BBC 29/5/07
Bates warning over Leeds future
Leeds chairman Ken Bates believes the club will find it hard to survive if creditors vote against his bid to buy back the Yorkshire side on Friday.
The former Chelsea chief took the debt-ridden club into administration ahead of the final weekend of season.
"If they want a football club in Leeds they should make sure they vote the right way," he told Yorkshire Radio.
Administrators KPMG agreed to sell the club back to Bates, but the deal has yet to be approved by creditors.
The creditors, and the Football League, will consider a Company Voluntary Agreement under which they would forego some of Leeds' £35m debt.
Bates added: "If the CVA fails, I can assure the fans it's unlikely there will be a Leeds United Football Club. Remember Accrington took 45 years to get back to league status from when they went out of the league.
"Hopefully we can move forward and put the tribulations of the last five to six years behind us and start again with an open and even playing field so we can start getting the club back to where it belongs."
Meanwhile, Leeds businessman Simon Morris has also submitted plans for a £10m takeover while Duncan Revie, son of legendary former Leeds manager Don, has said that he is considering making an offer.
Taking Leeds into administration resulted in a statutory 10-point deduction for a club that had already been relegated to League One.
Daily Express 29/5/07
REVEALED: £1BN LEEDS COUP TO REMOVE BATES
By Harry Harris
AN ATTEMPTED £1billion business coup designed to discredit Leeds chairman Ken Bates, remove him from power at Elland Road and buy up the stadium for redevelopment, has been uncovered by the Daily Express.
The plan, commissioned by would-be Leeds buyer Simon Morris, entails compiling a ‘black book’ on Bates and others involved in the ownership of land adjacent to the club. Elland Road plus two other sites would net £1bn according to a confidential memo.
Code-named Project Peacock, the plan was drawn up last month. The intention was to activate it as the club hit their lowest ebb – once relegated and then wound up. The club would be moved to a new 50,000-seat stadium supported by a business development.
But Bates has, in part, stymied the plan by putting the club immediately into, and out of, administration.
The memo reads: “We advise that we should assemble a black book on [Bates and other property owners] deploying our dedicated research team, and, at the time, providing non-attributable press briefings in the first instance followed by on-the-record briefings at the appropriate time.”
On Friday, the administrator holds a meeting of Leeds creditors to discuss the future of the club. Bates’ tactic of putting the club into and out of administration is subject to creditors’ approval.
The Daily Express yesterday asked Morris to explain the memo and ‘black book’ against Bates. Morris said he believes he will win the fight for control of Leeds on Friday. He said he was unaware of the memo’s existence, although he admitted he had hired the London PR firm who produced it.
He wanted the Daily Express to fax the memo to his offices. When pressed, he said: “Whoever has written this memo would not have anticipated your perception of the reference to a black book. In any case, these sorts of memos are vanilla, neutral, blank...with no real connotation.”
Asked about the £1bn development, with Leeds being moved to a new ground, he said: “The idea is to rebuild Elland Road adjacent to the present site with all the amenities. You know I am still a Leeds fan, and it would not be good PR if We need the council-owned car park we were doing anything against Leeds United. for this project to work.” As for the memo itself, he said he had hired PR firm Brunswick and added: “Ken Bates is now suing Brunswick over this memo, and yes Brunswick act for me.”
Morris added he had a “pretty strong” chance of taking control of Leeds. He said: “I have two opportunities; I can take it on alone or go with a joint venture.”
When I told Bates the Daily Express had obtained the memo, he said: “It’s confidential. How did you find out about it?”
The document outlines Project Peacock in ‘The Brief’. It explains that the “target development area” consists of three sites adjacent to one another – Elland Road (owned by Jacob Adler); a British Road Haulage site owned by the Castle family and over which Stanley Leisure has an option which expires on July 2; and a council-owned plot.
Project Peacock’s objective is to acquire all three sites for development, relocating Leeds United to a site nearby which would be supported by retail outlets and a 50,000-seat arena.
It notes that, “Stanley Leisure wish to gain permission for building a regional casino and that Mr Bates is exposed to a charge of seeking to defraud the creditors of Leeds FC (the Inland Revenue) and that Mr Bates has fallen out with Leeds City Council.”
A separate section, ‘The Strategy’, involves presenting “ourselves (accurately) as the people best able to save Leeds FC – placing it on a sound financial footing – and best able to regenerate the surrounding area bringing facilities and prosperity to an underdeveloped and run-down plot”.
It adds: “While the current owner of Leeds FC should in no way be under-estimated, it is noted that the club are in severe financial difficulties and that PAYE is owed to the Inland Revenue.”
Bates warning over Leeds future
Leeds chairman Ken Bates believes the club will find it hard to survive if creditors vote against his bid to buy back the Yorkshire side on Friday.
The former Chelsea chief took the debt-ridden club into administration ahead of the final weekend of season.
"If they want a football club in Leeds they should make sure they vote the right way," he told Yorkshire Radio.
Administrators KPMG agreed to sell the club back to Bates, but the deal has yet to be approved by creditors.
The creditors, and the Football League, will consider a Company Voluntary Agreement under which they would forego some of Leeds' £35m debt.
Bates added: "If the CVA fails, I can assure the fans it's unlikely there will be a Leeds United Football Club. Remember Accrington took 45 years to get back to league status from when they went out of the league.
"Hopefully we can move forward and put the tribulations of the last five to six years behind us and start again with an open and even playing field so we can start getting the club back to where it belongs."
Meanwhile, Leeds businessman Simon Morris has also submitted plans for a £10m takeover while Duncan Revie, son of legendary former Leeds manager Don, has said that he is considering making an offer.
Taking Leeds into administration resulted in a statutory 10-point deduction for a club that had already been relegated to League One.
Daily Express 29/5/07
REVEALED: £1BN LEEDS COUP TO REMOVE BATES
By Harry Harris
AN ATTEMPTED £1billion business coup designed to discredit Leeds chairman Ken Bates, remove him from power at Elland Road and buy up the stadium for redevelopment, has been uncovered by the Daily Express.
The plan, commissioned by would-be Leeds buyer Simon Morris, entails compiling a ‘black book’ on Bates and others involved in the ownership of land adjacent to the club. Elland Road plus two other sites would net £1bn according to a confidential memo.
Code-named Project Peacock, the plan was drawn up last month. The intention was to activate it as the club hit their lowest ebb – once relegated and then wound up. The club would be moved to a new 50,000-seat stadium supported by a business development.
But Bates has, in part, stymied the plan by putting the club immediately into, and out of, administration.
The memo reads: “We advise that we should assemble a black book on [Bates and other property owners] deploying our dedicated research team, and, at the time, providing non-attributable press briefings in the first instance followed by on-the-record briefings at the appropriate time.”
On Friday, the administrator holds a meeting of Leeds creditors to discuss the future of the club. Bates’ tactic of putting the club into and out of administration is subject to creditors’ approval.
The Daily Express yesterday asked Morris to explain the memo and ‘black book’ against Bates. Morris said he believes he will win the fight for control of Leeds on Friday. He said he was unaware of the memo’s existence, although he admitted he had hired the London PR firm who produced it.
He wanted the Daily Express to fax the memo to his offices. When pressed, he said: “Whoever has written this memo would not have anticipated your perception of the reference to a black book. In any case, these sorts of memos are vanilla, neutral, blank...with no real connotation.”
Asked about the £1bn development, with Leeds being moved to a new ground, he said: “The idea is to rebuild Elland Road adjacent to the present site with all the amenities. You know I am still a Leeds fan, and it would not be good PR if We need the council-owned car park we were doing anything against Leeds United. for this project to work.” As for the memo itself, he said he had hired PR firm Brunswick and added: “Ken Bates is now suing Brunswick over this memo, and yes Brunswick act for me.”
Morris added he had a “pretty strong” chance of taking control of Leeds. He said: “I have two opportunities; I can take it on alone or go with a joint venture.”
When I told Bates the Daily Express had obtained the memo, he said: “It’s confidential. How did you find out about it?”
The document outlines Project Peacock in ‘The Brief’. It explains that the “target development area” consists of three sites adjacent to one another – Elland Road (owned by Jacob Adler); a British Road Haulage site owned by the Castle family and over which Stanley Leisure has an option which expires on July 2; and a council-owned plot.
Project Peacock’s objective is to acquire all three sites for development, relocating Leeds United to a site nearby which would be supported by retail outlets and a 50,000-seat arena.
It notes that, “Stanley Leisure wish to gain permission for building a regional casino and that Mr Bates is exposed to a charge of seeking to defraud the creditors of Leeds FC (the Inland Revenue) and that Mr Bates has fallen out with Leeds City Council.”
A separate section, ‘The Strategy’, involves presenting “ourselves (accurately) as the people best able to save Leeds FC – placing it on a sound financial footing – and best able to regenerate the surrounding area bringing facilities and prosperity to an underdeveloped and run-down plot”.
It adds: “While the current owner of Leeds FC should in no way be under-estimated, it is noted that the club are in severe financial difficulties and that PAYE is owed to the Inland Revenue.”
