Tan Sri Tony Fernandes was beside himself with joy last night after Bobby Zamora scored the £134 million (RM733 million) goal, which lifted Queens Park Rangers into the Premier League next season.
The AirAsia boss tweeted: “What a day. What a day”, as he posed with the playoff trophy after QPR defeated Derby County 1-0 at Wembley.
The 2014 SkyBet Championship playoff final between Derby County and QPR last night had been billed as the most lucrative single match in football, including global sport.
The Daily Mail had reported that the game would be worth a conservative £134 million to the winner.
"The £134 million is made up of cash for finishing bottom of the Premier League next season (£62m) plus estimated parachute payments over four years (£72m)," it said.
The paper reported that the parachute payments would likely be bigger as the next Premier League TV deal from 2016 to 2019, on which the payments will partly be based, was expected to grow.
At Wembley, Fernandes saw his team dominated by young and energetic opponents for 89 minutes and 50 seconds, according to the Daily Mail.
However, QPR and 33-year-old Zamora needed just one late glimpse of the goal to separate the men from the boys.
"Ageing, written off, derided, it just had to be Zamora who scored the winning goal which took QPR back into England's top flight and saved them from financial ruin."
Derby County captain Richard Keogh mistimed a clearance straight to Zamora and he returned it in a flash into the top corner of the net, the Mail said.
It said QPR manager Harry Redknapp was besieged on the touchline while owner Fernandes looked as if he had just escaped a heart attack.
With 10 seconds left, QPR were back in the game, despite playing most of the second-half with only 10 men following Gary O’Neil’s red card.
For two years, QPR and Fernandes had been on the receiving end of criticism as the squad were paid more than Atletico Madrid but relegated and then failed to ignite the Championship.
With QPR reporting a loss of £65 million in their latest financial report, the club needed the result to go their way.
There were scenes of joy on and off the pitch when the final whistle blew, with Fernandes carried by Joey Barton around the Wembley turf.
Following the match, Fernandes tweeted: “Happy gila” with a picture of QPR players lifting the SkyBet Championship playoff trophy aloft.
Fernandes's next task is to fight the prospect of a £50 million fine which QPR has been slapped with for breaching financial fair play rules, incurred after the club registered a £65.4million loss for the year-ending May 2013.
Under the rules, clubs are only entitled to make an £8million loss per season.
@yahoo news
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