Bidding's In For United

Last updated : 09 July 2007 By Kevin Markey
KPMG put United up for sale last Friday, and they could now be considering bids from up to four different parties.

One of those is led by Ken Bates, who placed the club into administration at the end of last season, but his latest bid, which would have seen creditors paid back 8p in the pound, was challenged by the Inland Revenue, who are the club's main creditors.

Bates has threatened to sue if his bid is not accepted claiming that his bid was valid and therefore must be accepted.

He said on Yorkshire Radio: "We believe in fact our offer is valid. Therefore it should be the only one to be accepted. So there's a problem and a possibility that if the administrator goes down another route then there could be further legal battles.

"After all, we haven't come all this way over the last two and a half years, borrowed and spent all that money, got the club turned round, got rid of all the bad organisation that the previous regimes left in place to go out without a fight."

The Redbus group, led by Simon Franks, are also thought to have made a bid, along with local property developer Simon Morris, while former Hull City chairman Adam Pearson has been heavily linked with a bid, having sold the Humberside club last month.

A brief statement on Leeds' official website read: "The deadline for bids for Leeds United has now passed, and administrators KPMG have told the club an announcement will be made in due course. The administrators had set a deadline of 5pm on Monday for interested parties to table bids for the club."

KPMG are expected to reveal on Tuesday which of the bids they feel is best suited for the club.