Ken Bates i kjempe humør om dagen.
Taken from Yorkshire Radio’s interview with Leeds United chairman Ken Bates today…
‘Mr Chairman’ is in positive mood after our historic midweek win over Preston last night. He shows Billy Paynter some manlove and gives his view on our chances of promotion. After wiping the cobwebs off the warchest to sign Barry Bannan, he reveals we’re hoping to land ‘one or two’ more players before the loan window deadline on March 24. There’s another budget-busting crowd expected for Ipswich on Saturday and free cocktails and canapes for fans… only the posh ones though. He has his (potentially libellous) say on Sepp Blatter’s presidential campaign at FIFA and prepares for his big day in Burnley – in front of the Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry on Football Governance.
Ben Fry: First let’s talk about the Preston game which was our first win on a Tuesday night.
Ken Bates: Well, I think what’s important about Tuesday night is first of all, of course, as we know that was the first time we have won a midweek game this season. This is a pretty horrific record. But the other thing is, Preston of course haven’t won a game for so long and there’s always a chance for the worm to turn. We were of course a bit concerned it could have been us but we have beaten them. We have beaten our concerns. Another away game box ticked and Preston can now go wreak their fury on somebody else and hopefully they will be playing some of our other competitors.
BF: Simon called it a battling display compared to some of the champagne football we saw at Elland Road against Doncaster Rovers. I suppose between now and the end of the season the team are going to need every quality aren’t they?
KB: They are indeed because clubs are getting more and more desperate now. We only have Notts Forest and QPR to play above the contenders – oh, and Burnley, who are creeping up. Of course, we’re playing some clubs who are in relegation danger so they will also be fighting. But if we keep plugging away and we’ve got four players on 10 goals or more, which is obviously a good sign, and we’ve reduced our goal concession away to one goal, at least it’s not two or three. And of course Billy Paynter got his first goal, which was one of the most popular goals this season. Everybody wanted him to score. The goal itself was magnificent. Well done him. Let’s hope he gets a few more towards the end of the season.
BF: It’s a testament to the fans when it comes to Billy Paynter because at some clubs if you had a striker who had not hit the back of the net by March they might have turned on him. But the fans particularly on Saturday and last night were full of support.
KB: No, they’re desperate. They want him to score. He comes across as one of us so it’s better when one of your own scores. So good, he’s broken his duck and there’s a lot of goals in him which we’ll see over the next few seasons.
BF: Now some of the results also went for the club last night. Are you surprised how much things have changed since that defeat to Swansea?
KB: Well, one thing I have always been saying is that while I thought our strength would come through in the closing weeks of the season because we have a large squad, many of the other clubs are struggling and are now picking up injuries and suspensions and loss of form and it’s beginning to show through. So, I mean, some of the results las night were surprising or should I say unexpected – an unexpected bonus as far as we are concerned. We have to make sure we take full advantage of these. We are three points behind an automatic place, albeit with a worse goal difference. We have played Swansea and Cardiff so we can’t influence them but on the other hand, other clubs can. We must be sure that we take up the advantage of any slips. We are now fifth, which is good because that gives us another cushion from the point of view of making sure we are in the play-offs. Leicester lost last night, so that puts a gap between us again. We have got to keep our eye on Burnley but now Burnley will have to overtake Notts Forest before they can overtake Leeds. So let’s not get in the comfort zone. It’s looking good in the run-in.
BF: Now Barry Bannan came on for the last few moments of the game last night. Obviously, he’s the player who joined on loan from Aston Villa. Is he the final piece of the jigsaw or are you still on the lookout for more?
KB: No, we have been chasing Barry for some time. Aston Villa wouldn’t decide until they had their cup match against Manchester City. If you notice, if anybody watched that game when Bannan was their heart and soul, he was here there and everywhere. And of course, he has played with Snoddy in the Scottish team so they knew each other. Simon didn’t put him on at the start because he had only just joined us. But he has got training for the rest of the week and I have no doubt he will have a part to play. But his arrival sparked Kilkenny who got us a goal, which is encouraging. Going back to your question – no, it does not complete our searching. We are continuing to search but once again, as I have said before, we only want players from the Premiership and they are now becoming few and far between. We only want one or two and hopefully we’ll get them.
BF: The last couple of results mean we’re now within three points off second – do you think that’s going to increase the appetite for the Ipswich game and how many are you expecting on Saturday?
KB: Well we have already got 24,000 tickets sold so I would think we are looking at 26-27,000, which is very encouraging as we budget 25,000. It’s exciting football. The team have clicked and it’s a great day out with all our facilities so hopefully we’ll get a good enthusiastic crowd again.
BF: Now while things are going well on the pitch, I know work continues off the pitch with the East Stand development. We’re going to start seeing some of that happening but I believe on Friday as well you are going to give fans the chance to see how it will be when it is finished and show them what facilities will be available. How important is this in the process?
KB: Well, last Friday we had a cocktail party reception for executive club members to give them an opportunity to see the new facilities we are planning and we are now getting on with. We can’t get them all in in one week so we’re having another one this week on Friday. Same thing, drinks, canapes and have a look around what we’re planning to do. I think everybody who came was suitably impressed – as they should be because it’s a great development and we’re very proud of it.
BF: Online memberships are now available as well until April 30th and of course just nine days is left on season tickets before the closing dates of March 18th. Do they continue to come in?
KB: Yep, we’re now on late renewals for season tickets and I think they close on… is it the 18th of March? But they are coming in steadily. We have got 10,700 already so there’s not a lot more to come in because we still have to process the 20-year season tickets, which haven’t gone on the total numbers yet as they don’t need to be renewed. On memberships yesterday, coming in nicely, I think we might just touch about 40,000 for this season and the way it’s looking for next year it should be even more than that. We are very pleased with our memberships. it’s a great tribute to a demonstration of intent and faith by our fans.
BF: One issue away from the club this week and Sepp Blatter is again running for the FIFA presidency but there are rumours that he might have it contested this time around. Would you support a change at the top of the FIFA hierarchy?
KB: I support a change of anybody. Even Prince Andrew would be better than Sepp Blatter. Blatter, I think is responsible for running an organisation which is totally corrupt. Blatter is boasting about the fact they made £750million profit out of South Africa. He did, but he didn’t say he had left South Africa £2billion in debt with five stadiums hardly being used. It was a complete waste of money, which could have been used to re-house an awful lot of people living in terrible conditions. The trouble is of course, FIFA hand out large dollops of money to certain national associations. What they do with it, God knows what. It’s like our aid projects overseas, I think. And that ensures Mr Blatter gets his votes. Somebody has got to shift him with the state his organisation is in. However, next Tuesday, I do my bit, my two penn’orth in front of the Parliamentary Select Committee looking into Football Governance. It should be interesting. Let’s see what the newspapers say about it on Wednesday.
BF: Before your comments, can we get a preview?
KB: Depends what the questions are. On Fit and Proper Persons, I presume that will be the same high standards that we apply to our MPs and Life Peers. I read yesterday about Lord Willis. For those who can’t remember that non-entity, he was a Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate who did everything possible to stop Leeds United’s redevelopment and resurgence. He was also responsible for rather serious expenses irregularities. So his reward? He’s made a Life Peer. As Richard Littlejohn would say, you couldn’t make it up.
