THE SHEEP START SELLING THE PEN

Leeds United have made the decision to sell their Thorp Arch training complex
and have it leased back out to them.

Financial director Melvyn Helme has defended the decision and says that Leeds
United have a bright future at Ellend Road.

'A sale-lease back arrangement for Thorp Arch is in the process of being
negotiated,'

'There's nothing wrong with sale and lease back - it`s not the bottom-end of the market.

'There will be a satisfactory buy-back clause so that if the club wanted to take the training ground back under ownership, it can do.

'If you do a sale and lease back it gives you much greater security of tenure - we have a guaranteed right to use the facilities.

'The public`s perception is wrong, they don`t understand that most of the main
institutions in this country, like high street banks and building societies, don`t own their own premises.'

It gets better

Helme rejected claims that Leeds are still in financial crisis and that the board
can only afford to pay the bills for another six weeks. United's total debt now
stands at £25million - a £15million loan from Aston Villa shareholder Jack
Petchey that enabled the current board to save the club from administration and £9million owed to the Inland Revenue. And all this debt means that Ellend Road
could be up for sale soon.

'It's a possibility. We're talking to several parties at the moment, but nothing is
concrete. Obviously at some stage we're looking to restructure the whole of the
finances of the club in order to put things on a higher footing.' Helme bleated

'It doesn`t necessarily mean a sale and lease back for the ground and it's very
difficult to put in quotes exactly the progress we're making.

'But we're talking to a number of parties about all sorts of different ways of
increasing revenue for Leeds United and talks continue today.