THOSE who take pleasure in the shocking demise of Leeds United are predicting that the sale of Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Paul Robinson and Dominic Matteo to reduce debts and the wage bill will result in an escalating downward spiral.

But Sunderland were in a similar position a year ago. They weren't perhaps in quite so much debt, but they had to clear out the millionaires to bring stability.

Now they are in the play-offs for an immediate return to the Premiership, which may be a reflection of the standard in Division One but should also tell Leeds that they are not necessarily on a one-way ticket to oblivion.

There can be no more expensive tropical fish in the boardroom, although they might have made more sensible decisions than some other recent occupants, and perhaps the club should go back to having a touch of Irish blarney in the managerial hot seat.

Mick McCarthy's blarney comes out with a Barnsley accent, but he has done the job for Sunderland, and the Irishman who took Leeds to a Champions League semi-final only three years ago, David O'Leary, is succeeding where several before him have failed at Aston Villa.

Whoever is in charge, what Leeds really need is a squad of players prepared to fight for the cause, unlike the disgraceful Viduka.

Having missed the previous defeat by Portsmouth through suspension, Viduka picked up two yellow cards in two first half minutes at Bolton and departed with little apparent care for the fact that he had severed the club's Premiership lifeline.

Steve McClaren is said to want Viduka at Middlesbrough. But if he has been tainted by the Leeds experience he might prove as useful as Lee Bowyer at Newcastle and Harry Kewell at Liverpool.

THOSE who retire prematurely from top-class sport invariably do so to spend more time with their wife and children. That's the main reason given by Chris Cairns for finishing his Test cricket career after New Zealand's three games against England, while last year's FA Cup final referee Graham Barber is hanging up his whistle three years early. At 45 he has a one-year-old daughter.

Colin Montgomerie, meanwhile, has separated from his wife and can now single-mindedly pursue a major golf title. Or can he?

Monty has children aged 11, seven and five and the emotional turmoil he must be going through will make it enormously difficult to focus on returning to the spectacular heights of his 2002 Ryder Cup performance.

His obsessional pursuit of perfection has been blamed for his marital troubles in the past, and it's just possible that if he now accepts his marriage is over he can concentrate not so much on getting into this year's Ryder Cup team as on achieving the one thing which would bring him true fulfilment - winning a major.

At 40 he has a few years yet before physical decline overcomes the benefits of experience, but he still hasn't learnt to control the fury which engulfs him every time he drops a shot.

Ronnie O'Sullivan might be able to overcome rage to win the world snooker title, but it rarely happens in golf.

If living alone helps Monty to achieve an inner calm there is still hope for him. But he must find it quickly because he's in danger of slipping outside the world's top 50, which would force him to qualify for the Open at his home course of Troon. He is also outside the ten automatic Ryder Cup places, which currently feature Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and Spain's Carlos Rodiles.

Bernhard Langer can hand him one of the two wild cards, but he won't want him if his head's in a muddle.

NO sooner have the government told us we should be doing half an hour's exercise five times a week than it is announced that £600m is needed to bring the country's leisure facilities up to scratch.

This takes some believing considering the number of health clubs which have sprung up in recent years.

From my current vantage point at Chester-le-Street, I look across the cricket ground at a health club which opened during the winter and through the darkened windows I can make out the vague outlines of people on treadmills and others performing strange gyrations.

I understand they pay quite a lot of money to work out in these cloistered and sweaty environs. I prefer to hand my leisure money to golf clubs and get any other exercise I need simply by stepping out of the front door. Either way it guarantees fresh air as well, which is surely just as important as raising the pulse rate for people who spend their working lives office-bound.

No doubt towns like Richmond, where there is a row over the leisure centre closure, need some kind of facilities.

But rather than spending vast amounts on boring treadmills, people should be encouraged to walk or jog outdoors. There's still plenty of space to go round.