In his programme notes last night, Ken Bates revealed that Leeds United have sold 9,374 season tickets for next season which, according to the Leeds United chairman, represents a drop of only 176 on last years renewals of 9,550.

However, journalist Andrew Haigh (The Sun) did a little digging and found a direct quote from Ken Bates taken from one of his Yorkshire Radio interviews (dated 23/03/2011) where his figures appear to be a little different;

“Everything is looking good so thanks to the fans, the season tickets we have now sold 11,200 for next year, compared with 13,000 this year. So we are obviously going to beat that figure.”

All in, Leeds ended up with 12,924 season ticket holders this season, failing to beat the 13,000 figure from 2010/11.

That means 27.4% of current Leeds United season ticket holders have yet to renew, but more worrying for the club will be the 16.3% drop in early renewals which is unlikely to be recovered in the summer by supporters paying full price for the 5th highest season tickets in the country.

With average attendances down and a drop in season ticket revenue looking a certainty, does this mean that key players like Robert Snodgrass and Ross McCormack could follow Jonny Howson and Max Gradel out of the door as Leeds try and balance the books?