James Lawton: Leeds should beware panic

The public argument between Peter Ridsdale and his former manager David O'Leary, which will no doubt simmer along quite nicely until Friday's annual general meeting of embattled Leeds United, only intensfies the sense of a football club saddled with a death wish.

Meanwhile, Terry Venables will no doubt try some more to implant the idea that he is involved in a trying transition rather than an ungovernable tailspin. The lynch mob might be prudent to hold their hand. If they get rid of a man of great football knowledge and experience, they cannot be sure of quite what comes next. Venables at least now knows the extent of the problem. He might just turn the corner. Potential successors, on the other hand, are being bombarded with reasons to stay where they are.