Bates dismisses criticism

Wed, 01 Feb 19:25:07 2012

Leeds chairman Ken Bates has hit back at critics who claim he did not offer financial support to former manager Simon Grayson.

Grayson, 42, was sacked earlier today following Tuesday night's 4-1 home defeat to Birmingham, with assistant manager Glynn Snodin and first-team coach Ian Miller also leaving the club.

Grayson and some supporters had suggested he was not getting enough financial backing from Bates following the sale of key players Max Gradel and Jonny Howson in recent months.

However, the 80-year-old insists Grayson had all the money necessary, citing the large squad at Elland Road as proof.

"We have to acknowledge the previous three seasons Simon got us to the League One play-offs then promotion and then we finished seventh (in the Championship) and we have backed him all the way," Bates told Yorkshire Radio.

"At 30 players, we have one of the largest squads in the Championship and bigger than some in the Premier League. We spent over £12m on wages so why are people blaming me for the recent results?"

 

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  1. where are the 3 players he talks about at least 6 are­ loanees or youth team players

    From top banana, on Mon 6 Feb 2:12

  2. Bates Moans About The Wage Bill & He Can Waist 7­ million On Rebuilding The east stand that will never­ pay for itself...y blame simon 4 it's bates that­ sells the players & then get players onloan..I Hope­ this problem gets sorted out soon it already looks like­ where going down hill & the old git laughin at us­ fans just like he did at chelsea just before he­ left...come end of the season way thing R goin it dont­ look like we'll have a team will end up with the­ under 18's takin over...

    From F, on Sat 4 Feb 21:57

  3. I Feel Sorry For All The Ex Leeds Players Who Ended Up­ As A Maneger of This Once Great Club & Ended Up­ Getting The Sack..They All Had Leeds United In There­ Blood.I Hope Denis Wise Dosent Make A Return To This­ Club..Best Of Luck Simon 4 The Future Ya Never No Ya­ Might End Up Back At Blackpool When Ian Holliway Gets­ The Chop...

    From F, on Sat 4 Feb 21:47

  4. Jez - in Premiership terms 7600 is peanuts, however the­ average Championship wage is probably between 5-6000­ per week (latest figures 2009-2010 season quotes 4059­ per week but I'm sure they will have kept going up­ with the likes of Leicester, Cardiff, West Ham,­ Birmingham etc paying rather inflated wages at the mo).­ We do seem to have a few monkeys for our peanuts­ though, but the unfortunate side effect of getting­ has-beens on free's and paying partial wages for­ premiership players on loan (average wage more than 5­ times higher) is that you end up with a relatively huge­ wage bill but no future talent. I don't want Leeds­ to spend, spend, spend (been there) but would like them­ to go for more young talent on longer contracts - why­ gamble on a young player and give them less than 2­ years on a contract - they break into the team, do well­ for half a season and then they only have one season to­ go so we have to break the bank of Ken to eep them or­ wave goodbye - seems madness to give any young player a­ contract that runs out just after their bosman (24th)­ birthday like Howson.

    From Kiwityke, on Sat 4 Feb 15:46

  5. Bates says that at 30, Leeds have one of the largest­ squads in the Championship! Mr Bates, it is not and­ never will be the quantity of players a club has but­ the quality of players, and you are suppose to be­ knowledgeable about football?

    From Easyrider2609, on Fri 3 Feb 23:12

  6. You Mr Bates are fully responsible for selling off all­ our good players and not putting up money to replace­ them with good players, with all the loanees and the­ poor players that are left with the odd one or two­ tallented players we will now go into freefall to the­ end of the season, I really expect now that we will­ struggle to avoid relegation, no-one else at fault just­ Bates, and does he care? don't think so.

    From Richard, on Fri 3 Feb 17:38

  7. "At 30 players, we have one of the largest squads­ in the Championship and bigger than some in the Premier­ League. We spent over £12m on wages so why are people­ blaming me for the recent results?"

    Let me think­ why- err could it be to do with selling some of our­ best players, bringing in loan players who have no­ buy-in to the future of the club- merely a stepping­ stone for them to get into their home clubs fist teams,­ or could it be the fact that we have spent 2 seasons­ with a leaky defence with little or no money being­ spent to fix a very very obvious Achilles Heel...I­ really wonder after KB's comments whether we are­ witnessing the onset of Alzheimers! - hard to explain­ the commentany other way...

    From sarlat1, on Fri 3 Feb 5:19

  8. The only support he gave simon was the ok to get loan­ players or has beens in to elland road.for god sake­ bates now put your money where your mouth is and go get­ some decent players in who will get us into the prem­ where we do belong.and once you have done that please­ get rid of your shares to some one who will want us to­ go all the way in europe. because i believe that your­ not the person to do it.

    From john, on Fri 3 Feb 4:54

  9. Vinnie Jones would love to manage Leeds

    From K, on Fri 3 Feb 3:51

  10. 4 things to say. If he gave Grayson financial support­ why have we been getting players only on free and loan.­ Secondly f he is giving us financial support why is­ he building hotels instead of buying players. Thirdly­ he's 80 years old he proberbly can't where he­ lives, which club he owns and what his job is at the­ club (buy players but not to get to involved). My last­ point is why is he saying that Grayson was a good­ manager (like he was) but still sack him. He is just­ out of it and he should go so we get taken over by a­ rich owner who wants success.

    From family.wilson7, on Fri 3 Feb 1:49

  11. Bates keeps going on about the overspend on the wage­ bill, but if you take £12M and divide it by the 30­ players, you get an average wage of just over £7600 a­ week, which in football terms is peanuts considering­ the league we are in and the size of the fan base­ putting money through the tills. Bates keeps spouting­ these figures in the hoping us "morons" will­ take what he says as gospel and pipe down.
    Sorry old­ man, until you either start putting some of OUR money­ back into the club, or you become more transparent in­ your dealings and tell us fans your blueprint for the­ club, then the noise is just going to get louder and­ louder. God help you if you dont get the next choice of­ manager right, you got rid of one of us without really­ backing him, and if the next man falls short i dont­ expect to see you at Elland Road for a while, that is­ unless you want a very "warm"­ reception!!
    Love Leeds, Hate Bates. MOT

    From Jez, on Fri 3 Feb 1:05

  12. Neil Warnock or Lee Clark for me. Clark maybe better­ long term providing Bates gives him time and never know­ he might bring Jordan Rhodes and his goals with him.

    From markstoker1, on Fri 3 Feb 0:12

  13. from been 80 mill in debt, looking like wed go bust...­ bates out... get the chairman from pompey in, will­ please you all

    From robert, on Fri 3 Feb 0:03

  14. I actually find myself agreeing with mandy the blues­ fan, i just think half our players arn't pulling­ their weight and are here for a free ride. this could­ be a case of Larry not being able to motivate them i­ don't know but no one will ever convince me that­ the Barnsley team is better than ours, and yet they­ have stuffed us out of sight 3 out of 4 games and the­ other was 3.3 at Elland Road. Something is very wrong­ in the dressing room

    From Deep Sea Diver, on Thu 2 Feb 22:30

  15. Sorry look at the team birmingham have got. i am a­ blues fan and leeds have got a better team then blues.­ but at blues the team is as one on and of the field. it­ not the manager but the lazy player you got

    From Mandy Hackett, on Thu 2 Feb 21:29

  16. get in a proven manager,warnocks been there and done­ it,god help us if stracken takes 0ver,he had his chance­ at leeds and was a total failure then and has done­ nothing since,then again who in there right mind would­ wanna manage a team thats living off past glorys and­ have a scrooge chairman with thicker skin than a­ elephant

    From ACE, on Thu 2 Feb 21:27
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I blame season ticket holders...he's got your cash­ up front and he can do what he like..thats why he is a­ squillionaire, he has 20000 sheep to fund his­ lifestyle....but can he take it to the grave? SEASON­ TICKET HOLDERS...YOU ARE NOT SUPPORTING LEEDS UNITED­ YOU ARE SUPPORTING BATES...bates is a business man...if­ he has to work for his money which he doesnt now then­ he soon would change....dont buy a season ticket

    From reality check, on Thu 2 Feb 20:54
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Leeds are at it again. We must spend money on Quality­ Players. I'M sure if this had been done months ago­ things would be different now and grayson would still­ be here.Bring back stracken.

    From Thomas, on Thu 2 Feb 20:11

  19. why strachen He is loved honest straight forward knows­ what to do and will get the job done give him a chance­ dont start with the bates batting it just undermines us­ we need to all get behind the team with 9 winable point­ in next 3 matches

    From Keith, on Thu 2 Feb 19:12

  20. Bring in Billy Davies before some other club snaps him­ up.

    From Barrie Picker, on Thu 2 Feb 19:11
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