Phil Hay â€@PhilHayYEP
I've looked into the Sun's story and from what I've heard there's no expectation of the takeover at #lufc going through in the next 72 hours
Vel, Phil Hay er ihvertfall en 100% mer pålitelig kilde enn The Sun.
Nå er takeover allerede for sent med tanke på transfer-deadline, så nå driter jeg egentlig i det...
Hay pours cold water on The Sun’s takeover storyThu 30th Aug 2012 22:19 by Tim Whelan
This morning the ever-reliable Sun newspaper reported that GFH Capital would complete their takeover of Leeds within the next 72 hours, but later in the day this was refuted by Phil Hay from the Yorkshire Evening Post.Dubai-based GFH Capital have been identified as the group involved in the endless talks to buy the club, and on their website they describe themselves as “one of the Middle East’s foremost private equity investors, advisors and fund managers, providing capital and strategic support for growth companies.†The prospective new chairman is Leeds fan David Haigh, who is Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of GFH.
But sadly, it seems likely that The Sun’s claim that GFH were close to the takeover is just a load of bull. This morning I was in the unusual position of hoping that something in that scandal-rag was actually true, but I suspected it wasn’t when no other newspaper ran the same story. And this afternoon Phil Hay of the YEP used Twitter to tell the world that he’d looked into the Sun’s claim and could find absolutely no evidence to back it up.
So where does this leave us? The issue which is preventing the completion of the deal is that GFH have asked Bates to sign an ‘Indemnity Clause’, and so far the old man has refused to do so. Although GFH have now completed ‘Due Dilligence’ and gone through the books with a fine toothcomb, they still want the ‘Indemnity Clause’, which would force Bates to cover any future losses arising from anything they might have missed.While we continue to wait for the takeover to be finalised, Leeds are suffering from a cash-flow crisis, as the money Bates has spent on his various property schemes around the stadium has outstripped even the considerable amounts that the sales of key players have brought into the club. So at the moment there is no money even to bring on players on loan, never mind to improve the squad through permanent transfers.
It has been confirmed that GFH have already been assisting the club with transfer funding over the summer. This explains why at one stage in May we didn’t manage to find the cash to sign Joel Ward, but then things got moving and several new players did come to the club in the next few weeks. I also suspect that Neil Warnock was on the verge of walking away from the club after the Ward debacle, and it was only the prospect of the takeover that persuaded him to change his mind.
GFH were also involved in the efforts to persuade Snodgrass to sign a new contract, until the Scot ran out of patience as the talks dragged on and decided to move to Norwich. Snoddy thought he wasn’t going to take the risk of Bates remaining in charge, as he can’t believe anything our dear current chairman says!
But it’s now clear that no more cash will be forthcoming from GFH until Bates signs on the dotted line and the deal is complete. It’s already too late to make any further signings before the transfer window closes tomorrow, and it has even been suggested that a second administration isn’t impossible without further investment. So we can but continue to pray that the deal is concluded sooner rather than later! Please let the Sun be right!
