Managers ready to defer payment

The Leeds players may have turned their noses up at the club in their hour of need - but former managers Peter Reid and David O'Leary are willing to help by deferring payments on their compensation payments.

With the Leeds players announcing they will take a wage deferral only as a last resort, acting-chairman Trevor Birch has spent the last few days exploring all avenues in a bid to raise the cash needed to see the club through to the end of the season.

Birch has made it clear no player is to leave before the transfer window closes next Saturday, which would undermine the battle for survival for the Barclaycard Premiership's bottom club.

Leeds need between ?3.5m and ?5m in order to trade over the next four months, yet despite the constant speculation surrounding Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Paul Robinson and James Milner, they all now seem set to remain at Elland Road.

In order to generate the cash required, Birch is considering turning to the three managers sacked by Leeds in the last 18 months - Reid, O'Leary and Terry Venables - and asking them to defer their severance payments, along with a number of players.

Leeds are currently in the middle of paying out a grand total of ?7m to the trio, and understandably Birch is eager to put payments on hold and use the money to help keep the club afloat over the next few months.

As yet none of the managers have formally been asked to defer, with Birch initially seeing if the plan is viable in order to present it to the bondholders and creditors on Monday and gain a further two-week extension to the 'standstill agreement'.

Reid, who lasted just seven months before being sacked in mid-November following a 6-1 hammering at Portsmouth, is willing to assist in Birch's campaign. Reid, believed to have been awarded a 12-month severance package of ?850,000, confirmed to the Press Association: "If Leeds United want to defer any payments then I am happy with that.

"As long as I would eventually get what I am owed then I don't have a problem with it."

O'Leary recently revealed he is helping Leeds anyway by accepting payments of his ?4m compensation every six months, however, the next instalment of ?500,000 is apparently due in March.

Under Birch's plan, that would be put on hold until the summer, which is unlikely to pose a problem to the Irishman according to his representative, Michael Kennedy. "There has been no formal approach as yet, although doubtless there will be and if there is I am sure it will be looked upon favourably by David," said Kennedy. Venables was in charge for only nine months, but still received ?2m after his departure last March, and is now close to being paid off. "You are supposed to be paid up straight away," said Venables. "But they asked me whether I would accept payments over 12 months - which is sort of a deferral anyway - and I said that I would. I have now nearly been paid up."

Former Leeds striker Robbie Fowler is one of a handful of players - Robbie Keane, Olivier Dacourt and Paul Okon the others - who could be approached over the next few days with regard to deferring the monies owed to them.

As part of his ?6m move to Manchester City last January, Leeds agreed to pay Fowler ?10,000 per week over the length of the three-and-a-half year deal he signed with the club.

With Fowler to receive more than ?1.5m from Leeds up to the summer of 2006, and ?160,000 for the remaining 16 weeks of this season, again it is money Birch is in desperate need of.

Agent George Scott has confirmed neither himself nor Fowler has been approached, so it remains to be seen whether the former players will follow the lead of the ex-managers, with much perhaps dependent on the proposals made by Leeds.

Birch is also understood to be looking at the possibility of asking former chairman Professor John McKenzie to return a significant proportion of the ?200,000 paid to him in advance for what has been described as 'consultancy fees'. McKenzie quit as plc chairman last month, with many shareholders scathing of the sum of money he received for seemingly little in return. The club, meanwhile, have today distanced themselves from fans' groups attempting to raise cash through pledges on unofficial websites. In a statement, the club said: "Leeds United has been made aware that a number of unofficial websites have been set up to receive pledges of support.

"Whilst fully appreciative of the support given in these difficult circumstances, Leeds United has not set up an official site to receive donations. "The position will be kept under review, but in the meantime we cannot sanction any of the promises made on any of these sites."

Leeds have also confirmed Brazil World Cup-winner Roque Junior's contract has been officially terminated today, with the centre-back returning to AC Milan, although it is understood a move to Hamburg is on the cards.