APRIL 2001: QPR Go Into Administration
BBC - Monday April 2, 2001 - QPR put into administration
Troubled Queens Park Rangers plight worsened when the club were put into administration on Monday.
A statement on the club's website read: "The decision has not been taken lightly and is a direct result of the losses incurred by the Group, currently running at £570,000 per month, over a sustained period of time."
The club is owned by Loftus Road plc and shares in the company have been suspended.
This move comes after chairman Chris Wright failed to find a buyer for the club.
Hopefully the day to day impact on the operation of QPR and Wasps as professional sports teams will be negligible
QPR chairman Chris Wright
Wright was believed to be in discussions with former director Andrew Ellis, but those talks seem to have broken down.
QPR share their Loftus Road ground with Wasps and Wright says he will continue to finance the day-to-day running fo the club until the end of the season.
The London club's problems could further deteriorate if they lose their battle against relegation.
Wright said: "It is a very sad day for everyone involved in Loftus Road.
"The last six months have been a real struggle financially and although my intention was to secure a sale to the right buyer before having to take this decision, it has not been forthcoming.
"I will continue to fund the day to day running of the Group until the end of the season and help to find a purchaser for QPR and Wasps.
"Hopefully the day to day impact on the operation of QPR and Wasps as professional sports teams will be negligible, at least in the short term, and will in fact make the longer term more viable."
BBC
BBC -April 3, 2001 Rangers safe, say administrators
The newly-appointed administrators of Queens Park Rangers have insisted the First Division club's future is not under threat.
Ray Hocking and Simon Michaels, of BDO Stoy Hayward Business Recovery Services, have been appointed joint administrators to holding company Loftus Road plc and their wholly-owned subsidiary QPR.
The administration was applied for by directors of Loftus Road plc as the best course of action for their long-term survival. The company have amassed debts of up to £11m.
"I don't see it as an existence-threatening position. I see it as a necessary step to ensure in the future there will be a Queens Park Rangers," said Hocking.
"Our priority is to secure a buyer for the company and the club and to ensure that creditors receive their monies."
There's no panic to dispose of this in the next few days or the next few weeks
Ray Hocking, QPR administrator
Chris Wright, majority shareholder and chairman of Loftus Road plc, will continue to fund the club and Hocking confirmed that rugby union club Wasps - another subsidiary of Loftus Road plc - has not been put into administration.
Hocking insisted he was in no rush to find a buyer for the company and the club and said: "It could take a couple of weeks and it could take a season or more. It really does depend on who comes along.
"We will wait until we get the right offer. There's no panic to dispose of this in the next few days or the next few weeks. We are looking at a long-term survival programme here, not a quick fix."
Hocking also stressed the club's assets were worth more than their liabilities. "The club owns its ground and its training ground and they are worth considerable sums of money," he said.
I think it's fair to say that the atmosphere among the players is pretty good
David Davies, chief executive of Loftus Road plc
"Any offers that include those have got to be considerable. We have got to be looking well above the £15-20m mark."
David Davies, the newly-appointed chief executive of Loftus Road plc, said the players, currently battling against relegation, remained positive.
"I think it's fair to say that the atmosphere among the players is pretty good," he said. " I see it as the beginning of a new era for QPR.
BBC
BBC
Tuesday, 3 April, 2001, 17:35 GMT 18:35 UK
QPR fans hopeful for future
David Davies and Ray Hocking say QPR is safe
By BBC Sport Online's Adrian Harte
Queens Park Rangers supporters have given the appointment of an administrator a cautious welcome.
Administrator Ray Hocking painted a bullish picture of the club's future on Tuesday.
And Joe English of the QPR Loyal Supporters Association concurs.
He told BBC Sport Online: "Administration is not necessarily a bad thing.
"The club has been run appallingly in the past few years - it's gone down the tubes."
He has not ripped the heart out of the club. But he has been naïve. For a top businessman, he has really got his fingers burnt
Joe English on Chris Wright
"The most important thing is that the club survives. What division we are in next season is irrelevant," said English.
"Other clubs like Crystal Palace and Portsmouth have come out of administration in a better position than us."
Hocking said there would be an end to the "economics of the madhouse", promising that he would "run the club in a proper way."
English said there was no questioning the commitment of the club's owner Chris Wright.
"He has not ripped the heart out of the club. But he has been naïve. For a top businessman, he has really got his fingers burnt," he said.
However, QPR supporters blame the club's demise as much on the players as on mismanagement.
English said: "We've had players with huge contracts and players who have badly underperformed.
"One good thing is that this summer we have so many players - and I use that word advisedly - out of contract. The sooner they are out the better."
Hocking, of BDO Stoy Hayward Business Recovery Services, disclosed that he has already received two written offers, as well as "half a dozen expressions of interest".
Moving ground
Amid rumours of a sale of Loftus Road and a move to a new ground near Heathrow, Hocking assuaged supporters' fears.
"Offers from property developers will be lowest on my list, " he added.
English, the secretary of the Loyal Supporters' Association, said that while the club should come through administration, moving ground would kill it off.
But he said the supporters would continue to follow the team.
"We will get one of our biggest crowds of the season on Saturday against Blackburn. We have continued to come out and show our colours, and more so now," he concluded.
BBC
INDEPENDENT - Football: QPR go into administration
Independent, The (London), Apr 3, 2001 by Nick Harris
QUEEN'S PARK RANGERS went into administration last night after the struggling First Division club's parent company announced its losses are running at pounds 575,000 a month. "This decision [to put QPR into administration] has not been taken lightly and is a direct result of the losses incurred by the group," a statement from Loftus Road plc, which also owns Wasps rugby club, said last night.
Wasps have not been put in administration because a takeover by an unnamed buyer is understood to be imminent. It has been reported that a former director of QPR, Andrew Ellis, is considering a takeover of the football club but negotiations are understood to be in their infancy.
Chris Wright, who stepped down as QPR chairman earlier this year, seems destined to lose the majority of the pounds 20m investment he has put into the football club. He said last night, however, that he would continue to fund both QPR and Wasps until October or until buyers for them are found, whichever comes sooner. "Hopefully the day- to-day impact on the operation of QPR and Wasps as professional sports teams will be negligible, at least in the short term, and will in fact make the longer term more viable," he said.
INDEPENDENT
QPR1st Releases from May & June 2001
Monday 4th June 2001: In depth status report from Dave Thomas
June 1st - Response to the "Standard" Loftus Road sale article and news of this weeks activities
Various Other QPR 1st Releases
Scroll Down to May-June 2001
The rest of the news from June
Tuesday 5th June 2001 Update on today's press release
Monday 4th June 2001 In depth status report from Dave Thomas
Friday 1st June 2001 Response to the "Standard" Loftus Road sale article and news of this weeks activities
Tuesday 29th May 2001 Update on the meeting with the Milton Keynes Stadium Consortium
Thursday 24th May 2001 QPR1st statement regarding the sale of Loftus Road plc
Wednesday 23rd May 2001 Statement regarding the "buy back deadline"
Friday 18th May 2001 EGM special report
Extensive report on the EGM at Loftus Road
Thursday 17th May 2001 Pre EGM QPR1st statement
Wednesday 16th May 2001 Update
Tuesday 15th May 2001Update
Saturday 12th May 2001 Meeting with the administrators
Friday 11th May 2001 Update and share pooling information
Thursday 10th May 2001 Update - meeting with local MP
Wednesday 9th May 2001 Update
Thursday 3rd May 2001 Merger off - Report by Dave Thomas
Tuesday 1st May 2001 Statement about importance of 'controlled delivery'