Ipswich vs Leeds, 1992/93: it doesn’t look like it can possibly be legit, but the video on this link really is twenty minute highlights of our trip to Portman Road, sandwiched between the Stuttgart home and Nou Camp games. The download links work too. Spoiler alert: it’s 92/93 and we’re away, so we don’t win.
From The Waste Land, by T. S. Eliot:
HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME
Goonight Bradley. Goonight Jonny. Goonight Robert. Goonight.
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, Luciano, good night, sweet Luciano, good night, good night.
Leeds have French defender François Marque on trial from Bastia. According to their website:
Tested there ten days by the English club Leeds United FC, François Marque had found the IGESA this week. But the coach of the club also wants to review the match-Bastia defender at work. It will be retested throughout the coming week.
A French player? On trial? While it’s snowing? Too cold to see him play on grass? Want to take a longer look?
He’s going to flounce off to Wednesday in a huff with Pugh and he’ll be lifting the Premier League trophy for Stretford within eighteen months. Mark my words.
LUCIANO
From another in a lengthening line of ever-ominous ‘club statements’ on the official site:
Luciano Becchio … has handed in a transfer request to the club, as financially he believes his best interests are served by a move away from Leeds United.
Well, Luci’s not wrong, is he? The statement concludes:
It is disappointing that this situation has occurred when he is under contract until 30th June 2014.
Sure. But Becchio has been under contract here since 2008, got himself onto our top ten scorers list, and worked for the pay day that would come with promotion to the Premier League.
He’s done enough to get us there. Most Championship clubs would be happy with a player who scored sixteen goals in a season, never mind getting them all by January with more to come. But the goals are all going to come to nothing. Which is not Becchio’s fault.
If we had a squad of players that matched Becchio’s contribution, we could be clear at the top of the division by now, and Luciano would be looking forward to a Championship medal, a promotion bonus, a shot at the Premier League and a healthy new contract.
With the squad we have, though, Luciano could score forty goals this season and we still wouldn’t be promoted.
This should have been the season he got the rewards for his hard work of four and a half seasons. And it looks like it will be. But, as ever, a good player has to look away from Elland Road to be given the bouquets he earned while he was here.
From Colin today in the YEP:
The fans who travel to Birmingham in horrible weather will be doing so because they want to see us play Spurs and hopefully we can reward them.
No Neil, they’re going in the perhaps forlorn hope of seeing us ‘play’ against Birmingham.
GFH Capital, writing in the programme for the Birmingham game:
We are intending to hold a meet-the-new-owners night at some stage over the next month or so, and are currently weighing up the best dates/times etc to put on the event. Please keep an eye on the club’s Twitter feed…
Sounds great! Let’s see here, I’m kind of busy this week, booked up the week after… wait, how about - oh, what’s this on Twitter?
@TheRockBar
Big thank you to Mr David Haigh (LUFC OWNER) what a top guy just bought everybody in the bar a drink
Well. That was kind of short notice. chucks diary away
The 2011-12 accounts are available from Companies House, earlier than they have been for years - they normally slouch in late sometime around March. An early scan by a total financial novice (i.e., me) shows up the following bits of interest:
- Leeds City Holdings: lost £3m
- Leeds United Football Club: lost £2.2m before player trading
- Centenary Pavilion: lost £233k
- Leeds United Media: lost £22k
- Yorkshire Radio: lost £100k
- “The group loss for the year was £536,000 (2011 £2,988,000 profit)”
- LCH’s ‘closing net debt’ increased from £1.3m to £5.2m
“The highest paid director was paid £226,000 (2011 £212,737)”
“On the 7th July 2011 the company entered into an agreement with Ticketus 2 LLP whereby it sold a total of £5 0 m of season tickets in respect of the 2012/13 season and the 2013/14 season”
Ah, Ticketus. What could possibly go wrong? That “£5 0m” is how it appears in the documents, by the way: I’m sure they mean five, not fifty.
The usual lack of attention to detail seems to be present again:
“On the 21st December 2011 the company issued 32 preference shares to Lutonville Holdings Limited. The shares had a nominal value of £1 each and were issued at a premium of £99,999 each. The total consideration received, net of fees, in respect of this transaction was £3,092,894.”
“Preference shares were issued by Leeds United Football Club Limited on the 21st November 2011 to Lutonville Holdings Limited. The shares have no fixed repayment date but are redeemable upon a change of control in Leeds City Holdings Limited. Significant influence is exerted over Lutonville Holdings Limited by virtue of its connection to Outro Limited which is wholly owned by Mr K W Bates.”
November/December - what’s the difference, right? The Square Ball can help: it was 21st December 2011. It’s quite a coincidence that “Lutonville Holdings Limited” took out £3.2m of preference shares - worth £4m upon a “change in control” - a year to the day before just such a “change in control” resulted in a ringing ker-chinging Christmas for whoever that lucky Lutonville owner might be.
