Minister is pursuing a vendetta against Leeds, says furious Ken Bates

Bates has slammed the {http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/video_leeds_utd_fans_have_their_say_as_mps_demand_customs_probe_into_ken_bates_takeover_1_3628017 ,culture media and sport committee’s review} and accused one of the MPs, Damian Collins, of having a “hidden agenda or vendetta” against Leeds after he called for an FA investigation into the past ownership of the club.

The report called for a major overhaul of the way English football is run, with radical changes to the FA’s structure and independent board members of the FA.

But Bates told Leeds-owned Yorkshire Radio: “This is supposed to be the awe-inspiring, earth-shaking, fearless investigation into football generally and the things I have heard so far don’t amount to a row of beans.

“They are suggesting for example that nobody should be allowed to serve on the FA council for more than 10 years. If you allow that to happen an awful lot of good experience would be lost.

“If it’s good for football then perhaps it’s good for Parliament and MPs should only be allowed to serve for 10 years.

“The great advantage about that is that the MPs could actually get a proper job for 10 years and find out what it’s like in the workplace instead of living gilded, cloistered lives as so many of them do.”

Bates disputed whether independent board members were good for the FA, claiming former independent chairman Lord Triesman had been “disastrous” - he was forced to resign after comments he made to a friend about England’s 2018 World Cup bid rivals were taped and published.

Bates added: “The last recommendations for an independent chairman had disastrous results. We had Lord Triesman, a failed politician who became a life peer for no particular achievement I can see, who was disastrous with his indiscretions to a lady over lunch, who promptly bugged him.

“Then we had [ex-Football League chairman] Lord Mawhinney who I don’t think contributed very much either. The problem is too many people come in from the outside for the wrong reasons.

“By and large the FA doesn’t do a bad job.”

The MPs’ report also criticised the lack of transparency around the recent ownership of Leeds before Bates took a controlling interest in the club and urged the FA to conduct an investigation.

Bates hit back, criticising Collins, the MP who has been most outspoken about Leeds’ ownership.

“Why Damian Collins is carrying such a torch for Leeds when he is an avowed Manchester United supporter living in Kent, as many of them do, I do not know,” said Bates. “I suspect there is a hidden agenda here or he has a vendetta against the club or myself.

“I remember Harry Redknapp saying fans wouldn’t mind if Saddam Hussein owned a club so long as it was winning games and signing players and I think that applies to most clubs and certainly Leeds.

“The report says clubs should be financially secure and upwardly mobile and we are one of the few clubs that are. What’s the problem? I own it now, or 70% anyway, so let’s get on with running the club.”