Is It Me?

As the case of Leeds United v Inland Revenue and other creditors rumbles on, one of the more bizarre manifestations of English blazer wearing behaviour is caught in the bright lights of the special bus.

As you may or may not be aware Leeds United no longer exists, Leeds United 2007 does. The problem is that HMRC won't accept KMPG's recommendation that Ken Bates pay 13p in the pound to its creditors. This is understandable, after all if you are self employed you try and pay just 13p in the pound to the taxman come the end of July and you will be chased all the way to court.

Now it's almost the third week in July and the football league season is just four weeks away, pre-season fixtures are under way. The problem is that Leeds United 2007 cannot fufil those fixtures because the company has not received HMRC clearance to trade, those clear thinking people at the Football League has accepted this and have decided that the pre season fixtures can take place under the name of Leeds United. Yep, that's right - the company that hasn't existed since two days after the end of last season can fulfill football fixtures arranged by the new company because the new company that thought it existed doesn't officially exist yet. Now if that wasn't a strange enough concept to get your head round, the Football League have decided that Leeds United 2007 cannot receive their golden share (football's equivalent of issued share capital), which entitles them to play in League One, until the dispute with HMRC has been resolved.

There is a quick way to resolve this, Sheffield United haven't given back their 'golden share' that they were given so they could play in the Premiership because of the Tevez affair. Perhaps Ken Bates could offer Sheffield United 13p in the pound for that and Leeds could return to top flight football without having to play a minimum of 92 league matches outside of it, Sheffield United could then play in League One which would befit their style of play.

KPMG have done themselves no favours in this whole affair either, they have turned down a proposal by one consortium to pay 30p in the pound to creditors. Small businesses are inevitably caught between a rock and a hard place when dealing with larger organisations, too often it's a case of 'accept our terms or we'll go elsewhere,' but football clubs are different. Football clubs do actually employ people who live and work in the local community, they rely on local businesses to advertise in match day programmes, to sponsor matchballs, to sponsor individual players and to provide courtesy cars. The hinterland of the clubs supply caterers, they print tickets and programmes but most of all they are where the majority of the supporters live. Ken Bates has claimed in the last week that he has 99% of the Leeds United supporters behind him, presumably that ignores the 75% who have contacted local radio stations, the BBC and messageboards saying they don't want Bates associated with the club.

At a time when the Premiership is becoming more of a 'foreign billionaires plaything' and the rules governing fit and proper status are coming under increasing scrutiny, there's a certain irony that the biggest scandal to hit the running of a professional football club in this country for years has at its heart a man who once bought Chelsea for £1.