http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/18/leeds-shaun-harvey-yorkshire -radio?CMP=twt_gu by David Conn Shaun Harvey, chief executive of the Football League, is at the centre of a damning ruling by the regulator Ofcom over "unjust and unfair" broadcasts amounting to "harassment" made by Leeds United's in-house radio station, Yorkshire Radio, while he was the club's chief executive. It is the latest in a series of adverse rulings about the club's misconduct when Harvey was their chief executive and Ken Bates chairman, from 2005 until Bates sold the club last year. Harvey resigned from the club, under the ownership of Bahrain-based Gulf Finance House, in July, and in October was selected by the Football League to be its chief executive, to the astonishment of many Leeds supporters. Ofcom has found that in December 2010, Harvey "instructed" Yorkshire Radio to make at least six broadcasts claiming they were "searching for the whereabouts of Melvyn Levi", a former club director, because the club was suing Levi for money they claimed he owed. The broadcasts caused "distress and anxiety" to Levi and his wife Carole, Ofcom ruled, and were "particularly damaging" to him. The ruling found that when a club representative went to the Levis' home to serve legal papers on him, Carole Levi said, truthfully, that Melvyn was away. Harvey and Bates did not believe that, however, and Harvey then told Yorkshire Radio to make the broadcasts, inviting fans to look out for Levi and contact the radio station if he was spotted. Ofcom found that this use of the club's radio station amounted to harassment of Levi, and breached Ofcom's code requiring broadcasters to avoid unfair and unjust treatment of people. "The fact that Yorkshire Radio deemed it acceptable at the time was of great concern," Ofcom ruled. The adjudication following a complaint by Levi and his solicitors, Ford and Warren of Leeds comes after a court judgment last year which found that Leeds under Bates and Harvey had committed the civil offence of harassment against Levi, by the radio broadcasts and derogatory statements published about him in the official matchday programme. Leeds county court heard that this harassment had caused significant personal distress and made both of the Levis ill. Giving evidence in court to defend the treatment of the couple, Harvey said he had not considered Mrs Levi's feelings when he instigated the broadcasts, because the "business of running a football club" did not allow him room to do so. Leeds were judged to have harassed Melvyn Levi and ordered to pay £10,000 damages, plus the couple's legal costs after a trial with QCs on both sides. In 2009, Bates was found to have libelled Levi in his chairman's column in the Leeds matchday programme, which the judge, Sir Charles Gray, found was "riddled with material inaccuracies" about Levi, a lifelong supporter of the club. Leeds spent £1.25m on their lawyers, Carter-Ruck, in 2010-2012, and Harvey said in court that the legal actions were costing "fortunes". Leeds were claiming Levi and his business partner Robert Weston owed £190,400, which Levi and Weston have defended arguing that they were never repaid £1.4m which they loaned the club. While Harvey was the Leeds chief executive, he and Bates had a poor relationship with the club's supporters trust, which was constituted according to recognised Supporters Direct principles and grew to have 9,000 members. Yorkshire Radio was found by Ofcom earlier this year to have made "unfair" broadcasts about the trust's chairman, Gary Cooper. Bates said on the radio, unchallenged by the programme's presenter, that he had looked at Cooper's match attendance record on the club's computer and had used that information to undermine Cooper's credentials as a fan. Cooper, like Levi, had no notice that he was to be mentioned in these terms on the airwaves, and was subsequently given no opportunity to respond, in breach of the Ofcom code. Ofcom also found that Yorkshire Radio had "unwarrantably infringed" Cooper's right to privacy. In April, the Information Commissioner found "it does not appear" that Leeds United had complied with the principles of the Data Protection Act to process information "fairly and lawfully", when they used Cooper's personal data in that way. Harvey was the Leeds chief executive under Bates for seven years, having originally been appointed by the previous owners, including Melvyn Levi. For six of those years before and after Leeds under Bates and Harvey collapsed into administration in 2007 owing around £35m, including £7m unpaid taxes the club was owned via an offshore company in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven. Harvey gave evidence to a parliamentary select committee inquiry in 2011 that he did not know who the club's owners were. The Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, told the committee his league's rules would be stronger than the Football League's on the question of Leeds' ownership. Two weeks later, the club announced that the offshore owners who have still not been named had sold the club to Bates, who owned it via a company registered in another tax haven, Nevis in the West Indies. Previously Harvey was chief executive at Bradford City for 10 years, which included the club's promotion to the Premier League in 1999. In 2002 after Bradford's relegation the club collapsed into administration, only narrowly avoiding liquidation, after most of its assets, including parachute payments, the stadium and even players, had effectively been mortgaged. Bates sold Leeds a year ago to GFH, whose chief investment officer, Salem Patel, told the Guardian that the club had "a cashflow shortfall" principally because of a building project on Elland Road's east stand, which was financed by selling future season ticket and sponsorship income, and the ground's catering rights. GFH is understood to have since put £20m into Leeds, closed the loss-making Yorkshire Radio, and plans shortly to sell 75% of the club to a consortium led by the current managing director, David Haigh. GFH retained Harvey as chief executive, until he resigned in July. Three months later, the Football League, chaired by Greg Clarke, unveiled Harvey as its chief executive, a new position designed to address issues including club ownership, governance and compliance with league rules. The League is thought to have decided Harvey's long experience at clubs, including promotion, relegation and more than one administration, made him suitably experienced to lead the league itself in its 125th year. Cooper said the trust now has a good, open dialogue with the club. "This Ofcom ruling is a reminder of some awful practice," Cooper said. "I find it astonishing that the Football League decided Shaun Harvey is the best person they could find for a position of such authority." Asked for his reaction, Harvey did not apologise to Melvyn and Carole Levi or express any contrition. He said the ruling concerned events that occurred in 2010, adding: "I believe it is in everyone's best interest to move on." Bates, too, has not apologised to the Levis and described the ruling as "much ado about nothing".
_______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
