Leeds return to Premier League: Gerald Krasner remembers pain of 2004 relegation

Just as Bielsa is now afforded hero status for guiding Leeds back to the Premier League, so the man who took them down, Eddie Gray, remains a legendary figure at the club, with fans believing the Scot was placed in an impossible position when he was asked to take over as manager in November 2003.

As it turned out, Gray, who will be at Anfield in his role as co-commentator for LUTV, presided over a 2-1 victory against Manchester City in Krasner’s first game as chairman.

But behind the scenes, Krasner was grappling with some major issues.

“The debts were just over £100m, which doesn’t sound a lot now – one centre-forward. In 2004 it was ginormous,” he said.

“Trevor Birch was running the club. He knew me professionally because I used to lecture to him in the 1990s. He told me what was owed and to whom. We had to put £20m into our solicitors’ account. We found it – we borrowed it. My guys mortgaged themselves to the hilt.

“For six weeks, I finished work at 5pm and from 6 until 2 in the morning we went to our law firm. They had a night shift on for me. We had 113 agreements to sign.

“People say: ‘Did you enjoy it?’ I didn’t enjoy it once. Don’t buy a football club if you suffer from stress.

“You sit there and watch a goal go in and you are a million quid ahead, one goes against you and you are a million quid down. There were professional firms who did diabolical things in the name of money.

“I sold the stadium and training ground but I did it in such a way that meant they could both be bought back. The stadium already has been. We obviously sold a lot of players. A year later the debt was down to £24m, which was still too much.

“There was so much firefighting. Initially, every day when I went home I thought: ‘That’s another one we have survived.’ Eventually it went week to week, but the money pressure was always there.

“We were doing deals with everybody to mitigate the debt. I spoke to the Inland Revenue and asked them to give me three years to sort a £10m debt. When we sold the club we were down to £3m. I don’t think they thought I would last three months.”