Paraag Marathe’s says Farke staying and has issued a transfer message issued today. Suspect we'll start hearing a few things over next week.
Whatever they will let us spend, we’ll spend," Marathe told the Financial Times. “I can comfortably say that we are going to spend the very last penny that we can." The FT story also cites Marathe suggesting ‘tens of millions’ of pounds will be raised through Leeds’ shareholders, with the Whites chairman adding: “It’s what we need to go full tilt for the next three years."
“I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be easy... there’s an argument to be made that there’s a widening gap [between the Premier League and the Championship]. With all due respect to the other clubs, I think we’re different. We have an opportunity and we have scale that nobody else has."
But this first message is the most important. There money to spend.
The second most important thing will be how the 'new' recruitment team fare, given the ones who I think were responsible for the postive recruitment moves last summer (like Bogle, Rothwell, Solomon and Tanaka) are now moving to Everton ☹️. [Double shame cos I'd love Everton to go down]
Marathe :Farke and spending
posted 12 hours, 26 minutes ago
Hang on.
Didnt Don, who many a time, has got it right, and I suspect nearly all of us trust, said we’d have sell to spend no matter what this summer.
This despite earlier saying, the club had said Farke had £15m to spend on a keeper in Jan.
posted 12 hours, 24 minutes ago
Great news, Farke has been brilliant over 2 seasons,and I would have been very disappointed in the club if they hadn't backed him.
We all know how difficult it will be next season, but we have given ourselves a chance by keeping and backing the manager.
posted 12 hours, 15 minutes ago
Good read. But the issue is how much will be available to spend on transfers and wages? Last summer we sold well over £100m of players and spent a fraction.
Premier League finances are obscene and our owners might have limited budgets by comparison.
posted 11 hours, 58 minutes ago
Here's a link to the whole interview
https://bbc.in/4m1zX9I
posted 11 hours, 44 minutes ago
I reckon this confirmation of DF's the man for Paraag was teetering on the polar opposite of this news today before Solomon got that wonderful title winning goal yesterday but no matter and I sincerely hope the owners are sincere in their spending pledge and don't start moving the goal posts because that should mean DF will have about £120 ish million of new signings one of which has to be Solomon so all the great positive vibes from yesterday will continue through to pre season and we hit the ground running like we did when Bielsa took us up and we proved wrong all the so called media experts that predicted we'd come straight back down.
posted 11 hours, 35 minutes ago
Next season Farke in charge, I for one am happy about that!..
I wonder if they'll get the Stadium up to scratch to welcome our players back to where we want them to be!..
Bloody hell, thinking about it, the money being talked about and the Stadium, that'll put us up with the Premier league big spenders!..
posted 10 hours, 59 minutes ago
It's crazy to think that 120 million isint that much really in the modern game...
Particularly when you consider what the team needs in terms of players
posted 10 hours, 7 minutes ago
Just adding this here cos it's the most recent article....
a goosebumps video LUFC just issued, from playoff heartache to champions.
https://x.com/lufc/status/1919089647981883825?s=46
posted 8 hours, 58 minutes ago
It's crazy to think that 120 million isint that much really in the modern game...
^^^
I read last week that entry level expenditure on
squads for the Prem now start at 150 mill.
Ipswich laid out 107 mill and struggled. But, were
the only team of the 3 promoted who really gave
it a go. Recruitment team has a massive job on its
hands.
I just hope to the football gods that we don't just bring
Farke's old mates together as a squad. There needs
to be some very smart and bold decisions made.
Max Aarons, Borja-Sainz, Elvedi might work for
Norwich for a season. But not Leeds United. If, we
really are making a go of this.
posted 6 hours, 40 minutes ago
Extracts from another Marathe interview, with US-based FrontOfficeSports
----
What was the journey to promotion like?
It’s been a pretty challenging two years. When we first took this club over, we knew that Leeds United had so much untapped potential—and still does have so much room to grow. But gosh, it was a club that had just been relegated, had a credit card bill of over 250 million pounds of payables on transfers for players who were either already not playing for us or we were trying to move on from, or had loan clauses to play elsewhere. Organizationally, we had to bring in people to stabilize on the football and commercial side. It was a lot of work. In some ways, the difficult journey makes this all the more rewarding.
...
What investment did the ownership make to help Leeds get promoted?
Make no mistake about this: There was even more jeopardy involved if we did not get promoted this season, because we were so heavily invested, via credit card bills, when we were last in the Premier League. So, buying players without yet paying for them. I’m talking bills and payments that are still due in 2027 and 2028. There was a lot of pressure on us. So, as part of us taking this club over back in 2023, it was an understanding with us and our investors that there’s going to be a significant capital injection required just to get us to baseline last year and this season. It was a risk and a chance that we all took because we believe in where we can go.
...
What does promotion mean for the valuation of Leeds?
Valuation is kind of irrelevant to me because right now I’m just focused on getting the club as competitive as we can.
The biggest revenue growth is media rights, which is important, but all that means is we’re able to strengthen our squad. Every single penny we earn is going to be poured directly back onto the pitch. We’re not taking a dividend out of this club today, tomorrow, ever. We welcome all new revenue that comes in, but we’re not making money for money’s sake. We’re making money to turn it into a striker, or midfielder, or whatever we can to make us better.
...
What will expanding and renovating Elland Road mean for Leeds?
Non-financially, the thing that I’m probably most excited about is that we have an opportunity for more Leeds United supporters to attend matches.
Second to that, yes, it’s going to generate more revenue for us, and that revenue is going to go right into players.
...
Are Leeds getting more interest from potential investors?
We already have such a great group of investors, who from the jump were pretty passionate about Leeds. What’s happened over the course of this season, we’ve had a ton of inbound from folks who want to be involved and want to be investors. So, it’s a pretty neat phenomenon that’s happening. I hear so many times from our investors that when they wear Leeds gear, they get noticed by somebody wherever they are in the world. There’s that picture of Will Ferrell wearing his Leeds kit at Coachella. He said he had so many people reach out to him when he was there.
...
Leeds are one year into its kit deal with Red Bull, who also became club investors. How is that going?
Let’s call it for what it is: When we first announced it, it was met with some criticism and skepticism, but they have been tremendous partners. They have a commercial deal and now a bigger commercial deal that we’re in the Premier League, and they are minority investors. They’ve been really great partners, offering advice, suggestions, and letting us plug into any of their processes at any of their clubs. Hopefully in time, and I think it’s already happened with Leeds supporters seeing that, but they are really, truly great partners, who I consider good friends now.
...
With reports of 49ers Enterprises exploring the acquisition of Scottish soccer club Rangers FC, what is the strategy for Leeds and 49ers Enterprises around building a multiclub portfolio?
It’s not a multiclub ownership model in the traditional sense, where you’ve got feeder clubs going up to a parent club. Consider these all closed-loop universes, where what we are looking for are clubs that have a history of success, and by virtue of that success, have great global fan bases. Call it uncut diamonds. It’s what the 49ers were 25 years ago when I first got involved, needing to make them better on the field and commercially. Same thing with Leeds, similar things in other clubs that we’re focused on as well. We’re, first and foremost, looking for that. Where can we really help grow value and make clubs better?
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My perspective: I know there are many out there who don't yet trust 49ers. Have to say I'm not one of them. After the state of the owners we have had, it is so refreshing to see things being handled professionally. Doesn't guarantee success, nothing does, but some fan comments are too emotional. Whatever we think, football success can only come from business success. Getting the business side right gets the football side right, and THAT leads to the emotion we crave.