No regrets for Leeds' Ridsdale

13 April 2012

Martin O'Neill's triumph in Scotland must have brought a wry smile to Peter Ridsdale's lips as the Leeds chairman recalled the efforts he made to bring Celtic's charismatic manager to Elland Road.

There was, of course, no self-recrimination and no sense of wondering what might have been, for this morning Leeds sit in third place in the Premiership, with one foot in the Champions League semi-finals and a glittering future unfolding under David O'Leary.

But, as O'Leary himself pointed out, when George Graham quit for the bright lights of Tottenham the Irishman was well behind O'Neill - who was then drawing admiring glances at Leicester - in the queue to become Leeds boss.

The former Arsenal and Republic of Ireland star believed the fans would not accept Graham's No.2 after what they considered a betrayal by their old manager, and Ridsdale resolved to lure O'Neill.

Even when O'Leary took his young lions to Roma for a rousing UEFA Cup performance, he expected to fly home to find that O'Neill had the job. But that glorious defeat in Italy had given Ridsdale food for thought.

He had spotted one winner in O'Neill, but here was another already on the payroll. When Leicester dug their heels in and refused to allow their manager to pursue the bigger challenge, Ridsdale decided to take a chance on O'Leary.

He has never had cause to regret missing out on O'Neill and O'Leary's sub-sequent signing of a massive five-year contract that can earn him upwards of £10million with Leeds' anticipated success merely underlined Ridsdale's faith.

At Elland Road on Saturday, Southampton defender Dean Richards' admiration for the superb lobbed goal from his former Wolves team- mate Robbie Keane that sealed Leeds' comfortable win was tinged with envy.

Keane may be frustratingly cup-tied for United's Champions League adventure, but the effervescent £12m striker seems locked on course for Europe next season once his move from Inter Milan is complete.

Southampton's surprise bid for UEFA Cup football, though, looks like a pipedream after the two post- Glenn Hoddle defeats that have dropped them to 11th in the Premiership.

It is clear that Saints will need time to recover from Hoddle's defection to Tottenham.

Richards admitted: 'Glenn's going has affected us all. A lot of the lads felt let down because we'd put so much work into the season, then all of a sudden it's like a kick in the teeth. It's a real disappointment.

'If he had just waited until the end of the season then we could have maybe pushed on to Europe.'

Of the club' s l a t e s t defeat, he said: 'You can't give teams like Leeds a goal start, but if we could have found that extra 10 per cent that we were producing recently, we'd have pushed them a lot closer.'

Harry Kewell's first goal in an injury-ravaged year was hardly one to write home to Sydney about, the ball skipping over goalkeeper Paul Jones' outstretched arm.

But Keane's decisive second-half strike, a neat lob under Jones' bar following Ian Harte's pass was, as Richards said, 'a class finish'.

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No regrets for Leeds' Ridsdale

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