The club were docked 15 points on August 3 after failing to exit administration with an agreed Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in place. The Football League claimed United had failed to adhere to their insolvency policy, and the punishment was upheld on appeal with the support of the majority of the other 71 lower-league clubs.

Leeds United will launch a High Court challenge against their 15-point penalty this week – despite a signed agreement stating the Elland Road club would not take legal action against the Football League.

The involvement of rival chairmen and club executives in considering Leeds' appeal angered Bates, and United made repeated requests to the Football Association to intervene and carry out an independent review of the sequence of events which led to the 15-point punishment.

Leeds then requested independent arbitration under FA rules after the governing body failed to support their complaint, but the club have now bypassed that step by initiating High Court action. It is understood United and the FA were in agreement over the individuals selected to form a three-man arbitration tribunal, but doubts at Elland Road over the process convinced Bates to begin a judicial review immediately.

United signed a written agreement with the Football League in August confirming that neither party would take legal action against the other, but Bates said today that the document had been accepted by the club "under duress".

United's legal team believe European Union laws permit them to ignore the agreement and fight the 15-point deduction, which the club believe was a "wrongful decision".

Bates, who was celebrating his third anniversary as chairman today, told the YEP: "We're suing the Football League for our 15 points because we believe, as we always have, that there was no justification for the penalty.

"The agreement we had saying we wouldn't take legal action was signed under duress. We were a couple of days from the start of the season and we wouldn't have been able to fulfil our fixtures without regaining our share in the Football League.


"In that situation, we either signed the document or we let ourselves be booted out of the League. But EU law says Person A cannot prevent Person B from going to court if it's to right a wrongful decision.

"We did ask the FA for independent arbitration but we've been waiting five months for them to do anything, and the whole thing is a shambles.

We want an open and independent review of this decision, and the only way of ensuring that is by going to the High Court."

Speaking on August 9 after United's unsuccessful appeal hearing, Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney said: "We have an agreement with Leeds, signed by both the League and the club, that they will not take any legal action against us and we will not take any legal action against them.

"That is a standard part of the agreement that every club signs when it comes out of administration.

"That has not been generated for the benefit of Leeds United, we've done that in the last 40 administrations and we did in this one as well."

The Football League declined to comment today.

United, meanwhile, were recovering this morning from their 1-0 defeat to Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

Darren Kenton is an early doubt for Saturday's visit to Luton after twisting his ankle, while midfielder Neil Kilkenny will miss the match at Kenilworth Road through a one-match ban.