I'm staying, says Smith

Leeds striker Alan Smith has again reassured fans he will not be quitting the Elland Road club.

With Leeds deep in debt and the opening of the transfer window last week, the obvious assumption has been the likes of Smith, Mark Viduka and Paul Robinson are fair game.

But chief executive and acting chairman Trevor Birch has made it clear on a number of occasions over the last few weeks that the club do not have to sell.

Smith has been linked with a number of clubs – as has Viduka, with Manchester United potentially poised to make a move given Fulham’s stubborn refusal to let striker Louis Saha switch to Old Trafford – while Manchester City are interested in Robinson.

Yet Smith can not only vouch for himself and that his future remains with Leeds but also for his team-mates, as he insists the squad are united behind caretaker boss Eddie Gray and determined to avoid relegation.

“I’ve said it enough times (I don’t want to go),” stressed Smith, who has decided to start his two-match bottle-throwing ban with immediate effect - ruling himself out of tonight’s trip to Newcastle and Saturday’s visit of Spurs.

“But I hope my performances from now until the end of the season are what will count. It’s easy to come out and say you don’t want to leave and then put in a dire performance.”

In a reference to Birch’s comments last week – when he indicated any player who did not want to play for the club would be moping, disruptive and better served plying his trade elsewhere – Smith maintains there is 100% commitment to the Leeds’ cause.

“There will be no sulking,” he told Radio Aire.

“Trevor has already said he doesn’t want people who don’t want to be here to stay. But all the lads do want to stay and they want to do well under Eddie.

“There are good players at this football club. It is a good club, and there’s always going to be speculation about the players with the financial situation we are in.

“But Trevor has come out and reassured everybody that nobody is for sale. From a players’ point of view and a fans’ point of view, we can take his word for it.”

Gray, meanwhile, has taken Georgi Kinkladze on trial for a few weeks - although there is no guarantee the Georgia international will be offered a short-term deal.

Kinkladze has not played since deciding to turn down a new contract offer at Derby last summer, while a month’s trial at Panathinaikos in November came to nothing.

Leeds are to assess the fitness of the 30-year-old former Manchester City and Ajax midfielder, with a possibility of a run-out in the reserves, before they make a decision.

After recently being given permission by Birch to bring in a couple of loan players, Gray concedes he is finding it difficult to do so in light of Leeds’ predicament.

“We are not in a strong position to bring in players that would really improve the squad we have; that’s what people have to realise,” said Gray.

Following the departure yesterday of striker Cyril Chapuis to Strasbourg, Gray is to lose another two of the summer loan recruits later this month for four weeks.

Lamine Sakho, despite representing France at under-21s level, has been called up to the Senegal squad for the forthcoming African Nations Cup which begins on January 26 in Tunisia.

Salomon Olembe is to also link up with Cameroon – and while Gray has barely turned to the foreign signings made by former boss Peter Reid, the departures will further deplete a small squad.

“You don’t like to lose anybody given the situation we’re in,” said Gray.

“But when you sign South American or African players you know these competitions come up, and so you expect to lose them.”