It appears Reading have managed to find a Russian Tycoon, why not us? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2089667/Reading-40m-takeover-Russian-tycoon.html Oh yes, Bates is a cock and unable to do business with anyone!
I dont think Bates wants to sell, i dont know what he's up to but he's def got some sort of scam going imo.i just hope when it all comes out it wont be leeds utd thats left to carry the can.
reading own a very nice ground imo leeds cant be worth much more the 40-50 mill surely unless we get to the prem.
Yeah, I mean there's nothing attractive about the club is there? We don't have a huge and loyal following. We don't generate huge amounts in turnover each year. We don't have an outstanding history. We're not the sort of club that could genuinely challenge in the Premiership with some sensible investment. We don't have a good stadium. We don't have a reputation for being an entertaining and passionate club. Of course there are people who want to buy Leeds United. Bates says he has people talking to him about it every couple of weeks - that or investing. It's just that his aggressive and offputting approach to business puts these people off from putting money into our club, and from buying it. And jolls, the East Stand project is costing at least 70m, so you can add that onto Bates' valuation of the club at around 40m, and it will eventually combine to around 120-150m after its completion, in Bates' eyes anyway. I just hope there's someone willing to buy it off him, or that the fans can dissuade him from going ahead with this moronic development project.
I agree with Leeds 18 on this & I am sure a lot of people and organisations would want to buy Leeds United... Some Reasons: 1. Leeds is the largest one club city in the UK 2. Over 3 million people live within 60 mins of the ground 3. Elland Road is 12th largest stadium in the England 4. The club has heritage (Champions in England and Europe) 5. Leeds United is already internationally recognised (Eastern promise) 6. Leeds City Council is ready to help any new owners and own all the land to grow the stadium 7. The playing squad is young and full of promise (Clayton, Snodgrass, White etc) 8. Thorpe Arch is a top class training facility But how many would want to deal with Ken Bates is another questions...
Would love for someone out in this neck of the world, walk in and buy that fat **** out and **** im off to Monaco, i feel so much for you hardened season ticket fans, enough is enough, but to be honest i do not have an idea or a solution in getting rid of Bates, as he is pig headed, everything i say is right attitude, he would not care about a protest, he would proberbly ban you from the next game knowing that ignorant twat, but i would love to see the back of him, and then his hareem of arse lickers....Grayson....Lorimer......Harvey, and afew more. Very rare you will see me swearing on here, but that fat four eyed prick is wrecking the beloved LUFC, and we are having the piss ripped out of us by fellow football supporters of various other teams, not happy....end of.
I would also add that Leeds Utd are one of the three English clubs that have a large support from Ireland and Scotland, the others being Man Utd and Liverpool. I know there are some Arsenal and Chelsea fans from Ireland and Scotland, but the vast majority of people who follow an English team from Ireland and Scotland, follow one of the three I have stated.
Afternoon Boab, you alrite fella I heard the present owners of Cardiff City wanted to buy Leeds first, but Bates refused, don't know if that is true or not...
Hi Elland, A'm daein' ower weel, thank ye. I understand there has been a few seriously interested business people looking into Leeds Utd, but Bates is worst person to deal with and they simply walked. Cardiff City are a weird club, there's no doubt there is a reasonable amount of interest in football at the club, but they always struck me as a club that would have little or no support if they started to drop down the leagues.
I think you'll find 51% of the club comes to "up to" £40million. Valuing the club somewhere in the region of £80m. When Madejski wanted £100m in the Premiership people laughed at him.... I don't think that's bad going. The rumoured new owner, Anton Zingarevich, allegedly grew up in Reading, went to school here before going to the Regents Business School in London then off to Uni in New York. Was a fan of the club and went to games here. His rather has links to both the Russian President and Russian Mafia it appears, otherwise, not a lot known. He / his father was linked to Everton in '04, and due to Kenwright / them not being really interested, that didn't happen. It was believed that his father was worth £330million at the time. Having spoken to the journo that wrote the Daily Mail article, Zingarevich's advisors informed him that Anton is worth £1.4BILLION in his own right (plus any other investors that are part of this deal). Why Reading though? Without just the links to the area we're actually quite a decent aquisition. We don't have any major debts except loans to the Chairman who has not been pushing to take any money out, we are holding our own in the league and seemingly gaining respect as we go along. We own our own stadium, which can be further expanded - we had planning permission when in the Premiership, the council have generally been supportive of the club and that goes a long way. We are the biggest town in the country, besides Dudley which doesn't really count as it's a Suburb of Birmingham, and might well become a City soon. Our catchment area is fantastic, we aren't 'a London club' as many say, we don't really have any major rivals and the nearest 'big' clubs are 40/50 miles away if not more so geographically we have a fantastic opportunity with the catchment area around us. We have an increased profile in recent years from being in the Premiership, ok, so we haven't got much history (small club, **** fans etc) - but we did win the Simod Cup in 1988! Erm... ok, well, a few good cup runs, that spell in the Prem and being renowned for creating talent that we buy and invest our time and resource in. We have a great academy and players that have come through in recent years, along with those that are coming through now, are supported by TSI's statement that they will continue to expand that - does this mean we'll upgrade to a Category 1 'super academy'? Well, if expanding the infrastructure, as appears to be the plans, then why not! We have the grounds to do it, just needed the money. The new owners don't seem intent on plouging money into the club, which i'm glad of, it seems instead they'll be taking more of an approach like Cardiff, continuing with the current ethos and a few shrewd signings to augment the squad. We've got a few million to spend this window it seems too, which is massively exciting - we're used to losing one or two key players a year. Not having to evolve our squad every 6/12 months due to losing the main player our team is built around gives us massive opportunity even with limited spend. Still not sure how much of this is paper talk but in theory we are in a great place to grow as a club and with that, if handled correctly, any new investment that doesn't bring us above our means would be amazing, as long as we continue with our self sustaining approach. Time will tell if the new owners intend on doing that, but keeping Madejski in as Chairman (even if he owns less than 49% now meaning he doesn't really have a say...), Howe, Hammond, McDermott and the rest of the staff together is a great commitment towards continuity in the interim. The statements coming out so far are all bang on and I'm warming towards it at this stage.......... ......so please don't mention Gaydamak.
Matthew, welcome to the Leeds forum. I too heard about his schooling in Reading, and his approximate value of 1.5 Billion... Lets just all hope that a group try try and launch a takeover bid....
