Will the League Cup draw mean we are stuck with him for another SEVEN weeks?

As far as Quarter-Final draws go, they do not get much better than hosting the current European Champions at Elland Road less than a week before Christmas?

Particularly whene those opponents are Chelsea, where Leeds fans are concerned the Blues are arguably the second most despised side behind the Manchester United team they conquered last night in the nine goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.

For the notoriously vain Ken Bates it was win win, the club he bought for a pound in 1983 against the club he has spent the past eight years at trying to restore to their former glories.

However I fear this gift from the Gods will delay the proposed takeover by GFH which now enters its SIXTH month of discussions!

Can you honestly see Bates not wanting to be sat on his perch in the renovated East Stand Upper surveying the scene like a Roman Emperor as the two clubs he believes he dragged from the abyss go to battle in front of the TV cameras?

Would he accept an honorary seat in the Directors Box that night, for once he being the guest of GFH Capital? Don't think so.

Alas I think we will not see the back of him until the other famous feller with the white beard had put away his reindeer and sleigh for another year!

A less certain outcome will be what crowd will the fixture draw? The pundits are predicting a sell-out however the Leeds public, many disenchanted with Bates have so far voted with their feet as far as the Capital One cup is concerned.

In last season's competition, Manchester United in round 3 drew around 6000 short of the grounds capacity, a fixture that just a few short years ago would have probably sold out twice over. This season, the crowds have hardy be significant, the 21000+ for the visit of Everton in round 3 was boosted by a big following from Merseyside and although the crowd were in excellent voice for Tuesday's victory over Southampton, the crowd of just 17002 was nearly 1200 less than the crowd who watched Leeds destroy lowly Shrewsbury 4-0 in the first round!

So if my prediction is correct and Bates still has the keys to ER in his pocket come December 19th, I cannot see many more than 30,000 turning up.

Photo: Action Images

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