QPR1st is lining up meetings with Club management and WeAreQPR (WAQ).
WAQ approached us for a meeting because they are keen to explain how they will work with QPR and with fans groups. We are very keen to hear what WAQ has to say to our members.
We aim to meet the Club for a number of reasons. First of all, we are anxious to make progress towards finding the fans a role in the running of QPR. We understand that setting up the new board may have been a difficult process, involving a number of personalities, but our members are becoming impatient to see progress towards this goal. This can only be achieved through serious dialogue with supporters’ groups, who we believe can play a positive part in ensuring that the club stays on an even keel from now on.
We are also anxious to find out who some of the people on the new board might be. We already know of chief executive David Davies, Ross Jones and chairman-elect Nick Blackburn. And we understand that Harold Winton is coming onto the board. But what of the mystery bidder? The club could just tell us what is going on, Mr Davies has, after all, pledged a new era of openness, but instead we are investigating as hard as we can and hope to be able to say what we have found out shortly.
Another issue that is causing some irritation for your committee is the club’s intransigence over the accounts for the period in administration. We dug those out of Companies House and published them on May 23rd, advising members that we were asking for clarification of the figures paid out as sundries – £2.6m – and of Wasps related receipts. QPR’s finance man Paul English has explained the Wasps receipts to us – they were related to TV and English Rugby Club payments – but has very politely refused to answer our question about the sundries. Remember this concerns 15% of the club’s outgoings and we feel that fans should know what it represents. The club should never forget that it is money from QPR fans that kept it afloat over the last year and that will carry it forward from now on. Surely it should keep its benefactors, along with shareholders, better informed.
We have also been pursuing our members’ interest in the disposal of the land at Twyford Avenue, which the club sold to Chris Wright just over a year ago. At the EGM which agreed this, our representative Bill Butler persuaded Chris Wright to state that QPR would get 33% of any profit from the sale of the land. Subsequently, we have been informed that the shareholder vote at the meeting was passed, so that only 10% will be passed on to Rangers. When we found out about this, we wrote to Chris Wright asking him to clarify the position. We have received no reply, so we consulted with solicitors and discovered that shareholders have the right to see minutes from previous EGMs. Therefore, a shareholder, wrote to the plc 4 weeks ago requesting to see the minutes. As of yet no answer. A second request has now been sent and if an adequate answer is not forthcoming we will go back to consult with our legal representatives over this matter.