Congratulations
QPR’s Supporters Trust are delighted to offer our congratulations to Neil Warnock and the players for the fantastic success they have enjoyed this season. No wonder the accolades and plaudits are pouring in, with Warnock and Taarabt winning Football League monthly awards for August and the whole team achieving the F & C Investments Performance of the Week Award following their victory against Ispwich.
We appreciate it is early days still and Neil is right to caution us not too get carrried away but with such amazing performances and a real sense of the players displaying such passion and commitment, it is certainly a great time to be a Rangers fan.
Certainly we are enjoying the improved atmosphere at Loftus Road. Of course this is mainly due to the performances but we also believe that events such as the recent ’Big Match’ event aimed at families are contributing to the feel good factor. With samba dancers and steel bands our victory against Middlesborough had a real carnival atmosphere. Well done to all involved.
QPR’s Supporters Trust has always argued that we can’t hope for substained success on the field until we have stability off the field It is the Supporters Trust’s understanding that behind the scenes dealings which Warnock infered in a newspaper interview as maybe costing us a couple of players in the transfer market have yet to be resolved. But hopefully such matters are now close to resolution and this season will be remembered as the one in which our pride and trust in our club is restored.
QPR focus on Asian Youths in search for new talent
Last month, Queens Park Rangers teamed up with Sporting Equals to organise a talent programme targeted at Asian youngsters. minority ethnic groups.
Ishan Saksena Chairman of QPR declared: “It isnaive of football clubs to assume that just because they run a youth programme, kids from all backgrounds will put themselves forward. There are many educational, social, economic and family barriers, and cultural assumptions on both sides that get in the way”.
This is the first such program that QPR is involved in and the Supporters Trust wish to lend it our full support. Not only is it in our best interest to ensure that the Club are not missing out on the real potential stars in the local area it is also important that we continue to develop our links with the local community.
We take pride in the words of David Mbaziira from Sporting Equals in describing QPR as ‘a beacon of inclusion in the football world, committed to building local support and opportunity and engaging with communities’.
Non-League Day
QPR’s Supporters Trust is happy to support the “non-league football day” on Saturday 4th September. The scheme is the brainchild of James Doe, a supporter of Harrow Borough FC. Its aim is to promote the semi professional game in this country by virtue of a fortuitous break in the football calendar. In James’ own words:
“With England playing the night before and the premier league and championship taking a week off, I urge all fans of the big clubs to get out and watch their local non-league team instead on. Given the current financial climate, clubs outside the football league need all the support they can get, so your presence at a game will be genuinely appreciated. With tickets and refreshments at a fraction of the cost, what’s stopping you?”
What started as a social networking group has now become an overnight sensation, with patronage coming from BBC Radio London, the Football Supporters Federation and various leading sports websites. The scheme is not a protest movement, or a request to permanently change allegiance, but an opportunity for fans to offer their support for semi-pro and grass roots football at a time when more and more clubs are facing hardship or folding every season.
You can find out more information at www.nonleagueday.co.uk which includes maps showing your nearest non-league sides.
Future of Hoops Fund
The Hoops Fund was set up seven years ago and resulted in £15,000 being raised with the idea that the money would be spent on buying shares in QPR to be managed by the Supporters Trust. For some time it has concerned the Committee that this sum of money is merely sitting in a bank account when it could surely be put to some better use.
The primary intention was of course that this money would enable QPR1st to become a significant shareholder in the Club so that it could exert an influence on Board decisions.
Developments within the Club since Briatore et al have taken over have effectively put paid to this ambition. Even if we used the entire Hoops Fund to convince existing shareholders to sell their shares to us, then we still would only be a
minority shareholder and have no greater say in how the Club is run.
Of course it is not unthinkable that the Club could face a future financial crisis, but the reality is that £15,000 would be a negligible amount to off-set the Club’s running costs or to clear its debts.
The original leaflets promoting the Hoops Fund which were dispatched with season tickets in the Summer of 2003 stated ‘ideally it will be
used to fund initiatives such as youth development, community projects
and ground improvements’. We believe that any further investment in youth development and ground improvements should be funded directly by the Club.
This leaves the area of ‘community projects’, in which ‘QPR in the Community’ is the
obvious charity to approach. The work of QPR in the Community in many ways epitomises the values QPR1st would like to see associated with
the Club. For this reason we have entered into talks with QPR in the Community in order to be officially recognised as one of their key
partners. In return we would use a significant percentage of the Hoops Fund to make a financial commitment over a five-year period associated
with specific projects.
The funding of this project would account for approximately 2/3 of the Hoops Fund. The remaining third of the Hoops Funds would in effect also be passed onto QPR in the Community but with more flexibility to enable us to
sponsor or support particular one off activities or fund raising events. This is likely to include increased sponsorship of QPR’s very
successful ladies team.
We would also like to reassure our members that we are keeping back approximately £3000 of the Trust’s own money which we would use if we
felt that we needed to gather and organise fans on a large scale in response to developments within the Club. This ‘rainy day’ fund is
separate from the Hoops Fund.
We discussed these proposals at our last annual general meeting and have written to all our full members to gauge their views. The feedback we have received has been very positive so we now intend to go ahead with the plan. In due course we will let you know about some of the projects we will be supporting.
Increase in number of arrests at QPR
The number of football-related arrests in England and Wales fell last season, according to Home Office figures. The figures were welcomed by the Government in helping the bid to host the World Cup.
Yet the figures are disappointing news for QPR, as in contrast to the national trend, the number of football related arrests of QPR fans actually rose from 33 to 41. Nearly all of these arrests related to violence and public disorder or alcohol related offences.
In the 2008-09 season, QPR was placed at 13 in the league of shame but in 2009-10 we rose to 7th place, with only six other championship clubs above us.
The number of arrests involving QPR fans remains very small, a tiny minority of those who attend matches, especially when compared to some other clubs. Yet we do not wish to be complacent and hope that the figures for this season show us dropping back down this particular league table.
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