il Loco himself
Possibly the most startling thing so far about the reign of Massimo Cellino at Leeds United, is that he enjoys the continued faith and support of a vociferous minority of United fans who still insist that the Italian has “saved” the club. That this misguided loyalty is based almost entirely on smoke and mirrors is clear enough to the rest of us, and indeed we are inclined to marvel at the hopeless naivety of a group which seems willing – indeed, remorselessly determined – to overlook so much on the debit side of il Duce‘s ledger. It is for this reason that the majority of Leeds fans, those eager to see Cellino go, are wont to refer to the minority inexplicably keen to keep him in charge as “Flat Earthers“.
A few salient facts and quotes should be enough to justify the question in the headline of this piece: why would any true United fan want to keep this mendacious chancer in the owner’s chair? For instance, there’s this glowing endorsement of then Head Coach Neil Redfearn on May 7th last year: “I am in love with Neil and I don’t want to talk to anyone else about the job. I have always believed in him and I gave him his big chance”. Ten days on, and Cellino’s ardour had cooled dramatically: “Neil Redfearn does the (Leeds fans’) salute. He challenged me. If you are good I can accept the challenge. But not if you are a bad coach. He has to respect the chairman. He has to respect the club. He’s like a baby. He’s been badly advised and used by someone. He is not a bad person but he has a weak personality”.
Dear me. Where to start? For one thing, any true Leeds fan would confirm that doing the Leeds Salute is perhaps the best single way of showing respect for the club. As for respect for the chairman, or President, or Captain on the Bridge, or whatever he chooses to call himself on any given day – well, that has to be earned. And Cellino did precious little in the course of that outburst, or at any other time in his tenure, to earn anyone’s respect – let alone that of a grizzled old football pro like Redfearn. To refer to a current employee as a baby, and a weak personality, shows Cellino in the worst possible light and certainly does not merit respect. Not from the most deluded fan. And to view the Leeds salute as a challenge to himself personally serves to expose the egocentric, narcissistic personality of the Italian. It’s all about Massimo, you see. Woe betide any mere employee who shall presume to usurp his imagined place in the fans’ affections. Houston – the Ego has landed.
In between those two wildly varying quotes from Cellino, in that ten day gap during which he fell out of love with Redfearn (and Neil went from being believed in to being a baby with a weak personality) il Duce had indulged in a 70 minute car-crash of a press conference to mark the return to Elland Road of newly-appointed Executive Director Adam Pearson. That cringe-fest of a press event also featured the mockery of Redfearn’s Leeds Salute and, additionally, of its use by United fans. Normally, any such lack of respect for such an institution of the club as our trademark salute would be enough to have the offender marked for severe disapproval and censure by a constituency of at least 20,000. Given such alarmingly unbalanced and erratic behaviour, pockmarked with instances of what amount to virtual treason – how the hell does Cellino retain any support at all? Is it merely pigheaded stubbornness – or has it descended to outright stupidity?
Perhaps the most damning indictment of the disaster which has been Cellino’s tenure at the club is the following list. It is a list of senior staff who have been fired by the owner, or who have otherwise departed during what is still a fairly short reign. But it’s not a short list:
Brian McDermott, Nigel Gibbs, Richard Naylor, Leigh Bromby, Andy Leaning, Paul Dews, Benito Carbone, Graham Bean, David Hockaday, Junior Lewis, Darko Milanic, Novika Nikcevic, Matt Child, Steve Thompson, Nicola Salerno, Neil Redfearn, Steve Holmes, Steve Head, Martyn Glover, Lucy Ward, Matt Peers, Adam Pearson, Uwe Rosler, Julian Darby, Rob Kelly, Paul Hart.
Some of those names will be unlamented by many Leeds fans. Others – Steve Thompson, Adam Pearson and recent departure Paul Hart, to name but three – represent a real loss and a further stage in the downward spiral of team performance. But the sheer number of departures surely has to reflect on the wisdom and judgement of the man at the top. That would apply to any organisation of this size and profile. There is also the question of the cumulative cost to the club of severance, compensation, gagging orders, etc. etc. It’s a damning litany of failure and – in the opinion of Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything – it damns Cellino far more effectively than could any of the imaginary demons that seem to haunt this strange and superstitious man.
As I mentioned earlier, the one thing that characterises the pro-Cellino minority – apart from their apparent lack of any judgement, or pride in what Leeds United used to stand for – is the vocal and outspoken tone of their dogged support for their deeply flawed “hero”. I’ve seen evidence of this whenever I’ve written an article that is seen to be critical of the owner. And yet I would welcome their input on this latest piece as I am genuinely, profoundly puzzled as to why – why?? – and how they feel able to retain faith in a man capable of the kind of crazy, schizo behaviour referred to above. And, remember, that was no exhaustive list of the man’s nuttiness. There has been much, much more, all of it well documented. So tell me, guys – why?
It would be interesting and instructive to hear some points of view, particularly as this whole “praise, damn, knife in the back then sack” cycle appears to be on the point of repeating itself for a second time since the demise of Redfearn. Don’t just rant on Facebook – stand up and be counted. But – keep it clean and decent, though. Please. It’d make a pleasant change, after so much vicious abuse in the past, to hear from a Flat Earther who doesn’t actually sound like one.
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
Bob, from what I’ve heard from fellow Leeds supporters who, though, continue to support Cellinichio is that they don’t deny he’s less than the best of owners but that, in our present state, he’s the best owner we can hope for. There may be something to that. Who’s going to buy out Cellino? What’s their inventive when it means massive and sustained investment of tens or hundreds of millions of £s above and beyond the purchase price? And given that any hope for promotion is many years away, what buyer is prepared to wait that long for a return on his investment? Their conclusion is that we’re lucky we’ve got Cellino for all his flaws and we’re actually better off with him than without him. It’s not an argument totally without merit … MOT
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The argument normally used as above is “who else has stepped in and who else would save us” so therefore we should be grateful for having the most damaging owner in our history……and accept the abject stagnation that inevitably comes with him.
Missing from the list on Robs article is the team interference from Celllino which I believe was responsible for the Charlton 6 for example………In that the manager Redfearn was completely undermined by the owner, those 6 players knew that their was a scism between Cellino and redfearn and so its obvious that their little protest wouldn’t have happened if the owner had stood by the manager on a regular basis
I also don’t accept that there is no one else out there that would buy us, LFU wanted to act as a catalyst for high networth Leeds fans and investors and for me that was the last chance saloon for the club
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The best one can hope for from such people is the purchase of a minority shareholding in the club. But Cellino (or any other person who has put into the club the amount he has) is not going to issue any more shares, having already diluted the value of his own holding by converting his loans to the club into shares. That leaves GFH, who are essentialy parasitic on the club, and I don’t see what interest they would have in selling their shareholding, at any rate, not for the sums an LFU consortium are likely to be able to mobilise (many of us got our fingers burned once and we are not looking to repeat the experience). Everything, in my opinion, hinges on the outcome of Cellino’s appeal, and it would be wise not to be categorical about our future until that is known. In any event, I am confident that a further administration will not be a result of his ownership and, in that respect, I would advise caution in making judgements about abject ownership.
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Saviour syndrome seven years of bates 2 years of gfh 2 years of mc and still counting 11 years con me once shame on you con me twice shame on me con me three times in a row all I can say is strong in the arm soft in the head
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So when all the fans call for a manager to be sacked he does it then everybody looses their mind because he does it, omg what about gfh or any of the other muppets who had been in charge previously, He is not as bad as everybody is making out.Why dont people take a look at other teams around them ie Fulham , Nottingham Forest , Blackburn , Hull these are all owned by loose as owners who have brought their team down then you go & write articles bagging Massimo out, Why doesn’t an Englishman buy the club? oh that’s right how many English clubs are owned by Englishmen?? not many so get over it & support the team & stop whining over crap that you cannot control. Its his team deal with it or support another club
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Your article, Rob, puts it in a whole new scenario – the list as you say is endless and we need a jolt to remind us of exactly how bad he is.
BUT:
I still firmly believe that had he not been stupid enough to buy the club without due diligence when he did, BATES AND GFH would have put us through the hoop again and we’d be back in league one.
I think the bloke is a pri*ck – BUT the alternative was worse in my eyes.
MOT (blindly on!!! 67 years and counting!!)
Gerry Cwmbran
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We get it, he’s a poor man manager and probably a nightmare to work for.
Until a good man manager turns up with gazillions to spend on the team what do you want us to do, moan all the time? Get over it. Stop the whining and support the team through good/bad. That’s what supporters do isn’t it? That’s what they are doing at Villa, Newcastle, Sunderland, Bolton, Charlton. MK Dons, Crewe, Doncaster, Colchester, Oldham, etc., etc……..
Being unhappy with results, feeling frustrated, being disappointed are all part of a fans lot. So is hope and somebody wise once said it’s the hope that kills you. If it does, I hope it get’s all the negative, moaning bas*#rds first……..
Full disclosure – I’m anti-TimeToGo, neither pro/anti Cellino. I hope……. arghhhhhhh…………
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So we shouldn’t moan about the complete unprofessionalism of the current owner ???
That’s the thing that is bizarre …that people like you completely ignore the endless problems caused by the owner and all you can come out with is “support the team”…………. You are evidently happy to support an owner that is taking us no where, that is dragging the club through the mud………Just the way he handled McDermott is enough for an inquisition……its shameful……….then there was Redfearn, Ward, Thompson, the interference in the first team, the victimization of Stephen Warnock, public abuse of byram, all the legal disputes that hes created that could cost the club millions, his choice in managers……….its endless
You boys just need to keep stick your fingers in your ears………………
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There is one other alternative no one seems to talk about which would get Cellino out and starve his funds and eventually give Leeds back a supporters run club ………………………………………..
Start a second Football club in Leeds, maybe a Leeds city Fc and grow it under part fan ownership like others have done?
It would be much cheaper than buying Cellino out and would allow us to follow a home grown fan part owned club with the likes of another local business man ………………………. its Just a thought.
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It’s been tried with some success over on the wrong side of the hills 👍
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Many a tree has been pulped highlighting the man’s failings. Has he done anything we should be thankful for? Has he any redeeming features? There must be something surely.
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Brought some good foreign players to the club, given us a realistic wage structure and squad size, kept reasonable prices for kids and over 60s, given us pre-match entertainment in the family stand, a fiver for two pints after the game, recognised Charlie Taylor’s overdue promotion to the first X1, not signed a load of loanees or squandered money mid-season, Kappa gear, responded to insults and brickbats with wit and humour and all the financial housecleaning we don’t know about a genuine passion and knowledge of the game and aspiration to do his best for us all.
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😂😆😂😆😂😆
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Two aspects to this-one is some fair yet selective criticism of the Cellino tenure,the other is an attack on Leeds fans from someone who’s not an active supporter it would appear.
Its funny to see Rob the gob trying to suck up to the ‘WACCOE’ bootboys after falling foul of them previously,and joining in with the demeaning insults of people who have a more balanced and inclusive view.
Fans were sceptical of what GFH had to offer including the burgers dished out to the ‘true supporters’ (guffaw) who ridiculed anyone who didnt blow bubbles up David Haighs arse,yet those true flat earthers were taken in and royally rogered leaving the rest of us in the mess we are now.Dare to dream my beautifully manicured ring piece.
Anyone who had spoken to Bates-and now Cellino-was rubbished and their democratic views werent tolerated,even though now it appears that Leeds Fans United have had some informal contact with Bates and certainly Cellino anyway.
On balance given the mess so called fans like you dont want to acknowledge, the Italian has had his priorities in keeping us afloat where someone had to fight the financial fires even before he officially took over.
The list of people who’ve left is misleading in the vexatious way you’ve presented it as some werent clearly up to the job,and Paul Hart say has left for personal reasons.Not sure that it was practical for Lucy Ward to stay,and where Redders on his own wasnt considered good enough for Rotherham who took him on.I’d agree on Tommo being a massive loss along with a sprinkling of others,so on balance theres some truth with what you say.
Anyway good keepnetting Rob but all you’ve done is try to marginalise a section of the fanbase,and of course moved a step closer to getting your blog a permanent fixture on the gutter forum.You’ll like it with the bullies who hide behind keyboards rather than getting their backsides to matches.
Promoting self interest and climbing all over proper fans along the way(thumbs up smiley)
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You appear to have lost sight of the real issue in your eagerness to come across as wry and cynical. It’s a shame, as you can’t really carry that off and – who knows? – if you’d put your mind to what this is all about instead of concentrating on snide and content-free rhetoric, you might actually have added something to the debate.
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It’s not so long ago you were chortling over ‘Big Mas’ mugging the Fulham owner for the 11million we got for McContract. You loved him then.
OK, he’s an impulsive, egotistical idiot, with a serious lack of judgement & grace – but that’s still an improvement on that leech Bates or the serially incompetent GFH.
Leeds fans are the best moaners in the league. It is what it is. Get over it & get behind the team.
MOT
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Oh, don’t be silly, Rex. The whole point about my current stance as opposed to stubbornly daft Flat Earthers is that my initial position of support changed in response to mounting evidence against Cellino. That’s what happens when you continually evaluate the situation. Unless your stupidly obdurate, of course.
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So, a better alternative is ??
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That’s another argument that makes me despair. The “better the devil you know” thing. That’s all very well until your pronged on a spit, roasting eternally over hell fire. Then, the answer to your question becomes “anyone, for fuck’s sake”.
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yes for me id take admin to get rid of Cellino……….. Club would never face liquidation wit the LFU vehicle still in place and in the long run wed be far better off being run by Fans
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That’s a realistic alternative.
And just ‘cos we don’t agree with you, doesn’t stop us from being ‘true fans’.
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Truly dumb, I’ll grant you.
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Im sorry Rob, but i think you have been talking too long with the Anti Cellino campaigners.
Yes I agree his press conferences and the way he speaks is something of a car crash, but is that mainly because of his poor English and the reason he wants people like Pearson in charge of this area?
Yes I agree that too many changes to managers has happened without him giving them a proper chance, but is this because he wants managers to be successful and is trying to fiind the best combination?
Your statisic in this story about all the people that have left the club is very smoke and mirrors itself as groups of people move on when managers move on.
Any New business brings in their own people to run things who they trust.
Yes I am not happy the position that we are in or the rubbish we have played at times, but he was right not to invest in players in January as we were not in a realistic postition of really getting promoted with the other players we had.
Now we have a clear picture where we stand.
He did invest Millions to stable the finances of the club and re negotiate the debt and bad deals done by previous owners (Dont forget Papa Smurf did split every part of the business at leeds, even the Catering rights was sold our income ) !!!
This Summer is the telling point, He has a financially sound club to be based at the start of the season.
Surley he must now be given one last chance to either retain Evens or bring in a better manager….. Plus invest heavily in quality.
If this doesnt happen, then I will happily join your camp !
Basel whites MOT
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Your faith in Cellino’s “pie in the sky, by and by” promises is touching. As someone said about the Chancellor, his five year plan is always five years off fruition.
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The grass is not always greener Rob.
Shouldnt we be giving Cellinio just a little longer in the same way we preach to him about what to do with his managers?
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Spot on Rob as per usual. RIP Chris and Kevin. MOT.
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Sorry Rob but “anyone, for fuck’s sake” is not a better option. That’s the same as saying GFH would be better and it’s the same major failing the TimeToGo mob has.
We want better not a gamble on better.
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Im still talking bollocks
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I’m a sad twat, Mr. Atkinson. Sorry about that.
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When Cellino first took over I hoped – just as I did when GFH took the reigns – that we might now have a fresh start. Without hope there is nothing. It was clear from the off that Cellino was different to say the least, but I hoped that whatever faults he may have, if he got things right then who was I to judge.
Well, the incontrovertible evidence, the catalogue of insanity, outlined not just here but by countless others who can’t take it any more – is overwhelming. If you are pro Cellino then that is your choice. I see this stance as tantamount to delusional as it is not amenable to reason.
I don’t want to argue with my fellow Leeds fans, we need to be united. However, I no longer have any hope. I expect the team to be beaten. From top to bottom a rottenness pervades the Club I love. It hurts like hell. Whilst ever Cellino, GFH or as many still believe, Bates remains in some way connected – we are utterly fucked. We will only stand a chance once all trace of these cancers are excised.
I won’t stop being a fan, that’s impossible, Leeds are my team. A fan is constant. I won’t spend any money though in any way until they are all gone. I’m thankful for LFU and TTGM. Starve the parasites out.
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All I can say is that MC is the best owner we have. I’m sure there are better and worse owners out there but he is the one owner calling the shots. Do I agree with his decisions? Largely no. Should he go? We could do better. Is he right for Leeds? Not in my opinion. Is the dissent affecting the club? Maybe. Is it affecting Cellino? Yes. Does that make him make more daft decisions? Possibly. Should we get behind him? Up to you. Should we get behind The Club? ABSOLUTELY. MOT – together 🙂
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What you/TimeToGo seem to be advocating is a gamble on promotion against the chance of admin/relegation. That’s totally effing unrealistic.
If you look at the last half dozen owners at Leeds you’d have to accept the odds are heavily stacked on the side of failure. You wouldn’t get odds of even on a bet like that.
I reckon you/TimeToGo need to come up with something better than a gamble with the club’s future if you want to get more fans onside.
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Football is all about opinions. Most of what you say is spot on and deserved, BUT. and it is a big BUT, where is the alternative. Much of what he has done has been for the betterment of the club. The financial downward spiral that the club had been in since Ridsdale appears to have been brought under control. Unfortunately in doing that there have been casualties. Who knows? was offering Sam Byram a reduced contract merely bringing him in line with the rest of the team. Lets face it at the time, he was going through a poor spell for him, and barely worth his place. To break a set wage policy for players it should need something exceptional, and at the time Sam wasn’t. The same financial control has also affected the managerial recruitment which has proved disasterous ” you pay peanuts, you get monkeys” he is like a prospecter searching for a diamond in the rough. NONE of his managers has been good enough including the current tactically clueless incumbant. I ask you, for years we have cried out for wingers. We now have 3 on the books, and a 6’2″ CF. and he picks players out of position on the wing.
I hope that in his impatience for success, it eventually penetrates that he needs a quality manager with proven experience in english footballs higher devisions.
Get the right man pay him well with incentives for success, and give him a 5 year contract, to show confidence in him. Prior to MC. we had 3 not great but ok managers who were thwarted by the previous hierarchy, Grayson, Warnock and McDermot. I am still of the opinion that given the support Brian McDermot could have been the one, but was it GHF or him wanting a blank canvas causing his dismisal, we will never know.
Get it right at the top, and the rewards are immense.
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I have a few friends who are very much pro-celino, in a weird sort of Spanish inquisition type of way, where they are so aggressively pro-Cellino they would round up the non believers and make them believe. How did Cellino cultivate such strong support? How did he get away with dividing a fan base, whose motto is marching on together? Ironic? Its like we have our own civil war inside Leeds. Round-heads Vs Cavaliers! Luckily my friends are only giving his this summer to put his hand in his pocket and buy a few quality players. If he repeats the same summer trick as last few seasons, he will lose more support. However, his iron grip on the club wont move until we either get promoted or we all unite against him. Black and white really….. Lets see what happens this summer ay?
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He is the financial custodian of the club I’ve supported for 40 odd years man and boy. It’s no longer a question of trust or being for or against (I was totally for, now I’m a little more pragmatic), it’s a question of whether he, given time, can pull the club up by it’s bootstraps and at least get us stable and strong enough both in the sporting and financial departments to get us back into the premier league.
We all call for stability, we all call for managers to be given time, but he has been here for just 2 years. To financially turn us around, given the state we were obviously in after Ridsdale, then the plundering Bates and GFH, thats nothing.
I truly believe he is here for the long haul and not just to make money, but on field results must dictate his epitaph. He needs to, and seems to have shut up with the bravado boasting and ill conceived promises, so hopefully that’s a step in the right direction.
My personal views on the most important step are for him to spend, not on players but on a world class coach; I actually suggested Ranieri on a number of forums before he went to Leicester. I said at the start of the season that we had a squad capable of challenging, and I stand by that. Now, more than ever we need a manager or coach who is also capable. Certainly not Steve Evans.
Simply listing reasons you want him out is not reason enough. It’s easy to say ‘anybody would be better’, would that apply if GFH stumped up to buy us back ?
As for listing members of staff who’ve left, being fired etc. A logical fallacy if ever I saw one.
As fans, we need to get behind the team, buy tickets, merchandise, promote ourselves and generally shout it out that we are the greatest as we’ve always done. Cellino is to blame for the creation of the sideshow, but that’s not to say the fans need to be patrons of said sideshow. It would be infinitely more useful if instead of spending thousands on aircraft and lighting up the stadium, they’d have spent it on a newspaper ad proclaiming their support and encouraging others to do the same.
This used to be a fun, irreverent, informative rant of a blog. It’s now becoming rather a dictatorial, fashion wagon following whinge. Be careful of being more interested in the readership numbers than of the content.
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You are sailing along on a boat in rough weather. You fall overboard. The skipper throws you a lifeline. He does not pull you in and rescue you, he just leaves you treading water and drags you along. He’s saved your life, your not going to die so be happy.
That’s what Cellino has done to Leeds United. If he had not thrown that lifeline we would have drowned. A fit and proper person would pull you in, he would take care of your welfare, he would take steps to ensure you don’t fall over again. As it is, you are not fit to skipper a boat and have the responsibility for those under you. Cellino is not fit and proper and just because he saved this club does not give him the right to destroy it. Wake up guys, the boat is sinking and all those capable of keeping it afloat have gone overboard and drowned.
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Agreed but the club would never have gone to the wall……….faced with extinction even argumentative Leeds fans would have finally UNITED and we’d be far far better off from that point onwards………..no more nutcase owners everytime one sold up. No more bizarre decisions , everything done in the best interests of the club……….. One day I expect to see Portsmouth AFC come sailing past us waving as they go (Fan owned club) as they are now officially out of admin and clear of all debt getting maximum attendances every home game
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I find it interesting to read all these opinions and I have to say there are some valid arguments in most of the posts. For me it all boils down to what is happening on the pitch. If if if…. we had not been so badly beaten by Brighton and Huddersfield and we had drawn at Rotherham we would all be dreaming of the playoffs. I have 3 season tickets and I could not be bothered going since the turn of the year. It was so appalling to watch them. I wasn’t going again or renewing my season tickets. 3 straight wins and I was back for an exciting local derby only to be ‘mugged’ yet again. I want something to watch on the pitch and some progress in the club going forward but it is never going to happen under Cellino so I am staying away. Those pro Cellino deserve our admiration. Their positivity and continual desire to support the team is what this great club is about. We have a history that can never be taken away and these truly amazing fans who travel far and wide to support this club through thick and thin keep this club great. I am thankful to you all and admire you – you will keep this club alive and eventually – we hope – one day things will be better. For me I now follow from a distance but listen avidly to Popey and Noel and Katherine. When the new manager comes in and some new players are signed and there is hope again I will probably be back at Elland Road. We have years ahead of treading water. No one knows Cellino’s intentions – he probably doesn’t even know himself. I am prepared for anything. The most exciting thing for me at the moment is waiting to hear that his ban is upheld and the hope that he sells. With no buyers on the horizon we would be favourites for
relegation next season if he is banned. I am 100% anti Cellino and agree with you Rob but I fear he will be here until he is too old to bother anymore. Having watched them since Tommy Younger was in goal I will be too old by then to bother myself. Your excellent blog has brought a lot of interesting comments – it is clear to me that the pro Cellino or the neutrals just want the team and the club to be successful but will support them whatever happens. We have to admire that and not ridicule or condemn them . I have learned that today from all these excellent posts.
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Great post. THAT’S the kind of post that keeps us MOT.
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Great post.
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If the FL did their jobs properly the likes of MC wouldn’t be allowed to own clubs like us. I would love to ask Cellino WHY he bought Leeds ?? and what are his plans for the future ?? And not tell lies.
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If the league did their job properly, Shaun Harvey wouldn’t be chairman either…
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Cellino will decide if he wants to sell up, he wants to be loved and in his perverse way criticism only strengthens his resolve to stay. It really is a catch 22 situation, b….g..d if you do and the same if you don’t. Hope springs eternal and we need to keep the dialog going until we land in the Premier League by some miracle or the alternative is not worth contemplating. We are the pawns in the middle and must keep the faith, as painful as it is.
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I too having nothing but admiration for those who follow home and away, no matter what. Problem is though that Cellino takes this as a personal endorsement of him. I understand for so many it is sacrilegious to contemplate not going to the match. I’m with Chareose though, and again this is a sacrilegious view but I’d rather sees us completely rid of the vermin infecting our club even if we go into admin. LFU would be ready and fans could get on board, and yes I’m on of them.
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Okay, with sympathy for the devil, here goes: Cellino should not be the only target for Leeds fans’ ire. We forget the role that the Football League (FL) has played in creating the sorry state of affairs at our club – and this applies to its approval of ‘owners’ prior to Cellino. The FL, with a remit to look after the interests of football, and the clubs in its ambit, is a self-serving Cabala of club owners whose dealings are not open to public scrutiny. Cellino is awaiting a decision from the FL (FA) about his future as an owner. With that uncertainty hanging over him Cellino would be crazy to invest further. Leeds has been a financial basket case from Ridsdale’s time. Administration in 2007 should have drawn a line under the club’s debt problems but, even with a ‘clean slate’, Bates and then GHF piled on more debt. Cellino is taking a hard-headed approach to sorting out the club’s finances. Although unpopular with its fans, Cellino managed to keep Cagliari in the top flight of Italian football for most of his tenure… I can’t think of many more (possible) positives… Anyway, having made the case for Cellino, today I read that Nicola Salerno, one of his longstanding friends, admitted that the guy is a nightmare to work for. Speaking to Cagliari Calcio, Salerno said: “nobody can stand in the way of Cellino making football decisions”. Is this the kind of owner any manager (“coach”), player, or other club employee worth their salt would want to work for?
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THAT is the proverbial $64,000 question.
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Having watched Leeds for 60 years now I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that, like the city as a whole, we suffer from an inferiority complex, which expresses itself in a peculiar form of self-loathing. Nothing and no-one is ever good enough for us – owners, managers (with one singular exception), players and fellow fans are adopted and then discarded with reckless abandon (like the city with its buildings). In recent times, the situation has been aggravated by the advent of a certain solipsism among our younger and more literate fans, who week in and week out vent their disappointment that the team does not match them in countless column inches which, in Bellusci’s case, for instance, amounts to a vendetta. Cellino is not the (main) problem – we are.
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