Public Consultation Linford Christie Stadium

bring them down here

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handy for the trains
airport and motorway
not used much so it might be cheap too

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great for night games

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and its a beautiful little city with lots to do pre and post match

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Trust you to know all the cultural hangouts...

 

It is a nice little city. The only problem is the landings at the airport can be a bit bumpy with the wind whistling through the Cook Straits.

 

That's a bit warmer towards us than I was expecting which is great.

 

Old Oak and Park Royal development: Chiefs face grilling but new plan brings hope of regeneration
PUBLISHED: 15:28 09 January 2020 | UPDATED: 17:27 10 January 2020

Nathalie Raffray

Cargiant land is safe after OPDC u-turn on compulsory purchase and £250m govt funding. Picture: Andrew Holt

Andrew Holt www.andrew-holt.com

The regeneration plans around Old Oak and Park Royal have been reset, planning chiefs told London Assembly members during a budget committee grilling.
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OPDC chiefs at meeting with London Assembley budget committee meeting. Picture: Nathalie Raffray
Liz Peace CBE, chair of the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), and interim chief exec David Lunts faced City Hall members on Monday to answer questions on the collapse of their phase one plans.

The corporation, founded by Boris Johnson in 2015 when he was mayor of London, is responsible for a project on an area covering 650 hectares which would create up to 25,500 new homes and 65,000 jobs over 30 years.

In a U-turn announced as the general election results were coming in on December 13, OPDC said it will not be pursuing the £250m funding from the government's housing infrastructure fund to kick start the project in the north, around Old Oak and would abandon the prospective purchase of Cargiant land - which was news to the budget committee.

It said will refocus attention on Park Royal and look to potentially regenerating the area around the HS2 station in Old Oak Common, which is publicly owned land, and also revamping Willesden Junction.



























Ms Peace told the committee: "This change of direction is not something we originally envisaged but we have to accept that endeavouring to develop Old Oak was never going to be an easy regeneration project especially given the extent of private sector ownership and the scale of the infrastructure requirement. I'm afraid like many regeneration projects the first plan is not the one that turns out to be capable of implementation."

Committee chair Gareth Bacon raised promises made in September last year when the OPDC said the plan "was on track".

"It's like saying the Titanic was on track to reach reach New York after hitting the iceberg," he said,

The pair were grilled about governance and the failure to recruit a permanent chief executive.

Mr Lunts said the relationship with Cargiant, which was originally a potential development partner, has improved.

"We were clearly in a very difficult adverserial relationship with them," he said. "The relationships are certainly a lot more positive. I met with Geoff Warren and his team before Christmas. We've agreed on a process of engagement now."

He said there is "shared excitement" about helping Cargiant "evolve as a business to play a fairly significant role in the shift of motoring in London away from a reliance on fossil fuels".

 

https://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/spor...5PL8ZFGtNNxfNvs-fFR8jhP_5_8JlpKNOMu096pLZwkrQ

 

Crikey! Work to commence by the start of 21/22 season! Hope it is well before then.

 

Am I the only one who feels that a new training ground and even more so stadium for QPR is the sort of fantasy that now sits happily alongside the tooth fairy, magical time travelling elves and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Something to tell your kids when you want them to be quiet for a bit.

Ain’t happening.

 

No headphones and no Wi-Fi will sort out the kiddies
How can youth players be allowed to refuse to go out on loan

 

Yeah I was taken in by TF's Fantasy about a new stadium and training ground but as time has gone on I cant see it happening anytime soon, especially the way the club has been run.
Re Linford Christie site.... Sir Las says "I think that one is going to take a little bit longer than we were hoping because land is of a premium." mmm, I thought you only hear those terms for development (houses). I was on the understanding that it had to be used for sport? I reckon we will blow that as well.

 

They all have agents. Some of the stuff they get for doing f*ck all is unbelieveable. Boot deals that pay more than a League Two player earns in a season. I'm surprised some of them get out of bed in the morning...

 

That post is not compatible with your strap line! Just saying.

 

Surely it's about attracting better players by giving them better facilities where they spend most of their week?

 

A big thank you to CEO Lee Hoos who has taken time to reply to QPR Pride of London's Q&A Next up Sir Les.
What Has QPR been your biggest challenge to turn around financially?
I think the financial challenge of getting to sustainability was probably bigger than anywhere else that I've been but each club has been a different set of challenges. To be honest, Southampton was probably a bigger challenge, even though the financial hole wasn't as deep because the owners have always backed it here whereas down there, there weren't deep enough pockets and it was trying to be a sustainable model. That all just went out the window with some disagreements on the Board.
I've not had any sleepless nights at QPR, but I can assure you there are other clubs where I have had sleepless nights wondering how the hell we're even going make it to Christmas.
2. What were your perceptions before arriving at QPR and your priorities once here? What directives were you given by the owners?
The owners were pretty clear, they wanted to replicate some of the other clubs I worked at in terms of trying to be more self-sustainable going forward, which is a model I absolutely agree with. It was trying to put a halt on haemorrhaging cash, just trying to really get the club stabilised again.
We had some pretty big contracts and commercially there were some things I wanted to push ahead with.
Talking to a couple of people that had previously worked here, they told me I had better put on my tin hat with the supporters here because they can be quite a handful.
I have to be honest, I have found the supporters to be absolutely great since I've come here. I found that when you explain things to them, they actually get it. And it's actually been, from my view of supporters, a very, very good job to have because people do get what you tell them.
It's not as if the supporters are completely unrealistic. I think a lot of the problem was maybe before they didn't understand what was going on. But I think when you explain it, you give people the facts, they get it.
3. What are your personal ambitions for QPR? And do they fit the overriding plan for the club in any way? How much “Lee way” Have you been given?
Haha, I like this guy.
My personal ambitions are to have the club succeed, that's what I'm brought in to do. So my personal ambitions are to really get the club back on its feet again. That's the best thing you can do for a football club.
It's not as if I sat there and said, “Is this club good enough for me and what I want to do?” That's total nonsense. There's nobody that's bigger than the club. So whatever people might think, the club is what counts and the club is bigger than any player, any manager or any employee.
When you come in as a Chief Executive, the Board lays out strategic parameters and it's down to you as Chief Executive to reach those parameters. To be honest, the Board have been great and have given me quite a bit of “Lee way”.
4. Has the financial structure been adjusted or reset in any way?
Ruben were co-Chairmen at one point, but they are the principal funders of the club.
They are joined at the hip, really. There has been no major shift in strategic direction because the Board is still the Board, and it's still those three that really guide the Board.
We've got three principal shareholders on the Board with Ruben, Tony and Amit. Obviously, Tony and Has the direction the club was taking changed since the arrival of Amit Bhatia as Chairman, and
Forgetting COVID, what are the major differences between QPR and the other clubs you have been at in turning the finances around?
I think the non-matchday revenue opportunities are very different at QPR than at other clubs because they're very difficult to come by at QPR, whereas at every other club I've worked at you could generate non-matchday revenue.
Unfortunately it's just the way the stadium is with the lack of parking and lack of facilities. That’s why if you hope to go forward you really do need something where you can drive non-matchday revenue as well.
Football fans are actually quite alike in their outlook on life. I haven't met a football fan yet who doesn't think it's his club or her club that bad things only happen to.
Pyrotechnics fall over and get shot into the crowd. This only happens at ‘fill in the blank’.
A parachutist comes in on the first day of the season. It gets stuck on the roof. This only happens at ‘fill in the blank’.
It happens to all clubs. I think a lot of football fans like to think that their club is the worst run and has more bad luck than any other club. It’s that cynicism and pessimism that goes with being a sports fan (me included – and I don’t think its limited to football!)
5. Did you realise when you took the QPR job that you'd have to rebuild us completely? And going forward do we have the financial backing to complete projects for a new training ground and a new stadium?
After you've been relegated, it's always difficult if you don't bounce back up in that first year so it was always going to need a rebuild. There's nothing surprising there. The most difficult part of a job is when you have a mix and match - when you've got people that were on Premier League salaries and therefore still on big salaries and you're trying to rebalance the squad and the wages, so you've got real disparity. That is always the most dangerous part of it.
You see clubs that have gone for it in the past and spent some decent cash and now they’re trying to reign it in. It's tricky.
It’s always difficult in that respect and in terms of financial backing, the owners have a lot of pressure on them right now because of the current situation with their own businesses, let alone the football club. We are lucky that they have always stuck by us and also lucky that our model has been geared towards the development of players. We have players that people are looking at and obviously one of them was sold in the summer.
A lot of clubs don't have that advantage. So in that respect, we're in a fortunate position relative to other clubs, but by no means an envious position.
6. What is your five-year plan for QPR? And where do you see our great club in five years?
The five-year plan for me is really, really simple. It's to be competitive in every match, and to be financially self-sustainable. That really is it. A club could grow from there. I've heard people in the past at other clubs say, ‘We're going to go for it this year.’ Okay that means you’ve got to splash some cash and if six clubs do that, three of them - maybe all of them - are going to be very disappointed because only three can get promoted. For me, football clubs are far too important to be used as gambling mechanisms.
It needs to be sustainable, you have got to have something that can stand on its own two feet.
Then you get something like COVID come along and you realise this is why clubs need to be able to stand on its own two feet. It's the emergency times when you need to rely on shareholder funding. That's when you might be looking at shareholder funding or other means of revenue, but during normal times, you better be able to live on what you generate.
7. What is the longer-term ambition and intent for the club?
I'm not sure what the difference is between that and the previous question. We need to make this club self-sustainable.
8. Is the Premier League a priority for the club at this point in time? If so, what is the hoped timescale for this?
The Premier League is always an aspiration and somewhere you'd love to get to. But if you're saying it's a priority and you’re not going to survive unless you get to the Premier League, that's a very dangerous strategy. That's not what I would advocate. So is it an aspiration? Absolutely, yes. Who wouldn't want to be in the Premier League? I've heard people say it's too soon. That's nonsense. It's never too soon to go into the Premier League.
But the priority is player development. That is far more important than putting all our money on red and hoping it comes in and we get into the Premier League.
The player development and the players that we have coming through the system now, that's really where the longer term future of the club is. And then if it all comes together for us, that's when it eventually happens and you do end up in the Premier League.
But the Premier League is because of your development strategy and your coaching, not going out and buying a bunch of people and chasing the Premier League.
9. In what league positions would you consider a season to be either a success or a failure?
You always want to see progression on the previous year so if we can finish above where we were last year, that would be progress. If we can finish in the top half, it would be good. If we can finish in the top ten, that would be great.
10. Is the long-term financial situation at the club secure?
Is the long-term financial situation at any club or business secure right now? Unless you're in pharmaceuticals, that's probably about the only one!
We're down to relying on owner financing of the club. So without the owners we’re non-existent. But that's the same for pretty much every other club in the league as well. There's a big hole that's been dug right now for everybody.
11. Looking ahead post-COVID and the club’s aging supporter base, how do you intend to grow the club support to bring in more revenue as a good percentage of supporters are heading to the senior age with discounted season ticket prices?
I'll take this opportunity to remind everybody about what we've done in regards to senior tickets, and the price of season tickets and how the ages are moving on a year-by-year basis. Please don't forget that.
That's one thing, and obviously we have family initiatives and the Family Stand. We recently received the Gold Standard when it came to Family Excellence so that's been working very well. I know people might say the Family Stand diminishes the atmosphere, but we are getting fans in that way. Kids really enjoy it.
It would certainly help if we had better facilities that were more family oriented. We've got limited facilities, limited toilet facilities, particularly the ladies rooms, and it is difficult to cater for families with that.
We do the best we can with what we have and the fact that we got the Family Excellence Award is a testament to that. We are concentrating very much on the young people and making sure our fans of the future are there. That is one of the priorities I had when I came in.
12. Is there any real chance in the next five years of moving to a new ground?
I think if we got away in five years, that will be the absolute best-case scenario, and you'd be extremely lucky. I've yet to see anything happen in the best-case scenario around here so I'm not counting on it. Keep your fingers crossed on that but I think it's a long slog in terms of doing that.
13. Has there been any consideration to building at Loftus Road? What is the true and strategic plan for the site?
We looked at a number of scenarios but it's extremely difficult. Generally, you need at least ten hectares to work with and ours is only 5.4, so no matter how much you can try to rework something, it’s very difficult to pour a pint into a half-pint glass! I've seen various schemes but it’s extremely difficult.
14. What stage are we at with Heston? What time frame do we expect to move there? And have we had any planning permission for upgrading the buildings yet? And also, are we aiming to get a Cat One Academy once Heston is complete?
We announced completion of the purchase on 2nd December and planning is ongoing. There are no major issues that we anticipate on that front.
15. Why did we decide to build a training ground and not a new stadium at Heston?
First and foremost, a training ground. The lease was running out on Harlington and we needed a permanent base and one not reliant on a lease. When your game plan is to develop players, you need the right environment to do it. In any event, the infrastructure isn't set up to build a stadium there, I don't think you'd ever get planning permission to do it.
Regarding Academy Cat status, my advice to the Board is I don't see the benefit of going for Category One anytime in the near future. Category Two gives you a good games programme and we have the infrastructure in place to deal with that. Cat One requires housing on site for scholars and I don't think that takes us that much further forward to do things like that. Category Two is fit for purpose for us.
16. If we have no luck with the Linford Christie Stadium could we build a stadium at the existing training ground (Harlington) when we move to the new one?
No, we don't own it. It's owned by Imperial College who have absolutely no desire to sell it and, again, from an infrastructure standpoint, getting to and from there would be a nightmare because there’s no real public transport links and only one road in and out.
Also, it's a Greenfield site so there's no realistic way we would get planning permission for it at the moment.
17. How much more time will we hang on with Hammersmith before we say enough is enough, we're leaving into another area?
Well, let's be realistic, and I don't think I'm giving away state secrets – Hammersmith & Fulham know there aren't a whole lot of other choices out there right now. So they can afford to play the long game. We think we owe it to the fans and the local community to do everything we possibly can to stay in the borough. So that's got to be the number one priority but if we can't, then we would have no choice but to shift gears and look further afield.
18. Clearly our only way to financially cope is to be a nurture and sell club. What is going to be in place in terms of scouting, etc?
We have a scouting system in place right now that covers the UK and Ireland pretty extensively. We have had people in Europe as well. We've been waiting to hear what the scenario is in regards to Brexit in regards to work permit requirements. Once that pans out, then we'll have an idea in terms of what are the actual geographical areas outside of the UK and Ireland that we need to address. But within the UK and Ireland, certainly we have it
covered very, very well.
And that has borne fruit when you look at the signings of players like Conor Masterson, Charlie Kelman, Lyndon Dykes, Rob Dickie, McCauley Bonne and so on. With Dykes now being Scotland’s No.9 I’m sure there are some big clubs in Scotland scratching their heads and wondering how that one slipped through. So in term of what our scouting department is turning out, it's actually doing a very good job.
19. Do you think as a hangover from the old days, that other clubs inflate their valuations of players that we show an interest in?
Yes, definitely. That still happens. Absolutely. But also that happens if people think you have a lot of money because you sold a player, the price goes up as well. So you have to manage that perception of how much money people think you have.
20. Are players’ agents a help or a hindrance when it comes to new contracts, etc?
They are just a necessary evil in the modern game. All you can do is work with them. You have no choice. I've worked with clubs where owners have said to just ignore the agent and go straight to the player. It doesn't work, it does not work. You have to go through the agent, whether you like it or not – and that agent is always going to get his pound of flesh.
21. Why are most transfer dealings involving QPR listed as ‘fee undisclosed’?
See the answer two questions up! If anything does get reported, I'm praying it gets underreported, I would much rather have other clubs thinking we have less money than what we have because the second someone thinks you’ve got cash the price of your targets has just gone through the roof!
We could easily get the real value of a sale out there when it is under-reported and fans aren’t happy but I've always said, I am not here to win a popularity contest. I don't do social media, so I don't care what people are saying about me but there are some people in the club who do have social media accounts and they want to get it out there. The last thing I want out there is we’ve sold a player for a club record, I want to keep it quiet, I want to keep it as low key as possible. I'm perfectly happy to take the shots from the fans because my job is to do the best I can for the club and if that means taking a couple of shots from people saying I don't know what I'm doing, I'm fine with that. As long as I know that the money's been allocated in the right way and we're doing the right things with it, that’s what matters to me.
22. What is the club's position regarding Premier League proposals, restructuring and shifting of power to top 6 for ten pieces of silver for the EFL?
I think football does need a restructuring, it depends on what they're actually looking at because that idea has never been fully explained. It's been kicked down the road. Also, the top six changes. I know the top six would love to think that they're there forever but the top six when I came to this country 23 years ago was a very different top six to what it is now.
Things change so people need to be really careful about that. I don't believe in maintaining the status quo and allowing clubs to insulate themselves in positions, I think that would be wrong. But if the top six were driving commercial contracts, for the benefit of everybody, then I have no issue with it as long as everybody benefits. It just depends on what they're talking about and how it goes forward.
Whether you like that idea or not, at least if nothing else it has generated a strategic review.
23. Do you think clubs should be let off FFP rules this season?
No, you have to make allowances for the current situation and the loss of revenues. Nobody could have foreseen this but you can quantify those. You can't give away a blank cheque just to skirt around the rules because people would take advantage of that and that will be wrong for the people who really tighten their belts.
22. How are QPR coping financially without paying fans and how long can we continue like this?
Well, the reality is if the owners stopped funding the business we'd stop tomorrow. It's that simple. We wouldn't cope without fans, we'd have zero revenue coming in other than the central deals, which don't even come close to paying the bills. We sold players which helped us somewhat but it's got nowhere near to the amount it takes to run the club. Without the shareholder funding, we'd be out of business tomorrow.
23. Have the club ever considered having their own TV channel, bringing in some extra revenue and keeping fans up to date with everyday events?
We have QPR Plus, but that still doesn’t generate a ton of revenue. It does okay. It's very expensive to produce your own TV channel and unless there was a huge demand for it, it wouldn't pay for itself.
24. Are the fans doing their bit by subscribing to QPR Plus to watch the games and bringing in revenue?
Retail revenue and streaming revenue are one of the few things we have going for us right now, so yes, very much so. We appreciate the fans tuning in and not tuning into pirate streams because that just takes money out of the club's coffers.
Also, some fans who were able to left their season ticket money with the club and all that is hugely appreciated.
25. Do you think the broadcasters have too much influence over the game as a whole?
No, whether it's football or in any aspect of life, money buys influence. The broadcasters pay a lot of money so they are going to have a lot of influence. There's no doubt about it that the two go hand in hand.
26. Is the feeling in the Boardroom the same as amongst the fans that Sky Sports really don't like us as a club?
All that we do for the community and despite that, they are always negatively reporting on us.
I think that's not just Sky Sports. And it's not just whether it's a like or dislike for QPR. It's more the fact that negativity sells.
Community stories are a nice thing to run, but is that really going to make them money? They love controversy. All media love controversy. So the more controversy there is, the more they like it. I don't personalise it. It is irritating as hell sometimes but you have to recognise the beast for what it is. They do like controversy.
27. Assuming we return to fans attending may I ask if a TV broadcaster chooses a game for live coverage, do the clubs have any say when the game is changed to a different day or different kick off time?
Fans lose money having paid rail fares, booking hotels, taking annual leave etc.
No, we do not have a say. It's basically because the leagues sign up to a contract and that's a contractual obligation. Up until the COVID situation obviously with no fans coming in, Sky would give us at least six weeks’ notice so that should help fans out in terms of letting them plan their travel.
28. Do you or any others read the social media posts made by people on various QPR sites?
I do not do any social media whatsoever. Do others do it? Yes. There are people around the club who tend to be a lot more prone to reading the social media posts than I am. In terms of the people that are required to read the social media posts, that would be my media department who keep an eye on things and appraise me of what's going on on social media without the emotional reaction of the posts that get on there.
The problem I have with social media and why I don't do it is the immediacy of it. People can put something out and unfortunately it also means someone can immediately reply, that's usually where people get themselves into trouble. It's been pointed out by a couple of people that sometimes I do have a short fuse so I think it's probably best I don't do social media. But if there is ever an issue, I have a media department that does keep me informed of what's going on.
29. What was the bar bill in that pub in Holland and do you regret saying ‘I’ll pay the tab’? Would you ever consider doing the same in the Coningham?
I remember having a couple of pints in that bar. I remember talking to one of the guys from the Norwegian R’s, who made one of the funniest comments I've heard when I was in the Gents. He walked in and said, ‘This is probably not the best place to say this, but I have to say you've got balls!’
I still find that hilarious to this day. I went upstairs and had this beer that was 14%. I' don't remember anything after that!
Thank you for all the questions. I hope you find the answers informative and thanks for getting in touch with me. Keep safe everyone and I look forward to seeing you back at the stadium soon.

 

Think Kiwi has hacked your account pal

 

I will try and find the link?

 

Is that better?

 

I'm not reading it again!

 

I spent 10 minutes doing that! At least read point 13.