O'Leary: other United his Elland damnation

Back in September 1996 Eric Cantona rose at the Elland Road Kop, directly in front of an advertising board for Wilkinson Sword, to head a right-wing cross from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer past Nigel Martyn. It applied the finishing touch to a 4-0 win for Manchester United. It also put Howard Wilkinson to the managerial sword. Two days later the man who signed Cantona for Leeds United and sold him to Manchester United was handed his P45.

According to Peter Ridsdale, David O'Leary did not go the same way as Wilkinson because of the possibility of Rio Ferdinand going the same way as Cantona. "The situation with Rio Ferdinand had nothing to do with David leaving the club," the Leeds chairman and chief executive asserted on Friday. "The decision was taken because we felt the team had been underachieving."

It did, though, take O'Leary's public pronouncement on the mooted £35m move of Ferdinand to Old Trafford to make Ridsdale and his fellow directors reach the sudden conclusion – six-and-a-half weeks after the end of the Premiership season – that Leeds had become underachievers.

The board of Leeds United plc were, apparently, incensed by O'Leary's comments in a newspaper column a week ago that he was against the sale of his centre-half and captain, "certainly not to Manchester United", while in private reluctantly acknowledging that the club's financial situation necessitated drastic action.

It would be more than the life of a Leeds United manager would be worth to sell out to Manchester United – or to be seen to be selling out to the Devils: the Red Devils, that is. It would be more than the life of a Leeds United chairman would be worth, too, judging by the pledge Ridsdale made in the aftermath of O'Leary's hasty departure on Thursday morning. "We are not selling Rio Ferdinand to Manchester United," he maintained.

Whatever happens to Ferdinand, though, the manager who replaces O'Leary will still have to tackle the problem of the towering ghostly presence from across the Pennines. If the followers of Leeds United are united in one thing it is their loathing for the mighty trophy-winning giant that Manchester United has become.

In his three years and 10 months in charge at Elland Road, O'Leary spent £96m in his efforts to slay the mightier United and win the Premiership title. Ultimately, it got him nothing more than the sack, and got the club into debts of £77m – £15m of which is urgently required from outgoing transfers.

It was not a dissimilar fate to that which Kevin Keegan suffered in attempting to hitch another northern United on to the coat-tails of Manchester United. It was at Elland Road six years ago that Keegan famously said he would "love it, just love it", if his Newcastle United beat Alex Ferguson's Manchester United to the Premiership title. He failed, of course, and in beating Ferguson to the signing of Alan Shearer in an effort to succeed next time he pushed out the Newcastle boat too far. With a share flotation imminent, the fall-out started when the board started pressing Keegan for the £6m in sales they needed to reach the terms of the £15m bank loan they had arranged to buy Shearer.

In Keegan's case there was a minor falling out with the players too. He increasingly raged at them and feared he had lost his powers of motivation. In O'Leary's case, it would seem, the fall-out in the dressing-room has been more severe – with some players left feeling publicly slighted and others feeling less than secure, given their nomination as potential departees in the drive to reduce the club's overdraft.

It is an Elland Road of a mess that will take a shrewd man-manager to resolve. It will also take a manager of proven ability to achieve the required stability and at the same time mount a serious challenge to Manchester United – not to mention Arsenal.

It is little wonder, then, that Martin O'Neill has emerged at the top of the wanted list. At Wycombe, at Leicester and at Celtic, he has motivated players collectively to perform beyond the sum of their apparent individual parts. He has also managed impressively on tight budgets, though Ridsdale maintained yesterday that O'Leary's replacement would not be unduly handicapped by the club's financial situation.

"We have always supported our manager with the funds to build a quality squad and that will continue with whoever takes over," Ridsdale said. "There is no financial crisis here. We will be able to back our new man with the funds he requires to take us to that next level."

That may or may not influence O'Neill's decision – if he talks to the Leeds board. He still has a year to run on his contract at Celtic and the Glasgow club are certain to rebuff any approach. His frustration with a lack of funds for squad strengthening at Parkhead, however, could possibly persuade him to seek permission to talk to Ridsdale and his fellow directors, who are due to meet at a Harrogate hotel today to consider possible candidates.

"Hopefully we can draw up a shortlist of three definite targets," Ridsdale said. "We have to do this sensibly and constructively, but what I am certain of is that we must appoint a manager who can build on the club's recent success and take us to that next level. We need to find a manager who we believe will lead the team to some silverware and more Champions' League football."

Of respondents to a poll on the club's official website, 57 per cent of Leeds fans believe that manager should be O'Neill. Mick McCarthy and Guus Hiddink both enjoy 15 per cent support, with Eddie Gray next at five per cent, followed by Gordon Strachan (two per cent) and Alan Curbishley and Peter Taylor (both one per cent). Strangely, there is no backing for the man rated a 100-1 bet with William Hill: Eric Cantona.