Philip Beard reveals deadline day drama...

Transfer deadline day started at 5.30am with me worrying whether Djibril Cissé had been forced to sleep in the reception of the hotel where we had sent him. The last I had seen of Djibril had been less than four hours earlier when he and his agent were bundled into the back of a car after he had passed his medical ahead of his move to QPR.
I was then driving home, absolutely on my last legs, when I had got a call at 2.30am from the agent saying they were at the hotel but the hotel could not find their booking. So I was then on the phone to the night porter saying “whatever you do, get him the best room you have – this is a multi-million pound footballer”. I got home at 3am, struggling to sleep, wondering about Djibril.
Almost 24 hours earlier, my seven-year-old daughter had woken me up. Of course, she did not have a clue that I was entering a day that would define QPR's season.

I headed for the stadium, parked up and the television cameras were outside. That was about 8.30am and, soon after, Djibril arrived with us smuggling him through the doors.
My first impression of him – when I had met him the night before – is that he’s a fantastic guy. He has a great sense of humour and was very happy even though he had waited around in Rome all that day. We had a plane on standby that kept missing its slot as negotiations continued with Lazio. Their president eventually spoke to the airport authorities so it could take off.
We got Djibril to a clinic for his medical that night and, while he went in and out of rooms over the next two hours for various scans, I thrashed out his personal terms.


Once at Loftus Road, we went through the paperwork and spent more time with him to ensure he was happy that he had made the right decision and to explain the structure of the club, what we want to achieve and to hear about him and his family. He was then smuggled to the training ground to meet Mark Hughes and the players.

Throughout the transfer window I have tried to focus only on the players on our wanted list. Being newly promoted and under new ownership, we are a buying club. As a result, I get hundreds of calls from hundreds of agents about hundreds of players. The phone did not stop. Yet, in our minds, we had three or four targets.
Some crazy numbers been bandied about over what we have to spend. Most are fictitious, some ridiculous, but the squad read about them. So I have had a lot of conversations with players explaining that, though ambitious, we are also running a business that has to be realistic.
With Djibril done, I turned my attention to Bobby Zamora. With his club being Fulham and with us a rival London side and also in the lower half of the league, I was unsure whether they would sell but had heard that they might.
I called Alistair MacKintosh, their chief executive, and said: “If we made an offer, is it something we could talk about?” I got the feeling that it was. That was about 9am.
Zamora was Plan A and everything was geared to him. But we had to think of a Plan B, C and D. The transfer window is a bit like a chess game. As we were trying to bring Zamora in, we could see how that could work because Fulham were trying to sign a player in Germany. But if that didn’t happen, did we go for Nikica Jelavic, who looked like he was going to Everton, say, or Hugo Rodallega? Or change tack and go for Steven Pienaar?
I focused 100 per cent on Bobby but in the back of my mind I had to be prepared. We agreed Bobby should go for a medical. At that stage I was in discussion with his agent but our figures were miles apart. I was seriously concerned about whether we would find common ground.
While waiting for Bobby to return, we had time to consider one more loan deal. I sat with the club’s owners, Amit Bhatia and Tony Fernandes, on the line. I made about 20 calls to different clubs to see if they were prepared to loan. Most just laughed and said “you have to be kidding”. We were also on the phone to Mark saying “we can do one more thing if Bobby doesn’t happen” but he was just saying “make it happen”.
Bobby returned at about 7pm. I spent some time with him and explained about the takeover, the owners and the vision for the club. I realised this was possibly the most important decision of his career.
He was also interested that we had brought Mark in. That was a big attraction for him, as was the fact that he knew Anton Ferdinand and Shaun Wright-Phillips. We then reconvened with the agent.
As often happens, it was a bit like a Brian Rix farce because you have people in all these different roles — agent, owners, finance people – and you are moving between each trying to make it work.
Then Man City v Everton came on the television and I watched it with Bobby. I saw the handcuffing and wondered whether I should try to handcuff Bobby to one of the goalposts at QPR, using that as a negotiating tactic.
But seriously, you just have to make it work. It’s a compromise, just like any negotiation, but ultimately it had to be a football decision.
At 10.15pm we shook hands on a deal, got the paperwork done and everyone relaxed. We did a bit of high-fiving then, suddenly, everyone was gone and it was finished and I was in my car on the way home. I got there at about 12.15am and realised I was starving.
The buzz was just extraordinary. I was involved in the Olympic bid. It’s not quite like awaiting that decision but, when you’re shaking hands Bobby Zamora or Djibril Cissé having agreed a deal, you feel that you have done something that will be important to the fans. You hope that it means that they will get to watch a team that will stay in the Premier League.
If I can play a small part in that, it will be fantastic.

 

Smart guy, Phil Beard. Top pro. Lucky to have him implementing the owners' will. You won't get him screaming and shouting and screwing up like Paladini. Far to much integrity. He'll do wonders in restoring our badly dented reputation as time goes on...

As you can tell, can't stand him (joke)!

 

Good read. Just goes to show how difficult it is to sign more than 2 players on deadline day.

 

He will bring far more professionalism and class to our club. His appointment could be as important as that of MH. Guys, we have had so many false dawns with our club, bad owners, players, CEOs etc etc. I know it is now hard for most QPR fans to trust again, but I really think we have solid, professional, football loving owners and my gut tells me that we are heading for much bigger and better things. U Rrrrsssss

 

No wonder Cisse was grear for just 20 minutes yesterday! Think how he'll be with some kip!

 

Is this genuine? does Phil Beard write a blog or something or has someone stolen his diary? Not that I think there is anything controversial in this but I just wonder where such a detailed account from a clubs CE comes from unless it's written for a magazine or programme or something.

Anyways I wholeheartedly agree with everyone's praise of PB, reckon he is our best signing.

 

Sorry just answered my own question.

 

If this is genuine (source anyone?) then it does underline how new Beard is to this type of wheeling dealing. His role in the Olympics was about rights and logistics which is very different from dealing with the agents of greedy football pros. He does seem to have handled it very well however so kudos to him. The more I hear about Cisse the more I like him....

 

Thought this was a spoof at first, but great mix of fiction and facts Q.P.R, enjoyable read

Here's the original interview:

Zamora was QPR's 'Plan A'​

Chief exec Beard insist club only ever targeted four players​

Queens Park Rangers chief executive Philip Beard has lifted the lid on a hectic transfer deadline day and claims Bobby Zamora was always the club's 'Plan A'.

The Loftus Road outfit signed the striker from Fulham on Tuesday, while Djibril Cisse, who scored on his debut in Wednesday's draw at Aston Villa, was brought in from Lazio.

QPR, funded by new and ambitious owner Tony Fernandes, had earlier in January been linked with an audacious move for Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, while Alex and Christopher Samba were also targets.

But Beard was delighted with his club's business and insists Zamora was always the priority deadline day target.

The QPR official told the Daily Telegraph: "Zamora was Plan A and everything was geared to him. But we had to think of a Plan B, C and D.

Concern

"The transfer window is a bit like a chess game. As we were trying to bring Zamora in, we could see how that could work, because Fulham were trying to sign a player in Germany (Pavel Pogrebnyak).

"But if that didn't happen, did we go for Nikica Jelavic, who looked like he was going to Everton, say, or Hugo Rodallega? Or change tack and go for Steven Pienaar?

"I focused 100 per cent on Bobby, but in the back of my mind I had to be prepared. We agreed Bobby should go for a medical.

"At that stage I was in discussion with his agent but our figures were miles apart. I was seriously concerned about whether we would find common ground."

QPR earlier in the winter also signed Nedum Onuoha from City and loaned Federico Macheda, Taye Taiwo and Samba Diakite from Manchester United, AC Milan and Nancy, respectively.

Crazy

Despite being an endless rumour mill, Beard is adamant the club only ever targeted three or four players.

He said: "Throughout the transfer window I have tried to focus only on the players on our wanted list. Being newly promoted and under new ownership, we are a buying club.

"As a result, I get hundreds of calls from hundreds of agents about hundreds of players. The phone did not stop. Yet, in our minds, we had three or four targets.

"Some crazy numbers been bandied about over what we have to spend. Most are fictitious, some ridiculous, but the squad read about them.

"So I have had a lot of conversations with players explaining that, though ambitious, we are also running a business that has to be realistic."
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7474274/?

 

Wow. All I can say is that the contrast between this guy and Gianni Paladini could not be more extreme. With him as CEO we might even be in danger of becoming a respected club once again! Fair play to the board and the owners. I have to say that although I didn’t agree with Warnock’s sacking at the time, they handled it as well as they could and have played an absolute blinder this transfer window… Now, all we need is a few more good results. Happy days!

 

Add Content

 

Professional!!!

 

For those asking this is an article from the telegraph, appears to be based on an interview they did with him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...y-Philip-Beard-the-clubs-chief-executive.html

 

**** me Q.P.R! Was sure you sweetened the Sky Sports article. This one is just as brilliant as the man it's based on

 

Surely not, I thought Cerny talked ****e?

 

The only odd thing is that Samba does not feature in the machinations. He has not gone anywhere else and clearly does not want to play for Blackburn ever again.

Is there any chance he might come on loan?!

 

Samba wasn't picked for the Blackburn squad even though he's fit. I think he'll probably agree to knuckle down and help Blackburn if they agree to sell in the summer and I'd imagine we'll be first in the queue to sign him.

 

I know it is 'business' for Blackburn but I would have thought that keeping a captain who did not want to be there would be very destructive to the team spirit.

Conversely, of course, Samba is a professional and has to honour his contract.

Personally I would have let him go, especially if he was coming to us!!

 

At long last you got something right!