Looks like Bates is having a clear out - which is his way of saying
ooops we are in the mire I suppose (although next years accounts will
dress it up in the same way this years dress up his relationship with
supporters). Anyone who thinks we are in a healthy position only has to
read through the smerk and mirrors in those accounts - people working at
the club valued those players at £18mill - wonder if they'll be as
vilified as poor old Bill Gerrard on that topic when it all goes soft
fruit shaped?
As regards a new manager, to be frank KLKOT would be best placed for
this job (and hec ould probably still keep his full time post at the
School Of Life and Ales without too much difficulty)
For Leeds to get out of this situation we need two things.
Firstly, a proper well thought out long term plan which only considers
the future of the football club and not all the rubbish that has
encumbered the club for the past decade. (Anything from bleeding
Goldfish to secretive off-shore creditors - you couldn't make it up boys
and girls). This should be a plan which encompasses the financial
structure of the club, the community it serves and the way it fits into
the ridiculous footballing setup the country has in 2008. Bates talks
about investment in the club in his accounts - there is nil real
evidence of this other than in a piecemeal way - £2.5 million coming in
as a loan from a parent company but equally £1.28 million being repaid
back. And you can bet your bottom dollar that this loan was in fact
mainly the money used to cover the club's costs whilst it struggled to
regain the golden share.
Of course Company secretary, the wee man, Harvey may wish to disabuse us
of this but I doubt he will/is able to and hey! why should he, it's a
private company with all that that means in terms of no transparency as
the ordinary fan digs deep into the pocket which feeds their craving to
follow a club that quite rightly is in their blood.
Secondly there is a requirement for a believable commitment to any
future plan but such is the nature of professional football in 2008 that
you can truly say that the only true commitment to a football club is
that of its fans. In spite of all the bullshit about members clubs and
their tantalising (not) access to the mystique that lies behind the
doors of a third division team, there is clearly no supporter
involvement in Leeds United other than that of cash cow. A credible
commitment is both transparent and believable something which really
doesn't exist at the moment.
Just take a look at the club's official mouthpiece for fans - its
website - and see how much information there is on the various parts of
the site which is NOT about supporters spending money to shore up the
club. Bates and his pals demand that supporters shell out to keep the
club afloat but they neither tell you clearly and transparently what
they are doing with your donation nor do they make a realistic attempt
to even understand the basic needs of a committed football supporter
-heaven forfend that he would involve them in any meaningful way.
To be honest, whilst ever we have a chairman who is more interested in
telling us what he is going to do about a real or imagined slight from
some tinpot journo like Phil Hay at the YEP we will go nowhere fast.
Rather than desperately hope to hear how he is going to take the club
back into the top flight (which should be the club's aim given it's
support and its potential resources) then we might as well just keep
standing on our heads in the steaming manure not of our making.
Depressing I know, but it's the truth. We have turned into a pale
facsimile of Peterborough United, MK Dons and all the other tiny clubs
who too rightly inhabit the third division. And all this so we can
revolve around the pathetic, grey suited, low achieving egos of a
succession of club owners who really really don't understand the true
reason why football is played professionally in the UK. (Well except to
fleece the fans that is).
There are so many ifs and maybes around today's Leeds United that I have
to regularly resort to fading video cassettes of the 70s to confirm what
it was that makes me a Leeds fan. It certainly isn't the last eight
years of bizarre antics by people you wouldn't trust to run a
bath........................
Anyway boys and girls have a lovely xmas and here's to agreat New Year
but don't expect too much from anyone with a white beard this time round.
Aunty Betty
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is Michel Kitabdjian dead yet?
