Leeds Council want ownership clarity before training ground purchase

Leeds City Council has demanded that Ken Bates's Leeds United reveal who the club's ultimate owners are before the council proceeds with the £6m purchase of the Thorp Arch training ground, reports The Guardian.

The club are yet to comply with the request.
The council has approved the structure of a deal to buy Thorp Arch, which the club's previous board sold in 2005, and to rent it back to the club.

"After agreeing to purchase Thorp Arch in principle the council has yet to complete its due diligence checks," a spokesman said. "The council has access to the club's accounts and bank statements, and the issue of its ownership will be part of those checks."

Bates, Leeds's chairman, told a Jersey court in January that he and his financial advisor, Patrick Murrin, jointly owned the club's holding company, Forward Sports Fund, which is registered in the Cayman Islands. Then, as revealed by the Guardian last week, he told the same court in May that he had made "an error" and that Forward is owned by the holders of 10,000 shares who have not been identified.

The council's joint leader, Andrew Carter, has told BBC Radio Leeds that the league must approve the deal – this is understood to be because the club is pledging income from the league to support its financial guarantees to the council. The league is likely to approve that practice, which it described as "not uncommon".