Leeds chief executive Trevor Birch has attempted to reassure fans by stressing that the club's best players will not be sold in January.
The debt-ridden Barclaycard Premiership club are currently looking for a buyer after reaching a `standstill' agreement with creditors to stave off the immediate threat of administration. Birch confirmed that the club are now around £82million in debt but insisted that there was no immediate necessity to sell some of their best players.
Birch told talkSPORT radio: "Leeds have already gone down that path and the results are there for everyone to see. The last thing we need to do is sell players. That is a sure-fire recipe for relegation.
"I'd like to think we've persuaded the bondholders of the folly of following that policy. For Leeds to be a big club again it has to keep hold of players."
Former board member Allan Leighton and Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa of Bahrain are believed to be building consortiums with a view to taking over the club. Birch added: "I think the Sheikh is heading a consortium. We have not had an offer but there is an intention to consider an approach from him. We will be talking to him in order to try to progress that.
"Allan Leighton has indicated he would like to put a consortium together and he is working on that but no figures have been discussed or terms talked about.
"We have achieved a standstill which has released £4million and enabled us to get a four to six week period to find a buyer for the club. The real debt is to bondholders of £60million and a further £22million to the financing company."
Birch is optimistic that the situation can be resolved satisfactorily and is hopeful that the club, currently 19th in the Premiership, can avoid relegation. He said: "We are going into the new year with a great sense of confidence.
"It is almost a 10-club relegation battle this year. If you look at the gap between fourth and third it is almost as big as from there to the relegation zone.
"Anything can happen. We have to stay confident because there is everything to play for."
Birch also dismissed claims that midfielder Nick Barmby had been left out of the side recently to avoid activating a clause which would mean paying more money to the club they bought him from, Liverpool.
He said: "That is not true. If the manager wants to pick him he is quite able to do so. He is not restrained by that."