – to the Rs. I suspect that ought to make him one of the most effective gamekeepers around.Tuesday 9th August - QPR v Ipswich TownAfter the defeat here against Charlton, Ian Holloway raised the spectre of Vauxhall Motors in the Cup. There can’t be many managers around who get that upset about a pre-season friendly. Anyone who remembers him as a player, though, won’t have been surprised. Ian probably sulks for a couple of days afterwards if his team loses badly in 5-a-sides at the training ground. I’d say that’s just as well. After a year back in the Championship, everybody at Loftus Road knows that if there’s one quality you need to survive – and to prosper – at this level it’s a competitive edge. Rangers surprised a few people last season on that score. The team is going to need plenty more of the same this time round, especially now that opponents will fancy they know what to expect from the Rs.I remember being here for the first home game of last season. For obvious reasons, nobody could be too sure how ready Rangers, newly-promoted, would be for the Championship. Rotherham, born to battle, were a rather more predictable quantity. Huff, puff and the odd dead ball earned them a point on a sunny Saturday at Loftus Road. Under Ronnie Moore, that had been enough in previous campaigns to see them escape relegation. As it turned out, the lack of quality undid them – and their manager – come last May. Rangers took a while to come to terms with the physical challenge, it’s fair to say. Once they had, though, the season turned into a thriller with promotion rather than relegation the challenge to hand.Last season’s home fixtures kicked off against strugglers. Tonight, Rangers start 2005/6 at Loftus Road against a team that’ll be expecting to challenge again like they have the last two years. Losing out in the play-off semi-finals again, though, has cost Ipswich pretty dear. Joe Royle will have needed to re-invent his forward line this summer, for starters. Kuqi’s gone and so, too, Darren Bent, who looked to have settled in pretty quickly at Charlton while scoring a hat-trick for his new club here a fortnight ago.It’s probably not my place to weigh in on the subject of the increased prices for season tickets at Loftus Road. It’s not me having to put my hand in my pocket, after all. Looking ahead to a new season, though, it seems pretty obvious to me that, from the point of view of taking the club forward, it can only be good news that the squad that rose to the challenge so well last time round is still pretty much in place. And that there’s a clutch of new players besides who are about to discover exactly what Ian Holloway and Rangers demand.last updated: 19/09/05http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/08/15/qpr_tom_august05_feature.shtmlPaladini Responds Further re Allegations/ReportsQPR Official Site Paladini: No FA ProbeRangers Director Gianni Paladini has told qpr.co.uk that the FA are NOT investigating Queens Park Rangers.Friday's Evening Standard contains an article claiming that the Football Association are considering a probe following a complaint from an agent regarding the signing of Ian Evatt.But Paladini has dismissed the whole story as 'ridiculous' and says that he has spoken to the FA himself about the matter."This is simply ridiculous and I am getting very tired with the agenda of other parties who have leaked information and who are clearly seeking to discredit me and the Club for their own ends," he said."I have spoken to a well-known senior executive at the FA and he has assured me that, as he understands it, there will be no probe and no investgation."For whatever reason, this newspaper is trying to make a big story out of a puff of nothing."Paladini then went on to discuss further details of Ian Evatt's transfer, and refuted suggestions printed in Friday's paper."First and foremost, Ian Holloway wanted the player. So when we spoke to the lad we asked him to meet us with his representative."Ian came along with his agent Jonathan Wall and Mel Eves and because Mr Wall is not licensed, Mel formally brokered the deal."Then out of the blue this company, First Artist, complained that he was their player. Well if that was the case, why did Ian Evatt come along with someone else?"This is an issue between First Artist and Ian Evatt and yet the Standard are suggesting impropriety on our part. It's pathetic."First we had this nonsense on Thursday which appeared to imply wrongdoing and now this. And yet the governing bodies are perfectly happy and there are other clubs spending vastly bigger sums than us."Leeds spent £1.89million on agents fees last season and Leicester spent £611,000. So why this nasty piece? Why the accusations and the negativity towards OUR football club?"For whatever reason, this newspaper has chosen to make a big issue out of this and I have nothing but contempt for them."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~717849,00.htmlFollow-up Standard StoryQueens Park Rangers face a possible Football Association investigation into the controversial transfer of Ian Evatt.Director Gianni Paladini is the subject of a formal complaint from the First Artists football agency relating to the defender's £200,000 move from Chesterfield last June.QPR paid Midlands-based agent mel Eves £40,000 for his role in brokering the deal in a move which angered First Artists who cliam Evatt is their client.The AIM-listed company run by brothers Jon and Phil Smith have told the FA that, despite having a contract with the player, they were excluded from negotiations over his transfer.Chief executive Jon Smith said: "We signed ian Evatt to a First Artists contract on 21 April, a full two months before the transaction took place."It would appear that Mr Paladini wanted to deal with this matter outside of that agreemtn and, as a result, we have reported him to the Football Association."Paladini denies any wrongdoing. He admits there was a dispute with First Artist over Evatt, but claims the defender was represented by a different agent, Jonathan Wall.As Wall was not an officially registered agent, Paladini chose to use Eves to conclude the deal.The Italian said: "Ian Evatt was a player who Ian Holloway wanted. I went with Bill Power (former chairman) to see the agent of Ian Evatt, Jonathan Wall."He is not a FIFA-registered agent and, to do the deal, we needed to have a registered agent."We had a dispute with another company, the Smiths, who tried to get involved in the deal."The Evatt row follows yesterday's Standard Sport revelations about the staggering sums the club has agreed to pay agents since Paladini's arrival at QPR last year.http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533682271xxxPaladini Responds to Evening Standard....Holloway on PaladiniQPR Official SiteANGER & DISTRESSGianni Paladini has reacted with anger and distress regarding allegations made in the press on Thursday.Paladini strongly refutes allegations that have been made and asserts that they are without foundation.He said: "All of our players have agents, if you are negotiating a contract you have to go through an agent. All of our payments have been done in the proper way.""With the exception of Milanese, Langley & Lomas all the other deals were signed by either the ex-Chairman or the Chief Executive""The article lists players who were here before I even invested in the club. If we go over budget who has to pay? The fellow directors and I""I am very angry that both myself and the club are being dragged through the mud. We have had a difficult few months and we just want to concentrate on running the club properly and pushing up the league. I am incredibly angry about this and am taking legal advice."Ian Holloway added: "I like to think the fans trust me and I trust Gianni. I cannot believe some of the stuff I've read today but I can assure everyone no matter what people throw at us it can only make us stronger.""I have nothing but the utmost respect for Gianni Paladini and what he is trying to achieve at Queens Park Rangers. It seems to me that people are looking at the job that Gianni used to do before he came to QPR and are jumping to ridiculous conclusions.""Gianni has the best interests of QPR at heart - I've absolutely no doubt about that."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~717154,00.htmlToday's Standards on Behind the Scenes Developments at QPRStandard story on QPR.org at http://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=111920&t=34801And below copy/pasted from QPR RivalsStandard Stings Paladinihttp://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=8392271".... THE extraordinary sums of money Queens Park Rangers are spending on agents' fees can today be revealed. In leaked documents obtained by Standard Sport, a detailed breakdown is provided of the £473,785 which the club now owe to their players' representatives. These payments to agents have helped push QPR £1million over budget for players this season and has put them on course to lose £2m in the financial year. More worrying are the questions our leaked documents raise over the role of director Gianni Paladini, himself a former FIFA-registered agent, who is in charge of transfers at Loftus Road. Many of the larger payments have been authorised to friends and/or former business associates of the Italian....Also: How much paid for each player/which agenthttp://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533689220


SKYSPORTS "Olly wants assurancesQPR boss Ian Holloway is to seek assurancesQueens Park Rangers boss Ian Holloway is to seek assurances from the club's hierarchy before putting pen-to-paper on a new five-year deal.Holloway admits he is close to agreeing terms for a long-term stay at Loftus Road but does harbour concerns over a number of issues.The popular chief is unhappy that some of the players brought into the club in the summer were not those hand picked by himself, whilst he is concerned about a stipulation in his contract that means he will only be paid up until the end of any given season if he is sacked.Holloway is also looking for a pay rise, after orchestrating both QPR's promotion and subsequent consolidation in The Championship."We are discussing a new contract, but there are some things we need to sort out," said Holloway."But I need assurances that I will be able to improve the team year on year, otherwise we will be in trouble."In the summer there were three players (believed to be Mauro Milanese, Ugo Ukah and Marc Nygaard) signed who I don't know much about - and that can't be right."I will back my judgement (of players) all day long, and I don't need people telling me what to do."I believe I deserve a pay rise. I've been here a long time now http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=307620&lid=2&cpid=10&title=Olly+wants+assurances&channel=football_homeSporting Life - HOLLOWAY HOLDS OUT FOR GUARANTEESQPR manager Ian Holloway will seek assurances over his role before agreeing to sign a new five-year contract at Loftus Road.After guiding his team to a 1-0 win over Luton, Holloway revealed he could sign the new deal before Saturday's home match against Leeds.But Holloway indicated he had some tough talking to do with the club hierarchy before he could be convinced to commit his long-term future to the club."We are discussing a new contract, but there are some things we need to sort out," said Holloway."But I need assurances that I will be able to improve the team year on year, otherwise we will be in trouble."In the summer there were three players (believed to be Mauro Milanese, Ugo Ukah and Marc Nygaard) signed who I don't know much about - and that can't be right."I will back my judgement (of players) all day long, and I don't need people telling me what to do."Holloway signed a three-year deal with the club last season, but he revealed that, under the terms of that agreement, Rangers would have to pay him only until the end of this season were they to sack him.Holloway, who took over in March 2001, will also be seeking a wage increase as part of his new deal."I believe I deserve a pay rise," he said. "I've been here a long time now."Lee Cook's second-half free-kick was enough to earn 10-man Rangers their first win for a month and came about thanks to a much-improved second-half display.The west Londoners were outplayed in the first half but, despite having Tommy Doherty sent off for appearing to throw a punch at Chris Coyne in the 80th minute, outmuscled their opponents after the break."When I look at the video of the first 10 minutes, I will not be a happy bunny," Holloway admitted."But in the second half we got behind them and looked much better."Luton boss Mike Newell, meanwhile, claimed his side should have been awarded a penalty for Marcus Bignot's injury-time tug on substitute Dean Morgan.Newell said: "It was a penalty. I spoke to the referee afterwards, but it's too late then."We created three or four good chances in the first half, but we didn't take them and it's a worry when that doesn't happen away from home."For their goal, I thought the wall hadn't been lined up properly, but Kevin Nicholls told me he had been pulled out of the wall."If the referee doesn't see that, there's not a lot you can do."Holloway's New Deal?BBC - Holloway poised to take new role Ian Holloway is set to be handed control QPR's purse strings under the terms of a new five-year contract he is close to agreeing. Holloway will take on some of the responsibilities previously held by Mark Devlin, who recently lost his job as chief executive.Devlin was sacked and chairman Bill Power removed after a boardroom coup.The proposed new set-up will allow Holloway to negotiate transfers and determine his players' contracts. But Gianni Paladini, who is replacing Power as chairman, will deal with agents.Holloway is frustrated at having been unable to sign many of his targets.The new role will give him a greater influence over purchases and the club's wage policy.Holloway said: "I'll deal with all that. It might not make me popular with some players though."But the one thing I do not want to be dealing with is agents. Gianni will deal with all that."I had a long list of targets in the summer and couldn't sign them. That can't be right."We are discussing a new contract, but there are some things we need to sort out."I need assurances that I will be able to improve the team year on year, otherwise we will be in trouble. "I also wanted to talk about my role now that the chief executive has gone."Behind-the-scenes changes at Loftus Road led to speculation that Holloway's future could be in doubt. But he is close to Paladini, who is keen to give the former Bristol Rovers boss the new deal he wants.(Willsden & Brent Times) Holloway lands long term dealnwln@inuk.co.uk14 September 2005IAN Holloway will be handed more control over transfers and players' contracts when he signs a new five-year deal with QPR later this week.The Rangers boss committed himself to the club until 2007 only last year, but has now been offered a longer contract following the boardroom upheaval that saw Gianni Paladini take command at Loftus Road last month.Although Paladini has been instrumental in securing a number of recent arrivals at QPR - including Generoso Rossi, Marc Nygaard and Mauro Milanese - he has promised Holloway the final say in future transfer deals.Holloway said: "Maybe I wasn't in the loop before, but I've got total assurances that every single player I sign will be who I want and if I haven't seen enough of them I'll be flying over to see them first."In the summer, we took one or two people slightly blind and whether they're good enough or not, we'll have to wait and see."But it was the transfer window that caused that situation and we can't go there again. We were going to spend a few quid on Tore Andre Flo, weren't we?"Well, we can't say to our fans 'we're going to sign exciting big names' and then not bring them. The fans will hear from us about where we're going, because we all want to take the club forward."As a manager, you have to know how much players are getting and how long their contracts are for. I'll be working more closely with [club secretary] Sheila Marson - she knows virtually everything there is to know about that sort of thing.http://www.wbtimes.co.uk/content/brent/willesdenchronicle/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportwbc&itemid=WeED14%20Sep%202005%2009%3A55%3A51%3A250Clubcall QPR - Holloway on new deal talks14 Sep 2005 11:16 Ian Holloway has confirmed talks are ongoing about a new deal to remain at Loftus Road as the club look to move on after the boardroom confusion of the last few weeks. Major shareholder Gianni Paladini has said he wants Holloway to sign a new deal and some reports have claimed a five-year contract could be on the cards, Holloway would not be drawn on the length but confirmed talks are ongoing. 'We are discussing it. I need reassurances. I've been at this club a long time and this game can be ridiculous - if you last past 18 months you are doing well,' said the Rangers boss. 'I need assurances that I can continue to improve the club year on your and I have liked what the board have said. We need to get some clarity. I want my agent to go in and talk to them and there may be something by the end of the week, but I don't want to put any pressure on anyone. I am more than happy here,' Holloway added. http://www.clubcall.com/vsite/vcontent/content/transnews/0,10869,5034-143501-19728-27811-196149-11681-5024-layout104-160717-news-item,00.htmlThe Times - Holloway out of the woodsBy Nick SzczepanikSouthampton 1 Queens Park Rangers 1:IAN HOLLOWAY, THE QUEENS PARK Rangers manager, fears that recent events at the club will make his life story seem too far-fetched, but he can rest assured that the way he tells it will guarantee sales. Holloway recently compared his role during boardroom manoeuvres to that of “a nanny trying to calm the kids while Mum and Dad are splitting up”, and on Saturday he depicted himself as a man who has suddenly found a path after a period in the wilderness.But with the promise of stability at Loftus Road he is looking forward to consolidating his future at the club by signing a five-year contract. “I know where I’m going, which is a lot better than last week,” he said. “I’ve been wandering round in the woods and it’s been dark. I didn’t know what to do or say, I don’t know if I’m going to be called into the police station again, it’s been an absolute bloody nightmare. It’s going to make my book totally unreadable, no one will believe it.“Hopefully I can sit down next week and say, ‘I’m the man to take you forward’, and achieve what I want to achieve with this board. It’s four I’ve had now. I’ve said to them if it’s a fifth board I get, I’m allowed to keep the bloody club — if Liverpool can keep the European Cup after winning it five times, I should be allowed to keep QPR.”The team reflected that new confidence, defending solidly and taking the lead when Dan Shittu headed the first goal by a visiting team at St Mary’s this season. But for a slightly fortunate equaliser, the home fans might have been even more disgruntled at the final whistle......" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1776665,00.html

Telegraph - Holloway finds path to a pointAfter his side had contrived to poach a point from Southampton, a hyperactive Ian Holloway launched into one of his familiar garrulous speeches, this time declaiming a bright and bountiful future for QPR.Last Wednesday, Holloway went into a meeting with his new board, led by director Gianni Paladini and backed by Monaco-based groups.This is the same Paladini who was allegedly assaulted last month, an incident that meant Holloway had to give evidence to the police. Since then, rival director Bill Power has resigned and chief executive Mark Devlin has been made redundant. Hardly a recipe for stability."The last few weeks have been an absolute bloody nightmare," Holloway said. "I was walking through the woods, lost in the dark."But after meeting with the board I'm delighted. I had 10 questions for them and they answered with what I wanted to hear. This club is heading in the right direction."That means a new five-year deal and, crucially, control over transfers and contracts. To add strength in this department money will be made available from Monaco.Things are getting better at Southampton, too. Despite the frustration of this draw - secured by Danny Higginbotham's low free kick after Danny Shittu had headed in from a corner - the club is settling down.Sir Clive Woodward, the performance director, is certainly more relaxed, although still declining press interviews. "I don't need to, do I?" he said. "I'm not the manager - Harry Redknapp is. I'm just a member of the backroom staff. To be honest, I'm enjoying the peace."Match detailsSouthampton (4-4-2): Niemi; Hajto, Lundekvam, Powell, Higginbotham; Prutton (Kosowski 75), Oakley (Wise 85), Quashie, Belmadi; Jones (Ormerod 75), Fuller. Subs: Smith (g), Cranie. Goal: Higginbotham (37). Booked: Ormerod. Queens Park Rangers (4-4-2): Royce; Bignot, Shittu, Santos, Milanese; Moore, Bircham, Doherty (Lomas 68), Cook; Furlong (Langley 89), Sturridge (Nygaard 60). Subs: Evatt, Ainsworth. Goal: Shittu (32). Booked: Bircham, Santos, Sturridge. Referee: R Beeby (NorthamptonshireSunday TimesSouthampton 1 QPR 1: Saints held by defiant QPRJeremy Wilson at St Mary’sIAN HOLLOWAY ...He also declared that he is a “happy bloke” following a meeting with QPR’s new board and is close to agreeing a five-year contract. “We are little QPR and we are trying to be big QPR again,” said Holloway. “I know where I’m going which is a lot better than last week. It’s been an absolute nightmare. But hopefully I will be the man to take the club forward.”Former QPR chairman Bill Power was recently removed by director Gianni Paladini and Monaco-based groups that own a major stake in the London club. It is the fourth different board that Holloway has worked under.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-1774596,00.html


Ex-Chairman, Bill Power Leaves QPR BoardBBC - Ousted chairman leaves QPR board Ousted chairman leaves QPR board Former chairman Bill Power has resigned from the board of QPR.Following a bitter struggle, Power was recently removed by director Gianni Paladini and Monaco-based groups that own a major stake in the London club.Power initially resisted an attempt to remove him from the board altogether but has now stepped down as a director and will sell his shares.The Monaco groups have the option of buying Power's stake, enabling them to tighten their control at Loftus Road.Paladini, who is taking over as chairman, was a close ally of Power and the two united to oust the club's previous board 15 months ago.But their relationship turned sour and last month Power's attempt to increase his shareholding failed.He lost a no-confidence vote at a crucial board meeting after former Brazil captain Carlos Dunga unexpectedly flew in from Japan to vote against him.Chief executive Mark Devlin was then sacked.Dunga represents one of the Monaco groups and was made a director last year but had previously not attended any board meetings.Power and his supporters questioned the legality of the coup but later backed down.Rangers are currently 13th in the Championship and recently added to their squad by signing Steve Lomas and bringing back Richard Langley following his two-year spell at Cardiff.Last term the R's enjoyed an encouraging season following their promotion from the Second Division in 2004.But there have been problems off the pitch.Money from shareholders - including Power - has been needed to meet heavy losses.The club now expect a loss of close to £2m for 2005-06 and believe they will need further cash injections from December onwards to cover the shortfall.SBill Power on his post Chairmanship PlansPower lifts a weight off his shoulders - Ben Kosky, Kilburn Times (and other Papers) - nwln@inuk.co.uk07 September 2005Bill Power has confirmed he will remain an active member of the QPR board despite conceding defeat in his battle to remain chairman at Loftus Road, writes Ben Kosky.Power had initially intended to mount a legal challenge to his ousting as chairman by majority shareholder Gianni Paladini at a board meeting two weeks ago.But he has now accepted the outcome of the meeting, which saw former World Cup winner Carlos Dunga make a surprise appearance to vote with Paladini and also resulted in Mark Devlin's sacking as chief executive.Power, a lifelong Rangers supporter, has been advised to take a short break for health reasons, but plans to be back at Loftus Road to support the team again in the near future.He said: "I'm still a member of the board and I'll do what I can to help the club go forward. I've been told to take it easy for the moment but, as soon as I feel up to it, I'll be getting along to matches again."Power, who joined forces with Paladini to unseat the previous board just over a year ago, announced in a statement that he wants his former ally to take over as chairman.The pair visited the dressing room together and then sat side by side in the directors' box during Rangers' last home match against Sheffield Wednesday, just two days after the board meeting.ben.kosky@archant.co.ukhttp://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/content/camden/kilburntimes/sport/story.aspx?brand=KLBTOnline&category=sportfootball&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=sportklbt&itemid=WeED07%20Sep%202005%2016%3A34%3A57%3A220BP Abandoning Fight (Julia/Rivals posting David McIntyre/Gazette)Julia on QPR RivalsDavid McIntyre, The GazetteBill Power has admitted defeat in his attempt to be reinstated...The showdown ... came after a series of bitter divisions.... Power and his supporters questioned the legality of Paladini's coup and planned to challenge it. The crucial vote took place after Power and fellow director Kevin McGrath had left the room in anger. But after seeking advice Power has been told the move was legal and even a successful challenge could take over a year to be concluded. Power quickly decided that he did not want to destabilise the club further by continuing the very public struggle for control. Paladini had initially proposed that Power be removed from the board completely but he will be staying on as a director. http://boards.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=16&style=2&forumId=3672&action=1&replytoid=533829535Thursday, September 01, 2005 "Chairman" Bill Power Statement Confirming he's Departing as QPR ChairmanQPR OFFICIAL SITE - BILL POWERToday following advice from my doctor and after lengthy discussions with my family and each member of the board I am confirming my departure as chairman of QPR.I am well aware of the feelings of supporters having received literally hundreds of goodwill messages. But I must be selfish and think of my own health and also the health of two family members, both lifelong R's - my beautiful mum and my lovely father-in-law, who are both in hospital and not in the best of health.I have been in discussions for the last two months with my fellow board members regarding who could, should or would 'pick up the baton'. I have told Gianni that he should become chairman with immediate effect to help focus everyone on going forward and I have advised him to meet with the supporters groups as quickly as he can.As I write this, I have just enjoyed a day talking and having lunch with Gianni and on the phone with Ollie discussing possible new signings and things that we thought could take the club forward. I hope, and am sure, that those discussions and my advice will be acted upon and that we all see the benefits for ourselves .In all honesty, and perhaps selfishly again, I must say it was like a weight being lifted from my shoulders having previously known that a decision I might make as Chairman could affect the hopes and dreams of so many fellow R's. Now it is time to let another friend push us forward. I am not leaving, just taking a well earned rest.Words fail to express how much I have enjoyed my tenure as chairman, living every fan's dream of helping the club they love. I'm sure I will think of dozens of things I should have said, so for now I will just say a big thank you to everyone I have met and wish you all well.Once again I ask you to get behind Gianni, Kevin, Ollie and the boys. I know that when we all pull together we are unstoppable.Come on you Rs.http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~707691,00.html



Paladini SpeaksQPR OFFICIAL SITEBRIGHT FUTUREGianni Paladini has promised a bright future for Queens Park Rangers following the changes at Boardroom level last week.Bill Power is no longer Chairman and Mark Devlin's position as Chief Executive was made redundant following a Board meeting at Loftus Road.But the Director insists that the decisions taken were made with only the Club's interest at heart and he has played down suggestions of turmoil at the highest level."I am still friends with Bill. We go out for lunch and we talk on the phone every day. I have no problem with Bill."This is not about individuals or personalities, it is about the future of this great Club and all of us - Bill included -want nothing more than to see QPR continue to grow and improve."Paladini is also sympathetic with supporters who may have been worried about the situation.He appreciates that the supporters are concerned and has stressed that their feelings are at the forefront of his mind."The supporters are what makes this Club great and from the moment I arrived at Loftus Road I have been overwhelmed by their passion and devotion."All supporters will worry when they see change and I can understand that. But I believe that change was necessary for long term stability."The investors and directors are ambitious - I am ambitious - but we are not turning things upside down. We are going to make sensible steady progress and take Rangers back to where we belong - the Premiership."Paladini also believes that the root of stability lies with the manager and that is why he hopes to sit down with Ian Holloway this week to discuss a new contract."Ollie is responsible for so much that has happened here during the past few years. Our successes on the pitch are down to him and he should be rewarded accordingly."http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~706682,00.html


Saturday, August 27, 2005 Match Reports & reports on Holloway's CommentsTimes -Eccentric Holloway torn by domestic disharmony at QPRBy Tom DartQueens Park Rangers 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0EVEN by Ian Holloway’s unmatched standards it was an extraordinary post-match press conference. The Queens Park Rangers manager launched an impassioned defence of his club and their two feuding directors after last night’s dull goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday.Bill Power, the chairman, was removed from his post, and Mark Devlin, the chief executive, was sacked after Gianni Paladini, a director, ousted Power at a board meeting on Wednesday with the help of Carlos Dunga, the former Brazil captain, who flew in from Japan to vote.Holloway said that the uncertainty was affecting his players and used the analogy of a dysfunctional family. Given that a director is alleged to have been involved in the threatening of Paladini at gunpoint before the previous home game, dysfunctional may be an understatement.“Mum and dad are splitting up, nobody likes that as kids, do they? I feel like a nanny, I’ve got to calm down the kids,” Holloway said. “I can’t stand the last couple of weeks, it’s all politics. I don’t do politics, I’m not Tony Blair. I’m proud that this is worth fighting for, we’ve come a damn long way. I love mum, I love dad, and if one ends up with [the club] I’ll go and visit the other. I’ll stay overnight. They both put the money in, they both deserve this club.“When my Mum and Dad had a row there was Mum’s side, there was Dad’s side and the truth was somewhere in the middle. That’s the same here.”There are suggestions that Holloway may be destabilised by the uncertainty. John Gregory, the former Aston Villa manager, who knows Paladini, was present last night. “I’ve got to consider my position all the time, haven’t I? I’m a blimmin’ football manager,” Holloway said.Power intends to challenge his removal on the basis that Dunga, although a director, was ineligible to vote. Paladini and Power were present yesterday, visited the home dressing-room and appeared on friendly terms.Holloway went on to compare the situation, bizarrely, to Men In Black. No need to use the Will Smith character’s memory-eraser on those who saw this forgettable game. QPR, injury-hit like their opponents, missed the chance to go top of the Coca-Cola Championship even though Wednesday were reduced to ten men for the final 15 minutes when John Halls was sent off for a second bookable offence.on. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1752939,00.html


# posted by Administrator @ 2:54 PM 0 comments "Ousted" Chairman, Bill Power's Posting/StatementBill Powers StatementThis is the only posting I will be making and, I will not be responding to any questions. Apologies if that is frustrating, but I am sure you will understand. A lot of things are being said and posted which are wildly off the mark. As in every board meeting different opinions were expressed, totally normal. What should be noted is that everybody at that meeting believed they had the interests of QPR in mind. No I didnt agree with everything, but to put things into perspective there was 100% agreement about most of the topics discussed. Obviously I could not comment on the decisions that were made after Kevin and I had to leave the meeting for family reasons and it continued without us. We are all talking amicably as we must above all else make sure that the club continues its revival. Everyone of us want only success for the club. Now what we all ask is that you do your part. When Ollie talks about the effect you have on the team it cannot be underestimated. We all know how unique our ground is when we really get behind the boys. We all remember the feeling around the place the night we beat Oldham in the play-off semi-final and that atmosphere is what we ask you to give us again tonight. Whoever plays tonight give them your all and you can be sure they will give you the same back. Finally I would like to thank everyone who has been kind enough to call me, text me and mail me. I have been overwhelmed by the many kind words that I have received and find myself truly humbled. Please feel free to post this to the Org, Rivals and Net. COME ON YOU R's _________________QPR & Ireland(taken from .org which in turn was taken from Official Sitehttp://www.qpr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?topic_view=threads&p=103329&t=32358