Cancelling games a ´bad message´, says Ecclestone

Formula One supremo and Queens Park Rangers owner Bernie Ecclestone said the English Premier League should not cancel its opening fixtures.

Riots across England since Friday have threatened to postpone the beginning of the illustrious Premier League season, with seven matches due to kick off on Saturday.

Ecclestone’s QPR – one of four teams based in London where the violence was at its worst – are due to host Bolton at Loftus Road on Saturday, and the 80-year-old said he was confident the match would go ahead, despite police numbers being stretched to the limit in the capital.

“I don’t think there’ll be a threat to QPR. I’ve spoken to people at the club who seemed quite confident it will go ahead,” Ecclestone said.

“The police seem to have managed to contain the things that have been going on. But there’s not much stuff that people can loot at a match so it won’t attract the kind of people that have been active in the last few days.”

Ecclestone said cancelling matches would be a bad look for England, particularly with the 2012 London Olympics less than a year away.

“The Premier League is watched everywhere I travel. I always see Manchester United on the TV wherever I am. So it’s a very bad message for England, and we’re going to have the Olympics soon,” Ecclestone said.

“You imagine if this happened when the Games started. It would be terrible.”

Ecclestone’s comments come just months after the F1 boss was forced to cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix, following the deaths of more than 30 people in pro-democracy protests in the Gulf nation.

The F1 attempted to reschedule the race for later in the year, but teams opposed the new date of October 30 for logistical reasons.