Bates wins Leeds vote

Ken Bates has today regained control of Leeds after a recount of votes taken at last week’s creditors’ meeting confirmed his offer to buy back the club had been accepted by the slimmest of margins.

Leeds’ administrators KPMG were forced to adjourn a stormy meeting on Friday after deciding a recount was required to decide the club’s immediate future.

Some creditors argued Bates’ offer to pay back money owed by Leeds was not the best on the table and claimed other parties interested in buying the club had not been given a fair chance.

Bates, who placed Leeds in administration with debts of £35million on May 4, required 75% of the vote to have his offer of 1p in the pound accepted by creditors and the original count on Friday showed he had 75.02%.

There were 27,178,255 votes in favour of Bates and 8,965,174 against giving him 75.20% of the vote.