It’s been quiet, too quiet on Vital Leeds so here’s a roundup of all the latest comings, goings and stayings at Elland Road.
The emergency loan deadline for lower league clubs has now passed without Leeds United doing any last-ditch business in the market as we had become accomstomed to under Dennis Wise. The only loan news was that Ben Parker will stay on at Darlington until the end of the season. The youngster does however now have an immediate recall clause fitted into the terms and conditions of his loan deal. Speaking to leedsunited.com boss Gary McAllister spoke about Parker’s future at the club:
“I’ve sat and had a chat with Ben. He has a big future here.
“He’s come up through the ranks of the Academy and I’m keen to keep that tradition going.”
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Reserve news now, goals from Anthony Elding and Seb Carole were enough to see off Lincoln City’s second string, in a game that saw Jonathan Douglas continue his push for a return to first team action. A strong Leeds lineup saw a number of first team squad members including Lucas, Seb Sorsa and Huntington all feature.
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The club have released a statement regarding the decision to take all live Leeds United coverage onto the Ken Bates’ owned Yorkshire Radio from next season. The statement, published on the official club website reads:
‘Yorkshire Radio was founded by Ken Bates and first broadcast on the 10th July 2006.
‘The first broadcast was heard on DAB and on-line at www.yorkshireradio.net. Coverage has since been widened to include a permanent channel on the SKY digital platform channel 0209.
‘We believed that Yorkshire Radio would be profitable in the medium term, but needed financial support in the early days. The finances of Leeds United were such at the time that it was not in a position to provide the required support so Ken Bates arranged the funding for the project from external sources so it would not further increase the financial pressure on Leeds United. As the funding came from outside the club then it was appropriate that the ownership remained in the control of the funder.
‘The club entered into an agreement with Yorkshire Radio to broadcast commentary of games after Radio Aire chose not to renew their commentary agreement. Radio Aire placed no commercial value on the rights at that time and have seen their listening figures decline since that decision. Yorkshire Radio’s listening figures are increasing month-on-month and the club utilises its commentary for LUTV. LUTV is the club’s online subscription service, and is the only way of listening to commentary over the internet due to the restrictions placed on all clubs by the Football League. Commentary cannot be broadcast on SKY either due to these restrictions.
‘Yorkshire Radio is an integral part of the club’s media plans alongside an improved LUTV to keep fans updated on news from the club, keeping costs to a minimum. I can confirm that the share capital of Yorkshire Radio Limited has been transferred so that 95% is held by Leeds United 2007 Limited with the remaining 5% owned by the management of Yorkshire Radio (which does not include Ken Bates). It was always the intention that Leeds United would benefit from the commercial performance of the radio station and the above action confirms this.
‘Nothing in our agreement with Yorkshire Radio precludes BBC Radio Leeds from doing commentary. The only factor stopping them from undertaking commentary next season is that their offer was not acceptable to Leeds United. The emphasis was on Radio Leeds to make the club an acceptable offer which they were unwilling to try and do, a point that appears to have been overlooked by a number of MPs and fans.’
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