Statement on the club’s 2012/13 accounts

QPR1st Supporters’ Trust is concerned about QPR’s rapidly growing debt and how this will affect the future of the club.

The latest financial statement by the club shows that, in 2012/13, it made losses of £65 million – much higher than the losses of any comparable club. That brought the club’s overall deficit to £127.8 million.

Supporters want to see their club successful, but run financially stable. We ask the Board to call an Emergency General Meeting to which both majority and minority shareholders are invited. This will provide an appropriate platform for the Board to make a clear, detailed and coherent statement on how they plan to reduce the debt and place the club on a firm financial footing.

We regret the decision made by the previous owners to cease Annual General Meetings, which were once an annual event at QPR and open to all shareholders. Whilst we understand the Board is not legally obliged to hold them, we believe they should be restored as a means of enabling effective consultation between the Board and the fan base on financial governance.

The club have made some progress in terms of consultation and brought back regular consultation meetings with supporter groups and Fans Forums, and we hope the club acknowledges it now needs to do the same with shareholder AGMs.

We appreciate the current owners have tried to ensure success of the club, but it is obvious that this is not sustainable at the current level of spending.

We believe the board has a duty to ensure that the club will be in good financial order should they decide to move on in due course. QPR supporters have seen what happens when high spending owners fall out of love with the club. We do not want to see it again.

Club boards change. Supporters are for life.