United bid details under wraps Bids received for Leeds United
THE ownership and immediate financial future of Leeds United could be decided today after officials of the club's administrator KPMG met last night to discuss whether a new bid for control trumped the offer already on the table from Ken Bates. Local property developer Simon Morris and London-based investment company Redbus officially joined forces yesterday to launch a bid for the club which was claimed to be significantly higher than the latest offer from Bates. It was unclear last night whether former Leeds director and ex-Hull City chairman Adam Pearson had also lodged a bid after being tipped to join the fray over the weekend. KPMG declined to reveal how many bids had been received. If the new joint bid succeeds, it is understood that Redbus, headed by chairman Simon Franks, will focus on running the day-to-day business of the football club while Morris will concentrate on realising the potential of redeveloping the Elland Road ground as part of a wider entertainment complex. New ownership would inevitably place a serious question mark over the future of Leeds's manager Dennis Wise. Wise is closely associated with Bates through their shared history at Chelsea and last night Franks would not be drawn on whether his job would be in danger. "I'm not going to rule anything in or anything out. I'm just focusing on getting the club back into top flight football," he said. Franks was heavily critical of the way KPMG had forced would-be bidders for the club to table a bid by 5pm last night after only putting the club up for sale late on Friday afternoon. As well as the extremely tight timetable, he was angry that bidders were unable to gain assurances over exactly what assets were on offer - particularly whether they would be guaranteed to receive the money banked from 9,000 season ticket sales. Franks, who described the process as "crazy" and "gob-smacking" said: "We may be bidding for something we actually can't have, so it's frustrating and a little bit scary. "It's the first time in the history of our company we've taken part in such a blind auction, but there you have it. "The money we are not sure we would get or not, the season-ticket money which is crucial to us, we have no idea whether it would be delivered to us or not if we are the successful bidder. "This has made it an incredibly difficult task to come up with an offer. "Our bid is still higher than Bates's last published bid, but it is lower than we originally had." Bates last night declined to comment on any rival offers for the club, but has previously made it clear that he will not give up Leeds United without a fight. He upped his offer to creditors to 8p for every pound owed on the eve of the deadline for creditors to make a challenge to a Company Voluntary Arrangement which would have returned the club to his control. But his hope that the increase from an initial 1p in the pound would deter HM Revenue and Customs from legally challenging the deal came to nothing when the taxman went to the High Court last week to block the resale deal. The taxman's move prompted KPMG to put Leeds on the market to the highest bidder, but Bates is insistent his offer remains the best on the table. And he issued a reminder over the weekend that the anonymously-owned offshore company Astor, which is owed in excess of £12m, had only agreed to waive its claim for repayment if Bates regained control. He has also threatened to sue if his bid is not accepted, claiming it remained valid and therefore must be accepted. He added: "We haven't come all this way over the last two and a half years, borrowed and spent all that money, got the club turned round, got rid of all the bad organisation that the previous regimes left in place to go out without a fight." The Football League board is due to meet on Thursday by which time KPMG will be hoping that Leeds will be able to paint a clear picture of the club's ownership to ensure the team are allowed to start the new season which begins in only a month's time. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist Join The Leeds United Supporters Trust at www.lufctrust.org
