O'Leary did not leave over Rio, insists Ridsdale

LEEDS chairman Peter Ridsdale has once again insisted David O'Leary did not leave Elland Road because of a difference of opinion over the decision to sell Rio Ferdinand.

The switch comes a couple of weeks after Terry Venables replaced O’Leary.

Ridsdale said yesterday: ‘‘David O’Leary told the plc board that if we received a bid of £30m or more he would recommend that we took it because you could not turn down a bid of that magnitude for any player.