Leedsunited.com 16/10/09
KEN BATES ON THORP ARCH
Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has revealed more about the club's decision not to exercise the buy-back clause on the Thorp Arch training ground.
The club confirmed on Friday morning that, following discussions with Leeds City Council, the buy-back option would not be exercised.
"We've been in negotiations for three months, but these have dragged on inevitably because of the
way any Council works with checks, balances, and so many committees," the chairman told Yorkshire Radio.
"Things weren't being resolved as quickly as they might have been up to last week when obviously the deadline started coming up.
"We kept trying to put pressure on to get the outstanding matters resolved, but it was like dragon's teeth. As soon as one problem was solved up came two more, and some of them were a bit nonsenical to put it mildly, without going into details.
"I think it wasn't helped by the fact the Council employed a firm of outside lawyers who have to justify their existence. It didn't mean we were getting anywhere very fast.
"It came to a situation at 4pm on Thursday afternoon where we were faced with 13 demands, most of which could have been raised weeks or even months ago and we only had seven hours to solve them all.
"This wasn't helped by the fact that their lawyers weren't there on Thursday night and Paul Rogerson (Council CEO), the poor man, was left there until midnight tyring to cope on his own without any back-up or assistance from his side.
"The deal had moved as they inevitably do to a bit of extra protection here, extra cover there, community use which wasn't a problem, and use for the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, some of which was contrary to the convenant which was in the covenance when the land was bought from the Council in 2000 and we weren't prepared to take a risk.
"We had to sign unconditionally with Jacob Adler by 11.59 on Thursday night and the Council still wanted to give their agreement with a number of 'subject to...' We weren't prepared to take that risk.
"So, I sat down and evaluated the options of accepting the conditions or not, and unfortunately the financial requirements of the Council had grown so much it became very much touch and go whether it was really an advantage to the club.
"I decided at 11.40pm it wasn't up to the risk because we couldn't find Adler £5.8m in 28 days time and we would have been relying on the Council to keep their half of the bargain.
"It wasn't worth periling the club after all the hard work we have put in over the last five years and we decided to not to proceed.
"A lot of people in the Council worked very hard, but in the end it came down to red tape that no one could resolve, but that's beside us. We have the 2018 World Cup bid which we are working on."
Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has revealed more about the club's decision not to exercise the buy-back clause on the Thorp Arch training ground.
The club confirmed on Friday morning that, following discussions with Leeds City Council, the buy-back option would not be exercised.
"We've been in negotiations for three months, but these have dragged on inevitably because of the
way any Council works with checks, balances, and so many committees," the chairman told Yorkshire Radio."Things weren't being resolved as quickly as they might have been up to last week when obviously the deadline started coming up.
"We kept trying to put pressure on to get the outstanding matters resolved, but it was like dragon's teeth. As soon as one problem was solved up came two more, and some of them were a bit nonsenical to put it mildly, without going into details.
"I think it wasn't helped by the fact the Council employed a firm of outside lawyers who have to justify their existence. It didn't mean we were getting anywhere very fast.
"It came to a situation at 4pm on Thursday afternoon where we were faced with 13 demands, most of which could have been raised weeks or even months ago and we only had seven hours to solve them all.
"This wasn't helped by the fact that their lawyers weren't there on Thursday night and Paul Rogerson (Council CEO), the poor man, was left there until midnight tyring to cope on his own without any back-up or assistance from his side.
"The deal had moved as they inevitably do to a bit of extra protection here, extra cover there, community use which wasn't a problem, and use for the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, some of which was contrary to the convenant which was in the covenance when the land was bought from the Council in 2000 and we weren't prepared to take a risk.
"We had to sign unconditionally with Jacob Adler by 11.59 on Thursday night and the Council still wanted to give their agreement with a number of 'subject to...' We weren't prepared to take that risk.
"So, I sat down and evaluated the options of accepting the conditions or not, and unfortunately the financial requirements of the Council had grown so much it became very much touch and go whether it was really an advantage to the club.
"I decided at 11.40pm it wasn't up to the risk because we couldn't find Adler £5.8m in 28 days time and we would have been relying on the Council to keep their half of the bargain.
"It wasn't worth periling the club after all the hard work we have put in over the last five years and we decided to not to proceed.
"A lot of people in the Council worked very hard, but in the end it came down to red tape that no one could resolve, but that's beside us. We have the 2018 World Cup bid which we are working on."
Leedsunited.com 16/10/09
THORP ARCH - CLUB STATEMENT
Leeds United Football Club did not exercise the option to purchase Thorp Arch before the 23:59 deadline on the 15th October.
The club will remain a tenant of Barnaway Limited for the next 20 years under the terms of the current lease. The club's use of Thorp Arch during that period will remain unchanged from our current use.
Discussions continued with Leeds City Council until the deadline, however the Council were not able to provide the club with an unconditional letter of commitment to purchase Thorp Arch and then lease it back to the club. This meant that if the club was to have exercised the option the club would have been at risk of completing the transaction in 28 days time without the guarantee of funding. That was a £6m risk the club was not prepared to make.
It is the club's belief that the conditions that the Council sought to attach to the offer could all have been satisfied before the expiry of the 28 days, however as they were not all in the gift of the club therefore it was decided not to proceed.
The club would like to thank all those involved from the Council, and our solicitors Walker Morris and King Sturge for their efforts in assisting the club in trying to repurchase Thorp Arch.
Yorkshire Evening Post 16/10/09
Council Thorp Arch buy back deal collapses
By Paul Robinson and Dave Marsh
Leeds City Council's deal to buy Leeds United's Thorp Arch training ground has dramatically collapsed.
The council agreed terms earlier this month for the £6m purchase of the complex from its current owner, Manchester-based company Barnaway.
The flagship site, on prime development land near Wetherby, would then have been leased back to United.
Council bosses also warned, however, that the proposed deal was subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence checks.
Those checks had to be done and dusted before midnight last night, when the club's exclusive option to buy Thorp Arch from Barnaway for a fixed price of £6m expired.
Yesterday it appeared the deal was set to go through, with the council's joint leader, Coun Andrew Carter, saying "most of the work" had been finished.
But, in a statement today, United revealed the midnight deadline had passed without the option being exercised.
Leeds also said the decision not to proceed had been taken because of conditions the council sought to attach to the deal.
The club will still be able to stay as tenants at Thorp Arch for the next 20 years, under the terms of the site's original sale to Manchester businessman Jacob Adler.
But once the lease runs out, there would be nothing to stop the facility's owner of the time evicting United.
Barnaway could in theory agree to sell Thorp Arch to Leeds or a third party prior to the expiry of the lease.
The amount the buyer would have to pay, however, is no longer fixed at £6m.
Thorp Arch's current market value is estimated to be £11m.
Reacting to the collapse of the deal, Coun Carter said: "There were certain conditions that had to be met in the interests of protecting the council taxpayers' position.
"We would have very much liked to have moved ahead with this but protecting the council tax payers' position was always in our mind.
"The negotiations have been conducted professionally, and in a good spirit, and the council, like the club, wishes to thank all of those involved."
Leeds would have surrendered their exclusive option on Thorp Arch to the local authority to allow the proposed deal to be done.The club, then under the chairmanship of Gerald Krasner, sold the site for £4m in 2004 as it tried to stave off financial collapse.
BBC 16/10/09
Leeds' Thorp Arch deal collapses
Leeds United have failed to buy back their Thorp Arch training ground but will continue to rent the site for the next 20 years.
Leeds city council had planned to buy the training ground for £6m and lease it back to the club.
However that deal has fallen through because of what the council are describing as 'uncertainties'.
Leeds have exercised a clause in the current contract to remain a tenant of Barnaway Limited for another 20 years.
The original deadline for the club to buy back the facilities was last Saturday (10 October).
The owners extended that to Thursday (15 October) but, just hours before the midnight deadline, the council asked Leeds for clarification on a few final issues.
A statement on the Leeds United website read: "The council were not able to provide the club with an unconditional letter of commitment to purchase Thorp Arch and then lease it back to the club.
"This meant that, if the club was to have exercised the option, the club would have been at risk of completing the transaction in 28 days' time without the guarantee of funding. That was a £6m risk the club was not prepared to make.
"It is the club's belief that the conditions that the council sought to attach to the offer could all have been satisfied before the expiry of the 28 days. However, as they were not all in the gift of the club, therefore it was decided not to proceed."
As well as helping Leeds United, the council believed owning Thorp Arch would help in any bid to host the rugby union and league world cups and become a stronger candidate to become a host city in English football's bid for the 2018 World Cup.
Council leader Andrew Carter said: "We note with some regret that Leeds United felt unable to exercise its option to acquire Thorp Arch before the deadline.
"Both parties have worked hard to remove the uncertainties surrounding the deal and only a small number remained outstanding.
"We concur with the club that given more time these uncertainties could have been removed. Unfortunately, the two parties didn't have that time."
Leedsunited.com 15/10/09
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
Saturday October 17 marks the 90th anniversary of the formation of Leeds United. As recorded in detail in the current edition of Leeds Leeds Leeds, if not for events nine decades ago we might all be supporting a team still called Leeds City, writes NEIL JEFFRIES.
As it happens, though, Leeds City were expelled from the Football League in a scandal that arose when a disgruntled player threatened to "blow the whistle" on payments made to temporary players enlisted while the regular league programme was interrupted by World War I - and many Leeds City players saw active service in France, Belgium and beyond.
LLL reveals a long and complicated story which came to a crux on October 13, 1919, when at a meeting in the Russell Hotel in London Leeds City were expelled from the Football League in an unprecedented punishment. Port Vale inherited Leeds City's points, goals and fixtures - and carried on in their place.
The good footballng folk of Leeds, though, were determined to continue and on October 17 - after an auction at the Hotel Metropole in Leeds city centre formally wound up the old club - over a thousand unhappy Leeds City supporters turned up at the Salem Hall in Hunslet, and started a new one… the Leeds United we all know and love today!
Times 13/10/09
Manchester City agree to compensation for Leeds United teenagers
Gary Jacob, Tony Evans
Manchester City have agreed to pay about £800,000 in compensation to end their row with Leeds United over the signing of two teenagers.
The Coca-Cola League One club were unhappy that City had lured Louis Hutton and George Swann, both 14, from their Thorp Arch academy this summer.
Ken Bates, the Leeds chairman, wrote in a recent match-day programme that a deal had been agreed, but did not announce the sum. City, who were not been accused of breaking any regulations, have not made any announcement. But the compensation fee is important because it could be used as a benchmark by lower-league clubs in similar cases.
Leeds rejected City’s initial offer of £70,000 for the pair, citing that they were awarded an initial payment of £600,000, rising to £1.55 million, by a tribunal for the transfer to Everton of Luke Garbutt, a 16-year-old defender. In the wake of the ruling, Shaun Harvey, the Leeds chief executive, said that Premier League clubs should lose points if they are found to have poached players.
While there are no suggestions that Everton and Manchester City did anything wrong, Leeds felt hard done by after losing several other youngsters in recent seasons. Chelsea agreed to pay them £4 million in compensation for the signings of Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods three years ago.
THORP ARCH - CLUB STATEMENT
Leeds United Football Club did not exercise the option to purchase Thorp Arch before the 23:59 deadline on the 15th October.
The club will remain a tenant of Barnaway Limited for the next 20 years under the terms of the current lease. The club's use of Thorp Arch during that period will remain unchanged from our current use.
Discussions continued with Leeds City Council until the deadline, however the Council were not able to provide the club with an unconditional letter of commitment to purchase Thorp Arch and then lease it back to the club. This meant that if the club was to have exercised the option the club would have been at risk of completing the transaction in 28 days time without the guarantee of funding. That was a £6m risk the club was not prepared to make.
It is the club's belief that the conditions that the Council sought to attach to the offer could all have been satisfied before the expiry of the 28 days, however as they were not all in the gift of the club therefore it was decided not to proceed.
The club would like to thank all those involved from the Council, and our solicitors Walker Morris and King Sturge for their efforts in assisting the club in trying to repurchase Thorp Arch.
Yorkshire Evening Post 16/10/09
Council Thorp Arch buy back deal collapses
By Paul Robinson and Dave Marsh
Leeds City Council's deal to buy Leeds United's Thorp Arch training ground has dramatically collapsed.
The council agreed terms earlier this month for the £6m purchase of the complex from its current owner, Manchester-based company Barnaway.
The flagship site, on prime development land near Wetherby, would then have been leased back to United.
Council bosses also warned, however, that the proposed deal was subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence checks.
Those checks had to be done and dusted before midnight last night, when the club's exclusive option to buy Thorp Arch from Barnaway for a fixed price of £6m expired.
Yesterday it appeared the deal was set to go through, with the council's joint leader, Coun Andrew Carter, saying "most of the work" had been finished.
But, in a statement today, United revealed the midnight deadline had passed without the option being exercised.
Leeds also said the decision not to proceed had been taken because of conditions the council sought to attach to the deal.
The club will still be able to stay as tenants at Thorp Arch for the next 20 years, under the terms of the site's original sale to Manchester businessman Jacob Adler.
But once the lease runs out, there would be nothing to stop the facility's owner of the time evicting United.
Barnaway could in theory agree to sell Thorp Arch to Leeds or a third party prior to the expiry of the lease.
The amount the buyer would have to pay, however, is no longer fixed at £6m.
Thorp Arch's current market value is estimated to be £11m.
Reacting to the collapse of the deal, Coun Carter said: "There were certain conditions that had to be met in the interests of protecting the council taxpayers' position.
"We would have very much liked to have moved ahead with this but protecting the council tax payers' position was always in our mind.
"The negotiations have been conducted professionally, and in a good spirit, and the council, like the club, wishes to thank all of those involved."
Leeds would have surrendered their exclusive option on Thorp Arch to the local authority to allow the proposed deal to be done.The club, then under the chairmanship of Gerald Krasner, sold the site for £4m in 2004 as it tried to stave off financial collapse.
BBC 16/10/09
Leeds' Thorp Arch deal collapses
Leeds United have failed to buy back their Thorp Arch training ground but will continue to rent the site for the next 20 years.
Leeds city council had planned to buy the training ground for £6m and lease it back to the club.
However that deal has fallen through because of what the council are describing as 'uncertainties'.
Leeds have exercised a clause in the current contract to remain a tenant of Barnaway Limited for another 20 years.
The original deadline for the club to buy back the facilities was last Saturday (10 October).
The owners extended that to Thursday (15 October) but, just hours before the midnight deadline, the council asked Leeds for clarification on a few final issues.
A statement on the Leeds United website read: "The council were not able to provide the club with an unconditional letter of commitment to purchase Thorp Arch and then lease it back to the club.
"This meant that, if the club was to have exercised the option, the club would have been at risk of completing the transaction in 28 days' time without the guarantee of funding. That was a £6m risk the club was not prepared to make.
"It is the club's belief that the conditions that the council sought to attach to the offer could all have been satisfied before the expiry of the 28 days. However, as they were not all in the gift of the club, therefore it was decided not to proceed."
As well as helping Leeds United, the council believed owning Thorp Arch would help in any bid to host the rugby union and league world cups and become a stronger candidate to become a host city in English football's bid for the 2018 World Cup.
Council leader Andrew Carter said: "We note with some regret that Leeds United felt unable to exercise its option to acquire Thorp Arch before the deadline.
"Both parties have worked hard to remove the uncertainties surrounding the deal and only a small number remained outstanding.
"We concur with the club that given more time these uncertainties could have been removed. Unfortunately, the two parties didn't have that time."
Leedsunited.com 15/10/09
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
Saturday October 17 marks the 90th anniversary of the formation of Leeds United. As recorded in detail in the current edition of Leeds Leeds Leeds, if not for events nine decades ago we might all be supporting a team still called Leeds City, writes NEIL JEFFRIES.
As it happens, though, Leeds City were expelled from the Football League in a scandal that arose when a disgruntled player threatened to "blow the whistle" on payments made to temporary players enlisted while the regular league programme was interrupted by World War I - and many Leeds City players saw active service in France, Belgium and beyond.
LLL reveals a long and complicated story which came to a crux on October 13, 1919, when at a meeting in the Russell Hotel in London Leeds City were expelled from the Football League in an unprecedented punishment. Port Vale inherited Leeds City's points, goals and fixtures - and carried on in their place.
The good footballng folk of Leeds, though, were determined to continue and on October 17 - after an auction at the Hotel Metropole in Leeds city centre formally wound up the old club - over a thousand unhappy Leeds City supporters turned up at the Salem Hall in Hunslet, and started a new one… the Leeds United we all know and love today!
Times 13/10/09
Manchester City agree to compensation for Leeds United teenagers
Gary Jacob, Tony Evans
Manchester City have agreed to pay about £800,000 in compensation to end their row with Leeds United over the signing of two teenagers.
The Coca-Cola League One club were unhappy that City had lured Louis Hutton and George Swann, both 14, from their Thorp Arch academy this summer.
Ken Bates, the Leeds chairman, wrote in a recent match-day programme that a deal had been agreed, but did not announce the sum. City, who were not been accused of breaking any regulations, have not made any announcement. But the compensation fee is important because it could be used as a benchmark by lower-league clubs in similar cases.
Leeds rejected City’s initial offer of £70,000 for the pair, citing that they were awarded an initial payment of £600,000, rising to £1.55 million, by a tribunal for the transfer to Everton of Luke Garbutt, a 16-year-old defender. In the wake of the ruling, Shaun Harvey, the Leeds chief executive, said that Premier League clubs should lose points if they are found to have poached players.
While there are no suggestions that Everton and Manchester City did anything wrong, Leeds felt hard done by after losing several other youngsters in recent seasons. Chelsea agreed to pay them £4 million in compensation for the signings of Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods three years ago.
