Ken Bates: Hi Ben, sorry I couldn’t speak to you earlier but I was travelling, as you know.
Ben Fry: Chairman, we’ll start with the statement on LeedsUnited.com. The club have dispensed with the services of Simon Grayson and his coaching staff. Can you give us the thoughts behind this decision?
KB: Well I think that, first of all we have to acknowledge the fact that in the previous three seasons Simon got us to the play-off semi-finals, he won us promotion the next year and last year we finished seventh. And contrary to some of the nutters on tweet and Twitter, we’ve backed him all the way. The first time I said ‘no’ to a player that Simon wanted to buy was last Thursday when he wanted to sign a player who was going to cost us £600,000 a year. I said ‘but you’ve already got six centre-backs, all of who you signed’. We have, at 30, probably the largest, or at least one of the largest squads in the Championship and a bigger squad than most in the Premiership. Our wage budget was £9.5m this year, we’ve spent over £12m. So these people who are blaming me for the results don’t know what they’re talking about. Every penny that we made from transfer fees has gone back into the team in transfer fees or wages. Don’t forget, if you sign a player on a free transfer say, on £500k a year which with taxes is £600k a year and give them a three year contract, you’re committing a £1.8m, which is a tremendous amount of money. We’re a Championship club; we have six strikers, we have six centre-backs and all of a sudden I can’t see why none of the them are any good enough. We’ve got three teenagers in the back four. That’s the decision of the manager. He decides who he wants to buy. We the club, me the chairman, authorises it. But the face of the matter is, we’ve conceded more goals than almost any other club in the Championship and we’ve got three teenagers in the back four. Therefore we’ve reached as far as we can and the present system isn’t working. So what have we got know? We’ve got 18 games to go, nine at home and nine away. We can still get into the play-offs, I think automatic promotion is a bit far off. But I think we need a fresh start, fresh look, fresh attitude and a new moving on. We’ve got Andy O’Bren coming back which is one of Simon’s signings and now he’s back at the club so hopefully that will strengthen our back four. So we’ll see what happens in the last quarter of the season.
BF: Do you have confidence in the squad and the players at the club that they can make this charge?
KB: Well, Simon told me in November that we were going to win promotion. These players haven’t become bad players overnight. They’ve got a problem somewhere but we don’t know what it is. I’m a little bit disappointed when Simon said after last night that he was working under financial constraints. Jesus! Nearly 30% over budget on players’ wages and people are… some of the fans are banging on about loan players. Errr, who scored the winner against us when we played at the Emirates? It was a loan player wasn’t it? Thierry Henry? It’s not a question of how much you spend on the transfer fee, it’s the quality of the player you get. He’s a free player, free transfer. Do you pay £35m for a Carroll or £50m for a Torres? So money itself doesn’t mean anything. The important thing is quality and value for money. What I don’t understand, is why we are where we are with what we’ve spent. I mean, don’t forget when we were beaten by Barnsley 4-1, their wage bill was £4.5m. Ours was £11.5m so clearly we’re not getting value for money, are we? So since the present system isn’t working, we need a fresh look, a fresh start. Having said that, thank you to Simon for what he has done in the past and his two assistants but we have to move on.
BF: The statement on the website says Neil Redfern will take temporary charge until a new man is available. Neil obviously a man with plenty of experience of the game.
KB: Oh yes. I mean he is a toughie. Look how, under his control, the players have been coming through from the academy. You’ve got seven academy players now in our first team squad. That’s a tribute to the way we work at the lower levels. And I’m sure he will bring a fresh face to what’s happening. That gives us time to rethink and move on.
BF: Chairman, always difficult days but I suppose from this point you just have to look forward to the remainder of the season.
KB: Well yes. It’s amazing, 62 per cent of season tickets have been renewed already and thank you for those who have done it. It demonstrates that despite the vociferous minority and now a very small minority, they do say empty vessels make the most sound, people can see what we’re trying to do. We ’re building a club first and team second. That is most important. We’re making progress at a time when so many clubs are in financial difficulties. I ’m going to tell you a funny story… there’s a guy that has failed to take over at Portsmouth, who hasn’t come up with the reddies, I met him three months ago at the request of someone else that was interested in investing in Leeds. They come through the door every week of the month. People say spend, spend, spend, well why should anyone spend? What’s more important? A text I get yesterday: why would anyone want to invest in a club where there’s a vociferous minority who make so much bad vibes? Do me a favour, don’t need it. Anyway, all these people that claim they have contacts and have money, including the Leeds United Supporters Trust, well no problem, they can put their money where their mouth is.
BF: Leeds United chairman Ken Bates, speaking to Yorshire Radio a short time ago this afternoon.
