QPR1st will be meeting with Club representatives next week along with representatives from other fans groups. The focus of the meeting will be match-day operations and safety issues. If you have any question for the Club on this issue please email us at info@qpr1st.com.
QPR1st
An independent Supporters Trust founded on 4th April 2001
QPR1st Committee 2014
Following the AGM, the people listed below have been identified as wishing to form the new QPR1st Committee 2014. Any objections to any of these individuals being on the Committee needs to be logged as an email to info@qpr1st.com by Sunday 22nd December 2013.
- Tony Binks
- Stephen Dedridge
- Neil Dejyothin
- Jeremy Gardner
- Geoff Gibbs
- Peter Gridneff
- Neil Jackson
- Michael Lewis
- Tina Poyntz
- James Wright
QPR1st AGM 2013
Members of QPR1st are invited to attend the QPR1st AGM which is to be held on Thursday 5th December at 7.30pm. It will be held at the function room of the Pavilion Pub which is located in Pavilion Parade, Wood Lane, London, W12.
Location map
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Please bring your membership card with you as you will need to show it in order to gain entry to the AGM.
If you do not attend the meeting and you do not request a proxy form then this is taken as consent to the chairman acting as proxy on your behalf.
To request a proxy form please submit your request to info@qpr1st.com with the subject line “Proxy request” and include your name and membership number
We look forward to seeing you on the 5th.
Opportunity for Trust member to attend the Fans Forum
We will be holding a draw to offer members of QPR1st who are also adult season ticket holders the chance to attend the QPR Fans’ Forum on Thursday 3rd October 2013. The event will be held in the W12 Suite at Loftus Road Stadium with doors opening at 7 pm, with Harry Redknapp and two members of the current First Team squad on the Panel
If you wish to be included in the draw you must email info@qpr1st.com by midnight on Wednesday 25th September. Clearly mark your email subject line as ‘FANS FORUM TICKET’ and include the full information:
- Name
- Address
- Client Reference Number (as it appears on your season ticket).
- Contact Telephone Number
- Question for Panel (questions will also be taken from the audience on the evening)
Please note- in order to take part you MUST be listed on our current full adult membership register as of Friday 20th September 2013. This means that we have received your subscription fee for this season either through direct debit or other means. Any names which do not appear on our register will not be considered for the draw.
QPR1st join forces with the Club in backing anti-homophobia campaign
As QPR’s Supporters Trust, we believe that our Club should be a welcoming inclusive environment for all regardless of race, disability or sexuality. This should be the case for both staff, players and fans.
Deputy chief executive of Stonewall, the gay advocacy group and charity, Laura Doughty has stated: “It’s time for football clubs and players to step up and make a visible stand against homophobia in our national game.
Fans of course have their part to play. It is regrettable that at our last home match, a small minority of fans demonstrated that they still consider it acceptable to chant songs employing homosexuality as a term of abuse. We do not believe that such behaviour should be considered any more acceptable than racist abuse. We fully support the Club in talking whatever action it feels necessary to ensure that such behaviour does not persist.
Our response to the consultation Old Oak – a vision for the future
QPR1st, the independent supporters’ trust for Queens Park Rangers football club, has considered the information provided for this consultation.
We are an organisation of QPR supporters and have an interest in these developments, in particular as they affect the club, which is situated in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (W12 7PJ), and its supporters.
We note that a proposal for a possible football stadium is included in this consultation document.
An illustration (Figure 4.3) shows a proposed stadium in what would potentially be the first area within the development proposal to be regenerated; north of the Grand Union Canal.
The document suggests a football stadium would help to kick-start regeneration in that area.
Without prejudice to any club decision on the best site for a new QPR stadium, we can see that a stadium on that site would have benefits to the overall development plans and to the regeneration of the area. We would like to see this proposal remain on the table to allow further discussion on its practicality as a site for a new stadium for the club.
We strongly endorse the comments in the consultation document that developers must ensure excellent, safe pedestrian links from Willesden Junction tube and overground services to the stadium, and to future Crossrail/HS2 stations.
Fan Representatives Meeting report
The following are an agreed record of the meeting
In attendance:
From the Club: Phil Beard (Chief Executive Officer), Mark Donnelly (Chief Operating Officer) Andy Rees (Supporters Liaison Officer)
From supporters groups: Paul Moore (Disabled Supporters Association), Paul Finney (IndyRs) Bill Cox (Loyal Supporters Association) Stephen Dedridge (QPR1st Supporters Trust)
Each represented group was entitled to raise one topic for discussion:
QPR1st-Training ground and Stadium proposals
QPR1st has been asked by the local council to comment on regeneration proposals for the Old Oak Common which would include the building of a sports stadium and the possible involvement of a major educational, health, leisure, entertainment or sports provider. The Club were able to confirm that it was aware of the proposals and what they might mean for QPR, but stressed that there are still a number of possible sites being looked at. The Club was keen to emphasis that the plans to build a new stadium are still at a very early stage and no decisions had been made. It reassured the group that fans would be consulted as progress was made. From the fans perspective the key issue was that the stadium was designed to create maximum atmosphere.
The Club was able to confirm it was continuing to work closely with Ealing Council regarding the Warren Farm Training Ground and both the Club and the Council continued to be strongly committed to the project. It regretted the legal action taken by a residents group over the Warren Farm sports facility but remained confident that the project would still go ahead.
LSA – Ticket booking fee
Both the LSA and QPR1st have petitioned the Club regarding the payment surcharge of £3.50 which fans have to pay for telephone and internet transactions . The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 say that traders mustn’t charge more than it costs them to process the payment.
The Club pointed out the transaction fee covered the costs incurred by the club including postage, administration, ticketing charges and credit card fees. The club stated that it was standard business practice carried out by most football clubs and was common practice for any ticket purchase. It was argued that if the payment surcharge was not made then the costs would have to be incurred by the club and considerations given as to how to offset these with higher ticket prices being an option. The Club felt that it had placed its efforts on keeping the initial cost of tickets as low as it could and pointed out that only one charge was made for a transition regardless of the number of tickets sold.
IndyR’s- Are there long term plans to remember Alan McDonald?
The club is in continual close contact with Alan’s wife and immediate family, and it is the Club’s understanding that the tributes made to Alan last year were considered appropriate and enough, and the family requested that the club not pursue any further tributes.
There will be tribute articles about Alan McDonald in the Swindon Programme and also in the Inside’R’ Magazine.
DSA- ‘Soccersight’ headphones
Soccersight headphones which are made available to season ticket holders who are Blind or partially sighted have been superb so far this season. It would be extremely helpful if they could be dropped off at the stand where the fan is sitting at the end of the match. So far the Club has been unable to identify how this could be practically managed on a match day but agreed to continue to work on finding a solution.
Future meetings
This is now the third of these meetings and they have proved to be a successful means by which the Club can consult with representative fans groups. There was some discussion about how the format could be developed further to ensure the meetings are as efficient and effective as possible and can offer transparency and active engagement to the wider fan base.
‘The Story of QPR’ film was discussed. QPR1st intend to enter into a partnership agreement with QPR Trust regarding this important project which will provide a lasting oral history of the fans experience. QPR1st is proposing to help fund the project to the sum of £10,000 from the Hoops Fund. Serena Williamson from the Octavia Foundation who will be making the film hopes to attend the next meeting of this group to explain more about the project.
Fans Representative Meeting with the Club
QPR1st has been invited to send one attendee to a Fans Representative Meeting with the Club this month. Each representative group have been asked to send in their suggestion for one topic they wish to be focussed on in advance of the meeting.
We have asked for the opportunity to discuss the role fans can play in supporting and influencing the Stadium and Training Ground developments. This follows the recent letter we sent to the club regarding proposals affecting the Old Oak Common site.
Coventry City Situation
QPR1st would like to offer our support to the Sky Blue Supporters Trust of Coventry City Football Club. Yet again it appears that it is ordinary fans who suffer as a result of poor governance and financial regulation of the national game. The statement issued by the Sky Blue Trust is shown below:
The Sky Blue Trust are appalled at the latest turn of events. Liquidation poses the most serious threat to the future of our Club. Where today’s liquidation leaves our club, we don’t yet know. The Football League have not issued a verdict yet, but it has consistently failed to make decisions that have taken into account the views of the supporters and the community that sustain our Club. It has failed to stand up to the bullying and alleged legal threats coming from SISU, and it has still failed to investigate the role of Joy Seppala as a shadow director.
Today’s publication of documents purporting to show that administrator Paul Appleton and SISU itself must have known all along where the Golden Share of the Football League lay all along is another area of deep concern for us which we call on the League to investigate.
We call upon all those involved to pause for thought before taking any further action. Please don’t make a bad situation any worse. We urge the League not to take precipitate action to award the share to Otium. They must give full consideration to the detailed representations the Trust has made to them, in a detailed, evidenced dossier, before they take any decisions.
We would implore you all to finally look seriously at your responsibilities and act accordingly – what is needed now is the right action not a knee jerk reaction. The future long term viability of Coventry City must be the over riding criteria. Your actions will now be judged by thousands of Sky Blue fans and the world of football in general at a most critical time.
Do not compound your mistakes. Do the right thing.
Council response to QPR training ground objectors
Ealing council is facing a legal challenge from a local group opposed to the plans for the new QPR training to be built on run down sports fields at Warren Farm.
Hanwell Community Forum has served papers against the council, raising a number of objections.
The council is standing by its decision, made in April, to grant planning permission for the club’s proposal to build a full multi-purpose Elite Training Facility and Community Sports Complex on the Warren Farm site.
The council has produced papers responding to every argument raised by objectors.
One paper(see document vial link below) given to us by a local councillor, spells out how the proposals will improve facilities for local people.
It will provide the community with new changing rooms, improved pitches, a floodlit artificial grass pitch, a café, a multi-use games area with markings for tennis and netball, artificial cricket facilities and space for grass pitches that can be marked out for sports, including mini, junior, youth and adult sized pitches.
The council says that the proposed facilities will significantly enhance the opportunities and experiences of those who use the site in the future. The site will be used by the community for 30 activities from archery to yoga. It says this will include activities for people with disabilities, women and teenage girls and older people as part of a community sports development programme.
An article in a building magazine has suggested the construction company that built Spurs’ new training facilities is lined up to build the QPR facilities at Warren Farm. We hope the council is successful in arguing the case that the project will offer substantial benefits to local residents so that work can begin as soon as possible.
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