Lähtölaskenta alkaa olla lopuillaan ...
LEEDS UNITED manager Terry Venables could be sacked before this Thursday's crunch UEFA Cup tie with Spanish side Malaga.
Leading members of the board are understood to be meeting today to discuss the manager's position but it is likely they will terminate his £2m-a-year contract before Wednesday. He could even be sacked today.
Under pressure following a quite disastrous start to the Premiership campaign, Venables looks set to pay the ultimate price for his and the team's failings as the board look to try and salvage something from the wreckage.
It had been felt that the directors would give him at least until the New Year to sort out the mess, however, the shambolic defeat against Fulham on Saturday – a tenth loss of the campaign – is thought to have finally shattered their patience.
Deputy chairman Allan Leighton and chairman Peter Ridsdale will meet with the rest of the plc board in Leeds during the early part of this week to discuss the future and they could well decide to give Venables a stay of execution, however, it seems almost certain they will call time on their man with head coach Brian Kidd possibly following him out of the door to join England's coaching set-up.
The move will shock the football world as Venables has only been in charge at the club since the summer and has had little opportunity to strengthen his squad due to financial restraints and the closure of the transfer window.
However, United desperately need to be pushing for a place in Europe next season and it is felt that a change now would provide them with the best chance of a revival before the team are dragged too deeply into a relegation scrap.
Football has fast become a results business and quite simply Venables has not been able to come up with the goods quick enough to satisfy the men in suits.
With the transfer window re-opening on the first day of the New Year, a move now would also provide any new man with the opportunity to scan his current squad and identify any areas he would like to strengthen if possible.
Favourite to take over would be Nottingham Forest manager Paul Hart who is a big favourite of Ridsdale's and who was responsible for bringing through talented youngsters like Harry Kewell, Alan Smith, Stephen McPhail and Jonathan Woodgate.
With so much respect already from those players he has worked with in the past, Hart is seen as the ideal man to heal the wounds within the camp and bring the factions back together. Other names on the list are bound to include Micky Adams of Leicester City who would jump at the chance to join his former club and a more unlikely duo of either Mick McCarthy or Peter Reid.
08 December 2002
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=117&ArticleID=223895