Ridsdale puts sole focus on Leeds as he quits FA post

Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds United chairman, has resigned his position on the Football Association's executive board in order to focus purely on his club commitments.

Ridsdale strenuously denied reports earlier this week linking him with the full-time chief executive role vacated by Adam Crozier. Now he has severed all ties with the governing body to concentrate his energies fully on solving the financial problems at Leeds.

The opportunity to turn things around at Elland Road was granted to him yesterday when he was re-elected as a director of Leeds United plc with a huge majority of shareholder support. The vote of confidence in Ridsdale came although the club is still around £60m in debt, despite the sales of Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane.

Ridsdale joined the FA council in June 1999 as one of the Premier League's representatives, and twice lost out in a bid to become vice-chairman of the governing body.

Ridsdale also said yesterday that the midfielder David Batty, an Elland Road favourite, has been rendered incapable of playing at the top level because of a series of injury problems. Batty has not featured at all in the first team this season, making his last appearance on 27 April this year.

"Terry Venables [the manager] has decided that David is no longer capable of playing at the top level," Ridsdale said. "That is unanimous because of the problems with his knees that he has suffered."