Leeds fans tell Rio to pledge future or leave

Rio Ferdinand should be allowed to leave Elland Road if he no longer wants to play for Leeds, claims supporters club chairman Ray Fell.

Fell is anxious for Ferdinand to come out and say he is happy to remain at Leeds as the defender mulls over whether or not to ask for a move to Manchester United.

However if the England international decides he does not want to stay, then Fell claims Leeds should let him go because he only wants players who are 100% committed to the club.

“At the end of the day if a player wants to go then we should say ’off you go’ because I only want players who want to play for Leeds,” he told PA Sport.

“Centre-halves aren’t always as hard to replace as other key positions and we’ve got some good talent at Elland Road and we already have some good centre-halves.

“Nonetheless the fans would be more than happy if he did stay.”

Fell claims the supporters are growing tired of the whole ’will he, won’t he?’ saga and he fears the omens are that he will ask to leave.

“It’s been dragging on now for a good month and the fans are perplexed by the whole thing,” he said.

“There haven’t even been any negotiations between the clubs.

“It’s frustrating because even though Leeds keep saying he’s not for sale, the whole thing just keeps going on and on in the media.

“It seems he went to the World Cup a happy Leeds player and came home a dissatisfied one.

“The way things are dragging on, I’m a little bit less confident of him staying, but it’s still in the lap of the gods and we’ll just have to bat it out.”