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Diary Update
Wednesday 8th October 2003
Lots to report on as regards what we've been up to since the last
entry and I'll do my best to ensure I don't leave anything out.
The Hoops Fund Sub Group meeting, which took place just after
the last update, proved to be fruitful. Items to be discussed
were:
- QPR World and an offer received from Billy Rice regarding the
Hoops Fund for an interview on there.
- The Management Board. Although concerns were expressed that
a bigger management committee consisting of individuals from the
wider QPR fanbase is required for the overseeing of the day to
day workings of the fund, it was suggested to wait until a significant
amount of money was in the fund before asking others to oversee
a fund of this proportion. It was agreed for the sub group to
carry on pushing the fund and for the management board to be looked
into once the fund builds.
- Raising Money. The need for raising money was discussed and
it was agreed to get the prize draws going asap now that we have
the lotteries licence. It was agreed that the need for professional
people to sell tickets inside the ground will be a must and that
it is something we must look into asap. If anyone knows of such
people/organisations *please* get in touch.
Matt agreed to contact one of his printing people and I agreed
to contact one of the Trust usual printing companies as regards
a quote for the cost of prize draw tickets.
I showed everyone a list of fundraising ideas sent to us from
various fans and it was agreed for this list and for all the suggestions
to be discussed with the club at our next meeting.
- Prize Draw. The agreement was to work towards a Christmas prize
draw, with tickets going on sale around November time through
til almost Christmas. The tickets would have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd
prize. Perhaps one top one with the two other prizes to be QPR
orientated
- AOB. Dave Anderson mentioned how he is hopeful of getting a
deal between one of his financial contacts and the club to take
over the club's financial services with the provision being a
certain percentage made from any deals to go into the Hoops Fund
coffers.
Juzza took part in the interview on QPR World for us earlier this
week and the footage should be appearing on there soon, whilst
the remainder of all the above issues have either been actioned
or are still being dealt with.
Despite several requests and communications with the club, our
meeting with them (postponed from August) is still outstanding
and Juzza is currently in communication with David Davies in order
to secure a definite date. Once we have a date we'll update the
info on the mainpage of the site.
Also, following discussions between Juzza and David Davies, the
legal correspondence between the Trust and Club has now been terminated
to prevent further unnecessary expense by both parties on lawyers.
Talking of Juzza he has been a busy Chair on a variety of matters
in recent weeks including: working on the Fulham survey analysis;
starting the process of a programme sale service via the website
to raise funds for the Trust; he has set up an AOL mailout list
for AOL members who can't receive mass mailouts due to the filtering
procedure which AOL uses; has responded to a member's query on
the QPR forum; has communicated with Harold Winton, David Thorne,
David Davies and Haleem Kherallah for basic updates; has composed
some text to go with an article for the mainpage of the website,
and which one of our writers has pledged to polish up before it's
published; and attended a meet a couple of weeks ago with members
from the Brentford Trust, Bees United.
Dave Anderson has also communicated with Harold Winton, David
Davies and Haleem Kherallah recently in order to seek clarification
on a number of points and to ask for updates (if any). He also
attempted to meet with David Davies and his financial services
contact a couple of weeks ago in order to talk about the proposed
deal as mentioned above in the Hoops Fund update. Unfortunately,
due to unforeseen circumstances (in other words the traffic on
the A40!) this meeting was unable to take place and Dave is currently
attempting to arrange an alternative date.
Ant has also been a busy bee. The background paper and statement
for the recent consultation was his work and he is currently gathering
responses which come through on email, the forum and our phone
line. Once these have been gathered he will then work on the follow
up report for the end of October. He is also about to work on
the content for a Trust flyer for the Tranmere game (and yes we
will be requiring *lots* of volunteers to help out!) and he is
also working on the wording to accompany Juzza's analysis of the
groundshare survey.
Andrew has just very recently sent a large pack of merchandise
to Norway. A Trust Polo shirt, clock, mouse mat, road sign and
Ollys cave Tshirt. His merchandise is quite excellent and I really
would recommend paying a visit to our merchandise page on the
website...especially with Christmas not too far away.
Andrew, along with Graham and Peter, is now also part of our new
membership sub group which has been set up to take an urgent and
radical look at the entire membership issue. The idea is for the
sub group to report back to the main committee on whichever proposals
they feel will improve the membership situation for the Trust
and to enable us to then push on with a programme in the hope
that these proposals will help boost the membership numbers.
Graham has been ensuring that any queries sent through to us receive
responses by the board member most equipped to deal with each
query. And he has just sent off for his application to enrol in
the Health For Life course, as advertised by QPR.
Peter, despite his Northerly distance, has been very busy. As
well as, along with Juzza, attending the meeting with the Bees
Trust folk for a basic update on their own situation, and being
part of the membership sub group, he has also been beavering away
on his website duties including: setting up the new policy debate
forum on the site; updating the mainpage with the various news
updates; and he has sent a mass mail out to our email members
regarding the consultation paper.
Leon has still been nagging companies house about missing pages
from the latest share register. Thankfully this has now been sorted
and the updating of our own shares database has now begun. He
has also processed a number of new memberships; contacted various
members as regards queries they have had; and he organised the
posting out (including doing a mail merge, stuffing envelopes
and sticking stamps) to postal members regarding the consultation
paper.
I've been busy with numerous activities including: the compiling
and then sending off all our own correspondence regarding the
legal matter to our solicitors in order for them to keep a record
of the matter on their files for reference; I wrote a letter to
Wasps rugby club's legal advisor asking if he would be kind enough
to furnish us with an update on various matters concerning Wasps
including share issues, who actually owns Wasps now, and a general
update on the Wasps situation; I've been communicating with the
Plc board members regarding our postponed meeting with them, but
am now happy to leave this matter in Juzza's hands; I've posted
my own views on Trust policy on the special dedicated forum in
order to encourage others to post their opinions on there; I am
currently in the middle of writing letters to both Ross Jones
and Chris Wright - To Ross in order to put forward our proposal
in asking for independent trustees to take care of the shares
in the QPR Nominees account - and to Chris Wright to also ask
him a similar thing, (but to request if he will transfer those
shares to the custodial care of independent trustees who will
have QPR's good at heart) as well as a couple of other outstanding
issues, including the Twyford matter. I am aiming for these letters
to be polished up and sent out by Thursday of this week.
Recently brought to our attention were a couple of issues which
have affected some of QPR's disabled fans. I have been in touch
with the local council regarding one of these issues and hope
to report back on the response we receive very shortly.
I've also sent a reminder to everyone on the committee regarding
our action points from the previous committee meeting minutes
because our next meeting is scheduled for this Friday evening.
I will also work on the agenda for this meeting over the next
couple of days and after the weekend I will give an outline on
the issues discussed by us.
As the new boy on the block, Matt has been settling in very well.
He has been chipping in as, and when, necessary on a variety of
issues and he is currently looking at ways for us to raise funds
for the Hoops Fund. He has also been able to offer us some good
ways of thinking from the 'outside' perspective so to say, and
the QPR Nominees shares proposal to the board and Chris Wright
has been one example in the ways his experience can help the Trust
to progress and flourish.
FWB has been away on business a lot during the course of the last
couple of weeks but now he's back within the fold he is going
to start working on a document which will outline any possible
conflict of interests regarding committee members and club duties
but this will be explained in detail once he has completed it.
Whilst Will has needed to take a back step currently because of
being unwell.
That's about it for this update. Look out for the next entry soon.
Tracy
Monday 8th September 2003
Lots has been happening behind the scenes since the last update,
and once again, I've done my best to ensure that most activities
since then are included into this entry.
Firstly, due to the lack of candidates putting themselves forward
for election onto the management board committee for the Trust,
the voting process was not needed and the new committee were announced
to members via email or post two weeks ago.
Our first committee meeting for the new management board for the
2003/04 season took place just over a week and a bit ago now (Friday
29th August).
At this meeting the roles for the Chair, Secretary and Head of
Finance were selected, voted upon and approved by those present.
Other roles and responsibilities for the remaining full committee
are to be discussed and approved at our next meeting (this month,
date to be confirmed) and the agreement of 4 co-optees, with full
voting rights, were approved on the night.
A detailed Chairman's report with some details of the above is
about to be sent out to members and posted onto the main page
of our website.
Due to Stuart standing down from the committee, (but who is now
finalising our year end accounts for last year) the hunt for a
new treasurer was on, and a couple of weeks ago we received an
offer of help from a member who runs his own small accountancy
business. Dave Anderson has been in touch with our prospective
new treasurer, and a meeting with him is trying to be set up for
soon. Until this happens though, and details have been agreed
upon, Dave himself, as Head of Finance, is taking on the beady
eyed position of keeping a close watch on the coming year accounts.
The committee meeting proved to be interesting and discussions
on the following subjects and issues took place:
Any possible conflict of interests between board members and
the club; various strategies required on a number of Trust issues;
correspondence received from Supporters Direct (a survey) and
the club's lawyers, which requires a response; whitepaper update
regarding Trust policy on aspirational aims, which will form the
basis of the Trust business plan; our elusive club meeting and
the questions we require answers to; Hoops Fund, membership and
sharebank updates. Following these discussions a number of action
points were assigned to various board members.
Our committee code of conduct was read by all and signed by everyone
present.
Last week then proved to be very busy for everyone following this
meeting with myself typing out the minutes, ensuring that everyone
on the committee received a copy, and reminding all of their own
action points.
I then sent another correspondence to the CEO, which was copied
onto all other board directors, reminding him of the need for
a rescheduled date to take place asap between ourselves and the
board of QPR. We then subsequently found out that he was away
on holiday last week because Justin also tried to ring Mr Davies
in order to bring to his attention the correspondence we have
received from the club's lawyers, and was informed that he is
away until Monday (8th Sept). I have also been in touch with our
own lawyers this week, in order to bring about the finalisation
as regards our own compliance in relation to a request regarding
the above matter.
Whilst on the subject of the elusive club meeting (as above) last
week David Anderson took a look at, and tightened up the wording
to some of the questions that we are going to send to David Davies
in advance of the meeting, in order to enable Mr Davies to have
the required answers for us on the night.
Justin worked on a Chairman's update for members, which Ant then
helped to put the finishing touches to. Also, following feedback
regarding comments made by Nick Blackburn at a Greater London
Assembly meeting on the subject of London football stadia, which
some of our friends at the Fulham supporters trust reported back
to us with, who also attended the meeting, Ant then worked on
the wording for a newsy update, which was published on the mainpage
of the website.
A Hoops Fund sub group meeting, consisting of myself, William,
Dave Anderson, Leon and Matt has been arranged to take place for
this evening. We have lots to discuss and we'll report back in
due course.
Talking of the Hoops Fund, Andrew arranged with the caterers at
the last home game for the positioning of the donation pots which
are to be a permanent fixture at the catering outlets around the
ground for the remainder of the season. So please remember to
pop any loose change you may have into the containers after you've
bought your hotdog/bottle of beer etc.
Monies raised from the containers, along with the donations from
the bucket collections the previous game, have all been banked
by Leon at the Co-Op.
Leon has also been a busy bee this past week by processing the
recent memberships which have arrived (either by post or via the
website) and he has been in discussions with Company's House as
regards a copy of the latest share register available to us, and
has now sent off for this which we have been assured we will receive
within 10 days. He has also been sending replies to various queries
regarding membership and shares.
Peter G has also been busy the past week with his various website
activities including: the archiving of news items, adding new
content and the updating of Hoops Fund info and totals; the processing
and calculating of the ecommerce totals for the Hoops Fund, QPR
1st membership and merchandise of which he then transferred the
totals to the appropriate bank accounts and reported back to the
committee on these transactions; the producing of a Hoops Fund
graphic for the site; the updating of the members email list on
email server to reflect new members; the processing of new online
memberships and QPR 1st merchandise orders; and he has amended
the structure of the QPR 1st forums by adding a new noticeboard/swap
shop page on there and removed the now redundant committee forums
that we used to occasionally use for communication.
Look out for a further entry very soon.
Tracy
Wednesday 6th August 2003
Once again, I cannot believe how much time has passed since the
last entry. With it being the holiday season - two of our committee
members are currently overseas and I've also been away for a break
with the family - and with so much else going on, finding the
time to write out all the latest for an updated entry within this
diary page has been a bit of a nightmare.
Still here goes on what's been happening during the course of
the past 3 or 4 weeks.
One disappointment has been the way we have had to abandon our
plans in the search for a venue for a possible QPR Open Day. Time
was proving to be too tight and we were feeling a little deserted
in our plans. However, the positive news is that we have already
decided to look into the possibility of a venue for next season,
and in fact we will be bringing this issue up with the club next
week.
Talking of next week, we have arranged for a meeting to take place
between ourselves and the board of the Plc. We will be bringing
up a number of issues and I will shortly start to work on an agenda
for the evening in order to help the meeting run as smoothly as
possible. In the meantime if there are any fans out there who
have specific issues or matters they would like us to raise then
please do get in touch with us on our info@qpr1st.co.uk address.
We have remained in contact with David Thorne and in his latest
correspondence he informed us that though he would still like
to proceed with his deal, any information at the moment is best
coming from the CEO or Board.
Whilst on the subject of the Board we have recently written separately
to both Ross Jones and Nick Blackburn. To Ross, as Chair of the
Plc Board, we have requested for him to send us a latest copy
of the Company's Memorandum and articles of association (or the
M&A as it is known). The M&A of a club provides basic
information on how the club is incorporated and specifies various
things such as the type of company it is; its objectives; info
about the share capital; its governance structure and a whole
host of other information (depending on the company type).
I believe that Ross is still currently away but we await a copy
of the M&A for QPR Holdings Plc with interest.
Our letter Nick Blackburn was in response to a letter we received
from him on 7th July in reply to the original letter that we sent
to both himself and David Davies which was mainly about the outstanding
Twyford Avenue training ground issue.
I have copied both letters, for interest, at the bottom of this
entry.
And talking of our Chairman (well one of them!) Ant has worked
on a response to Nick Blackburn relating to his rather disappointing
outburst against the Trust in the fanzine A kick up the R's. As
a right to reply, we are hopeful of this being printed in a future
edition.
Ant finished the copy for our Summer newsletters and these, along
with the election material, went to print 2 or 3 weeks ago. The
printers we used was Catford Print Centre (obviously based at
Catford!) who gave us a pretty decent price for all the printing.
They also took on the printing work for the Hoops Fund leaflets
(8000 of them) which were dispatched with the season ticket packs.
There was a very fine deadline and we had to ensure that our leaflets
were ready and couriered to the box office in time for when they
began to send out the season ticket literature.
At the same time all newsletters and elections material were delivered
to us personally and as this was a couple of days before we ourselves
were due to go away, a swifty bit of stuffing literature and sticking
stamps onto envelopes was required by all concerned to ensure
delivery of the newsletters was received by all members in order
to give everyone a good chance to decide on whether they wished
to nominate themselves for election onto the management board
committee.
Talking of which, aside from those current committee members who
are going to re-stand, we have yet to receive a candidate form
from anyone else. The deadline has now been extended until this
Sunday. I, and the rest of my colleagues, really would urge anyone
who has been thinking of putting themselves forward to stop thinking
and put these thoughts into action asap!
Details are available via the elections material sent to all members.
If you need any help or wish to know anything else then please
get in touch with me via our info@ address and I'll do my best
to guide you.
With the new season only days away, preparations for a blitz concerning
the Hoops Fund is due to take place. So watch this space. Included
will be the details of our prize draw, of which we have now received
our lottery licence for (which meant that Leon's dealing with
the red tape surrounding this has paid off hurray!) and when we
meet with the Plc board next week, the Hoops Fund will be pretty
high on the agenda, including a document I am currently working
on which includes ideas from either ourselves, or ideas and suggestions
sent from other fans, which will need club approval to get off
the ground, but which I will ensure all ideas will be copyrighted
to the Hoops Fund.
In the meantime Andrew has been having talks with the club caterers
and is currently
looking towards some specific Hoops Fund promotions that will
allow a percentage of the takings going to the Hoops fund. Watch
this space on this.
Also the caterers have agreed to the Hoops Fund having collection
pots on the various catering outlet counters around the ground
for the whole of next season. Again full details of this will
be given on our main page on the site very soon.
The squad auction place currently stands at £3050. Ant sent
out a press release across the wires last week relating to this
and Juzza (the evening before he went away) took part in a live
interview on radio London about this auction.
Peter is currently undergoing communication with Amy at the club
as regards the auction and what will happen regards publicity
and other issues for the winning bidder once the final deadline
has closed.
And whilst on the subject of asking fans to part with their hard
earned reddies, take a look at the merchandise page on the main
site. Andrew's 'Olly's Cave' t-shirts that he has worked hard
on getting for us really are superb. With all this lovely weather
around what better way than to walk around outside showing one
of these t-shirts off?
I think that's about it for this entry. I will do my utmost to
keep on track from now on as regards committee updates for this
page now that I am back into the full swing of things.
In the meantime, see below the correspondence relating to Tywford
avenue between ourselves and Nick Blackburn.
Tracy
7/7/03
Dear Tracy,
David Davies has passed over to me your letter of 30th June regarding
Chris Wright and Twyford Avenue. Please could you call me to discuss
this matter.
I should point out that I think it is unfair of you not to point
out that Chris Wright lent the Club money to buy the training
ground and that the Club did not own a training ground prior to
this. This is never pointed out in your statements on the unofficial
website and I believe your failure to do so creates unnecessary
bias.
I look forward to speaking with you. By the way I would also
be interested to know how your fund raising is going, as I have
not met with QPR 1st for some time.
Your Sincerely
Nick Blackburn
Chairman
-----------------------------------------------------
17/7/2003
Dear Mr Blackburn
Thank you for your letter dated 7/7/03. Whilst we understand
your loyalty to an old friend, and it is indeed a fair point that
Mr Wright did indeed lend the money for QPR to buy the training
ground, the original purpose of this purchase was to enable both
QPR and Wasps rugby club to secure this training ground, and its
facilities, for their future use.
Due to this area of land having been taken out of the Plc equation
at the EGM two years ago, at which Chris Wright gave his public
commitment to speak with his lawyers regarding a 3-way split between
himself, QPR and Wasps, relating to any future proceeds from any
sale of the Twyford Avenue site, QPR still do not own a training
ground, and in fact have to pay rent to Mr Wright – our life
vice president – for the use of this land.
All we ask, two years down the line, is for the stakeholders
of QPR (and indeed Wasps) to be furnished from Mr Wright with
a break down in black and white regarding the actual detail relating
to any future proceeds.At the recent AGM, you informed the shareholders
present that day that you would speak with Chris Wright regarding
this matter. If you haven’t already done so, then we urge
you to treat this matter with urgency and to speak with him at
your earliest opportunity.
We ourselves will also be writing to Mr Wright very shortly regarding
this issue.
We note that you consider some of our past statements on our
web site relating to Mr Wright are inaccurate and we would therefore
offer the opportunity for Mr Wright, or yourself, to provide us
with a full breakdown of financial transactions involving Mr Wright,
Loftus Road Plc QPR FC, Wasps Rugby club, Sudbury and Twyford
training grounds and any other ongoing and possible future transactions
involving Mr Wright, along with any accompanying statement or
information which we offer to publish in full along with any retraction
from us that may be required in light of the information that
is provided to the Trust.
As regards the Hoops Fund, Justin is currently arranging for
a meeting to take place between ourselves and members of the QPR
board in order for us to discuss, along with other issues, the
matter of the fundraising venture .We look forward to meeting
with you once the date has been arranged.
Yours Sincerely
Tracy Stent – Hon.Secretary
For and on behalf of the QPR 1st Committee
Thursday 3rd July 2003
I can't believe that 2 weeks have almost passed since the last
entry. Since then, much has been going on and I've done my best
to outline those things below.
During the middle of the week before last, our committee meeting
took place. The main points to be discussed at that meeting related
to: latest bid updates, including the Q&A with David Thorne
which we received on the day of this particular meeting, and was
subsequently published on the website; newsletter and committee
election material and deadlines; the drafting of a template white
paper regarding a review of Trust policies relating to organisational
and aspirational standards (which Justin is going to work on);
the Aylesbury situation; and the need for a Hoops Fund sub group
meeting.
Then on the Friday and Saturday, Justin, Graham and myself attended
the football conferences taking place that weekend.
I then spent the best part of the beginning of last week writing
up the report from those conferences which can now be viewed on
the mainpage of our site.
It was round about that time that the nonsense occurred regarding
recent events relating to lawyers getting involved.
The main article on the mainpage of the site gives an outline
as to those events, however what was most annoying is the fact
that we were enforced to waste our time during that period in
order to ensure the resolvement of the lawyers' involvement.
We have just recently sent a letter to David Davies, written by
Justin, which basically asks questions and outlines our concerns
relating to the original issue which set off the above chain of
events. Whether a satisfactory response will be forthcoming we
will just have to wait and see!
Then last weekend, Leon liased with Jim Anderson - who works on
the various PR aspects of the Hoops Fund for us - regarding the
final version of the leaflets we are going to be sending out to
coincide with the club's season ticket pack mail outs. We are
satisfied that these are now ready and this week Will and myself
(poor Will is only just beginning to feel a little better after
his recent bout of illness, though he is still under the weather)
have been finding out the season ticket numbers required - in
order to give us an idea as to the amount of leaflets we'll need
printing - and also the deadline required so as we'll know when
to get them all to the club's mail out company by.
Also this week: Graham has replied to all those fans who kindly
included within their poll reply to us, constructive comments
regarding the Aylesbury situation. I wrote a letter of reminder
to David Davies and Nick Blackburn regarding some outstanding
issues from the AGM (which is copied at the end of this entry)
and yesterday, at long last, I finished an article I have been
working on all about the Hoops Fund (a full history - present
day type thing). This will be published on the website soon.
Dave Price has finished tidying up the election material that
we both worked on so this is now all ready to go out along with
our Summer newsletters, of which Ant is currently busily beavering
away on and finalising as I type this.
Therefore, once the printing has been arranged, we are hopeful
of them starting to drop onto doormats from the end of next week.
Andrew has been busy with his merchandise stuff and he is hopeful
of having some new lines available soon. Due to his deal with
the Spekkles sunglasses chap, we heard this week that we are due
a nice cheque from this deal, which is always good to hear. And
he is currently working on looking into a possible phone line
for the Trust which will obviously go a long way in helping us
to improve our communication further.
The only thing that has been slow, and is proving to be a disappointment
since the last entry, are our efforts in attempting to secure
a venue for a possible QPR Open Day. A QPR fan very kindly sent
us some suggestions for us to try regarding a local venue but
this is proving to be harder than we had anticipated and we fear
we are now running out of time which is very frustrating all round.
Look out for the next entry, which I will aim for early next week.
In the meantime see below the letter sent to David Davies and
which was also copied onto Nick Blackburn.
Tracy
30/6/03
Dear David
I am bringing to the attention of yourself and Nick Blackburn
a couple of outstanding issues relating to the Loftus Road Plc
AGM in May of this year.
The first point related to the golden share owned by the Trustees
of Wasps rugby football club, and I have copied below the following
paragraph, taken from the QPR 1st report at the AGM, for your
information.
The next question related to the directors report, and more specifically
to the golden share owned by the Trustees of Wasps rugby football
club. There was some confusion over how these former preference
shares could be converted into 6.2% of ordinary shares. Despite
Ross Jones and David Davies conferring with several advisors this
conversion could not be explained and it was agreed that the board
will look into the matter and would both write personally to the
shareholder who raised the subject, along with publishing their
findings on the club official website.
The second outstanding point relates to the sale of the Twyford
Avenue training ground, and particularly the 3-way split relating
to any proceeds from any future sale of this area. Again, I copy
for your info below the relevant paragraph taken from our report.
I went on to say that QPR 1st have had several communications
with Chris Wright relating to this matter, and that his last correspondence
had been a letter in which he had copyrighted, therefore basically
preventing us from reproducing his actual words. However one of
the basic things mentioned had been his agreement to the 3-way
split on any future proceeds, but that this would be effective
up to a certain amount of years.
As I pointed out, this is wrong because the original agreement
had not mentioned any kind of timescale/period (as in the board
statement following that EGM) and, because it is also in the board's
best interests to follow this matter up in order to maximise as
much money as possible from the proceeds of any possible sale
of this former company asset, I asked them if they would follow
this up with Chris Wright in order to clarify the situation?
Nick Blackburn told me that he would contact Chris Wright and
would get back to me in due course. Another shareholder also asked
for any information on this to also be published on the club's
official website.
We would appreciate both yours and Mr Blackburn’s attention
to these matters as two months have now passed since this undertaking,
at the company’s AGM, was given. Also, we would like to request
to see a copy of the disposal agreement between Loftus Road Plc
and Sudbury Holdings, pertaining to the sale of this specific
area of land. This can be sent to our PO box address as above.
Many thanks for your co-operation.
Yours Sincerely
Tracy Stent
Hon Secretary – QPR 1st Supporters Trust
For and on behalf of the Committee.
Tuesday 18th June 2003
Since the previous entry last week, much has been going on. Firstly
last Monday Will was rushed into hospital with a very nasty bout
of tonsillitis. After many doses of treatment later, we're glad
to say that he's starting to recover now. Whisper it quietly but
we've missed not having him around.
Due to debate amongst many regarding the Aylesbury fixture, and
with Peter G (our webmaster) arriving back last week from his
holiday, thus allowing us to do a quick email members poll, Peter
worked on the poll on his return and sent it out to all members
on email the next day. There has been a problem with some people
whose server is AOL (due to some problems at AOL's end) who have
not received the poll, and though AOL were hopeful of solving
this technical hitch at the weekend, we do not believe it has
been sorted as yet. Because we are still getting some votes back
in trickles, we thought we would delay the announcement of the
results which will also give those with AOL a chance to vote on
this issue.
We also have our monthly committee meeting this evening and so
it will give us the chance to speak with one another regarding
this matter before we make the results known, and of any policy
as regards this issue.
Whilst Leon has been busy updating our shares database, and preparing
an update on the Sharebank scheme as well as a membership update
to be included within the Summer editions of our newsletter, I've
been trying to fight my way through the red tape involved when
it comes to form filling! I filled out, and sent off, an application
form to ask the local council permission if we could use one of
the local parks/open space areas within the borough, as a venue
for a possible QPR Open Day. I have also applied to one of the
local school's - Burlington Danes - to ask if they would consider
allowing us to use their playing fields as a possible venue.
I am awaiting replies. As is Will as regards Gurnell leisure centre.
In the meantime, I have written an outline on what we have been
trying to do to David Davies and Samantha Taylor at the club and
will get back to them if/when I have some firm news. The whole
thing is proving to be a bureaucratic nightmare and if anyone
has any other suggestions for a possible venue of where we could
hold a QPR open day then I would love to hear from you!
We have renewed the Trust's sponsorship for Paul Furlong's full
kit for next season and the cheque has been sent to the club.
Again, later on next season, members will have the chance to take
part in auctions for Paul's shirts, which for the lucky winners
will also allow them to attend the end of season kit sponsor's
event, at which they will be presented with their shirt.
Late last week, we received some brief info as regards the financial
proposal which Australian businessman David Thorne has put to
the club. Juzza made contact with Mr Thorne and after an exchange
of emails (and one short voicemail message) Mr Thorne has agreed
to furnish us with replies to some of the questions relating to
his proposal which Juzza asked of him.
We are awaiting his responses, and once received, we will post
an update on the mainpage of the website.
Our committee meeting is taking place tonight and amongst the
items on the agenda will be the issues of the latest financial
proposals; elections (both ours and the supporters direct one);
policies; fundraising updates; and any other matters that we can
squeeze into discussion.
Look out for the next diary entry at the end of this week.
Monday 2nd June 2003
Whilst two of our committee members are away sunning themselves
on their hols, the rest of us have been happily beavering away
since the last diary entry just before the weekend.
After consultation with various parties, David Price prepared
and wrote a statement regarding our thoughts on the issue of our
pre season friendly at Aylesbury which is due to take place in
July. David's statement can be viewed in full on the news homepage
of this site. In the meantime we are still doing our best to contact
Aylesbury supporter groups and will report on this if, and when,
we have any news.
Juzza has been pulling his hair out (well, what he has left of
it anyway!) in trying to pin us all down for a definite date for
our next committee meeting. However, with others away, work commitments
and various other factors it's not easy. But we are doing our
best to settle on a date asap because we have oodles of things
to discuss, not less our own committee elections which are due
this Summer.
Talking of which, I have worked on the basis for the main content
of our election campaign, and along with the much appreciated
advice and input from David Price, the election material should
all be ready to go out in the same mail shot as our summer newsletters
(that Ant will be starting on soon) in order to help save on postal
costs.
And whilst on the subject of elections, Supporters Direct are
currently going through an election process themselves after making
the recent decision for the organisation to become a fully registered
not for profit industrial and provident society (ips).
Elections have been open to all current supporters trust board
members (as well as obviously SD's own board from the past) and
after I'd indicated a keen interest to stand myself, a vote was
taken from our own committee with the result unanimously voting
for me to put myself forward. And I was very kindly seconded by
Tom Greatrix, Chair of the newly formed Fulham Supporters Trust/Back
to the Cottage group. I know, I know....but they're a very good
sort are the guys and gals from the bttc group.
There are 12 board positions available and 24 people put themselves
forward.
Each trust (their board members) will be able to vote for the
12 candidates they feel would be best equipped to represent the
SD board, and we are due to have our own committee vote soon on
this matter because the closing date is 19th June.
In the meantime if any members would like to view the candidates
statements etc then they are available on the SD website by clicking
onto this link and scrolling down to where it says candidates
statements at the bottom of the page.
http://www.supporters-direct.org/englandwales/boardelections.htm
Though the vote for this is down to the committee, if anyone feels
so inclined to let us know of their own preferences then we would
be delighted to hear from you, because all views count and we
will take all opinions into consideration before casting our own
votes.
On Friday, after Juzza sent it all on after doing a mail pick-up
from our po box, we received a fair number of various letters
consisting of the Supporters Direct elections material consisting
of the candidates statements and voting papers; some new membership
applications; a couple of cheques for the hoops fund and more
share certificates from Lloyds TSB after yet more shareholders
donated some of their shares to our Sharebank scheme.
Leon was kept busy over the weekend by going to the Co-op bank
at Wood Green to bank the cheques into the Hoops Fund account
and then processing the new memberships (which I got weighed and
sent off at the post office today) and also logging the newly
donated shares onto our sharebank database. At least it keeps
him out of mischief!
On Friday Juzza also contacted the club to ask them if there is
any news regarding new shirt sponsors for next season. He heard
today that there is nothing absolute as of yet, and we have offered
the club the help and advice of Peter Gridneff (our webmaster)
who has lots of experience in this particular field (he was in
negotiations with Mark Devlin as regards trust sponsorship of
the youth academy last season) to which the club have been appreciative
of this offer of help and will liaise with Peter next week.
And the final entry for today is news of an idea a small group
of us have started to look into as regards a venue for a possible
QPR Open Day to take place in the Summer. We don't know if the
club have begun to organise anything yet but the way we see it
it's best to get things started now should the worst case scenario
apply and the club have not got anything arranged!
The fans, after 30,000 of them turned up at the Millenium Stadium,
are well worth an open day, which until 3 years ago was a regular
and integral part of the club's community initiatives. I have
began to liase with the local authority as regards possible venues,
whilst Will has spoken with Gurnell Leisure Centre (where QPR
held them in recent years) to ask for a quote on prices, and has
also set the ball rolling as regards prices for stalls and other
activities.
Depending on what kind of responses we get from the local authority
and other parties, we will be arranging to speak with the club,
as well as other parties, asap in order to put some proposals
to them.
As the saying goes...watch this space!
Tracy
Thursday 29th May 2003
Well, what better week to decide to start our diary entries than
this one as at least it stops us, well particularly me, from moping
about following Sunday's heartbreak.
Last week we received an email from a member who has close connections
with AFC Wimbledon. This member mentioned how he had noted that
QPR is due to play Aylesbury in a pre season friendly (at Aylesbury)
and went on to say how Aylesbury (despite clubs such as Tottenham,
Charlton and Luton who pulled out) are still due to play Wimbledon
FC (at Milton Keynes) and asked for our thoughts on this and if
we have considered urging for a fans boycott when we play at Aylesbury.
We are currently looking into the situation, have tried making
contact with any Aylesbury supporter groups, and whilst those
of us on the committee have already indicated a tendency not to
attend this particular pre season friendly, we would welcome any
comments from members and fans alike.
Despite all feeling down following Sunday, this week has already
seen us being kept busy. Leon has processed some new memberships
and has sent them out.
Anthony Hobbs (our media spokesman) has fired off a letter to
the Observer newspaper following a rather inaccurate article in
there at the weekend as regards the financial situation at QPR,
and I have copied it below at the end of today's entry.
Whilst some of us were still licking our wounds, the always positive
Graham put together some wording for a message to go on our website
regarding Sunday. Graham's message can be viewed on the mainpage
of the site.
On Tuesday I received a phone call from a radio station based
in Wales asking me if I would care to comment on the hotel alarm
business and so I took part in a recorded interview which I have
since heard was broadcast yesterday.
Then yesterday Will was contacted by Haleem Kherallah, who informed
Will of a re-submitted bid he is making which involves £1m
for shares in the company, along with another £1m collateral
to allow for other costs. Haleem will be sending us a statement
regarding his bid, which we will publish on our website as soon
as we receive it from him, though this will not be until next
week because he is currently away.
I hope you have enjoyed this first entry and please look out
for further regular updates.
Tracy
Dear Editor
Amy Lawrence's preview of QPR for the second division
play off final painted a rosy picture of the club's
recent mini-renaissance. Sadly, her assertion that QPR
is now debt-free couldn't be further from the truth.
Desperate to escape the clutches of the administrator
last year, QPR took out a £10 million loan, secured
against the Loftus Road ground, from a source best
described (for fear of litigation) as 'mysterious'.
Make no mistake, this is no High Street lender
borrowing - the interest payments alone are £1 million
per year, cash that can only currently be found thanks
to Fulham's rent money. Even with Fulham's
contribution, the club is still losing money.
Whilst our recent play-off bid will have raised some
much needed cash, there seems to be no real plan for
how on earth the club will survive if Fulham decide to
play their football elsewhere. And as for how to repay
the capital element of the loan, a £10 million lump
sum due in nine year's time. er. um. well, lets worry
about that later.
With Rangers therefore still needing to make major
financial cuts or attract new investment to have any
chance of a viable longer term future, QPR 1st
Supporters Trust has started a fund raising scheme,
the Hoops Fund, to help meet the club's running costs.
Maybe supporters can't easily raise the £10 million
required to pay off the loan capital (though we'll
have a go!), but we can at least buy the club some
breathing space. In return for supporters investment,
QPR's board has stated its willingness to consider
having proper fans representation on the board of
directors for the first time.
Ian Holloway deserves more praise that we can heap on
him for the way he has fashioned a promotion
challenging squad against this financial backdrop. On
the field, we are somehow managing to make progress.
Off it, we are still taking in water and may yet start
to sink.
If the Sultan of Brunei is reading this and looking
for something to do with the £100 million he probably
has down the back of his sofa, he could do worse than
give QPR a call.
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