Gerald Krasner, an insolvency
specialist, led a consortium of local businessmen which took over
Leeds and under his chairmanship oversaw the sale of the clubs'
assets, including senior and emerging youth players of any value.
Caretaker manager Gray was largely blameless for the performance of
the team during the 2003-04 season as the majority of the squad was
sold out from underneath him and despite his best efforts, Leeds
were relegated after 14 years in the top flight. Following
relegation, Gray's reign as caretaker manager was terminated, and
Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager. Most of the remaining
players were sold or released on free transfers to further reduce
the wage bill. Leeds were eventually forced to sell both their
training ground, for £4.2m,[15] and their Elland Road stadium[16]
in the autumn of 2004.
The club finally managed a financial turn around on 21 January
2005, when Krasner announced the sale of a 50% stake of the club to
Ken Bates for £10m.[17] Blackwell stabilized the team by signing
players on free transfers and low wages and Leeds finished the
2004-05 season mid-table in the Championship. In the 2005-06 season
Leeds finished in the top 6 and made the promotion playoff final,
which they lost to Watford. On 10 September 2006, Kevin Blackwell
announced that within a year the club would be debt-free.[18]
However, the 2006-07 season started badly and on 20 September 2006
Kevin Blackwell's contract as manager of Leeds United was
terminated. Dennis Wise was eventually installed as his replacement
after a month without a permanent manager, but was unable to lift
the team out of the relegation zone for much of the season, despite
bringing a number of experienced loan players into the squad . With
relegation virtually assured, Leeds entered a Company Voluntary
Arrangement (administration) on 4th May 2007, thus incurring a
league imposed 10 point deduction which officially relegated the
club to the third tier of English football. [19][20]. -
Wikipedia
