fog lifting a little..
I noticed this contribution on one of the myriad of Leeds United fan forums (for those who inhabit them its the very stupidily popular one) which seems to shed a small peice of extra light on the issue (and looks like a proper exclusive as opposed to getting to information first as practised on here). The style of the post suggests a journalist in London has done a decent job somewhere! I replicate it so it doesn’t get lost in the general melie.
ok – now I dont want any messenger shooting.
someone has been in touch with me, they have a source in London that knows some of the confidential stuff that will be presented to the LCC Exec Board about the TA buy out and the council involvement…
none of it is groundbreaking and I doubt I will get any more than the following so don’t ask, cos I aint got the answers. at least not now. if I get any more clarification, I will post it up
The main points are:
1. the owners of TA (and recipients of the LCC cash if the deal is done) are listed as Barnaway Ltd (we already know this I think), this is the front company for the original TA deal, the document acknowledges that but goes no further
2. The amount of rent that LUFC will pay to LCC once the deal is completed for as long as LCC owns TA (after purchase) is £485k. I have no idea whether this will come off a future purchase price in a mortgage style or whether it is just rent. I am assuming it is rent.
3. Great play is made of the YCC deal as a pre-curser, but there is apparently a difference in that some people at YCC gave personal guarantees to cover the loan; whether anyone at the club is offering similar is also not clear – though I have doubts whether KB would agree to this
4. A confidential letter from Shaun Harvey, indicating the Delph money is over a period of time and thus not available to the club at this time will be used to cover the “due diligence” bit.
5. Elland Road is mentioned and it is indicated that discussions are already underway, to conclude further down the line, on using the same process to secure the ground, no date/deadline is mentioned but the cost is £11m (think we knew that).
Now for me the interesting stuff is not that again it looks like LCC and Leeds United have been working on this for a while or that the checking of the clubs finances will be slack, no the significance is in the plan to use this model for Elland Road in the future and all that entails for both sides (see http://clarkeonenil.co.uk/football-through-a-hardened-glare/thorp-arch-2-the-implications) and the altering of the scheme to exclude Bates from having to provide personal guarentees.
Now of course we have to be a touch careful, in the asbsence of a copy of the confidential reports no-one can confirm the points made yesterday but equally in the absence of such reports being published for public view we are entitled to give it consideration.
In a bizarre twist of fate the prospect of LCC owning Thorp Arch is proberbly something worth considering as progress (not withstanding Bates involvement and the triggering of the loss of the first team pitch) and the chances of Bates selling Leeds United one day increases if both major assets are locally owned but not by him. Nevertheless a sharp eye needs to kept of this process to ensure something less edifying isn’t taking place. I understand that some of our organised supporters groups are not convinced the deal is done politically (I think they are wrong but “events dear boy events” may yet intercede) whilst others are resigned to it happening no matter what reasonable questions are asked.
Wednesday will trigger some fast moving developments but at least for a change some of this is being done with a small amount of public scrutiny.
