Yorkshire Evening Post 10/8/13 - Steady evolution at Leeds United is name of the game for GFH Capital - Hay
by Phil Hay
Evolution not revolution was Salah Nooruddin’s message this week, bringing to mind Alan Partridge.
Steve Coogan’s influence in the Middle East cannot be all-consuming so Leeds United’s chairman is forgiven for choosing that phrase. And the policy still stands: progress in time, not overnight.
This past week has nonetheless felt like a revolution, brought on by a presidential coup and intense supporter engagement around it. There was a queue the length of the West Stand car park before Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Chesterfield, running further than a camera phone could see. Not so long ago Leeds were hard pressed to give away match tickets. “We had 17,000 here for a first-round game,” said Brian McDermott afterwards. “In my second game against Burnley last season, we had only 16,000.”
It’s not only the numbers that hit you. It’s the atmosphere too – explosive in patches of United’s win over Brighton on Saturday but unusually relaxed. “Everyone’s taken chill-pill,” said one journalist who covered Wednesday’s tie for a national newspaper. He was expecting trouble when Chesterfield opened the scoring because trouble usually breaks out. That is how Elland Road came to be seen last season; a basin of dissent.
You can pick at the bones of Wednesday’s performance and argue fairly that the second tier of McDermott’s squad is not what he needs to tear up the Championship. He and his assistant, Nigel Gibbs, regularly speak about the influence of Reading’s substitutes in the season when their previous club left 23 others trailing and comparisons between then and now show shortcomings and weaknesses at Leeds. No great revelation there.
But on the state of the squad there is general agreement – big enough, perhaps, but not yet strong enough. McDermott sings from that hymn sheet and so did Nooruddin when he said in an interview on Tuesday that he and United’s board were not demanding promotion of their manager this season. That is evolution at work; a strategy where substantial investment in players seems destined to come further down the line. GFH Capital is unwilling to bend on the subject of controlling a £15m wage bill.
An attitude so rigid would have provoked protests a year ago but the fundamental difference between this regime and the last is a willingness to compromise in areas where they can. McDermott’s infectious attitude is bringing supporters back but the factors at work on Saturday and Wednesday were predominantly down to the board: sensible ticket prices, a clear-out of the boardroom and an effort to paint this as a new era which went beyond merely telling people that it was. These owners to their credit are not of the mind that shouting loudest wins the day. There is such a thing as diplomacy.
There is also scope for enhancement in different areas of the club. A week ago this newspaper and the BBC reported about a proposed investment deal which could lead to United repurchasing Elland Road, a ground which has belonged to private owners and anonymous ones at that for years. Investment in the hand is worth many times the value of investment in the bush but the sources concerned were extremely confident that funds would come. We await news.
Reclaiming the freehold of Elland Road would be a game-changer in terms of the expectations of GFH Capital’s ownership, however long that lasts. The annual rent of the stadium – separate from the cost of leasing Thorp Arch – is around £1.5m, one 20th of Leeds’ annual income. It’s a small but significant fraction, lumped on top of other costs. Add it to that £3.3million which Leeds paid to Ticketus to meet the East Stand loan earlier this year and that is £5million which the club would not have to pick out of their bank balance in 2014. Financial Fair Play will not stand in the way of pushing that McDermott’s way.
Saturday’s win against Brighton proved that Leeds have a team who can live in the Championship; not win it and not get out of it necessarily but compete ably more often than not. It can only stay that way for so long but GFH Capital has bought itself time. It is now in a position to promote a patient roadmap with some credibility.
Over time it has become apparent that the firm’s inability to replicate a Sheikh Mansour-style refit need not prevent it from making lasting improvements. How far it can go and how long it will persevere is a separate argument altogether but GFH Capital is plainly in the business of leaving Leeds in a better state than it found them. If the ultimate goal of its work is a large pay-off then that’s the prerogative of an investment bank. For a long-suffering crowd, evolution beats nothing.
Evolution not revolution was Salah Nooruddin’s message this week, bringing to mind Alan Partridge.
Steve Coogan’s influence in the Middle East cannot be all-consuming so Leeds United’s chairman is forgiven for choosing that phrase. And the policy still stands: progress in time, not overnight.
This past week has nonetheless felt like a revolution, brought on by a presidential coup and intense supporter engagement around it. There was a queue the length of the West Stand car park before Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Chesterfield, running further than a camera phone could see. Not so long ago Leeds were hard pressed to give away match tickets. “We had 17,000 here for a first-round game,” said Brian McDermott afterwards. “In my second game against Burnley last season, we had only 16,000.”
It’s not only the numbers that hit you. It’s the atmosphere too – explosive in patches of United’s win over Brighton on Saturday but unusually relaxed. “Everyone’s taken chill-pill,” said one journalist who covered Wednesday’s tie for a national newspaper. He was expecting trouble when Chesterfield opened the scoring because trouble usually breaks out. That is how Elland Road came to be seen last season; a basin of dissent.
You can pick at the bones of Wednesday’s performance and argue fairly that the second tier of McDermott’s squad is not what he needs to tear up the Championship. He and his assistant, Nigel Gibbs, regularly speak about the influence of Reading’s substitutes in the season when their previous club left 23 others trailing and comparisons between then and now show shortcomings and weaknesses at Leeds. No great revelation there.
But on the state of the squad there is general agreement – big enough, perhaps, but not yet strong enough. McDermott sings from that hymn sheet and so did Nooruddin when he said in an interview on Tuesday that he and United’s board were not demanding promotion of their manager this season. That is evolution at work; a strategy where substantial investment in players seems destined to come further down the line. GFH Capital is unwilling to bend on the subject of controlling a £15m wage bill.
An attitude so rigid would have provoked protests a year ago but the fundamental difference between this regime and the last is a willingness to compromise in areas where they can. McDermott’s infectious attitude is bringing supporters back but the factors at work on Saturday and Wednesday were predominantly down to the board: sensible ticket prices, a clear-out of the boardroom and an effort to paint this as a new era which went beyond merely telling people that it was. These owners to their credit are not of the mind that shouting loudest wins the day. There is such a thing as diplomacy.
There is also scope for enhancement in different areas of the club. A week ago this newspaper and the BBC reported about a proposed investment deal which could lead to United repurchasing Elland Road, a ground which has belonged to private owners and anonymous ones at that for years. Investment in the hand is worth many times the value of investment in the bush but the sources concerned were extremely confident that funds would come. We await news.
Reclaiming the freehold of Elland Road would be a game-changer in terms of the expectations of GFH Capital’s ownership, however long that lasts. The annual rent of the stadium – separate from the cost of leasing Thorp Arch – is around £1.5m, one 20th of Leeds’ annual income. It’s a small but significant fraction, lumped on top of other costs. Add it to that £3.3million which Leeds paid to Ticketus to meet the East Stand loan earlier this year and that is £5million which the club would not have to pick out of their bank balance in 2014. Financial Fair Play will not stand in the way of pushing that McDermott’s way.
Saturday’s win against Brighton proved that Leeds have a team who can live in the Championship; not win it and not get out of it necessarily but compete ably more often than not. It can only stay that way for so long but GFH Capital has bought itself time. It is now in a position to promote a patient roadmap with some credibility.
Over time it has become apparent that the firm’s inability to replicate a Sheikh Mansour-style refit need not prevent it from making lasting improvements. How far it can go and how long it will persevere is a separate argument altogether but GFH Capital is plainly in the business of leaving Leeds in a better state than it found them. If the ultimate goal of its work is a large pay-off then that’s the prerogative of an investment bank. For a long-suffering crowd, evolution beats nothing.