Venables and Ridsdale fighting for their jobs

These are troubled times at Leeds United with the club's chairman and manager both fighting for their futures at Elland Road.

Terry Venables, who came out of retirement in July to take over from David O'Leary, suddenly finds himself under fire just four months into the job as the Leeds fans look for a scapegoat for their dire start to the season.

Venables is set for showdown talks with chairman Peter Ridsdale, but he will have to be quick as the man who gave him his job is standing for re-election at the club's AGM on Friday.

The suggestions are that Ridsdale will survive to extend his five-year reign but he can expect some tough questions from shareholders after overseeing a disastrous year for the club.

On January 1 this year O'Leary's team, semi-finalists in the Champions League the previous season, were top of the premier league and everything was looking good.

But then things started to go badly wrong.

Leeds went seven league games without a win, got knocked out of the FA Cup by second division Cardiff City and out of the UEFA Cup by PSV Eindhoven.

The momentum was lost and Leeds finished fifth, missing out on a place in the Champions League.

COURT CASE

Off the pitch the club was bedevilled by the court case involving high-profile players Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate which ended with Woodgate convicted of assaulting a student in a city-centre fight.

O'Leary, who had built his team into European challengers, was a beaten man and with star defender Rio Ferdinand lined up for a move to arch rivals Manchester United, he left the club in the close-season.

Venables arrived just in time to oversee the sale of Ferdinand as the club sought to make inroads into their huge debt.

Striker Robbie Keane followed, to Tottenham Hotspur, the two deals bringing around 37.0 million pounds into the club.

However, not all of that is in the bank at Leeds and Venables had little to spend before the transfer window snapped shut at the end of August.

Insufficient squad strengthening and a genuinely crippling injury list contributed to some wretched results which have seen Leeds slip to 14th in the league.

The fans, spoiled by their taste of success, can not accept the situation and are already calling for the former England boss to go.

Ridsdale had appeared willing to give his man time and the huge compensation package Venables would demand, when O'Leary is still at loggerheads with the club over the settlement of his contract, would not have been seen as an attractive proposition.

But with both Venables and Ridsdale with their backs to the wall and the AGM looming, there appears to be the start of a possible division between the two.

"You don't have to tell anybody that losing five out of seven home games is not acceptable," Ridsdale had said before Leeds then lost again at Spurs on Sunday.

SELLING PLAYERS

More damaging, though, was Ridsdale's confirmation in the News of the World that Venables would have to generate income by selling players before he can buy when the transfer market re-opens for business in January.

Ridsdale said: "You have to buy and sell - it is part of normal trading. But if we are not earning it then I'm not prepared to spend it - the company has to be financed properly. We need to get the squad at the right level and then be prepared to reinvest."

A split between chairman and manager is the last thing Leeds need if they are to survive their slump and both men are to stay in office.

But Venables replied that it was news to him and that he would like to talk about it with his boss.

"I want to try and keep as many of our players as possible and add to it. Now, if the club policy is different, that is something me and the chairman will be discussing," he said this week.

In Thursday's Sun newspaper, Venables hinted that he might consider his position when he was quoted as saying: "If I feel I am not doing good enough and it's not helping anyone, you've got to have a look at the situation because stubborn is not a strength in my book.

"I think you've got to look at it and see how it can improve, and if you have to make a decision at some stage on that, you have to do it."

Venables, well used to critical fans after his spell in charge of Barcelona, is clearly rattled by the reaction from the Elland Road stands.

"When I've had time I've done well wherever I've gone. Now it doesn't look like I'm getting time," he said.

The pressure is on very, very, very early and that's been a shock."