Football: Bates becomes Leeds’ new owner

Former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates became major shareholder in second-division club.

LONDON: Former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates became the major shareholder in second-tier English football club Leeds United. Leeds said they hoped the move by club chairman Bates would end the ‘scaremongering’ surrounding the club after the previous owners refused to reveal their individual identities.

The Premier League had said they would require full disclosure of the shareholders of the three offshore trusts that had owned Swiss-based FSF Limited, the previous registered owners of Leeds, while a committee of MPs also put the Yorkshire club’s ownership under the spotlight.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2011.