Morning Everyone

Morning Everyone,

So, what is everyones thoughts on the three first signings we have made?

Have Leeds hit your expectations?

Are you disappointed?

Who should come in next.

LUST had a meeting last night. This is what happened :-

Brick Walls
LUST were asked when the last time they had had meaningful contact with the Club’s board was. Gary Cooper responded:

The last meaningful contact I had with the Leeds United Board was when Mr Harvey kindly told us he would only sell tickets to whoever he wished to. Other than that, was probably Mr. Bates’ last diatribe about the club where he called us “rude” “ignorant” and… “a camel”. I’m not sure what he meant by that – many people ask! In terms of meaningful, the last meaningful contact I had with Ken Bates was when he called me “an enemy of Leeds United”.
We had an interesting conversation with Peter Lorimer before the last game of the season outside the Pavilion. Mr. Lorimer made an offer to us that he would like to come to one of our meetings and address us all. We wrote to Mr. Lorimer and thanked him very much for his kind offer and openly invited him to any meeting at a time and date of his choosing … he hasn’t answered.
​

The Trust then went on to mention a conversation with stewards after their “end of season party” in the newly refurbished East Stand:

The debrief the stewards got before the event was that we were all going to be classic hooligans. …We went there made some noise and blew balloons.
​

One audience member mentioned that the stewards had confiscated one of the Trust’s balloons off his eight year-old son. Presumably, this is not then one of the regular children to phone club-owned Yorkshire Radio and proclaim what a nice man Mr. Bates is!

Motives
Gary Cooper gave his personal opinion on Ken Bates’ motives as chairman of Leeds:

I don’t think Ken Bates is in it for the glory of Leeds United. I think Ken Bates is in it for the [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]glory[/FONT][/FONT]of Ken Bates. And fair play to him – that doesn’t make him right, wrong, left, right up or upside-down.
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LUST also drew upon the research of some of their more financially-minded volunteers to echo ourown conclusions on the accounts:

You don’t need to be [an expert]: it’s quite clear to see that there are cashflow issues at Leeds United.
A lot of businesses in administration are profitable businesses. One of the biggest killers of businesses are cash-flow problems.
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The Trust also mentioned the apparent necessity of a £975,000 loan from Outro Limited (connected to Mr. Bates) to the club to avoid deficit in the 2010-11 accounts. This was in a season the club finished 7th, held [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]outstanding[/FONT] talent very cheaply on the books (Max Gradel, Jonny Howson, Robert Snodgrass, Bradley Johnson, Kasper Schmeichel), and the year before the club embarked on a development project costing over £5m. An audience member noted the coincidence of the sale of Kasper Schmeichel and Max Gradel in the summer after the accounts.[/FONT]
The Supporters Trust then mentioned the loss-making companies owned by Leeds United, for example Yorkshire Radio and the Pavilion. LUST concluded:

The football side of the business is a cash-cow that is funding numerous loss-making businesses.
The football side is funding failing businesses.
​

Vision
LUST’s chair said:

I came across an obscure channel on Sky recently, called Leeds TV. What struck me about the channel representing this city, was the person representing Leeds United was one Jonny Howson. I think that says it all, really.
[Regarding the recent approach from disillusioned players] We wondered should we give the players a voice the same way as the fans, the council and West Yorkshire Police. Should we give them a voice and be criticised? ‘greedy bloody players, stupid bloody board’. We made a judgement call and we stick by it.
We would like to back up the current players with former players and staff … who do not have the worry of a financial penalty.
We felt with potential owners that we would have to show them our mission statement. But a lot of people from a long way away had already read our mission statement, were impressed, and approached us.
The mission statement is a joint piece of work from people who wear that badge on their shirt, on their hearts, etc.
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LUST concluded that the mission statement is at the heart of the Supporters Trust and so it must reflect the community which put the statement together. They act according to the wishes expressed by members and will continue to do so.

Buyers
The Supporters Trust said that they had spoken to three separate parties regarding investment or takeover of Leeds. They mentioned that there had been firm offers as far back as 2007, which had all been rebuffed by Bates. There were two approaches in February and March of this year by at least two different groups. There are still numerous groups interested in buying Leeds, and all the parties LUST have spoken to appear to be in a better position than Mr. Bates to take the club forward. All the parties LUST spoke to see the repurchase of Elland Road as a priority.
LUSTthen announced:

When Mr Bates told us there was no money in Yorkshire that wasn’t exactly true. We’ve had some very prominent businessmen and interested parties come from both Leeds and the wider Yorkshire area, as well as groups from all over the world. It’s a best kept secret that Leeds United is a very attractive club and a very attractive brand to buyers.
The one thing each and every person we’ve spoken to has said is that they want to buy Leeds United. They have no interest in working with Mr Bates – that is no criticism of him. But no-one wants to invest money in him. They want invest money to buy the club. Period.
The increasing majority [of LUST members] have said they want to see a change at the top.
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The Litigation Game
LUST confirmed that they understand that there are two more lawsuits to come. Melvyn Levi will take Bates and Leeds to court again, while Bates (on behalf of Leeds) has decided he wants to sue West Yorkshire Police. The Weston case in Jersey, which “Ken Bates told us was a wonderful victory” is stayed and has been transferred to [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]London[/FONT] High Court, from Jersey. LUST believe Mr Bates probably didn’t want that to happen because different types of evidence can now be used which will probably be more helpful to Weston. These two actions probably spell more financial bad news for Leeds, especially given even [FONT=inherit !important][FONT=inherit !important]successful[/FONT][/FONT] court cases have still cost Leeds very significant sums in the past.[/FONT]
Meanwhile, The Supporters Trust have had a reply from Ofcom regarding Mr. Bates’ leaking of personal information of LUST board members on the radio (which has parallels to his behaviour against Mr. Levi). Ofcom has made a preliminary decision but LUST are not allowed to disclose the specifics.
Companies House has also taken issue with Leeds’ accounts following ‘remarkable errors’. They have asked Leeds to re-submit the accounts. A set of accurate accounts acknowledged by Companies House will help any due diligence.

 

Morning Elland

The LUST stuff is an interesting read but I really have no opinion to give. Its more a waiting game at the moment

On the three players we have signed. I wouldn't say I'm dissapointed but I would like another signing of Pearce's potential. Obviously things are starting to happen though which is good news

 

I'm liking the players brought in so far, and thats only £400k spent as the last 2 are freebies. As soon as Warnock gets his hands on some cash I can see some quality coming in as well. Lets hope the deal is done and bates fooks off soon, otherwise we will struggle.

 

You talk a lot of sense Josh regarding the signings. I say well done LUSH on the good work you are doing...

 

Who would you like to see come in next Doc?

 

It's more than an interesting read Josh, it backs up exactly what some of us have been saying for months about how badly the club is being run financially now.

What's also not on there is the bit that there are many many potential buyers. If one set of talks fail, there will always be the next bidders.

It is clear bates has to sell. The lack of cash and income is crippling bates, but the 11 different offshore companies causes some real headaches on due diligence as do the accounts.

Has bates actually won a court case and brought money in to lufc or has every case actually cost money?

One other bit is about Levi. He was part of the Yorkshire Consortium with Krasner and caused so many problems with their firesales and lack of acumen. Am glad these cases are costing him a fortune swell

 

Morning all. On incomings, bottom line remains - In Warnock I trust.

Any news on outgoings, or can we look forward to a PP attack - Paynter & Poleon!!!

 

It is great to see LUST getting off there arses and doing stuff

 

Boggers NOOOooooo Not Paynter

 

You know how I meant that statement, there's not much I can add to that as a fan and its more just about waiting. I'm an inpatient person though and this is annoying

 

Leeds Utd. will be a different team next year under NW, he will get the best out of players and gel a family atmosphere within the players, i would love him to snatch Joe Barton from QPR, Hughes is no mug, he knows Barton is a good player or he would of dumped him already, i think NW can handle Barton.
Not one of us has seen whats been coming in players, in Warnock i personally trust.....MOT

 

OMG I thought you were joking on the other thread. The guy is a liability, just ask the fans of ANY club he has ever been at. He's not even that good, howson far outplayed him in the friendly against Newcastle last season as well

And regardless of what people say Warnock isn't that good at handling big ego players and he failed to handle barton at QPR so why could he do it at leeds. I really can't imagine warnock going anywhere near him now anyway, couple that with his HUGE ban as well and its just a very silly move

 

Whites, I too would love to see Barton in a Leeds shirt. But I really doubt we could afford him. The other thing of course is that he's banned for a number of games. So doubt anyone would want him until that's over.

 

think you'll find that warnock handled barton well at QPR..he played weel under NW and wasn't the bad boy that he has been since or was previously

 

And there was nothing to do with huge unrest in the dressing room because he did what he wanted. Or anything to do with the whole huge argument that he had with Warnock and how he basically said he was a **** manager. Yea handled him really well

 

that was at the end of warnocks reign..during the championship season it was all good

 

not every player is gonna like a manager and vice versa

 

Yea it was all good in the championship season.... Mainly because Barton wasn't there

 

Is it just me that reads everything that the LUST publishes as a petty little effort to try get one over on Bates? Sly little comments that are unnecessary? I agree with what they are doing but they need to change their approach IMO they don't need to slag Bates off 95% of people know what he's like.

 

ha ha yeah am thinking about newcastle