Taken from Yorkshire Radio’s interview with Ken Bates, the chairman and now owner of Leeds United, today…
Ben Fry: Chairman, we’ll start with the issue of ownership. The club released a statement at 5pm yesterday evening, can you explain the changes and the reasoning behind it?
Ken Bates: Well yeah, I mean all this nonsense of MP parliamentary secretary on the governance of football, which has been as trivial a hearing that I have ever heard, all obsessed with the ownership of Leeds United, which of course was stirred up with people who claim to be interested in Leeds United but they are not, they are actually more interested in causing trouble. Frankly, the people administering these trusts are getting a bit fed up of it because all they do is run trusts, they don’t get involved in politics or anything. We started having discussions and it seemed to me particularly when they raised the question of the Premiership, the FA Premiership at the government committee that it might be better all round, so we entered into negotiations and the deal was actually done about a fortnight ago. But then we went down to see the Premiership on Thursday and go through the situation which they ticked all the boxes and said that if, or had we got promotion this season there wouldn’t have been any problems. We have already satisfied the Football League, we comply with the FA anyway as we have already been approved. It neatly solves the problem, it now leaves the trouble-makers with something else to think about and how they can cause trouble. We just ignore them as usual and get on with owning the club. The biggest and most disappointing person was of course David Conn, our international enemy in the media, who never wastes a chance or avoids an opportunity for having a dig at Leeds United and me personally. What actually happened and the timing of it, just hit him between the eyes really because he was only the telephone to Paul Dews and Shaun Harvey last night, very aggressively. So much so that Mr Conn was told to go forth and multiply because we don’t have any interest in him anyway. But there you are, the matter has been resolved. It’s something less for people to write about and we are now getting on with the important business of continuing to make the club bigger and better. I should also confirm that we are continuing to have discussions with interested parties with a view to further investment in the club but the nonsense created by these trouble-makers certainly hasn’t helped with discussions. But of course, people don’t think of that when they want to have a little pop at me. They don’t think of the collateral damage they caused. The other thing is that there an awful lot of chancers out there wanting to get into a football club on the cheap because they think it’s a chance to do this, that and the other. But it turns out that they haven’t got any money anyway and they only represent somebody else. We have two golden rules, the supporters club will like this, we say the identity of a proposed investor, proof of funds in a London bank and that usually gets rid of most of them. There’s one international gentleman who last year represented all the Qataris with all their huge money, now he represents the Nigerians; total waste of space. If you are not careful, you spend most of your time running around after these people instead of running the business. We don’t want to be in a situation where, like Portsmouth who have had five owners in three years, there are of course others. But Leeds, nice and stable, step-by-step, brick-on-brick.
BF: Transparancy is a word which has been used a lot when relating to the ownership issue, chairman. Is this something you’d like to see all round now, seen as though transparency seems to be the hot topic?
KB: Well, I mean, there was a submission made by the Yorkshire Division of the Football Supporters Federation. Well I’ve never heard of them. And it’s interesting that their submission was actually slanted as a thinly-veiled attack on Leeds United. So immediately, all the bells of the usual suspects start ringing. But here’s a thought, I have now been in Leeds since January 21, 2005, who do the Leeds United Supporters Club actually support? They certainly don’t support Leeds United. Do they support the Old Peacock? Oh and by the way, in case they haven’t noticed the ‘E’ has fallen off so it now says the Old Pacock. Perhaps they should get that mended otherwise Green King, the landlord will be upset. All I can say is that, who do these people represent? I have invited them a number of times to show us how many members they have and we have offered to print their accounts in the programme. No avail. I was told it’s none of my business. Well, why not? It seems to be everything else is their business. Meanwhile, the Leeds members club finished at just under 40,000 for this season and already we have just under 20,000 renewals for next season. So the Leeds members club is doing well, of course anybody who has got a query or a problem with the Leeds members club, they get dealt with direct, we don’t need to deal with a self-important committee. So if we are going to have transparency, let’s have it all round. Fat hope of that, I think. But not to worry.
BF: Let’s go back to the game on Saturday. A good performance, a win and also the fans at the end headed the message to stay off the pitch. So it was a good afternoon all round.
KB: Yes, it was nice to finish up with a win, could have been three or four, and a clean sheet. A few more of those this season would have been very welcome. But the fact they stayed off the pitch was great because it did enable the players to go around and say thank you, which they did of course. And so we finish the season on a high and of course it carried on into the night when we had our annual Leeds members club party at the pavilion with just under 1,000 people there. It’s was 980-something so more than twice what we had last year and it was an absolutely superb evening from beginning to end. The staff who made it possible should be complemented on organising such a marvellous evening.
BF: On the night, Max Gradel won Player of the Year and Player’s Player of the Year. Do you feel he was a deserved recipient?
KB: I have always said, I can never really make a judgement like that because, you know, how do you compare a keeper with a striker, or a midfielder with a defender? But it’s up to the fans, they have all got their own favourites and on the night that’s who they chose. They chose Max, Mad Max as I affectionately call him and I’m very pleased for him. My award is always for somebody who is not there in the limelight and the Chairman’s Award this year went to Harvey, our physio who has worked so hard to repair torn and damaged limbs this season. We never hear anything about him but without him, and people like him, we wouldn’t have a first team anyway. So I thought he was worthy and deserved.
BF: Also on the night, Jonny Howson picked up the Young Player of the Season. He has also been announced in Stuart Pearce’s provisional England squad for the Under-21 Championships. Do you feel that’s fair recognition for the efforts he has made this season?
KB: Well it shows that he is making steady progress, doesn’t it, and it’s recognised by the fans. And of course he’s a homegrown boy. Story goes, he could see the ground from outside his bedroom window, hope he doesn’t spend too much time in it. But no, I’m delighted for Jonny. He deserves all the recognition he gets.
BF: Now this week, all eyes are on QPR, wondering what is going to happen over their third-party ownership issues. Talk of a points deduction. We should find out on Friday but what are you expecting the outcome to be?
KB: I have no idea. You can never judge what the FA is going to do. But Suzannah came up with the best idea. She suggested it should be put to the clubs to vote because after all QPR are one of the clubs who voted for our 15-point deduction so maybe all the clubs should be voting on QPR and because they won’t want them particularly to go up, that should guarantee they don’t get promotion. On a more serious note, I have no idea. It could be a £1million fine, a £100,000 fine, 10-point deduction, 20-point deduction, who knows? We’ll just have to wait and see and then there will be the inevitable appeal. Then we’ll have to wait for the lawyers and see if it can be challenged in the courts.
BF: Obviously, QPR s next up for the Whites. Mathematically, the play-offs is still a possibility but what are you hoping to get out of the last game?
KB: Oh a win. Be nice to finish on a high and a win there will give us a double over the champions. Not a bad way to finish the season is it?
BF: And also, the game has been announced that it is going to be live on the BBC. I suppose that’s no surprise, given that most matters at either end are sorted out.
KB: No, but I mean it will be a great game anyway because we play good football and QPR have been outstanding this season, so it will be great entertainment. Let’s hope McCartney turns up on the day. I see he’s rather unwisely been giving an interview in which he says the players are tired, a sense of jadedness among certain players has proved telling. Well, I don’t quite understand what he means by that because when we play QPR we’ll have played 50 games but everybody at the club will have played at least 48; 46 league games and two cup matches. I don’t understand what he means by players being ‘out on their feet’ after playing so much this season. Certainly doesn’t apply to him. As far as I can see, looking at the fixture list, as far as I know, he has only played twice in the last six games. So I don’t think fatigue can contributes to his contribution, which I haven’t been particularly impressed with and it might be better of course if he was (counts) two, three, four, five, six, yes he’s played two games in the last six. As I understand it, he has been fined more than once for turning up late in training. So perhaps if he turned up on time and showed a bit more commitment then he wouldn’t feel quite so tired. I think it’s a rubbish excuse for him and anybody else who wants to swing that one.
BF: Let’s finish with a word on next season. Work behind the scenes starting already. Are you already excited about the new campaign?
KB: Yeah. The next thing is next month when the fixtures come out and you start to plan everything as you want to plan. Decide which games I can get over and tied up with as much work as possible. Of course the work on the East Stand is proceeding at pace now. We’re putting some new toilets in the West Stand. Doesn’t sound very significant but it does for people who want them there. And rehousing the away supporters which will be much better for our own fans in the south stand. And, of course, already looking for who we want to buy, sign, to strengthen the squad next year. Again, we’re going to live within our means and not spend money we haven’t got. We’ll leave Mr David Conn to speculate on that. I must say I was rather surprised and I’ll finish up on Conn that he was described on TV this morning as one of the best football analysts that there is in the game. I thought ‘surely they’re not all that bad?’. Mr Conn has been the PR man for the Yorkshire Consortium for several years now. His articles have always reflected that, so Mr Conn will know a lot about financial transparency and financial responsibility. The Guardian is subsidised by, what for it, a trust. A charitable trust, where there doesn’t appear to be any particular owners. On that happy note, I’ll bid you good day.
I just shake my head when reading what KB has to say, does he not have a nice word to say about anyone, such a bitter man.
If he had been totally above board with everything he has done then he wouldn’t get the critisism, but this is just unbelievable.
His comments about how many members the club has ignores the fact that he has made it compulsory to be a member to be able to buy away tickets, if that wasn’t compulsory, how many members does he really think he would have ???
The constant dig as the Supporters Club, and the TSB is in my opinion because for some reason he is scared of both.
Brick by brick and bit by bit we are bringing this man to book as he runs out of excuses to make about the ownership matters he clearly tries to hide. Square Ball can take credit for its reasoned and reasonable attitude and stance it has taken to try and unravel the hype and hypocrisy this utterly despicable man spouts.
Simon above is quite correct about membership levels. I am a season ticket holder and like 12000 others have never been asked whether I wish to be a member or not …it is automatic. As he says the only way to get cup tickets or away tickets if you are not a season ticket holder is to become a member. How many would be members and pay this subscription if this were not the case? It is as usual a cynical ploy by our chairman to extort more money from the fans.
I am still digesting the reasons for this sudden change of transparency of ownership. It could be as we saw with the Council and the Thorp Arch fiasco that he has cooked his own goose as far as investors are concerned.
One thing we do know that after 6 seasons of KB in charge we are in football terms no better off and that after spending 3 unforgiveable years in the third tier of English football. The sooner he is a bad memory the better for all concerned at ER
Though it very amusing his dig at Pomey 5 owners in 5 years by my count LUFC has had 4 owners in 7 years and for 61/2 of those years Bates has been Chairman. Starting with Kwasner & Co with Krato investing & Bates being made Chairman, Krato after the coup which displaced Kwasner & Co for Krato & Bates to put LUFC into administration, FSF post admin Bates stays chairman & now Ofram (whatever its called) with Bates now as owner as obviously Bates had no direct connection with Krato & FSF.
Maybe TBG could do a nice graphic of they seem to be a genius at this?
McCartney may not have been the best player in the team this year, but the comments here about him are absolutely outrageous. It isn’t helping the team in any way by having an outburst like that at a single player.
Usual bile from this disgusting man.
The sooner this vile and bitter old man relinquishes power at Elland Road the better it will be. The air will be fresher and our hopes may be achieved.
I totally agree with the earlier posters about LUMC membership. The numbers would be a tiny percentage of the 40,000 (and possibly lower than LUSC numbers) if season ticket holders weren’t automatically included and we didn’t need membership to order tickets.
I’m an LUMC member because I haven’t a choice. However, I’m an LUSC member becuase I want to be part of a group of friends that travel, meet, socialise and drink together.
It was only in the Burnley programme that Mr Bates was lauding the fact that there are 60 RMC branches worldwide – woo hoo! Isn’t that a pretty pitiful number of branches considering there are 40,000 members? It’s notable by its absence that there’s never any mention of total RMC membership when Mr Bates constantly asks about LUSC membership numbers!
Well done TSB. Your persistent, yet fair, open and reasoned campaigning has played no small part in making the ownership
fiasco slightly more transparent.
KB has obviously done some good things , and you recognise this,
which gives more power to your arguments.
Please keep it up, as perhaps, deep down, KB wants to be liked!
Quoth Uncle Ken:
“The other thing is that there an awful lot of chancers out there wanting to get into a football club on the cheap because they think it’s a chance to do this, that and the other.”
Can this really be true? Thank goodness one of these chancers has never turned up at Leeds United.
bates needs to go! simple as that, us leeds fans need to protest but i bet we wont!
He’s an old man so let’s pray for a heart attack or even better cancer. Harsh but fair.
Wow…last comment is way too harsh! I don’t see what the big problem is with KB to be honest. He’s just a business man so I’m not sure what some of you expect from him. He’s slowly building Leeds into a viable profit making enterprise and then he will sell us on to another Ridsdale who will spend, spend, spend and land us in the crap again. Also, am I mental or have we just nearly qualified for the play offs in our first season back? SG is also doing a sterling job and we’ll see PL football again in no time. Sorry, but I genuinely don’t understand the negative comments here…
Who is the “Yorkshire Consortium” exactly?
David Conn a football analyst, does he ever write up the games? He strikes me as a rules, regualtions and financial kind of person. Not that what he does isn’t valid, but perhaps he shoudl also look into other activities….such as Man City’s owners and the clubs policy on ‘finding’ new players…….
Can’t believe fellow Leeds supporters back Conn who is a Manc who hates Leeds with a passion if it wasnt bates it would be something/somebody else to do with Leeds who would be in the firing line.
Look at the hammers over 60 million pounds in debt do we want to go down that route again. How would you like it if bates sold the club to someone who just ran up the debts and left us in the lurch again, as for the membership scheme, after you’ve had your 10% discount the initial outlay is reduced a bit. It seems people put their own personal grudges against bates above supporting lufc. Remember BB team before self, think on and dont side with them that hate us
MOT
It warms my heart to see that that the majority of posts are coming from intelligent Leeds fans who are clearly seeing through the tsunami of lies/propaganda coming out of ER
KB is ‘the master of deception’ – extremely careful about putting anything into print that doesn’t show him in a good light & his main tactic is to undermine everyone/anyone who dares to criticise him.
His favourite target is ‘The Official Leeds United Supporters Club’ – an organisation formed 90 years ago (one year after Leeds Utd rose from the ashes of Leeds City FC) who’s sole purpose is to promote The Club & transport Leeds fans to games home & away. There is no logical reason to ‘wage war’ on the Supporters Club unless, perhaps, there’s money to made from ‘press-ganging’ fans into joining his membership scheme?!?! Like many other fans, i resent being a compulsory member through my season ticket – I’d like to cancel my RMC membership but fear Uncle Ken would take great delight in cancelling my season ticket & naming & shaming me in his programme notes – Best to keep a low profile i think!
Keep the faith, Love Leeds, Never trust KB.
Love Leeds, DESPISE bates!!!!!!!!
Dylan, I’m sorry but you cannot be serious!! (say that with a McEnroe Esq. scream and you’ll get where I’m at having digested your short post). To say you don’t understand ‘all the negative comments’ dumbfounds me, you don’t suppose Ken saved us 2′s as well do you, I’m sorry to pick you out but you have put yourself up to be shot at. Btw I’d call it constructive criticism.
Our Ken invites all the conjecture he receives upon himself, his rambling program notes and shambolic court appearances being point in case, the big shame of it all is whilst he’s fleecing those blindly loyal to LUFC (therefore loyal to him) he doesn’t care. It’s normally lonely out on a limb but then I suppose if that limb is a cosy pad in Monaco wallpapered with our membership and ticket money, miles away from the flak…
Cancer however is a bit strong, a double Decker bus would suffice.
MOT
Going against the gain, but I agree with Dylan.
I honestly think that Bates has been the best man for the job of turning the club around. May sound a bit naive, but my belief is that at his age the money isn’t really that important to Bates, I personally think he wants to get the club back into the prem so he can be his obnoxious self but on a bigger stage (and then probably sell up!). Good luck to him in my opinion, as it will ultimately benefit the club.
Yes it pisses me off our season tickets cost £750 to watch championship football, and yes its frustrating SG having to bargain basement shop with the likes of Paynter on a free, but we have to rebuild from solid foundations after what that idiot Ridsdale did to the club (hopefully he’ll get sent down by Cardiff trading standards).
I’d have definately taken 7th at the start of this season, and genuinely think we’ve got a great young manager who, whilst he undoubtably makes mistakes, has a fantastic track record with two promotions and some significant cup scalps already.
Obviously we need to invest in the squad in the summer (by that I dont mean just giving Tom Lees his chance!), and I do think that Killer and Bradley have done enough to be retained if at all possible, but overall I’d much prefer this step by step approach by being being a profitable club steadily building foundations which will hopefully get us back where we belong by the end of next season.
MOT
HMS Lowfields – I too would have taken 7th spot at the start of the season – i predicted (following another summer of no money spent on the team + no Beckford to provide the goals) that we’d be in a depressing relegation battle. In the end the team/manager spectacularly over-achieved but the overall feeling is that we’ve missed a golden opportunity and, with a bit of modest investment, we could easily have been looking forward to watching Premier League football later this summer.
However, any sympathy/respect for KB is well off the mark. His tenure as Chairman(owner?) of our great club has been catastrophic. Yes, he may have inherited the mess created by Ridsdale & Co but taking us into Division.3 & keeping us there for 3 years is a truly remarkable achievement.
Under his leadership we’ve had the joys of losing to the likes of Hereford & Cheltenham on a regular basis & who could forget that magical afternoon at Histon?
In the 6 seasons he’s been at the helm our average league position in English football is 40th (39.8 to be exact) and that is an absolute disgrace!
We’ve been paying eye-watering ticket prices to watch lower division garbage – where’s all that money gone? Also, where’s the reported £6m Fabian Delph transfer fee?
After exiting Administration nearly 4 years ago we should not only be debt free but actually making vast profits given the income from ticket sales (25,000 average), programme sales, food & drink sales, advertising, sponsorship, TV, merchandising, corporate packages etc – yet KB continues to announce tiny profits/break even figures every year!
We spend practically nothing on player transfers & instead rely on free transfers, out of contract players & loan players (+ the occasional undisclosed fee signing). If you listen to KB it’s clear that we’ve also got a strict wages policy (which will almost certainly drive Kilkenny & Johnson out).
So explain this . . . Leeds Utd is a money making machine that spends next to nothing on it’s player squad . . . so where’s all the money???
I suspect that there’s a huge ‘hole in our bucket’ and someone somewhere is lining their pockets.
I agree that KB would like Leeds to be in the Premiership so he can either sell at a huge profit or continue at the club & enhance his own personal profile but he clearly is not prepared to spend one penny more than neccessary to get us there.
Next season will be season No.8 outside the Premiership & i’m sick of it. There’s no guarantee we’ll get promoted next year – There’ll be a turnover of players in the summer, probably next to nothing actually spent on the squad (SG continues to shop at NETTO) & we’ll be in no better position to compete with the teams who missed out in this year’s play-offs + the 3 Premiership relegated teams (& Burnley, Hull & Boro) loaded with parachute money.
Whilst KB is at Leeds we’re going nowhere.
End of rant – have a nice day.