League delays decision on Briatore ban

The English Football League has delayed a decision on whether to bar disgraced Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore from running Championship club Queen’s Park Rangers.

Briatore owns a majority stake in QPR but could be required to sell his interest if he is no longer deemed a “fit and proper person” to run an English club in the wake of his ban from Formula One.

The Italian was thrown out of motorsport after he was found to have instructed his driver, Nelson Piquet Jnr, to crash deliberately at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix to aid the cause of Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The move had been expected to result in Briatore being kicked out of English football as well but, after taking legal advice, the league’s governing board decided to seek further information before making a decision.

“After considering all the information presently available to it and in the interest of due process, the Board will seek responses from Mr Briatore before commenting further,” a statement said.

Briatore took over Rangers in November 2007 and, with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal also shareholders, the west London club appeared destined for greater things.

But QPR remain in mid-table in the Championship with little sign of Briatore’s ambitions for the club being realised.