By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

David O'Leary's departure from Leeds leaves an ambitious club in a state of serious disarray.

O'Leary was backed to the hilt by the club's directors, who believed they had found the man to take them into Europe's elite.

O'Leary was given money to spend and initially appeared set for success.

When he guided Leeds to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2001 - outperforming domestic rivals Manchester United and Arsenal - he was talked about as the brightest young managerial talent in the game.

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Before Sir Alex Ferguson performed his U-turn and signed on for another three years in charge at Old Trafford, O'Leary was strongly tipped as his successor.

Now both O'Leary and Leeds must begin to rebuild afresh.

The danger for the club - deep in debt after the heavy spending of the last four years - is that the team O'Leary built will be broken up now that he has gone.

First there is the instinctive loyalty of players towards the man who brought them in.

Mark Viduka, Danny Mills, Robbie Keane and Olivier Dacourt have all been linked with moves away from Elland Road, and now O'Leary is no longer in charge they may find those offers even more tempting than before.

Other clubs, too, will see this as their chance to snatch players who wonder where a club without a manager is going.

And the main target will be the man Leeds can least afford to lose - central defender Rio Ferdinand.

Reported bids

Ferdinand had been cautious about committing himself to Leeds even before O'Leary's shock exit.

Following his wonderful performances at the heart of England's defence during the World Cup, Ferdinand has been the subject of reported bids from Manchester United and Juventus.

When asked about his future last week, Ferdinand replied that he was happy where he was "at the moment".

O'Leary had taken a public stance against any possible sale of Ferdinand.

O'Leary initially met with some success at Elland Road

As recently as Wednesday he told the Leeds website, "No matter what money you get, how do you replace Rio Ferdinand?"

"I'm trying to build a team for the fans and put a squad together for the future of this football club.

"Like any hopefully good manager, you don't want to lose your good players because that makes your job even harder."

It may be that O'Leary was told by his cash-strapped board to sell Ferdinand, refused, and was then told it was either him or the player.

Whoever takes over will be faced with the twin problem of building a team without some of the current stars, and doing so with strictly controlled resources.

Leeds gambled on making a breakthrough into the big-time - and it failed.

For all his early successes, O'Leary did not manage to bring a single piece of silverware to the club despite a transfer outlay of �100m.

And that harsh fact leaves the club he wanted to make European champions further from that lofty position than ever before.