Leeds fans group Leeds United Supporters Trust is calling for radical changes in how the club is run to help bring the good times back to Elland Road.
LUST claims a growing number of fans "feel alienated" from the club and see themselves "merely as cash cows", while several hundred supporters gathered outside the ground ahead of Saturday's win over Ipswich to protest at a perceived lack of investment in players.
Skipper Jonny Howson has been sold to Norwich this week for £2million and LUST said in a statement "The goal of Premier League football cannot be achieved by the repeated sale of our best players, or by continually allowing player's contracts to run down.
"We believe that our fans and players would like to see Leeds United show ambition, and to make timely and competitive contract offers that reflect the capabilities of a well run, financially stable club with a bright future."
LUST is urging the club to buy back Elland Road and its Thorp Arch training complex and added: "Our members tell us that attending games at Elland Road has almost become a chore. The atmosphere inside the ground has become as negative as we can ever remember it.
"Our members also tell us they feel alienated from their club and see themselves merely as cash cows with no say in how their hard-earned money is being spent."
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And best wishes to you B4ts. Cmon Leeds give us something to cheer us up and something for us to cheer about by beating Birmingham!!
There is certainly some agreement Deakin. I still maintain that Leeds is a business and we seem to agree it has to be run like one. The metaphor shopping elsewhere may or may not apply but certainly fans can spend their hard earned on other forms of entertainment so there is competition. I do however side with you that customer care is lacking at Leeds, maybe even none existent ! Whilst I do not subscribe to publicly airing every facet of the business, it would not be a bad thing to tell the truth rather than make statements about "we are looking at a couple of targets" or words to that effect which , after 31/1/12 maybe found to be .... not quite true ? Best wishes to you and hoping we are proven wrong !
On January 23rd on this website SG said "we are closing in on a couple of deals" and angrily denied talk of Snodgrass leaving the club. So here we are, very very close to the end of the transfer window, any sign of a deal Simon??? And what about the rumours of Snoddy being offski at the end of the season to Everton if we don't, as many are predicting, get or want promotion? Give us a little bit of honesty here!! Throw us a bone here Simon, a few crumbs from the table of Bates!! All we want is a bit of hope, a chance that maybe we aren't the only ones wanting a bit of glory, a chance or even, God forbid, promotion!! Surely the sponsors want to go into the premiership just like the fans??? Give us something for Gods sake!
B4Ts seriously though we are in violent agreement here. Like I said its cash in versus cash out. Dont spend more than you can afford and don't borrow more than you can afford to pay back like every good yorkshireman (and Leeds supporter knows!!). We are not Woolworths or Borders, they had competition and they failed. Leeds have no competition for their customer loyalty in terms of football clubs so with good business management and investment this is a club or a business, whatever you prefer, that needs to grow otherwise it stays were it is and eventually will wither and die. I am certainly not advocating spend spend spend however it is a good time to invest. We are already weatherproofed against a rainy day given what we have gone through in the last 10 years. Time to step up and invest while other teams and competition are weak!
B4Ts seriously! 10m at todays generous 3% interest is still only 300k in interest and for a club like Leeds, in the Premiership thats nothing. Even over 25 years with increasing interest rates thats affordable given our cash flow. and offset that against what you get for being in the premiership its well worth it! Borrow the money, pay the fine and lets get back in the Premiership! Are you sure you aren't BATEs in disguise?????
Ps Deakin. If we were promoted this season then we have to pay up to £10 million as part of the CVA . viz 30p in the £ as opposed to 1p in the £ so you better get used to it because promotion is not happening this year . I will be as critical as you are about Bates if there is not investment for the 2012/13 season !
Sorry deakin but the club is exactly like any business on the High Street just like Woolworths,Borders etc etc and they all went into Administration just the same as Leeds and the rules of business are just the same...... mismanage, spend greater than your income, borrow more than you can afford. Anyway, you know just as well as I do despite your obvious and commendable loyalty.
With todays interest rates being so low and the cash flow leeds enjoys from its sponsors and the fans there should be no issue whatsoever in borrowing some money. As long as we can service the debt from income then no worries about some debt. Th problem a few years ago was we out borrowed what we could afford to repay and support and our cash flow was diminished by paying too much out each week in salaries. That just cant be the case right now unless we pay loan players a bleeding fortune to come here!! The time is right to invest for the long term. Lets invest not just in the ground and the facilities but in the playing staff as well, so that we grow our revenues in th premier league with affordable debt. Just because we were broke once doesn't mean we still are or that we should be afraid of some affordable debt. Bates stop taking money out and put some back!!!
B4Ts, Leeds is not a business like another on the High St. Its a football club, it doesn't operate on the high st, it doesn't pay rent to be there, it has a monopoly situation in the city and the fans are only going to support one club, or only ever shop at one store to follow your analogy, so they are never going to stop going to ER, never going to stop supporting the club, no matter what happens. Unlike any business in the high st the fans really do have a say. They are a source of revenue that the club doesn't have to compete for, so the club should listen. I have no doubt Mr Bates has made some crucial decisions in his time, many that have saved the club from extinction, but that was a while ago and times have moved on. Transparency is absolutely what he should be all about, what a pleasant change that would be for the long suffering fans who support this wonderful club.
I wonder what many of the anti Bates clan would do if they were running Leeds United ? Transparency ? possibly but if they were running the club would they actually feel they had to be explaining away decisions that they made as owners ? Destruction of the Club ? Mmmh, the club was destroyed several years ago when it almost went out of business, certainly it could not be run on the same lines as before despite the "demand" for spend spend spend.Pay unreasonable wage demands in the hope a player may sign a contract which actually is worthless because they can still go. Once a player expresses an interest to talk to another club the die is set and the only thing to do is get what you can or you get nothing !! Ask Beckford, Kilkenny and Johnson.
Ownership a very murky issue indeed when you actually owe £8 to 10 million pounds as a penalty for premature success. it could almost be considered that if you could buy this or that or the other or a football ground and training facilities than really you ought to clear the monies you still owe ? It does not take a mathematician to work out that 2 + 2 actually adds up to four, hence the secrecy and the clamour by a certain Leeds MP for an investigation .....
Great comment No 1 Think Leeds as aCLUB first ;then a Football Team. Expectations are sky high and unrealistic ;top ten Championship is all we should expect in the present climate. Look at Everton who are broke; look at Leicester who spend and are close to bankruptcy; look at most clubs and you'll find Leeds United are far more stable now than for years and years. Bates must have some care for the club; he,s loaded anyway and is 80 years old ;who wants the hassle unless you've got courage; get off his back and get behind the team and stop posting badly-spelt ignorant rubbish.
I Thought Bates Bought Back Thorpe Arch Complex A Few Years Ago If This Club Is Dept Free Apart From Bates Back Pocket Where Have These Millions Of £££££££££'s Gone It's Not On Buying Players Most Of It's Waisted On Rebuilding The East Stand why Not Get Players In First Get Us In The Premier Although Bates Would Double Maybe Triple The Price Of Season Tickets & None Season Tickets...He Did Ok For The First 2 To 3 Years Since Then Nothing....Plus Where Have All The Funds Gone From F.A Cup 3rd Against Scumchester & The 4th rd & The 4th rd Replay Against Spurs..Plus What Has He Done With The F.A Cup 3rd & The Replay Against Arsenal Last Season & This Season 3rd Round...Plus How Can A Great Club Like This Can't Go Anyforward With This Old Fart Waisting Money & Holding Money End Of The Day It's Us Fans That Pays The Bills...If Us Fans Stop Buying Tickets & Go Watch The Under 18's For A Few Quid Better Than Paying Nearley £30+ Each Game Towards The Old Farts Back Pocket Fund...
From a guy up north looking in, the best way but the saddest way to protest and make some meaningful effect is to stay away from home games. Up here years back at Newcastle, Malcolm McDonald once said after his playing days were over and the club were suffering from inhouse politics. The Magpies fans are too loyal, they come out in their many thousands to support mediocrity, they shouldn't, they deserve better.
H
20,000+ show's ken bates the love for leeds easy life for him,but the fact is he will need to spend at least 12+millon to get us out .
A top class midfield player to make all tick and two defenders to lock up the back so where is the money going ,plans for a leeds hotel that supporters wont be able to afford 'Bates said at xmas members night why arnt we top well money on the pitch not on the outskirts this might work ?.
at least LUST (what a name to pick???????????) do get one thing right,
"buy back Elland Road"
( SORRY BUT I thought Bates did already?)
for them/ANYBODY to whine about Howson leaving is head in the sand stuff-
HE WOULD NOT SIGN A NEW CONTRACT!
anyway owning the ground is more important for the long run of LUFC than getting promoted is this year,
if we stay in Championship for now but can own the ground I prefer that-
to safeguard future of the club for years to come.
if you do not own the ground you pay rent to the point where the turnstile money is only worth about half what you are actually taking in ticket sales.
Transparecy is what is needed. If the players are wanting too much wages or top league football then it's not Bates fault. If he is pocketing an unfair amount of the clubs income he should @#$% off.
all this talk about Ken Bates and it being a business, and we should get used to it . I don,t here any of this when they are asking us to renew our season tickets.
Bats your comment regardin "shopping elsewhere" will NOT wash, not with me and dedfinately not with a great majority of the Fans who actually pay to watch their club be destroyed! You say that its a business like any other business! Well if you want to succeed in business you need to invest! You DO NOT sell off your best assets, you do not invest in what you don not own, supposedly Bates does not own ER, Thorpe Arch etc! Tell the fans of ALL the Football Clubs areound the country, that if they do not like it then they can take a hike and go elsewhere! NO Bats it does not sit right! Maybe sound sense, for which you are noted, but still it a´nt not fright mate!
Same old. LUST does not represent the majority of fans unless you only count the morons. It's about time some people got used to Bates and just focus on supporting your club until he passes and we go through the rollercoaster of Ridsdales, Krasners etc who are just trying to cash in on the club - oh hold on - isn't that what they say about Bates too - imagine people wanting to make money - capatalism eh.You think the owners would do it purely for the love - few and far between unfortunately.
This will never achieve anything im afraid only disruption and lower the moral in the team even more, if it could be affective i would be 1st there unfurling my banner to get rid of bates, but as has been said already, bates doesn't give a s**t about you, or me. and he would probably love the notoriety as it would add to the legend that is ken bates, he has been controversial all his life and thrives on it.
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