It doesn't rain in LS11; it simply pours - Leeds United face fresh legal woes

Ah those days when being a football fan meant simply turning up on a Saturday, cheering your team on and then sinking a skin full of ale to either celebrate the win or wash away a bitter defeat.

Those days are long gone up LS11 Beeston way, long gone.

Being a Leeds United fan demands 24/7 application of resolve, iron will and determination in order to stop you sinking into the darkest depths of depression. It definitely doesn't drizzle on us - the heavens simply open up and shower us with a deluge when it comes to misfortune and bad luck. As if having an owner declared as a 'not fit and proper person' or a Football League-imposed transfer embargo wasn't enough, now Leeds United's once long-time parent company, Leeds City Holdings (LCH), has been taken to the High Court in London and had a winding-up order levied against it.

LCH is no longer the 'parent company as, since Massimo Cellino's takeover of Leeds United, Eleonora Immobiliare SPA (an Milan-based entity) has assumed that role; this being stated in the 2013/14 company accounts which read,

"On June 27, 2014, subsequent to a share issue, Eleonora Immobiliare SPA became the immediate parent. Until this date, Leeds City Holdings Limited was the immediate parent."

The debt that caused this petition to be issued which, whilst LCH no longer are associated with Leeds United, still affects the club is over a £45,000 debt not paid to former club solicitor Mark Taylor for work carried out in 2012 for ex-Leeds 'owner' Ken Bates. It seems that Leeds United just can't shake themselves rid of Captain Birdseye Bates.

Master Bates said that he'd spoken to Cellino over the 'liability' to Taylor and that Don Massimo had promised to settle the bill if dropped to '£40,00', which Taylor agreed to. However, since then, the outstanding bill has remained unsettled. Mark Taylor, the solicitor in question, has petitioned the High Court who have since bankrupted LCH and have appointed an official receiver to liquidate it.

Leeds United are fighting to overturn the winding-up petition with club 'chairman', Andrew Umbers saying,

"The debt is a solicitor’s bill which is incapable of founding a winding-up order. LCH is now taking the appropriate action."

So, get your Macintoshes and brollies out, seems another storm could be heading up ro Elland Road.