Birch: McKenzie quit talk premature

Leeds chief executive Trevor Birch has revealed speculation claiming chairman Professor John McKenzie is to resign in the next 48 hours is "a little bit premature".

However, McKenzie is almost certain to step down in the very near future to pursue the prospect of mounting a takeover bid in conjunction with a Chinese consortium.

McKenzie, who has strong business connections in the Far East, only took over the troubled Elland Road helm at the end of March following Peter Ridsdale's resignation.

Should the 65-year-old decide to mount a rescue bid, he would have to quit to avoid a conflict of interests as he is Leeds' largest individual shareholder, with a holding of four million shares.

Birch, when asked about McKenzie resigning, said: "It's a little bit premature.

"John has a lot of business interests in the Far East and I think there is a possibility he might be looking to put a consortium together with those people.

"But it's early stages and we shouldn't really speculate too far on that."

Birch was then asked on Sky Sports whether to presume McKenzie would be resigning, sooner rather than later, to then chase prospective investors.
Birch replied: "It would be around that that he would be considering his position.

"It (stepping down) does two things. It allows John to be able to work and put together a consortium and also gives somebody looking at the club a clean board, if you like, in which to invest."

With McKenzie likely to throw his hat into the ring to buy a club who are almost £80million in debt, he would appear to face strong opposition.

Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Mubarak al-Khalifa from Bahrain has made his interest known, although there has still not been a firm offer.

Just 10 days ago deputy plc chairman Allan Leighton also quit, seemingly with the intention of putting together his own consortium, although no statement of intent has been made public.

Birch, who has five weeks to sell the club after recently negotiating a standstill agreement with the major creditors, added: "Anybody out there who is interested in buying Leeds should come forward now.

"But there are two or three parties who are very, very interested and we are working with those people.

"We are in the early stages but we are hopeful, given the stance the creditors have taken, that we will reach a conclusion with them."