Elland Road Buy Back....CONFIRMED!

mav · Post by **mav** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:33 pm

We now own the ground again!

Durly · Post by **Durly** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:35 pm

Stadium returns to the club.
Leeds United are delighted to announce that Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd, an Aser Group company and parent company of Leeds United Football Club Limited, has completed the purchase of Elland Road Stadium.
The Old Peacock Ground has been our home since 1919 and today's announcement will see the stadium return to the club for the first time since it was sold in 2004, during a period of financial difficulty.
Speaking on this historical acquisition, Chairman Andrea Radrizzani said: “Today is an important day in our history and a proud day for me and my team.
“When I met with both management and supporters during my first few months at the club, the purchase of Elland Road was very high on their list of priorities and I'm delighted to be able to announce that we have completed that process today.”
Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake also commented on the purchase of Elland Road, stating: “It is fantastic news that the club have confirmed the buy-back of Elland Road Stadium.
“This is an extremely positive step in the right direction for everyone associated with Leeds United and especially the club’s tremendous and loyal fans.
“As we prepare for the new season to begin in August, I very much welcome the intent being shown by Andrea to move the club forward with real purpose and ambition.”
Work to improve and update Elland Road has already begun and will be completed by the start of the season.
We will keep supporters regularly updated with these actions throughout the summer.

Post by **1964white** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:46 pm

Beat me to it Durly

Great news !

Radz promised he would buy the ground, he must have some money in his coffers

A rent-free future for LUFC

abundegas · Post by **abundegas** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:09 pm

Does anyone know why it's the parent company, and not Leeds United Football Club Limited that has bought ER? The cynic in me wonders whether that means that in the future the club can be sold separately to the stadium, and we'd be back where we were. On the plus side, certainly a statement of intent from AR.

paddy parrott · Post by **paddy parrott** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:12 pm

Wow! What a piece of News.. and it's not Fake either. Well I never saw this coming and want to say I'm thrilled and very excited I think I'll have another glass . This is a massive relief and step into the hopefully better future for all. Well played Mr. Radizanni . (Andrea).

weasel · Post by **weasel** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:13 pm

Excellent news and deffo makes it easier for us to compete with other clubs now as we don't have nearly £2m wiped out of our 'fair play' kitty any more. Also looks like he has fostered a good relationship with the council and has huge plans for the area surrounding the stadium including training facilities. Am guessing he pushed the deal through quickly as he needed to make sure he had the ground before purchasing the extra land around ER.

Whilst some may scoff I feel huge thanks are owed to Massimo Cellino as he took on an awful mess at Leeds and whilst he may not have had the finances to turn us around completely himself he put us in a position where we were able to attract someone like AR. I don't for one minute see AR as the type of person that would have looked at buying Leeds from Bates or GFH due to the ridiculous messes they had us in and all the hidden debts. Even if he had expressed an interest I would have expected him to have walked away after due diligence had been carried out.

weasel · Post by **weasel** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:17 pm

abundegas wrote:Does anyone know why it's the parent company, and not Leeds United Football Club Limited that has bought ER? The cynic in me wonders whether that means that in the future the club can be sold separately to the stadium, and we'd be back where we were. On the plus side, certainly a statement of intent from AR.

At present I wouldn't be concerned as the same parent company owns both LU and ER. Usually with the shyster owners the club is owned by one company and the ground by the other, rather than both by the same company, so that if the club was to go into liquidation/bankruptcy then the ground wouldn't be considered an asset. This is basically what happened to Stockport County where the owner separated the club from the ground and then sold the ground to his rugby club, Sale Sharks, for nothing whilst the football club rotted away and had to pay rent to use the ground that was theirs.

Crude · Post by **Crude** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:22 pm

Didn't expect this to happen so soon.

AR=Money Where Mouth Is

Fantastic news.

paddy parrott · Post by **paddy parrott** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:32 pm

Yeah and even Ol' Bates must be impressed!

NorfolkWhite · Post by **NorfolkWhite** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:43 pm

weasel wrote:Excellent news and deffo makes it easier for us to compete with other clubs now as we don't have nearly £2m wiped out of our 'fair play' kitty any more. Also looks like he has fostered a good relationship with the council and has huge plans for the area surrounding the stadium including training facilities. Am guessing he pushed the deal through quickly as he needed to make sure he had the ground before purchasing the extra land around ER.

Whilst some may scoff I feel huge thanks are owed to Massimo Cellino as he took on an awful mess at Leeds and whilst he may not have had the finances to turn us around completely himself he put us in a position where we were able to attract someone like AR. I don't for one minute see AR as the type of person that would have looked at buying Leeds from Bates or GFH due to the ridiculous messes they had us in and all the hidden debts. Even if he had expressed an interest I would have expected him to have walked away after due diligence had been carried out.

Agree with you 100% on MC, needed someone as mad as him to just jump in and buy Us, you know you've had some dark times when Pappa Smurf has owned your club and he wasn't the worst owner you've had by quite a stretch!

Fantastic news on ER, saw a comment on Twitter that we appear to be becoming a normal football club....surely not

Durly · Post by **Durly** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:46 pm

abundegas wrote:Does anyone know why it's the parent company, and not Leeds United Football Club Limited that has bought ER? The cynic in me wonders whether that means that in the future the club can be sold separately to the stadium, and we'd be back where we were. On the plus side, certainly a statement of intent from AR.

Something to do with keeping the leeches that are GFH at arms length. It was reported recently that, if the club bought the ground back directly, that GFH would own a percentage of it (think it was 25%).

John in Louisiana · Post by **John in Louisiana** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:29 pm

weasel wrote:Excellent news and deffo makes it easier for us to compete with other clubs now as we don't have nearly £2m wiped out of our 'fair play' kitty any more. Also looks like he has fostered a good relationship with the council and has huge plans for the area surrounding the stadium including training facilities. Am guessing he pushed the deal through quickly as he needed to make sure he had the ground before purchasing the extra land around ER.

Whilst some may scoff I feel huge thanks are owed to Massimo Cellino as he took on an awful mess at Leeds and whilst he may not have had the finances to turn us around completely himself he put us in a position where we were able to attract someone like AR. I don't for one minute see AR as the type of person that would have looked at buying Leeds from Bates or GFH due to the ridiculous messes they had us in and all the hidden debts. Even if he had expressed an interest I would have expected him to have walked away after due diligence had been carried out.

My thoughts exactly

The Subhuman · Post by **The Subhuman** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:33 pm

Here Here Weasel, well said. Without MC this new dawn wouldn't be anywhere close. A hearty thank you to MC for, yes, saving this club.

Post by **1964white** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:46 pm

weasel wrote:Excellent news and deffo makes it easier for us to compete with other clubs now as we don't have nearly £2m wiped out of our 'fair play' kitty any more. Also looks like he has fostered a good relationship with the council and has huge plans for the area surrounding the stadium including training facilities. Am guessing he pushed the deal through quickly as he needed to make sure he had the ground before purchasing the extra land around ER.

Whilst some may scoff I feel huge thanks are owed to Massimo Cellino as he took on an awful mess at Leeds and whilst he may not have had the finances to turn us around completely himself he put us in a position where we were able to attract someone like AR. I don't for one minute see AR as the type of person that would have looked at buying Leeds from Bates or GFH due to the ridiculous messes they had us in and all the hidden debts. Even if he had expressed an interest I would have expected him to have walked away after due diligence had been carried out.

Very much so Weasel......we were in a right old financial mess when Cellino took on LUFC

Over the years MC has stabilised the club giving us the opportunity to attract the likes of Radz to purchase Leeds United

Bates stitched us up with GFH

Cellino gave us Radrizzani

gessa · Post by **gessa** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:53 pm

Excellent news, at last we look as though we are a proper run football club again.

Norm · Post by **Norm** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:38 pm

Agree with you guys.
If anyone ever doubted MC's good heart toward the club, despite being treated like sh*t by those short-sighted TTGM people and those who called him a crook, even when he wasn't, what does he do - he gives us Radrizzani, obviously also a man of integrity.
Best owner since Silver and maybe better than him in the end. Best wishes to you MC - if I wore a hat I'd take it off to you.

Now all we need is for someone to dispose of GFH. It seems evident that no-one so far could rid us of these meddlesome leeches.

HarryofOz · Post by **HarryofOz** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:28 pm

Fantastic news

lufc1304 · Post by **lufc1304** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:52 pm

Great news, and concur with everyone suggesting MC is owed a debt of thanks. Norfolk White put it well when he said we needed someone as mad as Cellino to sort out the mess. He made some bad decisions, and decisions that were hard to swallow, but he got us to the point where someone like AR wanted to buy us. For that, I say "Grazie Mille, Massimo!"

MissSurreyWhite · Post by **MissSurreyWhite** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:19 pm

Great news and real tangible progress.
It feels like Mr Radrizzani is building the club back piece by piece.
Great to have the Ladies team back home too.

Starting to feel like a proper big club again.
MOT

rab_rant · Post by **rab_rant** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:58 am

Andrea Radrizzani song of appreciation. Congratulations on a job well done.