Not a chance. It's not Bates that started this, but the ability to exercise one's opinion courtesy of the internet and the openness of information.
Now where have I said that? All I'm saying is, if you like debate, come on Thursday. If you just want to get your jollies by taking potshots at someone who's not around to respond, carry on on here. Go on Thursday & you can challenge what they've said, what they're going to say, and help shape the organisation for the future. We need a voice on the board, and LUST are the best candidates to date. Then again, you could sit on your arses & moan. Dead easy to blame people rather than get involved yourselves!
Bahrain's Gulf Finance House (GFH) said on Sunday it was committed to a multi-billion plan to build Tunisia's first offshore financial centre. Hisham Alrayes, GFH's acting CEO, said Tunisia would become North Africa's leading financial hub once the $3bn Tunis Financial Harbour development was completed. "The expected benefits of TFH are extraordinary for Tunisia, GFH and our investors. We are very much committed to seeing the project through," said Alrayes during talks with Riadh Bettaieb, the Tunisian Minister of Investment and International Co-operation. The meeting was held to discuss progress on the project which is set to comprise four business clusters including investment banking and advisory centre, a corporate centre, a Takaful/insurance hub and the region's first international financial exchange. There will also be a variety of residential and leisure facilities including a marina, a residential complex and an 18-hole championship golf course. During the meeting, Bettaieb reiterated his support for the project, saying the government was committed to ensuring development of the project with GFH. Alrayes added: "Tunisia offers investors high potential for growth, government support, attractive investment terms, security, proximity to Europe, an educated population, a beautiful climate and well maintained public infrastructure. "I see Tunisia becoming the leading Financial and Business Centre in North Africa once development of TFH has been completed." Alrayes said GFH has met a number of contractors and developers and discussed plans for progressing the development and construction of the key buildings. He added that the plan was to focus initially on completing work on the retail district, golf course, show villas and residential units. Tunis Financial Harbour will focus on attracting local, regional and international banks and financial institutions, as well as leading regional Islamic banks and Islamic Investment Funds to the region. Back in 2009, GFH signed an agreement to purchase the land needed for the construction of the $3bn project. The project was first announced in December 2007. A little bit of reading showing the Mickey Mouse type of projects GFH are involved in
I was posing the question WJ - Do you believe everything LUST have told us?? Likewise I don't see where I have torn a defenceless person to bits or taken pot shots at anyone, I have simply debated and questioned obvious grey areas. I asked the same question about the £4m investment earlier to LUST and surprise, surprise I received the answer I was expecting that it is a detail that cannot be answered and an apology that they can't be more specific... I also believe LUST are members of this forum so they are more than welcome to join in any debate
Sorry Ristac, didn't realise it was a question. My fault. The answer is that I have absolutely no idea! It comes down to trust, and I'm putting my faith in them, as I don't believe they have a hidden agenda. I agree that they're far from perfect, and that's one reason I'm looking forward to Thursday - it might get very heated! I just hope they don't disappoint me.... My comment re. LUST being torn to pieces was not specific to you - it's a cumulative thing. Sometimes it's like a pack of dogs going for the kill. And although a couple of LUST luminaries are members of this forum, they rarely visit, so you can't expect an absent man to respond. My main point is that on Thursday there will be no hiding place. There can be no selective taking of questions, or avoidance of answers. I'd also like to state that I can't really take either side of the argument. I have no idea who's spot on, who's misinterpreting etc. And I've not been on top of ever twist & turn, so can't cast things up live some of our avid contributors.
Now, as I had been informed from day one, LUST had nothing at all to do with GFH and their bid to buy out Bates. LUST have just made noise and tried to use the talks to press their claims as a viable party that should have a voice alongside the Leeds United board. Well, they messed up with their "player" statements, and now they have basically admitted their "wait until the take over is done and you will see" stance has been crap. Add to this the £4m injection comment and it becomes clear they really don't have a clue about anything, they are not connected and it all seems a bit self serving. I really cannot trust LUST at all, I think they are a bunch of wind bags who will in future be nothing but trouble makers drowning in their own self importance. I don't want them representing me or the majority of Leeds fans who are not registered with them. Can't see them being taken seriously by owners, so they may as well shut down.
Oh, and remember, I was one of the early joiners, but LUST lost me thanks to their antics and lack of substance.
McCormack confirmed money was put into the club by GFH. Players who cared about the club's direction spoke out, with a rare passion beyond their paypacket. LUST can only reveal certain things or lose their trust with confidential sources. BS has been proven, repeatedly, to have bugger all info and bugger all sources. That's it.
Genuine question - when and where? To be honest, I don't see how any player would have privileged knowledge of this kind of information.
Ross? Seriously? Oh please get real!! The thing is LUST said they introduced "the bidders" to Bates, and they knew what was happening but couldn't say due to blah blah blah. Now they admit having nothing to do with GFH and are questioning their credibility "on behalf of the fans". All I did during this saga was pass on what I'd been told - it was a buyout and not investment, Bates was anti at the start to get his price, LUST were not involved in any way at all even though they claimed to be, negotiations stalled due to a clause around potential future debts. Seems the only people making things up were LUST, shame on them!!! The worst for me was the dressing room "leaks", which I still feel were fabricated and totally unprofessional. I have no issue with people wanting to follow LUST and believe in their leaders, but I moved away after the player "revelations" as it wasn't behaviour in the spirit of caring about the club. It was sensationalism in the style of the Sun or Mirror, lazy journalism and potentially damaging to dressing room morale. Badly thought out self promotion, and so I ended my association with LUST.
Billystatue Brillant and spot on. The player the was a disagrace. But what finished it for me, was the demanding of the potential owners to come out and say something. THats not how business works. Gary cooper needs to go
Billy Exactly my views mate. The stuff supposed to be from players was a massive mistake and totally untrue. If their had been an ounce of truth in it, the rest of the media would have cut and pasted it like they always do. Not even the Sun wanted anything to do with it. We all knew that players would be disalusioned because of lack of ambition, but for LUST to make up that story ...... LUST has a problem, because it sets itself up as a democracy and every fan has an opinion. Just like we will get 4 different opinions on any subject on here when only a dozen people reply. Imagine the problems when there are over 8,000 voices, you will get at least 1,000 different opinions on anything, and before long you have a scrum and nothing meaningful coming out. LUST needs to be organised and a proper commitee agreed upon, and those committee members allowed to speak and make deciisions on behalf of the 8,000. So elect the people who can do the job and let them work for the better of the club and all its fans.
Evidence for players coming to LUST: their statement, other stuff from Snodgrass, McCormack and others about ambition in the press, the fact they provided the onus of truth. Evidence for player statement being made-up: nothing except supposition that newspapers should care, when in fact, the state of this country's media is at an all-time low and little is said about Leeds United at the best of times... and the YEP, Leeds' main coverer, actually did report the player statement. Give your head a shake. They already have a board, and frankly, democracy is **** so I hope it doesn't have to be some kind of demagogic, populist direct democracy type arrangement which will ruin all the organization's principles when the Macrons call for all players to have @twitterwhites on the back of their shirt, or **** like that. Wrong. Pretty much every other takeover has included some kind of disclosure from the prospective bidders. And actually, they have now revealed themselves and their ambitions/reasons for involvement, so LUST were successful on that one, as per usual. And their detractors unsuccessful, as per usual. He directly messaged a Leeds fan posing as a player on Twitter. Said GFH had put millions into the club from what he had heard.
I heard different to that, I certainly never heard that he twittered his knowledge of investment from GFH - More along the lines he was glad of the pending Bates exit. Even if he did twitter about the supposed £4m; "from what he had heard" is more than likely the same story as we heard originating from LUST. If he had inside information he would have used a different phrase, he didn't say "he knows" or "they have" and why would it be GFH when they have only emerged in the last 6 weeks as T/O candidates? Your a sensible guy Jerel, do you honestly believe an investment bank would dish out £4M like that when they have to account for every penny to their Shareholders, I find it hard to believe a Sheikh would do that not alone an investment bank. It is a fabricated story which has so many holes in it that it punches you in the face of falseness. GFH had to announce to their stock exchange their involvement with Leeds Utd and they would have had to announce the £4m injection had they pumped it in already. GFH only held £4m in cash at the end of June http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-Finance-House-shrugs-off-800m-cash-loss.html
