Major QPR shareholders Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore have slammed Amit Bhatia's "insultingly low" offer to buy the club outright. Bhatia, the son-in-law of Rangers' billionaire co-owner Lakshmi Mittal, on Wednesday resigned as the club's vice-chairman after revealing attempts to buy out Ecclestone and Briatore's 67% shareholding at Loftus Road had failed.
But with the R's back in the Barclays Premier League, Ecclestone and Briatore have hit back.
In a joint statement, they said: "Both Ecclestone and Briatore believe that Amit Bhatia's recent comments and the subsequent press coverage have been damaging to QPR and do not fairly reflect the reality of the situation.
"They have not received a written offer from the Mittals for their QPR shares and feel strongly that the verbal offer made to them was insultingly low.
"Bhatia appears to be using the press to try to force the price of any deal down, which is disrespectful to both the club and its fans."
