Yes indeed, mind-bogglingly rich (but Bernie's applecart could tip over any moment). But not parting with it just yet!Fayed got Fulham promoted with quite good crowds (relative to stand size, which is important in terms of crowd atmosphere, efficienct etc.) but mostly by having good players until Fergie filched the best, the goalkeeper. Wigan had a successful ground share - a rare event - and decent-ish crowds, plus a lot of JJB money pumped in judiciously.The key thing is the stadium - I doubt QPR would last more than one year in the Premiership with Loftus Road. I cannot see either of the BBC sites (TV centre or north of South Africa Road) being available for redevelopment for a while yet. The Beeb is contracting onto its core sites but hasn't shown signs yet of folding its tents and moving to Manchester - there's an element of them playing to a Government gallery there, for licence-fee reasons.What baffles me, given the directors don't especially have any local connections, or football connections, is why they picked on QPR. The current site, if redeveloped, would probably only go for residential property. Whilst that could well be lucrative in the future, they would'nt - I suspect - want to be involved in the development. If I had their money and wanted to turn a FC into a world force, I would have gone for Leeds United - big city, huge hinterland, decent current stand and site, potential in the site, potential to improve the team, recognised brand name, potential to be THE big club in Yorkshire. They missed a chance there, and of all people let cuddly Ken Bates slip past them! He knows a thing or two about buying cheap and making a buck - look how little he got Chelsea for.
Dan Filson ● 5818d