QPR's climbdown on the ticket price rise issue and letter from Amit Bhatia to supporters is worthy of praise, but just whose decision was it and what does this mean for the future ownership of the club?

Bhatia and Mittal don’t just do steel, they do bridge building as well
Just as the misery and moaning threatened to engulf QPR altogether a rare ray of light shone through on Wednesday with an open letter from Amit Bhatia to supporters, informing them that the club had taken concerns and complaints on board and would not be charging category A or B prices for any matches at Loftus Road this season.

Bhatia told the club’s official website: “In recent days and weeks, I have had the chance to interact and speak with many of you - at home, in and around our stadium and also at our away fixtures. Many of you have expressed excitement at the current and future prospects of the Club. Many of you feel the club is on the right, forward moving track. Many of you have greeted us warmly and welcomed us into the QPR family. Firstly, allow me to thank you for all your support.

“In much of the conversations we have had, and encouragement that you have given me, some of you have also expressed your unhappiness at the increase in ticket prices for category A matches. It is something that we have listened to intently as a board and as shareholders - we have discussed this issue seriously and considered it deeply.

“We live in tough economic times and many of you don't need the added burden of higher ticket prices at select fixtures. Your despair was warranted and justified. So, please be assured that with immediate effect and until the end of the season, we will have no category A or B fixtures and tickets for all home fixtures at Loftus Road will be category C.

“We appreciate that when you did express yourselves, the protests were done silently and peacefully, through letters and conversations. Point made and point taken. Let's now get back to what's truly important and dedicate our energies to supporting the team on a matchday. Starting with the visit of Birmingham City to W12 on Tuesday night, let's sing loud and proud and be the formidable 12th man that we all know can make such a difference, especially at Loftus Road.”

Now I have been very critical of the club in the last few weeks, deservedly so I think, but as well as criticising it is important to give praise where it is due when the club do something right and they deserve to be applauded for this decision. The overriding feeling I got as I wrote about the mid-season price increases and spoke to other journalists about them was one of helplessness – that no matter what I said or wrote, whatever the fans did or didn’t do, it would make not one blind bit of difference. Flavio’s quote about not caring about what somebody who turns up once a week and pays £20 thinks made me believe that we could turn up with pitch forks and flaming torches and nobody would take a blind bit of notice.

It’s gratifying to know that the club can not only recognise mistakes when they are made, but also come out and admit openly that they made them and apologise. I’m also quite proud that Bhatia was able to come and sit with us all in the away end at Birmingham, in the midst of the ticket price rows and at a time when the team was not playing well, without anybody hassling him, getting angry and swearing or causing any trouble. It seems that those that have spoken with him have expressed gratitude for a number of things the new board has done, and concerns about others and that is worthy of praise as well.

Bhatia has clearly got his head screwed on – the feel good factor evaporated almost over night at the announcement of the new prices and the atmosphere at recent games has been very poor when really only the performance against Swansea has been worthy of any serious grief. The anger and infighting the original decision caused was at risk of derailing the entire season. The fact that the statement has come from him rather than Flavio, Ali Russell or simply in the form of a press release has immediately sparked rumours of an impending power struggle with this morning’s Guardian reporting that Briatore does not support this decision and feels undermined – clear the air talks to follow.

Mittal has never made any secret of the fact that his family wants to own more of QPR than it currently does, often admitting as much in interviews, and he has recently positioned himself as the one board member who is on the fans’ side; praising the supporters after the Aston Villa game, sitting in the away end and now bringing an end to high ticket prices. If he is keen to takeover he’s certainly doing it from a position of strength – the fans like him and he represents the richest board member.

I certainly wouldn’t be adverse to him running the club lock stock. Mittal and Bhatia seem, from the outside at least, to have been bitten by the football bug and see the football club as just that. They seem to understand QPR from a supporters’ point of view rather than a corporate one. The Mittal’s are the wealthiest board members as well remember so we certainly wouldn’t be losing out having them in total control – whether they would want to take that risk after seeing 22 per cent wiped off the value of their business recently who knows, I’m sure they still have enough to get by. We shall just have to see what transpires.

Whether it is Amit himself, the board as a whole or somebody else – a decision has been taken to publicly back down to try and bring an end to the crazy situation we currently have where some people seem keen to see the team fail just so they can have another moan about the ticket prices. No doubt some people will dismiss this latest statement as ‘more spin’ and say ‘well they shouldn’t have done it in the first place’ and of course they shouldn’t but this isn’t just spin, this is backed up with actions and like I say if you don’t give credit when it is due then your moans and groans will be ignored.

So well done to whoever did make the decision and thank you to Bhatia for his two recent letters to supporters on the official website – they are much appreciated. I would now urge the club to consult with fans over next season’s ticket prices, if they are to go up again give plenty of warning, give payment options and give reasons.

As Bhatia says – onwards and upwards, you R’s.

Agreeing with Jamie Redknapp – nothing to be afraid of
I have often found myself wondering just what purpose Jamie Redknapp serves in the Sky studios on a Sunday other than to give my Mum something to look at during six hours of wall to wall televised football. Most people in the game are either his mates, or his Dad’s friends, and consequently he never really seems to slate anybody or give a definite opinion either way. Frank Lampard could put two through his own net and then get sent off for spitting in the referee’s face and Jamie would still be sitting there in his silly skinny tie talking about how fans misunderstand his role in the England team and he’s a super chap really. He is slowly turning into a modern day Ray Wilkins.

However something happened on Sunday that made me spill beer all over my new carpet. Not only did he come forward with an opinion, but it was one I agreed with. I’ll never forget the time, it was 6.22pm on Sunday after the fabulously entertaining Stoke v Tottenham game – three goals, two penalties, two red cards, two horrible injuries, eleven minutes of stoppage time, controversy, an upset, a manager under pressure, a spot kick that hits both posts and comes back out into play, what’s not to like? I was just catching my breath with a fresh bottle of Becks when the discussion on just what the hell is wrong with Tottenham this season switched to a more broader topic of directors of football in the English game.

Now it is worth pointing out that as the son of a manager that has built his reputation on wheeling and dealing in the transfer market, and one that left Portsmouth the first time amidst a row about a director of football, Jamie is approaching the argument from a position of bias. But he doesn’t think the director of football role can work in this country and, after several weeks of careful thought, neither do I.

The system where a manager simply coaches the team and effectively a board member with a bit of footballing background makes the signings is one used at most clubs in Italy. QPR last season with Italian owners, an Italian sporting director and an Italian manager used to the system was an obvious place for the system to work and work well and it did – Luigi De Canio got the boys playing good football, although how much of it was to do with him is open to debate, and Gianni Paladini got good, proven Championship players in that De Canio had probably never heard of in his whole life.

However De Canio is now gone and Iain Dowie is the manager. In my opinion the system should have gone with De Canio. In England the traditional system sees the manager do everything – training, tactics, signings – and if it goes wrong he gets the sack. English managers do not seem to cope well with having any of that responsibility taken away from them, they’re not used to it and their egos won’t allow it.

Whether Dowie knew this system would remain in place at QPR, didn’t think it would be or thought he could ride roughshod over it we’ll never know but he’s now in a position where he’s had players presented to him, Daniel Parejo for instance, and is under pressure from above to not only accommodate all of them in his team but also play two up front. If Dowie had his way Adam Bolder would have been in the team at the start of the season for instance.

Those who look at Dowie’s record at Charlton in particular and to some extent Coventry are glad that transfer dealings have been taken out of his hands. He spent £12m creating the worst Charlton side of the past decade and they’re yet to recover from his spell in charge. However that doesn’t mean the system is right, it means you should choose your manager more carefully. To sack Dowie, as most of the press seems to think we will do fairly shortly, after buying the players for him makes no sense to me.

Neither really does the situation at Tottenham where the head of Juande Ramos is seemingly about to join that of Martin Jol in the wicker basket when to a man every football fan in the country says the reason Tottenham are doing so badly this season is because of their transfer policy. Millions spent, a Chelsea sized amount, and yet a team with an unbalanced midfield and no strikers is the result. Martin Jol and Juande Ramos are both excellent managers but they were and are not allowed to do their jobs properly at Tottenham. Not only should the root of the problem Damien Comolli fall on his sword but they shouldn’t replace him either.

I have seen it said that you wouldn’t want somebody in charge of the purse strings of a multi million pound business just because they played as a holding midfielder for the club in the 1980s, that the idea of somebody like Ian Holloway being allowed to spend the millions belonging to somebody else unchecked is ludicrous, but that is football in this country. Ian Holloway bought Danny Shittu, Lee Cook and Martin Rowlands, he also bought Brett Angell, Bob Taylor and Arthur Gnohere – if you make more good signings than bad you succeed and keep your job, if not you get the sack. That’s how it works. The fact that managers make bad signings sometimes isn’t a reason to take the responsibility away from them, look at some of the tat both Tottenham and QPR have bought for their managers in the past 18 months.

Personally I think the manager should be just that – he does the training, signs the players and picks the team. If the owners don’t like the results then the manager gets fired and he can’t say it was anything other than his mistakes that got him the tin tack. If Iain Dowie or Juande Ramos gets sacked tomorrow they could point the finger at a whole plethora of other people at fault for their demise. If you have a manager making poor decisions the solution is not to appoint somebody above him to take some of the responsibilities away it is to appoint a better manager. It’s that obvious even Jamie Redknapp agrees.

Random irritations
- full backs that can’t pass or cross.
- the fact that pub owners wonder why they are all going out of business when they charge £3.50 for a bottle of beer when you can buy a six pack of the same beer for less than that at the super market down the road. Fucking hell chaps it’s not rocket science this is it?
- Graham Poll, not only him defending the indefensible decision at Newcastle on Monday but also the idea that as nobody had really given Richard Dunne any stick for his mistake and own goal we should also afford Rob Styles the same charity.
- that game on ITV’s “The Championship” that Gabriel Clarke goes to. Nothing against Gabriel and I enjoy the pre and post match interviews and features but what is the point in doing the highlights from artsy fartsy camera angles? You get a better view of the action from the away end at Blundell Park.
- In fact ITV full stop.
- 50 mile per hour speed limits on the motorway in the middle of the night to “protect the workforce”. Now I don’t want to run over a roadworker any more than the next person but is two blokes on a cherry picker changing a light bulb really worth five miles of average speed checks and three lane closures? I think not. Made a long drive back from Swansea even longer.
- Stoke and Hull – I so wanted them both to do a Derby this season, damn them for succeeding and damn all those who say it’s good for the game.
- Police forces that advise there is no parking near a ground and no pubs within three miles are allowed to admit away fans when neither turns out to be true. Likewise QPR saying away games are all ticket only for you to arrive at the ground and find a cash gate open after you paid the £3.50 booking fee and told your brother he couldn’t come because he didn’t have a ticket.
- 606 without Danny Baker, after laughing all the way through his broadcast on the way home from Swansea I cannot believe the BBC allow anybody else to do the programme let alone getting that areshole Tim Lovejoy to follow him a day later.
- Welsh road signs. Is there anybody out there that only speaks Welsh? How much has that all cost? Could it not have been spent on a school or a hospital?
- Arsenal, stop looking so brilliant and bloody win something will ya?
- Non alcoholic beer, it’s taking over the shelves, what’s the point?
- People ringing you at home asking if you’ve had an accident and would like to sue somebody, then when you say no trying to flog you insurance in case you do have one. Piss off please, Mrs Clive has a proper worthwhile job and is on nights this week and is being disturbed by your unwanted and intrusive phone call.
- Plastic glasses in pubs, Springbok please just let me have my Becks in its bottle. I won’t kill anybody with it I promise.
- ‘Lucky Stars’ by Dean Friedman, my God that will get stuck in your head if you’re not careful.
- Our government still spending millions on “pay this stealth tax or we’re coming to get you” adverts on the radio and television. Aren’t they meant to be skint?
- Younger brothers who can’t get their arse out of bed on time on a Saturday morning. Come on Paul, it’s the best day of the week son.

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Great article Clive, incisive, captures the mood perfectly and some much needed humour to boot. -quilters

Att: Clive Whittingham You're invited to be on the guest list at one of the remaining dates on Dean's current UK tour. See www.deanfriedman.com for tourdates. Enjoy the music! -Amelia

Even for nothing other than good PR, the fact that Amit has a strong command of the Englsh language and you can actually clearly understand him when he speaks (unlike Flav's Italian-accent laced mumblings), counts for a lot IMO. -woolfgang

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