Source: PA
Bates; Price hikes justified
Leeds chairman Ken Bates has defended the pending rise in season-ticket prices at Elland Road for the 2011/12 campaign.
Fans will be asked to dig deep with increases of up to 13% in certain areas of the stadium, which the Leeds United Supporters Club claim are "unjustified".
Bates told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "There's inflation and there's a 2.5% increase in VAT, but it's actually an increase of five%.
"When the government previously reduced VAT, we reduced our matchday prices by £1. We couldn't send every season-ticket holder a cheque so when we calculated this season's prices, we deducted the VAT refund that we couldn't give them before. That cost the club about £50,000.
"Our costs have gone up. There's a 3% increase on our rent, our rates won't go up by too much, but all our other costs continue to rise."
