Leeds United face £5m legal claim from kit supplier Macron

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Leeds United are facing a legal claim of around £5m from shirt supplier Macron, the club’s latest accounts reveal.

United’s results for the 2013-14 financial year say they are in “contractual dispute” with Macron, the Italian sportswear firm which has supplied their kit since 2008.

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According to the accounts, Macron is claiming £2.15m “allegedly owed” to the company and is also seeking damages of between £2.5m and £3.5m.

The claim against Leeds was made in November of last year. United’s accounts state that a club solicitor “believes that it is unlikely that the claim will be successful.”

Macron’s current deal with Leeds - a six-year agreement signed in 2010 - is due to end next summer but United are understood to be looking for new kit suppliers for the 2015-16 season.

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The dispute is the latest in a long line of financial issues encountered by Leeds’ banned owner, Massimo Cellino, since his takeover last April.

Leeds’ 2013-14 accounts were previously published in draft form in December after the club submitted them to the Football League for Financial Fair Play (FFP) analysis.

The official figures - released online by Companies House this morning - confirm that United lost £22.8m in the 12 months leading up to June 30, 2014.

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Leeds failed the Football League’s FFP test as a result of those losses and were punished with a transfer embargo in January.

However, in a statement published with the accounts today, Cellino said: “While we will fail Championship Financial Fair Play as a consequence of the historic and reported set of results for 2013-14, we don’t envisage being in the same position again.

“Creating financial sustainability will take 12 to 18 months from this report date. We have already achieved financial stability in the calendar year 2014.”

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