Success elsewhere in business does not readily translate into football which is a world with own special customs and rules. Tony Fernandes built up low cost airline AirAsia almost from scratch, then spent £200m on Queens Park Rangers only to end up lower in the league than when he started. Big name internationals were brought in on £80,000 a week contracts with no relegation clauses. A wage bill of £75.4m on a turnover of £38.7m in the Championship was the result.
Now Fernandes has published a memoir Flying High, My Story from AirAsia to QPR. He admits, 'Pure naivety. I thought every player would run their socks off, because that's always been my character. I never thought there would be guys who would take a salary and do **** all.'
Fernandes says that the club now has a wage cap, believed to be about £20,000 a week. They have stopped dealing with certain agents.
Work is expected to start next year on a new training ground at Ealing and while plans for a 40,000 capacity stadium near Wormwood Scrubs came to nothing, a local athletics stadium is being considered for a possible 25,000 capacity home.
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