What is this all about?
QPR 1st’s aims have always been – and remain – to represent QPR supporters’ interests as far as possible and work to gain more influence for supporters in the way the club is run.
The Trust’s Committee has always sought to do this by trying to build up an open, constructive relationship with QPR’s board of directors and the club generally.
The Committee are now seeking to gauge whether QPR 1st members, and QPR supporters generally, think that this is the right approach.
We want as many supporters as possible to submit their views to the Trust, so that we can use these to develop future Trust policy – which will be voted on by QPR 1st members.
Really, anything you want to say about how the Trust operates is welcome, but as a guide, here are a few questions you might want to consider:
Do you support what the Trust is doing?
Do you support the way the Trust is going about it?
What are we doing right?
What are we doing wrong?
What should we be doing?
Do you feel that QPR 1st represents your views as a supporter?
If you are not a QPR 1st member, what sort of things would we need to be doing in order to convince you of the value of joining?
What is the background to this – why now?
Despite the relative success of the club on the field, we know that QPR remains in a parlous financial state, with board members willing to admit publicly at a recent meeting with the LSA that, as things currently stand, the club does not have funds to last until the end of the season.
There have been many false dawns in terms of potential new investors and against this backdrop, the Trust’s Committee has not made the progress it would like in obtaining accurate information on exactly what is going on at the club.
Despite our best efforts, ultimately QPR supporters still have no say in the running of the club, we have only sketchy information on aspects of the club’s finance and there are a lot of supporters
concerns that remain unanswered.
The Trust’s Committee are also having trouble getting to meet the club’s board regularly and are aware that the perception of the Trust from elements of the QPR board is not positive.
Therefore, we need to take a step back and consider whether our current policy of co-operation with the QPR board is correct, whether QPR fans think we are making progress or whether we should set ourselves an entirely new set of goals and change the way we interact
with the club.
Should we carry on as we are? Or would we gain more support from QPR fans if we were to take a more aggressive approach in the way we operate?
In short, the club remains in a mess – what are the Trust going to do about it?
As you will probably know, we started the Hoops Fund at the end of last season, which has so far raised over £7,500, with the intention of buying shares to enable the fans to gain influence by buying a stake in the club. Of course, we need to raise a lot more, but we also need to know whether Rs fans support the Hoops Fund aims and what we could be doing to attract more donations.
What happens now?
Any views – positive or negative, will be welcomed.
sending an email to: views@qpr1st.co.uk
writing to: QPR 1st, PO Box 30880, London W12 0XA
leaving a message on our info-line on: 07977 521918
The deadline for submitting your views is October 20th, after which we will produce a short report on fans submissions and present options for future Trust policy for a vote amongst QPR 1st members early in November.
Please also consider joining the Trust before November in order to take part in the vote. It’s only a tenner for adults, £5 for OAPs and Students, £2 for juniors. You can join online
Please put your tuppence worth in
QPR 1st is not ‘us’ on the Committee – its an organisation of QPR supporters, trying to gain more influence for QPR supporters.
Please take this opportunity to submit your views and help us build a strong and truly representative Trust.