At a stroke, the sale of the training ground to Jacob Adler, a Manchester property developer, 10 years ago raised £4.2m and guaranteed Leeds both a buy-back provision and permission to rent the facility until 2029. After less than two months as United’s owner, Massimo Cellino cannot even say if Thorp Arch will be used by the club next season.
A fortnight ago, the Italian businessman closed the training ground as part of a substantial money-saving exercise at Leeds, leaving the bare minimum of staff to tend to the many pitches there. The idea was to reopen Thorp Arch before pre-season training began but Cellino and United are heading for a stand-off with landlord Barnaway, the firm used by Adler to purchase Thorp Arch in 2004.
Cellino says the annual cost of using Thorp Arch is somewhere in the region of £2.5m. The rent of the complex costs £600,000 a year and increases by three per cent every October. It is not known whether Leeds have the right to break their lease.
“The club have been there paying rent for 10 years,†Cellino said. “If we are there for another 10 or 15 years, we’ll have paid someone £20m to use the training ground.
