Mighty Leeds Weblog

Guardian 21/12/12 Cash for players promised after £52m takeover is finalised Ken Bates, who stands to receive £32m, misses 'massive day' Andy Hunter Ken Bates was in short supply as Gulf Finance House Capital announced its takeover of Leeds United on Friday. There was no confirmation of the amount paid for the club and no word on the source of the wealth behind the Dubai-based private equity firm. On the possible plus side for supporters adept at treating takeovers with caution, there was no Bates, though he stands to receive around £32m from the sale of the club. Any potential relief in Leeds at the end of Bates's almost eight-year tenure is tempered by the fact the 81-year-old will remain chairman until the end of the season. He then becomes honorary president of the football board under the terms of the deal with GFH which, after a seven-month exclusivity period, purchased 100% of the club's parent company, Leeds City Holdings Limited, on Thursday. The deal, on...

Yorkshire Post 21/12/12 By Richard Sutcliffe THE new owners of Leeds United last night promised a “bright future” for the Championship club. Dubai-based investment bank GFH Capital have completed their 100 per cent takeover following six months of talks with Ken Bates. Official confirmation will follow this morning and the buyout means GFH deputy chief executive David Haigh, company director Salem Patel and board member Hisham Alrayes have joined the Elland Road board. Under the new set-up, Bates is staying on as chairman until the end of the season when he will become club president. Chief 
executive Shaun Harvey will remain in his current role. Speaking to the Yorkshire Post last night after agreement had been reached, Haigh said: “We are delighted, but also honoured and proud to be the new owners of Leeds United Football Club. “We have had over 4,000 e-mails of support from fans and we have been overwhelmed by the reaction. “Everyone we have spoken to in the city has been ...

Twohundredpercent 20/12/12 Earlier this week, Neil Ashton of the Daily Mail was in a “penthouse apartment in Leeds city centre” with Ken Bates, having been granted a rare interview with the Leeds United chairman ahead of Leeds’ League Cup quarter-final against Chelsea. It wasn’t, it should be said, the most testing of interviews for Bates, a man who frequently seems more than happy to use his own media channels to harrass those that he considers his enemies. What might appear a little more surprising, however, was the appearance of a second article on the paper’s website and in its print edition which can, in the absence of any valid “public interest” considerations (the well-established catch all explanation for dragging anybody’s personal life into the glare of the public domain), only reasonably be described as a hatchet piece on a long-time nemesis of Bates – Gary Cooper, the chair of the Leeds United Supporters Trust. In a breathless article (which we’re not going to link to – t...

"We are now stable." 05/05/2006 "We're building a club first and a team second." 01/03/2012 "Fabian's got a contract which runs until 2012. He wants to stay, we're going to keep him. That's the end of it." 04/11/2008 When he blamed losing a lot of money on Gradels transfer fee due to the Euro doing badly When we 'agreed' a partnership with San Lorenzo who were going to loan us 2 Argentina U20 internationals Welcoming the Chines olympic team with the immortal you're only good for "increased sales of sweet and sour pork" "We intend to work to a solution whereby the pitch will revert to the ownership of the fans, as will the name LUFC." 27/01/05 "I can promise Leeds fans, as Cilla Black says, we're gonna have a lora lora laughs." 27.01.2005 Asked who owns Leeds United in January 2005... "an announcement will be made in due course." Only took six years.

Yorkshire Evening Post 19/12/12 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock looked forward to the completion of the takeover of Leeds United after an exhilarating League Cup clash with Chelsea left him yearning for more big nights at Elland Road. The United managed called on the club to “sort themselves out” and make Premier League football their staple diet following a quarter-final defeat to the reigning European champions. Leeds were beaten 5-1 last night after Chelsea fought back from a half-time deficit to score five times in the second half through Juan Mata, Branislav Ivanovic, Victor Moses, Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres. Warnock spoke of a sense of regret in United’s dressing room after a soft goal conceded by goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown 60 seconds after the interval sparked Chelsea’s fightback, but he basked in the atmosphere created by a crowd of more than 33,000 at Elland Road. Leeds are due to pass into new ownership tomorrow when GFH Capital, the Dubai-based private equity firm, compl...

Yorkshire Evening Post 19/12/12 By Phil Hay In the end, the tired bodies in Chelsea’s squad were impervious to the spirit of Revie, Bremner and even father’s gun. They will remember last night with no great pleasure but the night at Elland Road was theirs nonetheless. Their squad travelled more than 6,000 miles to meet an appointment in Leeds and five second-half goals made the journey worthwhile. They left with a League Cup semi-final to look forward to and adequate proof that Leeds United have not lost interest in this famous rivalry. Midway through a gripping quarter-final, progression to the last four of the Capital One Cup was United’s to lose. Lose it they did in a flurry of finishes after half-time, the sort of clinical salvation that Chelsea’s billions buy you. It might yet buy Rafael Benitez his first trophy as manager after last night’s anxious win. Prior to Chelsea’s show of precision, the disparity in the clubs’ modern-day stature and wealth was nowhere to be seen...