Leeds to miss out on start of season??

The Phantom

This is a huge concern for me. Leeds are one of English footballs historic clubs. If they can not start next season, surely they will have to lose their league status, and thus fade into oblivion? To lose a club like Leeds would be a huge blow for English football. It’s a shame that in this day and age nothing can be done to help them. All I can hope is that this is premature talk, and that Leeds will get out of administration, and battle back to the Championship.

Dmac

All I wonder is what will happen to Elland Road, that is one hell of a stadium, they wouldn't just knock it down... would they?

Tyler Durden

I've no love at all for Leeds and still think, as things tend to do, that something will happen to save them.

Them going under would be a damn fine warning to some of the other clubs that insanely wager their outgoings and salaries at levels way beyong their income (Leeds basically brokered their future on the basis that they would definitely make the Champions League each and every season).

As for Bates trying to short change you and I (he was initially trying a "fast one" to take the club into Administratrion and buy it back whilst settling with debtors, the biggest one being the Inland Revenue, at an amount of 1p for every £1 thus trying to swindle the people of Great Britain).

It reflects how rotten football is though that, the clubs football debtors, still have to be paid in full whilst the people (via the Inland Revenue) can be short changed in this way.

Let the club die, I've no time for them. They're management and owners have been rotten to the core for years. I feel sorry for the fans, but meh.

Dmac

Well to be honest Bates isn't really doing himself any favours with he fans by saying that if his bid is not accepted that he will sue the club. What will he sue them for, they have nothing left? Just the chance that his bid is rejected must send a shiver down the Leeds fans, wondering what will happen, I mean the only thing that he could get would Elland Road itself and he would probably sell that or have it demolished.

Adam Wolf

What is happening to Leeds, does make me laugh. All the idoitic fans saying they were too good to go down, now they're sitting in League One and soon may not even be a club. Lovely spiral from Peter Ridsdale wasting so much money, and then to the Ken Bates era, to unfortunately the Ken Bates Era II.

Poor ol' Leeds United, RIP.

Dmac

Well it is hard to beleive from the days of Champions League Semi Finals that they would ever be in League 1... well Division 2 as it was back then. But when they started to sell their top players it was plain to see that they wouldn't be as good, Ferdinand, Kewell, Bowyer, Dacourt, Robinson, Smith, Viduka, they were all apart of that team at one point.

Tyler Durden

Interesting report in The Telegaph today -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ma...3/sfnlee103.xml

Taxman's demands deepen Leeds crisis

By David Bond
Last Updated: 1:36am BST 03/08/2007

The taxman and the Football League yesterday turned up the heat on Ken Bates, placing Leeds United's chances of starting the new season in even greater jeopardy.

In a rare public statement, David Hartnett, the second most powerful official at HM Revenue and Customs, signalled the taxman's determination to challenge Bates' plans to buy the club out of administration in a deal worth just £1.8 million.

Not only did Hartnett insist that Leeds must pay the £7.7 million owed in tax, but he also demanded that Bates must reveal the identity of the mysterious backers behind his new bid for the club.
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His comments came after Lord Mawhinney, the chairman of the Football League, insisted that the club would not be given the right to start the season in eight days' time unless the administrators, KPMG, agreed a new deal with the club's creditors, who are owed £35 million.

Bates failed in his original attempt to regain control of the club he first bought in January 2005 because HMRC launched a legal action against his attempts to write off the tax owed. Bates then bought the club from KPMG on July 9 through a new company, Leeds United 2007 Ltd.

The Football League, however, are refusing to hand over the share the new company need to take part in this season's competition until KPMG reach an agreement with all the club's creditors through a new creditors voluntary arrangement.

With HMRC still demanding full payment of their debt, the administrators have admitted that any attempt to obtain a new CVA would fail.

At the same time Leeds' biggest creditor, Astor, whose owners are unknown as the company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, have indicated that they will only back Bates' bid.

With Leeds' opening fixture of the League One season at Tranmere looming, the intervention of Hartnett, the director general of HMRC, could jeopardise the club's future and is the clearest indication yet that the taxman, who has lost millions of pounds through football club administrations in recent years, is drawing a line in the sand with the Leeds crisis.

Hartnett said: "HMRC believes it is vital that all creditors are treated fairly. HMRC is determined to achieve a full and fair settlement for the taxpayer. We are not prepared to enter into any arrangement that lacks complete transparency about the identity of creditors and the terms of any deal being reached."

Mawhinney, who held a four-hour meeting with officials from KPMG and Leeds on Monday, said the club would be allowed to start the new season, but only if the administrators resumed control.

"If the CVA could be reconstituted then Leeds United, in terms of the old company, could start the season," he said. "The administrator agreed they would go off and report back as to whether or not they can do that."

In short KMPG were saying it was none of their concern anymore as they had sold the club and Bates obviously would refuse to undo the sale deal so they wre saying it was too late to do anything about the CVA and what had happened.

However by refusing to hand over the golden ticket, the Football League forcing Bates to "voluntarily" undo the sale and give control back to the administrators so everything can start again.

At that point the Revenue are demanding answers to the questions set out earlier before agreeing to any CVA.

Bates problem is that the answers are probably such that he might lay himself open to self incrimination if it turns out that he does have an interest in the major creditors.

If Bates simply retires hurt then one of the other bidders could come in and save Leeds.

I can't see them going under still, but certainly they could start this season with a minus ten points (something they were actively avoiding but since they went into administration, were purchased, and then technically could be seen as going back into administration, they could be seen as a repeat offender in this season) but it does look harder to see how the club can get out of this with Bates there.

Mikk

WC's Sexy Beast

Update:




I'm guessing they'll be stuck in league 2 for quite some time.

The Phantom

Nice article TD.

Leeds will be lucky to survive relegation with a 15pts penalty. Ken Bates is a crook. He needs to walk away immedietly from the club if they have any chance of survival.