Trust Statement: GFH and the future of LUFC Now that the Football League has made its decision on Massimo Cellino's eligiblity to own Leeds United, the board of LUST feel that answers must come quickly about the future of our club. Our members, and the wider fan base, are understandably concerned about the course the club will now take. When GFH bought the club the fans were promised long-term stability, but little more than a year later Leeds United is again at the centre of a long-running takeover process that is overshadowing every part of the club. Since the end of November the news has been dominated by GFH's attempts to sell Leeds United, with the result that we find ourselves in March with no sale, and no evidence of a plan B. It is time for the people who own and run the club to make substantial and concrete statements about what they are going to do now. While David Haigh has promised in the press that the club will not go into administration, the letter that Gibson Dunn solicitors sent to the Football League last week warned that delays to Cellino's takeover could cause "potentially irreparable damage to the Club," and the fans need to be told as a matter of urgency what this means. Leeds United Supporters' Trust also request that GFH urgently explain their stance towards other potential buyers following the rejection of Mr Cellino's bid. Everyone is aware that other bidding interest exists, we believe that GFH now need to either meet with all interested parties to discuss the details of their bid, or give clear reasons to concerned supporters why they will not even consider bids many believe would move the club in the right direction. Finally, the board of LUST call on the Football League to say what they are going to do to safeguard the future of one of their members. Against the backdrop of mounting debts, and a current owner who appears to only want to engage with one prospective buyer, the Football League has clearly stated it will not accept the application of that buyer. Where does that leave Leeds United? In the spirit of their new financial fair play regulations and given that the Football League will have seen the more recent financial information than anyone else, we hope that they have fully considered their duty of care to Leeds United as a member club. We trust that they will be doing everything within their power to ensure the financial situation at Leeds United is stable and sustainable. Supporters can also join more than 9,000 other Leeds fans and have their voice heard as members of the Leeds United Supportersâ Trust by filling in the form at www.lufctrust.org. Membership is free. Keep checking for updates on www.lufctrust.org, and our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Is Gary Cooper the worst kind of friend? Takes the credit for pairing up a love struck couple, gets in all the photos when things look like they are going well. And then pisses all over you when things turn sour. We remember his claims of introducing the new owner, we remember the ball tickling and we remember his fighting to get in the Christmas photos with Haigh and Co. Farnan and Verity will spit him out in pieces.
Farnan and verity won't be in a position to. Shortly they'll have to put their money where their mouths are and as per usual with Leeds, they'll find a convenient excuse to bail out. Maybe something on the lines of "gfh won't talk to us". That one is nicely cued up and ready to play
Glory I get you don't like GC much, but I can't fault the statement. The content speaks volumes for thousands of fans and should be taken in that spirit, leaving personalities out of it. As you know I can find plenty of fault with LUST and a lot of GC comments etc, but this statement seems ok to me
Anyone can be wise after the event. Our glorious leader was fawning all over GH and Haigh when he thought they could be his meal ticket to being the fans representative. Yet again he put his own interests above his members, and our club by not holding GFH(C) to account when it was obvious to everyone things were going wrong.
Good statement ... and GC did apologise for "previous" and said he hoped to learn from our "constructive critcism" .... objectivity needed Glory ... one thing jumps out at me, "duty of care to Leeds United" simply doesn't exist in the Football League ... this is an organisation that has always had one set of rules for Leeds and another set of rules for the rest (except Luton) ... the day we place our future in the hands of these muppets is the day we may as well shut up shop and go support Garforth Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
There are elements of the statement I fully agree with, and elements I find I can't agree with. The element I don't agree with is and the reason I don't agree with it is because the Football League is not responsible for the actions of the current owners - only the current owners are. The duty of care must come from the club itself in safeguarding itself, not counting its chickens before they have hatched. This is where GFH have really failed us all and failed the club. But the question that led up to the LUST opinion is fair, and further questions should be asked Questions such as: a) is Cellino most likely to bring more or less stability to LUFC? Double-edged sword. He could overstretch himself, Eleonora and LUFC and take us spiralling down. Yet his history in running Cagliari would suggest not. And that should take precedence. b) is Cellino likely to bring the english game into disrepute? Can't see it. Yes he is colourful, and he may ask searching questions, but disrepute? Can't see it. c) Is Cellino likely to not pay the taxman? There is no evidence of this - he has been found guilty of interpreting a specific import tax-law in Italy incorrectly, and been found to be stupid in fighting the case in the first place. d) Would Cellino purchasing LUFC queer the pitch for other teams? Possibly. He might well invest. Both in the club and in the squad. But there are many other clubs in the Championship with very wealthy owners, and some were recent. On a wider note: e) How the hell did GFH pass the FPP test? This was only a year ago, yet the FL allowed it to go through. f) Is LUFC in better hands with GFH or with Cellino? Undoubtedly we are in trouble with GFH. And that comes back to qn e. g) Did the other bidders potentially queer the pitch in any way? David Conn needs to get on that case.
