Phil Hay can’t understand why the 49ers haven’t bought Leeds United in the past, especially after their great 2020/21 season.
For a prolonged period of time now, the 49ers have held a minority stake in Leeds United alongside majority owner Andrea Radrizzani and despite a lot of talk and murmurings of them increasing that stake, nothing has come to fruition.
A lot of Leeds fans would likely love nothing more than for the 49ers to increase their stake in the club and get Radrizzani out of the club to at least remove him from having the major say in the decision at Elland Road considering there were chants of sack the board last week.
Hay has revealed his confusion on The Phil Hay Show as to what has been the delay in the 49ers’ takeover of the club.
(18:20) “We often talk about the 49ers and the option they have to buy the club, the idea of them becoming majority shareholders and time seems to tick by, time always seems to tick by, and the option runs until 2024.
“So in terms of the deadline or the date for it, they’re in no mad rush, but this always confused me slightly as to why they don’t want to get their teeth into this properly and why they didn’t want to take it on at the high watermark when things were going so well.
Will the 49ers increase their stake in Leeds?
Yes!
No!
“The club was I think absolutely at its peak in 2021 at the end of that COVID season and there’s been a decline since then absolutely. There’s been a decline on the coaching front, there’s been a decline on the playing front and there hasn’t been progress with the development of the stadium, not that we’ve been made aware of.”
TIF Thoughts on the 49ers…
It is quite bizarre that the 49ers have the option to buy the club off of Radrizzani, so it wouldn’t take too much working out logistically, but still, they persist on remaining just in the background and not owning the club outright.
Given the decision made over the last 12 months at Leeds, such as sacking Marcelo Bielsa and selling both Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips in the same transfer window, it’s no surprise Leeds fans are keen to see a change at boardroom level.
However, if the 49ers’ silence is anything to go by, then they won’t be taking a plunge and big step forward anytime soon, meaning Radrizanni will continue to be the main voice of the club.