LUFC..Brian back and a powershift?

Another day in the Soap Opera that is Leeds United….

Mike Farnan

Waking at 7am to find news breaking of Haigh and Farnan joining forces, utterly predictable and yet very welcoming. The two groups, Together Leeds and Sports Capital are apparently matching the Criminals bid and so on paper at least it makes it as straight fight, personality v personality. However the Criminals statement that he will buy the ground etc. and pump cash in seems to tip the scales in his favour. But to be honest could we, do we trust a word that comes out of that man’s mouth? “I sacked McDermott as he gave me no choice” “I didn’t sack McDermott, oh no that was GFH” As public gaffs they dont come much better and much more well recorded.

By common consensus, Farnham’s original bid was £12m, far short of the £25m agreed with the criminal, Haigh’s bid was somewhere in the ballpark, but collectively what clout can they give. A commitment to purchase of the ground within X months would win Mr Haigh particularly a lot of favour back. There are still questions over the Owl groomer. What role did he play in bringing the criminal to the table?, did he seek to block Farnham more recently?, why didn’t he know about the “misrepresentation” by GFH that led to Sports Capital’s reduced bid?

The Criminal is now in his gaff in Miami awaiting word from the Football League. Their decision as to whether he passes the ODT, or fit persons test in common parlance will be watched worldwide.. Logically you assume the Criminal is not a stupid man, many many other things but not stupid. He must know that it’s very explicit in the ODT, a criminal conviction rules you out. Although the rehabilitation element suggests that due to there age those two convictions may be considered spent. The Criminal has two and a third pending. Surely he has not been that dumb, does a surprise await us, is it coming in under someone elses name?

Meanwhile the Sports Capital / Together Leeds consortium who by now must comprise more members than the Polyphonic Spree have put their bid together, and have demanded a response by the end of Tuesday

Brian checks Twitter to see if he has been sacked again

We hoped, we dared to dream, but as you will know Brian turned up for training at Thorpe Arch and duly held his eagerly awaited press conference. One thing became clear, or even clearer than it had before…if I can be half the man that Brian McDermott is then I will have done well.. with Festa still hanging around the training  pitch like a bad smell – WHY? – get him escorted out. He has no right at the club.



So other that a whole heap of humility, a further indication for the love he has for the club, the staff. The players and the fans we learnt nothing more really of the circumstances of Friday night / Saturday morning. He did expose subtly the Criminals lie that Festa was only here as a translator, having changed Brian’s team on Saturday morning and being named as assistant manager.

The most telling piece for me was when he was talking about the assurances he had received in writing. Now bear in mind that GFH are at the time of writing sole custodians of Leeds. Yes, the Criminal has backtracked spectacularly and said he wants him but as discussed would you have confidence if he told you today was Monday? Haigh and Farnan though have been vocal in saying they would keep McDermott as manager going forward. They would and effectively have given such an assurance. Has the balance shifted?

Potential weight was added to this theory of mine mid-afternoon. Farnell, the odious lawyer who sacked McDermott on Friday on seemingly illegal advice (as a lawyer wouldn’t you check these things first?), was escorted off the grounds of Elland Road by bovver boys Haigh and Patel (and their security). Farnell was there to help conclude the Criminals deal but has been told not to return until the deal is completed.  The twelfth of never we trust.

Together Leeds and Sport Capital are to meet GFH in London tomorrow (Tuesday), we must take this as a positive sign, if the Criminals deal was cut and dry why waste time? Assuming Haigh has done nothing else with Owls than groom them, the ODT should be swatted away as a mere annoyance. Certainly GFH would do well to switch to the Yorkshire based consortium. I read a couple of very good articles over the weekend on how the whole debacle has reflected very badly on GFH and their public face is incredibly important to them. They could recover a huge amount of face by binning the Italians today. 
And Festa with them.

For those that missed it, here is Brians press conference, the important bit anyway..

And finally props to Stanningley Cars who are, quite rightly milking their bit part in this saga, but made me laugh with this tweet today “we can confirm Mr Cellino had no proof of funds on Friday so our driver threw him out on Beeston Hill” If only…