SOCCER: Jonathan Woodgate arrived on Tyneside in a snowstorm last night as he prepared to sign for Newcastle United this afternoon for £9 million. But it was the cold front Woodgate left behind at Elland Road where British football's climate change was felt most keenly.

Leeds United are a club in turmoil this morning, financially and politically. Having sold one of their "crown jewels", they are forced to deal with their understandably disaffected manager Terry Venables and their utterly dejected fans.

Last week at Leeds-Bradford airport Venables gave his biggest hint that he would take flight if Woodgate was sold, although last night it appeared he would at least be in charge of the team against Everton tomorrow.

"I only knew (about the transfer) today," he said. "I'm not going to make a knee-jerk reaction, I'm just going to think about it. It's just one of those things you don't think is going to happen. It is very disappointing but, as far as my future is concerned, let's just think."

Venables will address the press at Elland Road at lunchtime and will also address, once again, his future. Beside him will be his chairman Peter Ridsdale. Outside will be angry supporters, as there were last night.

Robbie Fowler's on-off transfer to Manchester City, which gained fresh legs on Wednesday, appeared to have scuppered Newcastle's chances of getting Woodgate. The Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd had met Ridsdale in London the previous evening and upped Newcastle's offer to £8 million but Leeds were so confident that City's cash for Fowler would be enough to satisfy the banks that one director said he would be "astonished" if Leeds then sold Woodgate. But the plc thought differently when it debated the matter yesterday morning.

Ridsdale said that he would write an open letter to fans to explain the club's actions. "We've taken this decision for the long-term health of Leeds United," he said last night.

City, it transpires, are paying only £1.5 million up front to Leeds. Another £1.5 million will come in August. After that, money comes with Fowler's appearances. Selling such a deal to Leeds's bank manager would not be easy - it is scarcely enough to cover David O'Leary's compensation claim, due to be heard in 31 days' time.

So Newcastle, who it is said were contacted by a Leeds plc director last week about Woodgate's availability, moved in again yesterday morning. By lunchtime Ridsdale was wading through blizzards to get to St James' Park. By mid-afternoon Newcastle were announcing that a price had been agreed and Shepherd was saying that the Middlesbrough-born Woodgate was "coming home to the north-east, where he belongs". The deal was done.

Woodgate does have a grade-two strain in his right thigh but Newcastle are not anticipating that his medical today will kill the transfer. He may even be ready to face Arsenal on Sunday week.

Believe it or not, Newcastle's next Premiership fixture, 13 days on, is at Elland Road. As Woodgate is ineligible for Newcastle's Champions League game in between, Leeds away would be his Newcastle debut. Leeds fans will be apoplectic at that.

Whether Ridsdale will still be at Leeds then is a legitimate question. Certainly, if he appears alongside Venables today, it will be one of his final tasks as chief executive. Leeds will have a new one soon as Ridsdale is marginalised.

Whether the new chief executive thinks that Venables continuing in the post is as important as reducing debt and wage bills also remains to be seen. Venables signed a two-year contract when he succeeded O'Leary last summer but never could he have foreseen that he would have to preside over the departures of Robbie Keane, Lee Bowyer, Olivier Dacourt, Fowler and now Woodgate on top of Rio Ferdinand.

Had Venables done his homework, however, he would have been more circumspect about Ridsdale's persuasion. Last March, when announcing a loss of almost £14 million over the previous financial year, Ridsdale said that he could foresee five or six players being sold to balance the books.

Ridsdale said then that Leeds needed to recoup £30 million over the summer. Ferdinand was sold to Manchester United for that sum, rising to £32 million, but Leeds received only £16 million up front.

The pressure to sell has been on ever since - though Venables signed Nick Barmby from Liverpool for £2.7 million in July on a £2 million-a-year salary - but only yesterday did the general public become fully aware of Leeds's perilous economic position.

It has claimed six victims to date and Seth Johnson would have been another. Ridsdale may yet be the seventh. Venables is the other contender, although he was told to "stick at it" by Bobby Robson. "I have told Terry that he must not give in," the Newcastle manager said. "He is at a very good club."