A bad week

On so many fronts the last week has not been good news.

The local election results were not good across the country although undoubtedly they varied a lot from area to area. Some areas posted good or steady results whilst other lost ground.

I have been helping in West Berkshire and Portsmouth. The results in West Berkshire were disappointing although we retained control of both Newbury and Thatcham Town Councils. Better news in Portsmouth where we gained one and lost one and where our leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson held his seat after a very strong and determined effort by the Tories to oust him.

If a week is a long time in politics then a week is a very long time in Football - particularly if you are a Leeds fan. Just over a week ago Leeds were 1-0 up against Ipswich and heading towards 48 points and the possibility of today's game against Derby being a meaningful encounter. Then Ipswich equalised and a pitch invasion and FA investigation followed.

In the immediate aftermath it became obvious that we were effectively relegated to league one baring some form of miracle today. Last Monday Ken Bates told Yorkshire Radio that support shown for Leeds over the last 48 hours was "beyond my wildest expectations". By Friday Leeds had called in the administrators, suffered a ten point reduction and been formally relegated to League One.

Meanwhile there is a rumour a minute as to what the future of the club will be in terms of new owners. Apparently Mr Bates wants to buy the club back from the administrators and has set up a new company called something like Leeds United 2007 for the express purpose of doing so! I am not sure where the fit and proper person test fits into all of this but perhaps it should!

Apparently Gary Kelly and an Irish consortium are interested in purchasing the club. So are some Russians. Oh and some Americans as well. And a consortium headed up by Duncan Revie the son of the former Leeds United manager Don Revie. Also according to the BBC The Leeds United's Supporters Trust says it is in a position to make a proposal to buy the club. These are just the rumours I have heard and doubtless there are many more to come

The only positive point to emerge from this whole debacle is the fact that at least the ten point deduction applied to the current season and not the next one.

I suspect that we are in for a long summer whilst the long suffering fans wait for a whole host of issues to be resolved. Even if we have new owners we have no clue as to who the manager will be and which players will be leaving and which players will be arriving. Either way I expect wholesale changes to the team before we begin life in League One