O'Leary - Better if pair had gone to jail

Bowyer and Woodgate were both charged with grievous bodily harm and affray after an attack on student Sarfraz Najeib in January 2000. After two trials, Bowyer was completed acquitted and Woodgate was sentenced to serve 100 hours community service.

O'Leary responded to claims that the pair should be sold, and not offered new contacts - although Bowyer is yet to sign.

"A lot of people at the club think Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate's court case is over, but getting over the impact will be a long process, even after this season is out of the way," said the Leeds boss.

"It would have made it easier if they had both gone inside. The law of the land had to sort it out but, after the courts had dealt with it, we got the backlash. It would be better for us if they'd gone inside.

"People say I should kick them out - but also that it is okay for them to go to another club. What's right in that? We have to act collectively if players keep misbehaving.

"It is easy for people to say David O'Leary should take the moral ground and get rid of them but I work for a plc. If David O'Leary takes the moral issue and gets the sack who will support me on the moral issue? I have to look after my own job. In offering them contracts the club is protecting its interests."

O'Leary then confirmed that the club will sell Bowyer if he does not sign his new deal.

"Clubs do not let players' contracts run down to less than a year because they can walk away. If Lee hasn't signed by the summer, he'll be put up for sale. It'll be a sickener for the chairman, myself and the fans who have supported him big-time. But that's players."

The Irishman then talked about the public perception of Leeds and admitted that the Elland Road side's image is important to him, but he was personally disappointed by the attitude of his own fans.

"I set out to try to raise the image of the club. To make it a club that will be liked and popular," he added.

"The way other clubs' fans feel about us is one of the things that really saddens me.

"We are a club that panics very quickly, we went to Newcastle and we were top, but the mood was as if we were bottom looking for a win. People have to realise it is a roller-coaster and, when it hits a blip, they have to stay together.

"With everything else going against you, we are still expected to get in the Champions League. All the other managers trying to do the same have had a smooth run with hardly any injuries and just dealing with the football club.

"We have come a long way quickly. People keep mentioning Manchester United, they are on a different planet to us.

"We have a great fan base, but a fickle one. They can jump on people's backs very quickly.

The Leeds boss then moved on to why it was hard to keep modern players disciplined and he blamed the spiralling wages of the last decade.

"The average player is a millionaire from doing nothing. He has hit the jackpot on the back of the Keanes and the Beckhams," he continued.

"You can't frighten them anymore. There is always another club. Are they hungry? A lot get contented very quickly because they get all they need very quickly.

"You can't control players on the pitch. People say: 'Have you had a word?' You can talk and talk, but you can't legislate for what Danny Mills did at Newcastle. We talk all the time about it to him, but the fines become a joke."

England striker Alan Smith has been a major cause of concern to O'Leary.

"I would love to have loads of players who, like him, come to training every day obsessed with being the best. Do I think he has been treated harshly at times? Yes, but other times referees have got it right - although they have been delighted to get it right and have done so very quickly.

"If he was sat watching the World Cup thinking 'I've sat out a lot of this season being no good to the manager, and I'm sitting here instead of being there because the England manager feels the same way.' It would be a big lesson, a hard lesson."