Appointment for Ex-QPR Chairman

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Commonwealth Secretariat - Kevin David McGrath BSc is appointed as an Ambassador for the Commonwealth Youth Programme
June 25th 2010

Kevin McGrath is Senior Adviser to F&C REIT Asset Management, (www.fandcreit.com) and was previously Managing Director of the investment management company which has global property investment portfolio of over £8.5 billion and with offices in London, Dublin, Munich, Stockholm, and Mumbai and has now been appointed as an Ambassador for CYP

Kevin McGrath is Senior Adviser to F&C REIT Asset Management, (www.fandcreit.com) and was previously Managing Director of the investment management company which has global property investment portfolio of over £8.5 billion and with offices in London, Dublin, Munich, Stockholm, and Mumbai.

Prior to F&C REIT Kevin was a founding equity Partner in REIT Asset Management, a highly regarded property investment, finance, and asset management partnership, which managed over £3.5 billion of commercial property around the world and had offices in London, Munich, Tel Aviv, Stockholm, and Mumbai.

From its commencement in 1996 to its merger with Foreign and Colonial in 2008 Kevin was directly responsible for over £10 billion of property investment acquisitions and disposals at REIT.

Immediately prior to REIT Kevin was Senior Investment Surveyor with Hermes, the Fund Manager for the British Telecommunication and Post Office Pension Schemes. Before that he worked for Ealing, Westminster, and the Greater London Councils in various property related positions. And before that he worked in manufacturing and banking.

Kevin graduated from the Polytechnic of the South Bank with a BSc (Distinction) in Estate Management. He also obtained a post graduation Diploma in Property Investment (Award Winner) from the College of Estate Management.

Kevin is a Chartered Surveyor who has worked in the property industry for 25 years and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Investment Property Forum, the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors and is a Freeman of the City of London.

Kevin was a candidate for the European Parliament 2009 elections, a candidate for the North East Hampshire parliamentary constituency at the 2005 General Election and for Ealing Council in the 2006 London Council Elections.

Kevin is Chair of the McGrath Charitable Trust; Trustee of the Guildford School of Acting; Trustee of the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust; Trustee and Treasurer of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith; Trustee of the National Education Trust; Trustee of The Prison Advice and Care Trust; Trustee of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship; Trustee of the Howard league for Penal reform; Chair of QPR Ladies Football Club; Founder and Trustee of Clink Restaurant Charity (www.theclinkonline.com); Chair of Islamix Foundation (www.islamixonline.com); UCLH Development Board member and a School Governor of Ellen Wilkinsen School for Girls.

Kevin served as a Commissioner on the Howard League for Penal Reforms Commission on English Prisons Today under the leadership of Cherie Booth (www.prisoncommission.org.uk).

Kevin is also Proprietor of the Tribune Magazine, a well known and respected left of centre political publication; a former Chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club plc and Editorial Board member of Property Week magazine.

He has an unblemished track record of success in business and a strong personal commitment to public service.

www.thecommonwealth.org/news/225436/kevin_david_mcgrath_bsc.htm

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Flashback to June 2004

BBC

QPR chief stands down


Big changes have been made at Loftus Road
Nick Blackburn has resigned as Queens Park Rangers chairman.
His future has been in doubt since the recent resignation of chief executive David Davies.

Blackburn was former Rangers owner Chris Wright's deputy before taking over as chairman when Wright quit the club in 2001.

Davies, Blackburn and company chairman Ross Jones are leaving as part of a shake-up at Loftus Road following disagreements at board level.


Blackburn told the club's website: "I will always be proud that I was chairman of the football club when it achieved promotion.

"And I particularly enjoyed my close personal and professional relationship with manager Ian Holloway."

Blackburn was effectively at the helm through all of the club's worst times and, while we don't doubt his professed commitment to QPR, we will not miss him

Justin Pieris
QPR supporters' trust

QPR director Bill Power will replace Blackburn, with fellow director Kevin McGrath appointed acting plc chairman.


Justin Pieris of the QPR supporters' trust, QPR 1st, welcomed news of Blackburn's departure.

Blackburn angered fans by considering a merger with Wimbledon and was also associated with the club's slide into administration.

Pieris said: "Nick Blackburn was our last link with the years of waste that followed QPR's relegation from the Premiership.

"As Chris Wright's deputy, he was effectively at the helm through all of the club's worst times and, while we don't doubt his professed commitment to QPR, we will not miss him.

"His attempt to broker the merger of Wimbledon FC and Rangers was probably the single act that cost him most trust amongst supporters.

"He never regained that trust, deservedly so."

news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/3836557.stm

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And an AGM Report - With then PLC Chair McGrath on Boardroom Blues
www.boardroomblues.co.uk/agmopenforum.htm

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And could find a myriad of reports re the "Boardroom Coup"

The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road Tweet this

David Conn, sports news reporter of the year The Guardian, Wednesday 19 October 2005 Article historyWe know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since.

Now, after a string of boardroom showdowns, the club is run by Gianni Paladini, an Italian former players' agent and, increasingly, Antonio Caliendo, the one-time Mr Big of Italian agents who in 1991 received a 10-month suspended prison sentence for attempted corruption. QPR are mostly owned by two New York-registered companies, Barnaby and Wenlock, who operate from Monte Carlo.

"I have fallen in love with Queens Park Rangers, its name and history," Caliendo told me, through an interpreter, this week. "We want to rebuild it both as a team and a business."

Caliendo, 61, found early success selling encyclopaedias door-to-door, rose up the ranks of the De Agostini publishing group, then in 1979 fixed what were thought to be the first personal endorsements by an Italian footballer, for the international playmaker Giancarlo Antognoni. Caliendo claims that in the 1990 World Cup final between West Germany and Argentina, he represented 12 of the 22 players on the pitch, but he also dates his troubles in Italy from the same year, after his client Roberto Baggio's move from Fiorentina to Juventus, which provoked riots by Fiorentina fans.

In 1991, officers from the Italian tax authorities raided Caliendo's offices, he was arrested, then on May 30 he did a deal, accepting a 10-month suspended prison sentence for attempted corruption. Caliendo told me he is intensely proud of his record and defends his reputation for "moral integrity" absolutely. He said he accepted the conviction only on his solicitor's advice, to secure a quick release from prison, and considered suing the government.

A year later, in July 1992, an investigation into the collapse of the Italian club, Hellas Verona, led to Caliendo, among others, being arrested and remanded in custody, but, after a long investigation, he was not prosecuted. "I was never convicted of anything in relation to Verona," Caliendo said. "Several high-profile figures were attacked by the Revenue in Italy at that time."

Caliendo said he is ready to "accept new challenges", and, like Paladini, a long-term associate, has given up his agent's licence to become fully involved at Loftus Road. Caliendo is shortly expected to become the club's new chairman. It is expected he will pass the Football League's "fit and proper person test" for directors, because his criminal conviction dates from long enough ago to be regarded as spent.

QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division.

In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud.

In July 2003 a QPR fan and businessman, Bill Power, born and bred in Shepherd's Bush, bought some unissued shares and joined the board; QPR rallied and, with Ian Holloway their manager, won promotion to the Championship.

Gianni Paladini told me that, like Caliendo, he was looking for a new challenge, and examined Port Vale and Derby - which also has a loan from the ABC Corporation, £15m - then eventually offered £670,000 for 10% of QPR. The club, facing another red tax bill, accepted the investment hungrily.

This barely staunched the financial problems, however, so then, arranged by Caliendo, the two New York-registered vehicles, Barnaby and Wenlock, paid £1.7m for 29.9% of QPR, most of which went straight to the tax man.

In August, following boardroom upheavals, Power quit, Mark Devlin was made redundant as chief executive, and the last London-based director, Kevin McGrath, resigned last month. QPR's directors now are Paladini, the former Brazil captain Dunga, representing Barnaby, and Gualtiero Trucco, a 34-year-old based in Monte Carlo, representing Wenlock.

The club and its fans are reeling from a series of revelations, particularly about ballooning agents' fees paid out since Paladini became more closely involved. In the six months to June 30 2004, the Football League's list of agents' payments show QPR paid just £12,000 altogether. Then, from July 1 2004 to June 30 this year, QPR paid £320,935 in fees.

Many of the payments were to agents who are friends or former associates of Paladini. Brian Hassall, a Midlands-based agent, was involved in a long-running legal claim against Paladini, which was eventually settled, and he was paid the highest single fee, £60,000, when QPR signed the Danish striker Marc Nygaard at the beginning of this season.

Paladini told me the payment was absolutely legitimate and not connected to his legal battle: "Brian and I settled it, now we are friends, and of course I deal with people I know. Ian Holloway was looking for a big lad, Nygaard was at Brescia, I checked him out with Roberto Baggio, who said he would be perfect for English football. When you sign a player, you pay agents, that's how football works. Now, after all this fuss, we will try not to do it in future, but all the deals were above board and in the best interests of QPR."

All the agents' payments are understood to have been registered with the League, as required by the rules, except one, £10,000 paid to Paladini's close friend Mel Eves when QPR signed Dean Sturridge from Wolves. Paladini explained that Eves was acting for QPR as a dealmaker and so the payment did not need to be registered.

The League is understood to have discussed QPR's situation with the FA's financial advisory unit, but neither the FA nor the League is taking any action currently. "We are monitoring the situation," a League spokesman said.

Paladini told me that he, Caliendo and the investors, are the only game in town: "What have we done wrong? Put money in to save this club? We want the club to succeed, then everybody, including the investors, will be happy."

Talks have begun with a developer about possibly relocating from Loftus Road and building a new stadium in White City, which may clear QPR's financial problems and make them money. Paladini said he could understand, "100%", fans worrying that, in the hands of former agents, their club might be used to make money by moving players in and out.

But he said: "Nothing under the table is going on. If anybody thinks there is, let them bring the evidence. But, actually, isn't it better to have people in who know football and have made a living out of it? Clubs got into a mess partly because rich people, who knew nothing about football, put money in - and they got ripped off."

[e-mail]. Additional research: John Hooper.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005/oct/19/sport.comment