With Gianni Paladini’s takeover of Birmingham still in the works, Roller considers the Italian’s ‘crimes’ during his time at Loftus Road.
Casting around the traditional, oak panelled splendour of the courtroom from our position in the heart of the jury, the eye is continually drawn to the grey haired, bespectacled man sitting dignifiedly in the dock. His calm persona is unbroken as he rises in unison with the rest of the court room to acknowledge the arrival of the judge.
Having taken his seat, the judge clears his throat and begins proceedings. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, your duty here today at this hearing is to determine whether Mr Gianni Paladini of Rome, Italy (and occasionally Solihul) is guilty as accused of a long catalogue of offences committed against the board, staff and supporters of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, and indeed the club itself, or whether he has been wrongly accused and his impact at the club is, in fact, the key factor in Queens Park Rangers currently playing in the Premier League. This is not only an unusual case but an unusual method of trial as none of you, the jury, are impartial and will all have the opportunity to add your opinions to the cases that the prosecutor and defence lawyer are going to present, before passing verdict.”
The judge indicates to the prosecutor to outline the accusations. He stands, discards his notes and begins. “On the November 16, 2011, Mr Gianni Paladini officially left Queens Park Rangers Football Club. This was a time for unbridled celebration in Shepherds Bush. The self-serving, egotistical man you now see sitting shamefully in the dock had been sucking the soul out of QPR since the day he arrived. The evidence I will bring before you will show how he stabbed other board members in the back in his sordid scramble to become chairman of the club and how he sacrificed others to enable him to remain there. I will demonstrate how he siphoned off the club’s precious money to line the pockets of other football agents, men he had been friends and colleagues with before launching his takeover bid for QPR I will also illustrate the contempt in which he held the supporters of the club in; how he lied about the signing of Alejandro Faurlin, a lie which almost cost the club their hard fought promotion to the Premier League and how his actions in favouring some sections of the supporters above others were designed to create rifts between them. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, at the end of these proceedings, you will hold Mr Paladini in the same contempt that he holds you.”
Even before the prosecutor has sat back down the defence lawyer is on his feet. A nod from the judge is all the encouragement he requires to start his rebuttal of these accusations. “Ladies and gentlemen, you have heard from my learned colleague about specific moments in my client’s involvement with Queens Park Rangers Football Club. But these are just individual incidents, individual incidents with no context. I will not be nitpicking history, scavenging around desperately seeking individual incidents to backup foundless theories, I shall be looking at my client’s involvement as a whole, the global picture, and demonstrably proving that without Mr Paladini’s involvement it is highly unlikely that QPR would even exist today, let alone have been battling against the major clubs in this country in the Premier League for the last two seasons. I will demonstrate that every action Mr Paladini has taken was with the club’s best interests as his guide. Those who doubt him now, will leave with their heads bowed in shame.” With a quick glance towards his client, the defence lawyer sits down.
The prosecutor leans back in his chair and slowly turns his head towards the jury. “I probably should be grateful to Mr Paladini”, he starts “he has given me such a rich litany of material to choose from. However just a few examples from this catalogue of disgrace will suffice to show his guilt.” He stands and approaches the jury, his steely gaze accentuating his resolve. He spins towards Paladini and, with more than a hint of anger in his voice, continues. “The callous way that Paladini disposed of loyal QPR men in his desperate bid to become the club’s chairman gives a chillingly accurate indictment of his self-serving nature; his treatment of Bill Power, the man who championed his acceptance at the club, indicative of this.
“After Paladini’s initial attempt to get Power removed as both chairman and director during a stormy board meeting in August 2005 had been thwarted and the meeting suspended to seek clarification on various legal positions, Paladini had the brazenness to reconvene the meeting after Power, fellow director and lifelong QPR supporter Kevin McGrath and chief executive Mark Devlin had left. The no confidence motion was repeated and passed by three votes to nil by Paladini and his allies: Gualtiero Trucco and former Brazil captain Carlos Dunga, who had flown in specifically for this meeting despite having not attended the previous six board meetings. Lifelong QPR supporter Bill Power was shamelessly stripped of his office and removed from the board. Trucco was quickly voted in as interim chairman, and immediately proposed that Devlin be made redundant with immediate effect, this was also ratified by the remaining members of the board. Within a month Paladini was voted in as chairman and McGrath’s days were numbered.
“Paladini’s treatment of former QPR player and manager Ian Holloway was equally disgraceful. In February 2006 he granted Leicester City permission to talk to Holloway about their vacant managerial position. Assuming that he wasn’t wanted at QPR any more, Holloway reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by the Leicester board. On his return to Loftus Road, Holloway was immediately put on ‘gardening leave’, along with assistants Gary Penrice and Tim Breaker. Paladini claimed that he was concerned about recent performances and the effect the speculation about Holloway joining Leicester City might have on the players; the truth is that Holloway was far more popular with the supporters than Paladini and a powerful voice within the club, Paladini had wanted to get rid of him and had blatantly manipulated these events to enable him to do so. He replaced Holloway with another club legend, Gary Waddock. Waddock was young and inexperienced, not ready to manage a club the size of QPR enabling Paladini to meddle with team affairs in a way that Holloway would not have allowed.
“Paladini’s desperation to impress his friends resulted in QPR paying out scandalous fees to agents, money that he knew that the club could ill afford. Just to highlight two examples, the supposedly free transfer of Marc Nygaard from Brescia Calcio cost the club a reported £60,000 in agents’ fees while the transfer of Ian Evatt from Chesterfield cost an additional £40,000. These fees were hopelessly disproportionate in relation to the transfer fees and the abilities of the players involved. Hopes that Paladini, a former agent, would be able to reduce the fees paid by the club to agents were completely mis-founded, his involvement actually resulted in these fees for the 2004-05 season totalling more than the previous three season’s fees combined as he lined the pockets of his friends with the clubs meagre resources.
“His deceitfulness and egotistical boasting almost cost QPR their hard earned promotion back to the Premier League. Paladini’s claim that Alejandro Faurlin had been signed for £3,500,000 was designed purely to impress the club’s supporters, it had no foundation in reality. An FA investigation into this transfer revealed the deceitful depths that Paladini was prepared to stoop to. The revelation that Faurlin was actual owned by a third party in direct contravention of FA rules threatened to bring the club’s promotion challenge to a shattering halt with a large points deduction one of the potential punishments. Paladini’s pathetic attempts to hide his misconduct from the authorities by fraudulently amending the paperwork compounding the matter, the huge fee paid illegally to an unregistered agent barely registered in comparison to these other offences. Incredibly Paladini not only survived these events to remain in his role at QPR, but blame was subsequently directed towards Ishan Saksena who wasn’t even employed by the club when the Faurlin transfer occurred.
“Perhaps Paladini’s most disgraceful act was to deliberately create rifts in between the supporters. He consciously sought out those who would not only promote his opinions but would also launch campaigns on his behalf against those who spoke out against him; his skilful manipulation of these supporters, showering them with gifts and privileged information, guaranteeing their obedience. Dissenting lifelong QPR supporters were told openly that they were no longer welcome at Loftus Road as Paladini struggled to control the minds of the faithful. His plans were always doomed to fail but the damage he caused still afflicts the fan base.”
The prosecutor turns back towards the jury. “So, ladies and gentlemen, Mr Gianni Paladini”, he says gesturing towards the defendant. “His involvement at Queens Park Rangers has stripped the club of loyal supporters, money and self-respect. The good name of the club has been sullied by FA disciplinary procedures while his agent friends have been feasting on what precious revenue the club could muster. It is nothing short of a miracle that the club has survived his involvement but do not let that deflect you from your easy task of finding him guilty as accused”. Returning to his chair, the prosecutor sits down and neatens up his papers barely disguising the satisfied look on his face.
The judge calls upon the defence lawyer to present his case. He rises from his chair thoroughly prepared to defend his client. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, rather than scan through the minutia of recent history, I’m going to simply present you with the global picture. This will clearly show that QPR has been greatly enhanced by the time, money and effort expended by Mr Gianni Paladini. So let’s start at the beginning.
“When Mr Paladini initially invested his money into QPR the club was on the verge of oblivion. Unable to meet the demanding payments to service their punitive loan from the ABC Corporation their home ground of Loftus Road was severely under threat. In April 2004 the existing members of the board could not have been happier to accept Mr Paladini’s money to stave off the inevitable; he was happy to take a minor role to those already occupying the senior positions at the club.
“He cut a very frustrated figure as he watched the rest of the board floundering in their attempts to secure the additional investment the club was so desperate for and so he took matters into his own hands. In July 2004 Mr Paladini’s initiative resulted in Barnaby Holding L.L.C. investing £550,000 into the club, also adding the considerable experience of former Brazil captain Carlos Dunga to the board. In November 2004 Mr Paladini’s hard work paid dividends again when another consortium, Wanlock L.L.C., invested £1.1 million in QPR In a few short months Mr Paladini had secured the immediate future of Queens Park Rangers.”
Now in full flow, the defence council continues “It is hardly surprising that the investors that Mr Paladini brought to the club wanted to see him in the role of chairman, it was his vision of the future that they had bought into. As soon as the combined holding of the consortia that Mr Paladini introduced to the club exceeded 50% this became inevitable and he was duty bound to accept the position in the interests of the stability of the club. Weighed down by the millstone of the A.B.C. loan, the club still struggled to meet all their costs prompting Mr Paladini and his fellow investors to invest even more of their money bringing their combined investment up to the incredible sum of over £6.5 million. I am, quite frankly, staggered how anyone can regard Mr Paladini as self-serving. These figures speak volumes for themselves.
“As the severity of the club’s debts continued to drag the club towards extinction, Mr Paladini again sought new investment, which he found in the surprising form of Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. His sterling work in persuading these two Formula 1 giants came at a great cost to himself. Their investment came with one large proviso, they wanted complete control of the club. With QPR’s best interests at heart and with scant regard for his own position, he, in concert with the other shareholders, reluctantly sold all his shares to them. Wisely the new owners recognised Mr Paladini’s value and importance to the club and ensured that he remained in place to help them steer the course which ultimately led to promotion to the Premier League.
“Mr Paladini continued to have a very positive impact on the club, it must be remembered that the securing of Neil Warnock, the manager who masterminded QPR’s promotion, was his initiative. When this promotion was achieved, Ecclestone and Briatore sold the club on to Tony Fernandes who foolishly decided that he did not need Mr Paladini’s assistance. The constant struggle the club has been fighting, not to mention the money that has been wasted, since then would show that to be a very, very poor decision. Keith Curle, Warnock’s first team coach, a man known for his plain speaking, concisely summed up the effect that releasing Mr Paladini had on QPR stating that ‘When Gianni left QPR the heartbeat of the club went as well’. Chief Executive Philip Beard also thanked Mr Paladini for his important contribution to the club recognising that he went ‘beyond the call of duty’ and ‘played an integral role in our returning to the Premier League’. These are comments from people inside the club, people who know the true situation, not those looking in from the outside trying to second guess events, or with their own personal vendettas to fuel.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please consider the fact afresh. Consider the position the club was in when Mr Paladini first became involved and consider the position the club was in when he left eight years later. Do not focus on any individual events, focus on the overall picture; can you really say that the club would have been better off if Mr Paladini has not been involved? The fact Queens Park Rangers are not only still in existence, but playing the best teams in the country in the Premier League is due solely to one man, Mr Gianni Paladini. No one man has done more for QPR, you have no alternative but to find in his favour.” The defence lawyer returns to his seat to await the judge’s summation.
The judge clears his throat and looks reflectively around the courtroom and eventually rests his gaze on the jury. “You’ve now heard from both the prosecution and defence and so it is now incumbent on you to reach a verdict on the accusations levelled at Mr Paladini. Sufficient time should have passed since these events to allow you to do so without the restrictions of any former prejudice clouding your thinking. I encourage you to expand upon your reasoning and please draw upon any of your own examples to illustrate your conclusions.”
The judge interlaces his fingers and finishes “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, over to you”….
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