QPR owners won't foot all the bills for new training ground or stadium, says Amit Bhatia

EXCLUSIVE
QPR are in talks with Hammersmith and Fulham Council over a move away from Loftus Road
Getty Images
Simon Johnson22 November 2018

QPR chairman Amit Bhatia has revealed that the club’s wealthy owners will not foot the whole bill for a new training ground or stadium.

Rangers have received planning permission to build a new £30million training facility at Warren Farm, with work set to begin at the Hanwell site in the new year.

The Championship club are also in talks with Hammersmith and Fulham Council over redeveloping Linford Christie Stadium into a 30,000 all-seater ground, so they can move from their current Loftus Road home.

That scheme is still a long way from being approved at present, but it would inevitably cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

QPR’s owners — Tony Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun, Ruben Gnanalingam and the Lakshmi Mittal family — are estimated to have a combined personal wealth in excess of $20billion (£15.5bn).

But Bhatia, the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal, says the club will prioritise raising funds from other means. Talking about the Warren Farm site, that will include 20 pitches and a two-storey training facility, Bhatia told Standard Sport: “We hope the major works will be put out to tender or commence early next year. Now it is about how we finance it.

“We are well progressed as far as conversations with regards to floating a bond, which other clubs have done.

“Why aren’t we funding it ourselves? It’s a very valid question and one I would ask as a fan. Football has been bankrolled a lot by rich benefactors. We are of the belief that we were part of the problem in previous years.

“Over an extended period of time — and it is a word often used, but it’s right — football clubs have to be sustainable; that rich benefactors don’t just throw money at it, even though it looks like the easiest solution from the outside.

“If floating a bond is deemed a more financially prudent way for a club to build the training ground, it should be explored, as with other financial options. If none of these prove successful, would the shareholders and board approve the investors to do it? Absolutely. But to use that as the first option, and not look at all the others beforehand, would not be prudent for the club.”

When pressed if they would also potentially attempt to raise finances from elsewhere to meet the cost of a new ground, Bhatia admitted it would be a factor.

He added: “These are very large projects. Once we go through this process, will the shareholders have to put their hands in their pockets to some degree? Of course. Will we use any financial mechanisms available in the market place, like any construction project would take, as well? We would be foolish not to explore those.

“We would look at the training facility and the stadium the same way. But we are fortunate to have a giant asset in our current stadium. If Loftus Road is redeveloped into housing, that would go a long way into paying for any future development costs of a new ground.

“This all comes from a desire to make the club more sustainable, so that it far outlives our involvement, so it is less dependent on its rich benefactors.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT