Leeds United are in the middle of a heated promotion battle with ten games left in the Championship season. However, behind the scenes the club are set to undergo a seachange. CEO Angus Kinnear will leave at the end of the season to join Everton and he is expected to take two or three key figures with him. However, more importantly, Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe could get involved at Rangers in the summer if the takeover of the club gets finalised. Whites supporters are unsure about what it would entail for Leeds if the chairman becomes embroiled at Ibrox. The Leeds ownership has provided no clarity over the situation and it has led to speculation about what could happen.
The flux behind the scenes at Leeds United ahead of the summer has come as a shock for the fans who are trying to focus on helping their team get promoted at the business end of the season.
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The 49ers have been steady owners for Leeds, but it seems they are trying to branch out and establish a multi-club model by acquiring Glasgow giants Rangers.
The Scottish giants are welcoming new investment as they look to try and close down the gap with Celtic, but at Leeds, there is trepidation about the future and their owners getting involved at another British institution.
If Leeds get promoted to the Premier League, they would be in a completely different financial reality compared to Rangers and some have suggested the latter could become the feeder club for the Whites.
However, Leeds have been warned that Rangers are a bigger club and a bigger institution than the Whites.
Leeds United will become Rangers’ feeder club if the 49ers succeed – Graeme Souness
Souness is a club legend at Rangers and his opinion carries a lot of weight for their fans as they look forward to a new ownership in the summer.
Some Rangers have been left unimpressed by suggestions that their club could become the pathway for players to Leeds going forward.
However, Souness warned that anyone buying Rangers need to understand the enormity of the club and the institution and feels Leeds could become the feeder club for the Glasgow giants.
He insisted that Rangers have massive potential and if the new owners manage to succeed and move them forward, they would be a bigger club than Leeds.
“Any prospective buyer of the Glasgow Rangers will quickly understand that they are not just buying a football club – they are buying an institution”, Souness told the Scottish Daily Mail (cited by Ibrox News)
“If it were to be 49ers, there’s early talk that Rangers could become a feeder club for Leeds. But if they were to take Rangers up a few more rungs, I believe it could be the other way around.
“There’s such huge potential to take this club to another level.”
The 49ers are playing with fire
The good thing for the ownership is that the fans are focused on a tight promotion race as Leeds push to return to the club at the end of the season.
Marathe’s move to be part of a consortium who are looking to buy Rangers has not been popular as the Leeds fans expect him to focus on the club ahead of a pivotal summer.
The multi-club model is becoming more prevalent across Europe, but it has led to the withering of proud clubs who have been reduced to feeder status to bigger clubs.
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Leeds and Rangers are both huge teams and neither deserves to be a feeder club for anyone, and the 49ers’ approach could lead to massive backlash from the fans.
However, the two clubs are in different financial realities even before Leeds go back to the Premier League.
Rangers posted a record income of £94.2m last year but Leeds’ income last year was north of the £200m figure, without Premier League football.
If Leeds go up, their income would grow exponentially while Scottish football still remains several levels behind the Premier League in terms of finances.
Leeds would be the crown jewel of the 49ers multi-club system even if they buy Rangers next summer.
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