Simon Grayson reveals Ken Bates transfer veto that crushed his Leeds United promotion dream | OneFootball

Simon Grayson says Ken Bates blocked the defensive signings he requested during Leeds United’s 2010-11 push for promotion, a decision he believes proved costly.

Speaking on The Managers podcast, Grayson said: “I wanted to go and sign a centre-back, and the two I went after were – one was Gareth McAuley, and one was Kaspars Gorkss, who was a Latvian lad at Blackpool and ended up being at Reading and QPR, I think, in the end.”

He added: “Ken’s sort of idea was, no, we’ve got to second in the division with this group; you might as well run all the way with them. Which we all know, you strengthen, you sign players when you’re in a good position, don’t you?”

Grayson continued: “Then, we just missed out on the playoffs by two or three points, and it was a real opportunity for us to at least be in the playoffs. Them players could have played in the Premier League. I turned down, that year, two chances to go to Premier League clubs, but because I thought I could fulfil my ambition with Leeds United… just didn’t happen.”

Leeds conceded 70 league goals that season and finished seventh, slipping out of the automatic places and missing the play-offs. McAuley later spent seven seasons in the Premier League with West Brom, while Gorkss earned promotions with QPR and Reading.

Source: Leedsunited.news

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