Can father Christmas save Leeds United?

Leeds United are sitting one place off bottom in the Championship table today, defeat away at Luton could see them dropping to the foot of the table. It was only five years ago that Leeds were contesting for a place in the Champions League final, they lost the second leg of that semi with Valencia 3-0. Since then, it has gone from bad to worse.

Peter Ridsdale and his fellow directors left the club in a shambolic state with huge debts, relegation followed plus a succession of changes on and off the park with much of the clubs family silverware being sold off.

Ken Bates eventually came in and tookover from Gerald Krasner, who is a company insolvency specialist and has no background in football, but he helped to steady the ship and make it more of an attractive proposition for prospective buyers. Enter Ken Bates and the £10m for his 50% stake in the club. The former Chelsea chairman famously bought Chelsea for £1 and in his eyes helped to save Chelsea's future.

Others see his time at the West London club differenty. Not so long ago Chelsea were £90million in debt and there was talk of the banks calling in their loans. Bates and Chelsea were saved by Oligarch Roman Abramovich, for now, all is well at his former club.

This week Leeds lost at home to Leicester City, they were watched by a crowd of just over 16,000, this for a one club city like Leeds is appalling. There's talk of even closing down the Lurpack stand for some games. Where did it all go wrong? That is a question that many Leeds fans must ask themselves now and again.

Father Christmas in disguise? He might look cudly but Bates has an eye for a bargain, and so there won't be that many seasons of goodwill - would Leeds fans really care if Roman MkII turns up bearing gifts?

However, it isn't all bad, Leeds debts have been largely wiped out, the club announced that it was in nearly in the black recently. Is the time right for Bates to cash in again like he did at Chelsea?