Press cuttings regarding QPR 1st

(Teamtalk)
Fans form supporters trust
Over 1,000 QPR supporters attended a public meeting on Wednesday night for what was billed as the start of a new era for the club. Fans at Hammersmith Town Hall voted overwhelmingly in favour of the formation of a supporters' trust, QPR 1st, on a night when serious concerns about the future of Rangers and Loftus Road were expressed, following the club's recent slide into administration.

The idea of fans 'pooling' the shares they own to form one collective body of shareholders was put forward by local businessman Maurice Fitzgerald and was warmly received, as was the prospect of supporter representation on a new board.

Tracy Stent, co-founder of QPR 1st, said: "We want to involve everyone with an interest in QPR. The aim of the trust is to include everyone with a passion for QPR and to act as a platform for supporters to have a say on the issues concerning the club.

"Our short-term aim is to help the club through administration. In the longer-term, we want to contribute positively to the future of QPR and work towards supporter representation at board level."

Justin Pieris, also a member of the interim QPR 1st committee, added: "We have the resources. We've got shareholders, lawyers, administration specialists. It's all there."

Local MP Clive Soley and Hammersmith Mayor Andrew Slaughter also spoke, along with Brian Lomax, the chairman of the Northampton Town Supporters Trust and of Supporters Direct, a government-backed organisation designed to increase the influence of fans in the running of their club.

Soley said: "QPR has a very real place in the hearts and minds of the people of West London. It is an institution and we must keep it.

"I have been aware of the problems QPR have had for some time, but it is a club that has done incredibly well over the years and can do well again."

The Mayor added: "This is the only Borough that has three top class football clubs and it is a tradition that we are very proud of. Anything we can do we will to help QPR through this temporary, difficult period.

"As long as the support is there we can come through this and I wish this campaign all the very best."

Councillor Reg McLaughlin, a lifelong Rangers fan, said: "I am behind this campaign fully and will use whatever influence I can. We want to have three Premiership clubs in the Borough. We've now got two and we want the third to rise back up again."

Lomax, who has been advising the pioneers of QPR 1st, said: "I identify completely with the situation you find yourselves in. Nine years ago my club nearly died. We were in administration for two years but we came out of it."

At the end of the night, he told Rangers fans: "As of tonight, QPR 1st has credibility."

The meeting was the first of its kind since the proposed merger with Fulham in 1987, which Rangers fans succeeded in defeating.

Dave Thomas, editor of the Rangers fanzine 'A Kick Up The R's', declared: "Cometh the hour, cometh the fans. Anyone that doubts the power fans can have need only look back to what happened in 1987.

"Fourteen years on and QPR are still here - just - as a direct result of the supporters. Now our club is in administration and we face a different fight."