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QPR1st Diary New
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April 2003 News
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April 29th 2003 Hoops Fund Launch We are pleased to announce that the bucket collections
we participated in on Saturday in, and around the ground, raised
a total of £1003.80. This amount was raised by a skeleton
staff of helpers in just over 1 and a half hours. The best bucket
award goes to the Ellerslie Rd Stand where almost half of the
total was raised. There was also £180 in notes raised (
1 x £20 ~ 9 x £10 and 14 x £5 ). Mid Season Shuffle QPR 1st is both saddened and pleased to announce that our Chairman, since inception, Mr David Price has stepped-down from his position due to the increasing work demands on his time. David has travelled to the four corners of the world for his work in the last month alone. We are saddened because David has done an outstanding job as Chairman. He led us since September 2001 when the interim committee, that established QPR 1st as an Industrial and Provident Society, was replaced by our first fully elected committee. Incidently David played a critical part in that process, establishing the constitution and delivering that first election. This was a time when the club was in adminstration and also in turmoil and all of David's diplomatic skills were required to deal with the many different people associated with the club at that time. In recent times, prior to the publication of QPR's official accounts, David researched and wrote a widely-praised summary of the club's financial position based on the various financial sources available to QPR 1st. This can be viewed at QPR1st Report - PDF format We are however pleased that the reason David has had to stand down is due to his exceptional success at work which has recently taken him all over the world. David himself puts some part of his recent work success down to the skills he has acquired along the way working on the QPR 1st committee. David, while relinquishing his Chairman duties, will still see out his elected term on the committee to ensure we keep a good core of experience in the team. The committee of QPR 1st thank David for all his unstinting work so far in helping deliver the goals of the Trust and look forward to more of his balanced, yet incisive contributions in the future. David's departure has necessitated a minor reshuffle amongst the committee that will take the Trust to annual elections in August 2003. Justin Pieris takes over as Chairman. Roger de Freitas has been co-opted onto the committee with full voting rights to take-up the political liaison portfolio. Roger brings a wealth of political and planning experience being a leading light in the Hammersmith Society. The committee has also voted to give co-optees Anthony Hobbs and Graham Barnes full voting rights. The full reshuffled committee is as follows: Chairman : Justin Pieris Justin Pieris April 28th 2003 Paul Furlong shirt auction The Paul Furlong Away Shirt auction is now closed. We are delighted to announce that the away shirt raised even more than the home shirt with the winning bid being £226.00. Congratulations to Mr P Dalton who will be presented with the shirt by Paul at the sponsors evening. April 25th 2003 Meeting with Haleem Kherallah Those of us who had intended to attend last night's
Fans Forum at Slough, were unable to because of a last minute
reschedule in order to meet up with Haleem Kherallah, who is currently
bidding to purchase a significant number of Loftus Road plc shares.
The meeting proved fruitful and we'll do our best to keep everyone
informed in due course. April 24th 2003 AGM News We have been in touch with a corporate lawyer to
ensure that the resolutions within the Loftus Road plc agm paperwork
are above board, and though there are a couple of little niggles,
it would appear that everything is in order regarding them. However,
we are currently working on a number of questions and issues to
bring up with the board on the day and we will produce a full
report of the meeting on our website afterwards. April 22nd 2003 The Hoops Fund QPR 1st are looking for some help for the Crewe
game on Sat 26th April . Commitment to be at the club shop at 12.30 - 1pm sharp.
April 17th 2003 News Release QPR still in financial trouble QPR 1st, the Queens Park Rangers Supporters Trust, is to launch a new fundraising scheme that aims to give supporters a stake in the club and help stave off further financial problems. The recent publication of QPR's accounts has reinforced the Trust's concerns regarding the financial health of the club, as it becomes clear that a number of funding problems have still to be addressed. Trust Chairman David Price recently produced a financial report on the club, which concluded that serious financial issues exist despite the club coming out of administration last year. Now the formal publication of QPR's accounts to May 2002 backs up the conclusions of the QPR 1st report. The Trust has been vocal in highlighting its concerns about the club's finances, but is also keen to offer solutions to QPR's board. Explaining the background to the club's financial problems, David Price said: "QPR's parent company, Loftus Road plc, took out a £10 million loan secured against the Loftus Road ground, in order to escape the clutches of the administrators. Around £6.5 million of that money was used immediately to pay off creditors, but the accounts indicate that much of the remainder has already gone. The club is still losing money - the accounts report a loss of £3.4 million in the year to May 2002 and indications are that further losses are occurring this year. With loan interest payments of £1 million a year to be met, there is now a huge reliance on the rent money the club currently receives from Fulham. "We are concerned that unless the club either cuts costs further or obtains new investment, our longer term financial independence is in serious doubt. Indeed, the QPR's board of Directors state in the accounts that the company does not have the funds to continue operating for the foreseeable future without raising additional capital." In response to the problems highlighted by the accounts and David Price's report, QPR 1st is setting up a fundraising scheme which is intended to raise much needed finance for the club in return for a large batch of currently un-allocated shares in the plc. The raising of this vital finance and the acquisition of shares will be the cue for fan representation on QPR's board. Commenting on the way forward, David Price continued: "We've already approached the board with our plans for a fundraising initiative and they have been very receptive to our ideas. The purpose of highlighting our current problems is not to criticise the current board - we do appreciate the difficult circumstances they are operating in. However, the club can't be completely reliant on promotion, cup runs or a rich benefactor to keep us solvent. We have to have a proper, stable base in the community - which is why we have said to the board 'let us help'." QPR1st Report - PDF format Details of the Trust's plans for raising funds will be published next week. ENDS Press Contact: April 16th 2003 Win VIP tickets to QPR v Notts County As part of the Hammersmith and Fulham festival the council are running a competition with the prize being 3 VIP tickets to the QPR v Notts County game, the competition closes at 5pm tomorrow (17th April). for details click here April 15th 2003 Paul Furlong shirt auction The Paul Furlong home shirt auction was a great success with Paul Lovell's winning bid £212.00, the away shirt auction is now underway, for details click here April 10th 2003 FSF "Fans Blueprint for football" The Football Supporters Federation have produced a "Fans Blueprint for football" which is currently in the formative stage, they are seeking contributions from fans, we have set out the Blueprint on one of our pages (see link below)and you are invited to send any ideas or comments for inclusions or amendments to the email address provided on the page. Feedback will be reported to the Football Fans Parliament which will take place at Arsenal Stadium on Saturday 21st June. FSF Fans Blueprint for football Please don't litter our ground The message below is from the board of QPR. The board of QPR1st, the Supporters' Trust, fully endorse this initiative. If enough of us, the fans, support it, we can make significant cost savings for the club. The club needs every penny, so please support this initiative, which we believe is a small, but important step at cost-control. Saturday's game against Luton Town sees the launch of a joint initiative by both the Club and Supporter Groups encouraging fans to help cut matchday costs by reducing the amount of litter left behind after games. When you arrive at the stadium on Saturday you will see that extra refuse bags have been placed around the ground. There will also be notices in the stands and reminders over the public address system before and after the game. Please help us to help the Club reduce cleaning costs by showing
consideration with your refuse on Saturday afternoon and for the
remainder of the season.
April 9th 2003 AGM announced at long last Following yesterday's statement from the club that accounts for the years ending 31 May 2001 and 31 May 2002 have now been filed at Companies House, it has today been announced that the delayed AGM will finally take place on Thursday 1 May at 3.30pm at the Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road, W12. Although welcoming the confirmed date, we are somewhat surprised and disappointed that, despite past complaints over the timing of such meetings, it is once again to be held in the afternoon. This is not normal practice amongst football clubs in general, where shareholder meetings are held outside of normal working hours. Representatives from QPR 1st will be attendance, and once we
know the details of any proposals and have studied the Company
accounts, we will contact members and shareholders with our thoughts
and any chosen action. April 8th 2003 QPR V Brentford QPR 1st have asked Brentford if they can make more tickets available to QPR fans for the forthcoming local derby at Griffin Park as they have yet to sell-out in the home areas. Brentford have explored the possibility, but have advised us that unfortunately they are unable to do so because of segregation issues.
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