Well, Having had overnight to think about all this I feel no more cheerful. In fact I can't remember feeling as low as this about Leeds for a long, long time.
Every close season I start to feel optimistic about the forthcoming season (even when Venables was manager!), but this season I don't. I'm not looking forward to it at all. The whole CVA procedure seems to have been a shambles and just plain embarrassing for the club. I don't think Bates can take the club forward at all. I don't think he has the ability or the finances. The buy back "has wiped all the debt out". Has it? I don't know how Bates financed his deal, or who his backers were. We're not even told how much he paid. It's difficult to believe we don't still owe large sums of money to anonymous off-shore trusts. What bothers me is Astor Holdings being willing to "write off" £12m of debt. Why would they do this if they had no connection to Bates? There must be some benefit to them of doing this... but what?? Is that where the club goes when Bates dies or retires? I assume Bates has 100% of the club now, having only had 50% before, so this could be the gain for Astor. Furthermore Bates, and consequently LUFC has lost the last bit of goodwill we ever had. That's impossible to quantify in hard money, but it's not going to help us. I fear that all the people who are glad this is over "so we can get back to the football" are burying their heads in the sand. I'm not sure our finances are any more stable now and I don;t expect any money to be spent on transfers for a couple of years. I know Bates is talking about large investments on the horizon, but he's been doing that since he arrived and they've never materialised. There are plenty of rumours about serious financial backers negotiating with Bates and then pulling out - Bates claims this is due to outside interference (Bates says on one occasion from Melvyn Levi - who Bates reported to the police who, well, seem to have done bugger all about it.), but the rumours state it was because the potential investors found Bates impossible to deal with. I'm going to keep going to ER because I believe so strongly in supporting the team and the club; I just wish the club was free of Bates, for its own sake. At the moment I feel like someone I love dearly has commited an atrocity... I still love them, but I feel ashamed and tainted by association. - Sean _______________________________________________ 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
