The latest news on the Leeds takeover Fiasco is that a winding-up petition has been issued by a company controlled by Andrew Flowers, but this is believed to have been a tactical move on his part, rather than an attempt to bankrupt the club.
On the face of it, it seems pretty bizarre thing to do, to issue a petition to wind up a club you’re intending to buy, and it hasn’t gone down well with a lot of fans. But while some are saying that with friends like this we don’t need enemies, it’s likely that the petition was issued with the best of intentions, as a move to stop Cellino getting control of the club.
Although the petition didn’t become public knowledge until yesterday, it was actually issued on
January 29, the day after his bid to buy the club had collapsed and GFH seemed likely to sell the club to Cellino. The consensus of opinion is that it was a tactical move to prevent Cellino taking control, and if the new combined Flowers/Farnan consortium succeeds in buying the club the petition can be settled before it even comes to court.
Flowers is the managing director of club’s former shirt sponsor Enterprise Insurance, which lent Leeds £1.7m at 7% interest in 2012, for repayment in 2015. GFH have now issued a statement on the club’s official website in response to the petition.
"The winding-up petition issued by Enterprise Insurance, a sponsor whose managing director, Andrew Flowers, claims to support the club, is misconceived and an abuse of legal process. It is being vigorously contested by the club’s lawyers.”
"As there were no valid grounds to issue the petition, we can only assume that Mr Flowers is seeking to influence the deliberations of the club’s owners and management in relation to the takeover negotiations. Under the ownership of GFH Capital Leeds United has always met its financial obligations and it will continue to do so.”
So it doesn’t sound as though the petition has done anything to smooth the relations between Flowers and the current owners , but tomorrow’s meeting between GFH and the new Flowers/Farnan ‘Together Leeds’ consortium is still going ahead, and Flowers is expected to hold a press conference today to set out further details of his continued bid.
Let’s hope that can bring us some clarity to this farcical and confusing situation.