Leeds United Football Club

• Nickname:The Whites
• Founded:1919
• Manager:Neil Warnock

• Ground:Elland Road
• Capacity:40296

Bates issues fight warning

05 Jun 2007 - 11:37:21

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Leeds United chairman Ken Bates has warned the other parties who were interested in purchasing the club he is ready to fight to retain control at Elland Road.

Bates' bid to buy back the club following their plunge into administration was accepted following a stormy creditors meeting last week.

Five other consortia were also in the running to takeover the League One bound club and Bates has vowed to fight any legal challenge to the decision to accept his one pence in the pound bid to creditors.

Leeds were placed into administration on May 4 with debts totalling £35million.

"Other than the Inland Revenue, out of £35million worth of votes just over £1million voted against the deal so an awful lot of people voted for it," he told the club's official website.

"We thank them for their support. They obviously believe in what we are doing.

"One of the biggest supporters was the PFA and, other than four members, they were 100 per cent behind it.

"The important thing now is we make progress. There's been a suggestion of challenging what has happened, but you can't challenge for the sake of challenging, you have to have a reason.

"If someone decides to challenge what's happened they will affect the running of Leeds United, and we will take them on because we want to move forward."