L.U.S.T. Update: Takeover, Players and the New Season
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 3:02PM With pre-season training underway at Thorp Arch, and the team preparing for its first friendly against Farsley on Friday, Leeds United Supporters' Trust believes it is time for the fans' patience this summer to be rewarded with concrete news regarding the club's future.
We understand the reasons why the current negotiation process should take place behind closed doors, and have encouraged anxious Leeds fans to be patient and allow the process to run its course.
From what we understand, no major problems have occurred during the due diligence process. While we respect that the club's last statement referred to a confidentiality clause, we believe the club could make a positive statement to the fans without jeopardising negotiations.
We have reached the point in the summer, however, where the lack of clarity about the situation at Elland Road could impact on the team's performance next season.
We support Neil Warnock's attempts to revitalise his squad, but are concerned that while the future ownership of the club remains in question he cannot plan a successful strategy for promotion. Unless the situation is resolved soon, we could be playing catch up throughout the season instead of leading from the front.
While new signings are obviously critical, we believe it is also vital that the club learns from the experiences of recent signings and ensures it holds on to its best players. The news stories circulating about interest from other clubs are taking their toll on supporter confidence and morale, and we believe a statement of intent is required.
In our Vision Statement, we call for the club to change the way it communicates with fans and become more open, and for the priority at the club to be building a strong football team. In the spirit of those aims, we urge the club to give the fans an update on the takeover negotiations, and to show its real intent towards promotion by helping Neil Warnock assemble the strongest possible squad.
Trust Chairman, Gary Cooper, will be speaking with Adam Pope between 6 - 7pm on West Yorkshire Sport tonight on BBC Radio Leeds - 92.4 FM and 103.9 FM, 774 AM and DAB radio.
Reader Comments (6)
Cheers for the updates lads. Hopefully the club will release a statement like they did the last time you asked them to. Appreciate the effort.
Hi
How do you put this request to the club? Letter? Email? Or verbally? Do they normally understand and grant your requests on the fans behalf and how long does this process take?
Regards
Sam
Can't do no more than that boys.
It seems ridiculous to me that all those who find it impossible to sustain themselves without constant re-assurance (I do understand this to some extent) are constantly seeking that re-assurance from LUST - when it is obvious to a blind man that the next positive or negative statement simply HAS to emanate from the club or the potential new owners.
Thank you for seeking some update however.
"It's difficult when players get their heads turned, but I'd like to keep Rob at the club and that's what I'm trying to do at the moment. Unless they come up with a valuation that the club thinks is satisfactory then that's what we want to do."
The final bit of the statement in my personal opinion is basically saying up your bid!!!
If this takeover is actually happening why would we sell our SECOND club captain in less than 12 month no matter if they meet the valuation of the club it doesn't say alot for the clubs intent does it? Also his value would almost double if we got to the promised land as captain, and if thats the statement response from Gary Coopers radio plea i see there being something fishy as he specifaclly asked for concrete news on the TO!!!
Would like to get the LUST's point of view on this please...
With the tangled web that is ken bates financial dealings this could take awhile and has the chance to go pear shaped at every turn our squad is currently relegation fodder if we cant reassure team of whats happening and bring in troops BEFORE the season starts otherwise i feel we,ll be back in the league 1 badlands next season
Kudos to the trust for trying to get the club to talk to us but bates dosen't like us and we wont be going anywhere whilst he steers us on to more rocky shores.
Fingers crossed but im not feeling it yet....
There is a tweet from Thom Kirwin of Yorkshire Radio where he spoke to Neil Warnock, who has met the potential owners and describes them as "Proper People" and he is known for calling a spade a spade.
The problem is Bates and where he has stashed th cash and assets that will be the problem, trying to trace these will be a nightmare