Last Tuesday night, representatives of QPR1st met with Maurice Fitzgerald, to discuss proposals that he has for leading a consortium to take over QPR FC. His appears to be the most advanced of a limited number of approaches for the Club and we were keen to find out just what he is proposing. What follows is an outline of his consortium’s bid.
This is the latest of three offers for the club which have been put together
by Mr Fitzgerald, none of which has yet been accepted. He proposes to raise £1-2m from a group of wealthy QPR fans. In addition, he is asking fans groups to raise cash, which would be the basis of giving them representation in the management of the Club. He plans to raise a mortgage against Loftus Road in order to pay off at least a part of Chris Wright’s debt. On taking over the Club, the leading shareholders, none of which would be allowed to own more than10% of the shares, would meet to select/elect a team to manage QPR commercially.
Mr Fitzgerald also told us that he believes that the Club is perilously close to folding and that the need to act has become urgent. QPR1st has a problem with this because we have been led to believe that the Club is holding its own financially, even though it remains heavily indebted to Chris Wright. We understand that the debt owed to his bankers remains above £6m.
QPR1st takes the same approach to the latest bid as it has to
those led by Brian Melzack, Andrew Ellis and Clive Taylor/Richard Thompson. It mailed a series of questions to Mr Fitzgerald last Friday, January 26th. These are listed below in an abridged version of the mail sent to him. Meanwhile, QPR 1st understands that the Taylor/Thompson offer remains on the table, but that Chris Wright has not responded to it. QPR 1st is urgently pursuing a meeting with Wright to ask what his current plans are.
Our mail to Maurice Fitzgerald:
Dear Maurice,
It was good to meet you the other night and thanks for the follow-up e-mail. I can assure you that we at QPR 1st are just as keen as you to see QPR come out of administration, on an even keel, as soon as possible. All we have been waiting for has been a realistic looking bid, a practical business plan with serious backing and good evidence that the club will be run properly and for the benefit of QPR once it has been taken over.
Regarding our conversation, I need alot more information before I can
recommend to my committee that we should support your proposals. Also I am sure that you will understand that, given the stance that QPR1st took with regard to the Melzack and Ellis bids, we have to be scrupulously fair in making sure that the questions that we ask of you are just the same.
Our position is very simple Maurice. Convince us and you have our qualified support. Fail to do so and we’ll just keep asking questions. Also, we will have this debate publicly. QPR 1st, as you will remember from your time on the interim committee, is committed to being as open and as inclusive as possible.
So, can you answer our questions Maurice? Can you tell us:
That if your consortium takes over QPR, it will run the business for the
benefit of QPR.
That you will consult the fans,’not exclusively with, but including QPR 1st’, whenever you propose a major strategic change and that, if the vote/mood is against your proposal, you will adhere to that.
Who your backers are and what their businesses are?
How much you intend to raise as a mortgage against the ground?
What operating capital you aim to raise?
What your understanding of the current financial status of the club is? (income/expenditure/indebtedness)
How the management of the Club will be organised?
Which, if any, former QPR board members you propose to include in your consortium or in the management of the club?
How the voting rights and structure of new company will be organised?
What structure will be put in place regarding the hiring/firing of players and managers?
Maurice, these are the questions we would like to see answered initially. But there could well be others and the way that you deal with them will be what guides QPR 1st in the way it approaches its dealings with you. Disregard the money for a minute. You are asking for a great deal of trust from fans who have seen much that is untrustworthy in the people who have run the club over the last 10-20 years. I’m sure that you will therefore understand our caution in our approach to your proposal and that you will continue to understand it into the future.
In keeping with QPR1st’s commitment to openness, I will be posting an
abridged version of our e-mailed conversation on the QPR 1st website shortly. Please let me know if I have got any of the facts concerning your proposal wrong.
Best Regards
David Price – Chair of QPR 1st