Woodgate deal may hasten Venables exit

Chairman Ridsdale hopes manager will stay at Leeds as bitter fans express dismay at defender's £9m transfer to Newcastle

The reign of Terry Venables at Elland Road began with the sale of one England centre-half and last night it appeared the imminent departure of another had taken his brief, tortuous tenure of Leeds United to the brink.

Jonathan Woodgate drove out of the Leeds training ground at Thorp Arch for the last time yesterday afternoon, bound for Tyneside and the discussion of personal terms that would seal a £9m move to Newcastle.

Snow falling over North Yorkshire proved more of a barrier to the transfer than the club Woodgate joined as a 13-year-old. Venables and his chairman, Peter Ridsdale, remained for lengthy talks.

Although some newspapers last week suggested Venables would resign if Woodgate were sold, he is too shrewd an operator to have given such bald hostages to fortune, although last week he declared: "There are times when you have to say: 'Enough is enough'." If this was a warning, it was not heeded.

Ridsdale said he did not know whether Venables would remain as Leeds manager but said he hoped he would use this afternoon's press conference at Elland Road to make a positive statement of intent. "Terry Venables did not want to sell Jonathan Woodgate," he said. "I hope he stays and, if he does, I will admire him for it. He is a very good manager and the players love him."

He argued that, despite the sale of Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane in the summer, the club's wage bill had been substantially the same afterwards and that the £34m loss Leeds declared last year had to be addressed before deep cuts could be made in the debt, the majority of which is a £60m bond repayable over 25 years. Given that, the plc board had no choice but to accept Newcastle's offer for Woodgate that he received on Wednesday.

Ridsdale said: "We have taken the right decision for the long term health of Leeds United Football Club. I sincerely hoped we wouldn't get a bid for Jonathan, in which case we wouldn't have this issue. But the minute that bid came in writing of this magnitude, I was duty bound with my directors to consider it."

The man who imagined he could win a first domestic championship at Leeds was said to be "reflecting" on a situation forced on him by a club who, after reckless overspending under David O'Leary, are hovering dangerously close to administration. Their bankers will receive immediate down-payments of £8m for Woodgate and £3m for Robbie Fowler, who signed for Manchester City yesterday, with the rest dependent on appearances. Leeds, who paid Liverpool £11m for Fowler in December 2001, have lost a minimum of £7m on the deal in transfer fees and wages.

Venables had believed that, if Fowler were sold, there would be no need for Woodgate, his most consistent performer, to leave. There were even tentative negotiations to bring in the Brazilian, Kleberson, to beef up a midfield left bare by the loss of Olivier Dacourt and Lee Bowyer. Reality proved very different.

For two astute communicators, Venables and Ridsdale seem to talk to each other infrequently. When Venables first came to Leeds in July, it was on the understanding that £15m of savings would have to be made and that the club would attempt to keep Ferdinand. Instead, the club's captain was sold to Manchester United for £30m and one by one the squad that took Leeds to the semi-finals of the European Cup two years ago was sold to service a debt of some £78m. When Ridsdale said three players would have to leave in this month's transfer window, the first Venables knew about it was through the media.

Woodgate was supposedly a sale too far and news of his departure sparked bitter anger in Leeds. The statue of Billy Bremner, which stands guard over Elland Road, was adorned by a "For Sale" sign while fans outside the stadium chanted: "Sack the board".

Ridsdale, who became something of a hero to Leeds supporters after the way he comforted the families of two fans murdered in Istanbul before a Uefa Cup semi-final with Galatasaray three years ago, was accused by Ray Fell, chairman of the club's supporters' association, of "breaking the hearts of Leeds fans". Recently, a man known as "Publicity Pete" has become almost invisible in a media he once courted.

If the relationship between manager and chairman at Elland Road is at breaking point, Fowler's signing triggered optimism at Maine Road. "There have been a lot of false dawns at this club," City's manager Kevin Keegan said. "The only way we can overcome that is by doing what we did at Newcastle. When I went there the supporters were always talking about Jackie Milburn, Hughie Gallagher and Malcolm Macdonald in the same way that here they talk of Bell, Summerbee and Lee. We now have players who can be talked about in the same way."

Perhaps they will gather in the West Riding of Yorkshire and talk nostalgically of the team of Bowyer, Woodgate, Ferdinand and Keane, who disappeared from a club that could not afford their talents as quickly as April snow.