Details of Leeds deal could be 'months' away

Details of payments to Leeds United's creditors might not be revealed for months even though the club has now provided the information to the Football League, suggest insolvency industry experts.

Without details of the deal rival bidders and creditors, including HM Revenue & Customs, have less ammunition with which to call the agreement into question.

Leeds has acted quickly to the Football League's request to provide full details of its deal to buy the club from KPMG.

The issue is particularly important as HMRC, one of the club's main creditors, has previously challenged proposals to receive eight pence in the pound on funds owed by Leeds.

'It depends on the deal, it could take six months but [creditors won't necessarily] know anything about the deal [until then],' said Joe McLean, a football insolvency expert at Grant Thornton.

Adding to the confusion some experts suggest creditors could potentially receive a report on recent events from KPMG this week.

Sources close to rival bidders for Leeds also suggested they might have to wait several months to find out details of the deal, questioning why new owner Ken Bates had kept the deal confidential.

'Bates wants it confidential because he must be concerned people wouldn't be pleased about what he paid,' said one senior source.

Leeds United and KPMG were unavailable for comment as Accountancy Age went to press.

Further reading:

KPMG in firing line over Leeds sale