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How can Leeds Utd get away with this.


 

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There is no way that Leeds Utd or any other club for that matter should be part of the English football leagues without openly saying who their owners are.

Just how is it that the FA allow this.?

Are we seeing once again the old pals act with Mr Bates being allowed to do whatever he likes.

Perhaps this is a favour called in after all the money he made the old codgers at Lancaster Gate in the past,with the New Wembley fiasco.

Saying to the press that Leeds Utd is owned by the holding company FSF is not good enough,without naming names.

How is this legal surely it opens doors to certain people owning more than one club.

Which I believe is against FA rules.

...............................

 

Championship - Leeds chief in dark over owners

 

Leeds` chief executive Shaun Harvey has told MPs he has no knowledge of the people behind the "mysterious trust" that owns the club - and that chairman Ken Bates does not know either.

Leeds' ownership structure came under the microscope at the culture, media and sport select committee's inquiry into football governance at a hearing at Burnley FC on Tuesday.

 

Harvey said Leeds is owned by a holding company called FSF, based in the West Indies island of Nevis and owned by three discretionary trusts. The trustees have appointed two men, Patrick Murrin and Peter Boatman, to run the club and they had asked Bates to be chairman.

 

Harvey told the committee: "I don't know who the beneficiaries of this discretionary trust are, no." Asked if Bates knew, he replied: "Not to my knowledge."

 

He added: "There is no individual [owner], that's the nature of discretionary trusts - it's a perfectly legal and much-used ownership structure in many different industries, not just football." Harvey defended the structure and said the club had recovered from the financial problems inherited from the Peter Ridsdale era.

 

He added: "The football club has no debt. There's no indication that there's any desire [from the discretionary trusts] to move away from the investment. I am convinced now that the light at the end of the Elland Road tunnel is the way out rather than the train coming in the opposite direction."

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Hmm. It may be legal but it sounds to me like a way for the people involved to deny responsibility if things go belly-up.

 

At least you know where you are with an owner like Gibson (even if you don't always agree with his decisions).

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MFC are on the up linth, chill out relax and watch the good times rolll

 

Unusual for you to be so chirpy CS01:exclamation:

I have no problem with the team or the management.I do however worry about the creditors or vultures flying round Gibson.

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  • 1 month later...
 

Now thats better.

 

Bates takes control of Leeds United

 

Ken Bates is now the owner of Leeds United

Ken Bates has become the major shareholder of Leeds United in a move that ends the mystery over the ownership of the club.

 

Bates, the club's chairman, has bought out FSF Limited through his company Outro Limited, Leeds confirmed in a statement.

 

Leeds say they hope the move will bring an end to ''scare***ering'' about the mystery of the ownership and ''delivers the transparency sought''.

 

An inquiry into football by a committee of MPs had put Leeds' ownership under the spotlight and the Premier League had said they would require full disclosure of the shareholders of the three offshore trusts that had owned FSF Limited.

 

Leeds said in a statement: ''The scare***ering arising out of the football governance inquiry has not been helpful and, whilst the board were always confident that there were no issues, recognise the concern the unknown outcome of any Premier League questions may have on our members.

How is it scare***ering to want to know who the bloody hell you are dealing with.

 

''To address this issue and in the hope that this brings an end to the speculation, the chairman, Ken Bates, has completed the purchase of FSF Limited for an undisclosed sum. FSF Limited is now owned by Outro Limited which is wholly owned by Ken Bates.

Still would'nt trust Bates as long as he as a hole in his arris.:D

''This change in ownership structure makes Ken Bates the controlling shareholder of Leeds United and delivers the transparency sought.''

 

The statement claimed there had been a ''political obsession'' over Leeds' ownership. Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey gave evidence to the inquiry in March where he told MPs the club's owners were a holding company called FSF Limited based in the West Indian island of Nevis, owned by three discretionary trusts.

 

The owners of these trusts were unknown, he said, but that they had appointed two men, Patrick Murrin and Peter Boatman, to run the club and they had asked Bates to be chairman. Harvey said neither he, nor to his knowledge Bates, knew who the shareholders of the trusts were.

 

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A friend of mine is very well connected at Leeds and he said it was the worst kept secret that Bates owned Leeds. What he has now done is transfered the ownership into another of his companies that is more transparent just to keep the FA happier.

 

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