NEW boss Kevin Blackwell admits Leeds United must unload their high earners before being able to bring in the players he wants.

Paul Robinson has already left Leeds in a £1.5 million deal to Spurs and Alan Smith followed him out of the door yesterday in a £6 million deal but Leeds still have 11 players on the wage bill earning more than £1 million a year.

Manchester City have already had a loan move for Dominic Matteo turned down while Mark Viduka is being tracked by Middlesbrough and Valencia.

Danny Mills is wanted by Newcastle and Middlesbrough and Wolves are interested in Michael Duberry ,while Nick Barmby, Ian Harte, Stephen McPhail and Gary Kelly also command huge wages at the First Division club.

Blackwell, handed a two-year contract yesterday after a dramatic U-turn by the Leeds board, said: "Everything is dependent on who leaves. From a purely selfish point of view, it would be nice if those who are leaving could do so quickly and allow us to re-build.

"Those who are kept here on big wages will restrict us in the market. It all depends on who goes and when they go as to what sort of budget we will have."

Blackwell, who was in goal when Scarborough won promotion to the Football League in 1987, started his coaching career at Huddersfield Town where he looked after the youth team.

He followed Neil Warnock to Plymouth and Bury as assistant and then filled the same role at Sheffield United. The duo led the Blades to League and FA Cup semi-finals in 2002-03 and also to the Division One play-off final where they lost 3-0 to Wolves.

Blackwell was told by the Leeds board last Friday that he had the job only for a decision to be put on hold 72 hours later after an approach was made to Crystal Palace boss Iain Dowie.

However, the collapse of Steve Parkin's takeover of the Yorkshire club ended the interest in Dowie.

Despite the uncertainty, Blackwell has spent the last few days sounding out potential targets and he said: "I made one or two inquiries about players because I didn't think it was prudent to sit around and do nothing. Now I can move those on a little bit quicker.

"Hopefully we can get people to Elland Road to have a chat in the next couple of weeks. We start pre-season training on July 1 and the big problem we had last summer was not being able to bring new players in until August.

"It could be a blessing in disguise that a lot of the current players have to leave because it means we can bring in the right players who are geared for this division."

Blackwell, who was brought to Elland Road last summer by Peter Reid, now plans to sit down with managing director David Richmond and discuss the future.

He said: "We can now sit down and have a real look at what we can and can't spend. I have been here 12 months so know all about who is here.

"We are in a division I know a lot about and I will be hoping to bring in an assistant who has been in that division. It is important this club gets grounded in what the First Division is all about to ensure we get out of it quickly."

Blackwell will also have to appoint a chief scout while the club are still searching for an Academy director and a coach for the Under 18s.

Updated: 11:08 Thursday, May 27, 2004