Redcar agrees with Nick

Posted by Chris

Coatham Memorial Hall was packed for Nick Clegg's visit to Redcar last night.

The enthusiastic audience even included Labour Councillors from Middlesbrough Barry Coppinger, Len Junier and John McPartland who assured me they had been invited by the BBC. I wonder why? They are pictured above seated directly behind Pat Swales, wife of Lib Dem Candidate Ian Swales. The UKIP candidate for Redcar also sneaked in.

Retiring MP for Harrogate, Phil Willis, making his second campaign visit to Redcar, warmly welcomed the Labour and UKIP observers and impressed us all with his knowledge of the area and its problems.

Nick Clegg spoke about Labour's neglect for the area over many years and answered a whole range of questions from the audience which included a large proportion of young voters. The topics raised included, Corus, defence, education, the NHS and immigration.

It is interesting that  of all the people who turned up to see Nick Clegg's brilliant performance The tacky  Sun  choose to quote only one person, John McPartland, without mentioning he is a Labour Councillor from Middlesbrough.

Still angry and frustrated at Leeds United's failure to secure Thorp Arch deal

Posted by Chris:

It is more than 24 hours since the alarming news broke that Leeds United had failed to meet the conditions laid down by Leeds City Council in time to meet the midnight on Thursday deadline to purchase back Thorp Arch training ground.

The current market value of this world class facility is said to be £11m. United had the opportunity to get it back at the exclusive price of £5.8m and the more I think about it the more angry and frustrated I get.

With the Council borrowing the money and the cost of that covered by a leasing agreement with United there would have been no cost to Council Taxpayers. And United would have been able to buy it from the Council at reasonable terms when it recovers its financial credibility. They have missed out on a more than good deal that will probably now cost Leeds at least twice as much in the future, whilst they continue fork out £486000 per year in rent to its current owner, Manchester-based company Barnaway, rising by around 3% per year.

I am angry at Chairman Ken Bates blame anyone but me attitude. I am frustrated at the lack of openness and transparency.

There may have been legal reasons why little could be said about the questions United failed to answer before the deal fell through but surely now we can be told what they are? The Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and the Guardian have all failed to get satisfactory answers. Probably they wrote their stories up straight from Ken Bates press statement without being able to contact the Monaco based businessman. Perhaps someone will have to make a 'Freedom of Information' request to the City Council to find out?

I hope there is someway of turning this missed opportunity around. I suspect it has a lot to do with the concerns about who actually owns Leeds United and the lack of transparency about it.

The actual owner is the Forward Sports Fund, which is registered in the Cayman Islands tax haven. The ownership issue has caused concern since June 2007 when Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dem MP Phil Willis raised serious questions, after the club went into administration with debts of £35m and was then resold to the same owners.

Richard Murphy explains in his Tax Research UK blog why it is important to know who owns the club:

Why does this matter? For several reasons. First, as the litigation proves, those dealing with the club have no real idea who is behind it and how to assess its credibility. second, here we have an institution of public significance (I think) that is owned by unknown persons, maybe paid for out of criminal funds.Who knows? Third, there is a fit and proper process meant to apply to owners of football clubs. It cannot apply in this case. Fourth, most owners of private companies exercise considerable management influence. Many are shadow directors. We have no idea who these people are in this case. Fifth, the relationship between a private company and its owner is a matter of tax significance in the UK. Why should tax authorities not be able to access data on this issue without having to commence enquiries to find out?

Ken Bates true to form, answers Phil Willis MP with smears

Posted by Chris:

As predicted in my previous posting Leeds United Chairman Ken Bates has misused his column in today's match programme to smear Harrogate and Knaresborough's hard working Lib Dem MP Phil Willis.

Chairman Ken never learns. His vendetta against Melvyn Levi, in his scurrilous programme notes, cost him an estimated £1.5m in libel fees. When I read the match programme I want to read about Leeds United not Ken's vindictive remarks about anyone who dares to ask questions he does not want to answer.

I will not repeat here what Ken has written. It does not answer the questions that Phil has asked about the ownership of United.

There is a question mark over who really owns Leeds United. Phil Willis and other local MPs are right to be concerned. Harrogate and Knaresborough provides a huge proportion of the Mighty Whites fan base and they pay a fortune to support the team. They have a right to know who actually owns the club and be reassured that there is nothing untoward about it.

The ironic thing about this is that Leeds United have been baled out by Lib Dem led Leeds City Council, who are buying the Throp Arch training ground and are leasing it to United, at no cost to Council Taxpayers in a deal which will allow the club to buy the facilities off the Council when it is in a financial position to do so. This is a massive help to the club who cannot obtain finance itself at this time having only recently been in administration.

Who owns Leeds United?

Today's Guardian has a story about the growing mystery surrounding the ownership of Leeds United.

Once again Liberal Democrat MP, Phil Willis, has risked the wrath of Ken Bates matchday programme notes by calling for a Football League investigation into the ownership of the club:

"Leeds United is a fantastic football club whose loyal and dedicated supporters have stuck by it through thick and thin," Willis said yesterday. "They have a right to know who owns their club and that those people are fit and proper. The Football League must revisit this case to ensure that its rules, that owners must be passed as fit and proper, have been met."

Ken Bates needs to act quickly to avoid this issue dragging on. It is clearly not going to go away and the failure to clear up the confusion over who really owns the Mighty Whites only adds to the concern and speculation.

Lack of information is a problem right through Leeds United

Posted by Chris:

I concur with Barcharter regarding the inadequate amount of information coming out of Leeds United about the future of the club.

I am checking the website regularly for news. I had never heard of the golden share until I read that Leeds had not yet got it back. The extremely dubious action taken by Ken Bates seemed at first to be a smart move to avoid losing 10 points at the start of the season but the way he overreacted to the action taken by Phil Willis and other local MP's made me worry. The fact that the Football authorities seem to be dragging their feet over returning this golden share makes me very worried.

The pre-season games have so far been poor as far as the team is concerned and I have not found the reassurances from the management team any more convincing than they were last season. The team needs strong leadership and I do not think they are getting it. I make those points from a standpoint of having listened to the commentry of all the pre-season matches on Yorkshire Radio. Not the best commentry in the world in terms of a clear description of what is actually going on during a match.

I actually subscribed to LUTV prior to the pre-season games but have been unable to watch the clips because of a problem with Widows Media Player.

"A problem has occurred in the Digital Rights Management component.
Licence delivery error: Parameter is incorrect "

I emailed LUTV and received the following response:

This problem may have a number of contributory factors. Depending on your system, you may need to try one or more of the following steps in order to fully resolve the issue. After completing each step, check to see if the issue has been resolved.

Step 1: Re-individualize Windows Media Player following the link to Microsoft Security Upgrade page.

I emailed them a further three times pointing out that I had tried this and the button you have to click on in the Microsoft Security Upgrade page does not work. On each occasion they simply sent back the exact same message they sent in the first place.

It seems the lack of information is a problem right through Leeds United at the moment.

Welcome to our blog

Posted by Chris

We start this bog at an interesting time for Lib Dems. We were as shocked as anyone about the way Charles Kennedy was encouraged to resign as leader of the Party, but life goes on. We are enjoying watching and in a small way participating in the campaign for the leadership.

I have been doing a private blog for local Lib Dem members, here in Redcar and discussing the merits of each candidate and the events as they happen. It was clear that, in spite of the everything, members were fiercely loyal to Charles and were comfortable with the progress we had made under him.

At the last General election we moved into second place in Redcar constituency for the first time ever and since 2003 we have been the largest group in the Coalition that is successfully running Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council. More about that in future postings.

Glynis and I have not yet declared our support for one candidate yet. Last time I supported Simon Hughes and Glynis supported Charles. The reason we have not made our minds up yet is because we were hoping that Harrogate MP Phil Willis would chuck his hat into the ring. It is looking unlikely but the closing date for nominations is 25th January and we live in hope.

The three contenders so far - thank you Mark Oaten, who has stepped down today, for ensuring that there was a contest - would all make excellent leaders. We know little about Chris Huhne and want to find out more about him. He has certainly impressed so far but I felt his speech at the LSE was delivered in monotone. I am sure that he has what it takes but, in my humble opinion, he needs to show more passion.