Welcome to the daily Leeds United comment feature, today Graeme Garvey takes the myth makers to task.
There has been some recent talk in the media about Ken Bates ‘doing a good job’ at Leeds which just goes to show. It is easy to write foolish things so long as a) you don’t know what you’re talking about, b) you have no memory and c) you’re a useless journalist.
In 2007/8, in case anyone has recently come out of a coma, Swansea, Nottingham Forest and Doncaster won promotion from League One, Leeds losing in the play-offs. All three promoted teams are currently doing well in the Coca Cola Championship, with both Forest and Swansea having an excellent chance of promotion to the Premiership but if Leeds had not been saddled with a 15-point penalty they would have won automatic promotion. Both Swansea and Forest have had financial difficulties, Swansea being sold in 2001 for £1. (Ken Bates once bought Chelsea for £1, was it the same pound I wonder?) Nottingham Forest have had plenty of financial troubles of their own but both are clearly in a stronger position now than Leeds, so how is that ‘doing a good job’?
It needs remembering, too, that the only reason Leeds didn’t get automatic promotion then was because of Chairman Bates’s point-blank refusal to name to the Football League the secret owner of the club. That 15-point penalty and the fruitless High Court case trying to get the points back has cost millions of pounds in lost revenue and legal fees. And that isn’t the only court case he has lost, at great expense. It would be shameful enough if he paid the fees himself but the club have to. Plenty of Leeds fans remember this but what fascinates and appals is how many people still bow down to the man’s power and choose to forget the past.
Bates took over in January 2005 when Leeds were in mid-table in the Championship (where Doncaster are right now), finishing there at the end of the season. The shambles at the Millennium Stadium under Blackwell meant no return to the promised land of the Premiership the next year, and Leeds soon plummeted to League One under the mismanagement of Denis Wise. McAllister could not deliver after a bright start. Grayson is currently showing the same fallibility. Managers may come and go but the Chairman sails on regardless. The media’s talk of him putting the club back on a sound financial footing is just hot air. He ensured only his secret owner could get control of the club post-administration, so no one else got a look in and we don’t know how well others could do until he lets go. The potential at Leeds is enormous, look how much revenue is generated by the crazily keen fans. Clubs up and down the land would love to have our financial resources.
Who likes a quagmire? Only those who benefit from it. In the case of Leeds United there is really only one man who benefits because he can use it to mask his nefarious activities and feed his pride. For the rest of us, we have a stadium and training ground we don’t own and supposedly can’t afford – despite having the Fabian Delph transfer money. We are the club with a mystery owner, someone so mysterious, even the Chairman doesn’t know his or her identity! Though there is no love is lost between the fans of Leeds United and Man U, each club shares a similar predicament in terms of unpopular owners. Keith Harris, the man behind a proposed £1billion buy-out of Manchester United wants their fans not to turn up to matches or buy club merchandise in an effort to force the Glazer family into selling the club. Despite intense rivalries, all true football fans have the same dilemma when it comes to trying to regain control of their club. Sadly, only by damaging what they love can they hope to drive out those who are only in it for the money and that is often too big a price for fans to pay.
If Leeds do climb all the way back to exactly where they were when Bates took over, they will do it despite, not because of him and his control freakery. Two further examples of his desire to boss everybody and everything are his attempted destruction of the Supporters’ Club by the needless introduction of a Membership scheme and the creation of an in-house broadcasting organisation, Yorkshire Radio, to further cement his control of all media outlets. The problem with the Supporters’ Club was that it was there before Bates and had a degree of independence which had to be squashed, even if it was full of good, loyal Leeds fans who had to shell out anew to join the Membership scheme. Look long and hard on the club’s official website and see if you can find a link to the Supporters’ Club and its branches. Why not for goodness’ sake?
The club’s attempt at total media control under Bates is unhealthy. All official publications toe the party line, that is understandable but the danger lies in being told what they can and can’t say. Have you spotted how Leeds get few mentions on the local sports pages of Ceefax because SOMEBODY got upset that the BBC had views of its own? Having the freedom to criticise the running of the club is healthy. Leeds United, Manchester United or whoever can never be owned by one man as the real club is always something bigger and greater. It is the shared experiences, passions and dreams of its followers. Not all blame should go to Ken Bates since having power and influence is attractive. Blame should also be pointed at those who won’t stand up to him. Whoever the man at the top is, he should listen to the voice of the supporters and if he won’t, he should at least be able to hear the clamour. Leeds United A.F.C. is not his toy.
