London, Jan 18: Leeds United, three days away from going into administration, appeared to have been saved Friday when it was reported that a Gulf business group had come up with a 35 million pound ($63 mn) rescue package.
Bahrain's Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Mubarak al-Khalifa was reported to have persuaded friends and business partners to back the move, which would see him buy shares, pay creditors and put up about 15 million pounds ($27 mn) for new players.
A close aide of the Sheikh was quoted in the Independent newspaper as saying: "the Sheikh is happy with the way this package is put together.
"He has had to change direction in many ways, but his driving force was in saving the club."
The offer was to be put to Leeds United's board later Friday and could save the club from going ahead with plans to sell Australian centre-forward Mark Viduka, goalkeeper Paul Robinson and striker Alan Smith.


Leeds have also asked their players to take a 20 per cent pay cut to ease their 80 million pound ($147 million) debt.


Leeds chief executive and acting chairman Trevor Birch has been in talks with al-Khalifa, former deputy PLC chairman Allan Leighton and Chinese businessman Xu Ming.


The consortia had been thought to be putting off making a bid for Leeds because they feared the club would be relegated and first division football would cost the Elland Road outfit around 25 million pounds in lost revenue.


So al-Khalifa's bid was a blot out of the blue and could stave off administration.

Bureau Report