Leeds players seal wage deferral

The Leeds players have officially signed the paperwork confirming their agreement to a wage deferral.

It is now six weeks since the players, after a meeting at the club's Thorp Arch training complex with the Professional Footballers' Association, agreed to help Leeds in their hour of need.

Chief executive Trevor Birch, desperate to secure the finances to see Leeds through to the end of the campaign, was aided in his quest by the first-team squad agreeing to a 25 per cent deferral for a five-month period through to the end of June.

The deferment, capped to a level which does not affect the club's younger players like James Milner and Scott Carson, was done in good faith at the time, and did not come into force until the end of last month.

From the day the first of the players' salaries was affected, the club had a period of time in which to put the paperwork in place, which resulted in Thursday's meeting between the players and PFA executive member Richard Jobson to finalise matters.