Bates back in Leeds but not to buy back the Whites
Yorkshire Post 27/11/13
by Richard Sutcliffe
KEN BATES last night moved to deny “categorically” speculation that he is involved in any of the consortiums bidding to buy Leeds United.
The 81-year-old sold the Elland Road club to GFH Capital last December and was removed as honorary president just a few weeks into what should have been three years in the role.
He is now embroiled in a legal battle with the United hierarchy which is likely to end in the High Court come the new year.
Despite that, several sightings of Bates in Leeds since last Friday – including many outside Elland Road – had sparked a frenzied internet debate among supporters about his possible return.
The former United chairman’s friendship with managing director David Haigh, one of the key players in GFH Capital’s purchase of the Championship club, has also added fuel to the rumours, but Bates last night moved to dispel the speculation.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, he said: “I am aware of the negotiations taking place between the owners of Leeds United and various consortiums but I can categorically state that I am not part of any of them.
“I only became aware my name was being mentioned in connection with any of these potential bids when someone told me. They said I was getting slagged off for trying to buy Leeds back.
“But, as usual, these people are wide of the mark. The reason I have been back in Leeds for the last few days is I am setting up a new media company. Our offices are on Elland Road and that is why people will have seen me in recent days.”
Several would-be suitors are understood to be interested in United. A consortium of Yorkshire businessmen including Gary Verity, the Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive, and former Sunderland commercial chief Mike Farnan had an initial bid of £7m for a majority share rejected by GFH Capital 11 days ago.
The group, which also includes United legend Lucas Radebe, hope to hold talks with United’s owners in the near future.
Other parties are also believed to be strongly interested in acquiring an interest in Leeds, whose owners have made no secret of their wish to bring additional backers on board since taking control.
Bates, though, is adamant he is not involved, insisting his only contact with the club in recent months has come through his legal team.
The former chairman is suing United for compensation over his terminated presidency – which, under the terms of the three-year deal, could be worth up to £750,000.
Leeds, meanwhile, are alleging misconduct over Bates’s expenses claims. Part of this is understood to relate to the signing in June of a three-year £500,000 contract with a private aeroplane company, 247 Jet, to ferry Bates to Yorkshire from his Monaco home.
United also allege expenses were claimed that were not of benefit to the club. These include a £32,000 bill for dinners Bates held in the Elland Road Banqueting Suite in April to say ‘goodbye’ to both club employees and friends.
A Sky subscription for Bates’s Monaco home in the final six months of his time as chairman is also mentioned in legal papers. Bates denies the claims.
GFH’s legal team submitted their case to the High Court in July. Bates then countered with his own papers in October and United have until today to submit their full response. The case is expected to be heard at the High Court in the new year.
Asked about the expenses, Bates said: “The matter of the bill for the dinners is down entirely to the incompetence of Leeds United.
“The dinners were held in April at Elland Road and were our way of saying goodbye to all those who we had worked with for eight years and also those who had become our friends.
“They were arranged with Compass (who run the club’s catering operation) and the bill should have been sent to me. Instead, the bill was sent to Leeds United by mistake.
“The correct thing would have been for the bill to be returned to Compass, as this was a private matter. Instead, Leeds United paid the bill.
“We have said in our court submissions that we have never even seen the invoice. And as for Sky Sports, how else was the chairman of Leeds United – which I still was until June 30, which is the period covered – supposed to keep up with what was happening in football?”
A spokesman for GFH Capital last night declined to comment.
For Bates, meanwhile, his main focus is now on establishing his media company from offices opposite United’s stadium. As was revealed in this newspaper last July in the wake of Bates’s removal as president, the former chairman had been hoping to strike a deal to buy the club’s in-house television station LUTV, Yorkshire Radio and United’s official website.
This was rejected, as was a later request to buy Yorkshire Radio for £650,000 and a five per cent share in the business.
United again said no and the station, which had been set up by Bates, was closed down on July 30.
On his future plans, he added: “We had got so far down the line with the bid to buy Yorkshire Radio before the plug was pulled late on that we decided to carry on anyway.
“That is why I am here in Leeds and nothing else.
“It is ‘goodbye Yorkshire Radio’ and ‘hello Radio Yorkshire’.”
by Richard Sutcliffe
KEN BATES last night moved to deny “categorically” speculation that he is involved in any of the consortiums bidding to buy Leeds United.
The 81-year-old sold the Elland Road club to GFH Capital last December and was removed as honorary president just a few weeks into what should have been three years in the role.
He is now embroiled in a legal battle with the United hierarchy which is likely to end in the High Court come the new year.
Despite that, several sightings of Bates in Leeds since last Friday – including many outside Elland Road – had sparked a frenzied internet debate among supporters about his possible return.
The former United chairman’s friendship with managing director David Haigh, one of the key players in GFH Capital’s purchase of the Championship club, has also added fuel to the rumours, but Bates last night moved to dispel the speculation.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, he said: “I am aware of the negotiations taking place between the owners of Leeds United and various consortiums but I can categorically state that I am not part of any of them.
“I only became aware my name was being mentioned in connection with any of these potential bids when someone told me. They said I was getting slagged off for trying to buy Leeds back.
“But, as usual, these people are wide of the mark. The reason I have been back in Leeds for the last few days is I am setting up a new media company. Our offices are on Elland Road and that is why people will have seen me in recent days.”
Several would-be suitors are understood to be interested in United. A consortium of Yorkshire businessmen including Gary Verity, the Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive, and former Sunderland commercial chief Mike Farnan had an initial bid of £7m for a majority share rejected by GFH Capital 11 days ago.
The group, which also includes United legend Lucas Radebe, hope to hold talks with United’s owners in the near future.
Other parties are also believed to be strongly interested in acquiring an interest in Leeds, whose owners have made no secret of their wish to bring additional backers on board since taking control.
Bates, though, is adamant he is not involved, insisting his only contact with the club in recent months has come through his legal team.
The former chairman is suing United for compensation over his terminated presidency – which, under the terms of the three-year deal, could be worth up to £750,000.
Leeds, meanwhile, are alleging misconduct over Bates’s expenses claims. Part of this is understood to relate to the signing in June of a three-year £500,000 contract with a private aeroplane company, 247 Jet, to ferry Bates to Yorkshire from his Monaco home.
United also allege expenses were claimed that were not of benefit to the club. These include a £32,000 bill for dinners Bates held in the Elland Road Banqueting Suite in April to say ‘goodbye’ to both club employees and friends.
A Sky subscription for Bates’s Monaco home in the final six months of his time as chairman is also mentioned in legal papers. Bates denies the claims.
GFH’s legal team submitted their case to the High Court in July. Bates then countered with his own papers in October and United have until today to submit their full response. The case is expected to be heard at the High Court in the new year.
Asked about the expenses, Bates said: “The matter of the bill for the dinners is down entirely to the incompetence of Leeds United.
“The dinners were held in April at Elland Road and were our way of saying goodbye to all those who we had worked with for eight years and also those who had become our friends.
“They were arranged with Compass (who run the club’s catering operation) and the bill should have been sent to me. Instead, the bill was sent to Leeds United by mistake.
“The correct thing would have been for the bill to be returned to Compass, as this was a private matter. Instead, Leeds United paid the bill.
“We have said in our court submissions that we have never even seen the invoice. And as for Sky Sports, how else was the chairman of Leeds United – which I still was until June 30, which is the period covered – supposed to keep up with what was happening in football?”
A spokesman for GFH Capital last night declined to comment.
For Bates, meanwhile, his main focus is now on establishing his media company from offices opposite United’s stadium. As was revealed in this newspaper last July in the wake of Bates’s removal as president, the former chairman had been hoping to strike a deal to buy the club’s in-house television station LUTV, Yorkshire Radio and United’s official website.
This was rejected, as was a later request to buy Yorkshire Radio for £650,000 and a five per cent share in the business.
United again said no and the station, which had been set up by Bates, was closed down on July 30.
On his future plans, he added: “We had got so far down the line with the bid to buy Yorkshire Radio before the plug was pulled late on that we decided to carry on anyway.
“That is why I am here in Leeds and nothing else.
“It is ‘goodbye Yorkshire Radio’ and ‘hello Radio Yorkshire’.”