“Lined up, shot, and never allowed to work in football again” – Leeds loan clauses blasted by Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony

Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony says those who agreed to the relegation loan clauses in a number of Leeds United players’ contracts should never be allowed to work in football again.

Seven players have left Elland Road on loan over the summer, with five of those full internationals, with Leeds missing out on the opportunity to cash in and rebuild a squad fit for a promotion charge.

It has left new manager Daniel Farke in a hole, with only four players arriving at the Whites to combat the 16 departures, with more expected through the exit door over the next two weeks, including Tyler Adams who is now on the verge of signing for Bournemouth.

But with no money coming into the club and financial fair play rules leaving Farke’s hands tied, people have been left questioning the loan clauses that have created this mess for the German manager.

And speaking on The Hard Truth podcast, Peterborough owner MacAnthony launched a scathing attack on those who have caused the currently mess at Leeds.

He said: “Whoever put a [bleep] loan clause in for relegation needs to be lined up, shot, and never allowed to work in football again. I don’t know who did those deals – the guy that was there before? I’m sure it’s not the current ownership.

“The idea that…yes, [I understand] a relegation [transfer] clause, you sign a premium young player from Europe, their agent is going to go ‘well Leeds are going to go down, if Leeds go down, £25m’, so [Leeds] get their money back and a profit.

“But to allow a clause that states that said player can go out on loan if his wages are paid for the season, where you get none of your fee back…the player can go on loan, have a [bleep] season wherever they go on loan and then completely lose their value – and worse than that, your team is weakened.

“I feel sorry for the people that have now taken over fully that that’s happened, and I feel sorry for the manager, because they’ve lost some [bleep] key players, they’re going to continue to lose players – they lost Harrison last week, one of the strikers doesn’t want to play – and the worst part is they haven’t really done any business.

“So I don’t know if it’s going to be like lastminute.com where you’re going to see Leeds sign five or six players. I’ve said this before, they are a [bleep] gigantic club. I think they’re under good new ownership, I think they’re going to be fine, I do think they’re going to get back to the Premier League in the next two years.

“But they need to put their foot down on bringing in players to help Daniel Farke, and that needs to happen from tomorrow onwards with two weeks left in the window, so that late in the window they haven’t got issues with it, and they need to learn that never again do you ever agree to put a loan clause in.

“Sell clause, fine for relegation, but a loan close…[bleep] move on to another player. So that was just bad business from the previous hierarchy, allowing that to happen, and I feel for the Leeds fans.”

Strong words… but he’s speaking the truth!

The fact MacAnthony said these words on a podcast called ‘The Hard Truth’ is appropiate, because it is just that.

Whether it was Andrea Radrizzani, Victor Orta, Angus Kinnear or all three who decided on these clauses, somebody needs to be man enough to put their hands up and take responsibility and explain this mess.

An explanation on why this was done probably won’t ease the constant blows Leeds fans and Farke are having to take at present, but it would at least give some clarity on the thought process behind these clauses – if there was one!

As Farke said in his press conference, no other football club is facing the issues we are at present… so why is that? FFP?

It makes absolutely no sense to anyone and it seems unlikely we’ll be given an explanation anytime soon given Radrizzani and Orta have done a runner back into Europe and Kinnear has the mute button on!