Crock of gold remains a mirage for Leeds United | David Conn

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New owners need further investment but tell disillusioned fans they are in it for the long haul

Leeds United's FA Cup fifth-round tie at Manchester City on Sunday recalls the titanic meeting at the same stage in 1977, when Leeds, still a power in English football, beat City 1-0, watched by 47,000 fans at Elland Road. City approach this game with renewed questions being posed over Roberto Mancini following last week's 3-1 defeat at Southampton but Leeds supporters would swap their situation greedily for the luxury of agonising about being second in the Premier League.

After almost eight largely depressing years under Ken Bates' control the Leeds hard core at a half-empty Elland Road hoped the takeover by GFH Capital, based in Dubai, owned in Bahrain, would be their version of City's Sheikh Mansour: multimillion-pound deliverance by a Middle East benefactor. Instead, eight weeks on, that optimism has crumpled for many into further disillusionment. Responding to the revelation by BBC Radio Leeds last week that they had turned down an offer from local businessmen – still unnamed – to buy a majority stake, GFH issued a statement professing they were "thrilled" with their January transfer window and "delighted with the progress made".

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