When David haigh first appeared on the scene as the face of GFH-C, it seemed Leeds United finally had an owner to be proud of. After years of Ken Bates shaking his fist at the camera and providing embarrassing, and sometimes illegal soundbites, the sharp suited, always smiling, locally rooted Haigh was quickly and affectionately nicknamed 'Beeston Dave'.
Scepticism existed in some quarters - Beeston Dave pretty much fitted into the mould vacated by Peter Ridsdale a decade earlier, and we all know how that turned out, but generally speak, David Haigh was professional, articulate and connected well with the fans.
His tenure started well, and when GFH-C ran into money worries, Haigh was the man to sort it, mounting a bid together with Andrew Flowers to buy the club. He even secured funding to pump into Leeds to pay the bills and keep us solvent.
A few alarm bells started to ring when the Flowers bid faltered and Haigh jumped in with Cellino in the blink of an eye, and even appeared to be entertaining Mike Farnan for a while. Haigh seemed intent on dumping anyone that was no use to him. Around the same time, the wheels didn't start to fall off the Haigh PR machine - it was up on bricks and none existent.
Still Haigh persevered, and the Cellino buy-out had Haigh firmly in the frame as CEO in the post GFH-C world. An important part of his willingness to negotiate with Cellino perhaps?
Scepticism existed in some quarters - Beeston Dave pretty much fitted into the mould vacated by Peter Ridsdale a decade earlier, and we all know how that turned out, but generally speak, David Haigh was professional, articulate and connected well with the fans.
His tenure started well, and when GFH-C ran into money worries, Haigh was the man to sort it, mounting a bid together with Andrew Flowers to buy the club. He even secured funding to pump into Leeds to pay the bills and keep us solvent.
A few alarm bells started to ring when the Flowers bid faltered and Haigh jumped in with Cellino in the blink of an eye, and even appeared to be entertaining Mike Farnan for a while. Haigh seemed intent on dumping anyone that was no use to him. Around the same time, the wheels didn't start to fall off the Haigh PR machine - it was up on bricks and none existent.
Still Haigh persevered, and the Cellino buy-out had Haigh firmly in the frame as CEO in the post GFH-C world. An important part of his willingness to negotiate with Cellino perhaps?
But Cellino was having none of it, and with virtually his first action, he dismissed with Haighs services and Beeston Dave left Leeds.
Roll forward a few weeks, and David Haigh and the company he formed to lend Leeds United the money to survive, has now served a statutory demand for £957,000, which Leeds have yet to pay, and a winding up order, scheduled to be heard in the High Court on 9th June 2014. The very man who proclaimed he was helping the club by securing funds, is now using those same funds to try to close the club down.
Cellino is quiet on the matter. He has already seen off demands for payment from Andrew Flowers and HMRC, and paid the outstanding wage bill, but his response to the latest demand is unknown. Questioning the validity of the debt is likely to be one reason that it hasn't simply been paid as Cellino unpicks the web of debt and strange accounting left behind by GFH-C.
But for Beeston Dave, the man who appeared to be a calm, professional and passionate Director, with Leeds at his heart, has completed his downfall, and will simply be remembered as yet another individual who tried to use Leeds United to line his own pockets and personal interest.
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