Beguiled by Bates

28/5/2013

By Steve Barras

Mr Ken Bates walked into the fabled halls of Elland Road for the first time as owner in January 2005 and some eight years later he is leaving the club in the hands of GFHC.

During his time at the helm I wondered how much money he has managed to acquire through player sales alone, this would be an extensive list if I included all the freebies so I have only listed the players that came and went for actual cash. Also because of the lack of transparency regarding transfers, i.e. the undisclosed sum syndrome (A staggering twenty-five players brought in and an equal twenty-five players sold), I have disregarded these transfers as well.

Player
Robbie Blake
Danny Cadamarteri
Clarke Carlisle
Scott Carson
Shaun Derry
Max Gradel
David Healy
Rob Hulse
Bradley Johnson
Tresor Kandol
Paddy Kenny
Andy Keogh
Matt Kilgallon
Neil Kilkenny
Aaron Lennon
Lubomir Michalik
Ian Thomas Moore
Danny Pugh
Robert Snodgrass
Matthew Spring
Simon Walton

TOTALS

In
£800,000
£0
£0
£0
£0
£0
£0
£1.100,000
£250,000
£200,000
£400,000
£0
£0
£150,000
£0
£500,000
£50,000
£0
£250,000
£0
£0

£3.700,000

Out
£250,000
£50,000
£100,000
£750,000
£150,000
£3.000,000
£1.500,000
£2.200,000
£0
£0

£50,000
£1.750,000
£0
£1.000,000
£0
£0
£250,000
£3.000,000
£150,000
£500,000

£14.800,000

Profit
- £550,00
+£50,000
+£100,000
+£750,000
+£150,000
+£3.000,000
+£1.500,000
+£1.100,000
-£250,000
-£200,000
-£400,000
+£50,000
+£1.750,000
-£150,000
+£1.000,000
-£500,000
-£50,000
+£250,000
+£2.750,000
+£150,000
+£500,000

+£11.100,000

So El Presidente Bates has managed to acquire over £11million over eight years at Elland Road and that is not including the sales of Jonny Howson, Fabian Delph, Luciano Becchio and Kasper Schmeichel to name but a few of the twenty-five players sold without a disclosed amount.

Make of that what you will

18 Comments

BigPhil

28/5/2013 05:27:47 pm

Jeez, wonder what the figures stand at if all the fees were disclosed.. Shoot the President MOT!

CafCat

28/5/2013 06:06:02 pm

Please can you not put his picture up there, it is still bloody annoying to see that face when all you want to do is hit it with a cricket bat (and I am not a violent person)

ropey wyla

28/5/2013 06:24:01 pm

we payed to sign Gradel so you are making your figures up I'm afraid, take time to research before writing your articles otherwise you are just a gossip merchant.

Steven Barras

28/5/2013 07:10:06 pm

I made a mistake with Gradel, it was another undisclosed fee though and I doubt it was upwards of £200k. Still nigh on £11mill profit for Bares.

Peter

28/5/2013 06:31:08 pm

What about all of Warnock's superstars didn't think that they were all free.

28/5/2013 07:11:57 pm

Warnocks players were either free or undisclosed apart from Paddy Kenny.

Ferks4

29/5/2013 09:05:03 am

I do believe Jason Pearce cos £500k

Why Did You Make Your Data Up?

28/5/2013 06:43:26 pm

MADE UP DATA - ENOUGH SAID.

mr anon

28/5/2013 10:31:21 pm

Agreed - made up!

mick seredycz link

28/5/2013 07:29:12 pm

11 million,from 8yrs,no wonder he can smile?But he can't take it with him.'HA'HA'HA'.

Matthew Perkins

28/5/2013 08:45:08 pm

At first i didnt like him, but when my uncle came over from Madrid and we were haveing a meal at Billys bar Bates walks in to have some food, my uncle went over to talk to him and he was there 20 mins. Bates what a real Gent

28/5/2013 10:05:32 pm

In reality it is always a lot more complicated than that with staged payments being made at certain times etc but its a fair effort at totting it all up. Delph was about 6 million wasnt he ? (6 mill less all the fees etc) Schmeichal was rumoured at 1 million wasnt he ?

The whole point of "undisclosed fee" was so the fans couldnt moan about where the transfer money was going

Max

28/5/2013 11:02:06 pm

Several things:

- you really have to divide the period into 3 - pre-administration, post-administration and post-Bates/GFH. Money pre-administration seems to have been obtained through loans and any profits on fees was largely wiped out by the administration event. Post-Bates he's unlikely to have been involved in transfers (Becchio) but did create the conditions which forced the sales by factoring all the cash before he sold the club.

- If you are discounting players bought or sold on undisclosed, Gradel and Derry came in that way. There are a bunch of others which are difficult to count - e.g. Cresswell who came in for £1.15m but went out on undisclosed. So the exercise is a bit of a waste of time, in my opinion, because you can only guess at the numbers, and it gets worse the longer the time period.

- Pugh, like Morison, came in a part exchange, not for zero, but as with Morison it is difficult to pin down the actual value placed on the player by the seller.

- Healy was bought for a disclosed fee of 650k

- Woods & Taiwo not sold but £5m compensation; Rose £1m transfer out.

Dewsbury white

28/5/2013 11:54:37 pm

I really don't know much about the financial side of running a football club , im just a Joe shmo who goes to work , pays his taxes and loves to go to matches , this I've been doing at Leeds since i was a lad and now im 50 , in that time I've seen them all come and go , to me ( and most of you won't like this) but to me, bates came in and took on a club that was on its knees with debt , he said what he planned to do and that was pretty much what he has done, players have always come and gone and im always of the attitude that if their head has been turned by another club then let em go , id rather have a true Leeds player than half of one who's got his eye on a scumchester shirt or in recent years a norwich one,.. I for one believe that Leeds are at a turning point with GHF and Bmac , i believe that next season we will make it back to the prem and i also believe that someone had to take Leeds by the scruf of the neck and sort out the mess made by risdale etc , i don't think Leeds fans would have liked anyone thru that period of time , it was a dirty job but someone had to do it , and who did it ??! Bates

JonnyLosAngeles

29/5/2013 03:47:35 pm

Very naive way of looking at Bates and his time at Elland Road.

Did not do what he said he would do, number of questionable dealings (admin, gambled with the very existence of the club), with expenses not quite adding up. Took us fans for a real ride.

Counte Of Monte Fisto

29/5/2013 06:15:32 pm

To be fair I think Bates era needs dividing into 2. When he first came he funded quite a few transfers & high wages which were wasted by Blackwell (Hulse, Healy, Blake etc) & kept the club afloat. League 1 was a cut your cloth exercise but to that point I didn't despise the man. He had a plan & I could see what it was, like it or not. The second phase seemed a series of bizarre decisions at the time but now with hindsight this in my opinion was when Bates had decided to get out. It looks like he started to syphon off cash for his projects or personal gain. Yes my gripe is the championship era when clearly our purchases do not equal sales plus ticket income. It looks to me that he had decided to sell up & used OUR money to do up the front porch (East Stand), do up the kitchen (all the restaurants & catering stuff like the pavillion). The low wages & MASSIVE admin costs hint at other syphons of cash but ultimately we will never know. To me its a Pre Championship 6 out of 10 for Ken but post championship 0 out of 10. Anyway I am glad he has gone, in the beginning he did some good stuff but the last 3 years have been the worst time ever as a Leeds fan IMO, looking forwards to seeing what BMcD can do

not so perfect after all

29/5/2013 01:08:04 am

Actually if bates made profit or loss we will never know, but what is clear and the reason the fans don't like home isn't the money, lack of investment in the team or any other financial matter, its the way he has handled things publicly with those fans and given an impression rightly or wrongly that he doesn't give a shit about them, his PR skills stink. he could have handled the situation better,but his no disclosure to events, ownership, transfers and the whole running of the club have created negative speculation and rumors, for this he has only his self to blame and regardless of anyone's exterior, he must feel that inside, no one likes to be hated. he has only himself to blame. if he did save the club and was open and honest, im sure he could have been seen as a hero a savior. we will never probably know for sure this financial dealings, but for sure he will never be remembered for anything good if your a Leeds Fan. MOT

penelope

29/5/2013 01:41:33 am

I dont like Bates, never have. But your article is made up. Firstly its not a conclusive list of all players. Secondly, there is more to it then that, you have to look at running costs salaries etc etc. No doubt bates was a cancer at the club, but if your going to write an article on him, make it conclusive with substance and real facts. An undisclosed fee doesnt neccessarily make it peanuts. Makes poor reading

Beguiled by Bates

By Steve Barras

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