Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Meetings - Before June 2002
LSA
28th May 2002
LSA-Administration The LSA would like to announce how pleased we our with QPR coming out of administration. We have all worked continually over the last year talking to the club trying to keep our members informed of what is going on. We thank David Davies immensely for helping us get out of adminstration. His honesty in the darkest year of our club has been hugely appreciated. A special thank you must go to Ian Holloway and the players for keeping this club going. But most of all we would like to say thank you to all the supporters who have stood by this great club in this dark period. QPR - Then Now and Always. LSA Committee
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/mar-may.htm
11th AprilThe LSA AGM The LSA AGM takes place this Saturday before the Brentford game at 12.30pm in the White City Centre. All LSA members are invited to come to vote for next season’s committee and voice any problems they have with the LSA. LSA Meeting With Club - 09/04/02 Present: LS -Paul Finney, Dave Cox, Steve Russell, Steve Rapjohns, Symon Eales and Victor Stevenson. QPR - Mike Hartwell, David Davies and Mark Devlin. Observers - Alan Barnes and Sylvia.The meeting took place in the Chairmans suite in an extremely relaxed ‘end of season’ atmosphere. Their was no agenda and it was informal. We came seeking certain questions and the club answered them to their best of ability. Unfortunately Ian Holloway was unable to end. We started first to talk about sponsorship. The club informed us that at the end of the week the club will announce the sponsorship for next season. However, they stated they are looking into sponsorship for the youth team players. They added that they have 3 potential groups who are willing to sponsor us next season. With regards to next seasons kit they informed us that Le Coq Sportif need to change the home kit each year because experience says if you keep the same kit for the following season sales drop to half. However, their will be a new 2nd kit and eventually a new 3rd kit in the 3rd season of any new long term contract. They want a good quality kit due to past problems. Once again the idea of an away season ticket was raised. The club stated they are looking into the pros and cons of the idea from other clubs. But they did state that they favour the successful postal application idea. We asked about the arrangement of the takeover. Davies stated its a straightforward loan (not a mortgage) which needs to be paid back in 10 years. There is a basic interest rate on the loan. The loan is from a person and not from anyone who everyone thinks it could be from. We add that we don’t know who this person is. As a result of the takeove,r which should be completed by the 12th, April there will be an EGM where the club will announce the details of the takeover whilst wanting to make it more transparent as Davies stated. The club will also discuss plans for the future. Chris Wright will inevitably have a small share in the club, however the new takeover group will be the controllers. We then moved onto other topics. The club said that Jerome Thomas is playing against Lithuania at Derby next Wednesday for England U 20’s. Should we need him for Oldham, the club said that they have a good chance of keeping him for the game. Nikki Bull has gone to Hayes for the experience. We then talked about contracts. There is contract which has been offered to ‘Olly’s agent and the club is waiting for a response. The club stated that players will inevitably leave but the first teamers out of contract will be offered a contract. They hope Kenny Jackett will stay. The club added that Chris Day’s break in his leg is not healing as planned but they still remain hopeful. Friendlies for this summer were discussed. We cannot divulge what we were told. But we can say the club have had offers from 6 very good clubs, with a couple of them being foregin opposition. There could be a home and away leg with this very good foreign team. With the Peter Crouch money we received half of the 500k two days after the transfer went through. Olly Burgess will be a couple of weeks behind the normal players in the summer. We raised the question of scouting in local youth football. The club said they have failed in the past and will definitely deal with it. Last season’s video was raised. The club stated that it will be out very shortly. It includes footage of this season’s pre-season games. The club from next season will have an afternoon where supporters can watch the players train. There will be no events like concerts in the summer due to the need for friendlies for us and Fulham. The club said the Nigeria game could have been more of a success had it been planned better. The deal for next season’s reserve ground is nearly done. The club will announce very soon the prices of home season tickets for next season. With the training ground next season, we will have to pay Wasps rent. We were not told the exact figure. The LSA found the meeting very informative considering the ‘end of season’ atmosphere in the room. All our questions were answered to the best of their ability. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/mar-may.htm
18th February LSA meeting with QPR Present — Vic Stevenson, Steve Russell, Symon Eales, Paul Finney, Dave Cox, Joe English, Alan Barnes, Jim Frayling, Mark Devlin, David Davies, Mike Hartwell and Ian Holloway. On arriving for the meeting, we were surprised to see Ian Holloway present. This meant the meeting was not going to be in the same format at last time, when we reported what occurred at the meeting in a list. The meeting obviously started with the news of the transfer embargo. Davies gave us the press release which is on www.qpr.co.uk and he highlighted the fact that we cannot buy any players while in administration and we cannot sign anyone on loan unless everyone in that position is injured (that includes the players who have just made a single appearance for the first team). Holloway was obviously disappointed but he is only more determined to do a good job in the situation. We then moved onto whether Swansea had paid us the £11,000. Davies announced that this had been paid. Mark Devlin added that Swindon who have just come out of administration still need permission from the F.A to sign players. We then spoke about the fact that 22 players are out of contract at the end of the season - contract discussions with the ones that ‘Olly wants to stay have not started. With regards to bids on the table for the club, the only ones still there are Brian Melzack’s consortium, Maurice Fitzgerald’s consortium and Ron Noades’s bid for just the ground. The LSA were obviously worried by the fact that Noades’s bid is still there and Davies stated that if the bid were accepted, Noades could not build private houses on the site. But should it be social housing, then the council would seriously consider it. ‘Olly then started to speak and he stated his intentions for the club. He made it very clear, that whatever he did, he always wanted the R’s support to have a badge to wear. He then spoke of doing his part in keeping the club in business, getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in new players, looking at the whole picture of the club i.e How the club is being run much better than of yesteryear, how we need to start scoring more and that if Thompson’s goals were taken away where would we be. ‘Olly then spoke about individual players but obviously we cannot relay what he said as we were told in confidence. He stressed that he wanted players pushing for the 1st team at 17-18 years of age. He said he rated Olly Burgess and he was gutted for him after his injury. We then moved onto talk about the reserves and Davies feels a reserve team should include 3 first teamers who are coming back from injury or need match practice and the rest should be U-21 youth team players. ‘Olly then spoke about Dominic Foley who was a player he would like to have been able to work with as he had been an underachiever. ‘Olly felt the debut of Brian Fitzgerald would have done him the world of good. ‘Olly then spoke about the youth team - they aren’t ready for the first team - it’s all about the 1st team. ‘Olly feels there are 3 or 4 youngsters pushing for a place in the 1st team. ‘Olly added that he tried to get Leon Jeanne back.Davies then stated that after getting the FA involved the club have received an allocation of £11 tickets for the trip to Cardiff. The LSA then asked if the club could introduce an away season ticket to avoid supporters queuing the whole night just to secure a ticket. Devlin then replied saying that a lot of fans buy season tickets in order to get preference for away tickets. He added that Colchester away, will probably mean queuing first thing in the morning. The LSA then asked about the possibility of a pre-season trip to Ireland. The LSA had first asked about this last year. A sum of £10,000 would be needed to ensure the R's could play 3 games in 6 days with 1 being in Dublin. The club announced that a sponsor would be needed and Guinness had been approached, however they said they are focusing on sponsoring Rugby Union. However, Devlin added that he will try another department of Guinness who might have some money to sponsor us. ‘Olly added that he would be interested in a pre-season trip to Irealand. Devlin announced that JD Sports have made a improved offer to sponsor us next season. The club have announced that the new away shirt will be out on the 3rd June and the home shirt on the 1st July. Devlin added that he is still seeking further sponsorship. We then spoke about where the reserves would play next season and the club announced that they are in discussions with 3 potential clubs. ‘Olly just wants a good pitch which is accessible to the supporters. The LSA then asked what the club will do in the summer in terms of seeking more revenue. Concerts would bring hassle from the local residents but the club are looking into the idea of a 4 team tournament over a weekend. Non-matchday business is picking up and the boxes are sold out for the next 2 home games. The LSA then asked how we could help. The club announced that if that if LSA members had businesses which could offer a service to the club and say a discount to fellow R’s then they could buy some add space on the website and then that would raise money for the club, the LSA and the business. The club added, the more people who sign up to the SMS service then the more money Rangers would make. The club stated they had no problems with unofficial websites and merchandise as long at it did not use the official QPR badge. We then moved on to talk about contract discussions with Ian Holloway. Davies stated they are at an advanced stage. ‘Olly then spoke of how proud he was of the club, he wants to stay and he feels he should be judged on his decisions. Going back to Noades’s bid, Davies announced that Noades never approached the club for an explanation about his bid. The club are still looking for potential buyers and have recently done interviews for ITV. The club added that a potential bid from Richard Thompson is not there. With regards to the training ground, the club stated there is a legal document in place which commits to a 10% future sale of the training ground and if it is a ‘super sale’ then the percentage will be raised. When asked if the LSA could have reciprocal tickets for some away games, the club said they would look into it. The LSA then asked if we could have our coach details in the programme and the club said that we could. It was now 8.30 pm and Davies had to leave. However, we then spoke to ‘Olly for a futher couple of hours and had we not said we had to go home we would still have probably been there now. Unfortunately, ‘Olly spoke to us in confidence and we will not relay what he told us. What the LSA can say, is that it was one of the most honest meetings that the current committee have ever been to. The LSA found ‘Olly so up front with us, it was like talking to someone in your family. He knows the situation we are in, but it has made him more determined to be a success here for the club we all so dearly love. 'Olly spoke with so much passion that on one again occassion to highlight the fact he wanted 110% from his players he scared the living life out of our secretary Joe English. He is trying to bring in a new culture and we are in it all together. QPR —Then Now and Forever Always. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/febmar.htm
JANUARY 2002 - LSA
18th JanuaryQPR LSA MEETING WITH THE CLUB On Tuesday evening, the LSA committee held a meeting with the club to discuss a wide range of matters. David Davies, Mark Devlin and Mike Hartwell were present for the club whilst Victor Stevenson, Steve Rapjohns, David Cox, Steve Russell, Chris Guy, Symon Eales and Joe English were present for the club. The meeting was held in the Chairman’s Suite in a relaxed atmosphere. The matters discussed were: Cardiff away: David Davies informed us that, QPR had been approached by Cardiff City who wanted to sell tickets for the game solely on the night. Due to recent problems with Cardiff, Davies felt that QPR should be given an allocation which should be sold just at Loftus Road. Davies made it categorically clear, that fans safety was his primary objective. The LSA agreed with Davies on this matter. Stewarding: Goldrange are in the 2nd year of a 3 year contract. QPR looking into securing the services of a stewarding company. Ideally, he would like to tie them down to a 2-3 year contract which would include a short course for stewards in how to steward correctly at football matches. Davies highlighted the fact how difficult it is to gain the services of in-house stewards. Last season’s video: Mark Devlin announced there will be a video compilation of last season’s action, plus interviews and this season’s pre-season games which will be out at the end of February or early March. Relocation: Davies made it categorically clear that the club are NOT seeking relocation. It’s in no one's interest to move when a club is in administration and is not selling out every game. Fulham ground share: QPR and Fulham are still in talks and a deal should be reached by the 31st January. Davies announced Wasps will have to move and are in talks with Wycombe and Harlequins. Davies stated if Wasps moved to Wycombe it could be a permanent move because of that area of England being more rugby than football-he highlighted it was near to rugby clubs such as Henley and Marlow who are in the rugby first division. Should Fulham move in, the reserves would move to either Hillingdon, Harrow Borough, Hampton and Richmond and Slough. Fulham matchdays: Fulham merchandise will be sold in our club shop on match days. They would sell their match tickets from their shop in Fulham Road, however on match days they will use our box office to sell tickets. Club shop: Davies understood all the complaints about the club shop and as a result recruited a new manager. Things have improved vastly in the shop with less items sold but selling quicker. Davies added that Wasps pay for all their clothing and goods. Internet: With the new football deal involving the more hits to the official QPR website the more money we make, we currently lie in 7th place out of 74 non Premiership teams including Blackburn, Bolton and Fulham. However, we lie in 10th place out of 74 teams in terms of how much we have made-money is distributed on how many individual people click onto the website. So far we have made 300k from the deal. Mike Hartwell added, the more we as supporters use the discounts on the website the more money we will make. Takeover: There has been no offer for the club from any group. Should we go up the situation could change. It appears Chris Wright is still holding out in the hope we are now in a better state for a potential buyer. Chris Wright is on holiday and will be back at the end of the week. Trevor Sinclair: QPR received a letter this week from West Ham offering a derisory sum to right off the clause in his contract saying we should receive 10% of any potential sale. Davies turned this down and added if it was 650k he would consider it. This leads us to believe that West Ham have had a sizeable bid for Trevor. Sponsorship: JD Sports who are out of contract at the end of the season are coming back this week to discuss renewing their contract. Rangers would ideally like a 3 year contract for stability reasons. Rangers would like if possible to sell more lines of Rangers clothes in JD Sports in Rangers areas like Hammersmith, Ealing and Uxbridge. Devlin added that next years away strip will definitely be like the old red and white quarters. We are QPR: The club are in favour of this supporters backed initiative. Davies feels, it will bring the club closer to the fans and a responsibility to the people who run it. Home game with Cambridge: Devlin said the special offer for this game has meant that over 12,000 tickets have been sold-so get in sharpish if you want to take advantage of the deal. Youth football: I highlighted the point that QPR were not doing enough to recruit local boys to the club. I informed the club, my dad runs the largest youth football league in London (Lillie Road Rec in Hammersmith) and not once had the club come down to run the rule over the players. I added on behalf of my dad that clubs such as Millwall and Charlton had signed players from the Rec but Rangers had never bothered to come down. Davies was surprised and said I should get my dad to speak to Bobby Ross (Head of schoolboy development). I later found out that my dad had spoken to Bobby Ross before and he had never ever come down. Davies added that in the future there will be open day trials for youngsters who want to play for Queens’ Park Rangers. Davies also said that we have 9 scouts covering various parts of England and Scotland. Andy Thompson: It’s well documented his other half wants to go back to Scotland. However, the club have begun contract negotiations with him. The club want him to stay. There has been no offer from any club for him. Davies added he did not play against Bury because of a problem to his lower back (on going problem). Contracts: The club begun contract negotiations with Ian Holloway on Wednesday. The club want him to stay and he wants to stay. They discussed who they want to keep at the end of the season-20 players out of contract. Kenny Jackett:Davies feels he has been our best signing and he is a good foil for Holloway who is a good team motivator. Should we go up: Some players can expect a pay rise should we go up and the club will stand by their contracts. Administrators: QPR have paid them 250k from April-September 2001 and 15k from October to now. Davies runs the club with Blackburn and the administrators. Debts: Wright wants 6.7 million pounds for the club and our debts are 3.3 million pounds. Fulham residency: Davies feels the reconstruction of their ground will take 18 months-2 years. The ground: Loftus Road is worth 15 million pounds and the club will NOT sell it. Davies on Blackburn: They have a good relationship and Davies added he runs the club as a business. Blackburn has been away in Chile for 3 weeks. Clarke Carlisle: He is 3 weeks away from playing. Swansea cheque: a sum of 11k is owed to us, after a cheque bounced. Davies said hopefully it will be paid but he’s not holding his breath.The LSA found the meeting extremely constructive and informative. Everything we asked was answered to the best of the club’s ability. All 3 of them came across very well particularly David Davies who understands the situation we are in and he feels the club has forgot its roots and needs to get back to them Another meeting has been arranged for mid-February. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/decjan.htm
NOVEMBER 2002
22 NovemberLSA and representatives of QPR 1st meeting with David Davies and Nick Blackburn After last nights game against Swindon, myself (Paul Finney) and Steve Rapjohns along with representatives from QPR 1st met with David Davies and Nick Blackburn.Our first impressions of the duo was that they were extremely patronising especially Davies who said 'we won't go into the business details of the takeovers because you wouldn't understand and it would go over your heads'. Considering the society we live in, its very hurtful when someone talks to you in a very degrading and despicable manner. At a time like this we would of thought we want to build bridges and the manner they spoke to us did not help. The night started with the question of the money from the Sudbury site. It was sold for 10 million pounds to Alfred McAlpine who have also agreed to sponsor the Ellerslie Road stand for 1 milliond pounds. This money went as far as to help with our debts. David Davies made it clear that somethings could not be relayed to us because they were confidential. As it stands the current bid on the table will NOT go through. The first 2 years of Chris Wright being in office is when it all went wrong in the eyes of Davies and Blackburn. He was a fan who had a dream but sadly for all of us it failed. He wanted us in the Premiership and by investing heavily in over paid players he thought he could get us there quickly. He admits he was wrong in giving players like Mario Lusardi and Michael Currie long contracts (5 years). This was not helped by the fact that Wright was advised wrongly by men like Chris Gieler. The purchase of the training ground for a million, sounded a bargain at first considering it was to be Rangers first ever training ground which they actually owned. However, Wright saw its longterm potential and we can all see now that the land could fetch god knows how much more considering the current house prices boom. So Wright is ineffectively sitting on a huge gold mine. This only goes as far as to put doubt into the supporters minds as to why he still wants to recoup the debt of around 8-10 million he has put into the club. Everything imagined was discussed. Trevor Sinclair was sold because we had to get rid of him. The duo appeared in our eyes not to see eye to eye on certain matters such as the running of the club. Blackburn accepted the fact that the club has been badly run, however Davies appeared ultra defensive on the running of the club. It would appear he was agitated by something but he would not reveal to us what was bugging him. But considering our current state we as the supporters feel they are doing the best they can. The duo highlighted the fact they have reduced the debt of 4.6 million pounds in the first season of division 1 to 400k should we stay in this league come the end of the season. The signing of Gallen means the Venezuelan cannot stay and we have now used up our budget for the season. Blackburn admitted the duo were sensitive to criticism (internet) but you would of thought that would be part and parcel of holding such a privileged position in the club we as the supporters all care dearly about. They made it categorically clear they WOULD walk away if someone could do a better job than them. They believe the current bubble in football will burst soon as they feel TV companies are not seeing the full financial rewards of their investments and this of course means clubs like ourselves will be put in a worser off position. The duo made it clear they welcomed constructive criticism but they made it clear they felt personal criticism was unfair and they were deeply hurt. Blackburn came across as very friendly. But as the old saying goes 'never judge a book by its cover' and I was certainly not fooled but if the man's intentions were genuine then fair play but I have met too many people in my lifetime who have acted in the same manner as that of Mr Blackburn - we will judge him by his actions. They denied there was a bid from Thompson. In the meeting there were other directors present listening in on everything. They too, are probably concerned about their futures at the club. Personally I went in confused and came out confused. I didn't really learn anything new, however if the things I was not told are beneficial to the future of the club we all love then fair enough, but I like the rest of you want our club sorted out and in a much better position then we are in at the present time. As Del Boy said ' this time next year we'll be millyanaiiiiirss!' QPR Then Now and Definitely Always. Paul Finney http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/octnov.htm
28th May 2002
LSA-Administration The LSA would like to announce how pleased we our with QPR coming out of administration. We have all worked continually over the last year talking to the club trying to keep our members informed of what is going on. We thank David Davies immensely for helping us get out of adminstration. His honesty in the darkest year of our club has been hugely appreciated. A special thank you must go to Ian Holloway and the players for keeping this club going. But most of all we would like to say thank you to all the supporters who have stood by this great club in this dark period. QPR - Then Now and Always. LSA Committee
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/mar-may.htm
11th AprilThe LSA AGM The LSA AGM takes place this Saturday before the Brentford game at 12.30pm in the White City Centre. All LSA members are invited to come to vote for next season’s committee and voice any problems they have with the LSA. LSA Meeting With Club - 09/04/02 Present: LS -Paul Finney, Dave Cox, Steve Russell, Steve Rapjohns, Symon Eales and Victor Stevenson. QPR - Mike Hartwell, David Davies and Mark Devlin. Observers - Alan Barnes and Sylvia.The meeting took place in the Chairmans suite in an extremely relaxed ‘end of season’ atmosphere. Their was no agenda and it was informal. We came seeking certain questions and the club answered them to their best of ability. Unfortunately Ian Holloway was unable to end. We started first to talk about sponsorship. The club informed us that at the end of the week the club will announce the sponsorship for next season. However, they stated they are looking into sponsorship for the youth team players. They added that they have 3 potential groups who are willing to sponsor us next season. With regards to next seasons kit they informed us that Le Coq Sportif need to change the home kit each year because experience says if you keep the same kit for the following season sales drop to half. However, their will be a new 2nd kit and eventually a new 3rd kit in the 3rd season of any new long term contract. They want a good quality kit due to past problems. Once again the idea of an away season ticket was raised. The club stated they are looking into the pros and cons of the idea from other clubs. But they did state that they favour the successful postal application idea. We asked about the arrangement of the takeover. Davies stated its a straightforward loan (not a mortgage) which needs to be paid back in 10 years. There is a basic interest rate on the loan. The loan is from a person and not from anyone who everyone thinks it could be from. We add that we don’t know who this person is. As a result of the takeove,r which should be completed by the 12th, April there will be an EGM where the club will announce the details of the takeover whilst wanting to make it more transparent as Davies stated. The club will also discuss plans for the future. Chris Wright will inevitably have a small share in the club, however the new takeover group will be the controllers. We then moved onto other topics. The club said that Jerome Thomas is playing against Lithuania at Derby next Wednesday for England U 20’s. Should we need him for Oldham, the club said that they have a good chance of keeping him for the game. Nikki Bull has gone to Hayes for the experience. We then talked about contracts. There is contract which has been offered to ‘Olly’s agent and the club is waiting for a response. The club stated that players will inevitably leave but the first teamers out of contract will be offered a contract. They hope Kenny Jackett will stay. The club added that Chris Day’s break in his leg is not healing as planned but they still remain hopeful. Friendlies for this summer were discussed. We cannot divulge what we were told. But we can say the club have had offers from 6 very good clubs, with a couple of them being foregin opposition. There could be a home and away leg with this very good foreign team. With the Peter Crouch money we received half of the 500k two days after the transfer went through. Olly Burgess will be a couple of weeks behind the normal players in the summer. We raised the question of scouting in local youth football. The club said they have failed in the past and will definitely deal with it. Last season’s video was raised. The club stated that it will be out very shortly. It includes footage of this season’s pre-season games. The club from next season will have an afternoon where supporters can watch the players train. There will be no events like concerts in the summer due to the need for friendlies for us and Fulham. The club said the Nigeria game could have been more of a success had it been planned better. The deal for next season’s reserve ground is nearly done. The club will announce very soon the prices of home season tickets for next season. With the training ground next season, we will have to pay Wasps rent. We were not told the exact figure. The LSA found the meeting very informative considering the ‘end of season’ atmosphere in the room. All our questions were answered to the best of their ability. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/mar-may.htm
18th February LSA meeting with QPR Present — Vic Stevenson, Steve Russell, Symon Eales, Paul Finney, Dave Cox, Joe English, Alan Barnes, Jim Frayling, Mark Devlin, David Davies, Mike Hartwell and Ian Holloway. On arriving for the meeting, we were surprised to see Ian Holloway present. This meant the meeting was not going to be in the same format at last time, when we reported what occurred at the meeting in a list. The meeting obviously started with the news of the transfer embargo. Davies gave us the press release which is on www.qpr.co.uk and he highlighted the fact that we cannot buy any players while in administration and we cannot sign anyone on loan unless everyone in that position is injured (that includes the players who have just made a single appearance for the first team). Holloway was obviously disappointed but he is only more determined to do a good job in the situation. We then moved onto whether Swansea had paid us the £11,000. Davies announced that this had been paid. Mark Devlin added that Swindon who have just come out of administration still need permission from the F.A to sign players. We then spoke about the fact that 22 players are out of contract at the end of the season - contract discussions with the ones that ‘Olly wants to stay have not started. With regards to bids on the table for the club, the only ones still there are Brian Melzack’s consortium, Maurice Fitzgerald’s consortium and Ron Noades’s bid for just the ground. The LSA were obviously worried by the fact that Noades’s bid is still there and Davies stated that if the bid were accepted, Noades could not build private houses on the site. But should it be social housing, then the council would seriously consider it. ‘Olly then started to speak and he stated his intentions for the club. He made it very clear, that whatever he did, he always wanted the R’s support to have a badge to wear. He then spoke of doing his part in keeping the club in business, getting rid of the dead wood and bringing in new players, looking at the whole picture of the club i.e How the club is being run much better than of yesteryear, how we need to start scoring more and that if Thompson’s goals were taken away where would we be. ‘Olly then spoke about individual players but obviously we cannot relay what he said as we were told in confidence. He stressed that he wanted players pushing for the 1st team at 17-18 years of age. He said he rated Olly Burgess and he was gutted for him after his injury. We then moved onto talk about the reserves and Davies feels a reserve team should include 3 first teamers who are coming back from injury or need match practice and the rest should be U-21 youth team players. ‘Olly then spoke about Dominic Foley who was a player he would like to have been able to work with as he had been an underachiever. ‘Olly felt the debut of Brian Fitzgerald would have done him the world of good. ‘Olly then spoke about the youth team - they aren’t ready for the first team - it’s all about the 1st team. ‘Olly feels there are 3 or 4 youngsters pushing for a place in the 1st team. ‘Olly added that he tried to get Leon Jeanne back.Davies then stated that after getting the FA involved the club have received an allocation of £11 tickets for the trip to Cardiff. The LSA then asked if the club could introduce an away season ticket to avoid supporters queuing the whole night just to secure a ticket. Devlin then replied saying that a lot of fans buy season tickets in order to get preference for away tickets. He added that Colchester away, will probably mean queuing first thing in the morning. The LSA then asked about the possibility of a pre-season trip to Ireland. The LSA had first asked about this last year. A sum of £10,000 would be needed to ensure the R's could play 3 games in 6 days with 1 being in Dublin. The club announced that a sponsor would be needed and Guinness had been approached, however they said they are focusing on sponsoring Rugby Union. However, Devlin added that he will try another department of Guinness who might have some money to sponsor us. ‘Olly added that he would be interested in a pre-season trip to Irealand. Devlin announced that JD Sports have made a improved offer to sponsor us next season. The club have announced that the new away shirt will be out on the 3rd June and the home shirt on the 1st July. Devlin added that he is still seeking further sponsorship. We then spoke about where the reserves would play next season and the club announced that they are in discussions with 3 potential clubs. ‘Olly just wants a good pitch which is accessible to the supporters. The LSA then asked what the club will do in the summer in terms of seeking more revenue. Concerts would bring hassle from the local residents but the club are looking into the idea of a 4 team tournament over a weekend. Non-matchday business is picking up and the boxes are sold out for the next 2 home games. The LSA then asked how we could help. The club announced that if that if LSA members had businesses which could offer a service to the club and say a discount to fellow R’s then they could buy some add space on the website and then that would raise money for the club, the LSA and the business. The club added, the more people who sign up to the SMS service then the more money Rangers would make. The club stated they had no problems with unofficial websites and merchandise as long at it did not use the official QPR badge. We then moved on to talk about contract discussions with Ian Holloway. Davies stated they are at an advanced stage. ‘Olly then spoke of how proud he was of the club, he wants to stay and he feels he should be judged on his decisions. Going back to Noades’s bid, Davies announced that Noades never approached the club for an explanation about his bid. The club are still looking for potential buyers and have recently done interviews for ITV. The club added that a potential bid from Richard Thompson is not there. With regards to the training ground, the club stated there is a legal document in place which commits to a 10% future sale of the training ground and if it is a ‘super sale’ then the percentage will be raised. When asked if the LSA could have reciprocal tickets for some away games, the club said they would look into it. The LSA then asked if we could have our coach details in the programme and the club said that we could. It was now 8.30 pm and Davies had to leave. However, we then spoke to ‘Olly for a futher couple of hours and had we not said we had to go home we would still have probably been there now. Unfortunately, ‘Olly spoke to us in confidence and we will not relay what he told us. What the LSA can say, is that it was one of the most honest meetings that the current committee have ever been to. The LSA found ‘Olly so up front with us, it was like talking to someone in your family. He knows the situation we are in, but it has made him more determined to be a success here for the club we all so dearly love. 'Olly spoke with so much passion that on one again occassion to highlight the fact he wanted 110% from his players he scared the living life out of our secretary Joe English. He is trying to bring in a new culture and we are in it all together. QPR —Then Now and Forever Always. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/febmar.htm
JANUARY 2002 - LSA
18th JanuaryQPR LSA MEETING WITH THE CLUB On Tuesday evening, the LSA committee held a meeting with the club to discuss a wide range of matters. David Davies, Mark Devlin and Mike Hartwell were present for the club whilst Victor Stevenson, Steve Rapjohns, David Cox, Steve Russell, Chris Guy, Symon Eales and Joe English were present for the club. The meeting was held in the Chairman’s Suite in a relaxed atmosphere. The matters discussed were: Cardiff away: David Davies informed us that, QPR had been approached by Cardiff City who wanted to sell tickets for the game solely on the night. Due to recent problems with Cardiff, Davies felt that QPR should be given an allocation which should be sold just at Loftus Road. Davies made it categorically clear, that fans safety was his primary objective. The LSA agreed with Davies on this matter. Stewarding: Goldrange are in the 2nd year of a 3 year contract. QPR looking into securing the services of a stewarding company. Ideally, he would like to tie them down to a 2-3 year contract which would include a short course for stewards in how to steward correctly at football matches. Davies highlighted the fact how difficult it is to gain the services of in-house stewards. Last season’s video: Mark Devlin announced there will be a video compilation of last season’s action, plus interviews and this season’s pre-season games which will be out at the end of February or early March. Relocation: Davies made it categorically clear that the club are NOT seeking relocation. It’s in no one's interest to move when a club is in administration and is not selling out every game. Fulham ground share: QPR and Fulham are still in talks and a deal should be reached by the 31st January. Davies announced Wasps will have to move and are in talks with Wycombe and Harlequins. Davies stated if Wasps moved to Wycombe it could be a permanent move because of that area of England being more rugby than football-he highlighted it was near to rugby clubs such as Henley and Marlow who are in the rugby first division. Should Fulham move in, the reserves would move to either Hillingdon, Harrow Borough, Hampton and Richmond and Slough. Fulham matchdays: Fulham merchandise will be sold in our club shop on match days. They would sell their match tickets from their shop in Fulham Road, however on match days they will use our box office to sell tickets. Club shop: Davies understood all the complaints about the club shop and as a result recruited a new manager. Things have improved vastly in the shop with less items sold but selling quicker. Davies added that Wasps pay for all their clothing and goods. Internet: With the new football deal involving the more hits to the official QPR website the more money we make, we currently lie in 7th place out of 74 non Premiership teams including Blackburn, Bolton and Fulham. However, we lie in 10th place out of 74 teams in terms of how much we have made-money is distributed on how many individual people click onto the website. So far we have made 300k from the deal. Mike Hartwell added, the more we as supporters use the discounts on the website the more money we will make. Takeover: There has been no offer for the club from any group. Should we go up the situation could change. It appears Chris Wright is still holding out in the hope we are now in a better state for a potential buyer. Chris Wright is on holiday and will be back at the end of the week. Trevor Sinclair: QPR received a letter this week from West Ham offering a derisory sum to right off the clause in his contract saying we should receive 10% of any potential sale. Davies turned this down and added if it was 650k he would consider it. This leads us to believe that West Ham have had a sizeable bid for Trevor. Sponsorship: JD Sports who are out of contract at the end of the season are coming back this week to discuss renewing their contract. Rangers would ideally like a 3 year contract for stability reasons. Rangers would like if possible to sell more lines of Rangers clothes in JD Sports in Rangers areas like Hammersmith, Ealing and Uxbridge. Devlin added that next years away strip will definitely be like the old red and white quarters. We are QPR: The club are in favour of this supporters backed initiative. Davies feels, it will bring the club closer to the fans and a responsibility to the people who run it. Home game with Cambridge: Devlin said the special offer for this game has meant that over 12,000 tickets have been sold-so get in sharpish if you want to take advantage of the deal. Youth football: I highlighted the point that QPR were not doing enough to recruit local boys to the club. I informed the club, my dad runs the largest youth football league in London (Lillie Road Rec in Hammersmith) and not once had the club come down to run the rule over the players. I added on behalf of my dad that clubs such as Millwall and Charlton had signed players from the Rec but Rangers had never bothered to come down. Davies was surprised and said I should get my dad to speak to Bobby Ross (Head of schoolboy development). I later found out that my dad had spoken to Bobby Ross before and he had never ever come down. Davies added that in the future there will be open day trials for youngsters who want to play for Queens’ Park Rangers. Davies also said that we have 9 scouts covering various parts of England and Scotland. Andy Thompson: It’s well documented his other half wants to go back to Scotland. However, the club have begun contract negotiations with him. The club want him to stay. There has been no offer from any club for him. Davies added he did not play against Bury because of a problem to his lower back (on going problem). Contracts: The club begun contract negotiations with Ian Holloway on Wednesday. The club want him to stay and he wants to stay. They discussed who they want to keep at the end of the season-20 players out of contract. Kenny Jackett:Davies feels he has been our best signing and he is a good foil for Holloway who is a good team motivator. Should we go up: Some players can expect a pay rise should we go up and the club will stand by their contracts. Administrators: QPR have paid them 250k from April-September 2001 and 15k from October to now. Davies runs the club with Blackburn and the administrators. Debts: Wright wants 6.7 million pounds for the club and our debts are 3.3 million pounds. Fulham residency: Davies feels the reconstruction of their ground will take 18 months-2 years. The ground: Loftus Road is worth 15 million pounds and the club will NOT sell it. Davies on Blackburn: They have a good relationship and Davies added he runs the club as a business. Blackburn has been away in Chile for 3 weeks. Clarke Carlisle: He is 3 weeks away from playing. Swansea cheque: a sum of 11k is owed to us, after a cheque bounced. Davies said hopefully it will be paid but he’s not holding his breath.The LSA found the meeting extremely constructive and informative. Everything we asked was answered to the best of the club’s ability. All 3 of them came across very well particularly David Davies who understands the situation we are in and he feels the club has forgot its roots and needs to get back to them Another meeting has been arranged for mid-February. Dave Cox http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/decjan.htm
NOVEMBER 2002
22 NovemberLSA and representatives of QPR 1st meeting with David Davies and Nick Blackburn After last nights game against Swindon, myself (Paul Finney) and Steve Rapjohns along with representatives from QPR 1st met with David Davies and Nick Blackburn.Our first impressions of the duo was that they were extremely patronising especially Davies who said 'we won't go into the business details of the takeovers because you wouldn't understand and it would go over your heads'. Considering the society we live in, its very hurtful when someone talks to you in a very degrading and despicable manner. At a time like this we would of thought we want to build bridges and the manner they spoke to us did not help. The night started with the question of the money from the Sudbury site. It was sold for 10 million pounds to Alfred McAlpine who have also agreed to sponsor the Ellerslie Road stand for 1 milliond pounds. This money went as far as to help with our debts. David Davies made it clear that somethings could not be relayed to us because they were confidential. As it stands the current bid on the table will NOT go through. The first 2 years of Chris Wright being in office is when it all went wrong in the eyes of Davies and Blackburn. He was a fan who had a dream but sadly for all of us it failed. He wanted us in the Premiership and by investing heavily in over paid players he thought he could get us there quickly. He admits he was wrong in giving players like Mario Lusardi and Michael Currie long contracts (5 years). This was not helped by the fact that Wright was advised wrongly by men like Chris Gieler. The purchase of the training ground for a million, sounded a bargain at first considering it was to be Rangers first ever training ground which they actually owned. However, Wright saw its longterm potential and we can all see now that the land could fetch god knows how much more considering the current house prices boom. So Wright is ineffectively sitting on a huge gold mine. This only goes as far as to put doubt into the supporters minds as to why he still wants to recoup the debt of around 8-10 million he has put into the club. Everything imagined was discussed. Trevor Sinclair was sold because we had to get rid of him. The duo appeared in our eyes not to see eye to eye on certain matters such as the running of the club. Blackburn accepted the fact that the club has been badly run, however Davies appeared ultra defensive on the running of the club. It would appear he was agitated by something but he would not reveal to us what was bugging him. But considering our current state we as the supporters feel they are doing the best they can. The duo highlighted the fact they have reduced the debt of 4.6 million pounds in the first season of division 1 to 400k should we stay in this league come the end of the season. The signing of Gallen means the Venezuelan cannot stay and we have now used up our budget for the season. Blackburn admitted the duo were sensitive to criticism (internet) but you would of thought that would be part and parcel of holding such a privileged position in the club we as the supporters all care dearly about. They made it categorically clear they WOULD walk away if someone could do a better job than them. They believe the current bubble in football will burst soon as they feel TV companies are not seeing the full financial rewards of their investments and this of course means clubs like ourselves will be put in a worser off position. The duo made it clear they welcomed constructive criticism but they made it clear they felt personal criticism was unfair and they were deeply hurt. Blackburn came across as very friendly. But as the old saying goes 'never judge a book by its cover' and I was certainly not fooled but if the man's intentions were genuine then fair play but I have met too many people in my lifetime who have acted in the same manner as that of Mr Blackburn - we will judge him by his actions. They denied there was a bid from Thompson. In the meeting there were other directors present listening in on everything. They too, are probably concerned about their futures at the club. Personally I went in confused and came out confused. I didn't really learn anything new, however if the things I was not told are beneficial to the future of the club we all love then fair enough, but I like the rest of you want our club sorted out and in a much better position then we are in at the present time. As Del Boy said ' this time next year we'll be millyanaiiiiirss!' QPR Then Now and Definitely Always. Paul Finney http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/octnov.htm
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