Administrators expect renewed interest in Leeds

Leeds United’s administrators are expecting several parties keen on taking control at Elland Road to step up their bids this week.

The club went into administration with debts of £35m (€51.4m) last Friday following a winding-up order issued by the Inland Revenue, who are owed £5m (€7.3m) in unpaid taxes.

The business was, with the administrators’ approval, almost immediately bought by a new company, Leeds United Football Club Limited, of which Ken Bates is a listed director.

But the sale is subject to approval by the club’s creditors at a meeting later this month and also by the Football League, while other consortia are poised to ambush Bates’ plans to resume control of the club.

The club’s joint-administrator Richard Fleming, of accountancy firm KPMG, revealed nobody had yet stepped forward with a firm offer showing proof of funds.

He told PA Sport: “We’ve had a number of approaches, but only from intermediaries acting on behalf of other people.

“I expect that to change though over the course of the next couple of days.”

A growing number of Leeds fans are dismayed that potential new owners do not appear to have had chance to lodge their interest in buying the club.

Leeds property entrepreneur Simon Morris has declared his intention to launch a takeover bid and it has been reported former West Ham chairman Terry Brown, a Dubai-based consortium headed by former Leeds manager Don Revie’s son Duncan and two separate Irish consortia are also in the running.

Fleming said: “The deal we have done is subject to the approval of creditors, but we know we already have the backing of a reasonable chunk because we have consulted them informally.

“If the creditors don’t approve the transaction at the meeting, the natural route of course will be to talk to other people.

“In any event we will be talking to people who have a valid interest.”

Leeds MP Colin Burgon, who has protested about the veil of secrecy under which Bates has operated at Elland Road, has announced he will be writing to Sports Minister Richard Caborn about the need for transparency in the handling of clubs’ finances.