The Daily Express claim the reign of Ken Bates at Leeds United is not over yet, far from it in fact.

Yesterday most media outlets and fans groups were convinced the long, drawn-out, painful Leeds United takeover saga was finally coming to a satisfying conclusion following Gulf Finance House's announcement to the Bahrain stock-exchange.

However most folk clearly missed the word "broker" which could imply that GFH's role is merely to oversea a takeover by a yet unnamed third party.

Are we heading back to the days of the Forward Sports Fund?

The Daily Express reckon it could take "a couple more weeks" to go through and any deal might not necessarily mean the end of Ken Bates association with Leeds United.

It has been rumoured over the past couple of weeks that any deal could involve Bates staying on, even in a Consultancy type role.

Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay also offered some insight on Talksport's "Kick Off" show yesterday evening when he told Danny Kelly and Mark Saggers he thought a takeover was certain, however intriguingly Hay suggested there might be more than just one interested bidder.

Obviously an auction would benefit Ken's retirement fund nicely, thank-you but according to Peter Lorimer he is not in this for the money and never has been!

As well as attacking the Leeds United Supporters Trust in last weeks address to the White Nation, Bates also laid into Phil Hay suggesting he stick to football not financial journalism.

During a private conversation I had with Mr Bates earlier this year, he was less than complimentary about Hay and as a family-man could not possibly repeat in public what was said.

So as "Takeover Thursday" passes us by, I think the best cliche to sum up the current state of affairs at Elland Road is "close but not cigar"!

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