Comfortably Numb: The Leeds United condition TSS March 19, 2014 Leeds United 40 Comments Spend enough time worrying about the repercussions of The Football League rejecting Massimo Cellino’s takeover attempt and you’ll struggle to get any sleep tonight, fearful that the club you love won’t be here in the morning. There’s no escaping how grim the situation is, every major news outlet in the country is running stories around-the-clock on how Leeds United – their favourite whipping-boys when it comes to football finance – is about to, erm… “do a Leeds…” For those outside the bubble suffocating us faithful Leeds United supporters, the whole thing must be incredibly tedious. Not a week goes by without some mention of the club’s latest attempt to self-destruct dominating their sports news. We’ll survive of course, but only so we can be cast in the lead role of another footballing tragedy next week. And while that fact alone demonstrates how deserving of a break from perpetually skirting the edges of doom Leeds United fans undoubtedly are, it also raises the question of why we all bother to panic so much? Imminent doom is the club’s default setting, surely we’re used to it by now? So constantly depressing is the club’s existence, I don’t know how anyone finds the energy to work themselves into a frenzy when another sign of the apocalypse is revealed to us. It’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf played out in the real world, I’m so exhausted by bad news, I’ve numbed to it completely. We’ll survive. Leeds United always survives. In the meantime, let’s consider the realistic possibilities. None of which signal the end of Leeds United Football Club. #1 – Firstly, we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of The Football League passing Massimo Cellino despite his court case yesterday. It’s highly unlikely, but stranger things have happened. #2 – Mike Farnan et al. The only known alternative to Massimo Cellino, believed to still be interested in taking over the club and ready to make a move if The Football League reject the Italian. The word consortium is usually a byword for catastrophe in football and there’s serious questions to be asked about the level of funding they can provide. On the plus side, they’re willing bidders with experience in football. It could be worse. #3 – Unknown bidder. Cellino’s takeover attempt has attracted a lot of media attention so there’s every chance a new party will emerge from the wreckage. #4 – Administration. This is highly unlikely. GFH currently have a business they’re looking to cut their losses on and sell for circa £25m. If Cellino’s bid does fall through, they’ll have to find a new buyer while keeping the club afloat. This means they’ll have to cover the £1m+ operating losses Leeds United generates each month (losses Cellino has been paying), but it simply makes more sense for them to put in a couple of extra million while they find a buyer than allowing the club to go into admin where they’ll lose any chance of a return on investment. The worst case scenario for Leeds United is administration. The club would incur a points deduction (which would be applied next season in all likelihood since we’re close to cut-off date now), but a lot of our debts would be cleared and GFH would be out of the picture. It’s not an ideal situation, but it wouldn’t be the end of Leeds United either. Best case scenario is entirely subjective. If we take the possibility of an unknown third-party out of the equation, you’re left with two possibilities – Cellino or Farnan. In less time than it took Russia to takeover Crimea, a lot of people have shifted allegiances from Cellino being the anti-Christ to our saviour-in-waiting, which only serves to demonstrate how uncertain we all are of everything. We all have our opinions. It’s only natural that we switch allegiances as new information comes to light and we become better-informed on the respective bids, but we’re still basing a lot of what we “know” on guesswork and hope. All we really know for sure is that we have (at least) two parties keen to takeover Leeds United, both of whom believe they have a plan which will take us back to the Premier League, increasing the value of their investment considerably. We all want the same thing, albeit for entirely different reasons. The situation may be grim, but this is Leeds United, the situation is always grim. All we can do is hope for an ownership change in the next couple of weeks and wait to see what a new regime with new ideas has to offer, and if that makes you feel as if you’re living a Groundhog Day existence, it’s probably because we are. But that’s football. Until we reach our ultimate goal, there’s nothing else we can do but rinse, repeat and try again. Sooner or later, someone with the means to properly execute a winning plan will take over this club and we can move on to enjoying the perpetual doom of being an also-ran Premier League team instead. On and on…