Article: Sad to see Lorimer so out of touch with the Leeds fanbase and community | Football, Leeds

It's all rumours that are flying around. We can't possibly know if that's true or not (even the club can't possibly know if that's true or not) because the club haven't even made an offer. It's disgusting. Why it wasn't sorted in January when we could have tied him down to £11-15k a week before other clubs were sniffing around, I'll never know.

 

Apparently, again I know, he knew about the interest long before the end of last season. And besides that he didn't do most of his good work until after January and we were too busy trying to tie Becchio down. I also eard (I know I know...) that there have been "unsuccesful discussions".

 

With Bates in charge and his attitude towards "greedy players" I wouldn't bank on there having been any negotiations at all after the demands were made.

 

It comes from a completely independent source.

 

I think he's worth 21k and if we don't give it to him, he'll get it elsewhere and enjoy a better standard of team football in a higher division, most likely. It's a choice between sparing money which is well within our means or being defeated by a reckless, archaic attitude that our club alone is fighting against greed in the game. Leave that to the authorities who are taking the first steps, and focus as a club on guaranteeing a high standard of playing staff within the frameworks of the FL's rules. That's my view. Everyone acting in their best interests and making sure they all comply with each other.

 

I'm sorry but Max is a good player but he is no way worth 21K a week. If we give it to him then that sets the bench mark for everyone else and before we know if we are back at the Seth Johnson 37K a week... and look what that did for us!

Besides, Max has had 1 good season but he owed us that after nearly ruining our chances of getting out of League 1. I think he has shown again that he is a good talent but still has a long way to go. I think we should have signed Mendy so that with Nunez as well we could have said " fine..thanks Max we'll take the 3 million" (West Ham will get promoted anyway so what's the odds!)

 

Have listened all summer to the anti-Bates and at times Grayson lobby and here is my two-penneth for what its worth.

Firstly I am no lover of Ken Bates as a person and second I have followed Leeds for 41 years so have seen all the regimes from The Don onwards. I offer the following:

1. Anyone who thinks that Peter Lorimer hasn't got the best interests of Leeds United at heart is mad. Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray are Leeds through and through so with respect to Dominic Matteo who spent a couple of good seasons with us his opinion isn't worth s**t. When you hear Eddie Gray slagging off the regime then that has some credibility in my book... until then!

2. Ken Bates owns Leeds United, that is a fact. Therefore like any other owner of a business he can manage it how he chooses lots of other businesses depend on the patronage of local people (your favourite bars and restaurants for example) but I don't here all their customers demanding to know 'where the money went etc'.

3. If we were to get rid of Ken then what? The whole post Ridsdale era was a complete shambles with lots of media seeking people pretending to be interested but no-one prepared to put their money where their mouth was. What makes people think its going to be any different now?! Have the 300 odd people that protested last weekend got £100K a piece to invest? Also what if you get you're way and it turns out that his take-over was illegal... where does that leave the team? The fact is that when he got involved we were £100 million in debt and about to go into oblivion. Yes he pissed off the league and the tax man and the upshot of that is we lost 25 points and spent another 3 years in the wilderness (although in fairness he can't be blamed for the fact that in 2006 and 2008 the players didn't turn up for the play off final!) but we are now on the up.

4. We have a good manager, a better starting 11 than last year (although yes we definitely need more strength in depth... here's hoping Lichaj comes back) and the best support in the Championship if not the whole league. Therefore, lets stop moaning and get behind the club as well as the team. If you really want to get rid of Bates then lets get promoted because that will make us far more attractive to someone else!

My rant over! MOT

 

Gray and Lorimer are on the payroll at Leeds. Any bad words and they are staring unemployment in the face.

if I got **** service at a restaurant I wouldn't go back. Unfortunately an allegience to a football club isn't the same as an allegiance to a local business, so us, the paying customers have every right to demand why we're spending our money and receiving a "**** service".

I'd imagine a buyer would emerge more quickly than you'd expect.

We are stronger than last season... but that's in spite of Bates. We still don't have a great shot of going up.

 

How can it be in spite of Bates?.. he either runs the club or he doesn't? You can't slag him off when if doesn't go right but ignore if it does surely. Let's see where we are in March before we make judgements. All those people that were criticizing Leeds and championing Leicester and Ipswich for spending so much might just be looking pretty silly... or then again maybe they won't... time will tell

 

I didn't want us to spend as much as they did, that would have been stupid. All I wanted was that Grayson had more freedom with who he could get in. He's been very restricted with who he's been able to get hold of. It's clear the only first choice he's managed to get hold of is Lonergan.

 

Whilst I understand Lorimer's predicament, he must realise that what he says about the club now, is being taken as the official Bates line and not Lorimer's. I can't work with "yes" people and there are a few people out there who have felt the wrath of my management due to being to weak to stand up for their own work related opinions, for fear about their own jobs. Perhaps we should look at the issue the other way round, what would Lorimer do for employment, if he lost his job with Leeds Utd? He's not at an age where football clubs would want him in any coaching capacity, he has no management experience and he's not got the required ability to be a national tv pundit, in simple terms he would have limited opportunities to have regular employment, perhaps even outside of football.
Perhaps when looking at things this way, you begin to see why he has kept the party line and will probably continue to do so, for as long as Bates is at the club.
Unless of course others know better?

 

I would suggest he's probably toeing the party line waiting for his chance to be able to do something when Bates goes. If he's baan sacked by the time Bates leaves then it's much harder to get back in than it is to stay in.

 

He'll just go back behind the bar in the pub that he owns.

 

The only issue is that he will live a lifestyle that depends on the income of both, I would imagine. This is why a small portion of people on fat salary's have problems with pay cuts. Of course, the majority are just greedy ****s and get pleasure from looking at the millions of £ of disposable in their bank accounts.

 

i think thomasbrolinslovechild came up with a very good point and i was looking forward to Marko's response but he didnt give one. How can something that happens at leeds be in spite of bates, he either runs the club or not, you cannot blame him for when something goes wrong and then not say he did something right when something goes right.

I genuinely do believe that there is nothing going on behind the scenes at the club, maybe im just naive....

And this whole gradel stuff thats going on at the moment as well. He is just not worth over 15k a week and for him to be on that would be ridiculous. In my honest opinion i wouldnt rate him in our top 3 players at the club so why should he be on the highest wage? He still has a hell of a lot to learn and he has had one good season, that does not give you the right to demand a certain wage. And someone suggested that we should offer a wage to him, then let the fans know if he turns it down or not. This would mean that every other club would know that he has turned it down and they then think they can get gradel on the cheap.

 

The clubs doing well on the pitch in spite of Bates (or was last season), because Grayson was doing exceptionally well with such a stingy budget. Simples.

 

Josh...you are probably the only person I've seen post on this board who DOESN'T sound like a Leeds fan. Are you a Bates mouthpiece? Have you been sent onto this board to try and sway opinion in Bates' favour? The sooner Bates ****s off the better. He is now putting our club at risk by not trying to build a solid team that will walk this division. Each season we stay in the Championship we fall further and further behind other clubs. How the **** can a club like Wigan with such a piss poor fan base have so much more money than us? Simple, they have a chairman who puts his heart and soul...AND MONEY into his club, who wants to see them grow and be a solid Prem club. Bates has shown **** all ambition, and the thing that ****s me off is that he hasn't given us the reason why. Why, Ken Bates, do you limit the money available to build a team? Why Ken Bates do we still rely on loanees and free transfers when we are a profitable club? Where, Ken Bates, is all the money going? You see Josh, because the **** refuses to give us answers and simply calls Leeds fans morons, how can we trust him?

PS. When he was at Chelsea he hated Leeds and never had a good thing to say about our club. So why take it over? Because he saw a chance to make a buck, no other reason.

 

A deal could probably be made for slightly lower than the £21k or whatever, that he's asked for. Isn't that what negiotiations are for?

The thing is, if the club offers him a deal of £15-17k a week and he didn't accept then atleast the club can show they've been trying to keep him and that it is just him being greedy.

We should hurry up and offer Snodgrass a deal - he's someone who'd actually accept.

 

No dude you are missing the point, i dont like ken bates as a person, never have done. I dont think he is good for leeds in the long term. However, in the stage of rebuilding this great club that we are at he is far better than a lot of chairmans are. You never know, he could be saving up to buying elland road back, you dont know this. All of this hate towards ken bates is because he owned chelsea, hes from london and the rest is all based on assumptions. You dont know how much he has given to grayson, it could 1mil or it could be 10mil. Grayson just hasnt found the players that he wants maybe, i dont know. What i do know though is that i would prefer to have a club that is buying decent players on frees or next to nothing than spending 3-4mil on players that already think they are amazing and are overpriced which most players that are valued at that are especially at this level.

I know it seems like i am sticking up for bates alot but im actually sticking up for the club itself, i really dont see why all this massive level of hate is aimed at bates and many of you have said it. If he were more honest with the fans then he would be much more respected, yes maybe true. However as i said he is not that kind of person and he is not a very liked person because of this but in actual fact fans dont have the right to know where money is being spent whether you like it or not. You'll get a good owner who will give out this information but bates isnt this.

P.S. You've actually offended me by saying that i dont sound like a leeds fan. Maybe read some of my other posts that are about football and not bates, maybe you'll see i am. Just because someone actually supports bates, doesnt mean they are not a fan

 

I know exactly where you're coming from Josh