Good Morning everyone from a hot n Sunny Southampton, Royston Drenthe is the latest name to be linked to us. The Reading utility player is 27, and has a good pedigree behind him having played at Real Madrid and Feyenoord. Drenthe can operate anywhere down the left hand hand. I'm thinking a bit of 'Musical Youth' for the song of the day!!! [video=youtube;dFtLONl4cNc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFtLONl4cNc[/video] Cellino is seriously considering closing down Thorp Arch, for good!!!!! Cellino says he can not justify the expense of a facility which he claims costs Leeds around £2.5m a year, and is due for talks with Barnaway owner Jacob Adler. âAt this stage I donât know what we will do,â Cellino said. âI cannot say âyes, we will stay at the training groundâ because that is not certain. But I canât say âno we wonâtâ either. I must look at it and decide. âI need to think about at the money and say âcan we afford the training ground?â If we can then we go back. If we canât afford it then we canât keep on using it. It costs about £2.5m and itâs too expensive. âI will speak to the landlord to see if we can save some money because if we canât afford the training ground, we have a problem and we canât use it. We can use it at the right price.â I really hope Cellino is not having second thoughts about us!!! Notts County have signed Alan Smith as a player / coach! Thoughts?
Good Morrow from a bright and sunny Bardsey If you recall I suggested that MC take this tack over TA going to the owner and saying we cannot afford these exhorbitant rents what can we do about it lets face it they the owners have been laughing all the way to the bank for years no its a very good ploy Drenthe cannot comment as I have not seen him play Smith I wish him well Allan Clarke ones asked me if Smith was a natural striker I said much oi his surprise NO
Just one other item I forgot to mention I think my protégé Matt Smith should be given a 3 year contract NOW as is other contract will run out next year I think we all agree he has done wonders and quite justified my faith in him when I said he would be another Jordan and that he would play fon Scotland
Morning Mike, hope you and your wife are well. Suppose it depends how much its gonna cost to buy back TA?
Morning all. Really can't see the benefit of losing TA. The players need somewhere to train, and we need control over its surface, width. Even if we produce one academy player a year that oesn't quite make it a Leeds that we then sell on, that in itself will cover plenty of the cost. Strikes me that this is a negotiating position from which to either cut the cost of the rent or buy it back. On Drenthe, no real view. But could be a good aquisition. On Matt Smith, like 60 says, I would certainly give him an improved contract, possibly 2 years to see how he does this season. If he continues to improve at the rate he did last season, he'll certainly have earned a longer extension next time round.
Bogers you are missing the point the building is only good for one thing who else needs it thereforeMC is saying we will have lt but at my price!
Quite right. Interestingly this is the first time in decades we've had an owner using his own cash and also first time in decades an owner has queried all the daft areas we waste money.A coincidence? I think not. Morning all by the way
Morning all, Drenthe far too inconsistent, good on his day but that's not often. As for TA, what was the point of having the all weather pitches installed, when Cellino paid the outstanding fees to the contractors for their completion, if he's willing to let it go? They wouldn't have come cheap.
As per the above. Its a negotiating position. Tenant wants rates reduced, threatens to move on, if landlord believes he can get better rent elsewhere he says his farewells to the tenant. If he doesn't he has to decide if the tenant is calling his bluff. In this instance, can leeds find another cheaper training ground at shortish notice? Can the landlord find someone else willing and able to rent Thorpe arch? I'd suggest the former is more likely than the latter. Of course the landlord might think he can turn it into something other than a training facility, but hey, we'll see.
But every penny he has spent thus far has been mortgaged on the club with an interest rate of 10% - which is 3% more than what GFH and Haigh charged - so not really his own money is it?
Morning all from a very hot sunny Qatar, 41C. TA seems over priced at 2.5 mil/year, owners laughing all the way to the bank, if MC dumps it what are the owners going to do? is it green or brown belt? MC is shrewd and a good business man hopefully, will be interesting to see the outcome on this one, but correct me if i am wrong and maybe i am, but MC said he was going to buy back TA and Elland Road on the first few weeks of the take over?
TC, you never cease to amaze me!! where do you get all your info from, whats ur job? are you an undercover spook
I mentioned last year that we would be better off closing TA, as it is costing us too much money. The place has been left to deteriorate quite badly in the areas that Bates already closed down. For example the accommodation block, the housekeepers quarters, the education block and plenty of pitches etc. We are being charged £650k and every year we have a 3% increase, so next year another £20k plus depreciation and repairs. Bates had the chance to buy it back for £6.5m but didn't, which is criminal, but the place has fallen further into disrepair now and the property is worth around £13m to Barnaway because of land prices in that area (Ask Leeds 60). We could build a new 21st century state of the art facility for half a million, so in some respects its a no-brainer. TA was the blueprint everyone else used, but is now obsolete because of being run down and lack of investment, and has become a burden. Start a new place with a clean sheet ready for the future. **** Jacob Adler and ken Bates
I appreciate that 10% interest rate is indicative of the risk, but can you get a mortgage on something worth duck all? I'd like to meet his financiers. I'll take a million from them at 10% secured against one of my dog's turds.
Doc, what kind of state of the art facility can you build for half a million? I've just done a reasonable sized self build house for around that and frankly it would be a bit of a squeeze with a squad of footballers in it... And I'd definitely need a bigger garden!
Morning all ... get ready to wave goodbye to TA ... Cellino will pick a fight with Barnaway, then leave TA blaming the landlord for "being greedy and not wanting to help me" ... TA will be redeveloped into homes, apartments, business park, whatever for mega millions profit ... Cellino will set us up at the university running track for £200k a year and our Academy will struggle ... there is no way that we will be able to build a state of the art training complex for £500k Doc, maybe the showers for it yes ... Cellino is worrying me now, he is just moaning daily about costs ... the other big issue is ER will cost us £15m, and it requires 85% of the vote to sanction its purchase, so GFH can happily block the buy back until such time as they have sold their shares to Cellino and left the club ... oh how very shrewd indeed!! "For the sake of Leeds United he would break himself in two"
Hes got to get planning permission first and Im sure that MC has looked into this already no this stinks of Bates again
The world wide web mate - makes the working day go faster http://leechapmanssofa.wordpress.co...sh-isnt-the-biggest-problem-the-club-has-pt1/
