One Year Ago: Chairman Paladini Speaks About QPR's Position and Goals

-
June 8, 2006 - QPR Official Site - PALADINI SPEAKS

With the start of a new season beckoning, Gianni Paladini would like to clarify the position and goals of QPR:

Last year was a difficult season both for the club and for me personally. I feel that resultant media coverage and speculation has obscured what the Board are striving to achieve with the club, so I would like to take this opportunity to re-state our goals.

Let us state up-front that our ultimate goal is to get the club back into the Premiership where we believe QPR belong, but we know that this will only be achieved with a gradual step by step approach.

To achieve this goal we need to provide the club with financial stability and to improve the quality of playing squad and coaching staff.

As stated previously, the aim of the current Board is for the underlying business of the club to break-even.

Next season will see further improvements and we expect the losses fall to below £1m - a significant improvement on the years before I became involved with the club.
Without the financial support of the current Board, the club would have gone into administration last season. With the financial resources being made available, the club will not go into administration with the current Board in control.

All the members of the Board are people who love football and are committed to QPR.
The Board has already put in place our financing for next season and we will continue to bring in new investors, to help fund further improvements to the squad and the club.

We are currently engaged in discussions with potential new investors, who are very enthusiastic about QPR, and we hope to make an announcement about this in the near future.

The Club would also like to highlight three commercial deals that the current Board have done for the club.

The new four year deal with our shirt manufacturer Le Coq Sportif will bring in an additional £250,000 per annum; the new shirt sponsors Cargiant will bring in £150,000 per annum; and the new stand and shorts sponsors GJ Electrical will also bring in another £150,000 per annum.

In addition, there are two other high value commercial deals, currently in the final stages of negotiation, that will be announced soon.

There would appear to be a contradiction between the club breaking even and improving the quality of the squad. Recent experience has taught us that just spending money on players will not guarantee results, unless of course you have the resources of Russian oligarch at your disposal.

However, with a solid financial and administrative base established at the club, the Board and new investors will feel confident enough to provide further resources for the playing squad.

As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.

What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is.

The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.

Just to confirm what has been stated previously, Gary Waddock is the Manager-designate and once the situation with Ian Holloway has been resolved then Gary will formally be announced as the Manager.

Recent speculation in the press about a dispute regarding compensation between Ian Holloway and the club is wholly untrue.

We continue to have an amicable relationship with Ian, who is still being paid in full. Ian hopes to have a managerial position sorted out with a new club shortly.
Gary has been responsible for selecting next season's squad and coaching team. The first team squad for next season will comprise of 26 players which is only two players less than the squad we started last season with.

Many old favourites are still here such as Dan Shittu, Lee Cook, Gareth Ainsworth, Paul Furlong and Kevin Gallen.

Martin Rowlands and Matthew Rose will also be back from injury. We are spoilt for choice with two excellent goalkeepers in Simon Royce and Paul Jones as well as Jake Cole and Sean Thomas waiting in the wings.

We have a superb group of youngsters coming through with Scott Donnelly, Shabazz Baidoo, Stefan Bailey, Dominic Shimmin and Pat Kanyuka.
Our new signings include Damion Stewart, who had a good game for Jamaica against England and Armel Tchakounte from Cameroon. We look forward to announcing the final three signings that we are currently negotiating with as soon as we are able.

I would like to thank all the fans that have already renewed their season tickets for next season.

The volume of season tickets processed so far at 6,300 is slightly down on the number of tickets processed at this stage last year, a pattern that has been reflected across other clubs, but we expect further sales once we confirm next season's signings.

The vast majority of these are full price season ticket renewals and 443 are new full price season ticket holders.

There are 417 free tickets for kids so far and I am personally delighted that we have attracted these young season tickets holders as they are the fans of the future.
We have put our finances in order, our losses will continue to fall towards a break even situation, we have a new manager ready to take us forward and we have a new and younger squad that will form the basis of a team to challenge for promotion to the Premiership.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the first home game of next season, and I thank you for your continued loyal support.

Come on you R's!

Gianni Paladini QPR