ITV Yorkshire Calender News report that we are just days away from having new owners!

ITV sport seem to have kept their powder dry on the Leeds takeover story whilst others seemingly have lost their heads and whipped up a frenzy of speculation to the point of driving even the most long suffering and patient Leeds fan to the verge of insanity.

Earlier today, ITV Calender news reported that a middle-East consortium of die- hard Leeds fans led by Shiekh Abdulrahman bin Mubarak Al Khalifa are close to buying the majority shareholding from Ken Bates.

The Shiekh is believed to be in Germany at the moment, but the Bahrain born potential benefactor of Leeds United is expected in West Yorkshire immeniently.

It is understood that the Shiekh is heading up the consortium of wealthy friends to try and return Leeds to the Premiership they vacated in 2004.

The same man failed in a takeover bid for the club he publically declared an affinity for back in 2003. The reasons why were not clear, but with Leeds then reportedly £100m in debt we can almost forgive anyone from backing off from a club who were bleeding money from every pore back then.

Love him or loathe him, Bates's unpopular austerity measures have certainly balanced the books back in the black and combined with our history and fan base, Leeds have been primed nicely for a takeover. Although it still mystifies me why he would not gamble on building upon the seventh placed finish in 2010/11 and then sell Leeds as a club amongst the elite?

We will probably never know.

However Bates'' moves in the past 12 months point towards him preparing for a buy- out, his emergence as the "owner" of the club last August after years of mystery is one pointer.

Although the appointment of Neil Warnock in February did not have the desired effect of lifting Leeds towards making a late promotion push, arguably having the services of a manager of Warnock's standing was another positive selling point to new owners.

Whilst Leeds are busy marketing two new kits, maybe a traditional Arab Keffiyeh (in white, gold and blue) will be another big seller at the club superstore over the next few weeks?

Photo: Action Images

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