Birmingham City: Gianni Paladini involved in consortium

Former QPR chairman Gianni Paladini has confirmed to BBC WM that he is involved in a consortium interested in buying Birmingham City for £25m.

The Italian, who is based in Solihull, left the R's by mutual consent in 2011 after eight years at Loftus Road.

He said former QPR owner and Renault motor racing boss Flavio Briatore was "categorically" not associated with it.

Paladini said he would not be coming in promising to invest large amounts of money into the squad.

"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," he said.

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

"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."

Birmingham City, who are currently owned by Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung, have refused to comment on the takeover claims.

Paladini added: "I cannot really say too much because everything is in the hand of the lawyer."

Asked about other members of the consortium, he said: "Even if I mention the name, you will [not] know them anyway because most of them are Italian anyway. They all live in Italy."

He said he had been in the Birmingham area since coming to England at the age of 22.