Yr Ago: BP's Recovery Update

[QPR Report]

Recovery Update re Bill Power from his son, Andrew (Squad #40, a few years back ) BP is out of the hospital and back home. Nice to hear some good news:

To quote his son, Andrew:
"[C]onsidering what he had done on tuesday it is amazing
...He is up and about, and to talk to him you would not think anything had happened"
"...He's very tired and the bones broken in his chest for surgery are nagging him a bit but he is a million times better than when he came out of the hospital after the plane incident"
"Once again thanks for yours and everybody elses kind words"


Hopefully the gift QPR will give BP is assuring Championship football this season and a promotion challenge next season. (and if the club has any interest in having a Life President....)

[eastpaddoknutta]

best wishes mr power!
hope to see u again soon

[QPR Report]

Flashback to the Summer of 2004

[Posted on Dave Barton's Queens Park Rangers Site]

"QPR fan Bill Power has been named as the new chairmen of QPR after the departure of Nick Blackburn from Loftus Road. Power invested money in the club a year ago to get a place on the board and has continued to put money into the club when they have needed it during the last twelve months.

Power tried to help the club sing Lee Cook after his loan spell in 2002/03 season but the club were unable to get their man. It is somewhat ironic that Powers first signing now he is chairmen was Lee Cook on a Bosman.

Bill also won an auction last year to pay for his son Andrew Power to have a place in the first team squad. His son had a squad number all season and was able to join the team for training and appeared in the team photo.

Power is a popular choice among fans to be the new Chairmen and he has been quick to set our future aims for the club as well as pledging to run the club sensibly. He told the Hammersmith Times last week that: “The aim is to challenge for the Premiership within three years and I honestly believe this club is capable of that. I think we can push for promotion in time, although I have to say I also think this season is going to be pretty tough."

“We’re going into a difficult division and are going to have to dig in. Then, by the following year, I’m hopeful that we’ll have more money coming in and will be able to push on from there. But the Premiership is definitely the aim. I believe we can do it. To achieve that we’re going to have to get hold of things off the pitch and keep improving on it. That’s not going to happen overnight."

“This season is going to be difficult but the aim is to end it feeling that we’ve improved and are a club on the up.”

“It was vital we got promoted and now it’s vital that we’re sensible and keep building properly, We will be keeping within a budget and are going to be very careful. I think that’s important. What we could really do with is a good cup run, which would bring in money we’re not budgeting for and would be a big bonus.

“Everyone’s ambitious. I certainly am. But I think everyone understands the need to get the finances sorted out first and foremost.”

Power is very modest about his new role as Chairmen and he find it hard to believe he has the job after watching the team as a fan for so many years. He said: “It’s difficult to believe because it’s happened so quickly, Someone said to me last week that I was part of QPR history now and I laughed, but I suppose it’s true. I don’t know what to make of it really. “It doesn’t seem real to think I’m in the same job Jim Gregory was when I was watching us play in the old Third Division.

“If you’d said to me in the days I used to look at the ground from my bedroom window on the estate that I’d be chairman one day, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s a big responsibly though and one I take very seriously. I want to do what’s right by QPR.”

Mananger Ian Holloway welcomed the appointment of bill Power as Chairmen and spoke of his optimism for the future on QPR World. He said: "I'm looking forward to having a lot more to do with Bill. He's always been there for us and I can't thank him enough. It's exciting, he'll have plenty to learn, but his heart's in the right place and I can only see us moving forward."

Power's first task was to appoint a new chief executive and he moved fast to appoint Mark Devlin in the role. Mark was at QPR in the Marketing department for a few years before taking on the Chief Exec role at Swindon.Mark was a big success at the County Ground taking over a club in big financial trouble and he made cuts and helped turn the club around out of administration and into one which came close to promotion last season. Mark is a QPR fan so he was delighted to take the role and Mark told the official site of is delight in joining QPR again. ....
www.queensparkrangersfc.com/newsjuly7.htm


And...
Irish Abroad - Power behind QPR
By Ian McCullough

It has often been said, usually in dreamy tones, by many a football supporter, that they would give money to the club they love and support when they win the lottery.

London Irishman Bill Power is someone who has fulfilled the first part of that dream although the money he has invested in Queens Park Rangers is his very own hard-earned cash and not the type made by buying a lucky dip ticket from the local supermarket.

While London football is now dominated by the nouveau-riche Chelsea courtesy of the billions of Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich and the charismatic, free-flowing on their day, but enigmatic Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, there was a time when QPR were the talk of the capital.

At a time when Irish emigration to London was rife during the late 1960s and through to the ’70s, many settled in west London areas such as Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush, Kensal Rise and Greenford and the team whose ground sits just off the Uxbridge Road became the focal point for a many of the new settlers in the capital and their offspring.

Power, the son of Wexford parents and an Irish passport holder, was one of the many who were hooked by players such as Rodney Marsh, Les Allen and Mark Lazarus lighting up the pitch that the youngster could see from his bedroom window overlooking Loftus Road from the White City Estate adjacent to the ground.

Forty years on and with memories of Marsh, Stan Bowles, Don Givens, Gerry Francis, Les Ferdinand et al, just that, Power stepped in to help out the club that had been such a huge part of his life.

Less than 10 years after finishing as top London club in the Premiership, Rangers were on the brink of going out of business as they slipped into the third tier of English football for the first time in 40 years.

Years of fecklessness both on and off the pitch had taken the club into administration and the only way it was able to get itself out of the parlous situation was by taking out an ill-advised £10million loan with a little-known Panamanian company ABC Loans.

The repayments were costing the club £1m-a-year in interest alone and after failure to reach the old First Division after a play-off final defeat by Cardiff, the club spent the whole of last season on the verge of slipping back into administration despite an average gate of 16,000 and record season-ticket sales.

Various parties had expressed an interest in putting money into the club, but to no fruition. The reluctance of former chairman Chris Wright to sell his shares to interested parties despite having declared he was no longer interested in the club proved a stumbling block and QPR needed investment ASAP.

Step forward Power, a season-ticket holder of over 20 years and an electrician who made his money by setting up Datasat, a Satellite communication company.

Among their clients are governmental departments from numerous countries, including Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Buckinghamshire-based company are now among the world leaders in their field.

“It was a complete stroke of luck that I got into the business,” he admitted. “I was working as an electrician and I had just moved into a new house and a new family moved in next door and Phil Emmel, who is now my business partner, asked me if I could have a look at some circuit plans for a job he was about to embark on.

“He then asked me to help him out on a few jobs abroad and shortly after we set up the business and were very fortunate just getting in at the right time and we have done well to get where are, thanks to some hard work.”

While business was booming for Bill, the team he followed was not. A family called the Wintons had bought two players for the cash-strapped club so Bill made a phone call to QPR’s former chief executive to offer some further help and ask about the possibility of purchasing another player.

He explained: “Apart from my family, QPR have been the biggest part of my life and something I have dedicated a great deal of my time and support to.

“So I picked up the phone and couldn’t believe it when I was put straight through to chief executive David Davies.

“I made an initial investment of £200,000 which was accepted and was invited to sit in on a couple of board meetings, but I realised shortly after that there were a few things that didn’t make sense.

“There were some steps being taken that were costing us more money than was being brought in, like planning to install a whole new computer network with new equipment for staff, and bringing in even more personnel to an already oversized staff.”

In addition to Power an Italian former football agent Gianni Paladini had also become a shareholder along with another London Irishman Kevin McGrath — a senior partner in an asset management company in the City.

With the club losing money hand over fist, a number of changes had to be made with the first being at the top where senior staff were ousted followed by a number of redundancies.

“Basically I had put my money into the club which was gratefully received but I was being ignored and decisions were being made without my knowledge,” said Bill.

With the new board in place, Power was asked to become chairman of the club.

“It was a great honour to be asked to be chairman and something myself and my family are very proud of but not something I ever envisaged or was aspiring for when I made that phone call last year.”

So with the club’s long-term future looking far rosier than 12 months ago after a tax bill was paid off in the summer and investment being made in players and money available to manager Ian Holloway to spend, optimism is high in W12 after a respectable return to the Coca-Cola Championship.

“I am very confident that we will be back in the Premiership within three years. We have a very long way to go at the moment but we are making the right progress,” he said.

“The loan is still a major millstone around our necks and we looking to get a plan agreed to re-structure the payments as at the minute and hopefully that will be resolved.

“We are also very close to securing a site for a new training ground. This will not come out of club funds and will be a gift to the club and a sign of our intentions.

“Myself, Kevin and Gianni are not in the Abramovich mould, none of us have money to chuck away, but we all believe in what we are doing and, hopefully, that will see us back where we feel we belong.”

www.irishabroad.com/news/irishpost/sport/powerbehindqpr.asp


And BP's Very gracious Post-Boardroom Coup statement

Bill Power
This is the only posting I will be making and, I will not be responding to any questions. Apologies if that is frustrating, but I am sure you will understand.

A lot of things are being said and posted which are wildly off the mark.

As in every board meeting different opinions were expressed, totally normal.

What should be noted is that everybody at that meeting believed they had the interests of QPR in mind. No I didnt agree with everything, but to put things into perspective there was 100% agreement about most of the topics discussed. Obviously I could not comment on the decisions that were made after Kevin and I had to leave the meeting for family reasons and it continued without us.

We are all talking amicably as we must above all else make sure that the club continues its revival.

Everyone of us want only success for the club.

Now what we all ask is that you do your part. When Ollie talks about the effect you have on the team it cannot be underestimated. We all know how unique our ground is when we really get behind the boys. We all remember the feeling around the place the night we beat Oldham in the play-off semi-final and that atmosphere is what we ask you to give us again tonight.

Whoever plays tonight give them your all and you can be sure they will give you the same back.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who has been kind enough to call me, text me and mail me. I have been overwhelmed by the many kind words that I have received and find myself truly humbled.

[cpr]

Great news, thanks for passimg that on, good luck Bill.

[moriarty]

Good to hear BP's on the way to recovery, all the best

[superckat]

Very good news. He is missed both on this board and at QPR. Hope he is able to talk to us soon.

[Hogan]

Good to hear Bill is at home and well into his recovery.

[QPR Report]

Just to bump for any who didn't visit this board over the weekend!

[Zamoraaaah]

Great news.

All the best Bill.

[ingham]

Glad to hear he's come through it all right!

[scottjones]

All the best Bill

[toboboly]

Mar 1, 2010 12:07:09 GMT scottjones said:

All the best Bill

I don't think your comments are welcome considering your previous utterances on the subject.

Stick to reading up on your history, you need the practice.

[scottjones]

Bill knows i'm a wind up merchant and again, i ask that you dont get involved or question my friendships and/or who i know and how i know them..for you surely assume a heck of a lot

[toboboly]

Considering his son called you an arse I am assuming nothing. I am glad you finally admitted that you are a WUM. Shame you don't do it just for humour but rather out of an insidious character.

[QPR Report]

There's a old newspaper adage ""The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

I think that basic premise can be carried over to the messageboards: Also you don't kick someone when they're sick, or in trouble, and so forth.

And nor should you "kiss up and kick down."

[scottjones]

Mar 1, 2010 12:29:22 GMT toboboly said:

Considering his son called you an arse I am assuming nothing. I am glad you finally admitted that you are a WUM. Shame you don't do it just for humour but rather out of an insidious character.

His son posts on watrbs and is a good egg.

[toboboly]

He doesn't like you. Who can blame him.

[scottjones]

Mar 1, 2010 12:44:04 GMT toboboly said:

He doesn't like you. Who can blame him.

he doesnt know me and neither do you

[eastpaddoknutta]

yeh true maybe scott, but if i saw what u posted and it was about my dad i would be heaving

and he didnt seem to happy with it

imo

[scottjones]

Mar 1, 2010 12:47:24 GMT eastpaddoknutta said:

yeh true maybe scott, but if i saw what u posted and it was about my dad i would be heaving

and he didnt seem to happy with it

imo

im sure bill explained im a wind up merchant where he is concerned

[eastpaddoknutta]

what if someone posted that about your dad scott??? whether u knew them or not?
theres no shame in admiting that u would be very disapointed and not best pleased with the person...

[scottjones]

Mar 1, 2010 12:49:40 GMT eastpaddoknutta said:

what if someone posted that about your dad scott??? whether u knew them or not?
theres no shame in admiting that u would be very disapointed and not best pleased with the person...

Like I said, Bill knows the craic with me. And if Simon didnt understand that or was upset I heartily apologise to him personally.

[QPR Report]

Mar 1, 2010 12:48:13 GMT scottjones said:

Mar 1, 2010 12:47:24 GMT eastpaddoknutta said:

yeh true maybe scott, but if i saw what u posted and it was about my dad i would be heaving

and he didnt seem to happy with it

imo

im sure bill explained im a wind up merchant where he is concerned

THAT reminds me of the scene from Annie Hall!

[eastpaddoknutta]

Mar 1, 2010 12:53:17 GMT scottjones said:

Mar 1, 2010 12:49:40 GMT eastpaddoknutta said:

what if someone posted that about your dad scott??? whether u knew them or not?
theres no shame in admiting that u would be very disapointed and not best pleased with the person...

Like I said, Bill knows the craic with me. And if Simon didnt understand that or was upset I heartily apologise to him personally.

lol thats jokes mike!

[obk]

I can understand that many were upset with Scotts comments regarding Bill when they were made. But lets just allow him to wish Bill well too and if you have something personal to discuss with Scott, please send him a PM instead.

Let us try to keep this thread free from further Scott debate, please.

And finally, speedy recovery Bill and welcome back on here whenever you feel well enough!

[superckat]

Mar 1, 2010 16:30:59 GMT obk said:

I can understand that many were upset with Scotts comments regarding Bill when they were made. But lets just allow him to wish Bill well too and if you have something personal to discuss with Scott, please send him a PM instead.

Let us try to keep this thread free from further Scott debate, please.

And finally, speedy recovery Bill and welcome back on here whenever you feel well enough!

Although I can fully understand feelings running a bit high regarding comments made. I agree with obk

[QPR Report]

Even though I am one of the guilty, I too agree. OBK is a frequently a font of good sense.