Contrary to the press statement (dated 29 January 2002) issued by Altonwood Limited, the majority shareholder of Brentford FC Limited, QPR 1st has NOT apologised to them for making public information which had been conveyed to us by John McGlashan, chair of the Brentford Supporters Trust, Bees United.
Indeed, not willing to be party to the constant stream of subterfuge, misinformation and machinations that surrounds the sale of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, we fail to see anything in that disclosure that needs apologising for.
It was put to us that the majority shareholding of Brentford FC would shortly be given to Bees United, as a result of which the Supporters Trust would then effectively own their club. We also learned at the same time that a bid to buy Loftus Road had been lodged with the administrators at QPR. Our understanding was that Bees United would take over negotiations of that bid and pursue an intention to buy the ground, or minimally 50% of it, and in turn rent it to QPR.
Clearly not knowing the exact nature of the bid, and having no knowledge even of its existence until the approach from John McGlashan, we took a considered decision to put this information out into the public domain, together with a clear statement that, on the face of it, in our opinion the proposals were unworkable and unacceptable.
Whilst accepting a degree of confidentiality is needed and assured in some instances of the Trust’s work, it is QPR 1st stated policy to make public information of this magnitude to all QPR fans, regardless of whether or not they are Trust members.
The use of the phrase in the opening paragraph of the Altonwood
statement is, we believe, deliberate – and designed conveniently to shift on to QPR 1st the burden of responsibility for this information becoming public.
We do not and will not accept responsibility for that disclosure being contrary to any Altonwood wishes. That is an issue between them and John McGlashan. We are not accountable to current owner Chris Wright or to the administrators – and we are certainly not accountable to Altonwood Limited, Ron Noades or Bees United. We are accountable only to QPR fans – and to Supporters Direct as the governing body of Trusts.
In light of the accusations and counter-denials between the various parties of Queens Park Rangers and Brentford Football Clubs, we call on all concerned to issue clear, unequivocal and honest statements in regard to the progress and nature of all and any negotiations.
We further call for all concerned parties to view supporters of both Queens Park Rangers and Brentford as stakeholders in their respective clubs and to desist with a policy of closed and secretive negotiations which by their very nature treat fans of both clubs with utter contempt.
QPR 1st note that since the correspondence between our respective Trusts, Bees United chair, John McGlashan, has been invited on to the board of Brentford FC.
End
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In view of recent developments, QPR 1st is seeking further clarification
and a meeting with both Chris Wright and BDO Stoy Hayward to discuss the Brentford bid, as well as many other issues. We have also urged Chris Wright to make a fuller statement immediately. This we believe would allay some of the deep anxiety this issue has created amongst QPR fans.
QPR 1st will also be meeting with the club on Thursday (January 31), of which the above issue will be one of many to be discussed. If anyone would like us to ask any questions then please do email us at info@qpr1st.co.uk We will do our best to ask as many of them as possible.
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Following publication of the ‘Bees eye Loftus Road’ story on this
website yesterday, we received this communication from John McGlashan.
It is followed by our response to him and a reply. In referring to Brentford FC and Bees United as separate entities, we respectfully suggest that John is splitting hairs as, if Ron Noades offer of handing over Brentford FC to Brentford fans comes to fruition, they are soon to be one and the same.
John McGlashan wrote:
Justin
I am astonished that you have published this and would have appreciated some dialogue with you before you did so. Although I have no objection to you making these proposals public (and in fact I agree that you should) I really do feel that it should have been an accurate assessment of the situation.
Perhaps I should try to clarify things for you.
Bees United are not considering ANY options at all and have not even discussed this proposal, and I pointed this out to you in my reply to your e-mail on Saturday.
It is Brentford FC that have made the offer to the administrators, it has absolutely nothing whasoever to do with Bees United and neither is it linked to the takeover of the club by our Supporters’ Trust! We learnt of the offer last week and contacted you to warn QPR 1st of these developments. It is wholly wrong of you to infer that Bees United have any involvement at all and I am extremely disappointed that you have seen fit to publish your article in the way that you have.
Bees United do not plan to discuss the matter at all until we have our next meeting on Thursday, but as I said to you on Friday morning, BIAS (Brentford Independent Association of Supporters) are having an open meeting tonight (Monday) and it is possible this story will have broken by then. You have now assured it will, but have added a twist to it that implies we are leading the bid. We certainly had no plans to give it any publicity at all!
I urge you to modify the story on your web site immediately, and if you want further help in clarifying the situation call me at my office on xxx xxxxxx or my mobile xxxx xxxxxx.
For the record, we want to meet with you to gauge your feelings as to how QPR supporters would feel about groundsharing with Brentford, before we even discuss it in any detail. Our own position is, and will continue to be, that if both sets of fans approve this proposal then we will give it due consideration. My personal view is that they won’t, but I’m certainly not going to make their decisions for them by dismissing it out of hand at this stage.
John McGlashan, Chairman
Bees United
QPR 1st response
John,
The moment we were informed of this situation, we were duty bound to inform our members and indeed all QPR fans. This is what we have done. We have had a year of various different parties supposedly drawing us into their confidence as a mechanism to shut us up. We will not be party to behind closed-doors deals. We owe it to our fans and indeed ourselves to be as open, honest and public as we can possibly be. We are sorry that this may have caused you discomfort. The way we see it, we had no choice. Imagine a scenario where a Brentford fan discovers what has been going on and divulges it to all and sundry. Gets round the grapevine and then QPR fans would have rightly come to the conclusion that QPR 1st is intent on selling our ground to Brentford. Our response on the website is as a result of a weekend of deliberation by our committee and, believe me, every word has been debated and agreed upon.
We will certainly publish a right to reply, but will not alter our piece.
Again, no harm is intended to Bees United or BFC at all. You have your prioities and we have ours. And for the record, we have not dismissed anything out of hand either and look forward to a meeting at SD to clarify the situation.
Regards,
Justin Pieris
Vice-Chairman, QPR 1st
Response from John McGlashan
Justin
I have to say I believe you have misread the situation and our intentions. Of course you must inform QPR fans of what is happening, the whole purpose of informing you in the first place was in order that you could!
My objection is your story strongly implies that Bees United has been party to this, which is wholly untrue and I will be extremely disappointed if you insist on retaining it in its present format.
Regards
John
This exchange took place yesterday afternoon, in advance of yesterdays Brentford meeting. Following the meeting this appeared on the beesotted messageboard.
Brentford Made £10m Bid To Buy Loftus Road
By Dave Lane
Date: 28/1/2002
Ron Noades announced last night at BIAS’ public meeting that on behalf of Brentford FC, he made a £10m bid to buy Queens Park Rangers’ Loftus Road ground. The bid, made last month, was two-fold, either £10m for the whole ground or £6m for half of it.
The news came as a shock to all those in attendance and in response to claims on a Rangers web site.
At a fascinating Public meeting Noades outlined how the bid would have funded and why it was made. The Brentford Chairman said that the offer was made so Brentford would still own a permanent ‘home’ while a new ground in the borough was sought and that Queens Park Rangers would have paid Brentford rent to use Loftus Road. The Rangers Administrators ultimately turned down the move.
The Bees Chairman also spoke about how a ground-share should be investigated more so that the long term future and identities of the two clubs could be assured. He also said that the move was in no way an attempt to merge the two clubs.
And from Bias
A public meeting was held on 28 January 2002 by BIAS (Brentford
Independent Association of Supporters). As well as hundreds of
supporters, also in attendance were three of Brentford FC’s
directors; Ron Noades, Chairman; Gary Hargraves, Managing Director;and Eddie Rogers.
At the meeting John McGlashan, Chairman of Bees United (the Brentford Supporters’ Trust) made the following announcements:
“Ron Noades has offered me, as Chairman of Bees United, an immediate place on the board of directors.”
“Bees United will as of now, take the lead in negotiating with the
Council for a new stadium and the redevelopment of Griffin Park.”
“Altonwood (the majority shareholders of Brentford FC and Griffin
Park Stadium) have committed to entering into an agreement which will transfer their entire shareholding to Bees United. Or, to put it another way the supporters of Brentford FC will own a majority shareholding in the club. There are of course some conditions attached, but they are not meant to be obstructive and should not be seen as “get out” clauses for either party. There is a will on both sides to carry this forward and for the club to be owned by its supporters and the community in which it operates.”
“As things stand at present the club will continue to play at Griffin Park, but there is a possibility we may share a ground with another club in the future. I would like to stress however, that any ground share agreement will be a short term arrangement and no decision will be made before the planning application for Griffin Park has been approved by Hounslow Council. And finally, we will only enter into a ground share agreement if we believe it is in the long term interests
of the football club.”
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Statement from Chris Wright
Since yesterday we have been trying to contact Chris Wright to try and clarify the position regarding a Noades/Brentford offer for Loftus Road.
This morning Mr Wright responded through his PA Jilly who stated that Mr Wright had seen the information on the web site and wanted us to know that “There is no deal with Brentford”. More on this including details of our correspondence with John McGlashan to follow.