Pressure on McDermott to sell as Leeds United's owners' profits sink lower?

With rumours that Middlesbrough are sniffing around Ross McCormack, the last thing Leeds fans want to hear is that GFH Capital continue to struggle, with profits once again falling.

When word started circulating about the takeover, Leeds fans came on here in their droves, boasting about how oil money would fund an early return to the Prem and then domination of Europe, but as I warned, things were not quite as the misguided numpties chose to believe. This was no oil fuelled mega bank, more a camel pot outfit built on sand.

And apart from the one million capture of Murphy, very little money has been made available to Nice Guy Brian to spend. When Becchio left, Leeds fans took their heads out of their backsides to exclaim, "We've got Morison, we've got the better part of the deal". It always sounded a bit hollow, but with Morison now loaned out to Millwall, the truth of the matter has been fully exposed: Becchio went because Leeds couldn't afford his wages; and Morison has been moved on because he is crap and McDermott has been told to shrink his wage bill.

No surprises there, of course, when you read that GFH are seeking to "extract value from our existing assets" to bolster plunging profits. It is very sobering to see that the whole business made a paltry profit of just $4.2m on the first half year of trading, and that was only achieved by operating costs being reduced by $7.3m. Take away that cost saving, and you can only slash costs so far, and the bank would actually have posted a loss of $3.1m!

So, the bank is struggling, it is on a cost cutting drive and it is, according to its own statement, looking to "extract value" from its assets. Tell me, what are the implications to McDermott and Leeds?

Instead of pondering who Leeds might sign before the window slams shut, the question is, once again, who might they sell? It was Captain Snakeinthegrass last summer, Becchio in January and now? Maybe McCormack. Or maybe, God forbid, young Byram. It has to be a worry when the sale of a young footballer, carrying an injury, could, even if sold at a knock down price, more than DOUBLE the half year profits of the entire company!

Master Bates claimed his sacking was a smokescreen and this latest profit statement lends credence to his assertion. Yes Leeds beat Brighton on Saturday, but Brighton lost at home to Newport yesterday so any cockiness may be a tad out of place. Poor McDermott is doing his best to reshape the squad but he appears to be doing so with both hands tied behind his back, and the fear must be that even if players are sold, the cash will be retained rather than reinvested.

And before Leeds fans go off on one, tell me, what exactly does "extract value from our existing assets" mean? McDermott seems to know given his statement that honesty is everything!