Leeds United, four days away from going into administration, have asked their players to take a 20% pay cut — and put all their big-name stars up for sale.
Media reports on Thursday said the Premiership club called in Professional Footballers’ Association boss Gordon Taylor for an emergency meeting with the club’s entire playing staff in a desperate attempt to ease their £80-million debt.
Leeds asked Taylor to hold negotiations with the players about taking a 20% deferral of wages for the length of their contracts as the club faces going into administration if they do not find a solution to their financial crisis by the Monday deadline set by creditors.
Leeds are willing to listen to offers for Australian centre-forward Mark Viduka, goalkeeper Paul Robinson and striker Alan Smith.
Viduka — currently on compassionate leave in Australia to be with his ill father — has even been offered on loan to a string of top clubs, including Manchester United, just to get his £65 000-a-week salary off the wage bill.
Tottenham are keen on England’s number two ‘keeper Robinson but they will wait until after Monday’s deadline to see whether the club goes into administration so they can pick him up even cheaper than the current £2-million price tag.
Leeds would like all their players to take a 20% drop in wages but there may be a compromise with the players accepting the cut until the end of the season.
The players were to announce their decision later on Thursday after holding an emergency meeting.
Chief executive and acting chairperson Trevor Birch has tried to reassure the players that he is working on a rescue plan that would see an injection of cash to keep the club going until the end of the season.
Birch then hopes that one of the three interested consortia, which include former deputy plc chairperson Allan Leighton, Bahrain Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Khalifa and Chinese businessman Xu Ming, will step in and take over the club.
The consortia have been put off making a bid for Leeds now because they fear the club will be relegated and First Division football would cost the Elland Road outfit about £25-million in lost revenue.
The three bidders want to see which league Leeds will be playing in next season before pouring in their millions.
Nearly £3-million was wiped off Leeds’s value on Monday after the listed company admitted none of the parties would make an offer for the company’s shares.
Any rescue package is certain to centre around a cash injection to pay off a proportion of the debt to the club’s bond holders, who are owed £60-million, or a bid for the club’s assets, including the Elland Road ground.
Leeds are second from bottom and their result at Southampton on Saturday could influence the decision of the creditors and investors in negotiations with the Leeds board. — Sapa-AFP