Ken Bates has insisted that Leeds have been given ''a clean start'' after his consortium bought the troubled League One club - but doubts remain over the club's Football League future.

The Elland Road club were put up for sale on Friday by administrators KPMG after the Inland Revenue launched a legal challenge to Bates' plans to buy back the club from administration.

Bates is now looking to taking the club forward as they prepare for their first season outside of the top two divisions after KPMG agreed to sell to Bates.

He said: ''It's a sense of achievement and a challenge.

''Leeds were in a mess when we took over - the Peter Ridsdale era and the last board were incompetent.

''But now we've got a clean start and a clean sheet of paper.

''It's a big club - it's not at the moment but it will be - and we can take it forward. And part of the reason why we're going to succeed is because these Leeds fans are absolutely magnificent.

'Ninety-nine per cent of the letters and e-mails are supporting us and that's not bad. That's as good as Saddam Hussein did and he was fiddling the figures.''

Bates admitted the chaos surrounding the club's future had prevented manager Dennis Wise signing players as he prepares for an assault on League One.

He said: ''Dennis had a shopping list and one of the results of the delay - so thank you everyone who has given us grief - is that a number of players Dennis had lined up have now signed for other clubs because they didn't have a job.

''They had mortgages to pay but they joined other clubs even though they wanted to come to Leeds.But there are still plenty there and we're satisfied and confident that we'll build a strong enough team to be at the top of the league rather than mid-table.''

He added: ''I remember someone at Chelsea saying that we couldn't go up because we weren't ready for it.

''You go up when you can - not when you want to. Our plan is to win every match next season, which we won't - but that's the target."