Bates reminds us that Satan is an anagram of Santa
Saturday, 15th Dec 2012 20:09 by Mark Monk

In his programme notes prior to the Ipswich game, outgoing Leeds owner Ken Bates gave us a blast of what may be in January. Basically don't expect too much is the message coming from the Santa lookalike.

Bates's pre-match drivel has certainly got fans tweeting and even Neil Warnock made mildly critical reference to it in his post match Yorkshire Radio interview. The Leeds chairman, who is expected to complete the sale of the club to GFH Capital next Friday (21-12-12) said "..but I think it right to partly dampen the more heady expectations of a spending spree in the Jan transfer window."

Newspaper reports have predicted Warnock will be furnished with a war chest worth £8-10m. One rumour sweeping the stands today was that Max Gradel will make a sensational return to Leeds in the New Year as his St Etienne dream has soured.

It is typical however of Bates to put the brakes on both ambition and expectation as he has done for six long years previously.

Warnock in part appears to tow the party line. Clearly delighted that El Hadji Diouf has agreed an 18 month deal, with the Middle East and Premiership Reading rumoured to be an alternative destination, he appears to be content with securing his four loanees on longer deals. Michael Tonge, Ryan Hall and Alan Tate seem most certain, Jerome Thomas however seems a tougher nut to crack.

Warnock also revealed tonight he wants another striker to put pressure on Luciano Becchio and pointedly said "not a free transfer one."

Although GFH's Directors have passed the "fit and proper persons" test to join the Leeds board, it has been an uneasy week for the Bahrain-based bank as rumours circulated that they had missed a scheduled payment to Bates and the great bearded one was also talking to other potential buyers.

GFH assure the deal will go through but surely they must be concerned that Bates is predicting the future scenario on their watch come January 2013?

I think the biggest indicator that the Leeds public are still suspicious of the unlikely marriage of an Islamic bank and an openly right-wing Octegenarian lies in the attendance for today's win over Ipswich. Just over 19000 bothered to show up despite a cheap ticket promotion.

Photo: Action Images

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