In the chaos of transfer deadline day yesterday the Yorkshire Evening Post revealed that the council have held a meeting regarding the future of Thorp Arch and ruled out the option of loaning Leeds United the money.

This doesn’t mean they aren’t going to help, it simply means they won’t be offering us a loan to buy it back for ourselves. Given Leeds’ financial history and Ken Bates’ reputation, this is hardly suprising.

With the loan option ruled out, it seems the most likely option will be for the council to buy Thorp Arch for themselves (and the taxpayer) and lease it to Leeds United. I’d suspect that Leeds would want a buy-back option included in the deal as well so they can regain outright ownership at some point.

Leeds City Council (LCC) do seem keen to help the club as it will help their chances of becoming a World Cup host city should the 2018 bid be successful. There does seem to be other conditions flying around now as well though, such as LCC wanting the facility to be used for educational purposes. This isn’t a major shock as LCC have to justify spending £6m to all taxpayers. Having visited Thorp Arch some years back I can see why it’d be a benefit to youngsters and have no real problems with this so long as it doesn’t effect the teams training.

Overall nothing I wasn’t expecting. As a taxpayer living in Leeds I can understand why people would be unhappy loaning money to Ken Bates, even though I am a Leeds United fan and know it’s in the interests of the club. The option to buy it and lease it to us works out for everyone. Thorp Arch is secure, the taxpayer gets a good deal and LCC’s money is safe.