Soccer: Leeds to survive day of reckoning

LEEDS face another day of reckoning today but it is one they are likely to survive — for now at least.

Monday January 19 was the date when the future of the Elland Road outfit was to have been decided, but it appears the financially-crippled club will be allowed to limp on as they continue their increasingly desperate attempts to bring in cash to stave off administration.

Last month Leeds agreed a "standstill agreement" with their creditors, to whom they owe a combined £82m, which bought them breathing space.

Chief executive Trevor Birch revealed the club is on the verge of securing a short extension to today's deadline which would give them time to confirm a £5m cash injection to see them through to May.

"We are very close to reaching an agreement with the principal creditors that will give us an extension of at least a week to enable us to put the funds in place to fund the club for the rest of the season," he said.

"We have some certainty then, we are either still in the Premier League or relegated and both scenarios provide different solutions. We are fairly confident we can put that package together next week, a number of options being considered to raise that."

Chairman Professor John McKenzie and deputy chairman Allan Leighton stepped down from their executive roles last month to concentrate on securing rescue packages, but so far their efforts have been fruitless.

Bahrain-based lifelong Leeds fan Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa also claimed to be brokering a deal with Middle Eastern money men which would solve the problems but has so far failed to deliver the goods.

In fact, in light of increasing speculation last week that the sheikh was ready to launch a takeover bid, which resulted in Leeds shares rising by 40% on Friday, the club issued a statement to the Stock Exchange in which they said: "The company has not received any satisfactory evidence from Sheikh Al Khalifa that funds exist to fulfil any proposal currently under discussion between him and the company."

And Birch has hit out at the sheikh for making claims he has not been able to substantiate.

"It's clear that nobody is out there wanting to take the risk on relegation because it brings with it a big trading loss. Anybody buying at this stage is taking a risk they will be on the hook for that next year," Birch said.

"But I'm certainly getting fed up of reading what he's about to do in the papers, it's really a time to show us the colour of his money, to put up or shut up.

"I think it's done nobody any favours. It just leads to people being upset when those deadlines aren't reached." But the £5m Birch claims will be injected from an outside source means Leeds are likely to be given until the end of the season to sort out their difficulties.

The players have also been approached about the possibility of a wage deferral scheme of up to 33% which would free up extra cash for the remaining four months of the season.

That would be the best Leeds could hope for as their only two other options administration or the sale of their remaining star players are unpalatable in the extreme.

Creditors MetLife, Teachers and M&G, as well as player-leasing agents Registered European Football Finance Ltd, do not want to see the club go into administration.