I have been thinking of the alarming post from King Austin the last couple of days.
It contained a lot of information, spread over several posts. This is my summary and interpretation of it (sorry Chaz, if I am not accurately summarising/interpreting it):
His information of Ings cannot be verified. However, it is not unlikely that the QPR hierarchy is looking at players that are presently outside our financial limits, to be prepared for a scenario where we sell influential players such as Chair, Field, Dykes and/or Paal during this transfer window and have money to spend.
So, contrary to some others, I believe in King Austin. There is no reason to believe he has made this up. Those that imply otherwise are unreasonable to him, given his previous track record. I personally think he is owed an apology.
Here is my way of interpreting the news (I am responsible for my own speculations – I have no insight other than what I read from Chaz’ posts):
The owners are very frustrated by the overall development. They have put in £300-400m over the years, with nothing to show for other than fantastic training facilities. Now we are facing a real possibility of relegation. The process to find new investors might not go accordingly to plan and has met one or another stumbling block.
In this situation, either Ruben, Amit (Mittal) or Kamarudin need to come up with more money to finance the ongoing losses, including money to pay the instalment. All of them are wealthy. Hence, there is no lack of resources on the owner level. But for one or another reason, they cannot agree on how new capital injections shall be split between them. Ruben might be tired of carrying the largest burden and ask the others to contribute more. Amit/Mittal might be willing, but only if they can buy a substantial stake off Ruben and get control. Ruben is not willing, as the price that is offered is too low.
If there is such an ongoing owner conflict, it might even have affected the sales process negatively. If they cannot agree between them, they might not agree on possible new capital being offered by any interested third party, as some existing owners might not be happy with how it affects their individual situation (valuation, ownership percentage, influence, and corporate governance to name a few things).
In this situation, where they cannot agree, no one is willing to give in and inject the cash that is required to pay the instalment.
Information about this ownership fight has moved from the boardroom to the administration, where this has caused great concern and speculation about how it will influence the immediate future of the club. This has led to concern about any point deductions if owners cannot come to terms with how to finance the club. Right now, it might block new player signing, which makes Marti very frustrated. He might have been vocal about it internally. People might fear for downsizing of staff, fuelled by the recent situation of Ramsey.
Well, this is nothing else than my own interpretation of the situation, and the news posted by King Austin. I might be completely wrong, or I might not.
I would like to add that I want King Austin to seriously consider returning to this message board. To me, he is a very important member of our small community. Maybe the best IKT we have, even though he does not like to consider himself as such.
Finally, any speculation about remaining fine becoming void if we get relegated is not correct. We will remain liable to pay the fine whether we are in the Premier League, Championship, League 1 or even outside of the League system. However, if we are outside of EFLs jurisdiction (i.e., in the Premier League), they cannot dock us points.
And to round it off: The owners promised to pay the fine. They do this through the ongoing financial support of the club. The fine is not counting towards the FFP threshold of £39m for any rolling three-year period, so up until the possible incident that is now causing unrest, the club has not been limited financially by the fine.
It contained a lot of information, spread over several posts. This is my summary and interpretation of it (sorry Chaz, if I am not accurately summarising/interpreting it):
- We have got a last deadline from EFL to pay one or more outstanding instalments of the FFP fine.
- If we do not meet the four-week deadline set by EFL, we will be given a points deduction of 10 points, applicable next month.
- We are unable to pay right now, as there are not sufficient funds. The extended deadline has been given to allow us to somehow find the money, but apparently, we cannot, at least not now.
- If we get a points deduction, we have accepted that this will mean relegation.
- We plan a fire sale of players (supposedly in this window, to find money to pay the FFP instalment within four weeks)
- We plan to sack more members of staff.
- The owners have fallen out with each other. That is the reason why Fernandes sold (or gave away) his shares to the other owners, and possibly the reason Amit stood down as chairman.
- We are in a worse state than Reading, that broke the FFP rules and got a points deduction for that (hence, there might be two separate point deductions – one for failing to pay instalments connected to the previous fine and one for breaking the FFP threshold now. If so, the latter will come next season when this year’s accounts are posted).
- Marti is dissatisfied and may leave.
- The story of the threat of points deduction will soon be covered by the media.
- We will with 100 percent certainty get the points deduction, but we might find the money to avoid it.
- We might make some high-profile signings to try to avoid relegation, indicating that funds are available.
His information of Ings cannot be verified. However, it is not unlikely that the QPR hierarchy is looking at players that are presently outside our financial limits, to be prepared for a scenario where we sell influential players such as Chair, Field, Dykes and/or Paal during this transfer window and have money to spend.
So, contrary to some others, I believe in King Austin. There is no reason to believe he has made this up. Those that imply otherwise are unreasonable to him, given his previous track record. I personally think he is owed an apology.
Here is my way of interpreting the news (I am responsible for my own speculations – I have no insight other than what I read from Chaz’ posts):
The owners are very frustrated by the overall development. They have put in £300-400m over the years, with nothing to show for other than fantastic training facilities. Now we are facing a real possibility of relegation. The process to find new investors might not go accordingly to plan and has met one or another stumbling block.
In this situation, either Ruben, Amit (Mittal) or Kamarudin need to come up with more money to finance the ongoing losses, including money to pay the instalment. All of them are wealthy. Hence, there is no lack of resources on the owner level. But for one or another reason, they cannot agree on how new capital injections shall be split between them. Ruben might be tired of carrying the largest burden and ask the others to contribute more. Amit/Mittal might be willing, but only if they can buy a substantial stake off Ruben and get control. Ruben is not willing, as the price that is offered is too low.
If there is such an ongoing owner conflict, it might even have affected the sales process negatively. If they cannot agree between them, they might not agree on possible new capital being offered by any interested third party, as some existing owners might not be happy with how it affects their individual situation (valuation, ownership percentage, influence, and corporate governance to name a few things).
In this situation, where they cannot agree, no one is willing to give in and inject the cash that is required to pay the instalment.
Information about this ownership fight has moved from the boardroom to the administration, where this has caused great concern and speculation about how it will influence the immediate future of the club. This has led to concern about any point deductions if owners cannot come to terms with how to finance the club. Right now, it might block new player signing, which makes Marti very frustrated. He might have been vocal about it internally. People might fear for downsizing of staff, fuelled by the recent situation of Ramsey.
Well, this is nothing else than my own interpretation of the situation, and the news posted by King Austin. I might be completely wrong, or I might not.
I would like to add that I want King Austin to seriously consider returning to this message board. To me, he is a very important member of our small community. Maybe the best IKT we have, even though he does not like to consider himself as such.
Finally, any speculation about remaining fine becoming void if we get relegated is not correct. We will remain liable to pay the fine whether we are in the Premier League, Championship, League 1 or even outside of the League system. However, if we are outside of EFLs jurisdiction (i.e., in the Premier League), they cannot dock us points.
And to round it off: The owners promised to pay the fine. They do this through the ongoing financial support of the club. The fine is not counting towards the FFP threshold of £39m for any rolling three-year period, so up until the possible incident that is now causing unrest, the club has not been limited financially by the fine.
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