Leeds United's future will be discussed at a board meeting on Tuesday as the 2001 Champions League semi-finalists prepare for the first division next season.

Leeds' astonishing fall from grace, which began under former chairman Peter Ridsdale and ex-manager David O'Leary, was all but arithmetically sealed by Sunday's 4-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers.

Six points adrift of 17th-placed Manchester City, Leeds know that even if they won their two remaining English premier league games and City lost twice they cannot overhaul a goal difference inferior by a massive 36.

Though a Leeds spokesman said "anything and everything" would be on Tuesday's agenda, the main focus is expected to be the longstanding problem of the club's finances, which are weighed down by an annual wage bill of 50 million pounds.

"We need a new team of hard-working players," managing director David Richmond told the Leeds website on Monday.

"Nobody wants our players because of their wages, some of which are beyond belief.

"But I will get rid of those players we need to as quickly as possible to give us the best possible chance of coming back stronger next season."

ASSET SALE

Two of the club's most prized assets, England striker Alan Smith and goalkeeper Paul Robinson, should easily find premier league buyers.

Australian striker Mark Viduka needs to find a club willing to match his reported wages of 65,000 pounds a week, while on-loan winger Jermaine Pennant is likely to return to champions Arsenal.

Compounding Leeds's problems is that relegation is likely to cost 10-20 million pounds in lost revenues to a club only rescued from financial collapse in March as they battled debts of 100 million pounds.

Chairman Gerald Krasner, part of the consortium which rescued Leeds, said it would take three or four years for the club to recover from its financial woes, which also include a loss of 50 million pounds for the year to June 2003.

One priority facing Leeds is to make sure the problems do not force the club into administration next season as Football League rules could lead to the deduction of 10 points.

On the positive side, Leeds have a solid body of fan support and a status in the game that befits a club who exerted real power on the domestic scene in the 1960s and early 1970s under manager Don Revie.

English champions in 1992, the club reached the last four in Europe's most important competition in 2000-2001 before the spending spree designed to take Leeds to the very top proved their undoing.

Failure to repeat that run in the money-spinning Champions League left the club struggling to fund an expensively-assembled squad, ultimately forcing the sale of many of the best players.

Peter Lorimer, an Elland Road favourite in his playing days and a member of the new board, told Sky Sports News on Monday that Tuesday's meeting was a starting point.

"Obviously, now we know where we are going to be next year we can actually sit down and discuss the plan to go forward."

Lorimer, whose club spent 1982-90 in the old division two after falling out of the top flight, is confident the supporters will get behind the team again.

"They've been there before, they've seen it," he said. "It's very difficult, it's very hurtful.

"But this is a massive city, it's a one-club city with a great fan base of loyal fans. And that's the thing that gives you the heart."