The Compensation tribunal between Leeds United and David O'Leary commenced in London yesterday with the Premiership club demanding answers to a series of questions concerning the Irishman's conduct in the European transfer market.
O'Leary is claiming up to $2.5million from Leeds after being sacked during the close season with three years of his Elland Road contract still remaining. Neither O'Leary nor the Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale attended the independent hearing.
Leeds officials want an explanation regarding the extent of O'Leary's involvement in outgoing transfer negotiations concerning one of their big-name players.
O'Leary's legal representatives have been made aware of Leeds's concerns but have still to respond.
Meanwhile, Gary Lineker is to contribute a portion of his substantial income towards a £5million bid for Leicester City, the club where he started his career and which yesterday went into administration with debts of more than £30 million.
The Match of the Day presenter, the most successful and recognisable player in the club's history, will be the public face of a consortium that includes his agent Jon Holmes, the current Leicester PLC chairman Greg Clarke, club chairman Martin George and David Ross, chief operating officer of the Carphone Warehouse. All except Ross are long-standing supporters of the third-placed Division One club.
In the summer Lineker expressed concern that relegation could cripple the club. "It seems that the combination of relegation, plus moving into the new Walkers Stadium, is taking its toll, in an era when staying in the Premiership appears to be the be-all and end-all in financial terms," he said.
Sources close to the consortium said Lineker had no ambition to join the board as a director and that his ambition was to return the club to private ownership by a group of "Leicester people".
Clarke was unable to say when the consortium hoped to assume control. "The objective of the consortium will be to buy Leicester City as a going concern from the administrator and to back Micky Adams and the team in their quest for promotion," he said.
Clarke also called on fans and local people to contribute and said the consortium wanted to run the club "for the people of Leicester and Leicestershire".
News of Lineker's bid emerged as the club announced it had petitioned the high court to go into administration citing "immediate creditor pressure".
The move to administration comes three days after the players agreed to defer 20 per cent of their wages to allow the club to meet a £1.5million tax demand from the Inland Revenue.
Wayne Rooney's graduation from the Everton academy will be delayed for up to two months after the teenager delayed putting pen to paper on his first contract. The 16-year-old striker, the object of vast media interest following his match-winning goal against Arsenal on Saturday, will delay signing the five-year contract until his new advisers have examined the deal. He was due to sign on Thursday, his 17th birthday.
"There's nothing mischievous in this but Wayne has just changed agents and his new agency agreement doesn't go through for another few months," Bill Kenwright, Everton's owner and deputy chairman, explained. "I don't think he will be actually signing until December, but the contract has been agreed - it was agreed several months ago. I am not worried in the slightest."
Ruud van Nistelrooy is out of Manchester United's Champions League clash in Greece tomorrow as he fights a troublesome hamstring injury. Alex Ferguson has pulled the Dutchman out of the Olympiakos match, but believes he has every chance of being ready for Saturday's home Premiership game against Aston Villa.
Steve Coppell has made his first signings as the Brighton manager after agreeing short-term deals for Simon Rodger and Dean Blackwell who were both free agents.
Owen Hargreaves has given the first indications that his future may lie in England rather than with his current club Bayern Munich. "I can envision both - continuing to play for FC Bayern, but also in England," Hargreaves told Germany's Kicker magazine. "In England, perhaps I feel more at home. I have a lot of fans there and it's something unusual if you are an English international and don't play there."
The 21-year-old's current contract expires in June 2004. With the competition for places at Bayern fierce, Hargreaves is less certain of a starting place in his favoured defensive midfield role which may make a move to England more attractive.
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