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March 21, 2003
(Friday)
Woodgate sale
created too great a rift
It has been a week of
redundancies at Leeds United, but few of the 20
shown the door by chairman Peter Ridsdale could have believed that
manager Terry Venables would be joining them on the street.
It has been a depressing few months at Elland Road and today's demise
of Venables will not improve that gloomy picture. At the end of the
month Leeds have to present their half-yearly accounts and, after a
season of on and offpitch turmoil, they are unlikely to make
comforting reading.
But despite the desperate state of Leeds' finances, the departure of
Venables will not be a cost-cutting exercise, but the inevitable
repercussion of an earlier scramble for cash.
In January, with the banks clamouring for money, Leeds went behind
Venables' back and sold 'a crown jewel' - England defender Jonathan
Woodgate to Newcastle for £8million.
The next 72 hours were to produce a rift between Venables and
Ridsdale that could never be mended. It was visible when Venables sat
stonyfaced and, at times, disbelievingly as Ridsdale attempted to
explain away the sale of Woodgate to a club long seen as a challenger
to Leeds for a Champions League place.
It was not the first time that Venables had watched as a star player
had been shipped out to a rival. His first move after succeeding
David O'Leary as manager last year was to wave Rio Ferdinand off to
Manchester United.
That Sunday a newspaper article, attributed to Venables, criticised
the deal - which had followed those involving Lee Bowyer and Robbie
Fowler.
It angered the Leeds chairman to such an extent that a parting of the
ways became inevitable. Venables was left in no doubt at Ridsdale's
displeasure.
Last July, when Venables was unveiled at Elland Road, he said he
believed he had joined a club with the potential to win trophies. He
felt his managerial career had been interrupted at Spurs where, after
FA Cup success in 1991, he sensed he could build a Championship-
winning side.
An acrimonious split with chairman Alan Sugar cut short his reign at
White Hart Lane in 1993.
After underlining his tactical and motivational skills by leading
England to within a penalty shoot-out of the Euro 96 final and then
rescuing Middlesbrough's Premiership status in 2001, he became ITV's
expert analyst, but found himself longing for a seat in the dug-out.
He said: ' Whenever my thoughts turned to my managerial career, I
couldn't help concluding that I hadn't really tested myself at the
top in England. ' That opportunity arose at Leeds.
The picture at Elland Road was to become increasingly bleak, however,
especially in the past seven weeks.
Leeds will have to sell again this summer and the split between
manager and chairman had made their position 'untenable'. So troubled
had the relationship become since Woodgate's departure, that the
Elland Road board had decided to monitor it on an almost daily basis.
Yesterday, they decided it had reached breaking point.
But it would be wrong to think that Venables will be the last high
profile departure. Ridsdale himself will pay the price for his
cavalier management style.
The word in the City is that the figures up to the end of December
2002 are significantly worse than feared and the negative publicity
they will attract, and the need to sell more players, is sure to
place more pressure on Ridsdale.
Shirt sponsors Strongbow have already decided not to renew their
£2.5m deal.
Ridsdale's power base will shrink when a new managing director is
appointed within the next month as Leeds follow the Manchester United
management structure.
The Elland Road board now want an equivalent of Peter Kenyon running
the club on a day-to- day basis with the chairman taking a back seat.
Ridsdale will remain as executive chairman only until the summer.
Whether he stays on even in a non-executive capacity is still unsure.
Certainly he is unlikely to be able to win back the support of
horrified fans who have watched as the club has crumbled. The
exclusive revelations in Sportsmail that Ridsdale had squandered
millions to agents have not helped the mood of the Elland Road
faithful.
They were stunned by the story that Ridsdale had agreed - albeit, he
claims, with board backing - to an extraordinary £1.75m payment to
discredited Norwegian agent Rune Hauge to secure the signing of Rio
Ferdinand from West Ham.
Until Ridsdale's involvement in transfers at Elland Road it is
thought the club had never paid more than £100,000 to an agent.
Fans will look back on Ridsdale's profligacy with anger and they, as
well as many shareholders, will demand a full disclosure of the money
Leeds have spent on agents.
The answers to those questions, just like the forthcoming accounts,
will make interesting but depressing reading.
Next article: Woodgate
returns for Rovers clash
Previous article:
Woodgate's home return
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