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Everyone seems to be getting worked up over the ownership of Elland Road.

Once again there’s plenty of smoke but no fire.

Leeds United confirmed today that Elland Road is still owned by Teak Commercial Limited.

Ken Bates spoke to the YEP,

“The allegation that we’ve bought back the ground is absolute rubbish. The long and short of this is that we haven’t bought the ground back and we don’t own it. The ownership hasn’t changed at all.”

Elland Road and Thorp Arch were sold off by Gerald Krasner in 2004 to try and avoid administration, before Ken Bates took over. Doubtless Ken and the board of Leeds United 2007 Ltd would love to re-acquire the properties, and currently they have the have a right to do so, but the cost was recently quoted, by Bates himself, at £19,142,806. So the League One club must continue to pay £2m in rent annually.

Shaun Harvey, United’s chief executive, said,

“We do have an option to buy Elland Road and Thorp Arch back, but we have not as yet exercised that option. We still intend to do so at the earliest opportunity but the situation is as it was.”

The interest in the fate of Elland Road seems tied to the fact that the owners, Teak Commercial Limited are registered in the British Virgin islands and, therefore, the details of the owners of the company are confidential and protected by law - it is a criminal offence to reveal the shareholders of such a BVI company. Once you tell someone they can’t know something ,that’s all they seem interested in!

Well, we had a lot of fun with the Sunday Mirror’s “exclusive” about the Canadian company MLSE’s secret negotiations to buy Ken Bates but it appears it was all fiction - how unusual for a red-top to make up the news!

Leeds United have issued a statement that the story is “completely untrue and no talks have ever taken place“.

The MLSE chief executive Richard Peddie was equally emphatic when quoted in the Canadian National Post, “It’s pure fiction. I’ve never met with the Leeds people“.

Oh dear, another nail in the coffin of British journalism at the Mirror Group then…

Back to preparing the “Welcome Freddy Shepherd” banners then?

The Sunday Mirror is reporting that Canadian outfit Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment is in talks with Ken Bates with a view to buying him out. MLSE owns, amongst others, the world-famous Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, and Major League Soccer club Toronto FC.

The Mirror reported that unconfirmed preliminary talks between Bates and MLSE have already taken place.

The legal embargo on Ken Bates selling club after buying it out of administration ends in July this year.

MLSE president Richard Peddie and CFO Ian Clarke visited England last month and definitely met other clubs known to be on the market, particularly Southampton and Reading. But in terms of world-branding neither can hold a candle to Leeds United, who are already well-known in North America and have North American supporters’ clubs in place.

The bad news for Leeds United fans is that Toronto FC play in a red strip - the colour of the maple leaf in the Canadian flag. Toronto Maple Leafs, however, play in a blue strip. So will Leeds be rebranded the Leeds Maple Leafs (Leaves?) and play in fake Liverpool or Chelsea kits?

And you thought having Ken Bates as Chairman was bad?

Paul Scally, “mouthy” Chairman of relegated Gillingham has hit out at Ken Bates following the severe barracking he received at Elland Road yesterday.

Scally whined to the BBC,

“I was one of 63 chairmen who voted to support the action against Leeds for misdemeanours carried out by the people running Leeds at the time. They broke the regulations, got punished by the Football League board of directors and we were asked whether we supported the board.

It was an anonymous vote and I was happy to come out and say I was one of the ones who supported the board. Because of that - and Ken has whipped it up - there were 36,000 out there who think I’m the reason they lost 15 points and that clearly wasn’t the case. Ken Bates has disappointed me enormously. I’m stunned by the way he’s behaved.”

If Scally was stunned by the way Ken Bates behaved then he was the only one in the country! 

Paul Scally’s weekend got worse today when the former manager of Gillingham, Tony Pulis took Stoke City to the Premier League in the second automatic promotion spot. Scally and Pulis had a major fall-out which resulted in Pulis taking Gillingham to the High Court. Scally really does have “people skills” doesn’t he? Instead of being in League Two next season he could have been on the Premier League!