O'Leary to sign tomorrow

Such has been the length of the saga surrounding the appointment of a new Leeds United manager, it was believed the club's directors considered changing the ground's name to Emmerdale Road in time for tomorrow's home match with Chelsea. But, just before they got round to finalising that decision yesterday, the denouement arrived to save the name Elland.

After another full morning's negotiation between Leeds's directors and David O'Leary's representatives, the chairman Peter Ridsdale announced that "broad agreement" had been reached and that O'Leary, at the age of 40, would sign his first managerial contract tomorrow. It is expected to happen after the Chelsea match, a kind of omnibus edition for Leeds's faithful, and Ridsdale said: "What a game for your first match in charge!"

Nevertheless, it seemed a premature rush to the airwaves by Ridsdale, particularly as O'Leary had just told Leeds United's clubcall: "There have been too many deadlines in this saga. I can't say anything until I've sat down with my solicitor and seen the exact contract on offer. I'm sorry this is dragging on, but I have to say again, it's not my fault that the club have taken three weeks over Martin O'Neill and that it's all gone pear-shaped."

However, O'Leary said he hoped that by tomorrow a positive decision would be made. O'Leary ruled out joining George Graham at Tottenham Hotspur and emphasised again his family's happiness in Harrogate. He described moving there as his "biggest commitment".

It seems, therefore, O'Leary has won the crucial first battle with the boardroom, ensuring he has the personal and professional finance he thinks is necessary for the job. His determination to achieve that has been apparent since O'Neill's withdrawal and it has been impressive and understandable.

As O'Leary said yesterday: "I'm flattered to be offered the job but I can't just take it and then discuss everything afterwards. If Martin O'Neill had been coming here he wouldn't have been doing it that way."

That driving realism has characterised O'Leary over the past few days, indeed the past three weeks. It is a previously unseen toughness. Having played 721 games for Arsenal and won 68 caps for the Republic of Ireland, no one was in doubt about his durability, but when he finished his career after just 12 games for Leeds, one of his amazing statistics was that, in 17 years, not once had he been sent off.

At Rome airport on Monday O'Leary made reference to that when complaining about his touchline ban for the Roma match - though he forgot to mention a dismissal for Arsenal reserves in 1992. It reinforced the impression that O'Leary can be cute with the media when necessary.

His Arsenal and international room-mate for many seasons, Niall Quinn, made reference to that cuteness but put it down the list of O'Leary's attributes. "Just because David doesn't sound or act aggressively should not hide the fact that he has a wonderful presence," Quinn said. "Nobody will get the better of David O'Leary in mind games and that means an awful lot in something like this. When a situation like this arises David will know exactly what he wants and how to get it; plus he will have learnt under George."

Quinn recalled occasions at Highbury when, while most players meeting directors "would be cowering", only O'Leary could talk to them as equals. That selfassuredness has manifested itself in O'Leary's management style in the last eight days and in an appealing way.