Couldnt agree more. 7 years of Bates have crippled us. At least we get the chance to renew our season ticket 7 months before the season starts to get our special discounted price thats more expensive than the majority of premiership clubs. Proud Moron.

johnson steel in midfield you are joking

Mostly agree, but I can't say there were many sad to see the back of Bradley Johnson. Plus, Beckford was footballing marmite, his leaving allowed Becchio to florish last season and you only need to look at the number of goals we scored to realise we didn't need him last season. The one I was really gutted about was Max, I think that hamstrung our season. There was a time we did buy players, too - Blackwell got money to spend. Unfortunately he spent it badly and I think Bates has decided to never allow that to happen again.

didnt you niticew this the ysar we was relegated?????? gradel put in a request how can you nolt let him go beckfoird couldnt afford his wages hencew he left the club on a free not sold not given away released johnson greedy again free!!! delph by all accounts was the last 1 we have managed to keep snoddy bechio all this time mmmmmmm cheers

Us fans really start to make a concerted effort to remove Bates. He is using our club as a money spinner for himself and has no love for the club. He is an asset stripper, look at his business record. In the short term a boycott of games at er will hurt but this will hurt Bates in the wallet and that's all he cares about. I feel sorry for Grayson if he failed having spent money I'd say go but he hasn't even had that chance. Love Leeds Hate Bates

We sell and sell and we're only in the market for temporary transfers and deadbeats. Bates tells us one thing one minute – that the club is in rude financial health one minute – and another the next – that we have to live within our means. But what are our true means? I fear he will kill us before he croaks.

Dear James, Our status was downgraded to 'Junk' on the day Woodgate departed long, dark, years ago (preceded by the Ferdinand sale which, for me, served as our 'profit warning' to the Football market). As a fan since the Whites played Watford in 1988 (I was seven) and lost at ER, I offered up my loyal support to the Whites throughout: promotion, success in the First Division, the 1996 coca-cola cup farce, a few exciting runs in Europe and the terrible darkness that followed with broken only by the 2010 promotion. Recent events at Elland Road, culminating the sale of our promotion hope, Maximus Gradel, have left me sometimes confused and other times despondent. I have now decided, in accordance with our Chairmen’s view of us ‘morans’, that my Loyalty is now a ‘commodity’ that can be bought and sold and that Loyalty is about to be downgraded too, unless the Executive at Leeds serious consider my ‘Brian Deane’s but really created by Waltzing Masinga - the puppet master) Five point plan to success and redemption’ below. (Executive means: Kenny Boy (aka - the Man on the Bridge), Simon Grayson, Shaun Harvey, and the Directors) I openly admit that my knowledge of Football finance is suspect. Tactically, I hark back to Wilko’s triangle football as the route to silverware, and, disappointingly, my success recipes were unsuccessful. Notwithstanding my dire Footballing cognitive apparatus, I have managed to distil some salient points which may assist our club’s Executive when they meet to make key decisions “going forward” in this transfer window and thereafter: Brian Deane’s (but really created by Waltzing Masinga - the puppet master) Five point plan to success and redemption: (A) A club by being in the Premiership is in a more lucrative position than a club not being in the Premiership; (B) To achieve promotion from the Championship to the Premiership, a team requires talented players (and quite possibly a club shall acquire the services of other talented players who do not currently player for the club - note to Executive: such a player is not called “Michael Brown”); (C) To retain and secure talented players, investment is an unfortunate and necessary ancillary to such ‘deals’. It is highlighted that such players, the good ones, become ‘targets’ for other teams who might want that talented player to play for their team as opposed to Leeds United. Selfish and alarming, but true nevertheless; (D) If a team finishes outside of the play-offs in what we shall describe as ‘Season 1’, if that same team were to weaken its squad, say, for example, by selling its best of the best player (see point (C) above for further information on this point) before Season 2 were to commence, then the club’s chances of replicating the Season 1 position is, again rather unfortunately, significantly diminished. (A further factor for the Executive to consider is that: (i) Season 2 may be an even more competitive division containing stronger teams than in Season 1; and (ii) rather than weakening ones’ team, one may be better advised to strengthen it by keeping ‘good players’ and acquiring more of those ‘good players’ and see (C) above for further guidance. I know, ground-breaking); and, finally (E) Leeds United’s defence has been rather sorrowful for longer than I care to remember. Our last decent defence comprised of Messrs Woodgate, Radebe, Ferdinand and Matteo. Please can the Exective address Mr Grayson on this point - why have we not sought to address this problem properly (nb: Simon, falling out with your best current Defender if not a good O’Dea). It would certainly appear that, when considering (A) - (E), the Executive at Leeds have employed some rather creative and (il)logical methods of late and I would strongly advise them to print off a copy of this memo and contemplate prior to the next skype session with Kenny Boy. However I am not just a red flagger, I believe I may have discovered Kenny’s secret master plan that could account for all the weirdness at Elland Road, and here it is: Leeds United is priming itself to take advantage of the FIFA Financial Fair Play Regulations once they come into force. Bates’ shrewdness and general frugalness may be based on his knowledge that the FIFA Regs are going to be "game changers" for every club (For instance, clubs may have to hold certain amounts of capital and have debt below designated thresholds). Should Leeds United be well-positioned prior to implementation of the Regs, then we may avoid sanctions levied on other clubs imposed for non-compliance (relegation; fire-sales?) therefore gaining a tactical advantage - whilst other clubs fall on their debt-ridden swords. It’s Only a Theory (thanks Dawkins). Alternatively, under the Bates' regime, Leeds United may just be an empty vessel, a shell of a once great club, bobbing along in the seas of mediocrity. It still does amaze me that, having only one club in a large city such as ours, we are clearly such an unattractive prospect in terms of being investment opportunity (where is our fake sheikh, our Roman? Here’s a philosophical questions for you to ponder: would you want one?). On second thoughts, maybe its not ‘Leeds United’ that such an unattractive investment, maybe our potential suitors are just unable to palette dealing with the Man on our bridge. Please copy and paste a copy of your article marked for the attention of a Mr Ken Bates c/o Leeds United. I should return back to work now, this was quite therapeutic so thank you for the platform. Waltzing Masinga

for once, i disagree with a James Brown Leeds Utd article. Leeds became a selling club in 2003 when Woodgate left for Newcastle. After him Robinson, Carson, Lennon, Milner all followed on! Under the Bates regime, we have progressed(?) from selling club to giving away club!

Who would ever have envisaged that Leeds United's most highly prized players could be prised away by clubs the like Stoke, Bolton or Norwich? We are a selling club and we're still being run like a first division outfit. I believe that Bates is just treading water until someone comes in with a big offer for the club. For the time being we're just going to have to grin and bare it.

If anyone has not noticed we are a selling club, and have been foor years, I am not sure where they have been looking. And when we are not a selling club we are a "dont offer them a decent enough contract to stay, or show them that we have enough ambition to want them to stay, so they leave at the end of their contract for free"....club

Selling club isn't the right phrase! If you use your examples Delphs departure was a no brainier pay cheque, and both Beckford & Johnson walked away on free transfers! We have 2 problems, the fact we've been out of the premiership for so long (loss of status & pull) & our stingey penny pinching chairman, who obviously is unsure of the value of money, after all when he was young a pint was probably 1 shilling & threpence (I don't know old money). Bates values players, but unfortunately it's often less than the competitive market & less than the players themselves believe. Gradel, Beckford & Johnson were offered more elsewhere, football @ a higher level and more money. The money in the club, the so called multi revenue streams need to be re-invested & not lining Bates wallet seams. We're not a selling club, we're Bates' cash cow & it's us proud, supporting fans, who stand by the club & keep spending, literally paying the price! Bates has learnt we will follow wether playing AC Milan, or Yeovil... So why would he spend to push us on?

Largely agree with James' article. However, that response from 'Waltsing Masinga' is either the comments of a madman or strikingly insightful. Financial Fair play regs are coming into play sooner or later and if Mr Bates' comments are correct, we shall be in a rather strong position, if/when they do. We may even become a 'buying' club once again. Worth a read!

The big question is how badly does Bates want to be in the prem? If he REALLY wanted to get back this season he'd spend £20m on new players say Scharner, Kevin Davies and alan smith, keep the rest and fkin go for broke - flat out football and hammer the table out of sight. But I don't think he will. I think he'll potter around selling when we get a decent offer for lees or clayton et al and send SG out to find another kid that'll take two years to grow. We're not a selling club, we're a cautious, risk averse investment for a bent millionaire of a carpetbagger. I recall someone who turned us down said it was because we had no ambition and it all points to that. We've never replaced Max or somma/beckford and we've no game changers to bring on - the biggest difference between this and last year. Bates needs to put his money where his 'ambition' .

I've been trying to work it out, because there was some weird asset-stripping, fan-hating, beardy cunt vibe I had seen before...... Could Bates be related to the Glazers?

By and large it takes investment to get out of this division ..... and I dont mean investment in a stadium that we don't own ?? I mean investment in players. We meandered about in this division for 7 long years without ivestment in the 80's forced to sell our best players, eg Ian Snodin before we speculated in 1989 in the likes of Strachan, Fairclough, Sterland and Vinnie Jones. We never looked back. Surely Bates wants to get back to the promised land before its too late ? He's 80 for f...'s sake, doesn't he realize time is running out for him. If he doesn't, let us hope it runs out sooner rather than later and we can get somebody in who's willing to invest.

If Bates did actually die....where would LUFC stand......is there a Bates the younger? Please god NOOooo!

Please tell Ken Bates,he can't take it with him.So spend some money,so we can get back in the Premier League.

Leeds are shit at the mo , we have 3 or 4 decent players the rest are pants . Grayson and bates need to go FACT .we hardcore fans pay over the odds everyweek and watch pure dribble , somthing begs to be done lets not live in the past glory days n do somthing !!!!!

And now we have sold our skipper. Another local boy who loves the club etc and how the manager rates ever so highly. It goes from bad to worse. I can't imagine this being the sort of thing to help sell the club to potential players we are trying to attract. We have just 2 weeks to renew our season tickets...oh dear Ken, you vile man.

Players want to play in the premier league, pretty basic. Nothing to do with Bates. Lees has only started in the first team this year, ditto Clayton. They show ability they become targets for big salaries & higher leagues, they don't have to stick around & prove they can get us promoted. We are a farm for higher placed teams now. Simple!

Nice to see Ken,a couple more million to spend?F--K the CLUB? I'M RIGHT/

Another knock to what is turning into a rather bad season, you are right Leeds have become a selling club. We are like a poor factory, processing decent talent and then selling them for a shit price! Oh Leeds, my home club, the team I have supported for 25 years, what is happening to you and where will it end?

Absolutely disgusting, match attening supporter since the age of 12 (now older than the hills, seriously wondering if I can stand the despair of following a club that has no ambition other than to be a money making tax vehicle for the old dickhead. Leeds Utd rip!!!!

Leeds United was there before BATES,they will be there when he's gone/thankyou.

Best start looking over our shoulders at the relegation battle.

Leeds United have always been a selling club whether we like it or not ... history tells us they sold John Charles, Frankie Gray, Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank, Rio Ferdinand, GARY SPEED, David Batty and the list goes on and on, so lets not kid ourselves that it's just started under the present regime. Jonny Howson has made it clear by his refusal to reach agreement over a new contract that he wanted away to play in The Premiership and we have to remember that it takes two to reach an agreement and Jonny was one part. IMO the club have chosen the right path ... the alternative would be that he walked for free at the end of the season and many contributors on this, and other sites would have then slagged off the club for allowing him to leave for free, ala Beckford, Johnson etc. Incidentally, I'm not a Bates supporter and I too would like to see investment in the whole squad.

Jonny Howson's packing his bags and away to the Canaries. Allegedly £2M? Is this enough to to enable Leeds to deflect the like of Bolton et al in their alleged pursuit of Clayton, Lees? Maybe that is the underlying basis of Howson's sale? Or..dare we hope for the possibility of a concerted purchase initiative..Andrews maybe?

Howson is doing what all players do and that is put their career before the club and it's not down to Bates it's down to agents and the player himself, gone are the days of Bremner's famous quote 'Side before self'.

All trying to use bamboozing long draw out messages support on the pitch yes but somthing needs doing off , let show are support for the lads not bates !!! Motd

Bates won't pay above the wage cap for any player. Howson refused to sign a new contract for 12 months and is keen to play in the premiership and we'd lose him on a freebie in the summer. I'm no manager but Leeds need to offload the dross and keep the good players that can get promotion - the pressure on Grayson is even more intense now. Hope we land Delph.

If more go and there's no better replacments vote with your feet - don't go to the next 3 games - three 8k attendances and Bates is gone.

It is clearly not in Bates interest for Leeds to be promoted, at present he has a club with an average attendance that matches that of many top flight teams, Its fans pay the same as many top flight teams and yet he only pays championship wages. When he needs to boost the clubs income he offers season ticket renewals at the same time as making noises about a big signing (think Smith/Woodgate last year, and Delph this year) knowing perfectly well they are not able to offer the financial package to secure their services. Its farsical that the fans swallow it year after year, this week the story was leaked from Leeds United that they were in advanced stages of securing Delphs services, but apparently nobody has told Aston Villa? then they sold Howson under the smoke screen of the Delph Farce. It makes me sick to my stomach!!!

Ken bates if your reading this Get out of Leeds Utd you clueless unambitious gready blood sucking vampire like leach

Guys i know this hurts right now and i am feeling what you all are. But Mr "2 pence" bates will not be around that much longer. Leeds have always had what other clubs dream of - loyal fans that would speak our minds but STILL stay loyal. The club needs that loyalty right now. The players that are there need encouragement, lord knows they wont get it from the chairman. I LOVE Leeds with a passion and although I am deeply gutted at the loss of another good player i am going to keep showing leeds my love. I really feel for SG cos he doing what he can with hands tied. HE is a leeds fan at heart and i feel although he is still a learning manager he feels our passions and desires and will give EVERYTHING to see us back where we belong. He is a great loan/free market man and tbh in these troubled times he is what is needed. Add to that what i said above above about being a leeds fan and we're gonna be ok. Lets not forget we still HAVE a leeds united, we almost didn't. MOT

James, please stop predicting things!!

When I first became a father all I wanted was to take my son to watch Leeds Utd play. I never got to do this as my son supports Liverpool and ridicules my team every chance he gets. My only hope is when my son has children they will support Grandads team and I can punish my son. Dear Jim I know you are dead but will you please fix it for my dream to come true.

HAHAHA WTF!!?? OMFG!!! sorry as a life long Leeds fan I'm finding the words to explain this elusive - the none abusive ones anyway!!

Howson wasn't good enough.If Norwich want to gamble £2mill good luck to them. Frankly it's a bonus that all the average signings made by Grayson are not on long term contracts. Leeds were always going to end up mid-table at best this season. Losing Johnson, Gradel & Kilkenny were the real problems. I have no problem with Bates, yet. The test will be when the new manager comes, if he is given £7m+ to supplement Snodgrass, Becchio, Somma & maybe one or two of the youngsters, then he's done the job absolutely right as chairman.

The problem with Leeds hasn't been that we sell players, it is that we do not replace them. All clubs sell players, it is very rare at the top level to have players playing for one club for their whole career. In recent years few spring straight to mind for me, Gary Kelly for us and Scholes, Giggs and Neville for Man Utd, John Terry at Chelsea, Carragher and Gerrard at Liverpool. We are no different to anyone else The players mentioned in most of the comments are not playing for Leeds for the reasons below, in my opinion. Johnson and Beckford let their contracts run out and then moved on. It was their decision not Leeds United's. Contract offers were made to them but they both decided that the offer wasn't good enough and they knew they could get more from a premiership club. Some people would say that Leeds should offer them more money but, there is clearly a wage structure in place, and rightly so. Offering them more money is the beginning of a trip down a road Leeds have already been down, (£35K a week for Seth Johnson anyone?????). Ken Bates is no fool and having seen Johnson and Beckford leave the club for no money clearly irked him. So, with Gradel and Howson seemingly doing the same he has sold them and got some money out of them. I wish we had done the same with Beckford, apart from his last game for the club when we were promoted his form from the January window was awful, and that was a contributing factor to the club being in the position they were in on the last day of the season. Have they been missed?? I think Gradel has, Beckford maybe. Will we miss Howson - maybe not as much as people think. With Howson playing, it sometimes can be seen as limiting. Will we miss Kilkenny - never, with him in midfield he needed to have two players around him to make up for his frailties. Time will tell if we get a replacement in for Howson, Delph would be good to the end of the season and then get somebody permanent in the summer. Remember as well, Howson would be out until March anyway with his injury, £2million for an injured player with 6 months on his contract is good money if you ask me

Bramleymark talks sense. These players, johnson/howson/beckford/gradel wanted to leave for bigger wages etc. ken bates could not stop them so why gripe about it. bates stepped in when others were pussy footing round, he spotted an opportunity and took it fair play to him. Look what happens when you get a lovesick chairman at the helm, silly fancy dan wages,dont know? well i'll tell you - crippling debt and the rest. get real this is a business and any business nurtured carefully does well long term. Yes its a passion as well for us fans but we have to be realistic. In fact lets be honest....results are poor and instead of criticising the 11 who play on the pitch and the manager you go for the chairman?...irrational? i think so.

alan smith should come back it would give the club a hugh lift