Leeds chief attacks frivolous Ridsdale regime

LEEDS UNITED chairman John McKenzie has blamed “irresponsibility and indulgent spending” as the reasons behind the Premiership club’s shocking financial state.

Professor of Economics McKenzie has been left stunned by what he has also described as "the frivolous nature of the expenditure" for a cash-strapped club which just seven weeks ago, and upon his appointment as successor to Peter Ridsdale, announced debts of £78.9 million.

McKenzie has sifted through the accounts and found many startling revelations, including: £5.7m in compensation to former bosses David O'Leary and Terry Venables; £600,000 a year on a fleet of over 70 company cars, with £70,000 spent on one vehicle; £70,000 in one year on private jets for directors/senior management; £70,000 recruitment expenses on a senior management figure who left the club less than six months later.

Leeds are also contributing £500,000 a year to Robbie Fowler's wages, despite the fact he was sold to Manchester City in January. Remarkably, the club also spent £240 a year on goldfish for the chairman's office, and unsurprisingly they have now gone as part of the cost-cutting measures undertaken by McKenzie.

McKenzie's findings will come as a major surprise to fans who have constantly asked this season why the club is in such financial dire straits and why the sale of several star players barely scraped the surface of the debts.

They now have their answer, with McKenzie stating: "The club has been guilty of indulgent spending on several fronts. This is unacceptable at any time but especially at a time when the club was losing vast amounts of money."

McKenzie believes Leeds' parlous position could have been avoided, adding: "It's a simple business, but the complexity lies in sorting out the borrowing and the frivolous nature of the expenditure. There's been irresponsibility and indulgent spending, yet if we'd been prudent elsewhere in the administration side of the business there's a fair chance the club could have carried on living the dream."

McKenzie's cutbacks have led to a number of redundancies being made, with the club saving more than £5m annually.

Only this week assistant manager Eddie Gray and first-team coach Brian Kidd also left, slashing another £1m off the company wage bill.

The resignations of Ridsdale, finance director Stephen Harrison and operations director David Spencer will also eventually save the Yorkshire club a further £1m.

The behind-the-scenes changes have been necessary for the financial survival of the club, with McKenzie claiming: "People may think I'm ruthless but that's not the case at all. I've had to make a lot of unpleasant decisions since I came in, but the business must come first or else everyone loses; the fans, the team and the employees.

"There are sadnesses, particularly because I liked the three directors who have gone.

"Equally, on the football management side, Peter Reid will want his own staff in and it would have been a mistake not to change anything."

McKenzie, who was strongly opposed to the £9m sale of Jonathan Woodgate to Newcastle in January a transfer which provoked uproar at Elland Road is convinced the club's narrow escape from relegation was due in part to the turmoil off the pitch. But the Leeds United chairman is confident the tide is turning.