Guardian Unlimited Football | News | Elland Road chief may quit for Villa

Elland Road chief may quit for Villa
Friends say he would 'seriously consider' any offer from Villa
Denis Campbell
Trevor Birch, the footballer turned accountant who has helped Leeds United avoid financial oblivion, may quit the debt-ridden Premiership strugglers to join Aston Villa.
Villa are understood to be very interested in luring Birch, the embattled Yorkshire club's chief executive, to fulfil a similar role with them.
Birch currently occupies arguably the most pressured off-field position in the top flight as he tries to find a buyer for Leeds, who are around £100 million in debt, and stop them going into administration. Friends say he would 'seriously consider' any offer from Villa if and when he has helped ensure Leeds's survival.
He is in talks with two potential buyers: a consortium of four Yorkshire businessmen and, intriguingly, a Ugandan property developer who is pledging to put £50m into Leeds. The club's main creditors have given it a further stay of execution until Friday to give Birch more time to pursue discussions that could lead to a sale.
Late last year Birch was offered the chance to join Villa but chose Elland Road instead. Friends say the experienced insolvency expert has been shocked at the sheer scale of the club's debts and a few weeks ago had still not signed his contract.
Birch has impressed by persuading the Leeds board to retain rather than sell key players such as Alan Smith, Mark Viduka and Paul Robinson to give Eddie Gray's side the best possible chance of avoiding relegation.
Villa are still looking for a new chief executive. Chairman Doug Ellis has pledged to relinquish that role once a replace ment is hired, while Mark Ansell, who had been deputy chief executive, left Villa Park last November. Birch is now said to have emerged as the club's first choice.
Birch made his mark as a cost-cutting and effective chief executive of Chelsea but left when Roman Abramovich recruited Peter Kenyon from Manchester United. Birch helped engineer the 25-per-cent wage deferral by Leeds players, which has helped them raise the £5m needed to survive until May without selling their stars.
As a player, he won the European Cup with Liverpool in 1978 before giving up football at the age of 23 to become an accountant and then insolvency expert.

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