Briatore quits as QPR chairman

Flavio Briatore stepped down as chairman of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) on Monday as the family of Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal increased its stake in the English second division club.

The controversial Italian, who effectively co-owns the west London side with Mittal and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, had been at the helm at Loftus Road for nearly two and a half years.

Briatore’s time as chairman was marked by the former Renault F1 team boss’s habit of rapidly hiring and firing managers with seven men, plus caretakers, all spending time in the QPR hotseat at the Italian’s behest.

A club statement on Friday said that Ishan Saksena, the current QPR chief executive and managing director, would succeed Briatore, who remains a shareholder.

Rangers are currently 19th in the second division Championship and only a point above a relegation place that would drop them into the third tier of English football.