The latest fans' forum was held at Loftus Road on Thursday night with chairman Tony Fernandes joined by board members Phil Beard and Mark Donnelly along with legendary former striker Rodney Marsh.
These things used to be all the rage back in the day, and Ian Holloway would hold cricket pavilions and community centres in the palm of his hand in far flung, exotic destinations like Ruislip, Northwood and Slough. But when Falvio Briatore pitched up, openly disdainful of the idea that "somebody who turns up once a week and pays £20” should have any kind of a say in their football club, it all rather went by the wayside and by the time they returned a year ago everybody was rather out of practice.
So what have we learnt so far? Well, at the first forum we discovered that if you don’t give the fans a chance to speak to the club in an open forum for six years the odd grievance or 12 can build up and fester rather. And if your chief executive doesn’t answer his e-mails diligently don’t be surprised if people who sent him messages pitch up and turn a public event into a string of personal problems about players not turning up to school visits or Old Bob being moved out of his seat in the Lower Loft to make way for a spotty Chelsea supporter on a school trip and that sort of gubbins.
At the second forum, which Phil Beard — still rather traumatised by that first experience — rather bottled, reading a pre-prepared statement at the beginning and then cowering at the back of the room for the rest of the night, we found out that alcohol is not our friend on such occasions. More specifically — and this was never really a case for Poirot — it turned out that putting a few old soaks in amongst a crowd of QPR fans with Harry Redknapp at the top table can very quickly turn a "fans’ forum” into a footballing Jackanory where ‘Arry tells that one about the time he brought a West Ham fan on at half time in a pre-season friendly at Oxford, or the one about Dani turning up at Upton Park and ‘Arry not knowing whether to "pick him or fack him”. Then after a long, pointless and at times cringeworthy evening, everybody is upstanding for a version of Roll out the Barrel with ‘Arry leading the chorus and Kevin Bondy Bond on the old Joanna and we all traipse off into the night wondering where three hours of our lives went this time.
So, third’s the charm and all that, the club’s latest attempt took place at Loftus Road this evening with chairman Tony Fernandes, CEO Phillip Beard and CFO Mark Donnelly on the top table, along with club legend Rodney Marsh, presumably because he was in the area and at a loose end.
Immediate conclusions...
Firstly, busy as he undoubtedly is, Tony Fernandes needs to face his QPR public in many more ways than the barrage of abusive/sycophantic Tweets he receives on a daily basis, often begging for free tickets, shirts and what not. This appearance for just over an hour did him more good than a month of social media activity.
Secondly, while he may not have enjoyed his experience at the first forum, Philip Beard is in charge of the day to day running of our football club and must be prepared to sit down for an hour every now and again and be held accountable for the job he’s doing — particularly when, to the untrained eye, he appears to be doing a pretty poor job as the club hemorrhages money and makes decisions which even the senior staff who made them very soon admit to being "naïve”.
Thirdly, by taking questions in advance and hosting the evening, rather than throwing it open to the floor for a free for all, there was a lot more coherent discussion and a lot fewer — though, sadly, irritatingly, not a total lack — of mouthy types dominating proceedings by shouting things out and telling long rambling stories that never seem to go anywhere, or serve any purpose.
That method can leave the club open to criticism. After all, what’s to stop them not asking the difficult question? The issue around Ale Faurlin’s contract was lumped in with a general query about all the expiring contracts and immediately shut down by Marsh saying it was an inappropriate forum to be discussing personal details such as that. In actual fact the issue around whether Ale Faurlin is kept at Loftus Road next season has far wider implications around the ethos of the club, the spirit it’s trying to create among the players, the message it sends out to current and future squad members, than simply being a debate about whether a fans’ favourite should be retained or not.
But by taking the questions in advance it meant the main topics were covered and time wasn’t lost getting bogged down on specific, niggly issues. The overall opinion at the end of the evening, even from the self-confessed cynics, was that the evening was a valuable one, well run, useful, and a great improvement on the previous two attempts.
What did we learn from forum three? That the hardcore QPR fans have become weary of the short termism around the club. Not a single question was asked on season ticket prices, or the position and future of manager Harry Redknapp. It seems the congregation craves a coherent, long term strategy - lots of questions on training ground, stadium, youth development…
Whether the board realise this is open to debate.
- Tony Fernandes (TF) said the shareholders have funded everything with a shareholders loan which they are now discussing writing off. There is very little bank debt, which is being used for the new stadium. The financial position is covered if QPR go up — Fernandes said the club is much wiser than it was two years ago — and if Rangers don’t make it up to the Premier League he feels "very comfortable” in terms of the financial position and what they have to do with regards player recruitment. Work has already been done on player targets for next season if promotion is achieved and the club will be very disciplined and "not try to chase something that may not be achievable in one year” and get into a similar position as last year. Fernandes said: "We have a pretty good plan if we don’t make it up this season.”
- On Financial Fair Play (FFP) TF said it’s too early to say, with a lot of unknowns, but they are confident that nothing will affect the club’s position with regards to FFP whether the club goes up or stays in the Championship. TF does not believe FFP is workable for clubs that have been relegated because even with a low wage bill they cannot throw away players and are bound by the contracts. As the rules stand, relegated clubs will automatically be fined. Fernandes said: "Sunderland, Cardiff and Fulham may not be as bad as we were because we had a much higher wage bill but they will still be in a similar position. What do you do? Do you, halfway through a season, give up and say you’re going to be relegated let’s remove all these players? You couldn’t do it even if you wanted to. There are lots of things the regulators didn’t put enough thought into when implementing this.” Discussions are ongoing with league officials but Fernandes does not believe it will effect QPR.
- Philip Beard (PB) said the Premier League and the Football League are almost two different sports at the moment. He said: "There is a massive amount of ongoing discussion. Everyone has different views, there are clubs with high aspirations and others who want to create a level playing field. The challenge with that is it makes it difficult for owners and shareholders to invest the money they want to invest in improving their club. We will comply with the other 23 clubs in the Championship, or 19 teams in the Premier League, with whatever the rules are.”
- TF believes that fundamentally the FFP rules are the right thing to do. He said: "It’s not a bad idea, and I fully endorse it, but for any club coming down from the Premier League it’s impossible to comply with it. There should be exemptions for those clubs to get their wage bill in line with other Championship clubs if they don’t go back up. For a club that is relegated to get your wage bill down to Championship level in three months is unfeasible.”
- PB applauds the way that football is trying to make it fairer, but the difference between the Premier League and Championship is too vast. He said: "You’d have to put relegation clauses in contracts that are so punitive no player would ever join a club at risk of relegation. It would be a challenge I don’t think many players would accept.”
- There was much laughter at the suggestion that QPR's £160m debt is a "soft debt” — i.e. one owed to shareholders rather than a bank or lender. TF said: "I don’t know about soft debt, it’s my money.” He said: "We’ve been honest and transparent about some of the mistakes, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we get the money back we get it back, if we don’t we don’t. It’s cash we raised and that’s it.”
- TF said the backward step the club has taken has not deterred the board in its dedication and commitment to establish the club in the Premier League. He said: "To go through what we’ve been through and still enjoy coming to Loftus Road said a lot about our commitment. The commitment is still there, the money and debt is just one of those things that’s happened.”
- Rodney Marsh (RM), tongue in cheek pitching for a job, said he agrees with the assertion that the club lacks a football advisor/influence at board level and it is hindering their performance in the transfer market and other areas.
- TF said: "You kind of assume that the manager has a player policy and thinks about who he wants to sign and what he wants to sign. We put a lot of emphasis on that. We learnt very fast. We’re a lot smarter than we were two years ago.”
- PB said there is now a senior management group in place meeting regularly. He said: "Everything at a football club is driven by the manager you have in place. What’s most important is, if you change the manager, you don’t have to strip everything out and start again. We have a technical board within the academy structure who look at offering contracts to young players or letting them go — that’s not people at this table making that decision, it’s football people making that decision. We have to get better within our scouting structure. We want a younger demographic and age group for our players. Previous regimes had technical directors but football is all about winning — if you can get a winning mentality and a squad together winning games then everything works and if not then be ready to make changes. We’ve got a lot wiser and more astute in changing things when they’re not going well.”
- TF said the club now has a list of players in every position, in excess of 40, who could be signed if the club is in the Championship or the Premier League, rather than a manager simply coming forward with one specific target after another.
- TF said he believes separation between the board, manager and CEO is important and the situation is now much more tightly regimented and controlled than it was so no one person can take advantage from having direct access.
- TF said the current playing squad depends on the manager, but he and the other shareholders want to develop young talent.
- TF said: "We are in a good catchment area, we’ve put in place a good technical structure, we’ve had good results from the U18 and EDS team. We have a system in place where we review scouting reports, we know the young players and we’re actively looking at that area. The emphasis is not on over 30 players because you’re not building anything. It is down to the manager — I can say, until the cows come home, I want a certain 18 year old player to play but you’ve got to leave it to the manager to decide otherwise I might as well be the manager. From my standpoint, and the shareholders’ standpoint, the only way to build a stable club is to have a strong youth policy and believe in bringing in younger kids — but a lot depends on the manager.”
- TF said the club has never had the opportunity to blood young players in the team since the moment he arrived here. The club lost his first match 4-0 at home to Bolton and Neil Warnock wanted to know what players he could buy and it has "been like that ever since.” This year it’s been about going straight back up and it has created a trap. TF said: "There’s a lot of debate on Tom Hitchcock, do you take the risk with him and potentially throw away £65m or get somebody more experienced? It’s the manager’s choice. We as a club believe it’s important to develop young players.”
- PB said character of players is more important than age. He said: "We have to find out why they want to come to QPR as much as selling the club to them. I think we have got that better this season: the players we have brought in really want to be here and are the right characters. They want to go to the cold Tuesday night away games and play for the club. Because of the speed we went into some of the transfer windows that’s something we previously weren’t able to check on. In the past we’ve had talented individuals not playing as a team. When I look at the training ground now I think they are playing for each other and we have to maintain that and build on it.”
- TF said it was a shock to see the dressing room after defeats last season. He said: "You’d see the attitude in the dressing room and there wasn’t the same pain that I’d gone through. It was a shock to me.”
- RM said that while watching QPR in the Premier League last season he could see Jose Bosingwa was "never going to be a QPR player as long as he played football” and described players like him as "a cancer.” RM said: "If you get a couple of them in the club then it spreads. If you’re talking to a player and his agent and it becomes purely about ‘how much’ then I’d dump the player.”
- On Peter Skapetis’ move to Stoke City TF said every single player has been evaluated by the technical committee which didn’t feel that Peter was a player QPR wanted to keep. He said: "We will make mistakes but we have to trust the people we have there.”
- PB said Skapetis’ release, and the new contract handed to Mike Petrasso, were football decisions made by people who have watched the players come through the system. He said: "Possibly that’s something we weren’t as strong on a couple of years ago.” PB and TF both wished Skapetis all the best with the rest of his career.
- On the futures of Adel Taarabt and Loic Remy TF said he wanted to get through the play-off period, see where the club is, and then make decisions on players. He said: "To talk about Loic Remy or Adel, or any player right now, is wrong. We should be focusing on Wigan, Reading or Brighton, winning those games and going to Wembley. We’re a transparent club and we’ll fill you in on everything that we can at the right time.”
- TF said the danger in discussing player contracts openly could cause problems in the dressing room — "why is he getting a new contract and I’m not?”
- PB said he has been blown away with the spirit of the players down at the training ground. He said: "They’re rolling their sleeves up, they’re ready to go. These guys are desperate to get to Wembley, desperate to win at Wembley, desperate to do it for themselves, each other, and to a man they’re desperate to do it for this club.”
- TF reiterated that he wanted the fans to be totally involved in the new stadium so the club didn’t make the same mistakes as other clubs have done.
- The club has received 6,500 responses to the survey sent out to supporters on the new stadium. You have a week left to fill it in if you haven't already.
- Fernandes said: "Building a new stadium is much harder than building an airline, particularly in London where land is so scarce. We’ve made phenomenal progress. We are now negotiating with various land owners to ensure the scheme can go forward. Once it’s done I think it will move very quickly. From where we started two years ago we’ve made amazing progress. We’ll have a very clear timeline and all of you will be involved in making sure this is your home.”
- CFO Mark Donnelly (MD) has been in the US looking at stadiums. The club had a meeting at the GLA on Thursday.
- TF says the QPR shareholders would own the ground. QPR would not be a tenant in the ground.
- TF says he has tried to sit in as many different parts of Loftus Road as possible, partly because he hates the chairman’s area but also to sample what it’s like and find out what we can take to the new ground.
- On the issue of capacity TF says no final decision has been made but it will be between 30,000 and 40,000. He said: "A lot depends on the quality of football we’re playing. We have a great catchment area with Crossrail and HS2 to come.”
- On the possibility of following MK Dons’ lead and adding seats to the stadium as the club’s fortunes improve and the support base grows, TF says it is a possibility but it costs more and there is a lot of disruption. He said: "We don’t want to be a building site for the next 20 years.”
- TF said: "We don’t want an empty stadium. We don’t want to be too ambitious and lose the soul of Loftus Road. We’ve got a few years to weigh it up. Atmosphere is much more important than wishing for a number we may never achieve.”
- MD says the survey was to get broad design parameters around shape and capacity. Consultation on disabled access and provision, tributes to former players will follow. It’s not necessary to do it at this early stage.
- TF said: "As soon as we’ve got the land sorted then we can have a definite timetable and put the consultation groups together. Let’s get the land. We’re making tremendous progress. Then we can go into detail. You have my assurance you will be consulted on all aspects.”
- MD is leading the Warren Farm training ground development.
- He was part of the team that carried out the £450m development of the O2, and was later senior member of staff on the £18m St George’s Park training ground development. He said: "Both projects were delivered on time and on budget. I think I’ve got an understanding of what we need to do.”
- MD said: "The planning process is incredibly complicated. We did everything we could do with the council to get planning permission in place. A group of residents have launched a judicial review against the council’s planning decision and are claiming they exceeded their powers. We’re going through the court process and we cannot put a timescale on it because we’re beholden to the court process. The first hearing got thrown out, but they can apply for a personal hearing and that’s the stage we’re at. We’re confident but we have to go through the process. We don’t know how long the legal review process will take.”
- PB says the club is committed to improving the facilities it has. Harlington has been improved but the club is committed to bringing its young players through and is working towards having all the playing side of the club together in one place. He said: "Our commitment is that we will find the right facility for this club going forward. It has to be a functional, operational, quality facility for everybody who is playing football for this club. That’s what we will deliver whether it’s at Warren Farm or somewhere else.”
- TF says the plans for the training ground will not be affected if the club doesn’t win promotion.
- TF said the redesign of the badge has been put on the back-burner while the club switches from Lotto to Nike.
- A concern as raised about how much Nike are charging for England shirts. TF says he is a "low cost man” and Nike have been very accommodating.
- PB says the Nike deal is "extraordinary” and the entire Nike team that used to work on the Arsenal kits has now been switched to QPR. He said: "It’s a really good deal for this club. It will take us to a level we need to be at with our relationship with them, what we’re going to do to the superstore, and how we’re going to grow the brand over the next few years.”
- John Reid from the LSA asked if there was a possibility that the club could subsidise away tickets for the play-off semi-final so QPR could take as many supporters to the game as possible. TF says he likes the idea and it will be discussed by the board.
- A question was raised about away travel for disabled supporters who are unable to go on the official club coaches. A subsequent question asked whether waterproof ponchos could be provided for disabled supporters who are accommodated at the front of the South Africa Road stand. TF said he would personally look at the issue.
- MD says Loftus Road was built before the current legislation and the challenge is to do as good as we can with what we have. The new stadium will have state of the art facilities for disabled supporters.
- Joanne Connolly from AKUTR’s asked about the possibility of setting up an association to look after the welfare of former players. Rodney Marsh said that his club has always been QPR but the treatment he receives at another of his old clubs, Manchester City, is exceptional and something QPR could look towards. TF said he would look into the suggestion.
The Twitter @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images