Paladini interested in Blues

Gianni Paladini: Involved in Italian consortium interested in Birmingham buyout

Former Queens Park Rangers chairman Gianni Paladini has confirmed that he is involved in a consortium interested in buying Birmingham City.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, Paladini insists that former QPR co-owner Flavio Briatore is not part of the group that is reported to be planning a bid for the club.

Paladini and Briatore worked together at QPR, with the former leaving the club in November 2011 following promotion to the Premier League.

And Paladini is now targeting a return to English football, although he does not think a huge investment in the squad is needed to take the Blues, who are currently owned by Carson Yeung, back to the top flight.

"If you know what you're doing, you don't need to go and spend £10m on a player that then doesn't solve your problem," Paladini said.

"In this division, the Championship, you need to have a player that they can fit in this type of league.

"I think we did a great job (at QPR). The most important thing is that I took QPR when they were in the Second Division and we got promoted without spending a fortune and at the end the job was done. QPR are now in the Premier League.

"I took QPR in 2001-02 when they were in administration, more or less. I bought the club myself. We went from strength to strength."

Paladini also stated that the rest of the people involved in the consortium are not well-known outside Italy.

He added: "Even if I mention the name, you will (not) know them anyway because most of them are Italian anyway. They all live in Italy."

Jordan Rhodes is the star guest on this week's Football League Hour on Sky Sports News Radio. Bournemouth boss Paul Groves also joins hosts Dean Windass and Mikey Burrows with Blackpool's Kevin Phillips taking the Quickfire Quiz. Tune in Thursday from 7pm at skysports.com/radio or via the Sky Sports News apps.

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