Reid vows to battle on

Peter Reid’s future as Leeds boss looks increasingly bleak following the demoralising 6-1 rout at Portsmouth – although he will not quit.

Earlier this season United boss Reid held onto his job against all odds when the club’s directors decided to listen to the fans who said he deserved more time to turn things round.

But after the biggest humiliation of a sorry season, new chief executive Trevor Birch and the board must decide whether their position at the bottom of the Barclaycard Premiership is down to Reid or a squad held together by youngsters and loan signings.

Leeds, with a massive £78m (€113m) debt and having already announced a record £49.5 million annual loss, need some change of fortune whatever their decision.

But Reid is adamant he will not walk away from a job he earned on the back of avoiding relegation last season during a temporary position as boss.

“I have never been a man to resign,” he said. “Whether I am still in charge for the next match is somebody else’s decision.

“All I can say is that any solution for us now lies on the training field. There is no magic wand and, at the end of the day, you run out of options.”

Arsene Wenger hailed the leadership qualities of Ray Parlour, who led by example in the absence of captain Patrick Vieira to inspire Arsenal to a 2-1 win in the north London derby at Highbury.

Tottenham led for more than an hour through Darren Anderton but late goals from Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg turned the match around.

Wenger said of Parlour: “I consider Ray as much a star as anyone else as he has played in as many games in the past five years as most other players.

“He is very influential. He gives you that commitment and although he is sometimes in the shadow of bigger names, if you look at what he has won in his career, you see that he is a great player.

“He gives you qualities that make you survive and win in the Premiership. In his way, he is a leader and when you don’t have him in the team, then you miss something.

“I feel that the supporters also feel that as he brings the kind of determination into the team that makes you more dangerous.”

Another midfielder has been earning rave reviews south of the Thames for the past 18 months but Charlton manager Alan Curbishley is more than happy if Scott Parker’s England debut is further delayed.

Curbishley says he will be happy if Sven-Goran Eriksson ignores Parker, who was called up for the first time for the friendly against Australia in February, when he announces his squad to take on Denmark this lunchtime.

Parker, 23, has been carrying a niggling groin injury, which caused him to be substituted on Saturday, and it could prevent him earning a first cap.

“I think I should have an England international in my team,” Curbishley said. “But the groin problem may stop him as he has not come off with it before.

“I will be quite pleased if he doesn’t get called up as he is suspended for our next game at Leicester and that would give him three weeks to get himself right.

“But if he is called up, he deserves it – and I am sure they won’t have to send a car to get him.”

Charlton moved into the Champions League places with a fifth Premiership win in six games, a 3-1 success over Fulham.

Birmingham were on course for victory when Mikael Forssell shot them ahead at Wolves, only for the home side to equalise through Steffen Iversen.

It was Finn Forssell’s fifth goal in a Blues shirt and midfielder Robbie Savage believes manager Steve Bruce should step up attempts to sign the Chelsea loan star on a permanent basis.

Savage said: “Mikael is class and I would buy him. For me the way he is playing he is good enough to get into Chelsea’s team. If we could keep hold of him it would be a great coup for the club.

“I don’t know what the gaffer is going to do in January – but if I was the gaffer I would put most of my money towards trying to buy Mikael. He’s a fantastic player and he scores goals.”

Birmingham’s rivals Aston Villa lost at home to Middlesbrough – their first defeat at Villa Park this season – to suggest David O’Leary’s compact squad will be in for a harsh winter.

O’Leary has signed only Gavin McCann and Thomas Sorensen since taking over whilst allowing a glut of players like Alpay, Alan Wright and Ian Taylor to move on.

“It has made for a smaller squad and it is going to be a very hard season, a tough season, a battling season,” conceded O’Leary. “We have got to stay together as much as possible.”

But Villa have been backed to prosper by old boy Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough captain, who said: “They have got a very good manager in charge and I am sure they will get things going.

“You are talking about a club which I always maintain is a top-six club in this country – you look at the stadium and everything. It’s going to take time to rebuild, but I think the manager knows that, he knows the job in hand and I am sure it will come.”

Elsewhere, Southampton held on with 10 men in the closing minutes at Bolton to gain a point after Michael Svensson was dismissed in a match described as “minging” by Saints boss Gordon Strachan.