Gianni Paladini
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Gianni Paladini (born 1946 in Napoli, Italy) is the current chairman of Queens Park Rangers football club after replacing Bill Power in a boardroom coup. He is part of the Monaco-based consortium, Wanlock LLC, that owns 30% of QPR.
A promising teenage footballer, he was forced to give up the game at the age of 18, before playing a single game for his home town club Napoli - although, between 1958 and 1967, Paladini claims he was on Napoli’s books wearing the No 10 shirt, and later played for Juventus and the Italian national team.
Paladini came to England in the late sixties and settled in Solihull, marrying English wife Olga - the couple have two children, Stephen and Kate. He built up a business which involved property and nightclubs.
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[edit] Football
When the Premiership started importing foreign stars, Paladini became an interpreter in the football industry and eventually an agent for stars mainly linked with Middlesbrough F.C., such as Fabrizio Ravanelli, Benito Carbone and Brazilians Emerson Moisés Costa and Juninho Paulista.
He was first linked with a club takeover when Port Vale, who is son Stephen is a supporter of, agreed to be taken over in December 2003 [1]. However, the deal fell through at the fan owned cub through: mistrust (he wanted to take the club on as sole owner, not in a part fan consortium); broken promises including bringing Fabrizio Ravenelli to Vale Park; unclear development plans, including leaving Vale Park and a possibility of using local rivals Stoke's ground; and a continual reduction of financial input.
[edit] QPR
In 1996, music tycoon Chris Wright took over the West London club, but five years later he was forced to put the club into administration due to crippling debts. A year later the club got out of administration but only after securing a £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, based in Panama. The interest on the loan was rumoured at around £1m a year - for a club that had never made a profit. This was the background of financial desperation out of which Mr Paladini emerged.
In June 2003, QPR announced that Moorbound Ltd had bought 22% of the PLC's issued shares, and giving the club a much needed cash injection of around £650,000. The deal saw Azeem Malik and Paladini join the board at QPR [2]. The QPR board were glad to meet someone who wanted to inject money into the club, and particularly when Paladini promised that Moorbound were the vehicle for another party with far more cash, and that he personally would bring stars such as Benito Carbone to Loftus Road.
In fact, Paladini had remortgaged one of his homes and was far from the multi-millionaire saviour who directors and supporters thought would rescue their club. By August 2005 several people within the club had become hostile towards Mr Paladini, and were suspicious about his plans for the club.
[edit] The gun incident
On 13 August 14,000 fans turned up to see QPR play Sheffield United. Paladini arrived at the ground around 2pm with his son, daughter and grandson Gianluca, who was due to be the club's mascot that day. Paladini went upstairs to the chairman's suite and bumped into David Morris, the owner of a 2% share in the club, who asked to have a private word with him.
Mr Paladini claimed at Blackfriars Crown Court that he was led into the chief executive's office and was surrounded by a group of thugs. Paladini said he had been terrified and claimed that at one point one of the gang held a gun at his head and said: '"Sign, sign the paper - we'll kill you." Defendant David Davenport was alleged to have pointed a gun at him and said: "We're not messing about, we've got guns." Co-defendant Aaron Lacey was alleged to have pushed something into the back of Paladini's head and said: "Let's kill him now." Towards the end of the ordeal, it was claimed David Morris said: "Now the boys will teach you what life is about." Paladini then allegedly received a number of slaps and blows, and claimed he was forced to sign several documents resigning from the club and handing over his 14.7% stake in the club.
However, Police investigating the incident never found the documents, only a scrunched up piece of paper in Mr Paladini's handwriting. Further, after being asked to attend the Loftus Road ground urgently by his family, during the interview Paladini left the room to celebrate a QPR goal.
During the trial, the prosecution claimed security company boss Andy Baker had been hired by David Morris to recruit a gang of hard men to intimidate Paladini. But giving evidence at the trial, Baker said he had been invited as a guest of Morris's brother Dan and was hoping to tout for the club's lucrative stewarding contract, which was up for renewal. When asked about the £7,000 found by police in the pocket of his hooded top he said part of it was wages for his employees and the rest was "to grease some wheels at QPR to help us get the (stewarding) contract."
On 21 June 2006 jurors found club shareholders David Morris and John McFarlane not guilty of conspiracy to blackmail, false imprisonment and gun possession [3]. On 28 June Judge Charles Byers told the jury to clear the other men, on account that in the prosecution's case, Mr Morris had been the "essential core" of the blackmail plot and without him the case could not stand. The other defendants who denied all charges were: Andy Baker, 40, from North Petherton, Somerset; Aaron Lacey, 36, from Watford; David Davenport, 38, from Buckinghamshire; and Michael Reynolds, 45, from north London [4]. Daniel Morris (David's brother) had disappeared before the trial, and a European warrant is still outstanding for his arrest.
[edit] After the trial
Soon after the alleged incident, Paladini, backed by several friends and fellow investors - including Brazilian World Cup winner Dunga and two Monaco-based companies - ousted chairman Bill Power shortly after the incident.
It was then alleged in the press that Paladini was using QPR to line the pockets of various agent friends with deals that the club cannot afford. Typical is the suggestion that the acquisition of Marc Nygaard, on a free transfer from Brescia Calcio, resulted in a £60,000 payment to agent Brian Hassell. It is also claimed that £40,000 was paid to Mel Eves, a Midlands-based, for the transfer of Ian Evatt [5].
In February 2006, QPR's highly-rated manager Ian Holloway was placed on gardening leave after a series of rows with Paladini, allegedly over Holloway's interest in the vacant managerial post at Leicester City. It emerged that Paladini had brought in players without consultation with the manager, including Mauro Milanese and Dean Sturridge. During the trial Paladini had been asked by David Morris's barrister, Jim Sturman QC: "Did you ever say to manager Ian Holloway that you would kill him?" Paladini replied: "In a funny way, yes, but it didn't mean anything at all."
Holloway was allowed to join Plymouth Argyle in June 2006, while QPR later appointed as John Gregory manager. Bill Power is now part of a consortia in charge of Swindon Town.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/sport/portvale/2003/12/vale_takeover2.shtml
- ^ http://www.queensparkrangersfc.com/newsnow/may04.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5099000.stm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5124508.stm
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,435-1804566,00.html
