Sarita Capital checks in
I arrived at the stadium at around 1:10pm today so I could pay my respects to Ray Jones and headed straight into the Club Shop. I was surprised to find Gianni Paladini standing right next to me as I waited in the queue. He was grabbing some QPR ties before making his way outside, to the amusement of the Club Shop staff who thought the security alarms would go off, but they didn’t.
I got “JONES” and “31″ printed on the back of my home and away shirts, which came to £26. I put the rest of my change from the £30 I had into a donation pot and took a photo of Ray Jones which I signed “RIP Ray” along with “Neil_SI”, which is my forum name over on the Loft For Words Rivals forum.
I had a good 50 minute wait before my shirts would be ready, so I headed outside to check out the tribute area for Ray Jones and to take some photographs. Gianni was outside talking to fans who were paying their respects. This had been the first time I’d seen him in the flesh up close.
He seemed like a normal bloke and didn’t really have a presence or an awe about him, but his accent is very distinctive and recognisable. A short while later though, as fans gathered around, he surprised me by asking a lot of us to stand back and make a gangway to the entrance of the stadium. This was then backed up by the security people and stewards outside, who then ushered us to take a few steps back to make space.
A sudden fleet of stewards and security men appeared and formed a line either side of this gangway. I heard Gianni say to one of them to “make sure he comes through this door and not that one”, as he pointed to the corporate entrance just nearby.
At this point, there was a sudden air of expectancy and I realised that perhaps this was the moment we’d all been waiting for. Was it really going to be Flavio?
A black 4×4 drove by and somebody said “that’s them there”, but I was still confused. The mood was still sullen, so I thought it was possibly the family of Ray Jones or something similar. A few moments later however, Gianni disappeared over the road to where this 4×4 had parked and then, to the expectant crowd that looked in anticipation, a silver haired man appeared behind Paladini and co, and walked towards the entrance.
Rapturous applause erupted from the QPR fans who were there and screams of “You R’s” crackled the air as Flavio Briatore made his way into the stadium. A man, pictured, rushed up to Flavio in an attempt to get his autograph. From what I could tell, he was the first Ranger to greet what could be our new owner.
Overcome with emotion, I too, couldn’t help but punch the air and scream “Come on!!!” and “You R’s!!!” at the top of my voice as the reality of a takeover began to suddenly sink in. It felt like the first time in a week that I managed a genuine smile.
