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Dear Bernie, Amit and Flavio,
I speak only for myself (although people subsequently have the opportunity on this forum to agree or disagree with what I’m about to say) the following words are those of a life long QPR fan. I don’t like creating an argument without factual evidence to support it and what I’m about to write leaves me in uncharted waters. I have no evidence that as a club we are losing near on a million pounds a month nor do I know the full extent of the debt the club owes and what financial inputs you have. All that I think I know comes from rumours on this and other message boards. I understand fully that a club which averages less than 15,000 supporters at every home game and takes less than a 1,000 fans on the road will struggle to finance a team full of players on top wages as well as the day to day running of the club. I understand that our sleeping support isn’t as large as the Arsenal’s and the Manchester United’s of this world and therefore even the added revenue from shirts sales and other memorabilia doesn’t equate to much. But will it ever? Will a club as small as ours ever be fully able to finance itself without your input? Doubtful unless something major happens. But something major could happen with one large financial push. Something which does have the ability to cause financial ruin but at the same time can bring financial security both to the club and you as individuals. The Premiership.
With television revenue, increased sponsorship deals, increased attendances and increased memorabilia sales the Premiership generates money for clubs that the Championship doesn’t have the capacity to do. If the rumoured £1m loss to the club (ultimately you the owners) is true than the total annual loss is £12m or £2.6m less than every team receives from Sky/ESPN. Every Premiership team receives £14.6m from Sky/ESPN, a further £202m is split between the 20 clubs from overseas TV rights (£10.12m per club) and with added revenue the bottom placed club will pick up the tidy sum of £32m for a single season in the top division. With the contract having been renegotiated that figure will climb to nearer £40m. Add in the extra £48m over 4 seasons (or £16m a year in years 1&2, and £8m a year for years 3&4) and you’ll be looking at receiving more than the rumoured annual loss for at least the next three seasons. Of course this all comes with a but and an if. If the £1m a month loss is much higher than I thank you even more for than I already do so. And if it is then why? Why are we losing so much money? Why with all the sponsorship deals which have been announced since January 2008 not generated enough money to pay some of those outgoing debts? Why has the price of a season or walk up ticket been put up if it isn’t to help the financial running of the club? I don’t understand why you would want to keep investing in our club if the club are losing so much money? Please don’t think for a moment that I am accusing you of anything and that certainly isn’t the case but what do you have to gain by losing so much money?
If the rumours are wrong and in fact we are in a better state than to be believed than the money that promotion will ultimately bring us with put the club back onto an even footing and will make you some hard earned money. But (I said there would be one) to do this you need to invest now. Not wait and hope that Neil and the boys have somehow miraculously managed promotion because at this stage and although we have a 5 point lead that is looking increasingly unlikely. The squad is threadbare. The loss of Mackie, Agyemang and Walker are huge blows to the team. The recent results show that the defence is leaking goals and the team is tired. Neil has done a fabulous job. He is our best manager for a very long time and he can win us promotion if he can add to his squad. I know money is tight and I know that there is no point in spending money on players which could be deemed not good enough for the Premiership but we aren’t a Premiership team. We’re a Championship team with just 5 fit defenders. A Championship team with just three experienced strikers who’ve scored just 3 goals from open play this season. I understand that money spent now can’t be spent if we get promoted but what happens if we don’t get promoted. Why have a pot of unspent money which could have been used to ensure promotion in the first place? Last season Newcastle used this window to sign Best, Williamson and Simpson all of whom are now playing regularly in that side. All of whom would have cost more to have bought if signed in the summer (a newly promoted Premiership team has more money to spend then a Championship side) and all of whom played their part in helping Newcastle secure promotion.
Thank you for supporting our great club, thank you for securing its future and thank you for supporting Neil in the past. I hope that you’ll continue to support him long into the future and allow him to take this team into the Premiership. I want it, the fans on this board want it and above all I believe you want it. We want Premiership football. We want home games against Manchester United and Arsenal. We want away games at Anfield and Stamford Bridge. One big push and you’ll sell every corporate box, every season ticket and every seat in the stadium. TV revenue, shirt sales, higher prize money all waiting if you support Neil now.
As for my fellow R’s feel free to disagree with me and say not in my name but if you support this then say so.
I speak only for myself (although people subsequently have the opportunity on this forum to agree or disagree with what I’m about to say) the following words are those of a life long QPR fan. I don’t like creating an argument without factual evidence to support it and what I’m about to write leaves me in uncharted waters. I have no evidence that as a club we are losing near on a million pounds a month nor do I know the full extent of the debt the club owes and what financial inputs you have. All that I think I know comes from rumours on this and other message boards. I understand fully that a club which averages less than 15,000 supporters at every home game and takes less than a 1,000 fans on the road will struggle to finance a team full of players on top wages as well as the day to day running of the club. I understand that our sleeping support isn’t as large as the Arsenal’s and the Manchester United’s of this world and therefore even the added revenue from shirts sales and other memorabilia doesn’t equate to much. But will it ever? Will a club as small as ours ever be fully able to finance itself without your input? Doubtful unless something major happens. But something major could happen with one large financial push. Something which does have the ability to cause financial ruin but at the same time can bring financial security both to the club and you as individuals. The Premiership.
With television revenue, increased sponsorship deals, increased attendances and increased memorabilia sales the Premiership generates money for clubs that the Championship doesn’t have the capacity to do. If the rumoured £1m loss to the club (ultimately you the owners) is true than the total annual loss is £12m or £2.6m less than every team receives from Sky/ESPN. Every Premiership team receives £14.6m from Sky/ESPN, a further £202m is split between the 20 clubs from overseas TV rights (£10.12m per club) and with added revenue the bottom placed club will pick up the tidy sum of £32m for a single season in the top division. With the contract having been renegotiated that figure will climb to nearer £40m. Add in the extra £48m over 4 seasons (or £16m a year in years 1&2, and £8m a year for years 3&4) and you’ll be looking at receiving more than the rumoured annual loss for at least the next three seasons. Of course this all comes with a but and an if. If the £1m a month loss is much higher than I thank you even more for than I already do so. And if it is then why? Why are we losing so much money? Why with all the sponsorship deals which have been announced since January 2008 not generated enough money to pay some of those outgoing debts? Why has the price of a season or walk up ticket been put up if it isn’t to help the financial running of the club? I don’t understand why you would want to keep investing in our club if the club are losing so much money? Please don’t think for a moment that I am accusing you of anything and that certainly isn’t the case but what do you have to gain by losing so much money?
If the rumours are wrong and in fact we are in a better state than to be believed than the money that promotion will ultimately bring us with put the club back onto an even footing and will make you some hard earned money. But (I said there would be one) to do this you need to invest now. Not wait and hope that Neil and the boys have somehow miraculously managed promotion because at this stage and although we have a 5 point lead that is looking increasingly unlikely. The squad is threadbare. The loss of Mackie, Agyemang and Walker are huge blows to the team. The recent results show that the defence is leaking goals and the team is tired. Neil has done a fabulous job. He is our best manager for a very long time and he can win us promotion if he can add to his squad. I know money is tight and I know that there is no point in spending money on players which could be deemed not good enough for the Premiership but we aren’t a Premiership team. We’re a Championship team with just 5 fit defenders. A Championship team with just three experienced strikers who’ve scored just 3 goals from open play this season. I understand that money spent now can’t be spent if we get promoted but what happens if we don’t get promoted. Why have a pot of unspent money which could have been used to ensure promotion in the first place? Last season Newcastle used this window to sign Best, Williamson and Simpson all of whom are now playing regularly in that side. All of whom would have cost more to have bought if signed in the summer (a newly promoted Premiership team has more money to spend then a Championship side) and all of whom played their part in helping Newcastle secure promotion.
Thank you for supporting our great club, thank you for securing its future and thank you for supporting Neil in the past. I hope that you’ll continue to support him long into the future and allow him to take this team into the Premiership. I want it, the fans on this board want it and above all I believe you want it. We want Premiership football. We want home games against Manchester United and Arsenal. We want away games at Anfield and Stamford Bridge. One big push and you’ll sell every corporate box, every season ticket and every seat in the stadium. TV revenue, shirt sales, higher prize money all waiting if you support Neil now.
As for my fellow R’s feel free to disagree with me and say not in my name but if you support this then say so.
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