It was believed that the long standing mystery of who owns Leeds United had been cleared up by a recent statement to the Channel Islands courts, because that statement had confirmed exactly who it was that held the management shares in Forward Sports Fund (FSF). Now it seems that a subsequent submission to a court has stated that the earlier statement to court was a mistake and that what was said is not in fact the true position as far as ownership of the club is concerned. From memory, that means that Mr Taylor and Mr Bates have both made self- admitted erroneous submissions to courts of law in recent memory.
It also means that we are back in the position of again not knowing who owns Leeds United except for knowing (again) that it is NOT Ken Bates. It seems that Ken Bates does NOT own any management shares in FSF. He always said that he didn't own the club, then a court was told by the club that he did, and now he has said to the court that this was a mistake and actually, he doesn't. After FSF bought the rights (from Administrators KPMG) to again be Leeds United (and at the time that a 15 point sporting sanction was imposed by the FL), the ownership information submitted by the club to the FL for the fit & proper persons test (F&PPT) was presumably the same as the information which was subsequently stated to court. It is difficult to believe that the FL was given a different story than the one given to court. If there have been any changes to the information originally subjected to the test then presumably we have had in effect another change in ownership (at least in part). Now that the court submission has been corrected it is reasonable to assume that Leeds United have had to re-submit corrected information to the FL for the purposes of the F&PPT. In view of the FL appearing to be unwilling to rubber stamp the new ownership of Notts County (where there is also a construction of offshore interests) it is worrying that Leeds may yet again become embroiled in an another administrative wrangle with the FL - this time over ownership and the F&PPT. Also the FL give the appearance of applying their powers in this respect more rigorously as time has passed. Whatever constructions of ownership that may have passed the F&PPT previously, the same may not pass the test now if the test is being applied more stringently than it was in the recent past. If the FL get tough with QPR over Briatore (and they still might find this an attractive way to flex muscles) and if they force Notts County into fuller disclosure, where does Leeds United stand if the FL suddenly find that the clubs changed ownership information does not pass the current test ? Cue another typically Batesian expensive and disruptive legal wrangle. At the very least this appears to indicate gross incompetence on somebody's part at Leeds United . It has to be said that the greater proportion of football fans, even the long-suffering fans of Leeds, are simply not interested in such off the field wranglings. They are primarily concerned with matters on the pitch and with winning games. At present, Leeds United are flying high and at last look like dragging themselves out of this league and the fans are delighted with that ,whatever other misgivings some of them might have. What they do not need at a time of such high performance on the pitch is what could turn out to become a major row about ownership and the F&PPT. Such things have been known to distract the squad and to affect results of matches. Will the fans be so disinterested and so forgiving if incompetence and/or manipulation by those running the football club is perceived to have an effect on the results of upcoming matches. _______________________________________________ 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 http://www.worldnet.org.uk WorldNET2009
