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On a sunny midweek afternoon, without a player in sight, Queens Park Rangers’ ground is a rectangle of calm. Tony Fernandes bounds up one of the stands chomping on a Blue Riband chocolate biscuit.
“You can’t believe you’re in the middle of London, actually,” the chairman says, scanning the bright-green pitch.
“The first place I came after the Championship game at Wembley [when QPR beat Derby to return to the Premier League] was to sit here and take it all in. This is better than sitting in a stuffy office.”
Dressed in a red Air Asia cap, black T-shirt and jeans, Fernandes doesn’t look like the owner of an international empire. It’s intentional: the 50-year-old styles himself as Malaysia’s answer to Sir Richard Branson and eschews corporate strictures.
“I dress like this deliberately because if you wear a suit and tie you put a bit of distance between you and your staff,” he says. “People generally think I’m an illegal immigrant when I’m walking around the airport. QPR fans find me a bit weird because I sit with them; I go to the pub.”
He points at his PR man. “I hugged Ian the other day, in Sunderland, and people were asking who I was.”
Fernandes chuckles. He is chatty and informal, his polite English accent tinged with Branson-esque American inflections, but underneath is a serious businessman. He has amassed an estimated $650m (£400m) fortune by bringing low-cost air travel to Asia, ploughing some of the proceeds into hotels, insurance, mobile phones, sports cars – and football.
Fernandes and two Malaysian partners bought QPR three years ago from the Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and the former team principal Flavio Briatore. They own 66%; most of the rest is held by the Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
It hasn’t been a cheap pursuit. Accounts for 2012-13 showed a loss of £65m, with debt rising to £177m. Is Fernandes able to switch off from the on-pitch drama every season and see it as an investment?
“No. God, f*** no. I wish I could,” he says. “Sometimes I can’t come to the games. I’ll sit in there” – he gestures to the stadium’s innards – “or come out at half-time, you know. The whole experience of last season was like a bloody rollercoaster, but the best feeling was not winning. Honestly, it was being on the pitch [at Wembley] and seeing 40,000 QPR fans. Football is a religion to these people – I go to the pub and I see maybe five QPR fans with tattoos all over their bodies, their phones have got QPR covers, their watches are QPR . . .”
Fernandes presents his plans for the club in this vein. Last week QPR launched a consultation on proposals to build a 40,000-seat stadium – more than double the size of the Loftus Road ground – and 24,000 homes on nearby Old Oak Common.
Fernandes dubs the development New Queens Park and says it could bring 55,000 jobs to the area. It would take 10 years to build and could cost somewhere between £5bn and £10bn. The idea is impressive, if somewhat light on detail.
“One of the first things I did, because Bernie and Flavio had kind of run it into the ground, was to reactivate the community trust,” he says. “And as we began to see what the boys were doing, it tied in so well with what we’re trying to achieve here. Build a nicer stadium – but the underlying emphasis is to build better homes, let our fans be able to rent nicer homes or buy homes, and create jobs . . . I’m looking to put art galleries in there, get a Google in there, get some cool companies that can add value to the community. So there’s a lot of thought going into it.”
QPR’s shareholders have already spent £5m on preliminary work. They have hired Stadium Capital Developments, the company that moved Arsenal into the Emirates, the architect Sir Terry Farrell, the estate agency Savills and the engineering consultant BuroHappold.
Boris Johnson, the mayor, is keen to see that part of west London transformed in time for the arrival of a “superhub” station for HS2 and Crossrail in 2026. There are three councils involved – Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham – plus the Greater London Authority.
Fernandes says: “We’re engaging so many different constituents to make this happen and our aim is to get everyone on our side. And it appears we’re getting everyone on our side, as well.”
That turns out to be a positive spin. A big chunk of the site is owned by Cargiant. The secondhand car dealer was irritated when QPR announced plans for a new stadium on its land last year without prior notice, and says it is now pushing ahead with its own scheme, in partnership with developers First Base and Lipton Rogers.
“It upset a lot of people here,” says Tony Mendes, managing director of Cargiant. “There were 700 employees concerned about their jobs. We were very surprised by QPR’s consultation programme and PR strategy when they know there’s no deal that’s been done and no discussions going on. They came to an end some time ago and we have our own plans to develop our land, whether or not QPR treats that seriously.”
Fernandes is coy about whether he could try to force Cargiant into selling by aligning the various political powers, or offering a knockout bid.
“I think people engage, people don’t engage. Time goes on; we’ve got to move on,” he says. “We know we’ve got a winning proposal because our proposal is for the community. You can’t beat that. We’re not developers, we’re not after making every buck, we’re after leaving a legacy.”
However, he hints at the economic leverage QPR could bring to bear. “I suppose they can [hold out], but obviously there are remedies available to everyone,” he says. “To leave this area and to throw out thousands of jobs seems a wasted opportunity. Because we can’t stay in this stadium for ever. It’s beautiful and we love it, but we can’t keep just putting money in because we have an 18,000-seat stadium, the smallest in the Premier League and – dare I say it – in the Championship as well.”
Fernandes comes across as straight-talking, but he knows how to bargain. He grew up in Kuala Lumpur until his father – “a very left-wing communist doctor” – and his mother – “a right-wing capitalist Tupperware saleswoman” – sent him to boarding school in Surrey at the age of 12.
He loved football and was dismayed to discover that Epsom College offered only rugby. “I almost dropped dead and died,” he says. “And I argued – don’t write this bit down – I argued with the headmaster and I got three strokes.”
He went to the London School of Economics and became an accountant. “I couldn’t handle it,” he says with a laugh. “The worst part of it was trying to fill out the timesheet because I didn’t do anything, so I just quit. And the final straw was they were looking for me and I was at the Oval [watching cricket].”
Fernandes joined Branson’s Virgin Records briefly, then moved to Warner Music. In 2001, with the blessing of Malaysia’s prime minister at the time, he mortgaged his house and bought Air Asia, a loss-making part of government-backed DRB-Hicom.
He turned round the company and lobbied the prime minister to propose dropping flight restrictions with Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Air Asia is now a strong contender to win the region’s low-cost airline dogfight, although attempts to build a long-haul budget carrier in the shape of Air Asia X have met with more mixed success.
Fernandes hopes to use some of the tricks he has learnt at Air Asia to make football tickets cheaper. If QPR manages to build a new stadium, its capacity will vastly increase. “I’m a big believer in volume,” he says. “Air Asia started with 200,000 passengers and it’s now doing 52m. That’s all due to low prices stimulating more people to fly with us. I believe the concept is not dissimilar in football – provided we’re playing good football. We could charge £1 if we’re playing crap and no one’s gonna come.”
He reckons revenues will be boosted with ancillary sales: “Bigger club shop – match day there is f***ing pandemonium, right – food sales, etc.”
The QPR chairman recalls his less plutocratic youth: as a student he paid £12 a week to live “on top of a kebab shop on the Uxbridge Road”. I can’t resist asking if he has acquired that most symbolic of tycoon accessories – a private jet.
Fernandes pauses. “I do, but don’t write that. I always thought idiots bought private jets, then I bought one. It’s a Global Express. It’s not mine, I share it with my partner [his wife].” There is another pause and he deadpans: “I’ll have half soon.”
Vital statistics One to watch: Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (Rex Features) Born: April 30, 1964 Marital status: married (‘not for much longer’) with two children School: Epsom College University: LSE First job: accountant at Brewers Pay: undisclosed; his wealth is estimated at $650m (£400m) Homes: London, Scotland, Bali and Malaysia Car: black Aston Martin Vanquish Favourite book: Cromwell, Our Chief of Men, by Antonia Fraser Film: Tootsie Music: Aja by Steely Dan Gadget: Samsung Galaxy Charity: Air Asia Foundation Last holiday: Italy
Working day The chairman of Queens Park Rangers gets up at 7am at his home in London’s Belgravia or the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Tony Fernandes spends most of his time running Air Asia, the low-cost carrier he has owned since 2001, flitting between the office and different airports.
“I’m at the check-in desk, I’m at the planes, I’m with the engineers late at night,” he says. “Sometimes I just go to the airport and hang around with passengers. It’s a bigger hassle now because everyone wants to take a photograph.”
As well as Air Asia, his Tune Group has interests in car manufacturing, hotels, insurance and mobile phones. He goes to bed at about 1am.
Downtime The 50-year-old loves music. He has 22,000 CDs and a growing digital collection of hip-hop, R&B and rock tracks.
Fernandes is doing up a farmhouse in Ayrshire. “We found some bats there, and bats are protected, so right now my renovation has come to a complete halt,” he laughs.
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Interview with TF in ST Business - some insight on Car Giant.... on 11:30 - Sep 7 with 3479 views
Thanks, interesting read, he is doing the rounds giving interviews and maybe drumming up support. Be interesting to see what happens with Car Giant....never liked them as our sponsor!
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Interview with TF in ST Business - some insight on Car Giant.... on 12:14 - Sep 7 with 3409 views
Thanks for that, YorkPaulieWalnuts, fook the ST Murdoch paywall.
A much better piece than the one in The Guardian - more revealing - he's been here since 12 at Epsom college. No wonder his English accent is so good - and although charmed by our wee man and deffo a 'puff' piece, a touch more even-handed, it at least allows CarGiant's Tony Mendes to have a brief say.
Intrigued by TF's tastes. To my mind he goes wrong in the first para - he's munching a Blue Riband? That's like drinking Maxwell House or Mellow Birds instant coffee.. He'd be much better off chomping this IMHO: or this Jock caramel wafer of a far superior quality than Blue Riband: Kit-Kats,Penguins,Clubs.. there are so many ways to go better than poxy Blue Riband.
Not overly keen on Tootsie or Aja by Steely Dan but they're not atrocious by any means:
What really impresses me is his favourite book is a biography by Camden Hill W8's very own Antonia Fraser of top,top roundhead,scourge of Royalists everywhere - OC loathes John Madejski - and mighty protector of Parliament,Oliver wartface Cromwell -The Chief of Men. Hope Tony Fernandes copies Cromwell's merciless approach (towards the Irish*) when we come up against the Care Free Counts (a mere 53 days away,not that anyone's counting ): "Let them be as stubble upon our swords."
*Jesting apart what OC done in Ireland, especially the brutal desecration of Drogheda, was not good at all and lead to a great deal of understandable burning resentment across the water towards the English way before the 1848 Famine.
Church?...ah nuts...there's always next week...but just like the pubs they seem to be fast disappearing.. *sigh* #CatchEmWhileYouCan
[Post edited 7 Sep 2014 18:32]
'I'm 18 with a bullet.Got my finger on the trigger,I'm gonna pull it.."
Love,Peace and Fook Chelski!
More like 20StoneOfHoop now.
Let's face it I'm not getting any thinner.
Pass the cake and pies please.
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Interview with TF in ST Business - some insight on Car Giant.... on 12:41 - Sep 7 with 3352 views
Interview with TF in ST Business - some insight on Car Giant.... on 12:14 - Sep 7 by 18StoneOfHoop
Thanks for that, YorkPaulieWalnuts, fook the ST Murdoch paywall.
A much better piece than the one in The Guardian - more revealing - he's been here since 12 at Epsom college. No wonder his English accent is so good - and although charmed by our wee man and deffo a 'puff' piece, a touch more even-handed, it at least allows CarGiant's Tony Mendes to have a brief say.
Intrigued by TF's tastes. To my mind he goes wrong in the first para - he's munching a Blue Riband? That's like drinking Maxwell House or Mellow Birds instant coffee.. He'd be much better off chomping this IMHO: or this Jock caramel wafer of a far superior quality than Blue Riband: Kit-Kats,Penguins,Clubs.. there are so many ways to go better than poxy Blue Riband.
Not overly keen on Tootsie or Aja by Steely Dan but they're not atrocious by any means:
What really impresses me is his favourite book is a biography by Camden Hill W8's very own Antonia Fraser of top,top roundhead,scourge of Royalists everywhere - OC loathes John Madejski - and mighty protector of Parliament,Oliver wartface Cromwell -The Chief of Men. Hope Tony Fernandes copies Cromwell's merciless approach (towards the Irish*) when we come up against the Care Free Counts (a mere 53 days away,not that anyone's counting ): "Let them be as stubble upon our swords."
*Jesting apart what OC done in Ireland, especially the brutal desecration of Drogheda, was not good at all and lead to a great deal of understandable burning resentment across the water towards the English way before the 1848 Famine.
Church?...ah nuts...there's always next week...but just like the pubs they seem to be fast disappearing.. *sigh* #CatchEmWhileYouCan
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