Leeds United facing further uncertainty

Ken Bates bashed previous English Leeds United board members while promising his turn - again – at the helm of the club would be smooth. However, Leeds is now officially this summer's football saga.

A bid from Bates to obtain the Football Share needed to play in League One, has been turned down yesterday by the Football League (FL) Board.

The FL, which governs the three divisions outside the Premier League, said in a statement on its website football-league.co.uk that "the [FL] Board was unable to consent to this request," unless there is a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in place.

According to Reuters the Board also expressed "concern at the handling of the whole process by the administrators."

Should the matter not be sorted out quickly, the FL said there was nothing in its regulations to prevent a club beginning a new season next month whilst in administration.

A Bates-led consortium submitted the winning bid for club ownership. Previously, he placed the club into administration with a GBP 35 million debt, bought it back with a 1p per GBP offer for creditors with help from the club's biggest creditor and then upped the offer to 8p per GBP when Revenue and Customs became involved.

Bates however, is placing the blame for the mess elsewhere.

"It's a sense of achievement and a challenge. Leeds were in a mess when we took over," Bates said. "The Peter Ridsdale era and the last board were incompetent. But now we've got a clean start and a clean sheet of paper."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.