* Click here to watch the latest edition of the Boot Room looking ahead to the visit of Brighton.

United have set in motion plans to establish an independent finance strategy designed to raise the seven-figure sum needed to regain Thorp Arch before the buy-back agreement which the club hold on their training ground expires next year.

Robinson says Albion game is a must-win: Click here for full interview.

Leeds have until October 2009 to fund the repurchase of Thorp Arch under the terms of the sale-and-leaseback deal agreed when the complex was sold in 2004, and the club are looking to their fans to finance the investment and allow United to regain long-term control of the facility.

Ken Bates has asked two Leeds-based businessmen to set up a scheme that will be run independently of United's chairman and overseen by a major and established financial institution, which will also act as a trustee. The YEP understands that the scheme will involve units in Thorp Arch – effectively shares in the property – being sold to supporters in the hope of meeting the cost of the buy-back deal.

The exact number of units available for sale and the cost of each individual unit will be confirmed when the project is officially launched, but the system will see the investment of every supporter repaid with interest at a later date.

If the re-purchase option is successfully taken up, it is believed that United plan to pay out on around five per cent of Thorp Arch's units annually, a process which would theoretically take 20 years and run until around 2029, the point at which the club are required to buy back their Elland Road stadium.

Leeds would continue to pay rent on their Wetherby complex, thereby funding both the interest and ultimate repayment due on each unit purchased by fans, but the new lease would be likely to cost United less than the current annual rent on Thorp Arch, which stands at almost £486,000 and increases by three per cent every year.

The exact cost of the buy-back option put in place when Thorp Arch was sold to Manchester property developer Jacob Adler by the Leeds board fronted by former chairman Gerald Krasner is presently £5,828,131.

Leeds estimate that stamp duty and legal costs involved in completing the transfer of ownership would push the repurchase cost above £6million.

Bates and his fellow directors, however, will have no control over the investment scheme, and Thorp Arch would remain in the hands of trustees until Leeds complete the entire repayment of the investment made by their fans.

Bates told the YEP: "This is something I'd been thinking about for a while and it moved on after I discussed it with a friend of mine who's also a Leeds fan and a major businessman.

"One of the first things he said was that any scheme needs to be run totally independently of me and the club, and I agree with him.

Supporters who've got any reservations about me personally need to be able to see that this is for the benefit of the club and not Ken Bates. I won't have any control over it.

"These businessman are putting the plans together and we'll have a major bank or financial institution behind it to make sure that everything is totally transparent, above board and successful."

United are still to confirm a date for the launch of the project but the club have just 12 months in which to finance the buy-back deal.

The proposed investment scheme does not involve Elland Road, which was also sold by Krasner's board in 2004 but, unlike Thorp Arch, carries a 25-year repurchase option running until 2029.