'I've been a fan for 43 years. I hurt as much as they do'

The discontent which pervades Elland Road manifests itself in many forms. On match days, it is like a festering sore; as another defeat becomes imminent the chants well up, declaring the antipathy to Terry Venables. During the week, the letters and emails arrive at the office of Leeds's chairman, Peter Ridsdale, by their thousand. Some considered, others brutally to the point: time for him to resign. "They're passionate fans, I don't criticise that," he concedes. "It's what's made this club great. But they're not saying anything I'm not thinking myself. I'm a Leeds fan, I've been supporting this club for 43 years. When things aren't going well I feel the same as they do. If I wasn't sitting here, I might be writing the same letters."

An honest appraisal of what he describes as "the most difficult time since I became chairman". He adds: "Other issues you deal with you actually feel in control to a degree, decisions whether you change the manager or the way you handle players involved in a court case, but with this I can only sit and watch it. I hurt as much as anyone else. I just wish people could be slightly more polite in the way they put it [in letters]. But that's life, isn't it?"

How soon they turn, the disenchanted, on the man once revered, even by opposition supporters, as the chairman of chairmen: not only a committed fan, but financially astute and a diplomat. But for a club deemed progressive and successful it has been a turbulent few months: David O'Leary out, Terry Venables in; Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Keane out, Robbie Fowler and Nick Barmby in. And a significant trading loss reported this year. Ridsdale accepts that the loss of about £7.9m was "not acceptable".

It was a year that began with Leeds being eliminated from the FA Cup by Cardiff. It is ending arguably even more ignominiously; currently a sequence of five defeats in seven home games. Before yesterday they were 10th in the Premiership, but more significantly only five points above the relegation places.

It is in such a context that Ridsdale seeks re-election as a director at the club's annual general meeting on Friday. If he fails to summon the support of shareholders – considered highly unlikely – he will have to stand down as chairman. Assuming he remains, the tenure of the manager he appointed, Terry Venables, is considered by some to be perilously balanced. "Ten games to dodge the bullet," suggested one lurid tabloid headline.

Ridsdale dismisses that countdown to a life back opposite ITV's Des Lynam as "a nonsense", adding: "Some of these stories are like Grimm's Fairy Tales." Nevertheless, from being received joyously as a former England, Tottenham and Barcelona manager on his arrival, Venables is currently described by one regular letter-writer to Ridsdale as "The Pearly Queen". How long, you have to ask, before his manager arrives at management's pearly gates?

"When we were 13th in the League in 2001 nobody was sitting there then calling for David's [O'Leary] head," he says. "The reason was because David had established a bit of a track record. We'd been to the Uefa Cup semi-final the year before and it was also accepted that we had a lot of injuries. Because Terry hasn't got that banked background with us, nobody's giving him a chance. I also think that if Terry had have come straight out of another [managerial] job he'd probably had a faster start with the fans.

"Although our away form would hold itself up to scrutiny against any other team in the League, they are used to this place being a fortress. The home form is of concern. But you have to ask yourself who Terry has available to select." Dominic Matteo, Lucas Radebe, Robbie Fowler and Olivier Dacourt are among Leeds' current litany of injured. "No team can have eight or nine players at any moment and perform at their peak. When you've also got a new manager, getting to know his players, it's an issue."

So is the opportunity for Venables to trade, in both directions, in the transfer market. Nothing is possible until the opening of January's transfer window. Even then there will be limitations imposed. The stark truth is that if the manager does not offload personnel in January he will not be in a position to sign anyone. "We ran for years on 55-ish per cent salary-to-turnover ratio," explains Ridsdale. "Currently that's 66 per cent, which is unacceptable, although in part that's because turnover has gone down because we're not in the Champions' League. We decided to spend more money to try to help David get us into the Champions' League, but we missed it by one place. We have to recognise that the loss of that place, and with it £10m-15m of income, has to be compensated by a reduction in overheads."

What Ridsdale doesn't want to oversee is the loss of key players, particularly Lee Bowyer, who is available free on a "Bosman" next summer, and Alan Smith. "I'd expect Lee Bowyer to be a Leeds United player until the end of this season, at least. We'll then see what happens," says Ridsdale. "There's a myth that I don't want Lee at this club, but I regard him as a great player and I'd like to see him still be with us next season."

As for Smith, who has two-and-a-half years of his contract to run, Ridsdale maintains: "I don't think there's any doubt about Alan Smith signing a new contract. If you cut him in half, he's got Leeds United running through him."

Nevertheless, it is difficult to establish stability when reports, almost daily, link your players with other clubs. It merely serves to crank up the pressure, though Ridsdale knows that a sequence of victories would alter things. "The only pressure Terry and I are under is that we have to get results. That's ultimately what we're both judged on. I believe in my ability as a chairman to deal with the financial situation. What he [Venables] has to do is decide if he believes in his own ability on the park.

"To suggest when you lose five out of seven that he's not under pressure and I'm not under pressure would be kidding everybody. But if we get the results suddenly going the right way, hopefully all this noise will disappear. We won at West Ham, we won in Florence. Frankly if we'd have won on Sunday [they lost 4-2 at home to Bolton] I don't think we'd even be having the questions asked."

The question may well be asked at the annual meeting, along with many others, why dismiss O'Leary in the first place? "We haven't settled [with the Irishman] so it's very difficult to make a comment," Ridsdale retorts. "It's a complex issue, but I believe there was less shock over the change within the club and from people close to the manager. I believe everybody knew it was time to make a change. Whether it was right or wrong, we made the decision, and at end of the day this club have to have a manager who can manage our expectations. Those are that we have to be in Europe more often than not, and in the Champions' League now and again."

But would he know when the time was right to consider his own position? "If I genuinely thought this club could perform better with someone else as chairman I'd go tomorrow," Ridsdale insists. "All I want to see is shareholders rewarded for their patience and a Leeds United that's flying high. We are going through a slightly difficult period, and it may well be that there are people sitting there, thinking, 'Can this guy do it?' But I don't think there are too many jobs where you have a successful five-year period and you're judged over the last three months. If this is one of them, so be it. It's out of my hands."

In the meantime, Leeds face Venables' former club Tottenham today at White Hart Lane. Victory is by no means crucial, but it would ease the weight on manager and chairman considerably before Friday's meeting. Few would doubt that Venables deserves more time to create a team in his own image. Ridsdale has done enough time at Elland Road to warrant an extension of his stewardship.