Still no news from Leeds about what is happening whilst their share price slides downwards. However, Skysports report Graham Taylor as saying a pay cut has been agreed with the Leeds players. Both Fenerbahce and Besiktas have expressed interest in taking Viduka although Leeds are resisting....at the moment.

When there is this amount of brinkmanship there is a real possibility that Leeds will go into administration today. Note the BBC report that Leeds' debts are now up at £83m- they have lost another £3m in the last month. Anything other than a football club would have been decently buried by now. As currently structured, there simply isn't anything at Elland Road that makes any sort of business sense whatsoever.

Stu, the only way Leeds are going to find the £80m they owe with some degree of certainty is from cutting their costs. If they bring their salaries down from over £40m a year to under £10m a year they can do it and it will not matter that they have lost £20m income through no longer being in the Prem. This is way beyond the point of sentimentality- either the club does it or the creditors do it for them by appointing an administrator. It looks like Leeds have grown tired of the non-appearing sheikh and are taking matters into their own hands. The Evening Standard are reporting that Leeds have told their players that the £5m they need to get to the end of the season will be raised either through a 30% pay cut (deferrment) or enough of them will be sold off to find the money that way. Interesting to read the PFA web site saying Leeds have been saved to the end of the season.

I believe that the 'deadline' of tomorrow was just a date pickied by the Leeds board in some, seemingly, misguided attempt to try and get some rich arab/russian/or whatever to invest in a football club they know nothing about. I dont believe the creditors are pushing for administration as it would mean that any chance they had left of staying up (and therefore being able to pay some money back rather than implode) would disappear with the sale of the likes of Smith, Robinson et al. stuwilky, you couldn't be more wrong. Leeds had to come up with about £5m in cash to meet payments falling due in mid-December. They couldn't find the money and went grovelling to their creditors to beg for more time to pay. They were given four weeks which are up tomorrow. It appears the creditors have gone soft again and will give Leeds another week or two to find the money. If I were a creditor of Leeds United, I would tell them to sell ALL their players right now and get as much cash as they can for them, bring in new ones earning at most 25% the last lot were on and know that there is a fan base large and loyal enough which can re-pay my debts and interest after the incidentals of rumnning the football club. If the Directors of the Football Club will not do that, put in an Administrator who will. Why do I need Premiership football to pay off my debts? I know that a perfectly good First Division outfit can be run for well under £20m a year. Gate receipts at Leeds in Div 1 would still be £20m a year, commercial activities would still rake in £10-15m a year and I could trouser the Premiership parachute payment of £5m Remember, most of the debts are to American financiers and that is exactly how they will look at it.

The latest Leeds situation from the BBC. No saviours but enough poisonous imponderables in the alternatives for Trevor Birch to be given the chance for LUFCplc to limp on.

Several sources are speculating that the creditors are giving Birch two more weeks to save the club. Interesting that they are no longer saying "sell" the club- the verb used when the four weeks were given begore Christmas. I would guess that Birch will by now have found the weakness in every creditor, talked in gloomy terms about the cost of an administrator and the near certainty of relegation through punitive Prem League action if they went into administration to have stayed the execution. He will for certain have had to convince the creditors of some certainty of payments which almost certainly means he is succeding in persuading the player to take a pay-cut of between 20-30%. He also is sure to be selling one or more players. Interesting to read that Celtic are in for Michael Bridges- I wonder if Chris Sutton might be available after all. Perhaps Willcox is affordable after a 30% pay cut? Millner certainly seems to have all the bad and the ugly chasing to sign him so I think the Rovers would struggle to get him.

My recollection is that Leeds do not own Elland Road but have a long lease on it. I guess they are looking to sell the lease for alternative use. They will probably end up ground sharing with the dingles. In fact this could be a clever move by Birch. The Americans might not have had the foresight to specify the size of the stadium when they signed up for 25 years' of gate and season ticket receipts. If that is the case, Birch could have found his point of leverage on the Americans as moving to a much smaller stadium would potentially scupper their security. They would not win a Court case to prevent Leeds from doing that if Birch and his insolvency advisers could show that they sold the lease to ensure the club's survival by acting in the interests of all creditors. Even though the shiekh's £35m is turning into a desert mirage, this is the first piece of news which makes me think that Leeds might have a remote chance of coming through. However, it is still odds on a fire sale of players this month.

The stock market is a joke. The one thing that the Shiekh is quoted as saying is that he does not want any money to go to the guys who put Leeds in the mess they are in. IF (big if), the £35m is for real, £18m has to go to creditors before the summer (do you think the Revenue will forego 1p of their >£8m entitlement to the 40% of millionaire footballer wages?- neither do I). In all these things, that £18m is certain to be an under-estimate- he'll be lucky if the true figure isn't nearer £25m. That leaves £10m to £15m to spend on players' transfer money and buy out the shareholders. So tell me, when the sheikh says to the shareholders, every penny I give to you reduces the cash I can spend on players, how much are Leeds shares worth? The true share value of Leeds United plc is zero per share.

jim, that is either an incredible scoop by The Independent or they have bought the Sheikh's eye wash. This is the Guardian's article on the Leeds situation and the Times and Telegraph are similarly pessimistic. Birch being in Manchester talking to insolvency specialists doesn't tally with the Sheikh's offer or perhaps he was being prudent. If the Sheikh is going to make a £35m cash injection and bid for all the shares at the same time (presumably for a penny each), all he has done is take over the priviledge of paying off the rest of the £50m of debts- £60m if he is going to spend on players in the transfer window. It is not a rescue but a standstill and nobody other than a fanatic would touch contributing to such a scheme. Under the Sheikh, Leeds would survive the remainder of the season paying the creditors falling due and they might avoid relegation this summer, but that would be about it. Their economic fundamentals would still look the weakest in the Prem by far with a relegation dog fight against a backdrop of continuing financial crises the best they could hope for next season.

Different creditors, different interests. Given the creditors effectively control whether there is an administration or not and therefore have a big clout over the administrator, the creditors probably see some value in spinning this one out to make sure they get the deal they want BEFORE the administrator goes in. So long as someone kicks a ball round Elland Road for the next 25 years, the yanks will get their £60m back through their lien on gate money and season ticket sales. The mortgage boys from Jersey will probably assume effective control over the contracts of the players they have mortgages on. The Inland Revenue who are now owed £7m are the wild card. I guess Trevor Birch has allowed that debt to happen as it creates the wild card which doesn't make administration a pushover for the yanks and mortgage boys.

The bidding is open, Newcastle have just had an offer of £2m for Smith turned down. Elsewhere, it is generally acceoted that Leeds will not be sold and that they need £5m by Monday. This Sporting Life article is the best one I have read- the points deduction situation is as clear as mud. Perhaps Birch is deliberately muddying the waters to make the bondholders nervous about precipitate action.

Birch is desperately trying to auction off Paul Robinson today. Unfortunately for him, Calamity James' move from WHam took City out of the bidding.

This is the most optimistic view of Leeds' current predicament I have seen but it also recognises the reality that Leeds United plc is all but dead- the choice is euthenasia or a long painful ending. I cannot see how or why anybody would go for the short term solution- pumping £20m in primarilly to service debt and scheduled loan payments with a gamble on them still being in the Prem come the summer. Interesting to read that Alan Leighton is the only credible saviour when Trevor Birch appeared to support the grievances against him at the AGM. Doesn't seem very credible. The only cogent argument against administration is that the other Prem clubs would take action to ensure their demotion and the consequent loss of £20m income. That is pretty weak and won't stop the biggest creditor from pulling the plug. Even flogging Viduka for £8m (if they can get that price in current market conditions which seems very unlikely) will only pay a proportion of the player mortgage debts and release no cash for the football side. Trevor Birch will prove to be the most brilliant alchemist around if Leeds are not bust by 19 January. There maybe false dawns as various bottom fishers look for value in the dredgings but there is only mud at the bottom of this one.

I don't believe there is a rule on deduction of points if a Prem club goes into administration but there would be a requirement for the other clubs to decide on expulsion. In the dod-eats-dog world of the Prem, is it realistic for clubs not yet mathematically safe not to vote Leeds out?

Rab C Nesbit meets Wurzel Gummage rover 6 will be disappointed that he's not going anywhere just at the moment (this side of 2008). Anyway, he's too busy sifting through the lists of players released by Scottish clubs who cannot pay their wages to be bothered about the Premiership.

Hughsey and Pabby are spot on. Surprisingly no newspapers have picked up on Trevor Birch's frank admissions to Sky. Birch seems to have swung his attention away from finding a saviour to negotiating with the creditors ahead of the 19 January deadline. My guess is that this marks the end for Leeds United plc. Up until now, Birch had been making upbeat statements about buyers. Quite possibly, the Administrators will now be called in before the 19 January deadline to give them more time to sell players for which any cash can be raised. The Jersey financiers who backed the £21m player mortgages must be looking at close to a dead loss but any of their players still on Leeds' books are certainties to be sold to recoup as much of the cash they have laid out as possible. Either that or they will go on a free to any club willing to do a deal to take over the contract on a "junk" bond basis. I will repeat what I have said before- it is extremely unlikely Leeds will go out of business altogether. Birch presumably is now negotiating with the Premiership to find a formula to protect Leeds membership of the League from cancellation when the administrators come in. Leeds' only future now is as a very low cost base football team throwing off masses of excess income from its huge fan base unless the administrators work an absolute miracle with the American bond holders.

A stark set of numbers from the boys at Football365.

Back to Leeds- Trevor Birch opens the doors. A clear sign that the sale of the club might not be happening and a forlorn attempt to invite players to forego their share of the tansfer booty after the Kewell farce.

Interesting to see that the have a go at anything Dave Edmundson (CE at the dingles) is quoted today as denying that Burnley will go into administration. Well actually, he said that it is an option given they are projected to lose nearly £3m (Kilby's purchase of their assets for £1m will only last four months). Well he said that they have a list of options including donations (from whom?) and administration is the least attractive. The dingles are deep in the soup and have no players, Chaplow excepted (possibly), anyone will pay any money to take off them.

I think it works out that there is a basic £15m for TV rights and being in the Prem so that is the minimum Wolves will receive. Thereafter, its place money and additional TV appearances. The Sky hand out is basically fair- it rewards popularity and success but not excessively. What is skewing economics in favour of the super clubs is - Champs League £12m basic for being in the first round group - Sponsorship worth over £50m a year to Man U - Commercial activities; another £60m for Man U - Gate receipts (but 'twas ever thus)

Bolton must have been teetering on the edge of insolvency. For a mere £2.25m, Mr Davies has acquired about 60% of Burnden Leisure to take his ownership to around 95%. Wanderes are worth around £4m on that basis! £1.75m goes to pay debts which have to be repaid to the Co-op bank immediately and Chairman Phil Gartside has said that he hopes the banks will look more kindly about restructuring the rest of the £38m debt. With Burnden (sorry the Reebok) selling out regularly, Wanderers only hope for financial salvation has to be a high league finish and lots more £500K place monies than theyare used to. I guess Fred Davies knows he writes off the £17m he has put into the club if they go down.

A couple of years ago, the Italian Serie A clubs were paying wages on average double those of the Premiership and earning on average half what a Prem club earns. Not entirely surprising wages are going unpaid. Parma seemed to have got a let off when the Italian state moved in to bail out Parmalat. Now Bank of America have filed criminal charges over an Enron-style black hole, Parma's future is not only very dodgy, it also looks pretty insignificant in the bigger picture. I'll ask again if there are any useful Parma players who would swap the security of lower wage being paid at Ewood for never never land at the Tardini Stadium?

Leeds had their AGM and Trevor Birch has taken the role of Chairman and CEO- always a sign of trouble when nobody wants the top job! Birch says there are delicate negotiations to sell the club but- Prof McKenzie's Chinese friends are seen as a non-starter, and Alan Leighton was castigated for his role as Deputy Chairman during the Ridsdale era and so it seems nobody thought his bid to buy the club as a serious one. The BBC business correspondent makes a Premiership club going into administration one of his top tips for 2004. I wonder which one he has in mind? Meanwhilst Darlington have gone into administration. Their Chairman was upset that the local Council would not allow car boot sales in the car park.

If there wasn't any doubt about Prof McKenzie's true motives, he has paid himself £380,000 for work since March last year. I guess that's one way of getting compensation for holding 4m worthless shares (he is Leeds' largest individual personal shareholder). Another professor at Leeds University has described him as "damaged goods".

Prof McKenzie is stepping down as Chairman at the Leeds AGM on 23 December. Ostensibly it is to enable for him to try to bid for the club with a group of Chinese businessmen but the Guardian openly dismisses that theory. Neither Alan Leighton nor Prof McKenzie exited early enough not to get embroiled in the aftermath if Leeds go into administration on 18 January. If they are assembling consortiums of hard headed businessmen, they would both probably prefer to deal with an Administrator rather than whatever is left of the plc board. On a parallel track, Man City appear to be heading towards trouble. It will be interesting to see if they sell Anelka in January.