News: The photographers waiting for Robbie Fowler's Mercedes outside Leeds United's Thorp Arch training ground yesterday morning got the wrong man, the wrong car and the wrong place. Not for the first time in recent years at Leeds the real drama lay in the Elland Road office of the chairman, Peter Ridsdale.

The Leeds chairman is understood to be ready to hand over day-to-day management of the club to a new chief executive as part of a radical restructuring that could well see more players sold.

An announcement of Ridsdale's planned action is expected to be made to the City at the end of this month, but Ridsdale and his powerful deputy, Allan Leighton, are believed to be already considering new chief executives. A possible candidate is Celtic's Ian McLeod.

While Fowler's on-off transfer to Manchester City and a possible bid for the Brazilian Kleberson have monopolised the attention this week, Ridsdale's plan is just one of several behind the scenes aimed at achieving a radical overhaul of the non-playing side at Leeds.

Fowler's unwillingness to join City has undoubtedly exacerbated the worrying financial situation at Elland Road, but Leeds had begun to think of other means to cut their costs anyway.

There were a number of redundancies last summer and there will be many more leaving Leeds. It is anticipated at least one director will depart, while the proposal to build a new stadium will be shelved for a minimum of two years.

Leeds will instead concentrate on developing the land around the Elland Road ground, with the supermarket chain Asda interested partners. Leighton and McLeod used to work together at Asda and talks with Leeds City Council about planning permission are continuing. Retail outlets and some housing developments are being considered.

The bottom line is that Leeds United need money swiftly. The collapse of the transfer market means cash is unlikely to be raised solely from sale of players. Reducing the wage bill is an important part of slicing costs, and Olivier Dacourt's loan to Roma and Lee Bowyer's move to West Ham can be seen in this light.

But it was not just in recruiting a large and expensive squad where Leeds under Ridsdale were extravagant. David Spencer, formerly the catering manager but now operations director, is on £200,000-per-year. Spencer is not expected to stay on those terms.

The extent of such activity is part of the reason why Ridsdale, once known as "Publicity Pete", has been off the nation's airwaves lately. In his five years at the club he can be credited with raising its profile as well as its overdraft.

But Ridsdale is understood not to want to become the focus of attention as restructuring continues and has recruited one highly-regarded manager in Microsoft UK's Neil Holloway. It is thought another non-executive will be appointed this month.

Where all this will leave the Leeds football team's manager, Terry Venables, is anyone's guess - not least his. Sitting inside the classroom at Thorp Arch yesterday, Venables repeatedly answered "I don't know," and "Who knows?" to queries about the impact of the fall-out from Fowler's failed transfer to City.

Such uncertainty has characterised Venables' six months at Elland Road both on and off the pitch. If he is indignant about it, he disguised it well yesterday, but then his relationship with Ridsdale is sure to have altered with the ill financial wind that has blown through Leeds since last summer's sale of Rio Ferdinand.

That was a sale Venables knew all about, but it seems unrealistic that had he known the full extent of Leeds's plight he would have taken the job.

"It's been about putting out fires most of the time," he said, ruefully rather than angrily. "That makes it difficult to go forward. That's not why I came back into management, but that's where I am."

Club directors will do all they can to avoid selling the likes of Jonathan Woodgate and Alan Smith, but they realise it is their legal duty to consider any significant offer if they believe it is the best interest of Leeds shareholders. This rule governed the transfer of Ferdinand.

"I'm an optimist," Venables said yesterday. "I am dealing with a reality that is not what I want. But you can't always have what you want."

Indeed. One of the guiding principles by which Venables leads his life is: if you are to have regrets, have them for something you do, not for something you don't do.

Leeds United might just make him rethink that philosophy.

Guardian Service