Back in 2003, 2004 and 2005 Leeds United fans were slated by the rest of the football world for rarely having questioned the dubious business practices of PR Peter Ridsdale. That's because we were all in a happy mood and wanted to enjoy the positivity of what was happening on the pitch. Over the last 7 years of Ken Bates tenure, the rumblings have been low yet persistent, but they have taken a whole new turn since the end of last and start of this season. A large proportion of people are openly and loudly protesting or questioning what is happening at LUFC. And some would prefer us to stop the questioning while the "on-field positive" effect of Neil Warnock is harnessed. But, courtesy of PR Pete, it is our duty to question the ethics and business practices of the owner of Leeds United and make him justify what he is doing. Ken Bates is in the process of killing off Leeds United as surely as PR Pete did, because we will only have 7000 season ticket hodlers next season, and an average crowd of less than 20000, who will be spending much less in the ground. Turnover coming into the club is disappearing down a black hole and the club will only be able to finance itself through sales of our best players and employing the cheapest. Mr Bates hopes to arrest the turnover issues by diversifying the company into areas that can bring in funding for the rerst of the 330 days when the team do niot use the stadium. This would be an admirable goal if it was part of a strategy to improve the brand and focus of the reason for the organisation. Diversification into financial services, radio, corporate hospitality, restaurants, proposed shopping mall and hotel business has no connection to what Leeds United is actually there for: football. And from what I have seen of the accounts, none of the other separate businesses make any money, they are all subsidised by selling our best players. What does he expect, he is trying to compete through start-ups in some very competitive and low-margin industries? And if the proposed hotel leads to saddling the club with multi-millions of debts - some state the proposed expenditure is quoted at about £60m - how can he expect to recoup that money from a single hotel that will find it difficult to attract people. Beeston is not the best area, it would be seen as unsafe to walk around at night (some would say during the day), there is nothing to see there, there are few facilities or enticing spots. Why would someone stay there instead of in Leeds with all the bright lights, the food and cinemas and shops and clubs, and of course the cheap hotels? Which we would be competing with. Bates needs to concentrate on building Leeds United the brand as a global football and sports brand, not industries that have little connection with football or sport. It is taking his eye off the ball, the focus is becoming lost. Moreover, Mr Bates is spending too much time fighting his customer-base, the fans. If he spent as much time figuring out how to woo fans to the club at a price that they felt was value for money, they would bring their kids and wives and would spend much more of their disposable income on Leeds United products and merchandise. You have much to do to turn the Leeds United fans round to believe in you Mr Bates, but you can do it if you employ some good people who understand how to do these things, and can tell you to keep your big mouth shut. You can start with prices. You have already set the 2012/13 prices. You could tell fans immediately that, if during 2012/13 we get average attendances of 25,000 through at league home games, season ticket prices will be reduced by 20% in 2013/14 for all those that went to at least 5 home games in 2012/13. That's a start, something where you would have proof whether LUFC fans were committed to the club, and you would be making a commitment to them also. You can stop writing the vile piece in the programme and your rants on Yorkshire Radio. Employ a communicatyion professional to deliver the right messages that get everyone on board. Manage expectations and don't oversell the ambitions of the club. If we are only going to use the money that the club brings in and not go into debt, then don't try and sell the idea we are realistically looking at promotion. "If you want Premiership football, you have to pay Premiership prices" does not wash when history shows you have shown no interest in pushing for the Premiership. A concerted push for the Premiership will require a vast amount of spend on the best players. You are not going to do that. So just admit that our ability to get to the Prem is dependent on large amounts of luck and hard work and damned good management. And stop fleecing us. Sell Yorkshire Radio, the insurance arm and anything else that is loss-making and in an industry that has zero connection to football. End your ideas of a hotel and a shopping mall; that should have ended when the World Cup dream ended. Build the global brand of LUFC through aggressive marketing of our games throughout the world. Develop new sports clothing with some good young designers - a BB4 brand or an EG11 brand would be good for some people - others can't stand the idea of wearing anything with a badge on it that says LUFC on a night out. Sell such stock through other outlets - you will never make money out of just selling from the LUFC club shop and LUFC website. Other people will not even step foot in or look at that because it is not their club. I am sure others have some ideas on diversification too. You do not have to fight us all the time. Pride is holding you back from making LUFC great. And while you have that and continue to deride your customer-base, you will put off people from purchasing the products you want them to buy, and you are not putting your efforts into making money out of the huge global and potentialy massively profitable football brand that is LUFC.
