Phil Hay: 49ers takeover of Leeds United won’t include Thorp Arch
Phil Hay has shared that the 49ers takeover of Leeds United will not include Thorpe Arch in the next two years.
Alongside David Ornstein, the Athletic duo shared on Monday (6th December) that the 49ers Enterprises have the option to complete a full takeover before 2024.
That would include everything including Elland Road for just under £500million, but the buy-back clause on the training ground ended over 10 years ago.
Writing on his personal Twitter account, Hay shared that the takeover won’t give the 49ers Enterprises everything.
“No,” he said. “The buy back on that expired in 2009.”
Not too bad.
Thankfully, there are plans already in stone for a new training ground.
The 49ers are the perfect owners to help with that too, having built the famous Levi’s Stadium back in 2014, costing well over $1billions.
With plans to also expand Elland Road over 50,000 capacity, there is a busy few years ahead in West Yorkshire to modernise everything for the Whites.
The Elland Road redevelopment is taking centre-stage though, with training ground plans scrapped momentarily while that redevelop eventually takes shape (TEAMtalk).
For now, Thorp Arch will take centre-stage for at least a few more years, and it will be interesting to see if and when they push forward with a new training ground.
Work and upgrades have taken place at the training ground in recent years, but nowhere near as big as those around the stadium, so there will always be one eye on the future.
It may not happen imminently, but the goal will always be to move away from Thorp Arch, it will be sad to wave goodbye.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites are ready to make major January signings with unexpected deals to force action