He said in the Sunday Mirror: "When I arrived, as Peter Reid's assistant, I said we'd become another Sheffield Wednesday if we didn't change.
"It was things like not wanting to win, not wanting to work hard, not being prepared to dig deep. I warned people about that and it's easy to say I told you so. But it disappointed me that with the knowledge we had we still fell through the trap.
"I've got to make us hard to beat, to get us physically in better condition. In the First Division you've got to be well organised and strong.
"We're the big fish in the pond, the scalp that everyone is after, so I've got to prepare the players mentally as well.
"My job is to make sure we don't follow the same route as Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford and Wimbledon. All these clubs were in the Premier League three or four years back and they're now in Division Two.
"Leeds have become something of a soft touch in the last two seasons. I was part of the management team at Sheffield United that beat Leeds in two Cup games, so I know."
By selling highly-paid players like Mark Viduka, Alan Smith, Paul Robinson, Dom Matteo and Nicky Barmby, as well as James Milner, Michael Bridges and Ian Harte, there was hope that Leeds would become financially secure.
But the proposed Elland Road sale goes to show how deep they remain in the financial mire. He concluded: "Had a lot of those players stayed their wages would have finished the club. We had to sell to survive. It's all about becoming stable. It's not going to be easy, but we've got to take the medicine."