Jump to content

The QPR circus thread


dudevillaisnice

Recommended Posts

Queens Park Rangers secured a £15m loan from Barclays Bank in Hong Kong last month, charged against all the club's assets including Loftus Road, significantly borrowing for the first time during Tony Fernandes's regime as majority owner.

Fernandes and his partners finalised the loan on 18 March, in agreement with QPR's remaining shareholders – the family of the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. All parties insist they "remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives".

However, with QPR approximately £90m in debt due to the significant loans paid in by Fernandes and his partners during the 2011-12 financial year, totalling £55m, and the Mittal family, who lent £27m, supporters may be concerned at the shift in approach.

The £15m was secured on the first working day after QPR's 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League, a result which left them seven points adrift of safety, but the club claims the loan had been agreed well in advance of that date.

Following QPR's spending spree during the January transfer window, when the west London club twice broke their transfer record with deals for Loïc Rémy, £8m, and Chris Samba, £15m, in an attempt to preserve their top-flight status, fears have grown that the club will face serious financial difficulty if they are relegated to the Championship at the end of the season.

Since Fernandes, a Malaysian airline entrepreneur, secured a 66% stake in August 2011 the club have spent a significant amount on transfer fees and player wages. Accounts for 2011-12 show that QPR's wage bill doubled to £56m and that the club made losses of £23m during that period, which does not include January's splurge.

Fernandes recently denied that QPR would be crippled by relegation and claimed that reported figures regarding Samba's wages, said to be in the region of £100,000 per week, were wide of the mark.

Last month he insisted QPR's spending needed to be "closely monitored and controlled" and the club says that the Barclays loan could be the first step in a future relationship between the two parties.

A spokesman said: "The club's shareholders have an ongoing relationship with Barclays and both parties were keen to extend this relationship to include QPR, particularly in light of the club's stated plans for a new stadium development.

"Given the current financial climate, it demonstrates the clear backing banks want to give our shareholders and their plans for the club. The loan is personally guaranteed in full by the club's shareholders, who remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives."

A new ground holding 40,000, more than double the capacity of Loftus Road, has been in the offing but any move is likely to be a distant possibility with more pressing concerns regarding QPR's immediate future. However, the Guardian understands that more progress has been made in recent months after the chief executive, Philip Beard, said last month that relegation would not scupper any plans.

Fernandes, who sacked Mark Hughes in November last year, has given Redknapp significant cash to bolster his squad but QPR are currently second-bottom in the Premier League and 10 points behind Villa with five matches remaining this season.

Guardian.co.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Queens Park Rangers secured a £15m loan from Barclays Bank in Hong Kong last month, charged against all the club's assets including Loftus Road, significantly borrowing for the first time during Tony Fernandes's regime as majority owner.

Fernandes and his partners finalised the loan on 18 March, in agreement with QPR's remaining shareholders – the family of the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. All parties insist they "remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives".

However, with QPR approximately £90m in debt due to the significant loans paid in by Fernandes and his partners during the 2011-12 financial year, totalling £55m, and the Mittal family, who lent £27m, supporters may be concerned at the shift in approach.

The £15m was secured on the first working day after QPR's 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League, a result which left them seven points adrift of safety, but the club claims the loan had been agreed well in advance of that date.

Following QPR's spending spree during the January transfer window, when the west London club twice broke their transfer record with deals for Loïc Rémy, £8m, and Chris Samba, £15m, in an attempt to preserve their top-flight status, fears have grown that the club will face serious financial difficulty if they are relegated to the Championship at the end of the season.

Since Fernandes, a Malaysian airline entrepreneur, secured a 66% stake in August 2011 the club have spent a significant amount on transfer fees and player wages. Accounts for 2011-12 show that QPR's wage bill doubled to £56m and that the club made losses of £23m during that period, which does not include January's splurge.

Fernandes recently denied that QPR would be crippled by relegation and claimed that reported figures regarding Samba's wages, said to be in the region of £100,000 per week, were wide of the mark.

Last month he insisted QPR's spending needed to be "closely monitored and controlled" and the club says that the Barclays loan could be the first step in a future relationship between the two parties.

A spokesman said: "The club's shareholders have an ongoing relationship with Barclays and both parties were keen to extend this relationship to include QPR, particularly in light of the club's stated plans for a new stadium development.

"Given the current financial climate, it demonstrates the clear backing banks want to give our shareholders and their plans for the club. The loan is personally guaranteed in full by the club's shareholders, who remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives."

A new ground holding 40,000, more than double the capacity of Loftus Road, has been in the offing but any move is likely to be a distant possibility with more pressing concerns regarding QPR's immediate future. However, the Guardian understands that more progress has been made in recent months after the chief executive, Philip Beard, said last month that relegation would not scupper any plans.

Fernandes, who sacked Mark Hughes in November last year, has given Redknapp significant cash to bolster his squad but QPR are currently second-bottom in the Premier League and 10 points behind Villa with five matches remaining this season.

Guardian.co.uk

 

Cheers :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40,000 stadium, really? Aren't they competing in the same part of London as Chelsea, and then an established mid-table Premier League club in Fulham?

I'd have thought any more than about a 25k seater stadium was wasted on them.

Average 19k at home, 25k is more than big enough, to stop fans following chelsea and Fulham it will take decades to get a big enough following to fill a 40k stadium.

Fernandes is talking out of his Arse. How did that bloke become a multi millionaire

Link to comment
Share on other sites

£15m loan secured from Barclays. The club already have £90m debt. You do worry about their future with relegation looking ever more likely.

No 'you' don't. 

 

I hope they are eventually liquidated out of existence. Their 'experiment' is everything that is wrong with football. Plus they are another in a long line of pointless London clubs. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently remy and samba have release clauses for the amounts they were signed for, so £8 million and £10.5 Million respectively.

Remy will leave, ill stick my balls on the line here and say samba wont leave *

*to a team outside Russia

Edited by Jimzk5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought they were super mega rich and backed by one of the richest men in the world? Why are they getting a loan for the relatively small ( in football terms) sum of £15m?

hmmm

 

Does seem strange. Also have to wonder what the money is for? If that's just working capital it isn't going to last long when you consider what their wages / turnover ratio must look like. You have to wonder if there is something going on behind the scenes.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â