SEBASTIEN Sainsbury has pledged that if his consortium's £25million takeover of Leeds United is not completed by Friday, they will start making penalty payments to Jack Petchey.

An instalment on the £15m borrowed from Aston Villa shareholder Petchey by the current Leeds board in March is due on Friday, but lawyers are still putting the final touches to the buy-out.

Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner is now satisfied that sufficient funds are in place from Sainsbury and America-based Nova Financial Partners and the takeover should be completed by the end of the week.

Sainsbury said: "We have always been aware of Friday's deadline for the instalment, so we have agreed to pay a nominal daily charge to Mr Petchey if the deal is not completed by then. We are all working very hard to complete the takeover by the end of the week."

Meanwhile, Leeds are wondering if they have set a record for the number of debuts at an established club in one season.

With the campaign just three months old, Leeds have already handed debuts to 18 players, including Brian Deane, who is in his third spell at the club counting his trial as a youngster.

The full list of debutants reads: Neil Sullivan, Paul Butler, Stephen Crainey, Jermaine Wright, Simon Walton, Danny Pugh, Matthew Spring, Julian Joachim, Michael Ricketts, Deane, Steve Guppy, Clarke Carlisle, Danny Cadamarteri, Sean Gregan, Brett Ormerod, Andrew Keogh, David Healy and John Oster.

Updated: 10:47 Wednesday, November 10, 2004