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Monday 7 January 2013

Will GFH Capital Follow Bates' Model at Leeds and sell in January?


In early December the talk was of a ten million pound transfer war chest. This was quickly revised down to eight million. Then it was announced that Bates would stay on, first as Chairman, then as President. Then all talk of buying new players stopped: suddenly it was about securing those on loan, except, perhaps, for a striker. Then the first real test was failed, with Warnock's number one target Wood joining promotion rivals Leicester because Leeds could not compete financially with the little club from the Midlands.

Now, suddenly, the talk is of RETAINING players, with assistant manager Mick Jones admitting that Becchio and Byram will be in demand and confessing  "I’ve got to say, I’m more worried about players leaving the club than I am about players coming in."

That sounds pretty frightening to me. If Leeds couldn't compete with Leicester on Woods' wages, how are they going to persuade Becchio and Byram to accept salaries of 15k per week or less if Premiership clubs come knocking? Wigan have already been linked with the free scoring Becchio and how galling would it be if Leeds could not fight off the smallest of minnows from the league above them?

Jones goes further and admits that if big offers come in, players WILL leave. He quotes ten million as an extreme example for Byram but the real question is, what figure would prise him away from Leeds? Eight million? Six million? Five million? Four million? Three? Two? The very fact that Jones has come out and said this suggests that something may happen.

Normally, in Leeds' position, you hear a "We will not sell under any circumstances" pledge and the exact reverse of what Jones has just said, something along the lines of, "It's not a question of who we sell but who we buy this window".

Last week, Leeds fans were looking forward to the window with a degree of expectation, but suddenly, thanks to Jones, some will be thinking the window can't close early enough. Becchio's contract expires in 18 months' time and his value decreases by the day. Maybe, just maybe, a bank might see him purely as an asset with a depreciating value, seeing January as a time where inflated values can be achieved as Premiership clubs desperate to survive come knocking. Newcastle? Wigan? Villa? QPR? They can all afford Becchio and may just bid for him. Will GFH pass the supporters' test, or will they follow the guidance of the Chairman?


37 comments:

  1. My guess is yes this mob have done nothing different to bad Santa and I fear for us only Leeds could be taken over by the poorest Arabs in history!

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  2. My guess is that unfortunatly you are completely right. What a joke; we wait 6 months for a takeover to happen only to find the only difference between them and Bates is they are better at PR. To be honest they couldn't really be much worse.

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  3. Unfortunately Leeds are run as a business
    We don't have the luxury of a billionaire or parachute payments
    so whats the big surprise? and why are you "frightened"?

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  4. I'm not gonna jump on the doom and gloom bandwagon, as the
    questions you raise here can only be answered by time itself!

    For once a decent post with no sarcasm, Well done hf!
    Though I don't understand why the goings on at LUFC interest a hammers fan!

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  5. You get what you deserve when you belittle other clubs...they may be 'little' but let's look at Leics v Leeds over the last 5 years, attendances and results etc - don't see 'Mighty Leeds' anymore than 'little Leicester'

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  6. Wolves sack the manager, Forest sack manager,Ipswich sack manager,Suarez handball, Newcastle FA Cup shock,

    Nah.....write another article about GFH Capital and a boring hoofball club in the north...
    "Leeds might struggle to retain players"...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    send your article to Hollywood - they might want to turn it into a movie !

    PS. watching west ham fans blowing bubbles from plastic kids cups and singing on tv the other day was REALLY fff'ing embarrassing !

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  7. in my eyes if thats a road they go down the 11,000 we got sat sat will be the norm time will tell hope im wrong
    MOT

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  8. Why don't you follow your mates model and just die?

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  9. I fear you may be right

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  10. I actually enjoy your little column now, because I am so disillusioned with my team that everything you say is starting to make sense, all the optimism and hope has been ripped out of me, firstly by the 7 month fakeover, then by the endless bad performances (Which sometimes actually get us points) now the dissappointing transfer window which I don't think will get any better. How could it? Warnock is so clueless saying we need a striker, we have strikers!!! We just don't have any quick wingers or creative midfielders who can actually pass them the ball!!! I don't think we would leak as many goals either if we could hold possession in midfield and attack, without hoofing the ball up every time like a hungover sunday league team...

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  11. Well at least MJ has said it. Many of us know there is the possibility of PL interest and Byram leaving. Many supporters would never think about the possibility within the initial uplift of the takeover. Maybe Bates hasn't moved away but just moved backwards and the new men are his investment team and PR men?.
    The whole can of worms will spill over in the next three weeks... that's for sure. Great pity the game on the pitch continues to be a sideshow to the whole pantomime.

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  12. As much as it grates me to say, but you are bang on with your, lets say, "DIRECT" way of discussing our misfortunes! Yes we have jumped from the frying pan in to the fire, I believe. Tight Smurf to Pot less Sand rats. It doe's not matter if it is the summer/winter transfer window they are all the same. Promises lies, "patience", bollocks and excuses. I'm not saying we are doing bad, mid table and it is not like our position is untenable and I don't believe any team as a god forsaken right to be bigger and better, just on history alone, but come on, a little splashing of cash, a little show of ambition, a little show of difference from the past 7 years would have been nice! I dearly love my club and I feel for the die hard fans that have to put up with this shit. Probably I will be told it is only the 7th but guys it follows the same old pattern. Early discussions, ongoing negotiating, then the turn downs, then the desperate agonising wait till the transfer window closure. Sorry fellow Leeds fans I'm not flapping or panicking but Fuck me when will this all end!!!! MOT MOT MOT MOT

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  13. Cherry picked replys . nob head

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  14. Yep, so cherry picked, I included yours 11.22. Hurts you doesn't it, that more and more Leeds fans accept that I have valid points? Yes I have a tongue in cheek approach, yes I write in a provocative style (and boy are YOU provoked), but the points I make are sincerely believed. How do you feel about the take over now? What happened to all the boasting about how Leeds were now megarich? Do you remember my cautionary warnings about GFH Capital? Do you remember me asking if Bates was behind the buy out? Let's see how things come out in the waqsh shall we? When there has been reason to praise, I have praised. But as I kept warning, this takeover is not all Leeds fans hoped it would be. Porn merchants or an Arab bank in debt? I'll take the Dildo Brothers thanks very much!

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    1. Yes but would you take the Arab bank in debt's trophy cabinet??

      mmmm

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  15. What you continually fail to understand is that your "warnings" are preaching to the converted and therefore rendered pointless. All you're doing is spending a great deal of your spare time on research and blogging with the sole purpose of telling Leeds fans what they already know. We're already sceptical re- GFH capital and their motives and everything has been said on other well written sites. I'm afraid you're not provocative at all. Puerile? Yes. Guilty of plagiarism? Yes.

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  16. enjoy your dildos

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  17. Any Leeds fan with half a brain was always VERY cautious about the takeover.

    You will always get a few idiots who go overboard and think that takeover=billions. This doesn't mean that when you issued cautionary warnings, this makes you some sort of footballing super brain, it just makes you are brighter than the idiots.

    You are now an idiot for going overboard in judging the Leeds takeover after approximately 2 weeks!.

    Common sense tells us that you would not spend £52 million on something and send it down a path of failure.

    Other common sense facts, it is obvious GFH did not have £52 million, therefore someone has given them the money ( the rich individual mentioned, or maybe they borrowed it? - who knows?)

    Whoever put up the cash for the takeover, they would not put all of the funding into the takeover and leave the pot completely empty would they? If they have they are bigger idiots than all the idiots who are very idiotic.

    Only the end of the transfer window and the years that follow will show us what will happen, anything else is pure speculation and conjecture. like you say "see how things come out in the wash"

    Yes some Leeds fans were idiots on your blog and I am sure that SOME will continue to be. Fans of ANY club when given the news of "gulf takeover" would react in the same way, so it is no big deal and was predictable and surely not something for you to "Score points" from?

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  18. Wow, you are being offensive about Leeds fans. Is it idiotic to passionately support your team and hope for the best? I don't think so personally. It's idiotic to be aggressively abusive when somebody expresses an opinion. It's idiotic to want to censor. It's idiotic to suggest that just because somebody supports one club, he can't show an interest and have opinions on another. It's also idiotic to claim to have been wise all along when you have only been wise after the event.

    I put my judgements and opinions to the test by predicting outcomes; people like you seek to rubbish those opinions at the time, and then try to say it wasn't clever to predict that when, later, the opinions are proved correct. Here's another prediction for you. Leeds are looking for a forward because Becchio is on his way.

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  19. 1344, puerile? Maybe. But not provacative? Read the comments Leeds fans leave!

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  20. "people like you seek to rubbish those opinions at the time, and then try to say it wasn't clever to predict that when, later, the opinions are proved correct"

    It depends if those opinions are obviously obvious !
    You cant take credit for predicting the sun will rise in the morning!, which is what you are doing.

    you cant say "What happened to all the boasting about how Leeds were now megarich? Do you remember my cautionary warnings about GFH Capital?" and then say "Is it idiotic to passionately support your team and hope for the best"

    You are contradicting yourself, cant have it both ways.

    Becchio is on his way - might be , might not be , speculation my friend, if he is whoppy doo for you , if he isn't, so what?, a Barcelona B player from a 2nd division spanish side, to a 2nd division northern english side...rather a strange subject to immerse yourself in..as a Londoner, it is like me speculating on whether Marcus Haber might be leaving Stevenage!
    why oh why dude?





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  21. Well done, you are good at provoking, any idiot can throw a brick !

    HF on his deathbed, what will he/she/it be remembered for?

    Good at provoking
    Stirring up hatred
    A master of stating the obvious
    Never seeing his team win a title
    buying little tubs of kids bubbles from poundland to take to the match

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  22. Hey HF
    us leeds fans have any enough doom and gloom
    can you please stop adding to it!

    How about a positive posting about something GOOD that might happen to Leeds......make a nice change..haha I know it is unlikely that any good news will occur...but please try and stay positive!

    We know all the crap things about Leeds, you don't have to keep going on and on about it. Write an article about Bolton or Wolves or Blackburn...they have been a disaster since going down. It might help your credibility as a football fan, and so you are not just seen as a Leeds hater. We all know Leeds help keep your ratings up and we know this IS IMPORTANT to you, but change the record please

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  23. I like you , sometimes your predictions are right , sometimes wrong, which proves you are human.

    Thanks for your interest in Leeds, we are a cracking club to follow as there is never a dull moment. I think you are fond of us, and you seem to really enjoy writing your blog, so good on ya.

    I hope you wrong about Becchio, but might be right...the language coming out of Leeds has not been good.

    I think this transfer window could be critical for the club on all sorts of levels, as it sets the tone for the future. If Becchio leaves and no other decent transfers come in, all trust will be lost and crowds will nosedive even more (if this is possible), and it will be hard to see a positive outcome -so Leeds fans the next few week could be "judgement day" What do you think HF?

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  24. Get agrip 1606, Leeds have fallen a long way, but comparing your team with Stevenage? Bloody hell!

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  25. 13.44,here.nah not provocative at all. Infact i'd question how many comments are actually authentic. I would also suggest that it's YOU who is the one being provoked. The slightest morsel of news after god knows how long spent perusing Leeds sites and you're provoked by it. It takes me a matter of seconds to use my phone to post a comment,is the time you take blogging and researching and seeking out the appropriate/offensive photos,time and cost effective? It could be that you're desperately lonely, in which case the answer is yes.

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  26. whats your point?

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  27. Back again 1344? How many times do you visit this site and the West Ham sister site in a day? What sort of sad life do you live exactly? Checking back every ten minutes to see if the mighty HF has replied to you? Do you smack the wife if I haven't? Kick the whippet? Screw up the flat cap in frustration? Aren't you embarrassed by the erection when you see I've responded? "Look luv, look! He's written back to me! Hammersfan has graced me with a reply! I'm texting this to my mum and my mate! And leave me in peace for an hour whilst I type a reply! Put the kettle on and make a brew, there's a luv, or I'll black your other eye!"

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    1. Oh dear
      You have shown your true colours
      Not a site worth visiting again

      Delete
    2. I really like coming to your site for the banter oh mighty Hammersfan but really you can be such a plonker when you want to be!!

      Joking aside, why are you so upset? More importantly why are you getting so worked up by this guy's comments?

      I thought you said it was idiotic to be aggressively abusive when somebody expresses an opinion!?

      Delete
  28. Ha ha,provoked you once again. Mmm,which string shall i pull next? It's like shooting ducks in a barrel getting a rise out of you. It's most amusing reading the same old insults you use when your back is right up against the wall. All classy stuff,wife beating,whippets,flat caps. Yawn.

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  29. sad but true, thats all I got to say...

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  30. Here's a story you need to investigate lol. I have a strong feeling that the chief scout from carrow road loves a pint or two of john smiths horrible bitter followed by curb crawling chapel town. Their love for us is Endless. Norwich City (leeds in disguise). Not to be blamed though if we can't afford them or show no ambition why would you not want to jump ship. The club I love has turned to dust Dirty A-Rab dust.

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  31. I'm not being funny HF but I reckon that Leeds fan (aka 1344) has made a right fool of you there! I'm surprised you even published his comments let alone give such an emotive blatantly wound up response. Those insults were laughable!!!!

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  32. 8.07,cheers mate. Whatever team you support.

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  33. Normally i'd say R I P plastic hammer but i'll just say good riddance. Your latest instalment of shite has crashed or been taken down by the Taste Police.

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  34. 13.44 here.Oh dear, plastic hammer wouldn't be trying to block me from leaving comments on his latest thread,would he? He must still be hurting from yesterdays humiliation. What a bad loser.

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