Rangers to apply for Category One academy status

QPR will look to raise up to £6.8m through a second bond scheme to help fund the club’s application for Category One academy status later this year.

The club successfully raised a similar amount in 2021 for the construction of the new £20 million training ground at Heston and have set a deadline of February 13 to new investors to make a minimum stake of £500 with the chance to make six percent cash interest and two percent club credit by 2031.

The proceeds of the funds will go towards phase two of the training ground development which will allow the club to achieve the infrastructure requirements set by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company to upgrade from Category Two status.

The new development would see the construction of a new floodlit full-size pitch and stand and an indoor artificial pitch for the use of pre-academy and schoolboy players in addition to Under-10 to Under-16 girls’ age groups..

There are currently 29 clubs in the country that have Category One status – 18 of which are in the Premier League with Derby, Blackburn, Birmingham, Norwich, Leicester, West Brom, Middlesbrough, Stoke, Ipswich and Southampton operating at that level in the Championship.