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Leeds United: Ken Bates stays away
Ken Bates. PIC: Varley Picture Agency
Ken Bates is set to miss both this weekend’s match against Brighton and United’s forthcoming game at home to Doncaster Rovers, a decision he said was made at the start of the season.
UK tax rules limit non-residents to a maximum of 90 days in the country each year and Bates said: “When we get the fixture list each summer we sit and plan our 90 days which these silly rules allow you. I won’t be attending or coming over until March.
“I’ve picked up a cold and the weather in Leeds is a lot colder than sitting in Monte Carlo.”
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LUST plan to march from Leeds City Square to Elland Road ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Brighton, calling for a change in United’s financial strategy and greater investment in the playing squad at Elland Road. The rally begins at 1.15pm.
Trust chairman Gary Cooper told the YEP: “Mr Bates is incidental in all this.
“Whether he’s here or in Monaco on Saturday, the Trust’s message remains the same – we want positive change at Leeds United and that’s what we’re campaigning for.”
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 81 comments to this article
Page 1 of 6
qbywhites
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 05:08 PMhe will never be able to attend a match again,not unless he has a coach load of security
original koppite
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 03:44 PMLS27....I asked Liam to to justify his claim that we had spent 30% of to on the playing side and he came back with his justification. I spent too long scouring balance sheets to ever want to see another and to quote Vicky Coran, the only time I will look at another is when god tells me I'll live till I'm a thousand. My instinct re the balance sheet is to accept your view and my instinct re Pappa is we've allowed the numpties to provoke him into firing SG which I suspect is a massive own goal so what would happen if Pappa is kosher and we allow the numpties to drive him away, who would replace him? Bill Kenwright or PP?..We 're doing ok so don't let the impatient numpties set back the cause 10 years.
seymourtitty
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 10:38 AM@73 ok then lets question a few facts: - Why did Ken Bates threaten to liquidate the football club in 2007 if he "saved us"? - Are you happy with a season ticket price of £711 for an eastwest stand season ticket, and that's a renewal? - Any views on where the £11m generated by SG (Delph, Kasper, Howson) has gone? - Why are our best players not tied down early enough to longer-term contracts, thus "forcing" our chairman to accept bids? - Why are the local BBC and Guardian newspaper banned from Elland Road? - Why has the club failed to buy back Thorp Arch and Elland Rd, when Bates set out to do exactly that when he took over 7 fateful years ago? - What are your views on Bates' programme notes being used as a vehicle to disparage the police, children, single mothers, the BBC, politicians, previous owners, football agents? Get YOUR head out of the sand and make a difference. Join the march and wake up
lowfields71
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:16 PMThe man is beyond contempt. These silly rules he says. so just as he takes and takes from Leeds United he takes from the country too, not only did he screw the tax man during administration he continues to do so now as a domiciles, either pay your taxes or leave for good. The rules won’t be so silly when he wants dispensation to stay and recoup when his health starts to fail in his old age. Vermin, I hate that we have so many cuddly nick names for the cantankerously onerous piece of scum
Bremner72
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 08:40 PMPending Moderation
FreePint
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 08:15 PMRe: THE ‘SILLY’ 90 DAY RULE. The one thing i like about KB is that he speaks his mind 247. Therefore, if you want proof of what a liar he is, all you need to do is read what he’s said in your old programmes. Here’s an interesting piece he penned back in August 2010 (Millwall home match programme 21810): - “I am sometimes called a tax exile – but when I sold my Chelsea shares, I paid the tax on the profit and then moved to Monte Carlo. If I return to England, I will still pay no taxes because I have no income . . . I live in Monaco because of the weather, the fact that its clean, no graffiti or rubbish in the streets, no crime, the police are polite and your privacy is respected”. No Ken – You live in Monaco because YOU ARE a tax exile! If not, please explain why you comply with the HMRC 90 day rule? Unless this is another one of your lies, there’s nothing stopping you from spending as much time as you like in the UK. I’ve also found the bit about you ‘working for free’ rather hard to believe!
FreePint
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 08:14 PMPending Moderation
leedsls27
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:59 PM@fullerton: Yes I totally accept that HMRC don't have any jurisdiction to investigate off shore haven accounts but Leeds United is a massively high profile UK registered limited company. If money was being siphoned out of the company and moved elsewhere without being declared then there would be a huge black hole in the accounts, there is no way the expenditure could ever be reconciled against turn over without leaving glaring discrepancies, even with the most imaginative accounting processes being utilised, and that is what HMRC would then investigate i.e. why is the company generating X amount in revenue but we're only getting Y amount in returns etc. Equally if Bates was paying himself a ridiculous dividend then that would show up in the accounts for all to see and would also be subject to UK tax laws. Bates has been in charge for seven years and not once has there been any suggestion, other than during the administration process, that HMRC had any grounds to investigate either the club or Bates, that's why I think all this smoke and mirrors stuff from LUST is equally as much to be dismissed as propaganda and spin as anything they ever accuse Bates of. As someone else said, compared to Portsmouth I'm quite happy with my lot, could be better admittedly, but could also be a huge amount worse.
leedsls27
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:46 PM@65: I can't be bothered to critique your whole contribution although you do seem to spend a lot of time stating that you haven't got time to mention something then spend a lot of time mentioning it as well as spending an equal amount of time mentioning things in great detail that you say you weren't going to mention in the first place, but, hay ho. A couple of things though, £90 million on a hotel? Where does that come from? I spend far more time than is probably healthy reading as much stuff as I can about all things Leeds and even when the plans were released regarding the phased re development of ER, including prospective planning applications, consents, budgets etc., I never saw anything that specified £90 million for a hotel? £90 million? The Leeds Arena is only going to cost £80 million to completion so how the hell is a hotel going to cost £90 million? It wouldn't be a hotel in beeston, at £90 million Beeston would be the hotel. Secondly, you state that we had a £27 million turnover in the last financial year, it's now a public fact that Grayson spent in the region of £12.3 million on the playing budget, that's an investment return of 45.6 percent on turnover which is 9.4 percent inside the Financial Fair Play limit being imposed next season, can you see where this is going? As you rightly say our turnover dwarves that of most of the other teams in the Championship but, by direct comparison, so does our wage bill although, admittedly, we do have another 9.4 percent of turnover up our sleeves to play with which equates to an additional £2.54 million a year to spend on the squad if we take it to the max allowed. You, I'm afraid, are typical of the cr@p being spouted by LUST and the ABB, scant regard for fact but loads of figures that don't stack up iced over with a lot of groundless rhetoric to stir up the troops hand in hand with absolutely no idea, not the first clue, what your objectives are, or would be, beyond removing Bates. Embarrassing. Fancy organising a march anyone?
leedsls27
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:44 PMPending Moderation
fullerton
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:17 PMleedsls27# You know full well that HMRC do not have the legal powers to obtain information from foreign jurisdictions such as the BVI, otherwise they would do...and I am sure they would have much bigger targets than Ken Bates to go after even if they could obtain the evidence required for a prosecution...I do agree with you that KB is not secretly siphoning off millions offshore as some people are suggesting (without any evidence I hasten to add). The only way he could realistically take any sizeable funds out of ER was is if he owned ER , TA or both and he was receiving the rent on these properties as landlord. Even if this was the case (which cannot be proven one way or the other) the rental terms would be detailed in the original lease agreement regardless of any subsequent ownership changes to the property in question.These could be amended if both the lessor and the lessee agreed to the variation.
steven742
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:11 PMhas a leeds fan watching what is happening at portmouth i am happy with my lot! how many times have the gone into adminstration in three years?
RobertMetcalfe
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:08 PMWhatever gripes you may have - leave them outside the ground on Saturday! Get behind the team and we'll easily make the play-offs, as I've consistently said all season. MOT
Murphy1919
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 05:19 PMbates out.. how any of you can support this man when hes labelled fellow leeds fans morons and will not answer reasonable questions on who owns the club and our transfer policy is beyond me
leedsls27
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 05:08 PMThe one thing that constantly makes me laugh is that some of you lot must actually believe what you post. Some of the conspirathy theories are right up there with Area 51. If Bates has done half of what you lot accuse him of you're talking money laundering, embezzlement and both fiscal and property fraud amounting to tens of millions of pounds, everything that you accuse him of isn't just a bit of dodgy dealing to set up his retirement fund and p1ss off the natives, it's highly illegal. One simple question, having just sat through the farce that was dodgy 'arry's show trial, which was brought to the courts over a paltry couple of hundred grand, then why haven't HMRC been crawling all over both Bates and Leeds if they had the slightest suspicion, as some of you have, that he was using a legitimate UK registered limited company as a vehicle to privately shift millions and millions of quid off shore? HMRC have an axe to grind with Bates anyway having been substantially, but legally, stung during the administration process so if they had even the remotest suspicion that they could do him don't you think they would? I'm not suggesting for a minute that Bates is some sort of self effacing philanthopical saviour but I am suggesting some of you lot talk complete b0ll0cks.
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