Ken Bates has revealed he snubbed the chance to bring back goalscoring legend Jermaine Beckford back to the club - twice.

Beckford wrote his place into the annals of the Leeds United history books with 85 goals in three seasons, including the famous winner at Manchester United in the Third Round of the FA Cup in 2010 and scoring in our win over Bristol Rovers that sealed our promotion to the Championship.

Beckford left for Everton that summer on a Bosman-free, but stayed at Goodison for little over a year before making his shock switch to big-spending Leicester on transfer-deadline day last August.

After an initial sticky start, Beckford has scored a respectable 15 goals for the Foxes and is assured a warm-welcome on Saturday when Leeds face Leicester in the "dead rubber" end of season showdown.

However it might have all been so different, had Bates taken up one of two offers he claims to have received to secure Beckford's services for a second time.

In his weekly Wednesday broadcast on Yorkshire Radio, Mr Bates told listeners: ""He was offered to us to come back on a permanent basis on two occasions this season but we declined because we want to move forward."

Beckford inevitably divides opinion amongst Leeds fans, some regard him as a legend whilst others felt he was big-headed and selfish.

His talent however is undeniable. Whether or not he would have made much difference this season is very debatable because our failures have been at the back, not so much scoring goals!

Sorry Ken, cannot buy this, I feel a more likely reason (and rightfully so) is the £40,000 per week Beckford is rumoured to be getting.

Photo: Action Images

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