Økonomi i dagens program...

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Hvem eier klubben?
Hvor stor er gjelden?
Fikk vi svarene i dagens program???

Anyone......?
[]

[Robert H.]

Svarene er NEI, NEI og NEI. Overrasket?

[gjc]

nei

LLL !

[RoarG]

Leste artikkelen.Temmelig kryptiske greier.Selv Gandalf ville hatt trøbbel med å defichere den. Kanskje det er orker som styrer Leeds[]?

Change is the constant that cannot be changed.

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Er dette artikkelen?

Why, Mr Levi, Why?

vs Luton Town, Saturday 22nd March

Never slow to jump on a popular bandwagon Messrs Blair, Brown and Richard Carbon have added their voices to the campaign to reduce admission prices for Premiership matches following the new TV contract which will add millions to the clubs’ already large war chests.


What about clubs outside the Premiership? Well, the Government could put their money (well, yours actually) where their collective mouths are and abolish VAT on admission prices. So far this season Leeds United have been charged a total of £1,217,876.


In rough figures the kids prices would come down from £8 to about £6.80, the £31 price down to £26.40, the £26 ticket to £22.10 and the £15 ticket to £12.75 (all the calculations are in my head as I write but you get the general idea). On top of that business rates (which the Council mostly pass on to the Government) cost us about £700,000, which if abolished would knock off another £1.40 across the board and police charges another 50p.


We can now turn our attention to our own ticket pricing policies and our recent experiments to date. Here are the comparative figures.





Of course, if the prices were permanently reduced the season tickets would have to come down, too, and the estimated reduction in income would be about a million pounds. Note that the attendance figures quoted about include season ticket holders and corporates. The conclusion? Too early to tell. That reminds me of the story of Chou En-Lai (the Chinese communist President) when he was asked if he thought the French Revolution 200 years earlier had changed the course of history, he replied that it was too early to tell.


I certainly touched a raw nerve when I took the lid off the Melvyn Levi scandal. He promptly rang his pet columnist who writes in a national newspaper and followed it up with a TV interview in the spacious gardens of his magnificent house. Apart from a lot of hot air he avoided the whole central issue and never was he asked any questions by the interviewer Harry Gration, who certainly is no Jeremy Paxman. Harry also introduced him as a life-long Leeds fan, although I have never met anybody who can confirm that. Come on Mr Levi, who won’t you answer the questions…


Why did you refuse to complete the share option in 2005?
Why are you trying to frighten off would be investors?
Are you trying to blackmail me into paying you money to go away?
Why won’t your wife’s first husband pay Leeds United the £190,000 he admits he owes?
Why do you keep telling the few people who still listen to you that I am anti-Semitic?
What did I write in my column that you thought was written in “Nazi” language?

You are just playing the race card again. Everybody knows what I am not anti-Semitic, just anti Levi!


Three weeks ago the CEO of Alamo Rentacar introduced me, at his request, to a man with £100 million cash in the bank. The man flew down to see me in Monte Carlo. We had a pleasant lunch which was repeated last Sunday with detailed discussions about the way forward. All very enthusiastic. Wednesday morning he rang, apologized, but said he would not be proceeding because of the ‘Levi factor’.


Thanks Melvyn [unreadable, crossed out by someone with black marker], you do know that your phone number is in the book don’t you?


The Members Club renewals have started coming in. First form to be returned was by Duncan Edge from Bramley who handed his form in on Monday March 5.


Funny thing, mentioning Bramley. Wasn’t Bramley Rugby League Club the one that life-long Leeds fan Melvyn Levi was involved in when it closed down and the pitch was redeveloped for housing?


Times are tough, that’s when the men separate from the boys. Let us get behind the team for the next 10 games starting today. If there are to be recriminations let’s leave them until May. All is not lost and our monstrous injury list will decline in the next few weeks.


The question of the ownership of Elland Road is topical again. The straight answer is that neither I or anybody else at Leeds United knows who it is. The previous board sold Elland Road and Throp Arch to a Mr Jacob Adler, who is based in Manchester, for a total of £12 million in 2004. The rent is paid to an English, Manchester based company as the landlord’s agent. Our buy-back option is attached to the land itself. Consequently, it doesn’t matter who owns Elland Road, when we come up with the option money we get the ground and the option does not expire until 2029.


I see that Leeds United fan Colin Burgon MP has had a recent pop at me in the course of a long rambling article recently. The only problem is that we have no record of him ever coming. The box office computer records go back seven years. His name has never come up so unless he comes on somebody else’s ticket or he buys under another name or at the last minute, I don’t know how he supports us and he’s not even a Club Member. Furthermore Colin, if I have a tendency to pontificate, I learnt the ability from people like you.


Closing, a personal thank you from my wife Suzannah, to Chris and Ian, who were so kind and supportive to her when she sat to disconsolate after the game last Saturday. She did pass on your message to me for which I thank you.

[?][][?]

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Archive for the Chairmans' Comment Category
Leeds United Ownership - The Facts
10/03/2007 by admin.


vs Luton Town, Saturday 10 Match - Club Statement by Mark Taylor

The Forward Sports Fund is a fund incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The Fund’s UK representative is Ken Bates but the Fund is administered from Switzerland.


In January 2005, Mr Bates was approached by Leslie Grayling and John Owen and was informed that Adulant Force Limited, the ultimate holding company of Leeds United Association Football Club Limited was within days of going into liquidation.


The Revenue was owed £1.2m that had to be paid by January 12. It was agreed between Bates, Grayling and Owen that a New Co (LUFC) would be set up to acquire Adulant Force Ltd. FSF would hold 51 per cent of the equity of LUFC, with Grayling/Owen holding 26 per cent. The remainder of the equity (21 per cent) would be placed with investors to be introduced by Grayling/Owen. To date, no investors have been introduced.


Bates’ lawyer Mark Taylor, Gerald Krasner and Melvyn Levi of ‘the Yorkshire Consortium’ met on 17 January 2005 at Mark Taylor’s offices in London. The initial proposal was that LUFC would buy the whole of Adulant Force Limited for a nominal consideration but would make up to £5m available for future working capital for LUAFC, including the payment of the Revenue which was fundamental.


It was discovered that a change of control prior to May 2005 would trigger a payment of £5m by LUAFC to the Trustees of a bond previously issued by Leeds United plc. The requirement to make such payment would scupper the deal and so it was agreed that:


<!--[if !supportLists]-->i) <!--[endif]-->LUFC would purchase 50 per cent of Adulant Forces

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ii) <!--[endif]-->LUFC would purchase 50 per cent of LUAFC

<!--[if !supportLists]-->iii) <!--[endif]-->LUFC would gain board control of both Adulant Force and LUAFC

<!--[if !supportLists]-->iv) <!--[endif]-->LUFC would be granted a call option over the remaining 50 per cent of Adulant Forces

<!--[if !supportLists]-->v) <!--[endif]-->LUFC would procure a loan of £5m available to LUAFC.


There were loans due from Adulant Force Ltd to members of the Consortium as follows: Levi and Simon Morris were both paid sums in excess of £200,000 with the balance of the loans being discharged by the issue of secured loan notes. Loan notes were issued to Morris for in excess of £2m and Levi for £1,439,734. A loan note was also issued to David Richmond, who did not receive any payment on completion.


Since issue, the notes in favour of Morris and Richmond have been redeemed.


The 50 per cent shareholding in Adulant Force Limited was acquired for £81,000 in cash and £2m unsecured loan notes payable to £1m two years after issue and to £1m when the Club returns to the Premier League.


LUFC, via Mr Bates, took control of the Board on 21 January 2005. It was apparent from the outset that further injections of loans/equity would be required. Many millions of pounds were immediately made available to LUAFC by discounting future receipts such as Premier League revenues and transfer fee entitlement, Cash flows showed that the Club would need cash injections of £4.4m by August 2005 and a further £2.5m by September 2005.


In May 2005, LUFC exercised the call option in respect of the remaining 50 per cent of Adulant Force Limited. Melvyn Levi claimed that the option had been incorrectly exercised.


As a result of the failure of the Yorkshire Consortium to complete the option both Grayling and Owen refused to support the rights issue though both said they would have done if the option had been completed. In such circumstances FSF felt unable to take up its rights. The Yorkshire Consortium has now received advice from leading counsel, which advises that the Trustees should not have opposed the exercise of the option. Despite this advice, no move was made by the Trustees to complete the option.


The real reason why the consortium refused to honour its obligations arises out of a dispute between Mr Levi and Mr Bates. He led most of the negotiations with Bates. During negotiations it was suggested that Levi may retain his position as a director of the club following the “Bates” takeover. However, the whole board felt his behaviour was such that he was an inappropriate person to have on the board.


Negotiations took place but at this time Robert Weston appeared on the scene. It appears that Weston may have acted as banker to Levi although Levi always claimed the funds invested in Leeds were his own.


Weston saw the option as a way to gain advantage from Leeds. He made various demands but ended up demanding a payment of £250,000 plus 10 per cent of LUAFC to complete the option.


Without the injection of funds that were to be raised by the rights issue, LUAFC would have a negative balance of £2.453m as at the end of September.


LUFC had no funds and Adulant Force’s only asset was its shares in LUAFC. In the circumstances, the board of LUAFC decided to approach FSF to invite them to invest directly in the Club. FSF had already lent LUAFC £4.4m. It therefore had a major interest in seeing the Company survive. FSF offered to subscribe for 2.5m shares at a par (one pound each) and convert £2.m of FSF’s loan to equity.


The directors of all the Companies involved genuinely believe that the placing of the shares was the only realistic way to raise the required funding. If the YC had not delayed the completion of the option the LUFC rights issue could have been completed which would have raised more than adequate funds, to provide for both LUAFC and LUFC and a direct placing with FSF would not have been necessary.


The Advice of Leading Counsel was taken and he confirmed that the Directors had acted correctly.


The issue of shares to FSF has diluted the shareholdings of LUFC and Adulant Force to about 6 per cent. That 3 per cent holding was the only asset of LUFC and it had no prospect of raising funds elsewhere.


The name of the Company was changed to Roman’s Heavies (RHL) on 2 December 2005 and Mr Bates and Jayne McGuinness resigned in the Spring of 2006. Taylor met with insolvency practitioners to decide the best way to liquidate RHL. The liquidation was made when Levi presented his own petition to wind up the Company.


The Company went into liquidation on 23 August 2006 with Astor its biggest creditor The Official Receiver investigated the insolvency and said there was nothing adverse to report to the DTL.


BKL were appointed as liquidators and are close to finalising the liquidation.


It must be stressed that if the consortium had honoured the option then the rights issue would have proceeded. In trying to be greedy the consortium shot themselves in the foot.