Guardian Unlimited Football | News | Leeds secretly seek suitors for Robinson
Elland Road will face supporter backlash and goalkeeping crisis should
Daniel Taylor
Wednesday January 14, 2004
The Guardian
Leeds United have been secretly hawking their goalkeeper Paul Robinson to their Premiership rivals, including Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, despite assuring their supporters that no more of the club's so-called "crown jewels" would be sold.
While City have turned to David James of West Ham United, Tottenham are among a clutch of clubs with a firm interest in Robinson, having been approached by high-ranking officials from Elland Road over the past fortnight.
The Yorkshire club, with debts of more than £80m, could go into administration unless a buyer rescues them before Monday. But the news of Robinson's availability is guaranteed to provoke a furious reaction at Elland Road, coming only a fortnight after the acting chairman Trevor Birch assured shareholders at a heated AGM that they were not actively trying to sell players.
Should Robinson leave it will also be seen as a major setback in their fight against relegation to the First Division, with the teenager Scott Carson the only other recognised goalkeeper on the club's payroll.
The Leeds players are becoming so concerned about the club's precarious position that Mick McGuire, the deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, was invited to the club's training ground yesterday to meet a delegation led by David Batty, the players' PFA representative.
McGuire also spoke at length to Birch before outlining the financial risks attached to being an employee of a club in administration.
It is understood that he could not offer any assurances that the PFA would be able to pay the players' wages if the club were unable to. That would be possible for a club in the lower divisions, it was explained, but some of the salaries at Elland Road are close to £70,000 a week.
"I went to see Trevor first and he put me in the picture," said McGuire. "The players wanted some general advice and had some questions they wanted answering. They wanted to know the [financial] position of the club."
Elland Road will face supporter backlash and goalkeeping crisis should
Daniel Taylor
Wednesday January 14, 2004
The Guardian
Leeds United have been secretly hawking their goalkeeper Paul Robinson to their Premiership rivals, including Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, despite assuring their supporters that no more of the club's so-called "crown jewels" would be sold.
While City have turned to David James of West Ham United, Tottenham are among a clutch of clubs with a firm interest in Robinson, having been approached by high-ranking officials from Elland Road over the past fortnight.
The Yorkshire club, with debts of more than £80m, could go into administration unless a buyer rescues them before Monday. But the news of Robinson's availability is guaranteed to provoke a furious reaction at Elland Road, coming only a fortnight after the acting chairman Trevor Birch assured shareholders at a heated AGM that they were not actively trying to sell players.
Should Robinson leave it will also be seen as a major setback in their fight against relegation to the First Division, with the teenager Scott Carson the only other recognised goalkeeper on the club's payroll.
The Leeds players are becoming so concerned about the club's precarious position that Mick McGuire, the deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, was invited to the club's training ground yesterday to meet a delegation led by David Batty, the players' PFA representative.
McGuire also spoke at length to Birch before outlining the financial risks attached to being an employee of a club in administration.
It is understood that he could not offer any assurances that the PFA would be able to pay the players' wages if the club were unable to. That would be possible for a club in the lower divisions, it was explained, but some of the salaries at Elland Road are close to £70,000 a week.
"I went to see Trevor first and he put me in the picture," said McGuire. "The players wanted some general advice and had some questions they wanted answering. They wanted to know the [financial] position of the club."