QPR 1st Supporters’ Trust has drawn up a first draft of a comprehensive survey to ask fans what they want to see in the club’s planned new stadium.
The Trust is asking for comments from supporters before the survey is finalised.
Trust chair Stephen Dedridge said: “If the club are to get the new stadium right, then it is vital that those who will be using it – the supporters – get a say on its design and facilities.”
“We have worked with Supporters’ Direct and supporter trusts of other clubs to find examples of surveys that have actually made a difference. The draft we are now publishing is based on the best examples we have found, and made relevant for QPR. We want to hear from supporters if they think the right questions are being asked, and if there are other issues they want to see covered.”
QPR1st wants the club to take up the survey and use it to make sure supporters have their say on the new stadium.
Last year QPR chief executive Philip Beard promised there would be consultation with supporters on the new stadium. Since then the club asked supporters to fill in on-line survey forms on how they travelled to the recent Wigan and Blackpool games at Loftus Road, but has yet to ask fans about the stadium itself.
Stephen Dedridge said “The club’s programme for the Blackpool game reminded us how things can go wrong. The move to a larger stadium in the 1960s resulted in plunging attendances because the stadium was just not right for the club and its supporters.”
“We don’t want that to be repeated,” he said.
A good example of supporters being surveyed was around proposals for a new stadium for Bristol City. Working with the supporters’ trust, the club surveyed supporters on a wide range of issues. The findings were shared with the architects for their proposed new stadium nearly a year before they published their design for the stadium. Supporters were surveyed again on the published designs.
It was a win-win situation; supporters could see their views had been considered and often taken up, and the club could see that involving supporters led to an increase in support for the project.
Supporters are asked to comment on the survey and its questions before it is finalised. Comments should be sent to info@QPR1st.com by 27 April.
Download the QPR1st Stadium Survey Draft or view the draft online.