No excuses, Ridsdale tells Leeds players

Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds United chairman, has told his highly-paid first-team squad there are no excuses for the club's current position in the bottom half of the Premiership.

Ridsdale, speaking inside the club's new £5m Academy, which he was unveiling with the club president, Lord Harewood, said: "This is now 'no excuse' time because when you see the facilities the players have, there aren't any excuses. Apart from the fact they are all very well-paid individuals, they are all now very well looked after individuals. If any of them are listening, on Saturday I would like three points please and let's get back to putting our season together."

One piece of good news for them is that Lucas Radebe has declared himself fit to play at Fulham tomorrow. The South African international defender has staged a remarkable comeback. He was expected to be out for a long time after sustaining a groin tear during Leeds' 4-1 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Uefa Cup three weeks ago.

Bradford City's players have agreed to defer 20 per cent of their pay to keep the club in business.The deal will come as a relief for the Professional Footballers' Association, which loaned Bradford more than £1m in August and faced losing their money if the club folded.

Blackburn are also feeling the pinch, which may hit Graeme Souness' hopes of bringing new players in. The crowds for Rovers' last two home gates have been just over 21,000 and 11,000, and Souness said: "I want to strengthen all the time, but finances are tight."

Birmingham City are to turn to the former Newcastle defender Didier Domi to solve their problem left-back berth. Domi will join the Blues next month on loan, with a view to a permanent move from Paris St-Germain.

West Ham's club doctor, Ges Steinbergs, expects Paolo Di Canio to be out of action for eight weeks following his knee operation yesterday.

The Jamaica striker Ricardo Fuller, who has scored 11 goals for Preston this term, has been ruled out for the rest of the season after an exploratory knee operation showed serious cruciate ligament damage.

Aberdeen have appointed Gardner Speirs as caretaker manager after Ebbe Skovdahl announced his resignation last week.