'Paupers' Chelsea to host the jet set as QPR make the short trip to Stamford Bridge

More to the point, he wanted to know what he was doing in his boardroom.

Whether it was Ecclestone's mischievous sense of humour or blissful ignorance of Palace chairman Simon Jordan is open to question. Either way, the Formula One supremo seems to be settling into his new environment.

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Today, he will be a guest of Roman Abramovich in the Chelsea boardroom, alongside his fellow recent investors at Loftus Road.

The combined wealth of Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore shot Rangers towards the top of football's rich list when they joined the club in September.

But the introduction of Lakshmi Mittal last month gives them a potential pool of resources greater than Abramovich, who has spent more than £500million on Chelsea in less than five years.

Mittal is Britain's richest man, the fifth wealthiest in the world, with an estimated £19.25billion.

The excitement is hard to disguise after years of gloom on the pitch and drama behind the scenes.

A gangster power struggle hit the boardroom in August 2005 when chairman Gianni Paladini was allegedly held at gunpoint and ordered to sign letters of resignation during a game against Sheffield United.

Less than a year later the club suffered the loss of Kiyan Prince, a promising 15-year-old who was stabbed to death.

When it seemed the club could take no more, tragedy struck again in August last year when striker Ray Jones, 18, was killed in a car crash.

"Football meant nothing in the days after Ray had gone," said winger Gareth Ainsworth, who joined the club from Cardiff in 2003 and has seen the soap opera unfold.

"His locker is still at the training ground and there are pictures of him. We think about him all the time. In a way, Ray will be looking down now on us and he'll be really pleased the way it's going at QPR."

Ainsworth, 34, remembers when a 3-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday clinched promotion to the Championship but the players left the pitch unsure whether they would be paid their wages, never mind their bonus, as the threat of administration loomed.

"We've come full circle," said Ainsworth. "We've got Chelsea in the Cup and it's potentially the two biggest clubs in the world playing each other. It's amazing."