It really shows how damaging Bates was to our club. Not so long ago Southampton and Norwich were in Lge One, yet both have boards who backed their managers and aimed for the Prem. As it stands right now we can only dream of spending money the way they are!! To date in this window: Southampton - £36m third highest Norwich - £24m How the fcuk can these clubs be so far ahead of us? Oh, of course ... BATES!! Robbing swine!! Leeds have not shown the necessary ambition to get to the Prem. Swansea and Cardiff (yes, two tiny Welsh clubs) were backed financially ... West Ham kept most of their squad and funded a Prem payroll to bounce straight back!! QPR have kept most of their squad, and are even chasing Scott Parker FFS!!! We've all had our say about this transfer window, but in truth there is only one thing for GFH to do ... back the manager financially. Go and get a centre back, a quality midfielder and some width, keep Ross, loan out the rubbish even if it means subsidising 50% of their wages ... and give it a right good go THIS season. Two year plan means fcuk all if you fail in year two. EVERY season must be a promotion chasing season, the longer we fail the further behind we fall. The golden egg has now jumped from £60m a season to £90m ... and here we are struggling to hang on to our best player while trying to cobble together deals that are evaporating with every passing day. Come on GFH ... pull your fingers out!!
Some predicted it almost a year ago mate http://www.thenational.ae/business/...e-house-might-not-have-legs-to-play-for-leeds
I don't believe much GFH say, as for a two year plan, we are going to still be so far away after the first year it isn't worth thinking about. I was glad when Bates left, I wasn't happy when I heard it was an investment bank taking over and nothing has changed my mind that GFH are still not the owners I want running this club.
And in two years gfh have no intention of having anything other than a paltry share in the club if any. They have said so. The plan is clearly to get as many fans through the turnstiles as possible over next eighteen months then leave someone else to pick up the baton
Anyone who thought otherwise just needs to look at what the job of an investment bank is, make it's shareholders money with as little a gamble as possible. They will have a set of rules in place and they will include selling any player if it means a certain % return on their investment
Don't need to be a financial genius to realize they will maximize their return by selling a club in the Prem. The prior ownership was so crooked one never knew which direction they were pointing in or where they were trying to go.
I really think a lot of fans are being quite hard on GFH. If the only chance of us getting to the prem is by being bankrolled then I don't want us to get to the prem, its ridiculous that every team's fans are asking for this to happen to their club, have some pride in the club for god sake. I know GFH are trying to just make a profit on Leeds, its obvious, they're an investment bank. This can however work to our advantage, they have already tried to do things in the best interest of the fans to try get them coming back by dropping ticket prices, sacking off idiot members of the board and so on. If there isn't money available, there isn't money available and you just need to accept it. Its frustrating but the club is steadily improving and I don't think we will be too far off that 2 year plan to be honest, McD is key to that though.
I see they have hooked you in with their words of wisdom Josh 1) There is money available, it just isn't going to be put back into the squad, it will line GFH investors pockets. Sure a percentage will be put back in, a percentage that will keep us safe in this division. 2) You don't honestly believe that GFH dropped ticket prices because they thought the fans were paying too much? It was a business move to generate more income, if they could fill the stadium and keep the prices as high as they were they would have done.
But the team is not improving Josh. It's not. That's all that counts. Were football supportrs and all that counts are the 11 players on the field. I dont care about what deadwood chairmen and cronies have been moved, different ticket pricing structures etc. One way to keep every fan happy and fill the ground is promotion. That cant ever and wont ever happen by selling our best year after year.
Josh, don't think we are asking them to bankroll the club a la Man City and Chelsea, but surely keeping Ross and adding three more players isn't asking too much for a club of our stature? It's crazy to see Southampton spending £36m so far in this window, not counting wages!! Sadly, that is where football is today. We are either in the Prem making big money signings, or we accept our lot and stay where we are, happy in the knowledge that we follow a "real" club with "genuine" supporters. Believe me, Norwich and Saints aren't attracting thousands if plastics now they are in the Prem, nor are Swansea. They will still have their proper supporters, unlike Scum, Chelsea and Arsenal,
believe me they haven't. Everytime they have released a statement I have criticised it purely because there's a lot of words there but nothing is actually said. I'm willing to be more patient with GFH, they have shown some good signs with their actions, I just find it unbelievable that people continually ask for something that obviously isn't gonna happen, if the money becomes available it'll be spent. Personally, I think the team is better than what it was at the end of last season. Thats an improvement, now I'll agree theres not much of an improvement but lets wait and see come the end of the transfer window if anymore players come in. If they sell Ross then that'll be a huge downfall but assuming we keep him (for now) then I think we are steadily improving, off the pitch we have improved no end and that will help.
If our transfer activity to date under gfh is typical of what we can expect in the future, and little reason to suspect otherwise, we will never get close to promotion ever. I wont accept that as a Leeds fan, nor should anyone. Four signings so far, one of them worthwhile and guess what, he cost 1m. If we dont spend money we will forever be signing poor squad players and selling the odd good one we have like it or not. Interestingly, I'll bet if Byram was sold in January, there would still be some finding positives in that
I am just asking for the board to back up the claims they made less than two weeks ago that they are ready to back the manager with two new signings, if not back him then be honest and say "IF" he sells players first. Seriously I am starting to think GFH have taken lessons from Bates
GFH are beginning to sound like some of my ex girlfriends, total head ****ers. They say something, then you spend the next few days trying to work out what they actually mean Does my head in Haigh with his 'big announcement' that we've been waiting weeks for, what's happened with that? A bit more transparency would be good
