Ken Bates appears to be in pole position to regain control of Leeds United after one of the leading bidders for the ailing club last night described the sale process as "utterly prejudicial".
After buying it back from Bates's consortium last Friday the administrators, KPMG, have set a deadline of 5pm today for new bids for the club. But there are claims that only Bates, Leeds's chairman since January 2005, has been allowed full access to the books in recent months.
"I'm furious," said Simon Franks, who states that his Redbus Group investment vehicle has millions of pounds ready to fund the League One club. "This is utterly prejudicial. We have to reduce our bids because of the 'known unknowns'. Mr Bates doesn't have to."
It is thought the winning bid must provide about £5m for creditors before committing about £15m to future running costs.
But Franks says that prospective purchasers are being asked to commit enormous sums when "we don't know what we are bidding for". Franks says he has not been told what has been generated from season-ticket sales or from Kevin Nicholls's move to Preston North End.
Franks, who provided proof of funds of £10 million in cash, claims he offered to fund any shortfall in running costs to allow a full due-diligence process for bidders. This offer was apparently declined.
KPMG would not be drawn on Franks' charges yesterday but a spokesman defended the tight scheduling, saying: "Because of the unique circumstances we find ourselves in, this was the only stance we could take that would give the best deal to creditors and ensure Leeds's survival."
Although he refused to confirm the speculation, there are strong rumours that Franks is preparing to link up with the consortium led by the former Leeds director Simon Morris, a development that could provide huge resources for the future running of the club.
There was reported interest from the former Hull City owner Peter Wilkinson in bidding for the club. But sources close to the multimillionaire businessman downplayed the suggestions yesterday.
Bates was apparently threatening legal action yesterday if he was not in charge of the club at 5pm.
"Our bid is the original deal that was done in the meeting of creditors when we placed the Company Voluntary Agreement on June 1," said Bates.
"We believe in fact our offer is valid. Therefore it should be the only one to be accepted. So there's a problem and a possibility that if the administrator goes down another route then there could be further legal battles."
Guardian Service
