Newcastle have lodged a cut-price £2m bid for Alan Smith to fuel fears of asset-stripping at crisis club Leeds.

The cheeky offer for the England striker was flatly turned down by the Elland Road board.

But the Geordies' move has signalled their intent to cash in if Leeds are forced into administration next week.

Newcastle made a similar swoop to take Jonathan Woodgate from Elland Road for a bargain £9m this time last year.

Now they are ready to pounce again on the ailing Premiership club, which is £75m in debt and facing financial meltdown.

Chairman Freddy Shepherd employed similar tactics when he went to the administrators at Ipswich and snapped up England Under-21 midfielder Darren Ambrose for £1m last year, a move that upset Ipswich chairman David Sheepshanks.

Smith has long been on boss Bobby Robson's wanted list and there would be nothing to prevent Shepherd going over the heads of the Leeds directors if the club fails to find a saviour by Monday's cash deadline.

Woodgate has told Robson that Smith would be a massive asset to Newcastle, both in the short and long term.

Newcastle are short of striker options, with Lomana LuaLua away on African Nations duty and Craig Bellamy and Shola Ameobi on the comeback trail after injury.

Robson is also looking ahead to Alan Shearer's retirement in 17 months and sees 23-year-old Smith as a top-line addition to the attack.

Newcastle have already been turned down by Leeds with a loan move for striker Michael Bridges, but Leeds could be powerless to stop them stepping in for Smith, even though they are desperate to hang on to the six-cap striker.

Leeds hope to stave off financial disaster by selling £4m keeper Paul Robinson but they are running out of time.

Robson last night denied any knowledge of the move for Smith and said: "I don't know anything about that.

"We have Craig Bellamy looking really good and maybe back in the team in three or four weeks, Shola Ameobi should be fit next week and Kieron Dyer has been doing well up front with Shearer.

"It's club business if and when we go for a player. Smith is a Leeds United player and under contract. I can't talk about that."

There are indications that money will be found for Robson to buy two players in the next fortnight and Shepherd's move for Smith is just an opening shot.

Meanwhile, Gary Speed has urged Hugo Viana to be patient after the Portuguese midfielder blew his top over the breakdown of his loan move to Sporting Lisbon.

Robson has told his unhappy £8.5m star he has no chance of escaping St James' Park in order to save his Euro 2004 dream. Viana launched a bitter outburst against Robson's decision to block the move after he agreed to take a 60 per cent pay cut.

Viana, 21, claims Shepherd gave the green light to the deal.

But Robson stepped in to insist 'you're staying' and initiated showdown talks between the pair yesterday. The talented midfielder is being kept out of the Newcastle side by 34-year-old Speed and has played only 18 minutes of senior football since Christmas.

However, Speed has told Viana that he'll be a better player as a result of his current frustrations.

He said: "I speak to Hugo a lot. He's a fantastic player but he's very young and it's natural that he'll get frustrated.

"I've told him that this experience, whether good or bad, will make him a better player in the end and he agrees with that.

"He likes it here and he's a great lad with a great attitude. Hopefully he can show everybody what he can do.

"I want to play every game but if I don't play and Hugo does I will be the first to shake his hand.

"It's healthy at a club like this to have that sort of competition. If I wasn't playing I'd be annoyed and upset as well. First team squads used to consist of 16 or 18 players but now they are 25, and everybody is fighting for a place."

Robson said he had reprimanded Viana for his outburst and said: "I told him I am disappointed.

"I am not interested in texts or faxes or phone calls. There is only one manager of this club and it's me.

"He's not running the football club and we have made a decision that he stays."

* Leeds caretaker-manager Eddie Gray is convinced everybody at Elland Road would take a wage deferral if it meant saving the club from administration.

The clock is ticking for Leeds, with the end of the 'standstill agreement' with the club's creditors now just three days away, and there appears little hope a buyer will come in to save them.

Administration is seemingly just around the corner, although it has been revealed acting-chairman and chief executive Trevor Birch's healthy relationship with the creditors - who are owed a combined £82m - will prove beneficial.

There may yet be a stay of execution for Leeds, particularly as the final straw for the creditors - bondholders MetLife and Teachers from America and British firm M&G, as well as player-leasing agents Registered European Football Finance Ltd - would be for the club to fall into the hands of the administrators.

With Leeds requiring between £5-8m in investment to see them through to the end of the season, one alternative for Birch is to ask the players and staff to take a wage deferral.

Such an option was discussed this week when Mick McGuire, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, was called in to speak to the players.