Peter Ridsdale, the Leeds chairman, chuckled. 'Quite a few people think we are off our heads,' he admitted. 'But there is a clear rationale to all this. The strategy has been thought through.'

It involves ignoring the threat to the transfer market, posed by bureaucrats in Brussels, and investing £18million, a world record fee for a defender.

The arrival of Rio Ferdinand at Elland Road, after a four-month courtship ritual, cannot be judged in isolation. When he completes his transfer on the pitch this afternoon he will embody Leeds' 10-year plan.

By the end of Ferdinand's contract in 2006, Ridsdale expects the club to be flourishing in a European League, designed to co-exist with the Premiership. Like Manchester United, Leeds will be a self-perpetuating success story, a global brand name.

Ridsdale accepts Ferdinand, like new teammates Jonathan Woodgate and Harry Kewell, may well go on to develop his career in Spain or Italy.

But, crucially, his recruitment buys time for Brian Kidd, newly-installed director of youth development, to produce another generation of home-grown talent. 'If the transfer market disappears tomorrow, so what?' Ridsdale said. 'Do you think Rio is going to sign today and go on the first of January? On that basis there is a risk the entire first-team squad will walk.

'You have to believe in what you are doing. The question is why we are paying such a sum? We're not paying it so we can get £18million back for him tomorrow morning. We want him to be part of what we are building, a big club for a big city.

'If, in two and a half months' time, the price of bringing him here was £2.5m, clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona would try to buy him. Given that choice, he may or may not join Leeds United.

'His value to us is immediate, in being in our team, and making sure we are in Europe, year in and year out. Our income stream is driven by what happens on the field, the competitions we are in. That drives how much sponsors are prepared to pay, how many seats we can sell.

'I actually think signing Rio was a very shrewd move, because nobody else was prepared to do it. We have an asset that will give value to our shareholders faster than anything else.

'How much talent is out there? There are very few players who can add to your share value. David Beckham would. Harry Kewell does. Rio will. It is a very small group, and none would cost less than Rio.

'This deal fits our strategy, our ethos. Rio is 22 years old, English. Hopefully, he will be part of a generation that matures together.'

In three years under Ridsdale's chairmanship, Leeds' turnover has increased from £21m to more than £70m. They are one of only three clubs in the Premiership who limit wages to less than half of total income.

Clinical assessments of profit and loss are less illuminating than a study of the human chemistry that has persuaded Ferdinand to leave the comfort zone of Peckham.

David O'Leary is an impassioned, principled manager. Ridsdale's work at the FA has identified him as an administrator with a substance beyond the spin cycle.

The plot to sign Ferdinand was hatched as they sat on the team bus on May 14, the last day of last season. A goalless draw at Upton Park had clinched a Champions League place. O'Leary enthused about Ferdinand's footballing brain, his potential. He identified him as one of four players required to strengthen a 22-man squad.

Olivier Dacourt and Mark Viduka were bought for nearly £14m. Dominic Matteo joined in a £4.5m deal when Monaco left-back Jan-Arne Riise, O'Leary's original choice, rejected his overtures.

Last Saturday night, after West Ham had won at Elland Road, Ridsdale had a 'quiet word' in the boardroom with Terry Brown, his opposite number, who had promised him first refusal on Ferdinand's services. 'What's the situation?' he asked him. 'If we are not going to do this deal we are going to have to do something else.'

Brown suggested he would feel 'duty bound' to refer a written bid of £18m to his fellow directors.

Ridsdale cleared the deal with institutional investors, and his three fellow members of the PLC board, by Monday afternoon, when the offer was faxed to Upton Park.

Terms were agreed quickly, but he did not come face to face with Ferdinand until 7.45 on Thursday evening, when the England defender arrived at the Langham Hilton, in central London, with his parents.

'I was so impressed,' said Ridsdale. 'He was ambitious. He had passion, drive, stature. Here was a player, a person I knew we needed. One of the most impressive things about him was his desperate desire to learn, to improve.

'David expects a certain attitude, a team ethic. His reputation, both as a man and as a former player in Rio's position, was as significant a factor in Rio's decision as the size of the club.

'People matter, and that's why, whatever happens in the transfer market, it will still be possible to build a club.

'Look at companies like Coca-Cola, who create an environment which encourages the desire to succeed. They make people want to work for them. If football can embrace that culture, it shouldn't be concerned about external influences.'

Football is, of course, a law unto itself. Inevitably, the transfer became tainted by greed, and self-interest. Ferdinand was done few favours by speculation he had asked for a £3m golden handshake.

The one moment Ridsdale wondered 'whether it was all going pear-shaped' was at lunchtime on Friday, when Harry Redknapp voiced doubts about the defender's intentions. Subsequent phone calls from Pinhas Zahavi, Ferdinand's agent, and from the PFA, put Ridsdale's mind at rest.

'In a normal business you do not have the multiplicity of vested interests you have in football,' Ridsdale reflected. 'Over the last 24 hours some of the comments made, both privately and publicly, have been designed to derail this process.

'It is a signal that others are starting to take notice of what we are trying to do. Time will tell whether we have got it right or not.

'In five years there will be a Premier League and a European League, a refinement of the current system. Entry to that must be based on performance, rather than history. I like to feel we will be talked about in the same breath as Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal.

'Some people might smile at that, but that is how we see ourselves. We have a clear strategy, as any company should. Whether I deliver will determine whether I'm here in five years' time. If I don't the shareholders will get rid of me.

'Rio's arrival is just the start. David thinks he is a fundamental part of the jigsaw puzzle. The satisfaction will only come in a couple of years' time when we look back and say: "What a move that was . . ."'