Ken Bates: Leeds buy-out ‘ticks all the boxes’ with Premier League

The United chairman is now the majority shareholder at Elland Road after he bought the near 73 per cent stakeholding of off-shore company Forward Sports Fund (FSF).

His purchase – for an undisclosed sum – of FSF’s shares through a company called Outro, which the 79-year-old wholly owns, means supporters now know who is in charge of the Yorkshire club.

Previously, fans had been in the dark over the identity of the club’s ultimate owners due to FSF being a company that is registered in the Caribbean island of Nevis and whose shareholders are anonymous.

This had led to questions being asked by a number of bodies, most notably the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs who, in recent months, have been investigating how English football is run.

Last month, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore also joined the debate by stipulating that the owners would have to be revealed if Leeds won promotion this season.

Barring a truly bizarre set of results on the final day of the Championship campaign on Saturday, that will not happen with Simon Grayson’s side set to kick-off 2011-12 still in the Championship.

Despite that, Leeds officials have already spoken to the Premier League about Bates’s buy-out.

The United chairman told the Yorkshire Post: “There had been a lot of nonsense said and written about Leeds United lately, both in the media and by some of the MPs sitting on the Select Committee.

“Because of that, FSF turned round and said, ‘We don’t need this any more, we want out’. So, negotiations took place and the deal was done.

“Further to that, last Thursday Shaun (Harvey, chief executive) and I went to down to the Premier League to tell them what we were proposing to do.

“They said it ticked all the boxes and rubber-stamped everything. They said that if we had got promotion this season then there wouldn’t have been any problems.

“The Football League were already satisfied (with the ownership structure when FSF were in control), while we knew we complied with FA rules. So now this alleged problem is solved and we can look forward.”

On the timing of this week’s announcement about the buy-out, Bates added: “We chose to wait until after the Select Inquiry had completed their questions.

“In my opinion, it has been a very poor quality Select Committee. They were supposed to be looking into the governance of football but, instead, they have focused on Leeds United’s ownership, why Fabio Capello was given a new contract, Lord Triesman and the World Cup 2018 bid.

“There were no questions about the problems affecting football. Nothing has been said about grassroots football or County football, which I found very strange. Instead, they have just concentrated on the Premier League and FA.”

With Leeds three points adrift of Nottingham Forest in the final play-off place and having an inferior goal difference, attention at Elland Road has turned to player recruitment in the summer.

One player, however, who seems unlikely to be joining on a permanent basis is George McCartney, the loanee defender from Sunderland who earlier this week claimed that several players were “out on their feet after playing so much this season”.

Among those unimpressed by McCartney’s claim is Bates, who said: “I see he has rather unwisely been giving an interview in which he says the players are tired, (and that) a sense of ‘jadedness’ among certain players has proved telling.

“Well, I don’t quite understand what he means by that because when we play QPR we will have played 50 games.

“I don’t understand what he means by players being ‘out on their feet’ after playing so much this season. It certainly doesn’t apply to him. As far as I can see, he has only played twice in the last six games.

“So I don’t think fatigue can contribute to his contribution, which I haven’t been particularly impressed with.”

On the Sunderland left-back who has made 32 appearances during two loan spells with Leeds this season, Bates added: “As I understand it, he has been fined more than once for turning up late in training.

“So, perhaps if he turned up on time and showed a bit more commitment then he wouldn’t feel quite so tired. I think it’s a rubbish excuse for him and anybody else who wants to swing that one.”

McCartney joined Leeds on an initial 93-day loan in September before returning to the Stadium of Light in December. The former Northern Ireland international rejoined United the following month.