Guest Submission by Matthew Brown-Bolton

Ken Bates’ business model is a simple one. Engage the turnover generated by Leeds United, invest it in non football related enterprise, and satisfy any investors who have backed him, the key one being of course himself. He has no desire to structurally improve the club, and labours under the delusion that all that’s needed to get promoted to the PL is a team of cheap but hardworking players who tow the line, accept low salaries, and play for the love of Leeds United alone. This is a concept alien to Ken though, to paraphrase Shirley Bassey `He loves only.. Gold!’

So as of Saturday we don’t go to Elland Road, and for those of you foolhardy enough to watch Ipswich town humble us, I make one simple request. Take a packed lunch. Buy a YEP – even a copy of The Square Ball, but dont buy a programme. Just make it your mission not to spend one red cent at the ground.

Doing that once will speak volumes to Ken – it will show him just how much we loathe his mismanagement of Leeds United.

For those of you who still labour under the delusion that he saved us, it was he who placed us in administration. Even Gerald Krasner – an insolvency expert, and his predecessor understood the inherent risks in doing this, and when interviewed described it as the `last viable option’ and something Leeds needed desperately to avoid. But Ken just saw the £££ signs. In that process, he flouted the challenges of HMRC, and risked the entire CVA process as a result. There were 3 other bidders in that process for the club – each offered more to the creditors – Leeds businesses by and large, than Ken did, and Redbus even had a proposal to spend a specific amount on developing our dreadful team and to repurchase Elland Road and Thorp Arch.

But Ken threatened that he would wind up the club fully unless his bid was accepted by creditors. SO he got in there even before HMRC, he didnt have Leeds United’s interests at heart. And if youre still not convinced. Just look across from the dilapidated John Charles stand. Can you see the £7m of corporate boxes metaphorically sticking two fingers up at you?

That £7m could have been invested in a new contract for Jonny Howson, or Adam Clayton. It could have bought us a Gradel replacement, and still left us with change for a premier league loanee.

Let’s get angrier still….

In 2006 – we were supposed to be debt free by the end of that season – by the end of that season we were in administration and sold Rob Hulse and Matt Kilgallon.

We spent 2007-2010 in the 3rd division – our lowest ebb.

We haven’t spent over £500,000 on a player transfer fee since 2006.

Our ticket prices are higher than Manchester United.

We dont own Elland Road or Thorp Arch and Ken has fallen out with the only people who offered to lend us the money, the City Council

We weren’t going to sell – Max Gradel, Bradley Johnson, Jermaine Beckford, or Jonny Howson – they’ve all gone and in total we have received less than £3m for all of those players, conservatively worth £20M between them.

Leeds is about football; Ken Bates is about Ken Bates –

Make Saturday your day of protest – don’t spend a penny

Written by Matthew Brown-Bolton

As the January transfer window opens, now seems a good opportunity to clear the air and let all you morons know what’s happening with the squad, the “hotel” and the manager. First though, I’ll have to go back to the beginning.

When I sold Chelsea to the dreadful Russian in 2003 I had a bit of a problem with HMRC. They seemed particularly keen on levying capital gains tax at 18%. Never having been a great fan of Her Majesty’s exchequer, I decided to divert much of the profit into a charitable trust as a tax efficient vehicle. While I could have simply invested the revenue into an anonymous offshore hedge fund, the Charity Commission were being slightly awkward at the time. I had to find a way to produce at least the appearance of charitable work happening.

That’s where my good friend Bana Tchanile came in. He knew of an orphanage in Lagos which was desperately in need of a new roof. Naturally I stepped in (just before an audit by the charity commission as it happened). Over the following years it became clear that our act of kindness was having unexpected effects. The boys formed a football team and even got some international experience against Bahrain thanks to Bana’s contacts.

That was when I knew that all my problems with playing staff wages would soon be over.

Moving forward to the winter of 2010, things were looking good at Leeds United. I’d got young Larry in and he’d done well in giving the supporters one less thing to whine about when we moved into the Championship. It was clear though that I’d been spending recklessly on players. We were in serious danger of being promoted twice in two seasons and I couldn’t contemplate the investment which would have been required to make us competitive in the Premier League. That’s when I instructed young Larry to start stuffing the first team with crocks and workshy pensioners. If the squad we had could threaten for promotion then I knew I had a better alternative.

It was remarkably easy to get planning permission for the “hotel”. Why on earth those morons at Leeds City Council thought anyone in their right mind would want to build a “hotel” in Beeston is completely beyond me, but they fell for it hook line and sinker. A “hotel” in Beeston? You’re kidding right? Did any of you fall for that as well? It’d be like building a casino in Khartoum. As staff sleeping quarters however, it starts to look a little different…

Anyway, I digress. By the end of this season we’ll have accommodation for 35 of the boys from the Lagos orphanage, and I’m told we’ll be able to get them into the country on work permits due to their experience on the Togo “national team” last year. They’re all very keen to play, and while not exactly natural goal scorers, their fitness levels are improving all the time, at least according to Pete Lorimer who’s been secretly visiting the orphanage twice a year since late 2008. There’s no way they’re promotion hopefuls, but that’s not in the BUSINESS PLAN, and they’ll still tear strips off the likes of Millwall.

So there you have it. A new first team for the 2012 / 13 season. They don’t seem to want much in the way of wages, and I’ve already lined up young Larry’s ex-Mrs to come in every afternoon and cook them a square meal. She does a mean pie and mash, and what she can do with a pork sausage would seriously blow your mind!

Which brings me onto young Larry himself. The recent rumours to the effect that his job is under threat are, unfortunately, well founded. I’m starting to think that his heart really isn’t in it any more, and he’s told me himself that he’s starting to get quite frustrated with the secret “no promotion” clause Shaun and I added to his contract last year. I have to admit that it’s partly my fault, but young Larry had a cold last week and when he said “Andros Townsend” to me over the phone, I honestly though he’d said he wanted to sign “more dross”. I could see from his reaction at the final whistle against Burnley on Monday that we may be facing a parting of the ways, and if he puts Shaun and me through many more comebacks like that it could come sooner rather than later. We have the BUSINESS PLAN to consider after all.

I hope this goes some way towards reassuring you all that I really do have the best interests of our football club at heart. Morons.

Written by James Dorsey

Amidst a united battle to voice our discontent against Bates’ continued ownership yesterday, there were still plenty of people unconvinced by the effectiveness of the protests.

Speaking to people at the ground and afterwards on Twitter, a lot of people told me the protests were pointless because Bates would revel in the hatred and that our chants would fall on deaf ears. And I don’t doubt they did, but there is a point to them.

Bates turns 80 this year and has never been a particularly well-liked character. He’s not going to change into a loveable old rogue now and start investing money into our squad, it’s all water of a ducks back to him.

The problem is, that Ken Bates’ ego won’t allow him to accept he could be wrong. He’s a stubborn old man who genuinely believes he’s leading a football revolution, that at some point in the future, people will look back and celebrate his genius, build statues around the country and that his name will become synonymous with how a football club should be run.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the deluded psyche of Mr Kenneth Bates.

But if we already knew the protests wouldn’t affect him, why bother at all?

Newspapers today will talk of unrest at Elland Road, the Football League Show aired pictures of Leeds United fans running around with “Bates Out” banners and the situation at Elland Road remains in the public domain.

The supporters of this club can’t take Ken Bates down directly. Save for a mass abandonment of the club we love, we don’t have the power to rid Leeds United of this menace. HMRC, the FA & FL and our Government however do and the only way we can keep the pressure on them to act is by keeping attention on the problem.

Our best shot at getting rid of Ken Bates is still the second takeover. If someone can prove this takeover was illegal, that the administration process was nothing more than a well-executed plan to clear an enormous tax-bill, Ken Bates would be in serious trouble.

This has been a widely held theory for a long time now. The only reason we’ve got the attention from Parliament, from The BBC, The Guardian and other media outlets is because they sense crimes have been committed. While ever this attention remains on the Leeds United situation, it exposes uncomfortable weaknesses for HMRC, weaknesses they don’t want bringing to the attention of the wider public. It forces them to investigate in an attempt to reassert power and show the world that sooner or later, they will collect.

The Football Association and The Football League are also forced to act. They don’t want their leagues to be associated with questionable ownership structures and tax evasion. What kind of sponsors want to put their names to that?

Others may have their own reasons for protesting. Some may hope it alerts potential suitors to the possibility of a takeover, whilst others may simply want to vent. But for me, it’s all about the attention. While ever this issue is being publicised nationally, the powers that be are forced to respond.

The Government could put pressure on the countries concealing our ownership to release details, investigative journalists with more resources than a disorganised group of fans could start their own crusades to uncover the truth and HMRC will be sat sharpening their knives. All because a group of “dissident” fans chanted loudly and forced the media to pay attention.

Both Ken Bates and Simon Grayson are coming under fire from Leeds United fans following a summer of disappointment and a 3-1 hammering at newly promoted Southampton. 

Fans frustrations have intensified so much that a protest against Ken Bates has been organised for Leeds United’s game against Middlesbrough this coming weekend – a game in which the Whites owner will be in attendance.

Some Leeds United fans are even calling for the head of Simon Grayson, despite two successful seasons that have seen Leeds United finish 2nd in League One and rejoin the Championship with a respectable 7th place finish.

It’s understandable that Simon Grayson will be a target for blame when the team perform as badly as they did on Saturday, but to fix any problem, you have to get to the root cause.

Ken Bates’ misplaced priorities have us spending £7m to keep 50 people warm behind a protective sheet of glass in the East Stand. When purchasing tickets or buying a Leeds United replica kit, do you do so in the hope that it’ll provide a box to keep those much richer than yourself away from yourself? Or do you do so in the hope that it’ll help improve the only thing any of us really care about – ie. the squad?

Going back to Southampton, the new signings made little impact and Simon Grayson must take some responsibility for that. But you have to remember, these aren’t the signings our manager had in mind at the end of last season.

Off the top of my head, we lost Keith Andrews to Ipswich Town because our wage cap wasn’t competitive enough. After a summer of trying we still haven’t been able to sign Nick Montgomery from League One Sheffield United because Bates won’t pay more than a couple of hundred thousand for an experienced Championship player. Wages were again a problem with Alan Smith and Jonathan Spector and the list of those we’ve missed out on goes on and on…

Had we started with the afore mentioned players on Saturday, the chances are it’d have been a totally different game. Free transfers and loan signings don’t work, but what other choice does Simon Grayson have when the chairman isn’t providing him with the funds to bring in the players he wants? He’s being forced to settle for second, third and fourth choices like the rest of us.

The most ridiculous thing about Bates’ wage-cap is that it ruins his own go-to excuse – that whilst Leeds United might not be shelling out millions on transfer fees, we can attract a better quality of player because of our wage structure. Really? Is that why Ipswich Town are now outdoing us?

I understand that the wages of the players we have brought in costs us millions of pounds every year, but is that any different from the rest of the clubs in this division? Does Bates think that when the rest of the teams pay a £1m fee for a player, that the player plays out of the goodness of his own heart and doesn’t take a wage? Wages are relative to the division and everyone has to pay them if they want a team of footballers to run around for 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon.

The excuse that we’re wasting money on other players is nonsense. Had Ken Bates provided the transfer funds for better players in the first place, we probably wouldn’t have half the players we’ve had to settle for.

So blame Simon Grayson if it helps you sleep better at night, but do you really think the next manager will have any more success when he can’t bring in the players he wants because Ken Bates is too busy expanding a stadium we don’t own?

As I said at the start of this rant, to fix any problem you have to get to the root cause. That root cause has been the same for many years now. It’s the same man who got us relegated, sent us into administration twice, labels fans as dissidents and sick-pots, has HMRC seeking revenge and who, after six and half years in charge, has failed in his promise to repurchase Thorp Arch and Elland Road and has failed to get one of the biggest clubs in English football back into the Premier League.

Picture courtesy of The Beaten Generation. Visit the Facebook Page for more information on the Bates Out protest.