The end of Leeds United?

Kingp35

Ok I know there is a Leeds United thread but this deserves it's own thread.

I'm gonna say sorry in advance for the long post but it's kind of important!

I don't know how many of you are familiar with what has been going on at Leeds lately but I'll explain quickly. Basically we were put into administration just before the final game of last season and a deal was struck immediately with KPMG (who are handling the admin process) for a new company fronted by Ken Bates to buy the club back. This deal had to approved by over 75% of the clubs creditors. In the mean time other parties were free to place bids to buy the club and KPMG would also consider these.

Now this is where it gets very tricky. Leeds two biggest creditors are Astor and Forward Sports Fund. Everybody suspects that Bates has an interest in both these companies, but it can't be proved, and they stated that they would only back the bid put forward by Bates. These two creditors amounted to neary 70% of the vote meaning that Bates only needed another 5% to win the CVA process. There were 5 other bids for Leeds but Bates somehow managed to win the CVA by getting a vote of 75.2%.

In my mind there is no way that Bates would have put the club into admin without him knowing that he was almost certain to win the club back. It was very dangerous tactics but it seemed to have worked. He offered to pay creditors 1p for every pound.

Now before the CVA could go through and be passed by the Football League there had to be a 28 day waiting period to allow anybody to challenge the outcome of the CVA by bringing it to court. While Leeds are in admin KPMG are paying for the running of the club. If a challenge was made it means that Leeds will have to stay in admin for the duration of the challenge which will last at least two months.KPMG would not be able to pay for the clubs costs and could not guarantee that there would be money to pay the squad. If a challenge was made there would be a real chance that Leeds would go under.

This statement was just released by the club:

The club can confirm that the Inland Revenue have served notice of their intentions to challenge the CVA.

We do not have all the details as yet and do have a number of options available to us.

We remain confident of a positive outcome despite this disappointing news and will carry on with business as usual in the meantime.

There is now a very real chance that Leeds United will be liquidated and thrown out of the League

Mountjoy Mugger

I was afraid this would happen. I'm sure Bates did as well as he increased his offer to the creditors to 8p in the £ over the weekend on the basis that the CVA wouldn't be challenged.

Kingp35

Mountjoy Mugger wrote:

I was afraid this would happen. I'm sure Bates did as well as he increased his offer to the creditors to 8p in the £ over the weekend on the basis that the CVA wouldn't be challenged.

He was obviously very worried and increased it in the hope that the IR wouldn't mount a challenge. I personally think he did it too late.

I forgot to add in my previous post that Gerald Krasner, the old Leeds chairman that sold off Elland Road for a few pence and is am "insolvency expert", was the man who was asking local MP's to pressure the IR into an appeal. Himself and Melvyn Levi, an ex directer on Krasners board, still have a lot of money tied up in the club. I think it's obvious what happened there.

AnCapaillMor

Further evidence on the case that ridsdale should be taken out and shot.

Mountjoy Mugger

Fook this. I was going to work late tonight, but I think a few pints are in order. I just texted a few mates who are also Leeds fans for 30+ years - gutted is an understatement to describe the feelings.

MOT..

Thrill

Hopefully they can survive this challange. It seem unthinkable that Leeds utd could be thrown out.

wheres me jumpa

Cant imagine what it would feel like to be a lifelong fan and then the club vanishes.

Kingp35

Mountjoy Mugger wrote:

Fook this. I was going to work late tonight, but I think a few pints are in order. I just texted a few mates who are also Leeds fans for 30+ years - gutted is an understatement to describe the feelings.

MOT..

I'll be needing a few pints tonight myself. Have gotten loads of texts in the last half hour from mates who can't believe what is happening. I thought we had turned a corner after going into administration. Now there may not even be a club to support next season. Gutted

Duiske

wheres me jumpa wrote:

Cant imagine what it would feel like to be a lifelong fan and then the club vanishes.

My thoughts exactly when i read kingp35s post. Really hope Leeds get through this.

Zaph

I really don't know what Krasner and Levy are playing at. They know the state the club is in, and as former directors you'd imagine that whatever they think about Bates they'd still have some affinity for the club, and yet the push local MPs into forcing the IR to challenge the CVA. I'm sick as a dog right now at the thought of what could happen.

LegacyUser

Who are Krasner and Levy and what did they do?

Zaph

They're ex-directors who are owed money, but more pertinently seem to have a major issue with Ken Bates. Krasner is an insolvency expert and he's been stirring things a bit over the past few weeks about how the CVA is unfair to the club's creditors and has managed to get a couple of local MPs involved. The MPs then started making comments about how it's disgraceful that the Inland Revenue were owed £ 7.7million, but were only getting 1% of that and that the club was essentially robbing from the country. Naturally the Inland Revenue couldn't let that go, and so issued their challenge to the CVA today, even though the offer was upped to 8%.

event

anyone know if this will affect the game on saturday?

Kingp35

event wrote:

anyone know if this will affect the game on saturday?

Hopefully it should be ok. The statement that was released said that it will be business as normal until the club knows exactly what it needs to do.

Q_Ball

I have to wonder if there is something else going on.

Fist we have Bates. I believe, and have always believed, that he would win back the club. Someone woldn't make an offer of 1p in the £1 unless they knew they could offer what they wanted and still win. I think its true that he had direct or indirect control over 70% of the creditors say, which meant no other bid could have ever succeeded and hence the paltry offer. This is why an investigation was called for into Ken Bates' holdings.

On the other hand we have levi and krasner. Both who have a vested interest financially in leeds united. They were (rightly) incensed by bates offer and likely frustrated by the lack of influence that they could have. They also seem to have a heavy dislike of Bates, but I dont believe this is their motivation. I think they want as much money as they can get for their shares.

Here's my conspiracy theory:

Krasner represented a number of proposed bids for the club. I'd say there are still interested investors out there (Morris Revie ) who would still propose a bid for the club. However, Bates now owns the club and nothing can change that, except possibly receivership.

Bates' company is paying KPMG to run the club. He said that should an apeal be launched, that they may stop financing the club as it would be seen as a risk (source: Sky sports

"In the meantime, who is going to pay to run the club?

"So far it's been funded by the 'new Leeds', but if there is a challenge, the 'new Leeds' won't do it because it's a risk.

"The implications are that the club would close down."

Bates added in the Daily Mail: "It would mean liquidation. Leeds United would cease to exist, and the loss of 500 jobs would be a further drain on government resources."

Krasner and Levi may have persued the appeal to force Bates to sell Leeds. Then one of the potential buyers krasner represented could come in, settle with HRMC and provide a better offer to share holders than Bates' winning bid. Krasner and Levi would get more than what Bates offered.

Its stupid how the welfare of 500 people and the livelyhood of the fans could be so easily disregarded.

I know its all silver lining stuff but at the moment its all we have

Kingp35

Q_Ball wrote:

Krasner and Levi may have persued the appeal to force Bates to sell Leeds. Then one of the potential buyers krasner represented could come in, settle with HRMC and provide a better offer to share holders than Bates' winning bid. Krasner and Levi would get more than what Bates offered.

This is exactly my take on it and the man who will come in will be Simon Morris :mad:

Q_Ball

Thats who struck me as being the instigator tbh :mad:

event

what is wrong with morris though?

i havent passed much heed to him, is he wrong for us?

Mushy

Wow, I've been very out of touch lately, been away a bit. Not nice to come home and find all this happening. Next season just wont be the same if it goes wrong.

Kingp35

event wrote:

what is wrong with morris though?

i havent passed much heed to him, is he wrong for us?

He is an absolute cúnt of the highest order. He was on the old board along with Krasner and Levi. The man is a property developer and only has eyes for the land around Elland Road. Sure look at his bid before the CVA, the only thing he talked about was building the area around Elland Road and not a single mention of bringing Leeds to to the Premiership. Morris was the one that flogged off Elland Road and Thorpe Arch for 10p or whatever it was. He is the only man who actually knows who currently owns the buy back option, not even Ken Bates knows. It was reported in the papers (and Morris never denied it) that Morris had obtained "a considerable interest" in Elland Road a few months back but he still won't tell Bates who owns the buy back deed.

In short he wants the land around Elland Road for property development, wants to move Leeds United away from the area and couldn't give a crap about the club. He is the one man that we 100% do not want anywhere near our club.

Zaph

From the BBC website

Rival suitor eyes Leeds Utd bid

Businessman Simon Franks has said he is ready to buy Leeds United.
Although no exact financial details have been released, Mr Franks said his offer was substantially higher than that of the club's chairman Ken Bates.

The announcement by Mr Franks, a former investment banker, comes a day after HM Revenue & Customs said it would mount a legal challenge to Mr Bates' plans.

HM Revenue & Customs says Mr Bates' plan to exit Leeds from administration does not give enough cash to creditors.

Mr Franks aims to buy Leeds through his Redbus investment vehicle.

"We are absolutely committed to gaining control of Leeds United and to rebuilding the club," he said.

"We have already told the liquidator that we will cover short term liquidity problems and that will be standing by our bid and will increase it given certain information.

"Our bid was significantly better than Ken Bates' and we are in a position to move very quickly if we are offered the right commercial terms."

With club debts of £35m, Mr Bates wishes to pay Leeds' creditors just 8p in every £1 to take the club out of administration.

HM Revenue & Customs, which is owed £7.7m in unpaid taxes, will get its preliminary court hearing on Friday.

Mr Bates has already warned that the cost of the legal action could force the club into liquidation.

BBC

Kingp35

I certainly don't have anything against Redbus and would welcome a bid from them. Redbus are a company that buys up struggling corporations, sorts them out financially and then sells them on. They will know what they are doing and would put the club on the right track again. As far as I know though KPMG have not stated that they are accepting other bids again yet.

thebaz

i feal sorry for leeds, but i can't stand Bates , and if Morris is worse he must be pretty bad , but Bates conduct in this whole thing seams pretty shady to say the least . Also its not the first time he's owed creditors money, and being invoved in shady dealing, he fleeced a load of people in Ireland a few years ago -- i think he should be run out .... Leeds is a big club, and with a lot of smaller clubs being snapped up by foreign investors , i've no doubt someone will see leeds as the sleeping giant it is -- if West Ham is worth 100 Mill, i think some wealthy mogul will see the potential leeds has , and its a big city that needs a big team... so don't worry ....

p.s. i wonder does Gary Kelly hava a conscience , and will he enjoy all that money he made from leeds.

rahim

Kingp35 wrote:

I certainly don't have anything against Redbus and would welcome a bid from them. Redbus are a company that buys up struggling corporations, sorts them out financially and then sells them on. They will know what they are doing and would put the club on the right track again. As far as I know though KPMG have not stated that they are accepting other bids again yet.

I think thats exactly what Leeds need, someone who can sort out their finances, create a stable situation and hopefully put them back on track as you said.

It's very sad for football if what you said about Morris comes true, I would hate to see any club gutted for whatever assets it may have, or forced to move because someone wants to make money out of the land they're on. I'm not a Leeds fan but I would like to see them do well, if only for what their fans have been through.

_blank_

Hate to see this happen to any club tbh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6277752.stm

Leeds 'may not start next season'

There is now a real danger that Leeds United will not be able to start the new football league season, their administrators KPMG have warned.

The comments were made at a High Court hearing in Leeds, where the club's plans to exit administration are being challenged by HM Revenue & Customs.

KPMG said that unless the club is able to leave administration, the Football League may not let it start the season.

BBC Radio Leeds understands the Football League is as yet undecided.

No-one at the Football League was immediately available for comment.

Renewed rival bids?

The court case has now been adjourned until 3 September, while Leeds are due to play their first game of next season away to Tranmere on Saturday, 11 August.

Former Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner told Sky Sports News he thought the ownership question would be sorted out before the start of the season.

He also raised the possibility that two interested parties could join forward to buy the club if KPMG rejects Mr Bates' plans.

Those who have previously declared an interest in buying the club include Duncan Revie, son of former Leeds manager Don, and property entrepreneur Simon Morris.

Unpaid taxes

Earlier this week, businessman Simon Franks said he was ready to buy Leeds United, through his Redbus investment vehicle.

HM Revenue & Customs is unhappy at the plans of Leeds chairman Ken Bates to pull the club out of administration by paying creditors just 8p in every £1.

Mr Bates has already warned that the cost of defending the court action could cost the club its future.

Leeds United has debts of £35m, with HM Revenue & Customs owed £7.7m in unpaid taxes.

Zaph

Things are starting to get very scary. There's a very real possibility that we won't have a club to support next season. What do you do then when you've been following a team for over 30 years?

The Rooster

If they are still in administration come the start of the season, would that be another -10 points?

I wish the club and its supporters good luck. They could do with a little bit...

Zaph

Thanks Rooster, it's nice to know that not everyone hates us.

No, the points deduction is a one-off thing, unless the club came out of administration and went back into it at some point in the future, in which case there'd be another -10 points.

DSB

Really? They should definitely be docked another 10 if they haven't gotten out of administration by the start of the next season.

Rikand

nah, just give them zero points for every game they are forced to miss and their opposition 3. They'll still be in right bother as soon as they eventually get out of trouble ( assuming they dont go into liquidation, hopefully )

DSB

Rickylovesuall wrote:

nah, just give them zero points for every game they are forced to miss and their opposition 3.

Thats just going to cause uproar among the clubs who aren't scheduled to play them early in the season.

Zaph

DSB wrote:

Really? They should definitely be docked another 10 if they haven't gotten out of administration by the start of the next season.

Why? An administration can go on for quite a while, possibly spanning seasons, as in this case. The start of each season shouldn't just be some arbitrary date to hit clubs with additional points deductions just for the hell of it. Boston are also in administration, should they be deducted extra points too, or just Leeds?

As for the 3 points to the opponents for each game missed, well yeah, that's fair enough as they'd be walkovers and given as automatic 3-0 wins to the other team. However, I doubt the league would start any season with one team looking likely to miss several games and joining in at some later date.

DSB

zaph wrote:

Boston are also in administration, should they be deducted extra points too, or just Leeds?

Well yeah. I think that was the point of the points deduction. To show clubs that they can't operate outside their means. Surely it should apply for each season they remain in administration? It kinda stinks of the West Ham scenario in my opinion. Where the offending club is appeased for fear they might be relegated as a result of their deductions. This sort of behaviour won't be cut out through such leniency. How do you think Leeds got into this situation in the first place? An idiot named Peter Ridsdale believing he could do what he wanted without consequences.

Zaph

Leeds and Boston both used a loophole that has now been closed, and in future clubs will have their 10 point deduction applied the following season if they go into administration within the last few games (possibly 4 or 6, can't remember) of the season. That's fair enough and if it had been in place last season well then we'd have just had to accept it and start on -10. The fact that both clubs availed of it is hardly appeasing them, any club in that position would have done the same thing. I will accept that there is some merit to your point that clubs should lose points for every season they're in administration, but going into administration isn't something that's done lightly and any club in that position generally expends every resource at their disposal trying to get out of it, if for no other reason than they can't buy or sell players to strengthen the team.

As for Ridsdale, there's not a Leeds fan that has a singe good word to say about him. He ruined the club and walked away, but successive regimes have managed to bring the debt down from close to £120 million to £35 million in a relatively short time, so nobody can accuse those who came after him of being reckless. Unfortunately it does mean that the club have literally no assets left and it will take a very long time to recover from all this. And as for Ridsdale? Well instead of being banned from ever being a club director again, he's deputy chairman at Cardiff and got off scot free. There's no justice in this world.

DSB

zaph wrote:

Leeds and Boston both used a loophole that has now been closed, and in future clubs will have their 10 point deduction applied the following season if they go into administration within the last few games (possibly 4 or 6, can't remember) of the season. That's fair enough and if it had been in place last season well then we'd have just had to accept it and start on -10. The fact that both clubs availed of it is hardly appeasing them, any club in that position would have done the same thing. I will accept that there is some merit to your point that clubs should lose points for every season they're in administration, but going into administration isn't something that's done lightly and any club in that position generally expends every resource at their disposal trying to get out of it, if for no other reason than they can't buy or sell players to strengthen the team.

As for Ridsdale, there's not a Leeds fan that has a singe good word to say about him. He ruined the club and walked away, but successive regimes have managed to bring the debt down from close to £120 million to £35 million in a relatively short time, so nobody can accuse those who came after him of being reckless. Unfortunately it does mean that the club have literally no assets left and it will take a very long time to recover from all this. And as for Ridsdale? Well instead of being banned from ever being a club director again, he's deputy chairman at Cardiff and got off scot free. There's no justice in this world.

It is indeed ridiculous that Ridsdale has been allowed do anything in football again.

And I agree with you that clubs do whatever they can to get out of that sort of situation. But the punishment isn't there for not trying hard enough to get out of it. Its there for getting into the situation in the first place and therefore its only fair that the club is punished by the degree of how bad of a situation they got themselves into. Its hardly fair to punish a club who got themselves in problems that were soon rectified in the same manner as 1 who got themselves into problems so deep that it will take an eternity to fully rectify. As looks the case with Leeds.

quarryman

right lads, let's pool the pocket change:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6279340.stm

Debt-ridden Leeds put up for sale

The future of Leeds United is again in doubt after the club was put up for sale by its administrator. [/SIZE] KPMG said that it had made the decision because of a challenge by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over the £7.7m it is owed by the Yorkshire club.
Former chairman Ken Bates had proposed to take Leeds out of administration, repaying creditors eight pence in every pound that it owed.
A deadline for offers has been set of 1700 BST on Monday.
"We are interested in talking to other parties," confirmed a KPMG spokesman.
The administrator had earlier warned that there was now a danger the club would be unable to start the new season.
Unpaid taxes
Leeds United has debts of £35m, including the money owed to HMRC in unpaid taxes.
Those who have previously declared an interest in buying the club include Duncan Revie, son of former Leeds manager Don, and property entrepreneur Simon Morris.
Earlier this week, businessman Simon Franks said he was ready to buy Leeds United, through his Redbus investment vehicle.
HMRC has been challenging Mr Bates's plans to exit administration at a High Court hearing in Leeds.
KPMG said that unless the club was able to leave administration, the Football League may not let it start the season.
League officials are due to meet next week to discuss the situation.
The court case has been adjourned until 3 September, while Leeds are due to play their first game of next season away to Tranmere on Saturday, 11 August.
Former Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner expects the ownership question would be sorted out before the start of the season.
However, a spokesman said that as the club was in administration he could not comment on KPMG's decision.
Mr Bates has already warned that the cost of defending the HMRC's court action could cost the club its future.

Kingp35

About bloody time KPMG. Let's hope that either REDBUS or Duncan Revie buys us up.

At least I can go to the Shelbourne match with a bit of hope now!

KdjaCL

Kingp35 wrote:

About bloody time KPMG. Let's hope that either REDBUS or Duncan Revie buys us up.

At least I can go to the Shelbourne match with a bit of hope now!

Best for you is if your up for sale, means someone can outbid Bates but will still have to rent the ground off him but the council could put in a CPO as Leeds matters to them.

Good luck tonight


kdjac

TheDoc

im actually in a depression. I started supporting leeds when i was a young lad, and watched them do well, and then bang from nowhere challenging for the title, champions leagues the works. A great manager and a dream team of youngsters.

Now look at us....there is so much going on i dont know what is actually going on. But i cant see Leeds ever becoming the force i once witnessed ever again in my lifetime.

If i ever bumped into mr ridsdale, id be sentenced to hang for the vicious death i would give him...

DSB

[DM]-TheDOC- wrote:

and then bang from nowhere challenging for the title, champions leagues the works.

this was directly linked to the dodgy practices which leave them in the state they're in now.

event

DSB wrote:

this was directly linked to the dodgy practices which leave them in the state they're in now.

really?

i think we are all well aware of that, though thanks for clearing it up

Zaph

From The Yorkshire Post:

Breaking: Joint bid received for Leeds United

TWO investors have put in a joint bid to buy Leeds United.

Local property developer Simon Morris has confirmed that he and London-based company Redbus Group have made a combined bid to buy Leeds United.

Former Hull City chairman Adam Pearson has also been heavily linked with a bid, having sold the Coca-Cola Championship side last month.

The club was put up for sale on Friday night by administrators KPMG after a High Court challenge by HM Customs and Revenue against the proposed eight pence in the pound allowance to the club's creditors.

Both Simon Morris and Redbus Group, headed by Simon Franks, had presented separate bids to creditors, but chairman Ken Bates had won the vote despite offering the lowest deal to creditors.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport?articleid=3015900

While I'm happy that Redbus have made an offer, I really don't want that b*st*rd Simon Morris anywhere near my club.

thebaz

a couple of bids put in for Leeds --
looks like your safe hopefully.

http://www.ireland.com/sports/soccer/2007/0709/1183751735618.html

I hope anyone but Bates takes control, the arrogance of the man knows no bounds, he think he has a divine right to win , and is threatening to sue if he doesn't

Zaph

Unfortunately there's no news of the one bid the fans really want, from Duncan Revie. He's the only potential buyer that we'd be confident doesn't have an ulterior motive for buying the club and doesn't want to sell off the ground for development. I'd be happier if Redbus had made a solo bid, but with Morris involved he's sure to put a lot of pressure on them to agree to moving from Elland Road to a new, unspecified but proably unsuitable stadium, while he develops the ER site.

Kingp35

NO!!! Why the hell did Redbus have to make a bid WITH Morris? Redbus sounded like they were perfect for Leeds but I don't want Morris anywhere near the club. Here's hoping there is an unnamed bid out there to save the day or Pearson can win.

Morris will just buy out Redbus when the time is right for him to get the land around Elland Road. Morris really makes my blood boil :mad:

Kingp35

Simon Franks was just interviewed on Sky Sports News and he mentioned no joint bid with Morris. He was not a happy man and said that he was basically bidding for the club blind as no information was made available to him. His mates told him to back out but he said we are worth the risk. His bid is lower than last time but still more than what Bates has offered.

He says he has no idea if he wins whether he will get the season ticket money as no one knows where it is. The reason his bid was lower is because certain assets that were on the Balance Sheet have supposedly disappeared.

Sounds like a decent bloke and I would love for him to win IF he has nothing to do with Morris.

The Rooster

Kingp35 wrote:

In short Morris wants the land around Elland Road for property development, wants to move Leeds United away from the area and couldn't give a crap about the club. He is the one man that we 100% do not want anywhere near our club.

Depending on the figures involved, might it not make sense to get as as much money as possible from the area and move out of Elland Rd? Then start again with a new stadium on cheaper land, thus having a healthier balance sheet?


I see from Sky Sports News that Danny Mills (£217,000) and Michael Ricketts (£117,000) are among the creditors of Leeds. Can' imagine they're too pleased with getting 8p in the pound .Have the likes of David O'Leary and Robbie Fowler been fully paid off at this stage?

Zaph

The Rooster wrote:

Depending on the figures involved, might it not make sense to get as as much money as possible from the area and move out of Elland Rd? Then start again with a new stadium on cheaper land, thus having a healthier balance sheet?

In theory, yes, but the likelihood is that Morris will just asset-strip the club and pocket a fortune for re-developing the Elland Road site. In the meantime the club will probably be playing in some smaller local stadium, South Leeds and Hunslet were mentioned, and waiting for years for a new stadium to be built. The guy is seriously dodgy.

The Rooster wrote:

I see from Sky Sports News that Danny Mills (£217,000) and Michael Ricketts (£117,000) are among the creditors of Leeds. Can' imagine they're too pleased with getting 8p in the pound .Have the likes of David O'Leary and Robbie Fowler been fully paid off at this stage?

Yeah, the contracts for a lot of players that were getting paid expired this year, but there are a few like Mills and Ricketts still owed money. O'Leary and Fowler aren't on the list to the best of my knowledge.

KdjaCL

zaph wrote:

In theory, yes, but the likelihood is that Morris will just asset-strip the club and pocket a fortune for re-developing the Elland Road site. In the meantime the club will probably be playing in some smaller local stadium, South Leeds and Hunslet were mentioned, and waiting for years for a new stadium to be built. The guy is seriously dodgy.

Leeds dont own the ground to cant really asset strip something you dont own, and as far as players go hardly gonna get 10% of his investment back by selling them.

Much of muchness between him and bates at least morris intends to wipe out the debt rather than pay off a small amount of it.


kdjac

Zaph

I know that the club doesn't own either the stadium or training ground, but there are buy-back clauses that I presume are included as part of any purchase. If Morris is successful there's no doubt that he'd invoke those clauses as soon as he could. I wasn't really thinking of the players as part of any asset stripping, just the real estate.

Kingp35

zaph wrote:

I know that the club doesn't own either the stadium or training ground, but there are buy-back clauses that I presume are included as part of any purchase. If Morris is successful there's no doubt that he'd invoke those clauses as soon as he could. I wasn't really thinking of the players as part of any asset stripping, just the real estate.

Yeah this is exactly it. The Buy back clause is the clubs only major asset and it can only be invoked by the club. If Morris wants to get his hand son the Elland Road site he needs to buy into the club so that he can use the buy back clause for Elland Road and Thorpe Arch. I have yet to see any Leeds fan on any of the message boards I like at to say that they want Morris anywhere near the club.