Intervjuet i sin helhet fra LUST chairman Gary Cooper (aka WACCOEs Billyisgod, BIG):
Presenter: Well, let’s have a word now with Gary Cooper, he’s the Chairman of the Leeds United Supporters trust. Never a dull moment as a Leeds fan, Gary. Good afternoon.
BiG: Good afternoon. Yeah, you’re absolutely right, never a dull moment and, again, today we seem to be back talking about activities off the pitch when really, at the end of the first week in June, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we were sat here talking about signings that we’d made, the ambition that we’re showing for next season and how we’re going to get promoted. It’s a sad, sad day unfortunately. Another one.
Presenter: Is it sort of tough going, as a Leeds fan, when there is so much talk about matters of how the club is run rather than enthusing about players and patters of play and who beat who and all that sort of stuff?
BiG: It’s weird. As supporters we invest our money in Leeds United to whatever degree that might be – I’m sure it’s to whatever degree we can each afford. But what’s more than that we invest our emotional wellbeing. We invest our hearts in Leeds. And the return on that investment seems to be disappointment. Transfer window in, transfer window out, season in, season out, off pitch activity after off pitch activity….it beggars belief, it honestly does. I really would like to be sat here today talking about what a great signing Joel Ward is going to be, or why Clint Hill hasn’t signed another one year deal at QPR or why Matty Kilgallon wants to come home rather than play at Sunderland. But I can’t talk about any of those things, we’re talking about a court case. A court case, for God’s sake. It’s not a good day, it really isn’t.
Presenter: Leeds United Supporters Trust and yourself are on the record as wanting regime change and a new form of management at the club – you’ve talked a lot about that there. Does this development today make that any more likely? Is Ken Bates any more likely to leave the Chairmanship of the club? Will he be unsettled by all of this?
BiG: Only a fool second guesses what Ken Bates is going to do and I’m certainly not going to do that! As a trust, we’ve worked with our members with the RMC’s and the supporters clubs and with the wider Leeds fan base back in December and January to produce what we’ve called our vision statement. And that vision statement really it set’s what the trust wants. It doesn’t have to be a change of ownership and I’ve explained that many times in the past. The trust isn’t a Bates Out organisation, despite that fact that many would claim we are. Many of our members would like to see the back of Ken Bates; there’s no question about that. But what we want to see more than anything else is ambition at Leeds United. We want to see a football club behaving like a football club. Showing ambition on the pitch. Corporate facilities are great; no problem there at all. But they won’t get you promoted. They won’t score any goals that you need to get you promoted. People like Ross McCormack score us the goals and we believe that now the club can’t agree a contract with Ross McCormack. We want to see ambition. Part of that is to work positively with people like Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire police & local media – yourselves for example. We want to do that free from bans and law suits and public spats. But all we seem to have is negativity. Nothing positive at all coming out of the club that suggests that the current owners and the current board share our ambition.
The club manager and the club captain, in statements at the end of the season, certainly do share our ambition. They very obviously realise what needs to happen to take this club forward. And I would suggest that both Neil Warnock and Robert Snodgrass would dearly love the club to show that ambition. But here we are again talking about a court case that’s going to cost the club countless howmuch….the YEP estimated the 2009 libel case at around 1.5 million…
Presenter: (Interrupting) Gary, just let me give you an update. As you say there, things have been very quiet from the club. We did request a reaction from the club on what this means today, the judgement against Ken Bates and we also posed the question: ‘who will pay the legal fees and the fine?’ Now, we were simply told that nobody was available to comment from the club. Simply, nobody would say anything. So I’m afraid we’re in the dark in terms of what the club are saying today. We did give them the right of reply as we should here on BBC Radio Leeds.
BiG: I think all radio stations should give the right of reply. It’s a fact that Radio Leeds do. I wonder if Yorkshire Radio are invited to independently comment on what’s happened today - I very much doubt it. Look, Mr. Harvey said it at the hearing that the club is spending what he describes as a “fortuneâ€. Now, Mr. Harvey earns a lot of money every year – an awful more than I do – and I know I think a fortune is. So, if it’s a fortune in his eyes, then we need to know how much money and where is it coming from? Because if it’s coming from Leeds United Football Club, then it’s coming from the supporters pockets.
Presenter: You’d like that to be made very clear? That’s understandable! Gary, moving onto other matters and the on-going speculation about the takeover. Your outfit has been talking to interested parties….we’re actually about a week or more down the line. Is there any hope?
BiG: (laughing) I’m the kind of fella that looks at half a pint of bitter and says that the cups half a pint full. So yeah, there’s always hope. The Trust has been very fortunate. We’ve spoken to people that are interested in buying Leeds United. I honestly can’t say any more than that at this stage but I can say that what we’ve been told by the club is that the “morons†put investors off and [because of the] “moronsâ€, there’s no money in Yorkshire. I can tell you that isn’t true and that there is interest in Leeds United. But the people who are interested in buying Leeds United really don’t have a great deal of interest in investing and working with Mr. Bates. They want to buy the club, full stop.
Presenter: TOMA.
