Sainsbury Statement after collapse of deal

By Andy Baggott
January 13 2005

Sebastian Sainsbury has released the following statement after the collapse of his takeover bid - make of it what you will........

“Upon completion of due diligence by our potential funders, the true scale of Leeds United’s debt and liabilities became clear. It was obviously more than we, they, and many others, had envisaged. “I am very depressed and sad at what is happening, and sick to my stomach of all this. “However we never had all our eggs in one basket, and we do have a possible contingency plan. “Over the next 24 hours we shall be considering our options, but I now have a real affection for this football club and I still hope there is a way of saving Leeds United. I also want to make it clear that it has always been a case of Leeds or nothing for me, I will not be bidding for any other club. "There is no way I want to see this club go into administration, and should that happen I will not try to rescue it."

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