The Bates And Warnock Transfer Model – Beyond Thunderdome Matt BB July 13, 2012 Leeds United I read Wednesday morning on another site that they were hopeful the floodgates were about to open on our transfer dealings with the imminent signing of Paddy Kenny for £400K. That of course became reality some hours later. Indeed we have already topped our spending for the entire of last year with this and the purchase of Jason Pearce at £500K. With any luck we may well break the magic million mark. Well Big `flipping’ deal I hear you say – haven’t we received £450K for Clayton, and written off the wages of Alex Bruce, Darren O’Dea, Paul Robinson, Lloyd Sam as well? Well yes we have, and to that end, as per the title, Bates seems to be employing the axiom used in the highly entertaining Mel Gibson/Tina Turner/Elnett Hairspray Vehicle, Mad Max 3: Beyond the Thunderdome – One in, one out, or rather Bates’ version four in, five out. We had to wait for Clayton to go to be flush with enough cash to spend on Paddy Kenny, now that’s happened we’ll doubtless say farewell to Andy `7-3’ Lonergan as he takes his chance to be understudy to Adam Bogdan at Bolton wanderers. Once we get that cash – let’s say £800k or so – we will then see Varney, Norris and possibly Kirk Broadfoot appear (according to the red tops). Now this marks something of a departure for Bates-led Leeds, we’re all familiar with the usual bilge that the fees we receive goes back into strengthening the squad… And then seeing the £2m for Howson, the £1,8m for Gradel, and the £1m fo Schmeicel to name but 3 examples simply vanish, or at best only a portion being spent, wages for a loanee seemingly a financial black hole from which not even £1 of a £2m transfer fee could escape (quite). But Warnock does seem to be getting his way in all fairness, and I think this goes back to his meeting(s) with Bates. How often have we read “Warnock knew Bates was selling up – that’s why he signed, he knew about the investment”. My view is different, I think Warnock is old enough and effective enough as a person to know exactly what he was buying into with Bates, in short “you can’t kid a kidder”. Even if there was talk of a takeover, like any smart manager you work with the cards your dealt, not what you might get. And for Warnock, just how much will the new owners love him, if he does get promotion on a shoestring? There is little point waiting for things to happen as we’re all finding out to our regret. Neil Warnock might find himself like Richie Rich in a month from now, but I doubt that will change his philosophy as a manager, he’ll do the best he can because he’s a professional. He’ll remind Ken Bates and Shaun Harvey of the very bare minimum that they should be delivering based on their promises and what he knows fine and well is now in the bank. It wouldn’t surprise me at all in fact if he didn’t ask genuinely for sign off with our bankers on transfer fees – or the keys to Ken’s fabled War Chest to put it another way. And so the merry go round will continue for the moment, because as i’m reading in several press outlets the takeover may happen as soon as tomorrow. But as we’re quickly coming to realise, tomorrow never comes.