By Andy Baggott
January 22 2004

If the papers are to be believed, we will shortly be receiving offers for our entire playing squad. Every morning has a different headline. The three most linked players are Robinson, Smith and Viduka. Robbo won’t command a fee of £5 million, we don’t own Viduka outright (a leasing company ‘owns’ him), which leaves Smith as the only player who could fetch the amount on his own – Cue mass speculation. The papers are now trying to throw other names into the hat, with Spurs looking at buying Robinson and Bakke or Robinson and Milner for £5 million – depending which tabloid you want to believe. Other clubs are bound to be sniffing, desperate to pick up a bargain. The unfortunate thing at the moment, is that every player at Leeds is basically up for sale – at the right price. If a club offered over the odds for any player, the chances are we would take it. If Newcastle bid £10 million for Smith, Arsenal £12 million for Viduka, Spurs £6 million for Robinson etc, a sale would have to be made. Trevor Birch will be desperately trying to hold out for the highest possible deal for the players, and hopefully will be strong enough to turn down anyone trying to get one of our players on the cheap. We have just 4 days until the next deadline for administration is reached, and we seem as far away from getting a deal as ever. It now looks unlikely that any consortium will be putting any money into the club, and with the players in disagreement about wage deferrals, the only option that looks to be left is the sale of 1 or 2 players…