The Dubai based bank completed their takeover of Leeds last December but whilst the majority of fans welcomed a change of ownership, many were miffed that Bates would take up the role of Honourary club president for a fixed-term period of three-years, the role vacated since the death of George Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood on 2011.

Bates officially stood down as Chairman on June 30th, taking up his new role the following dy but just 26 days later, he has gone!

Tonight Leeds United MD David Haigh said: "Ken Bates has ceased to be President of Leeds United Football Club. Mr Bates will now no longer have any role within the football club."

The brief statement will have the message-boards and twitter feeds buzzing with speculation as to why the divisive Bates has gone, however on my opinion it represents another sensible move by GFH in moving the club forward into the future.

Firstly Bates often funny, hugely controversial and invariably libellous programme notes were dropped. Admission prices, so often the bone of contention and hiked up during the Bates era were cut.

Leeds United moved quickly to re-engage with the local BBC, another one of many organisations to fall foul of the ex-Chairman's notorious volatile nature and earlier today Leeds welcomed the Leeds United Supporters Club back on board after years in exile following Bates' decision to favour Regional Members Clubs.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Bates over Easter 2012 and found him funny, charming and mildly offensive, I will acknowledge he is one of the last if not the last unique characters in the game. However PR wise he was a disaster for this football club.

I must admit, when he came in back in 2005 I was pleased that at last, we had a chairman who knew about football and with his very bristling nature would stand up to our many critics in the game. Instead he created a culture akin to civil war in our club, a morale sapping near seven year tenure which saw us slip to the lowest League standing in our history and suffer the humiliation of going into administration.

Fans stayed away, those who did still bother to turn up argued and squabbled amongst themselves. When we did dare to speak up, Bates branded us as"morons", "empty vessels", "sickpots" et al. His pathetic personal vendetta with former Director Melvyn Levy cost us more in legal fees than we sold Robert Snodgrass for.

No doubt the reasons why this sharp turn of events has happened will become public knowledge in a few days time, however I congratulate GFH capital for giving the cub,its fans and the city a massive morale boost a week before the season by either accepting his resignation or asking him to go.

Photo: Action Images

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