Bates completes Leeds takeover

Leeds United have revealed that former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates has completed a £10m (€14.4m) takeover of the club.

Bates is expected to announce his control of the club and reveal his plans to take it forward at an Elland Road press conference later today.

Leeds United chairman Gerald Krasner confirmed that his consortium had been asked to remain in the background at the club for an undisclosed period to help ensure a smooth hand-over.

The Krasner consortium came in at a time when the club was at its most desperate, over £100m (€144.2m) in debt, and over the past 10 months has managed to cut away those debts to less than £24m (€34.6m).

And Krasner believes that, despite the problems he and his board have had to solve since taking over, it has all been worth it.

“The club has always been in safe hands since we took over,” he said.

“It was actually a year ago on Wednesday when I first met Trevor Birch to begin all this, and it has been worthwhile because Leeds United still exists and the football team still plays at Elland Road.

“Some people told us it could not be done and that we would have to take the club into administration, I think this proves it could be done.”