Sky Sports 1/5/08
Mawhinney backs Leeds verdict
Football League chairman wants matter to be finished
Lord Mawhinney hopes he can draw a line under the 15 point penalty handed to Leeds after they failed to have it overturned on appeal.
The League one hopefuls failed in their bid to claim back the 15 points they were deducted by the Football League at the start of the season for breaking insolvency rules, but an independent three-man arbitration upheld the deduction.
Had Leeds won back the 15 points they were deducted at the start of the campaign for breaking insolvency rules then Gary McAllister's side would have guaranteed promotion back to the Championship, but now they will have to try and secure promotion through the play-offs.
The decision provoked an angry rebuke from Leeds chairman Ken Bates who called for Lord Mawhinney to resign.
Mawhinney refused to get involved in a war of words with Bates and now hopes the whole matter can be put to bed once and for all.
"On behalf of the board and the League, I welcome the (tribunal) panel's findings in their entirety," said Mawhinney.
"It has found that the actions we took were reasonable and appropriate in these unprecedented circumstances and that we had the power to act as we did.
Draw a line
"Now I believe we should draw a line under the whole process.
"Leeds United are a valued member of the Football League family. It is time now we all now get back to the business of football and enjoy the climax to what has already been a great season."
Mawhinney revealed he had not spoken to Bates in the wake of the verdict from the arbitration panel.
"I haven't spoken to Mr Bates so far and it is not my job to inform anybody of the decision," added Mawhinney.
"This wasn't my decision it was simply the tribunal's decision and I am just responding to their decision on behalf of the board and the Football League."
Guardian 1/5/08
Why the Leeds verdict was fair to football
It is right and proper that Leeds failed to reclaim their 15 points
Barney Ronay
And so after a year of acrimony, arbitration and appeal, Leeds United have failed to reclaim their missing 15 points. The arbitration panel has spoken: there will be no recourse to the high court, no giddy ascent to the European justice system. It all stops here.
The reinstatement of the docked points would have lifted Leeds above Doncaster and into an automatic promotion place. Instead, Gary McAllister's men will submit to the rigours of the play-offs.
And quite right, too. The decision of the panel to uphold the Football League's censure of the club's financial management should be heartily applauded. Not just by the chairmen of the other 71 Football League clubs who have already voted overwhelmingly to sanction Leeds and then again to uphold the original punishment. But also by anybody concerned with how football is conducted in the leagues below the Premier, where financial management is as much a part of success on the field as tactics and training.
First, a recap. For anybody confused by the labyrinthine legal process, here's how we arrived at today's verdict:
On May 4 last year Leeds called in the administrators and announced that the club would be sold to a group of companies headed by Ken Bates. They were immediately docked 10 points, ensuring relegation to League One, where they were headed in any case.
After a summer of financial turmoil, the Football League granted Leeds permission to play in League One this season, but only with an additional 15-point deduction. The penalty was a result of the club operating other than under the Football League's well-established rules on insolvency while a transfer of League membership was made to the legal entity (owner: Ken Bates) to which the club now belonged.
Leeds immediately appealed. They lost. They appealed again, requesting the high court arbitrate rather than the Football League. The basis of the appeal was that a 15-point penalty was disproportionate to the offence.
In February this year they forced the issue by serving a high court writ on the League. The League duly gave in to the request for an arbitration panel, which would be composed of a representative from each side plus one independent.
In April the panel confirmed it would make its decision by May 1, in order to avoid complications with the League One play-offs. The issue at stake was whether the club stood to gain unfairly from the way its administration was managed; and also whether any divergence, however minor, from the League's rules should be worthy of such heavy punishment. By inference, the answer is yes on both accounts.
Still, some will conclude that this is all a rather shaggy legal issue: bound up with due process and insolvency rules; and possibly with punishing an occasionally unpopular club and a consistently unpopular owner.
This is far from the case. Above all this is a football issue. The rules on going into administration are strict for a reason. This is much more than just a balls-up by the bean counters. To clubs operating in the same league going into administration amounts to a kind of betrayal, a queering of the pitch, almost an act of sabotage.
On the morning that League Two Rotherham went into administration in March this year, Brentford manager Andy Scott voiced the feelings of many when he called for the club to be banned outright from promotion this season. "The punishment for going into administration should be much more severe than just 10 points," Scott said. "We drew 1-1 with Rotherham earlier in the season and dropped two points against a team paying higher wages than they can afford."
It's not just the points dropped either: it's what might have been in terms of playing personnel in a division where budgets are worked out minutely. Scott added: "They've signed players in the last year that we were after by paying them higher wages - wages they couldn't actually afford. Those players might be worth a lot more than 10 points. And they might have been worth more to us. But they've still got them. It's the fault of the people in charge, not Mark Robins and he'll be feeling just as cheated."
Leeds may have been a special case in some ways, what with the club's extraordinary levels of debt, but the rules must be the same for all. Competing in the Football League is as much about balancing a budget as picking the right team and booting the ball into the net. And going into administration is as much cheating - or incompetence - at an institutional level as a handball or a foul are on the pitch.
Leeds may still go up this season. It's to their credit - and to the relief of football as a whole - that if they do it will be through endeavour on the field, not argument off it.
BBC 1/5/08
Leeds points appeal unsuccessful
Leeds United have failed in their bid to claim back the 15 points they were deducted by the Football League.
The decision by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators means Leeds will not win automatic promotion from League One, though they are in the play-offs.
An independent three-man arbitration reached its verdict behind closed doors in London, ruling the League had not acted unfairly when docking the points.
The penalty was a punishment for breaking competition insolvency rules.
Leeds had already been docked 10 points for entering administration at the end of last season, while still in the Championship - although they were virtually guaranteed to be relegated anyway by then.
The Yorkshire club felt the additional penalty during the current campaign had been unduly harsh.
Any return of points would have upset Leeds' League One promotion rivals, with Doncaster and Carlisle likely to have taken legal action - but the failure of the appeal means that leaders Swansea are confirmed as champions.
Leeds chairman Ken Bates confirmed he would accept the tribunal's findings, but was aggrieved at its criticism of Leeds for delays in bringing their action.
A club statement said: "We feel this finding is unjust as the club sought to oppose the imposition of the penalty from 30 August 2007 onwards.
"We did accept the imposed condition of a 15-point penalty subject to an appeal to member clubs.
"As at 3 August 2007 we had no option but to do so. If we had not the club would have been lost forever, which was far too big a price for anyone to pay.
"It is galling that we are criticised for the delay in bringing the appeal, when it was delays by the Football League that effectively backed us into this corner."
The statement continued: "If what football achieves out of this is clarity for clubs in the future then that can mitigate some of our disappointment as we want all clubs to survive through what are very difficult times.
"The matter is now closed and the focus can return to the pitch.
"If the team are now able to progress through the play-offs to the Championship then it would be the appropriate reward for the efforts of the club's fans and players in overcoming the penalty imposed on the club."
Meanwhile, Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "On behalf of the board and the League, I welcome the panel's findings in their entirety.
"It has found that the actions we took were reasonable and appropriate in these unprecedented circumstances and that we had the power to act as we did.
"Now I believe we should draw a line under the whole process. Leeds United are a valued member of the Football League family.
"We should all now get back to the business of football and enjoy the climax to what has already been an exciting season."
Leeds were fifth when previous boss Dennis Wise was recruited by Newcastle United to be their executive director of football.
Former Leeds favourite Gary McAllister replaced him, and the team booked a play-off spot last Friday with a 1-0 win over Yeovil.
Mawhinney backs Leeds verdict
Football League chairman wants matter to be finished
Lord Mawhinney hopes he can draw a line under the 15 point penalty handed to Leeds after they failed to have it overturned on appeal.
The League one hopefuls failed in their bid to claim back the 15 points they were deducted by the Football League at the start of the season for breaking insolvency rules, but an independent three-man arbitration upheld the deduction.
Had Leeds won back the 15 points they were deducted at the start of the campaign for breaking insolvency rules then Gary McAllister's side would have guaranteed promotion back to the Championship, but now they will have to try and secure promotion through the play-offs.
The decision provoked an angry rebuke from Leeds chairman Ken Bates who called for Lord Mawhinney to resign.
Mawhinney refused to get involved in a war of words with Bates and now hopes the whole matter can be put to bed once and for all.
"On behalf of the board and the League, I welcome the (tribunal) panel's findings in their entirety," said Mawhinney.
"It has found that the actions we took were reasonable and appropriate in these unprecedented circumstances and that we had the power to act as we did.
Draw a line
"Now I believe we should draw a line under the whole process.
"Leeds United are a valued member of the Football League family. It is time now we all now get back to the business of football and enjoy the climax to what has already been a great season."
Mawhinney revealed he had not spoken to Bates in the wake of the verdict from the arbitration panel.
"I haven't spoken to Mr Bates so far and it is not my job to inform anybody of the decision," added Mawhinney.
"This wasn't my decision it was simply the tribunal's decision and I am just responding to their decision on behalf of the board and the Football League."
Guardian 1/5/08
Why the Leeds verdict was fair to football
It is right and proper that Leeds failed to reclaim their 15 points
Barney Ronay
And so after a year of acrimony, arbitration and appeal, Leeds United have failed to reclaim their missing 15 points. The arbitration panel has spoken: there will be no recourse to the high court, no giddy ascent to the European justice system. It all stops here.
The reinstatement of the docked points would have lifted Leeds above Doncaster and into an automatic promotion place. Instead, Gary McAllister's men will submit to the rigours of the play-offs.
And quite right, too. The decision of the panel to uphold the Football League's censure of the club's financial management should be heartily applauded. Not just by the chairmen of the other 71 Football League clubs who have already voted overwhelmingly to sanction Leeds and then again to uphold the original punishment. But also by anybody concerned with how football is conducted in the leagues below the Premier, where financial management is as much a part of success on the field as tactics and training.
First, a recap. For anybody confused by the labyrinthine legal process, here's how we arrived at today's verdict:
On May 4 last year Leeds called in the administrators and announced that the club would be sold to a group of companies headed by Ken Bates. They were immediately docked 10 points, ensuring relegation to League One, where they were headed in any case.
After a summer of financial turmoil, the Football League granted Leeds permission to play in League One this season, but only with an additional 15-point deduction. The penalty was a result of the club operating other than under the Football League's well-established rules on insolvency while a transfer of League membership was made to the legal entity (owner: Ken Bates) to which the club now belonged.
Leeds immediately appealed. They lost. They appealed again, requesting the high court arbitrate rather than the Football League. The basis of the appeal was that a 15-point penalty was disproportionate to the offence.
In February this year they forced the issue by serving a high court writ on the League. The League duly gave in to the request for an arbitration panel, which would be composed of a representative from each side plus one independent.
In April the panel confirmed it would make its decision by May 1, in order to avoid complications with the League One play-offs. The issue at stake was whether the club stood to gain unfairly from the way its administration was managed; and also whether any divergence, however minor, from the League's rules should be worthy of such heavy punishment. By inference, the answer is yes on both accounts.
Still, some will conclude that this is all a rather shaggy legal issue: bound up with due process and insolvency rules; and possibly with punishing an occasionally unpopular club and a consistently unpopular owner.
This is far from the case. Above all this is a football issue. The rules on going into administration are strict for a reason. This is much more than just a balls-up by the bean counters. To clubs operating in the same league going into administration amounts to a kind of betrayal, a queering of the pitch, almost an act of sabotage.
On the morning that League Two Rotherham went into administration in March this year, Brentford manager Andy Scott voiced the feelings of many when he called for the club to be banned outright from promotion this season. "The punishment for going into administration should be much more severe than just 10 points," Scott said. "We drew 1-1 with Rotherham earlier in the season and dropped two points against a team paying higher wages than they can afford."
It's not just the points dropped either: it's what might have been in terms of playing personnel in a division where budgets are worked out minutely. Scott added: "They've signed players in the last year that we were after by paying them higher wages - wages they couldn't actually afford. Those players might be worth a lot more than 10 points. And they might have been worth more to us. But they've still got them. It's the fault of the people in charge, not Mark Robins and he'll be feeling just as cheated."
Leeds may have been a special case in some ways, what with the club's extraordinary levels of debt, but the rules must be the same for all. Competing in the Football League is as much about balancing a budget as picking the right team and booting the ball into the net. And going into administration is as much cheating - or incompetence - at an institutional level as a handball or a foul are on the pitch.
Leeds may still go up this season. It's to their credit - and to the relief of football as a whole - that if they do it will be through endeavour on the field, not argument off it.
BBC 1/5/08
Leeds points appeal unsuccessful
Leeds United have failed in their bid to claim back the 15 points they were deducted by the Football League.
The decision by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators means Leeds will not win automatic promotion from League One, though they are in the play-offs.
An independent three-man arbitration reached its verdict behind closed doors in London, ruling the League had not acted unfairly when docking the points.
The penalty was a punishment for breaking competition insolvency rules.
Leeds had already been docked 10 points for entering administration at the end of last season, while still in the Championship - although they were virtually guaranteed to be relegated anyway by then.
The Yorkshire club felt the additional penalty during the current campaign had been unduly harsh.
Any return of points would have upset Leeds' League One promotion rivals, with Doncaster and Carlisle likely to have taken legal action - but the failure of the appeal means that leaders Swansea are confirmed as champions.
Leeds chairman Ken Bates confirmed he would accept the tribunal's findings, but was aggrieved at its criticism of Leeds for delays in bringing their action.
A club statement said: "We feel this finding is unjust as the club sought to oppose the imposition of the penalty from 30 August 2007 onwards.
"We did accept the imposed condition of a 15-point penalty subject to an appeal to member clubs.
"As at 3 August 2007 we had no option but to do so. If we had not the club would have been lost forever, which was far too big a price for anyone to pay.
"It is galling that we are criticised for the delay in bringing the appeal, when it was delays by the Football League that effectively backed us into this corner."
The statement continued: "If what football achieves out of this is clarity for clubs in the future then that can mitigate some of our disappointment as we want all clubs to survive through what are very difficult times.
"The matter is now closed and the focus can return to the pitch.
"If the team are now able to progress through the play-offs to the Championship then it would be the appropriate reward for the efforts of the club's fans and players in overcoming the penalty imposed on the club."
Meanwhile, Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "On behalf of the board and the League, I welcome the panel's findings in their entirety.
"It has found that the actions we took were reasonable and appropriate in these unprecedented circumstances and that we had the power to act as we did.
"Now I believe we should draw a line under the whole process. Leeds United are a valued member of the Football League family.
"We should all now get back to the business of football and enjoy the climax to what has already been an exciting season."
Leeds were fifth when previous boss Dennis Wise was recruited by Newcastle United to be their executive director of football.
Former Leeds favourite Gary McAllister replaced him, and the team booked a play-off spot last Friday with a 1-0 win over Yeovil.