Briatore and QPR

[Mr Angry]

If there is already a thread on this, then apologies, but I couldn't see one....

.....after Flavio Briatore was banned for life by the FIA beacuse of instructing one of his drivers to deliberately crash in order to allow his other driver to win the Singapore Grand Prix, the following, I imagine, would apply.....


According to Football League rules, nobody can be a director or hold a majority interest in a club if they are banned from a sport's governing body.

At a World Motor Sport Council hearing on Monday, Briatore was banned with the FIA adding that it would not grant a licence to any team he was involved with or renew an F1 Superlicence granted to any driver associated with him.

Briatore is co-owner of QPR along with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

He is also chairman of the holding company that owns the club and a director on the board of the Championship side.

Looks like QPR are in for a degree of uncertainty off the pitch!

[handbags_harris]

Heard this on 5Live this morning. Quite frankly there is only one conclusion the Football League can come to, and that is to say that QPR cannot go on with Briatore in the position he is in.

This is going to set precedents for English football. What are the punishment guidelines (if any) for a club which is owned, in whole or in part, by a person who is banned from another sport's governing body? What can the Football League actually do if it is found that Briatore is not a "fit and proper person" to run a football club?

[Dirk Gently]

This highlights the current problem with the F&PPT, which is that so much of it is retrospective.

If Briatore now has to leave QPR then what does that do to them? What if he can't find anyone to buy him out at the price he wants - they'll be in a sort of ownership "limbo" where he's not allowed to own them but no-one else wants to....

Admittedly, because the F1 stuff has only just come to light there's no way rules would be able to cope in this instance, but a better example is Notts County, where the new owners have come in, ploughed money into ridiculous long-term contracts for the likes of Sven and Sol Campbell - ad now it very much looks like they'll fail the F&PPT! How much simpler it would have been if all the F&PPT investigations wee done BEFORE they were allowed to do any business dealings.... what mess are Notts County going to be in now?

[(.)Boobies(.)]

This highlights the current problem with the F&PPT, which is that so much of it is retrospective.

If Briatore now has to leave QPR then what does that do to them? What if he can't find anyone to buy him out at the price he wants - they'll be in a sort of ownership "limbo" where he's not allowed to own them but no-one else wants to....

Admittedly, because the F1 stuff has only just come to light there's no way rules would be able to cope in this instance, but a better example is Notts County, where the new owners have come in, ploughed money into ridiculous long-term contracts for the likes of Sven and Sol Campbell - ad now it very much looks like they'll fail the F&PPT! How much simpler it would have been if all the F&PPT investigations wee done BEFORE they were allowed to do any business dealings.... what mess are Notts County going to be in now?

It takes some doing to fail the F&PPT though. The checks are nowhere near as indepth as they need to be. What is the current state of play at Notts County for them to possibly fail this?

[Dirk Gently]

This highlights the current problem with the F&PPT, which is that so much of it is retrospective.

If Briatore now has to leave QPR then what does that do to them? What if he can't find anyone to buy him out at the price he wants - they'll be in a sort of ownership "limbo" where he's not allowed to own them but no-one else wants to....

Admittedly, because the F1 stuff has only just come to light there's no way rules would be able to cope in this instance, but a better example is Notts County, where the new owners have come in, ploughed money into ridiculous long-term contracts for the likes of Sven and Sol Campbell - ad now it very much looks like they'll fail the F&PPT! How much simpler it would have been if all the F&PPT investigations wee done BEFORE they were allowed to do any business dealings.... what mess are Notts County going to be in now?

It takes some doing to fail the F&PPT though. The checks are nowhere near as indepth as they need to be. What is the current state of play at Notts County for them to possibly fail this?

The F&PPT is being strengthened each year, so people are starting to fail it more and more.

As I understand it, at Notts County there are so many shadow companies and so on involved that the FL can't work out who actually is the owner.

Link here : http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/21/notts-county-takeover-munto-finance

[AF1]

so wats the point in having the F&PPT after you buy a club

and wat happens if you fail it the FL make you sell the club back at a loss wat if no one wants to buy it back


is this wat happened at citeh too coming in, over stretching the clubs finances so the governing bodies have no choice but to approve it or see the club go under

[Barry the bird boggler]

If there are rules in place then they need to be applied otherwise there is no point ever having any rules.

If that means a club going under then tough, its time the people behind the scenes of clubs started being accountable for their actions.

In instances such as this, then yes Briatore should be removed if he now fails the league's rules. How much of that would be a problem to QPR given that he is part of a triumverate there remains to be seen, personally I can't there being much effect as they've hardly been splashing the cash since they arrived.

[Dirk Gently]

Agreed that at QPR it ought to be less of a problem, but this highlights a clash between UK company law and football law - can teh Fl force a shareholder to sell their shares in a company?

And what if he can't find a buyer - in reality or by just being pig-headed and wanting too high a price?

[6ft Kerplunk]

According to Football League rules, nobody can be a director or hold a majority interest in a club if they are banned from a sport's governing body.

What I heard this morning was slightly different, something about being banned by another sport's governing body for administration offences. Does ordering your driver to crash equate to an admin offence?

[Barry the bird boggler]

No, but it is basically akin to ordering you manager to not play your star players in a game which, although not exactly guaranteeing the result, should rather benefit your opponents.

[Deadlock]

No, but it is basically akin to ordering you manager to not play your star players in a game which, although not exactly guaranteeing the result, should rather benefit your opponents.

Surely it's more akin to ordering your manager to play an utter clogger with orders to break the opposing team's star players' legs.

[Baines]

Surely it's more akin to ordering your manager to play an utter clogger with orders to break the opposing team's star players' legs.

Some managers can take the initiative in such matters without the need for orders from above.

[Tredder]

Could be worse, we could have Madejski as our chairman.

[Deathy]

Could be worse, we could have Madejski as our chairman.

'greed. What we all want is multi billionaires who give the rusty old stadium a lick of paint and a new manager every 3 months.

[Tredder]

and championship football.

[Deathy]

LOL. Dizzy heights for billionaire owners. Exciting times.

[Tredder]

Exciting times indeed, no more go kart racing to worry, Flav can get back to picking the team like he did last season, as for the ground, i certainly wouldn't swap the loft for a soulless fishbowl.

[Alan Partridge]

Exciting times indeed, no more go kart racing to worry, Flav can get back to picking the team like he did last season, as for the ground, i certainly wouldn't swap the loft for a soulless fishbowl.

They would

[Deathy]

Exciting times indeed, no more go kart racing to worry, Flav can get back to picking the team like he did last season, as for the ground, i certainly wouldn't swap the loft for a soulless fishbowl.

And 'Flav' picking the team was gr8 last season.

[Tredder]

No, hence the irony.