Sport

Furious reaction to Leeds players' stand on wages
By Jason Burt
Leeds United players were facing an angry backlash from fans last night after they said they would rather sell one of their star names than take a wage deferral.
Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, confirmed that the players had unanimously agreed to the sale of Alan Smith, Paul Robinson or James Milner. It followed a meeting in which they had been asked to take a cut of 35 per cent in their salaries until the end of the season in order to prevent the debt-ridden club sliding into administration. The players in question accepted the decision - as long as the transfer fee is right. Ironically, all three are home-grown talents who are seen as the most loyal to the club. Leeds will now seek a fee of not less than £3.5m, and hopefully around £5m, which means that Smith is the most likely to be sacrificed.
That possibility increased last night as Newcastle United, who have had one bid for the striker turned down, were close to selling Carl Cort to Wolves. The fee for Cort, reported to be £1.5m, will be used to make an improved offer for Smith
Taylor said: "They [the club] have got until the end of January and one option for certain is to go out and sell a player." He added: "None want to go but they know that if that is what it takes then they might have to."
Taylor attacked the football authorities for allowing Leeds to run up debts of £82m. "It does not reflect well on the credibility of the Premier League," he said. "There needs to be a more accountable system," Taylor added, saying that "buying and selling" has been taking place "without reference to the League". Asked whether he thought Leeds would still be in existence next year, he said: "yes, but then I'm an optimist".
The news of the players' decision brought a furious reaction. John Boocock, chairman of the Leeds United Supporters' Trust, said: "They are very selfish, very stupid, very badly advised - or all three. If they are supposed to be a team and to be united then this does not show it, and, as far as I'm concerned, they have missed an opportunity here."
However, Taylor backed the players' attitude. "The fact is if they defer then the debt will not go away. It is unfortunate but it's about football management. If you play with fire you get your fingers burnt. There will now be offers [for players]....if the club is not careful they will go for a lot less than they needed to."
Leeds have negotiated a seven-day extension to the "standstill" deadline agreed with the bondholders and principal creditors and need to find around £5m by next week. The acting chairman, Trevor Birch, is said to be stunned by the players' decision not to defer pay. His plan would not have affected juniors such as Milner or Aaron Lennon as he had focused on the 15-highest paid squad members and was prepared to take a cut himself as was the caretaker manager, Eddie Gray, and the coach, Kevin Blackwell.

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