Wednesday, 14 March 2007, 13:27 GMT <div class="mvb"></div><div class="mvtb"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="416" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 213px"> E-mail this to a friend </td><td style="width: 203px"> Printable version </td></tr></tbody></table></div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="629" border="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><div class="mxb"><div class="sh"><strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] seeking help to buy ground </div></div></td></tr><tr><td style="width: 416px" valign="top"><font size="2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="203" align="right" border="0"><tbody><tr><td><div> <div class="cap"><strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] are keen to own their own home again</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds <strong style="color: black; background-color: #99ff99">United[/b] want <strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] City Council to help them buy back Elland Road stadium and their Thorp Arch training ground.[/b] The Championship side pay £1.5m a year to a British Virgin Islands company to play at Elland Road. </p> <strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] have a buy-back option of £13m on the stadium and £5m on Thorp Arch which were sold to avoid administration. </p> Chief executive Shaun Harvey told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "If the club owned the stadium there would be no longer any mystery as to who <strong style="color: black; background-color: #ffff66">owns[/b] it." </p> Both Elland Road and Thorp Arch were sold prior to chairman Ken Bates' arrival in January 2003 as <strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] battled to avoid administration. </p> They were sold to Manchester businessman Jacob Adler, who later sold Elland Road to Teak Commercial Ltd, a mystery BVI-based company. </p> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="208" align="right" border="0"><tbody><tr><td style="width: 5px"></td><td class="sibStdQuote"><div><div class="mva"> </div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>Bates has made the reacquisition of both properties one of his main objectives, and the club are looking to the local authority to help them. </p> Harvey added: "We have approached the council with a request they assist us by providing a mortgage so we are able to re-purchase both the stadium and Thorp Arch. </p> "The mortgage sought by from the council would be comfortably covered by security in the form of a charge over the stadium and Thorp Arch, and also a personal guarantee from a prominent <strong style="color: black; background-color: #a0ffff">Leeds[/b] businessman. </p> "It would enable the club to play a full part in the redevelopment of the Elland Road area and create income streams to support the club on days other than matchdays." </p> The club is already set to receive more than £33,000 of taxpayers' money this year to boost its finances after being granted "hardship relief" against its business rates by the city council. </p> The council said it granted rate relief worth £33,625 because of the club's importance to the community. </p> The Elland Road business will benefit from a total business rate relief of £134,000 in 2006/2007 - the maximum allowed under European Union state aid regulations. </p></font></td></tr></tbody></table>
Certainly quote of the week "If the club owned the stadium there would be no longer any mystery as to who owns it."
They really are going nowhere. All the club has is its playing staff as assets and they cant be worth much. Bates looks like wanting out, who the hell is gonna invest in that mess. There is nothing there to buy, only debt.
Who owns Leeds is the same as who owns Wendy The banks. Leeds were £100 million in debt.............can't remember reading that someone has paid this off Wendy are £30 million in debt...............can't remember reading that someone has paid this off Who the hell will come to Leeds and pay £100 million before they even start to look at turning the club round So Wendy and Leeds just plod along steady trying to pay off debts year in year out and hoping something good happens on the pitch Be very interesting to see which players these clubs bring in over the summer
RE: Who owns Leeds is the same as who owns Wendy Doesn't it make you angry that clubs saddled with so much debt are allowed to be active in the transfer market. Its about time the Football League actually acted to make sure that clubs were actually prudent rather than trying to buy success on a short term basis.
