QPR announced on Tuesday that that its appeal to an arbitration panel against the English Football League’s Financial Fair Play fine, reported as being as much as £40m, had failed. An appeal by QPR against the arbitration decision is expected.
This fine is far greater than any other fine imposed by the English authorities on any club in England, and has been reported as potentially the largest fine in sport. We note that these FFP regulations have demonstrably affected a number of medium and small clubs while the real big-spenders in football have been free to splash the cash year after year.
QPR is not only a football team but it is also a major contributor to the local community, not least through its Community Trust. It cannot be acceptable to put a football club’s future on the line in pursuit of outdated fair play regulations.
As a supporters’ trust, QPR1st has always campaigned for the club’s owners to act in a financially responsible manner and always to put the club’s security and stability at the forefront of its strategy.
The financial record of QPR has improved markedly since the appointment of Lee Hoos as CEO two years ago. QPR1st want to see this new responsible stewardship of the club’s finances continue, without a disproportionate fine.
In due course, we expect a full account of decisions made by our owners which appear to have led to QPR being in breach of the rules and to fully meet any financial consequences that may result from such decisions. We shall be writing to Mr Fernandes to stress this point.
QPR1st