PETER REID is refusing to admit defeat in his quest to transform cash-strapped Leeds United back into becoming a Premiership force.

"I've never been one for quitting and I don't plan to do so now." Words he uttered after watching his side drop to a new low with a 6-1 thrashing at top-flight newcomers Portsmouth on Saturday.

Those exact sentiments certainly rang true during his final days at Sunderland and he will be just as determined to stick it out at Elland Road now.

But for the second consecutive season Reid's admirable, some may say foolish, stance is about to be taken out of his hands.

"Stick with this bloke if you want to go down,'' is reported to be Mark Viduka's verdict on the merits of Reid.

This morning the Leeds board are expected to wield the axe and announce to the Stock Exchange they are going to sack the man who has failed to bring a halt to the club's rapid decline.

The former England midfielder has been hanging on to his job by a thread for the past few weeks, but the dreadful showing at Fratton Park looks to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Now not even the fans that battled to keep him are likely to fight his corner this time.

And Leeds' nutty professor chairman, John Mackenzie, will be right to look for a new boss for the embattled club - under Reid the Whites have lost seven of their last eight matches and conceded a whopping 31 in 12 matches.

But quite what Prof Mackenzie -- and new chief executive Trevor Birch and plc chairman Allan Leighton, who are the real backroom powers - thinks a new man will be able to do to save the Yorkshire club from dropping into Nationwide League oblivion is a strange one. They are a club plunged millions of pounds in debt by previous bad management, and since Reid's arrival he has watched as his resources have been drained away while the results have slipped from bad to worse.

Leeds, facing a massive £78m debt and having already announced a record £49.5 m annual loss, must decide whether that is Reid's fault or whether they just have to get rid of the current crop of players as well. Two well-documented bust-ups with star striker Mark Viduka highlights the abysmal state of of affairs; and life could not really get much worse for the Leeds chief at the moment.

Actually, a decision which would see him depart and follow Terry Venables and David O'Leary out of the exit doors should be welcomed.

Apart from heading for the Job Centre, Reid is pretty much in a no-lose situation.

He will pick up a lucrative pay-off from the Leeds board and very few will blame him for the dire position the club currently find themselves in.

After all it was not Reid who sanctioned big money buys of Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Keane, Robbie Fowler and Olivier Dacourt to put the club in a perilous financial position.

It was not Reid who chose to then sell on those prize assets plus the likes of Jonathan Woodgate to help ease the rising debts. He can not be blamed for the club's overall state, and he won't be.

But it is Reid who has drafted in many below-standard loan signings and it will be he who eventually pays the price.