Chennai Rangers FC

[MattyRangers]

Myu I respect your opinion because you're indian but I will give an unbiased view on the matter. All my friends are indian so I am pretty much british indian too. I know how they tick and I play football with them.

What I will say is it definitely WON'T be a reason to find new talent because there isn't any talent out there to be found.
Cricket will always be their no1 sport and although they have a HUGE population there will never be enough interested in 'playing' football.
Most of my friends that 'do' play football are dreadful, you can't knock there enthusiasm but they just have zero natural ability.
This is british indian so I can only image it being much much worse in Indian. Watching manchester united won't make them good players.

No I am afraid to say this is very much to do with filling a massive stadium with indians living in this country because family back home can discuss the Rangers side out in India. The rest of your points are very valid but it is definitely NOT for footballing reasons in any sense!

Oh and 1 player that once played for Ipswich in the last decade, pretty much sums up the point I am making.

[Jeems]

Myu I respect your opinion because you're indian but I will give an unbiased view on the matter. All my friends are indian so I am pretty much british indian too. I know how they tick and I play football with them.

What I will say is it definitely WON'T be a reason to find new talent because there isn't any talent out there to be found.
Cricket will always be their no1 sport and although they have a HUGE population there will never be enough interested in 'playing' football.
Most of my friends that 'do' play football are dreadful, you can't knock there enthusiasm but they just have zero natural ability.
This is british indian so I can only image it being much much worse in Indian. Watching manchester united won't make them good players.

No I am afraid to say this is very much to do with filling a massive stadium with indians living in this country because family back home can discuss the Rangers side out in India. The rest of your points are very valid but it is definitely NOT for footballing reasons in any sense!

There are so many things wrong with this post.

They said the same thing about the USA in the 90's and look at them now. "Soccer" is behind at least 3 sports in terms of popularity but they can still produce Premier League quality players. After the 94 World Cup, their infrastructure improved massively. Again, no one is saying we will find the next Indian superstar tomorrow - this is another of our long term plans which hopefully may bear some fruit in the coming years.

Just because some of your mates cant play doesnt mean the rest of India cant!

[MYU]

Myu I respect your opinion because you're indian but I will give an unbiased view on the matter. All my friends are indian so I am pretty much british indian too. I know how they tick and I play football with them.

What I will say is it definitely WON'T be a reason to find new talent because there isn't any talent out there to be found.
Cricket will always be their no1 sport and although they have a HUGE population there will never be enough interested in 'playing' football.
Most of my friends that 'do' play football are dreadful, you can't knock there enthusiasm but they just have zero natural ability.
This is british indian so I can only image it being much much worse in Indian. Watching manchester united won't make them good players.

No I am afraid to say this is very much to do with filling a massive stadium with indians living in this country because family back home can discuss the Rangers side out in India. The rest of your points are very valid but it is definitely NOT for footballing reasons in any sense!

Oh and 1 player that once played for Ipswich in the last decade, pretty much sums up the point I am making.

Nonsense... you say:

What I will say is it definitely WON'T be a reason to find new talent because there isn't any talent out there to be found.
Maybe not today, but in a few years there could be?

Cricket will always be their no1 sport and although they have a HUGE population there will never be enough interested in 'playing' football.
I've been told Hockey is their national sport, not Cricket
It also seems they already have clubs in India.

Most of my friends that 'do' play football are dreadful, you can't knock there enthusiasm but they just have zero natural ability.
How many Indian footballers have you played with?
I know players from all walks of life (white, brown, black) who are ****, alright and damn good!

One more point... Football was invented by the British. Most other nations are better at it then we are!

Same with Cricket, British invented it and we got beat by the Indians last week.

All countries have to start somewhere.

[QPRDave]

Weare they said there was no talent in China,Japan,Korea that long ago....

[Stanley]

I agree with the kids going in free, I'm sure when we get a bigger stadium Tony will implement this... I'm so sure of it.

I don't think this is a Park type situation, he is not buying a player who could then move clubs. They are investing in a club which will be a part of QPR, this could lead to producing new players, bringing in new sponsorship deals to help generate income we lose for not being able to fill our ground.

An investment into a potential feeder club, essentially.

[MYU]

An investment into a potential feeder club, essentially.

Well exactly.

I was sent this, have no idea where it's from?

English Championship side Queen’s Park Rangers co-owner Tony Fernandes confirmed on Saturday that his plans of having an I-League team from Chennai is very much on track.

The Air Asia CEO said that once they establish their headquarters in the Tamil Nadu capital they would start the work on their team. “The team would be based in Chennai. Some other cities also showed interest, but I’m keen on Chennai because it’s going to be the headquarters of our airline’s operation,” said the Malaysian.

The flamboyant businessman has came out in open for first time in support of floating a team, which is tentatively named Chennai Rangers. “We are only looking at the next season. Football is going to be big in this country. India has a lot of talent in the sport. There is more to India than cricket. That’s why we are here,” he added.

He further stated that their team won’t hesitate in roping the services of QPR players. “It’s a possibility. The quality of the English league is much higher, so getting Chennai players turn out for QPR may not be prudent,” he added.

[vblockranger]

If Fernandes just sticks to all this marketing tripe and leaves the actual football decisions in this country to others we might actually have a good season

[danarnie]

Again, it's retrospective. How much does a Welsh Premier League player earn, and how much does Lakshmi Mittal, or other Indian millionaires spend in a week?

Ask Craig Bellamy..?

[DX7778]

Hi all, Am from Chennai & am glad to sort this thing out from being a rumour to reality. Been surfing through this topic, Some interesting points here so we are atleast talking the business sense of it. Here's some points i would like to reiterate so there are no ambiguity about Indian football in general and as well as the business sense of the new club -

- India is not only about Cricket, Please i have loads of buddies who aint even interested in the game. You have some of the most hardcore supporters of any top club here in India. By sheer size of the Football Crazy ppl here, I can bet you we have more footie Fanatics than the whole of UK combined.

- Indian Football is as old as the game itself, The Durand cup (Equivalent to League cup here) is the next oldest cup competition after the FA Cup, we have professional clubs still playing top level which are more than a century old.

- We have a proper Football league structure here upto 5 levels down. I-League with 16 teams this season is the Top league.

Coming to the Idea of setting up Chennai Rangers FC -

- AIFF (Equivalent to English FA) wanted to bring international exposure from Top clubs of the world by having their B Teams or Feeder Clubs playing here, Advantage we get is superior training, Proper Marketing of the Game, Better Infrastructure which are Direly needed for the Game here while we expose our huge domestic market for the club's financing and potential sponsorship. WIN-WIN Deal
- QPR was chosen primarily because of two reasons, Indian connections as well as the JV of Air Asia with TATA's for setting up shop here in Chennai as HQ.
- Chennai was chosen for A.) HQ for SE Asia's operations but also B.)its the 4th largest city in India with a huge market ability but little football headway.

[vblockranger]

Hi all, Am from Chennai & am glad to sort this thing out from being a rumour to reality. Been surfing through this topic, Some interesting points here so we are atleast talking the business sense of it. Here's some points i would like to reiterate so there are no ambiguity about Indian football in general and as well as the business sense of the new club -

- India is not only about Cricket, Please i have loads of buddies who aint even interested in the game. You have some of the most hardcore supporters of any top club here in India. By sheer size of the Football Crazy ppl here, I can bet you we have more footie Fanatics than the whole of UK combined.

- Indian Football is as old as the game itself, The Durand cup (Equivalent to League cup here) is the next oldest cup competition after the FA Cup, we have professional clubs still playing top level which are more than a century old.

- We have a proper Football league structure here upto 5 levels down. I-League with 16 teams this season is the Top league.

Coming to the Idea of setting up Chennai Rangers FC -

- AIFF (Equivalent to English FA) wanted to bring international exposure from Top clubs of the world by having their B Teams or Feeder Clubs playing here, Advantage we get is superior training, Proper Marketing of the Game, Better Infrastructure which are Direly needed for the Game here while we expose our huge domestic market for the club's financing and potential sponsorship. WIN-WIN Deal
- QPR was chosen primarily because of two reasons, Indian connections as well as the JV of Air Asia with TATA's for setting up shop here in Chennai as HQ.
- Chennai was chosen for A.) HQ for SE Asia's operations but also B.)its the 4th largest city in India with a huge market ability but little football headway.

so basically to summarize...

You have more proper football fans in India than in the UK

You invented the game

Better league structure

Highly marketable

That just about sum it up?
Bit strange then that you have no decent football players and i hardly see 1 Indian face at a match in the stands over here in the UK.

[vblockranger]

Manchester United set up a soccer school in Mumbai a while back didnt they? With a population of 1.2 Billion surely they will find someone who can play football? Its all about Cricket in India and i would go further and say that really and truly India is not really a sporting nation. Doesnt help they they are renowned for terrible organization when it comes to any event or structured sport and even though labelled as a "developing" country it is pretty much "thirld world" with a high percentage of their population on low household incomes. Set up a "school" and let Fernandes get distracted by marketing over their so that the real job can be done here by people who know what they are doing...all in favour of that :-)

[kron-1664]

If we sign an Indian i hope they are a Sikh one. These chaps have much more about them than the southern Hindu Softies.

[WeAreQPR12]

Manchester United set up a soccer school in Mumbai a while back didnt they? With a population of 1.2 Billion surely they will find someone who can play football? Its all about Cricket in India and i would go further and say that really and truly India is not really a sporting nation. Doesnt help they they are renowned for terrible organization when it comes to any event or structured sport and even though labelled as a "developing" country it is pretty much "thirld world" with a high percentage of their population on low household incomes. Set up a "school" and let Fernandes get distracted by marketing over their so that the real job can be done here by people who know what they are doing...all in favour of that :-)

Can I just say Vblock you're spot on.

Matty you might laugh at me but the fact of the matter is I am spot on.

I know this is your message board Myu but you shouldn't try and educate me with regards to indian culture.
Yes you may have indian parents but liked I said I have been to more indian wedding, than you've had hot dinners.

You also can't try and tell me Hockey is the national game, ok maybe on paper but we are talking about why football won't ever be popular because indians are obsessed, yes OBSESSED with Cricket.

The 20 20 world cup cricket was huge in indian and the millions paid out to these cricket stars made football players seem under paid!
Indian cricket players aren't look upon like the england cricket players, they're superstars and some of the players ie Tendulkar are bigger/richer than most Bollywood actors.

My main point was there is a reason why no indian footballer has ever played at a high level and there is NOTHING to suggest this will change in the next 20 years, so again marketing NOT on field reasoning!

[MYU]

I don't mean to be rude but how can you claim to know how many weddings I attend each year as a fact? Very bizarre!

I didn't know Man Utd had a school in Mumbai until now, it started in 2011 which is still quite new. Prices are quite high though to join.

If it wasn't a good idea, why did Man Utd go ahead with it?

I do agree with Kron-1664, Sikhs are quite powerful.

[SammyKojoe]

If Fernandes just sticks to all this marketing tripe and leaves the actual football decisions in this country to others we might actually have a good season

Exactly. Not even sure he is good at that. With the Mittals already involved and Fernandes at the helm the club shop is still not open 24/7.