A: Kevin McGrath replied that our principal liaison with Chris Wright in recent years has been via Nick Blackburn: "Nick has gone but is still around." McGrath said that he himself had spoken to Wright for the first time last Friday and would be meeting with him once he (Wright) returns from his holidays.
He wants to tell Wright
that the new board would like to find a way for him to come back and
rejoin the QPR family with all the good publicity that this would bring.
But as of now there is no progress on the shares issue.
Warm Applause
Q: Why is Ian Holloway not here?
A: Gianni Paladini has sent Ian Holloway and his wife on a short holiday to Capri where they can relax before the start of the season.
Q: What sort of budget does Ian Holloway have for players this year?
A: Ian Holloway has a players' budget of £2.5m-£3m and with that the board of directors expects him to achieve something like 10th to 12th place in the Championship. For every year that the club can increase turnover the manager will be given more money and better results will be expected, for example if he was given a further £1m he might be expected to finish in 8th to 10th place.
Kevin McGrath gave some ballpark figures for players' budgets at other clubs:
- Sheffield United £2.5m
- Brentford £500,000
- Leeds £18m
- West Ham £10m-£12m
Q: Could the expectation of a 10th to 12th place finish be communicated more widely so that QPR fans themselves will have more realistic expectations when watching the team?
A: Kevin McGrath reiterated that whilst the endgame is the Premiership, the 2004/2005 season is about consolidation both on and off the pitch.
Q: Some supporters have still not received their season tickets. What's going on?
A: Mark Devlin said that all season tickets have now been sent out from the distribution centre in the north-east. Anyone whose ticket has not arrived by Friday should call the Box Office and arrange for a duplicate to be issued and collected before the Rotherham game.
A number of people complained that the Box Office phones are so busy they have not been able to get through. Devlin replied that the Box Office is well staffed and that he would look into this.
Q: Where is director Dino Lalvani, and what is the value of the Binatone shirt sponsorship?
A: After twice asking "Who?", Kevin McGrath replied that Lalvani is a director of the football club and not of the plc. He said that Lalvani was appointed a director as part of the Binatone shirt sponsorship package and that this decision was made without reference to the full board of directors. McGrath has never met Lalvani.
Binatone pay about £70,000 a year to sponsor the shirts.
Q: What is the attraction of QPR for the Monaco-based investors?
A: Kevin McGrath said he thought there were a number of reasons. As a club we have "a lovely reputation". Secondly we are a London club, and overseas players coming to the UK want to come to London. Thirdly, we are not just a London club but a Central London club - three miles from Marble Arch. The amount of regeneration that is going on in White City means the area is absolutely buzzing. Plus, as a club, "we are on the way up."
Q: How has the fiasco over the stewarding for the Rotherham game come about?
A: There were many many complaints about Gold Range and it was right to review their contract. The club interviewed three or four companies and CES appeared to be fine; they do the stewarding at Old Trafford, Southampton and Twickenham.
CES have had problems recruiting, partly because they are forbidden by a clause in Gold Range's contract from employing people who stewarded at QPR under Gold Range.
Kevin McGrath thought CES had done okay at the Ajax and Palace games, and that Hammersmith & Fulham Council had dramatically over-reacted by firing off a four-page letter to the club and being "over-officious".
CES have undertaken, if need be, to bus stewards down from Manchester for the Rotherham game and to bear the costs of doing so themselves. Plan A was to make the Upper School End available to Rangers fans on Saturday. This will now not happen, but the club hopes to try it out at home fixtures later in the season.
Mark Devlin said that the two most complex contracts at the club are catering and stewarding, and that work to change the stewarding company should have started much earlier.
Kevin McGrath said that the club's Safety Officer and Stadium Manager Tony Smith had pleaded with the directors: "Don't change the stewarding contract right now". McGrath admitted: "We ignored him, and we were wrong."
Q: What's the situation with the £10m loan from ABC Corporation?
A: Kevin McGrath said: "The loan is a dog". The terms of the loan are dreadful and you would normally expect to be able to negotiate an annual interest rate of 7% on such a loan, not 10%.
McGrath said the board is having a very close look at the role of the administrators BDO Stoy Hayward, who were entrusted with finding a loan deal for the club at the time and who told us that the ABC deal was the best available. Stoy Hayward are now acting on behalf of ABC Corporation in ABC's dealings with the club, and on the face of it this appears to be a conflict of interests.
Q: What are the new board's plans for the youth set-up and the training ground?
A: The new board is fully committed to the youth set-up and the vision is that at least a third of the first team will consist of home-grown players. In the last five years there has been a problem bringing our talented youngsters into the first team. The board wants that to change and noted that Marcus Bean had played an absolute blinder on Saturday.
Kevin McGrath said that we want our own training ground rather than the current arrangement where we have to pay rent to Chris Wright. Maurice Fitzgerald has been instructed by the club to look for a new training ground.
At this point Harold Winton's enthusiasm boiled over again. He grabbed the roving microphone, shouted out the odds from the various bookmakers and, with a roar of "The R's are going up!", told us all to get down to the Tote who are offering 66-1 on QPR being promoted.
Q: Will we be bringing in any more players for the new season?
A: Kevin McGrath reiterated that the board believes Ian Holloway has a generous budget for the season and it is up to him how he spends it. McGrath said that if Ian Holloway wanted to spend most of the money by re-signing virtually the whole of the existing squad and bringing in 33-year old Santos on a 2 year deal that is his decision.
In answer to a follow-up question McGrath said that he thought Ian Holloway would probably be offering Lewis Hamilton a contract.
Q: How much profit did we make from Fulham?
A: About £330,000.
Q: How much does the best-paid player at the club earn?
A: £185,000 a year. That doesn't include appearance and win bonuses.
Q: The idea of a bond scheme to raise money for the club has been discussed on the www.qprnet.com messageboard. Is is something the directors would consider?
A: Yes, along with other fundraising ideas.
Q: Accounts for Queens Park Rangers Football and Athletic Club have not been filed since 1999. Why not?
A: Chris Pennington has been working tirelessly to bring these up to date and it should be sorted very soon.
Q: Is it true that Ross Jones, David Davies and Nick Blackburn were eventually escorted from the premises at Loftus Road?
A: Kevin McGrath said this was untrue, although there had been friction: "Look, Ross Jones is here today. Nick isn't, though."
Q: Will the directors pledge their commitment to Loftus Road as QPR's home?
A: Yes. Loftus Road is our home and does its job. There are no plans to move in the foreseeable future. If someone should approach us with a site for a new stadium then we will listen to what they have to say.
Q: Is there any truth in the rumour that Nick Blackburn has been banned from Loftus Road as a result of being found in the players' dressing room after the Ajax game?
A: It is true that he was found in the dressing room. He has not been banned from Loftus Road, but access to certain parts of the ground is restricted and it has been made very clear to Nick Blackburn that he will have to respect those restrictions.
That was the end of the questions.
Bill Power closed the meeting by thanking fans and shareholders for their continued support. He also thanked the outgoing plc chairman Kevin McGrath, describing him as a steady hand on the rudder through the recent turbulent times.
After the meeting Ross Jones was speaking to a group of shareholders and answered a long-outstanding question about the Twyford Avenue training ground.
When Chris Wright effectively sold the training ground to himself at what some have regarded as a knockdown price, fans were very concerned to try and ensure that QPR would benefit if at any point in the future a profit was made from the site, for example through residential development.
Fans and shareholders asked Wright to pledge that a share of any profits made at any point in the future would be given to QPR. Wright did enter into some agreement with QPR but the details were not known until today.
Ross Jones explained that the profit-sharing agreement by Wright was not forever, but for 10 years. This means, for example, that in the year 2011 houses could be built on Twyford Avenue and QPR would see none of the profits.