July 5th 2005

Weekly update - week commencing 4th July

A busy last couple of weeks has meant we have been struggling to find time to do an update for the site. However, better late than never, so please read on as there is lots to update with!

Trust Elections

With the time fast approaching for the Trust Management Board elections, we have finalised the content inviting members to put themselves forward as a candidate/s and this, along with a brief newsletter, is being aimed to be sent out by early next week at the very latest. There are no strings or agendas attached to our throwing this open to all QPR fans. The only requirement is a love for Queens Park Rangers, and a wish to do more for it. If anyone reading this, or knows of someone else that might be interested in standing for election, but have yet to join the Trust, then please get in touch. Sooner rather than later. You are needed.

Hoops Fund latest

After writing to QPR Chairman, Bill Power (see letter on the site from an update in June) asking for his consideration regarding a possible shares transfer in order to allow the Trust to close the Hoops Fund in its current format, and therefore allowing for any future Trust management board to start afresh with a new fundraising venture, Bill eventually got back to us via a message on the QPR rivals messageboard a couple of weeks ago, informing us that he has no wish to part with any of his shareholding but wished us well with our venture.

We have since been looking at the shareholders list in our quest to find a shareholder/s with substantial shareholdings within the company that might prove to be rather sympathetic to our cause. One of those was director, Kevin McGrath, to whom we wrote a letter very recently to, and whilst his answer was similar to Bill Power's (Kevin in fact is looking to increase his own shareholding within the company) he was very prompt in getting back to us with his thanks but no thanks response for which we are appreciative about as it means we can now continue in our pursuit of trying to find a sympathetic shareholder without the need for sitting about twiddling our fingers awaiting a reply from him.

A copy of the letter sent to Kevin will now be adapted to send to other potential ‘sympathetic to the cause' shareholders.

Correspondence Outstanding

At the moment we're currently awaiting a response from the Football League relating to a letter that we sent them some two or so weeks ago and once we hear back from them (we did receive a ‘holding' response from one of their in-house solicitor's just before the weekend) we'll update fully on this. Sorry for sounding mysterious, but there are a couple of things we're trying to get to the bottom of, and before doing so we have to make sure that we're not going to be hauled before the high courts before we can even say Paul Furlong!

Also outstanding is a response from Bill Power regarding the couple of things we asked for clarity on relating to the recent Chris Wright/Wasps/Shares deal but with the company AGM taking place this week perhaps he sees it as more practical to address the issues we raised, along with any other ones relating to the deal that other shareholders might have, on the day of the meeting itself.

Club Correspondence

Juniors season ticket/clubshop vouchers and Students update

Over the course of the past month or so, I sent a couple of letters to Mark Devlin, QPR's CEO, regarding the above. Chiefly, regarding those junior season tickets that parents have had to pay for by using the Premium Credit instalment plan, meaning that (as per in the leaflet that s/ticket holders will not be receiving their books until November/December time when the final payment has been made) those youngsters would not have their books - and due to the stipulation on the juniors' clubshop vouchers about the need to show season ticket books on production of the voucher – thus presumably resulting in those juniors being unable to use their vouchers until such a time when their books get sent out to them?

Mark very recently responded to this with some good news by informing that once the second payment has gone out, those paying via the instalment plan will be receiving their season ticket books in the post. This goes for juniors too. So for any parents that may have been concerned about this, concern yourselves no more as your kids will shortly be receiving their books, along with their goodie bag/s and clubshop voucher.

Regarding the student matchday/concession update, we did forward the details onto the club of the membership scheme that Oldham Athletic run for students wishing to gain admission at Boundary Park under its concessionary rates. Mark recently advised that the club are going to look into the possibility of introducing such a scheme, along with the mechanisms of how such a scheme would run, and that they/we should know more in due course if it is felt a viable option to proceed with.

We have taken the opportunity to inform him that along with ideas and feedback from some of the club's student supporters, the Trust has been putting such workable ideas into a pack for the club's info and that this should be completed by the end of the week for their interest. All good and positive news so we'll keep you all updated.

Thanks to Mark Devlin for getting back to us.

STRIPES – Charity photo taken outside Loftus Road

A few weeks ago, we were informed about a mad escapade that two Stafford Rangers fans were partaking in. Their aim was to visit 158 grounds in a week (including all in the premiership, championship, leagues 1, & 2, conference, conference North and South) with all funds going to two charities (MIND and McMillan Cancer relief) and to the recent formed STRIPES (Stafford Rangers Independent Supporters Trust).

In order to help raise funds for their 3 causes, they asked for support by way of donations, and specifically, for the sponsorship of grounds. Anyone sponsoring grounds were asked to provide a message to the 2 lads before they set off on their adventures, which they would then hold up outside each ground on arrival, and which after the event, they would publish on the donators page for each ground.

We were more than happy to make a small contribution and you can now view the photograph taken outside the home of football by clicking on this link http://www.158groundsin1week.co.uk/default.asp then click on the ‘grounds' section and go to the bar, finding QPR (under the championship). It really is an excellent photo (roll on the new season) and well done to the lads on their achievement.

Stand Up Sit Down update

In one of our last updates, we informed about how we had been contacted by this group (SUSD) and as a result of this we published their report and findings on this contentious subject (which was to be sent to all of the clubs that have all-seater stadiums, along with to various football authorities).

Following on from this, one of the group's representatives sent us a document, which included a series of communication between them and QPR's Safety Officer. This communication dated back to October of last year and whilst rather lengthy, was of much interest. It's fair to say that this group and QPR's safety officer did not exactly see eye to eye with one another with regard to the view from the upper tier school end. Basically, they took umbrage at the leaflets that had been handed to them before the game about non standing and possible ejections etc and afterwards they complained to QPR's stadium officer that the reason why some away fans stand up when there is action down ‘their' end of the ground. This is because apparently it is impossible to see the entire pitch from a seated position from many seats in this area of Loftus Road because the near end of the pitch is obscured by the front of the stand, therefore preventing those fans from seeing the goal line, the first yard or two of the pitch, and the bottom of the goal.

They expressed concern about possible safety issues (as per the recommendations of the guide to safety at sports grounds) and asked for his comments.

QPR's safety officer took a different view by stating that as with several other stadiums of Loftus Road's age, may well have restricted views because there is a yard of the edge of pitch that supporters cannot see, but in his view he estimated that the sight lines generally do not cause a problem unless there are other fans standing in front of those seated.

The correspondence continued but with the SUSD group suggesting that the best way in their opinion of helping to improve both the view (for away fans) and the possible safety risk (for the sake of QPR) would be a simple solution. Here is the extract from that communication explaining their solution.

“If the pitch were to be moved forward (shortened) by about two metres, it would no longer be necessary for spectators to stand in order to see the end of the pitch and the whole goal.

Currently a situation exists where visiting supporters are sold restricted view tickets (with no indication of this until they receive the ticket), for seats that do not meet the guidelines of the ‘Green Guide', and which may lead to a safety risk. Our suggestion would help improve both the view and the possible safety risk caused by supporters having to stand to see goalmouth action. It would be a simple solution to implement, at no cost, and could be carried out immediately.”

Following this suggestion/correspondence the group heard no more about it, and whilst far be it for us to suggest that the recent announcement by Mark Devlin of ground improvements, including the moving of the pitch forward, had anything to do with QPR's safety officer's correspondence with the SUSD group, when being pointed in the direction of this article on QPR's official website, myself and Amanda (the group's rep) couldn't help but think it was a tad coincidental.

Internal Trust matters

Just to end this update by reporting on a couple of internal Trust matters that have been going on/outstanding. Firstly we decided not to go ahead with a stall at the International Co-op day on the South bank last Saturday because the thought of being caught up amongst the crowds for the Live8 and Gay Pride march events going on in the City just did not appeal. Also, we are still waiting to hear back from the Greenford Rotary club about the stall we applied for at the forthcoming Greenford carnival.

One of our members has kindly paid for QPR 1st to sponsor one of the youth players (Sean Thomas) for the forthcoming season, whilst another supporter has also kindly donated some programme space to the Trust (which was originally for his own company) for a couple of half page adverts to be published in 2 of the programmes for next season). So we are currently working on the artwork for this with a deadline for the end of the week. Gulp.

Hope you have enjoyed this update and remember if you feel you can help the Trust in anyway at all then please get in touch with us.

Tracy

Trust membership on the up

One of the primary targets of the steering group is to increase the membership from the 39 paid up members at the point when the steering group took over. We are delighted to announce that the current paid up membership as of 18th June stands at 132.

This is mainly as the result of a mail out to lapsed members, a copy of the mail out is available here.

This is a great step forward but for the Trust to be effective we need as many members as possible so if you have not yet joined please consider signing up. All paid up members will be able to put themselves forward for election to the new management board, election details will appear here within the next couple of weeks.

Club AGM Notification

Whilst reading through the proxy form yesterday to sign it on behalf of the Trust's sharebank scheme ,  we noticed that the date for the club AGM  on the form of proxy  was different  to the dates on the tear off  attendance and admission cards at the bottom

The form of proxy states that the AGM  is to  be held on   Wednesday  6th July 2005 whereas the  tear off cards both show an incorrect date of  Wednesday 6th August 2005.

Taking into consideration all the work and preparation that has gone into the paperwork, we were concerned that the conflict of dates could render  the AGM invalid and so late yesterday evening we sent an email to Chris Pennington,  QPR Holdings'  financial officer, pointing  out the error and asking Chris if he had liased with the Registrars as to the Company Law implications.

Chris responded to our e mail  this morning by firstly thanking us and then advising  that the club  were  already aware of this error and  the proxy forms have been reprinted .

It is understood these  will be  mailed out  to shareholders this week. He also said that due to the generosity of the printer only a nominal postage charge  will be applied.  Chris informed us that the statutory notice required for an AGM is 21 days and as the amended  forms are  being sent out this week,  QPR Holdings  are complying with its obligations under the Companies Act.

Bearing the above in mind, it is our recommendation to shareholders for them to wait until they receive the reprinted form with the correct dates before sending them back completed and signed to the registrars, in order to help  minimise postage costs for the club. Our thanks also to Chris Pennington for his prompt response to our query.

Weekly update - week commencing 5th June

A busy week and there is lots to tell, please read on:

QPR Holdings Ltd publish its accounts

QPR Holdings Limited belatedly filed its accounts for the year to May 2004 last week.At the last AGM these accounts were promised by the end of 2004 it is hoped the 2005 figures will be finalised on time so we have a more up to date view of the current situation.


The overall loss revealed by these accounts was £4,342,000 (compared with 2003 £4,274,000 and 2002 £2,276,000)


The trading loss had already been disclosed, so there was no shock that it amounted to £3,194,000 before interest of £1,150,000 but the result was still appalling; The overall loss was increased over the previous year despite a 17% rise in season ticket prices and 12% rise in average home attendances and achieving promotion

Each year the club has to pay interest of £1,000,0000 which is due to ABC Corporation. The debt is for £10,000,000 in total, secured on the Loftus Road ground and repayable in 2012. The club paid an additional £150,000 to other parties in 2004 (compared with 2003 £17,000)

David Davies, the Chief Executive who presided over this mess, was rewarded with total pay of £232,000 for the year. This included a provision for £97,000 redundancy paid to him when he resigned in June 2004

The loss has been funded partly by new shares issued (for which the details are sparse) and loans from shareholders. However, a bigger contributor has been the good old taxpayer. In 2004 the balance of tax owing amounted to £2,765,000. This represents an increase of £1,607,000 from the previous year. It is assumed most of this increase has arisen as a result of VAT and PAYE not having been paid over promptly.


The company has adjusted upwards the value of the ground in the accounts by £3,586,000 based on a Chartered Surveyors valuation at 31 May 2004. Had this not been done the Balance Sheet would show a negative situation.

On the plus side, the directors have said the company is a going concern and the auditors have not queried it. This should mean that there's a plausible cash flow forecast for the next twelve months showing that the company can pay its bills as they fall due.

The accounts can be downloaded online from the excellent site www.boardroomblues.co.uk


QPR Holdings Limited has also announced its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the above period, which is to take place on July 6th starting at 3pm in the Blue and White Bar at Loftus Road and by now all QPR Holdings Limited shareholders should have received their paperwork from the company in the post. Also, just a reminder that if there are any shareholders out there who would like to proxy their vote to the Trust (you do not need to be a member of QPR 1st) then please do get in touch with us. It is worth remembering also that by proxying your vote to the Trust, this does not affect your right to attend the meeting in person.

Gianni Paladini and Moorbound Ltd

Whilst reading through the above company accounts, it was interesting to note that Gianni Paladini was not mentioned within them as being in effect, a 'shadow' director, especially seeing as Gianni attends Board meetings on behalf of Moorbound Ltd and so of interest, we did a search on Moorbound Ltd by looking up the company's last filed accounts. The company was set up in June 2003, which was just before the Port Vale discussions if memory serves us correct. The director is Olga Paladini and the secretary is Azeem Malik. The company's principal activity during the year (i.e. from June 2003 - June 2004) is described as being Business Consultancy.

Turnover was £6,250, admininistrative expenses (possibly as the costs for the setting up of the company) were £11,669 and the operating loss was £5,419. Investments were £600,000. So unless we are mistaken, the £600k that was invested into Moorbound during this period, was then in turn, invested into QPR in April 2004, which was when Azeem Malik joined the board of QPR, before being replaced, in name, by Olga Paladini.

With the activity of the company being described as one of Business Consultancy, we can only assume that this is the reason as to why Gianni is described in his role at QPR as a Consultant though as this is still a little unclear, clarification on this point will be sought at the AGM. One other point that the Trust will be requiring clarification on are the recent revelations that Gianni draws a salary from QPR. Now although this salary will not be shown in the accounts for the period ending May 2004, this is something that requires clarity for the future, as there is also the need of a brief synopsis of what Gianni does under his consultancy role remit.

Hoops Fund negotiations and Chris Wright deal

Well, it's now 2 weeks since we sent the letter to Bill Power regarding the above. It has also been sent to him at his work address. Now that he is back from Mallorca sealing the Evatt deal we hope to hear from him soon. In the meantime, until we have our Hoops Fund negotiations page up on the site, for interest, here is a copy of the letter we originally sent to Bill on the 23rd May.

Dear Bill

We are writing to you to ask if you have taken any advice yet, and indeed made a decision, in relation to the request that we sent to you via email on 17/05/2005 asking for your consideration to exchange a portion of your recent acquisition of Chris Wright’s shares for the money that is currently being held in the Hoops Fund?

As previously mentioned, the benefits of such a deal could well prove mutually positive for both parties, and as the steering group of the Trust, one of our aims is for the future Trust’s management board to have an amicable working relationship with the club board, and we feel that one of the first ways in going towards achieving this target is to find a way of settling the hoops fund issue.

There is also another reason as to why we are formally contacting you and that is, that as collective shareholders in the company via the sharebank scheme, and also in our own rights as a group, that we are asking for your clarification in clear layman’s terms the detail relating to the recent deal that was struck with Chris Wright.

In particular we’d appreciate it if you would please clarify:

- How much the settlement with Wasps was worth in relation to how much QPR (the club) got from them in terms of cash?
- On both the very brief article on the official website, and in your interview on QPR World, it is not clear as to whether the transaction has been done with the company or with one of its directors, and so if you would kindly clarify as to which is the case?
- How much was paid to Chris Wright for his shares?
- Unless we were mistaken, there was intimation by you that the club made a payment to Chris Wright. Could you please explain what was meant by this??
- And what the actual QPR Holdings Ltd Board make up is now as regards the majority shareholders within the company, and more specifically, what kind of equation in shareholding percentage each majority shareholder now holds?

In order for us to comply with our guidelines on openness any responses by your good self in reply to the above questions will be published on our website, and will be much appreciated we are sure, by those amongst the fanbase that remain a little unclear on the detail of the deal.

Kind regards

Season tickets and Payment Schemes

Whilst it is good news following the club's recent announcement of season ticket sales having gone past the 8,000 barrier, it is worth reflecting upon the missing 2,000 in comparison to this time last year (when David Davies announced at the Hammersmith parade that sales had gone past the 10,000 mark) that have been unable to renew, the majority presumably so because of the price increases. In fact, we received an email from one supporter, who on receiving our post-out content to him (as an original Trust registrant), whilst wishing the Trust good luck for the future, informed us that he wished for us to remove his details from our database. This was due to the fact being that due to him and his elderly father being unable to afford the Loftus Road prices for next season, they will more often than not be attending their local non league club.

Bearing in mind supporters such as the gentlemen above, along with the other missing 2000 renewals, we have begun to tentatively discuss between ourselves, and to make enquiries with other Trusts the possibility of looking into a savings or payment scheme, either run by ourselves or in conjunction with the club, in order to help supporters being able to afford to purchase their season ticket/s for the 2006/07 season. Ipswich Town First, and the Swans Trust we have discovered have either looked into, or run, such schemes themselves.

This will obviously take a fair amount of discussing regarding the feasibility of such a scheme, and should we decide to proceed with this we will update as and when.

On the issue of payment schemes, Chris Pennington, the club's financial officer, has assured us that the club will be contacting Premium Credit in order to suggest to them the importance of them entering onto their literature in plain black and white how much their 'service charges' actually relates to. He didn't appear to appreciate too much the comparison in APR (35%), comparing it to 'oranges and lemons', but it's good news that at least the club are now aware of the importance of supporters being able to compare the relevant differences in Premium Credit's "service charges" to the various APR charges on credit cards etc.

On a slightly different matter, though still related to season ticket and matchday prices, it was interesting to note what Oldham Athletic are doing for students wishing to attend Boundary Park for the forthcoming season. Basically for students to qualify for their matchday concessionary prices they will need to have registered with OAFC for its student discount scheme in advance. This will mean students needing to complete the relevant application form available from the club, obtaining a letter from their place of education confirming that they are in full time education (up to the age of 21) and that they will be for the entirety of the 2005/06 season, and then enclosing this letter to the club, along with 2 passport size photos. They will then receive a student membership card, which must be produced at the turnstiles enabling them to qualify for their concessionary matchday rate.

We sent what Oldham are doing onto Mark Devlin, and in the meantime we've begun the process of drafting up some proposals for the club relating to the student situation at QPR, which we will pass onto the club in due course on completion of it.

Carnival Time!

With it now being flaming June (she says glancing out at the current cloudy skies) it's a time when local carnivals and summer fayres take place. Taking into consideration one of the Trust's objectives is to try and enhance the club's image within the local area and community in which QPR resides, we've been making enquiries with regards to the possibility of the Trust hiring a stall at one of the local carnivals. Sadly, we've missed the boat with the Hanwell carnival that's taking place on the 18th June, as when enquiring with its Secretary we were informed that they were chockablock. He did however take our details, and put us on the list for next year. There could however, be more luck regarding the Greenford carnival as this is not taking place until mid July and on enquiring with the Greenford Rotary Club that organise the event every year, they were happy to send us an application form for a stall, so hopefully it will be a case of watch this space very soon!

The other thing that we have looked into is the International Co-operative Day event that is being held on Saturday 2nd July. The event is basically a celebration of co-operation which is marked by events and activities across the world. The South East region will be staging the event on the South Bank of the Thames and as QPR 1st is part of the community mutual status that is part of the Co-operative theme, enquiries have been made to see if there is any space left for us to hire a stall there. We are waiting to receive an application form so we'll see what happens. The only snag with this particular event is that it is taking place on the same day as the recently announced G8 concert at Hyde Park, so London town will be a busy place that day!

Internal Steering Group Updates

A few internal Trust things to update with. Firstly, all the post-out content regarding the Trust revamp was sent out to original registrants, lapsed and current members last week. It was also sent to those overseas via email and thankfully not that many with dud email addresses came back, thus saving us a bit of money on postage. We'll be putting the content that was posted out on the site in a week or so, which will then coincide with us hopefully having completed the draft for the Trust election content.

The postage and printing for the above content amounted to £700 and although we have limited funding remaining in the account, we are going to have to have a big thinking session on raising funds. In the meantime, should anyone feel the wish to send us a donation to help towards running costs for things such as the above, then please believe us when we say every penny will be/is much appreciated.

Some good news is that we have had 2 different offers of help with regard to communication and media help. This is very positive news indeed for the Trust and we are sure that the utilisation of the help offered by these fans will have a beneficial effect for both the club and the Trust.

And due to him currently job hunting, Gareth has had to step away from his steering group activities. We hope that if his circumstances change, he'll be able to put himself forward as a candidate for the Trust Management Board elections.

Finally, I attended a one-to-one interview at the University of East London on Saturday afternoon. It was to help with research purposes being done on female supporters in the game by one of the social sciences researcher's at the Uni. The researcher herself is a Luton Town fan and is an active participator in their own Supporters Trust at Kenilworth Road and so the discussions inevitably turned towards the Supporters Trust movement and before we knew it, what was to be a 15-20 minute interview turned into a 45 minute non-stop discussion. Also, have to say, it was my first time of using the Docklands Light Railway and a very good experience it was too, if slightly unsettling at times as it kind of felt like being on a rollercoaster. My girls will love it so that's one of the days sorted for for the forthcoming Summer holidays!

Sit down Stand up

QPR 1st, along with all other Supporters Trusts, recently received a report from the Stand Up Sit Down Group (SUSD) that have been campaigning for a number of months now for a sensible conclusion to the issue of football supporters that wish to stand at grounds up and down the Country.

The report they have written is an accumulation of months of research and feedback founded from various bodies within the game, along with supporters from around the Country and is a proposal to improve safety for supporters.

This proposal is shortly to be sent to all clubs with seated stadiums, as well as to the numerous bodies that concern themselves with supporter safety and enforcing the all seater regulations, which includes the Government and opposition parties, MP's who have already stated their support for SUSD, the Police and the media.

Whilst reading through the report we were interested to note that QPR was mentioned as a club that has had a rise in supporters standing within our stadium (presumably attention was drawn to this due to the problems the club encountered early on last season following the restrictions on matchday tickets as a result of the FLA regulations) and we have sent the report onto QPR's CEO, Mark Devlin, to give him the opportunity of reading the proposal.

The full report can be viewed by clicking on the link below, and whilst quite lengthy, itis a highly interesting piece of work. As one of the members of SUSD that sent this document to us said in her communication:

"We very much hope that you will be able to use this document to your advantage and encourage your club - as one or two others have - to at the least speak to their supporters about this issue and try and resolve the issue so that both sitters and standers may be appeased.

This won't happen overnight, but with your support and assistance we could speed up the process meaning supporters may be able to, should they so wish, stand to cheer their team, without blocking the view of others who wish to sit, in a safely managed area rather than the face current conflict between fellow supporters and stewards seen at most grounds each and every Saturday."

If you have any thoughts or feedback on this report then please let us know by dropping us a line at info@qpr1st.co.uk and we will then forward them onto SUSD for their purposes.

Get yourselves a cup of tea before settling down to read the proposal and enjoy! 

click here to view/download the report in MS Word format

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