Venables: Time is running out

Leeds manager Terry Venables has admitted his job is on the line after the Yorkshire club’s poor run of results.

The Elland Road club find themselves in 14th place in the Premiership after losing eight of Venables’ 15 games in charge.

The former England manager only succeeded David O’Leary in the summer, but has conceded “it doesn’t look like I’m getting time on this occasion” while also criticising the war of words between his predecessor and Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale.

“The fact is the results are not good enough yet, and the players and the staff will be the first to say that,” said Venables.

“If I feel that I am not doing well enough and it’s not helping anyone, you’ve got to have a look at that because stubbornness is not a strength in my book.

“I think you’ve got to look at it and see how it can improve, and if you have to make a decision at some stage on that, you have to do it.

“But when I’ve had time I’ve always done well wherever I’ve gone. Now it doesn’t look like I’m getting time on this occasion. The pressure has been on very, very, very early and that’s been a bit of a shock.

“I know if you lose games the fans are not going to be happy. It’s as simple as that. Whether they have made their mind up that if even if you have a run and you then lose one, and they feel the same, then that’s not good for the club in general.

“Something will have to happen, maybe. But it helps if they support the team. That is why they are called supporters.

“You do need patience, there’s no doubt about it. All around the club we need to stick together a lot tighter than we have done.”

The feud between O’Leary and Ridsdale reared its ugly head again at the weekend with the ex-manager claiming he was in no way to blame for Leeds’ current demise after the chairman had previously suggested the current decline started under the Irishman.

O’Leary, who is still embroiled in a £2.5m (€3.9m) compensation battle with Ridsdale and Leeds following his sacking in June, feels aggrieved at comments he left behind a bad team, claiming such words are “disgusting”.

It is a spat which has done little to aid Venables’ cause in the face of a growing crisis both on and off the field, knowing there remains an undercurrent of ill-feeling between Ridsdale and O’Leary.

Clearly the cracks which Venables has previously spoken of are widening as he said: “There are lots of problem areas around the club which don’t help, but they are the things you sometimes have to deal with.

“I mean the chairman has had a lot of publicity. Of course he and David O’Leary seem to constantly have this battle which is not helpful.

“While David O’Leary has said that I said we’re going to win the championship. Now where that one comes from I don’t know.”

The message from an unhappy and under-pressure Venables is clearly for both men to bury the hatchet and shut up because the friction between them is damaging the club.

It is a situation Venables does not need, especially with his under-performing players having won just one of their last nine Premier League games to leave Leeds four points off the relegation zone.

Venables, who has never been sacked in his managerial career, has so far stated he will not walk away from Leeds, but his stance now appears to have shifted a little in the wake of the maelstrom which is swirling around Elland Road.

He is also set for showdown transfer talks with Ridsdale to discover if another six players need to be trimmed from the squad as was stated at the weekend.

Venables has already intimated Leeds’ parlous financial position, with the club now almost £78m (€122m) in debt, was not clarified when Ridsdale first sounded him out about the United job in the summer.

Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane have since been sold to ease the debts, and contrary to Venables’ apparent belief, more sales need to be made, particularly if he wants to bring in his own players when the transfer window reopens in January.

When asked about Ridsdale’s comments that further players will have to move on before signings can be made, Venables said: “I read that.

“It’s very difficult to do one without the other, especially when you’ve got this period (in January) to make transfers in or out of the club.

“I want to try and keep as many of our players as possible and add to it, now if the club policy is different, that is something me and the chairman will be discussing.”