Bates calls for backing
Tuesday, 29 May 2007Leeds chairman Ken Bates has warned the club's fans it is 'unlikely' the club will survive if creditors vote against his bid to buy the club back on Friday.
Bates took Leeds into administration ahead of the final weekend of the Coca-Cola Championship season, a move which brought a statutory ten-point deduction from the Football League and sealed the club's relegation to League One.
The appointed administrators KPMG immediately agreed to sell the club back to a newly-formed company - Leeds United Football Club Ltd - headed by Bates.
The Bates deal, aimed at wiping out a substantial chunk of Leeds' £35million debt, has to be approved by creditors - and the Football League - at Friday's meeting when creditors will consider a Company Voluntary Agreement under which they would forego some of their debt.
Leeds businessman Simon Morris has submitted plans for a £10million takeover and Duncan Revie, son of Leeds manager Don, has said that he is considering making an offer.
But Bates is hopeful the creditors will back his bid. 'If they want a football club in Leeds they should make sure they vote the right way,' he told Yorkshire Radio.
'Otherwise, if the CVA fails, I can assure the fans it's unlikely there will be a Leeds United Football Club. Remember Accrington took 45 years to get back to league status from when they went out of the league.
'Hopefully we can move forward and put the tribulations of the last five to six years behind us and start again with an open and even playing field so we can start getting the club back to where it belongs.'
