Ridsdale gets the figures right

One fair indication that you have become a little carefree in the spending department is the day when Elton John criticises you for excess. But listen to John talking last year around the time when Watford were beginning to realise they had a real chance of entering the Premiership.

"I'm a very well-paid entertainer, but when I see figures bandied around like £18 million for Alan Shearer it makes me laugh. It's absolutely ridiculous. Money for old rope. Then you see the players' attitudes - they're paid so much money and yet they're just strolling around the pitch."

Dear knows what old Reg Dwight thought this week when, in the space of 24 hours, deals between four British clubs concerning two players hit the £30 million mark. Like the rest of us, there was probably a mixture of disbelief and disdain: £18 million for Rio Ferdinand? Even David O'Leary's wife complained, and she may not have seen Ferdinand waltz out of defence with the ball, lose it and then saunter back oblivious to the fact that concentration is central to the defender's art. But she will.

Ferdinand is sufficiently prone to distractions that he hummed and hawed on Thursday and Friday over his move north. Could the explanation for Ferdinand's hesitation not be that the day in the summer when Harry Redknapp first called him into his training ground office and said: "Look son, we've had a bid of £18 million for you," in Ferdinand's mind there were pictures of Barcelona, Juventus, Lazio kits. Then Redknapp said: "From Leeds."

But that is the way it is. The other clubs may all have been able to afford Ferdinand, but, now, so can Leeds. Even two years ago this would not have been possible at Elland Road. Looking back at the annual survey of the financial state of British and European football by accountants Deloitte and Touche, Leeds United Sporting plc were in the bottom half of the top 20 in England, never mind Europe.

On Thursday, while awaiting the fog to clear in Yorkshire so that he could fly to see Ferdinand in the big smoke, the Leeds chairman, Peter Ridsdale, reacted to some sniggering comments about Leeds having this lavish amount to spend on one player by explaining the economics.

"Our annual income has gone up from £20 million to £57 million, and this year should be more than £70 million. That's not because of transfer dealings, that's because of our success on the pitch and the finance that attracts."

If Ridsdale is accurate in his forecast, then Leeds should comfortably sit in the top 10 most wealthy clubs in Europe by next year. They are part of football's New Economy, fuelled by long runs in Europe and consequent television contracts.

But Leeds have also balanced the books and Ridsdale must take the credit. While spending £64 million in two seasons on players, Leeds have managed to keep wages relatively low, partly because they buy younger players.

Leeds' canniness is clear, and we should assume they have also gone to the trouble to find out from their MEP just exactly what the EU is going to do in their review of the transfer system. Funnily enough, on the day Ridsdale met Ferdinand, an EU commissioner, Christoph Forax, made a few interesting comments about the limited nature the review would now take.

"Of course £18 million is a lot of money," said Forax, "but we are not surprised by it and it is not a concern. There has been so much mis-information about the transfer talks recently that it has led to panic, especially in the UK. The EU has never said it wanted to ban transfer fees, and certainly not between clubs in the same country. The current talks do not even cover transfers within the same country."

If Forax was stating EU policy, it seems Leeds and Rangers have done their homework.