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Dwindling Gates, Potless Sheikhs & A Retiring Manager - What's Next For Leeds?

by Andy Peterson
7 February 2013 19 Comments

Despite the few positives of the takeover it's still pretty grim at Elland Rd, and I have no idea where we go from here...

When the final whistle blew on Cardiff City’s 1-0 victory at Elland Road last Saturday there were many people with much to reflect on. For Malky Mackay it was all upside: new signing Frazier Campbell netting the winner after a misjudged clearance from Leeds United young right back Sam Byram, another win over United for the Blue/Redbirds and a ten point lead over the play off pack all represented satisfying aspects of your archetypal job done result. Having tasted defeat at home for the first time in three months his opposite number Neil Warnock, was suitably disgruntled with an insipid performance from Premier League referee Mike Dean, who waved away a couple of dubious penalty appeals. Whilst maintaining a reasonable amount of pressure on the Cardiff goal in the second half, his charges best chance came through Everton loanee Ross Barkley, who somehow managed to find only the keeper from five yards out.

Of far more significance and the most disheartening statistic of the afternoon was an attendance of just over 19,000 for a Saturday 3 o’ clock kick off against the league leaders. True, less than 500 away fans were in Beeston to see victory (This being a fixture for which they have their collective excuses prepared on an annual basis) but for Chairman-elect David Haigh watching in Dubai with the local supporters club branch, it must have made painful reading. Since the long gestating takeover of the club reached a conclusion in December, he and new owners GFH Capital have seen gates slide at an even more pronounced rate than during the previous 12 months, a period in which a semi-unofficial boycott was employed amongst certain sections of Leeds United’s supporters. Released not long after they’d sat down in the plush leather seats of the board room for the first time as owners, the latest set of accounts already pointed to a reduction in cash from matchdays of an estimated £1.3 million for the period covering last season, and with an average now of less than 22,000, any swift revival in bums on seats their business plan may have anticipated looks ambitious to say the least.

So what precisely is the problem? Well, the problem is that there’s nothing precise about it. Many of those three of four thousand season tickets holders who’ve cancelled in the last two years would point to Ken Bates parsimonious (And allegedly self serving) stewardship as the reason for lapsing. His retention as chairman by the new regime and boot upstairs to the position of President were briefly controversial, however now the blight of his programme notes has been removed, the former Chelsea man’s profile has shrunk rapidly. And yet the commercial office’s recent gambit to woo fans back – a half season ticket – was met with a mildly apathetic uptake of just 350 applicants. Were it as simple as removing the constraints to rallying around the club in what is an obvious time of need, you feel the olive branch would’ve been snapped off. However, no dice.

United’s meager crowds are also both a long and short term condemnation of the club’s transfer dealings. Up until January of course those fire sales had been on another man’s watch, with the departure or release of every playing asset of any real potential becoming a recurring source of angst for the increasingly pessimistic fans. Better informed people than I will tell you that the sales of Jonny Howson and Robert Snodgrass were conducted partly to stave off the threat of looming administration;  either way Leeds reputation as being the place to shop had become an embarrassing and unwanted one. Until of course this year. New owners, new approach. To be fair to GFHC they’d already made  it clear in public that their strategy towards the window wouldn’t involve lavishing Warnock with what they called “Crazy money”. They’d also spoken of their frustration at missing the summer window, perhaps because it’s alledged that the £2 million given to Bates in the summer wasn’t spent on players as they’d understood it would be.

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Expectations then were that modest investment would be made, particularly as a response to a string of mediocre results away from home in the last couple of months. Just how modest however came as a surprise. Early recruits Michael Tonge and Ryan Hall were already on loan in December and available for negligible fees. Shortly after the talented Barkley arrived for an initial period of a month after excelling at Sheffield Wednesday. Then nothing. All around players who may legitimately have been regarded as targets came and went. And still nothing. Critics of club CEO Shaun Harvey – and by now there were many – suggested that tumbleweed was blowing through his office. All the time in the background rumours of top scorer Luciano Becchio’s determination to leave – incomprehensibly discussed in public by coach Mick Jones at a post match press conference – remained active. By the window’s final throes the Argentinian had submitted a transfer request, and on the eve of the last day his destination was confirmed as none other than Carrow Road, the current domicile of  other former United players Bradley Johnson, former captain Howson and jewel in the crown Snodgrass. In return former Millwall man Steve Morison came the opposite way, plus some cash. Sky Sports news footage of a Canaries fan taking a Leeds supporter for the least pleasureable kind of ride was both funny and tragic at the same time, but underneath the joke the familiar pattern of divesting a key player wasn’t lost on anyone from either side. The slightly bemused Morison was joined by Villa left back Stephen Warnock and Habib Habibou, the latter to date having achieved the most notoriety by ironically doing a Bernard Mathews in his adopted home of Austria. As 11 pm rolled round, the sense of underwhelming amongst those who’d expected a higher standard of capture was almost tangible.

As a backdrop, in recognition of the one way nature of Bates communication and abysmal fan engagement, GFHC have ventured into the social media world which he probably found a difficult concept to grasp. Overnight the club’s official presence on Twitter expanded, matching that of Haigh and his colleague and fellow new board member Salem Patel. Recently an official Facebook page has been launched. Yet both of the most visible avatars of the new era disappeared throughout the fractious window, failing to respond to anxious supporters on the platform which they’d used to circumvent much of the faux-secrecy of the takeover. It could be argued that those frantically jabbing the pair to complain with the hackneyed perenial accusation of a “Lack of ambition” were simply being naïve in expecting a direct response, but then again if you profess to live by the tweet, then surely you should at least answer it.

Perhaps a good PR strategist would’ve told them that it might have been worthwhile to point out that for Leeds fans, there are still reasons to be cheerful. In past years I have no doubt that Byram, undoubtedly on the fringes of the England Under 21 squad, would’ve been sold to balance the books for another season. Quietly there are many supporters happy at least that Becchio was replaced and that in Morison we have a forward with a marginally better goals to games ratio. Warnock has also taken the opportunity to trim the squad (And wage bill) of almost all of his predecessor Simon Grayson’s acts of desperation. For their own part they could’ve pointed to heavily discounted admission prices for home games against Blackpool and Peterborough. And in the regimes at both Nottingham Forest, QPR and Blackburn, shameful lessons on how not to run a football club continue to be given.

Whether this will placate those who claim that through GFHC Leeds have been bought by the only potless sheikh in history is anyone’s guess and in my opinion unlikely. That huge potential remains of course – the 6000+ tickets for the FA Cup tie at Manchester City sold out in a few days – and it’s probably this that Haigh, Patel and their anonymous investors are consoling themselves with. According to Warnock, who to all intents and purposes still plans to retire in May, promotion via the play offs is still possible. For this kind of belief to percolate to the stay away fans, regardless of ticket prices, re-tweets, programme notes or new signings, winning the next two away games at Molineux and The Riverside is vital. United’s season, and perhaps mid term future, hangs in the balance.

 

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Sprake 1:56 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Adam Pearson former director of Leeds and former owner of Hull City wants to come back to the Club. That is exactly the man wee need and together with GFH should take the Club back to the Premiership. We have great group of young players coming through in the next 2-3 years, but younger but still experienced manager is needed after this season. Good times are just around the corner for all at and supporting this great Club Leeds Utd.

Paul 2:01 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Adam Pearson maybe ? http://tinyurl.com/cuecqzm GFH don't know the game well enough, but add Pearson to the equation ???

fiery Jack 2:10 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Andy There's no mystery to why the crowds have dropped, it's because the quality of football we play is poor beyond belief and I and 1000s others won't support it. Yes its the fault of Bates, but warnock signed this team and they have been absolutley crap for at least three months, barring cup games. theres no question, warnock has been unable to motivate, train or drill the team beyond a few corners or free kicks. There seems to be no coherent tactics, he'ds played safe with old mates comiing in with no regard for attacking, entertaining football and he's amazed people complain! This is Leeds not sheffield Qpr or palace. We aspire to better than mediocre!

wtf 2:27 pm, 7-Feb-2013

That's a lot of words to use and get completely nowhere Andy lad. What we need is a call to arms, oh how we used to revel in singing 'where were you when you were shit' to the opposition, unless the situation changes and quickly we'll be hearing a lot more of this ditty if we are promoted. GFH have done pretty well since replacing cuddly Ken, not spectacular but an improvement, the abuse they have received via social media is appalling but if you open yourself up to that then I suppose it goes with the territory. I'm not happy about the cost of energy bills but I don't tweet Henri Proligio of EDF to point out I think he is somewhat of a cunt for the prices charged, no such personal editing is happeneing from some of our fans. I wish Leeds supporting journo's would use their platform and give the postitive messages that ARE out there to encourage the fan base to re-engage with the club because let's face it most did little to dig into Bates and how he ran the club when there MUST be a big story out there (think 6 months to sell to GFH, opposed to about 48 hours when Bates 'acquired' the club fromn the off-shore owners), thank god for David Conn in that respect even though he is a City fan.

KEVIN1969 2:41 pm, 7-Feb-2013

This is not the Leeds utd that i supported as a boy, and to tell the truth, i dont know that i want to follow them anymore, it is by far the most unworthy club in the football league and i wish it had gone out of bussiness instead of constantly making promisses it has no intention of keeping, and the sooner Bates gets his asss out of the door never to be seen again at Leeds the better it will be for the club and its supporters, let him go back to Monaco with all the tax evading t...s that have milked this country.

butterworth scores 3:04 pm, 7-Feb-2013

I bought a season ticket this season for the first time in 20 years and I am seriously wondering why I did. I have no criticism of the players or Warnock but I do think the new owners not making a serious statement of intent in the transfer window may mean I do not renew my ticket for next season. To miss out on Jerome Thomas or Chris Burke for just £600,000 is unforgivable - burke played a blinder for Scotland and could have got us promoted single handedly. A football man in Pearson may just give us an extra boost but its too late for this season. I am getting so disillusioned with football.

John 3:04 pm, 7-Feb-2013

It's quite simple why gates have dropped: The club have not signalled any serious attempt to win promotion. Why would you waste money following a team on a path to mediocrity?

wtf 3:21 pm, 7-Feb-2013

butterworth scores and John - don't refer to yourselves as Leeds fans then and with regard to missing out of players, if we have set limits on wages and fees and certain players are above that level then we won't sign them, it's called having a business plan and it was trying to play 'football manager' for real that got us into this predicament in the first place

John 4:35 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Putting to one side the fact we got poor sheikhs, we're not even competing in the tf market whilst staying well within our means. Millions are disappearing under administrative costs in the company's annual statement. Meanwhile KB has 27 companies bleeding the life out of the club. GFH have a hell of a lot to do to undo those "business" connections. A makeover PR job is not enough.

Leeds Mick 5:23 pm, 7-Feb-2013

It's quite simple as far as i'm concerned. If GFH want to get the fans back in,cleanse the club of all traces of Bates,Harvey and Lorimer get rid of Warnock asap and the gutless Varney. Open up the cheese wedge for away fans and charge them a decent price too. How can Haigh say Bates has done a good job? Is he insane? At least 20m in debt and barely a facet hasn't been pissed about with for the worse. Would you let Nick Leeson manage a bank purely because he has previous experience. How ridiculous and i'm afraid it does not bode well for the future. It's a given that we won't go up under Warnock,it won't be his fault though. It'll be the ref.

Grenville Hair 5:33 pm, 7-Feb-2013

quite right John - business plan, give me a break. The club owns no assets and spends c. 12m of its annual income on wages. Where's the other £15m, going, if you discount the ER rent? The club doesn't care about promotion, unless crowds genuinely drop catastrophically, to say 10,000, it's a licence to print money on the back of t5he gullible. GFH haven't got a pot to piss in, where is the evidence that they have?

butterworth scores 5:52 pm, 7-Feb-2013

wtf - I am a Leeds fan and always will be, I am from Leeds, grew up just a mile from the ground and have being regularly going to matches since 1981. I think that as a season ticket holder and therefore an investor in the club I have the right to call myself a fan and that my opinions are valid ones, I don't just want Leeds to remain where they are in the league. If we don't get the players who will take us up someone else will get them and be better than us. Are we destined to be a mediocre club always finishing halfway down the championship and selling our star players to Norwich or do we have owners willing to back a manager to get us promoted. GFH should not have bought the club if they have no money to invest in it - they have to speculate to accumulate and it seems like they are not able to do that. On the wages front, when we get back to the premier league our wages will have to be increased or we will drop straight back down. We imploded in our "fish tank" days because we were paying silly money to average players like Seth Johnson, Lee Sharpe & Darren Huckerby not because we were overpaying the real stars. We either want to compete at some decent level by getting in some quality players despite the wages they will be on or always consign ourselves to the Championship or even worse. As a Leeds fan it hurts me to see us where we are and it should hurt every Leeds fan too. Having owners who seem not to care as much as we do is incredibly frustrating. I am not the kind of fan who just blindly follows the club agreeing with everything the owners do - if we buy our tickets we should be able to say something when we believe the club is not being run correctly.

Wtf 7:15 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Butterworth scores, great post, I agree with a lot of what you say, we are a little directionless and appear to not know whether to stick or twist, I think most right minded people would be happier if the club were to say we will build from the inside up and blood a few of the good youngsters, Dawson, Taylor, Killock etc. as opposed to shelling out fortunes for mercenaries and in that regard they have missed a trick, but they are only 40 something days through the door and most fans think they can wave a magic wand and undo 8 years of complete mis-management. Most who boycotted cited not lining Bates' pockets and that the cost to do so was prohibitely high so much so that they wouldn't return. GFH have communicated (though not enough)' they have brought in reduced price tickets and the wholly undersubscribed half season ticket, I just hope that the stay always will return otherwise, they will have to try and find 5-10,000 extra punters from somewhere and that will not be easy. perhaps the Rhino's unprecedented success has begun to return us to RL city, I'd like to think we can accommodate both and get full houses for both. Come on you Mighty Whites. MOT!!!

John 8:20 pm, 7-Feb-2013

"wave a magic wand....."The whole manner of the takeover, and the tf window has done nothing to convince that the club actually has new owners. On the contrary, everything points to KB still being in charge. Andrew Peason has been in the news today, but I doubt KB would let a serious investor come in and take control from him, unless it was worth it for him. Interesting to see what happens. I suspect we'll see more evidence Ken is still in charge soon.

Les 8:47 pm, 7-Feb-2013

I'm with wtf. Stop whining and shut up about KB. If you don't want to support Leeds and come to ER anymore - don't bother, but please shut up moaning.

Leeds Mick 9:27 pm, 7-Feb-2013

Les,the ideal scenario would be for you not to read the "moaning". Keep handing over your money and wearing the replica shirt over your fat belly. Unfortunately it's people like you who have kept Bates at Leeds so long. If you can't handle the fact that the overwhelming majority of Leeds fans loathe and detest Bates,simply skip the blogs.

Mark 1:18 am, 8-Feb-2013

Ill tell you why I stay away. It is just not enjoyable watching Leeds - Our performances are just not good to watch! Little quality in the team and any we have is soon sold. Id rather watch paint dry.

Les 9:07 am, 8-Feb-2013

Leeds Mick. I don't support Ken Bates, but I will always support my team. As I said before. if you want to watch a winning football team all the time, then Leeds might not be the team for you - you might be better off following Man United or Chelsea. I like the fat belly comment - thanks.

Wtf 9:22 am, 8-Feb-2013

Mark - what a fucking pathetic excuse, that's like people who don't sing then moan that the crowd are quiet. We're not a restaurant or a super market we're Leeds, as the song goes " we've been through it all together and we've had our ups...................bit of a premature finish for you there, such is life I'd imagine in your case???

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