QPR Thread (League Cup gloating, P4)

Briatore is Renault's Formula One team boss

Reports from Italy have linked Briatore and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone with a joint bid for the club, who narrowly avoided relegation last season.

"We are in the early stages," the 57-year-old was quoted as saying in the Italian press.

"We have had some discussions, but nothing has been signed," added the Renault F1 team boss. <!-- E SF -->

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Rangers only just avoided relegation from the Championship last season, and are restricted by the �10m loan they took from the Panama-based ABC Corporation to help them out of administration five years ago.

More than �7m is still owed to club directors and HM Revenue and Customs.

One report suggested that current chairman Gianni Paladini would be allowed to continue to run the club were Ecclestone and Briatore to assume control.

Paladini - who became chairman in the autumn of 2005 after a boardroom coup to oust former incumbent Bill Power - has been willing to sell the club for some time, but has yet to reach an agreement to do so.

When asked whether the deal had been completed, Paladini told the Daily Mail: "I wish it was true."

The QPR Supporters Trust, meanwhile, believe it would be "good news" were Ecclestone and Briatore to step in.

Co-ordinator Tracy Stent said: "The club needs to find someone to re-finance the structure of the ABC loan. It is imperative that something is done about this."

But former England and QPR striker Les Ferdinand, who would like to see Paladini and his board of directors removed, wants any prospective new owners to prove they have the club's future at heart.

"You don't want someone buying the club just because it is in the west London area, and they see it as an investment.

"That is my main concern. These people might have a lot of money, but how would they invest it?"

In July, Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore were linked with a possible takeover of Arsenal.

Eccelstone, who has amassed a reported �3bn fortune over the years knows former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who left the club in acrimonious circumstances in April.

The 76-year-old said then: "If somebody offers me something I think is good value, I will have a go. I'm interested in anything if it's cheap enough."

Deal or No Deal

From the Ealing Gazette

Paladini hopes for Flavio takeover But Caliendo keeps options open

By David Mcintyre

Hopes of a takeover of QPR by a group which includes Renault boss Flavio Briatore have been raised - less than 24 hours after the deal seemed to be dead.

But major shareholder Antonio Caliendo, who will ultimately decide Rangers' fate, is also in talks with three other interested parties.

A growing rift between Caliendo and QPR chairman Gianni Paladini descended into all-out war ahead of Tuesday night's match against Leyton Orient. The row has erupted as Rangers face meltdown unless a takeover or major injection of cash is agreed within weeks. With Paladini trying to broker a buy-out by a group fronted by Briatore, and Caliendo unhappy with the proposed deal, a storm was brewing ahead of Rangers' first home game of the season.

Two years after Caliendo and Paladini combined to take charge of the club, the pair were on course to fight each other for control at an all-important board meeting scheduled for later this month. But the showdown took place earlier than expected, and on Tuesday, Paladini faced the prospect of being ousted.

Caliendo told his one-time ally that he was being dismissed as chairman and then released a terse statement on the club's website declaring that QPR was not for sale. Paladini is no stranger to this type of battle for control - it's his third since he joined the board in 2004. Later that year he teamed up with Bill Power to remove the then chairman Nick Blackburn, chief executive David Davies and company chairman Ross Jones. But the Paladini-Power alliance descended into a bitter feud and a year later, Power, who had replaced Blackburn as chairman, was removed after losing a key boardroom vote. Mark Devlin was promptly sacked as chief executive and Kevin McGrath, the largest shareholder outside the Italian group who collectively own Rangers, later resigned as a director.

That victory, and Power's subsequent selling of his shares, gave Paladini and Caliendo ownership but their time at the helm has been blighted by problems on and off the pitch. Earlier this year, Caliendo and his Monaco-based backers stopped covering Rangers' ongoing losses. They have loaned the club several million pounds, and repayment is a stumbling block to a possible takeover.

Paladini, who recently declared that he and his colleagues would sell their shares for the price they paid for them, wants Caliendo to agree to the Briatore offer. Paladini is in line for a lucrative contract to run the club should the deal he favours go ahead, and he believes it will make Rangers one of the biggest clubs in London.

Even Paladini's enemies - and he has made several - who remain close to events at QPR privately admit that the Briatore-linked bid offers by far the best financial package for the club. But it offers Caliendo and his backers relatively little, causing anger at the way negotiations have been conducted on their behalf. There has also been anger among other interested parties, who say they have been given short shrift by Paladini despite him publicly declaring that the club may go bust inside a month if a takeover or fresh investment is not secured.

Scare stories about clubs possibly going under are common, and the threat to QPR's existence has been exaggerated in the past. But now the threat is very real, and time is not on Rangers' side.

A �1.3million bridging loan from ABC Corporation has been repaid, averting the immediate prospect of them acquiring the Loftus Road ground. But around �1million must be paid to the Inland Revenue at the end of the month and as things stand, QPR have no ability whatsoever to make that payment and they face administration - or worse - unless a takeover is agreed.

So as Orient left west London on Tuesday hoping for a moneyspinning tie in the next round of the Carling Cup, Rangers' future was in the balance. An appparent breakthrough occurred on Wednesday afternoon, with Caliendo appearing to be willing to speak to the Briatore-linked group. But while the champagne was back on ice within Loftus Road and hopes were again high that a deal may be imminent, Caliendo was in discussions with another interested party as he continues to consider his options.

A key issue for QPR is the troublesome �10million ABC loan, which a previous board secured prior to Rangers coming out of administration in 2002. Interest payments of around 11per cent are a potential noose around the club's neck and the terms of that deal were changed when the recent additional �1.3million loan was arranged. Ominously, ABC can now acquire the freehold on Loftus Road if the original �10million loan is not resolved by August next year.

Briatore's group plan to take on this loan themselves at a much more favourable interest rate - probably around 6.5 per cent. One of the parties in talks with Caliendo has suggested they can refinance the loan at around 8.5 per cent. But the immediate pressure on both QPR and Caliendo is the forthcoming tax bill. It puts the pressure on QPR for obvious reasons but is also a bargaining chip for Paladini and the Briatore group, because it leaves Caliendo facing the possibility of the club going under, leaving him with even less than he could salvage from the current offer. Unless, that is, he finds an alternative buyer.