I was willing to give Bates a chance to the end of this season to right the ship and make our club financially secure, but his handling of our players is not a good sign. Financial security is one thing, playing in the Conference another. How on earth we allowed Beckford to leave after a 30-goal season is beyond me. Did Bates really save us money? Not when Everton then sell him for £3m!! Now he sells Howson rather than extend his contract, and the problem I have with this is that Bates' track record with transfer funds coming in is...well...non existent. The fee is reported to be around £2m but it doesn't matter, Grayson won't see a penny. I expect White will probably also not get a new deal, Clayton will be sold in the Summer along with Snods, and Leeds will continue to sign free transfers. When last have we spent £1m on a player? Where did the Delph £6m go, and the Schmeichel money? Ken Bates has found the weak spot amongst Leeds supporters, they live in fear of financial disaster following the disaster created by Pistol Pete. Yes, we most certainly don't want to go back to those days, but we also want to see our team back in the Prem, and that means investment in the playing squad not the East Stand. What's the point of putting money into concrete when you can't sell the tickets? The sale of Howson could well be the final straw that unites the Leeds faithful against Bates, Harvey, Grayson, Fry and anyone else who make up this blood sucking regime. Unless of course we suddenly sign a quality player for £2m. Don't hold your breath though.
Our club is broken from the inside out! Lees, Clayton,Snoddy and McCormack will be next. Bates leave take that useless git Harvey with u and sorry as for Grayson u have no balls... Full clear out
In 2009, Snodgrass signed a new 4 year deal at the club after his debut season for us. Now, there's very little likelihood that he'd sign a new deal. Now he's fulfilled his potential and is a star for the team, with Premier League clubs interested. I bring this up, because the club have waited until Howson and White had a year left of their contracts before starting negotiations. Had we opened talks with both these players in 2010 after we'd got promoted to the Championship, they'd have signed. But we left it until they proved themselves at the Championship level before trying to tie them down. The same can be said of Johnson. It's up to the manager to see the ability that players have and say whether or not they think they can play at a higher level. Grayson didn't see the ability that Johnson, White and Howson had until too late. We could have got them tied down to new deals before they'd proved themselves at Championship level. Once a player has impressed in the Championship, Premier League clubs come calling.
To be fair, the other Leeds directors have not supported Bates for sometime, they are like all of us, just waiting till the **** of human being dies.
What, Yvonne Allen, Lorimer and Shaun Harvey? If they wanted him out, they wouldn't be making apologies for him on such a systematic basis. They're as much a part of it as he is. Gutless drones who aren't doing their jobs properly.
