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Football League Attitude to Leeds Still Tainted by Hardaker’s Hatred of Revie – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 07/02/2014 | 33 comments
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Shaun Harvey and his fellow Leeds-haters at the FL

Here we are, then. The deal is all but done.  Save only for what should really be the formality of Football League approval, Massimo Cellino is the new owner of Leeds United, having purchased a 75% stake in the club, the remaining 25% remaining in the hands of GFH and their various investors. A fairly complex management structure will be in place, seeing Haigh and Nooruddin retain executive positions, something that Cellino himself has at least initially set aside in favour of the non-executive President’s role.  But there is absolutely no doubt at all wherein resides the power behind the throne; Cellino has promised to re-purchase the Elland Road stadium and move to Yorkshire – he also intends to take the same hands-on approach to player recruitment as he took at Cagliari. How all this will pan out in practice remains to be seen.  The proof of the Yorkshire Pudding will be in the eating.

So, what of this Football League “formality”?  Well, guess what.  It now seems likely to be spun out for as long as those men in suits can feasibly manage.  On the face of it, neither Cellino’s existing convictions, regarded as “spent” under English law, nor his pending prosecution for embezzlement (innocent until proven otherwise) can currently be counted against him.  In the absence of any other apparent issues, the Football League (under their own tightly-defined rules) would seem to have little option other than to rubber-stamp this takeover.  But when this august body finally commented on the matter earlier on the Friday before the weekend of the Yeovil game, it was only to say that they required further information from Cellino and from GFH.  Until this information was forthcoming, it concluded tersely, the matter would not be progressed.  Oh, and you can’t have that Italian lad Tabanelli on loan either – it was all done against the rules. Oh dear, how sad, tough.

So, what should be a simple matter will drag on, it seems, for at least another week.  Meanwhile, the financial situation at Leeds United is becoming steadily clearer and the picture being painted is not a pretty one. It would seem that, until the eventual approval of our Italian saviour, we do not have the proverbial pot in which to do the proverbial.  It’s so hard to dismiss the image of pasty little men in grey suits rubbing their hands in glee over the way in which they have been able to prolong the discomfort of a club they have long treated as a pariah compared to the rest of the “football family”.  In this, they are acting very much in line with what the late unlamented Alan Hardaker, Football League Secretary back in the day, would have wanted and approved.

Alan Hardaker was a failed footballer turned successful bureaucrat, exhibiting the kind of pettifogging regard for rules and regulations, to the exclusion of common sense, observed in many such grey and rigid little men.  Once he had taken a dislike to United manager Don Revie – and admittedly, it was mutual – he seemed to allow this emotion to colour all of his dealings with Yorkshire’s premier club.  Decisions were made which seem utterly extraordinary now – the requirement to play a title decider 48 hours after the Cup Final win in 1972 stands out, but that frankly bizarre decision was no isolated example of official intransigence.  Hardaker was usually outspoken in defence of his position, leaning over backwards to justify himself whilst, in the same breath, explaining how the disputes were all Revie’s fault anyway.  He described the United boss as ” totally ruthless, selfish, devious and prepared to cut corners to get his own way”, stating also that “As secretary of the Football League I often found Don Revie, as the manager of Leeds United, to be a pain in the neck”.  In the light of such comments, it is no surprise that Leeds were usually lacking for friends in high places.  Their pursuit of every honour in the game left them in need of some breathing-space and consideration now and again – but none was to be had under Hardaker and this played a large part in United’s fate of being seen as always the bridesmaids, never the brides.

The late Alan Hardaker

The late Alan Hardaker

Alan Hardaker has been dead for almost 34 years now, but his memory is honoured in the eyes of Leeds-haters everywhere, every time an official decision is taken to the detriment of that much-maligned club.  Brian Mawhinney, loathsome Tory and willing tormentor of Leeds over the “Minus 15” debacle, was a worthy successor to the Hardaker legacy.  Now we have Shaun Harvey in the box seat, former Bates poodle and hardly free of prejudice where the interests of Leeds United are concerned.  Hardaker would be proud of them both; nobody standing at his graveside would be able to detect the sound of any spinning going on down there. Hull-born, Hardaker openly hated Don Revie’s Leeds United – and that rancid sentiment tainted all of his dealings with the club whilst he was in office. The current incumbents are rather less vocal than the late Alan, it must be said.  Brian Mawhinney, for instance, was much given to weasel words about Leeds being a valued member of the football family – but the underlying attitudes haven’t changed noticeably, as was demonstrated in the saga which developed around the 15 point deduction which – only just – managed to keep United back in League One after that first season, to the undeserved benefit of Nottingham Forest who copped fur a promotion they’d failed by some distance to merit on the field.  To this day, apparently, the Football League will still do Leeds United a bad turn if they possibly can.

It will be very interesting to see which way the League do eventually jump. Any decision to reject Cellino would seem hard to justify under the rules as they exist – but you get the feeling that, the more Leeds fans have realised they have a possible new era of financial muscle and security in prospect, the less keen those little grey men have been to give the deal that final seal of approval.  A week earlier, it all looked different; angry Leeds fanatics were horrified at the prospect of Cellino, barricading him inside Elland Road and seeing off all attempts at rescue. At that point, the Hardaker thing to do would have been to approve the Italian immediately.  Now, the Football League quite possibly perceive a dilemma.  How best to serve the worst interests of Leeds United??

It may be that I’m just being paranoid – but remember, that’s the natural psychological state of any Leeds fan of long service.  If you know yer history, you’ll be able to point to many instances where the game has dealt United a disgustingly scurvy hand.  So really, it’s no wonder we’re bleedin’ paranoid.  But for me at least, the suspicion won’t go away that somebody, somewhere is looking to see what spanners they can throw in the works of a deal that looks more and more likely to be Leeds United’s best hope of progress onwards and upwards. Indeed, given the parlous nature of matters as they stand, with the club living hand-to-mouth and surviving on ad hoc loans, Cellino may even be the only chance of the club surviving in a form recognisable to its legions of fans worldwide.  It could just be that serious. We’ll simply have to keep our fingers crossed that the next week can finally see things confirmed, letting us get on at long last with daring to dream and celebrating the purchase of our beloved Elland Road.

So come on, you Football League suits, get your finger out and do the right thing – if only to prove to me that all my dark suspicions have been groundless and that you really are an impartial and benevolent ruling authority with the best interests of ALL its members at heart.  Stand up, Shaun Harvey, and prove you’re a better man than you appeared when you were yapping obedience to Ken Bates. Let us start dreaming our dreams and debating whether or not we really want del Piero.  Can you actually show us, Shaun, that you have some atom of integrity after all?

I really, really hope so.  The sooner old Hardaker is angrily spinning away in his grave, the happier I and many thousands more Leeds United fans shall be.

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Wilting Flowers Set to Succeed Only in Winding-Up Leeds Fans – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 05/02/2014 | 30 comments
The battle for Leeds United

The battle for Leeds United

Probably the most significant recent development in the Leeds United Takeover Slapstick Farce is the winding up petition (WUP) served by Andrew Flowers, alleged fan of the club and disappointed member of the thwarted Sport Capital which failed to buy a controlling interest in United last month. Amid all of the speculation and rumours surrounding the moral probity of Massimo Cellino, it is interesting to examine the possible motivations of Flowers in the extremely drastic action he has taken.

This blog has come to the conclusion that Flowers is lashing out in a manner not dissimilar to a spoiled child’s tantrum.  To run further with that analogy, the winding up petition is as much of an over-reaction as that of the wailing child who, denied the biggest share of the sweets, hurls a set of wooden blocks through the dining-room window.  It’s an over-the-top reaction, the product of immature arrogance and spite.  Somebody should perhaps shut Mr Flowers in his room with no toys, until he’s learned how to behave nicely.

A little research shows that it’s not unknown for a WUP to be issued as a tactical measure, designed to impede an unwelcome rival bid as it nears completion.  The website “Company Rescue” states

“In the Leeds United case, it appears Flowers has issued the petition in order to settle the dispute over the bid, which can happen if creditors feel they are ignored.

This kind of action is likely to be dismissed by the Court, however , as a WUP should only be issued if the company is thought to be insolvent.  As Flowers seems to be issuing one to settle a dispute, this could be deemed in the court as an abuse of process.”

Naturally, the courts tend to take a dim view of this sort of thing, as Leeds United in its current guise will be hoping happens in this case.  Their statement last night referred to “abuse of process” and it has to be said that this will do absolutely nothing but harm to Mr Flowers’ reputation if it is shown to be the case.  Another term for less-than-sincere legal action is “frivolous and vexatious”.  Courts and judges just hate this sort of thing.

There is the effect on the fans (remember them?? Hang on, it’s US!) to be considered, too.  Once the supporters cottoned on to the fact that the actions of Flowers pose a serious threat to the reputation or even continued existence of Leeds United – and that cottoning-on did not take long – then sympathy started to drain away from Mr Flowers and from Enterprise Insurance like pus from an open wound.  The idea of being anywhere near the bottom of the league, and then incurring a ten point league penalty, is not a comfortable one for Leeds United fans, not comfortable at all. Minus fifteen is still a vivid memory and still a cause of bitter resentment.  Ten points deducted right now would leave us a precarious 5 points clear of the relegation zone.

Neither will the fans appreciate the prospect of this ridiculous pantomime being dragged out for very much longer.  And yet Flowers’ WUP is due to be considered by the High Court on March 17th – almost six weeks away.  Six more weeks of anguish and uncertainty?  No, thank you.  Another factor evident today is the high incidence overnight of nocturnal emissions in many a South Yorkshire hovel, as desperate fans of smaller clubs dreamed moistly of the possible disappearance of Leeds United from the football landscape.  The tweets today bear witness to this frankly sad level of excitement and anticipation among the inbred, chip-on-the-shoulder tendency.  The attitude of other fans will be of little import to the suits as they go about their squabbling – heavens, they can hardly bother to think about the club’s own fans – but it’s a real enough part of the misery being imposed on us – and a particularly irritating one to the loyal Leeds United following out here, unable to do much but watch in horror and wait in apprehensive uncertainty while this humiliating tussle goes on.  And on, and on…

Over the past few days, and particularly since the news of Flowers’ WUP gained some currency, the attitude of the Leeds United support has appeared to sway significantly in favour of the Italian Cellino, and away from the dubious methods being employed elsewhere.  At first there was much doubt and virtuous rolling of the eyes at the thought of Cellino’s supposed criminality and wickedness – and yet, in the cold light of day, he appears little different to other mega-rich football club owners in this respect.  It’s highly unlikely that his convictions – one apparently suspended, one seemingly quashed – will act so as to fail him under the League’s Fit and Proper Person (FAPP) test.  He has an embezzlement charge hanging over him, but is rightly regarded as innocent until proved otherwise on that score.  And are Cellini’s rivals so squeaky clean?  The background of one Liverpool-based member of one of the consortia begs some critical evaluation, what with drive-by shootings and the like and – let’s not forget – Enterprise Insurance itself is unlikely to be based in Gibraltar simply for the lovely scenery afforded on the Rock.

The sad and frustrating fact is that Mr Flowers has taken a sledgehammer here to crack a peanut.  He filed his application the day after his consortium’s bid collapsed – on the rebound, as it were.  It has all the hallmarks of a fit of pique.  Given the statement from Leeds United last night – and even though that was swiftly watered-down, it’s still out there for people to see due to various assiduous bloggers – it seems inconceivable that Flowers and GFH could sit down around a table and discuss amicably any proposed business over the ownership of a football club which in any event actually belongs in a very real sense to the fans out here.  So what has Flowers to gain?  Read here and here to see what a very serious step a WUP is.  Why would he do that to a club he allegedly has close to his heart?

It will be interesting to see how the feelings of the Leeds United support continue to drift as the next few days go by – but already there has been a significant shift away from Flowers & Co and towards the “King of Corn”.  If Flowers is planning a long game, he risks completely exhausting the patience of the fans, patience that is already wearing dangerously thin.  And he might just find that any support or sympathy he ever had will have completely evaporated long before he ever gets his day in court.

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Despite All the Wrangling – Doesn’t Cellino Own Leeds Utd Already? – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 04/02/2014 | 39 comments
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Cellino – Signor Leeds United in a very real and legally-binding sense

Since the turmoil of last weekend, when low farce threatened to proceed via melodrama to real tragedy – before turning into a rip-roaring epic with a hat-trick hero – things have settled down, battle lines have been drawn and it’s situation normal at Elland Road.  In other words, the football is all but forgotten, various big egos are competing to see who can wee highest up the wall and the fans are relegated to mushroom status; kept in the dark and fed a load of crap.

But what is the reality of the situation?  Despite all the fighting and fratching, all of the writs and wrangles – isn’t it actually quite simple?  If you strip away all of the extraneous nonsense, then doesn’t it all boil down to an elementary matter of whether or not a contract now exists between GFH and Eleonora Sports Ltd?  If that contract does exist, then it’s difficult to see how it can now be argued that negotiations can properly continue between GFH and any other party. People will point to the fact that, when Cellino’s solicitor arrived at Elland Road to “complete” the deal, he was ushered off the premises, the papers left unsigned.  So: no deal, right?  But it’s not really as cut and dried as that, not when we look at the basic elements of what constitutes a contract.

Basically, a contract exists where one party makes an offer accepted by another party, with a “consideration” – i.e. money changing hands. No signatures needed, no paperwork – a contract is technically binding without all that.  Offer, plus acceptance, plus consideration = a contract, with all the enforcing power of contract law behind it.

So if Cellino had his offer to buy 75% of the club accepted by GFH – as it seems they have acknowledged – and if, as he says, he has paid for those shares – even if those funds are actually held in an escrow account and not yet paid to GFH; then it’s difficult to see how GFH can, at this stage, repudiate the contract and enter into discussions with a different party. So it does look to me as though Cellino owns Leeds Utd, subject only to official ratification under the FAPP Test, which he would almost certainly pass due to spent convictions which cannot, under English law, be prejudicial to his status as a “fit and proper person”.  Cellino himself appears ready to go to law in order to defend his contractual position.  Worryingly, it appears that the other parties in this whole sorry mess appear equally determined to have their day in court.

Can anyone make a serious alternative case, for the enlightenment and edification of this blog, to the conclusion that Cellino is the de facto owner of Leeds United? I’m still trying to sort out for myself whether I actually want this for Leeds, or not. So I’ve no interest in being right for being right’s sake; if anyone can tell me why all of the above contract theory is not true, then I’ll be happy to be convinced accordingly.

If the contract issue is as straightforward as it currently appears – and admittedly, these things rarely actually are – then Cellino only really needs the green light from the relevant authorities to move in and start putting his mark on the club.  What that would mean in practice is the subject of a whole separate article, and there are as many opinions as to his positive/negative effect on Leeds United as there were fans in the stadium when Leeds mauled Huddersfield last Saturday, or so it might appear.

In the meantime, all of the kerfuffle which currently occupies us all to the exclusion of anything to do with the actual football business of the club, could just be sound and fury, signifying nothing.  Just an almighty, annoying waste of time.  If it really is such a simple question as “Is there a contract, or isn’t there?” – then for God’s sake, let’s get it sorted out, and swiftly.  The one real voice of calm and sanity in all of this, Brian McDermott, has said himself that the ownership issue needs sorting out fast. Elsewhere, there have been quotes from David Haigh to the effect that talks might go on for “days, weeks, months”.  God forbid – we just do not need that.

Looking yet further down the food chain, our one-time main sponsor figurehead, Andrew Flowers – thwarted member of the Sport Capital consortium who started all of this nonsense by reneging on a done deal and submitting a “revised offer” for the club – is now issuing a winding-up order against the club whose best interests he ostensibly has at heart.  Apparently, this winding-up order is no wind-up – this guy means business.  It’s a pity he didn’t have the integrity to see the original deal through and save us all a lot of grief.  Now, it would seem he’s having to join forces with yet another consortium to match Cellino’s bid.  But little has been heard of what financial muscle this “super-consortium” would have to take the club forward post-purchase.  And this is a vital issue – after all, it’s not just the initial cost – it’s the upkeep.  Could we have any faith in future investment for the club, the team and the stadium if Flowers & Co did get their way?  And isn’t Flowers himself open to a charge of being vindictive in trying to stretch this matter out by such drastic means?

The next match is just a few days away, in the public glare, via the unsympathetic and mischievous medium of Sky TV.  Can we hope for matters to be sorted by then?  Who knows? But surely, that would be in everybody’s best interests – not least the team, the fans and the patient but long-suffering Brian McDermott.

Comments invited, it’s your club, not theirs.  Please – make your feelings known.

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Huddersfield Suffer Cup Final Thrashing at Hands of Crisis Club Leeds – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 01/02/2014 | 26 comments
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Jimmy Kebe celebrates scoring for Leeds United

It was the worst of times – and then, suddenly it was the best of times.  The Friday night had been pain and humiliation for every Leeds United fan, in the pitiless glare of the Murdoch media before the eyes of a hostile world.  And yet, just a few hours later, everything had changed, unrecognisably for the better. The team started against Huddersfield looking understandably a little sorry for themselves.  But they rode their luck, applied themselves when they went behind – and emerged 5-1 winners.  And then we heard the manager was reinstated – in fact, contrary to the previous night’s version of reality, he was never sacked in the first place.  On a personal note, I’d sustained a Twitter barrage from jubilant Millwall fans on transfer deadline night, they’d been gleefully delighted to see their least favourite Leeds fan reeling under the sheer weight of bad news.  And yet on the Saturday they lost 0-3 to Reading and remain in and around the gutter of the relegation zone, where such vermin belong. Schadenfreude rarely felt so good – right, Ms Kate Murray, stroppy Miwwwaww tweeter?  I am using the word correctly, I hope…  And to put a tin lid on it, Man U got beaten at Stoke, despite a comical SEVEN minutes of stoppage time.  Where are those penalties from the S’ralex days, eh?

Talk about Friday Night and Saturday Morning – Sillitoe never wrote such a dystopian/utopian contrast.  It’s been said that a week is a long time in politics – clearly a day is the difference between epochs in the crazy world of football. These were not so much two different and contrasting days as two parallel universes.   The speed with which things have turned around has been enough to leave anyone dizzy. For Leeds fans, the afterglow of the Derby Day slaughter is an oasis of happiness, paid for in full with Friday night’s pain and wretched suffering. And, in a particularly sweet twist, the club on the receiving end of this almighty volte-face was Huddersfield Town, bearers of the biggest anti-Leeds United chip on the shoulder you’re ever likely to see outside of Barnsley. Early on, they’d bossed it at Elland Road, but they were profligate; to some extent the authors of their own downfall. Nevertheless, they’d forged ahead, and then our captain McCormack missed a half-chance for Leeds. The glee in the away end was unconfined – “Ross McCormack, he don’t wanna play” they sang, innocently unaware of the tidal wave of Ross that was to engulf them, leaving them very sad and silent little Terriers by the end of the game.

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Ross!!

For McCormack, it was a performance you just couldn’t have made up.  A hat-trick, the day after the Sky Sports hacks had been doing their best to flog him to Premier League relegation candidates Cardiff.  A tough game against determined derby opposition, for which the preparation had been as far away from ideal as it is possible to imagine, a fragmented miscellany of disasters large and small.  A match day that had started with bleak pessimism seeping throughout the club, some of the staff turning up for work in tears, McCormack’s mentor apparently sacked.  Seriously, who writes this talisman’s scripts?  One hat-trick later, and Ross was on the radio, re-emphasising his commitment to Leeds United.  Our captain and the top scorer in the league had stepped up to the plate and delivered, big time.  We couldn’t possibly have asked for more.

And then, best of all, we heard those glad tidings that Brian McDermott is still our man.  It’s true that there are still a lot of explanations needed for what has gone on in and around LS11 in that nightmare day or so – but for the time being, the warm fuzz of happiness is just too darned comfortable and I don’t want to shake it off. Leeds win, thrashing Huddersfield in what is always their Cup Final. Millwall gloated for a night and were then comically, karmically, abjectly beaten at home the next day.  Man U lost at Stoke with their ineffectual manager bleating about deflections and worldies.  My smile still feels as though it may require surgical removal.  It’s all so different from the Friday night, and from Friday night’s nightmares.  I woke up the next morning hoping I had just dreamed it all, only to realise despairingly that it was true.  Never had I anticipated a home game with less appetite or enthusiasm. My get up and go had got up and gone.

And now – well, that Friday night reality, which got match day off to such a glum start, is simply not true any more.  The team fought like lions (sorry, Millwall) for the badge, the shirts, the manager and the fans. Young Mowatt played beautifully and broke his goal-scoring duck. Stewart was tricky and creative out wide. Even fellow winger Jimmy Kebe played well and scored – these two are at last looking fit and sharp and promise to lend a whole new dimension to our play.  The embattled team took an early, shattering blow, but then lashed back in a startling fashion, savaging the cocky Terriers in what turned out to be an epic mauling.  So life is good, however temporarily.  Whether it’s now a case of Marching On Together, or Forza Leeds – or maybe both – we can at least be content for the minute.

Friday was just plain horrible.  But Saturday, matchday?  It’s been bloody wonderful.

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Exclusive: Definitive Leeds United Statement on Recent Events at the Club – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 01/02/2014 | 4 comments
No questions will be taken on this statement

No questions will be taken on this statement

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Leeds Fans Know How You Feel Ross, But Now is the Time to Man Up – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 31/01/2014 | 36 comments
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More of this, please, Ross

It’s been a shocking and distressing day for all of us – many out here are thinking back to this morning when we were grumbling about another dull deadline day in prospect.  And now – we’re wishing we could turn the clock back.

The last couple of hours have been depressing and humiliating.  For God’s sake, even Gary bloody Neville feels sorry for us.  Brian McDermott, the voice of reason in the Elland Road asylum, has been sacked – although there isn’t the courtesy of a statement from the club to confirm this.  A couple of hours before this, the club turned down a bid from Cardiff for captain and top scorer Ross McCormack.  Ross then gave a statement to pisspoor TV station Sky Sports, saying he was happy at Leeds and looking forward to playing for McDermott. A tinge of alarm there, that solidified into an icicle of dread when the axe fell on poor Brian’s honest head.

The thing is – you don’t just play for the manager.  With all due respect, Ross, you play for the fans, for the shirt, for your team-mates, for the club. Managers come and go as we all know.  It’s sad – tragic, sometimes.  But it happens – and when it does, then the senior players are under a moral obligation to stand up and be counted.  That is what the Leeds fans out here now desperately need of the Ross McCormack they’ve watched scoring goals and kissing that badge this season.  Don’t take the easy road and opt out.  Don’t lose that fight and defiant professionalism that has marked you out as star man this season.  There’s a derby match tomorrow against Huddersfield, and as usual they will play it as a Cup Final.  For once – instead of succumbing to that smaller-club chip-on-the-shoulder motivation, the Leeds players need to respond in kind.  They will need their skipper and talismanic striker to lead them in this.  They will need YOU, Ross.  And the fans will need you, too.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  They don’t come over all prima donna and let themselves be persuaded by the disgraceful Sky TV that the only option is to flounce in and demand a move.  It’s been such a horrible, horrible day – but Captain Ross McCormack and the rest of the lads in those shirts – shirts that any of us fans out here would give a year’s salary to wear – can start the fightback tomorrow.  That’s what the big players do.  That’s the professional thing to do.  You have a contract, guys, but what’s more than that – you have a duty of trust to the fans that have stuck by you through a decidedly average season.  They kept the faith after Rochdale and after Sheffield Wendies, and they cheered you to the rafters as you lost unluckily to Leicester.  Please don’t abandon them against Huddersfield.  Pride is at stake here, and it’s about much, much more than an individual player’s unhappiness.  Rise above it, fight and win, if at all possible.

The time to sit down and think things over is in the summer.  Things may be clearer by then.  Now, in the heat of the moment, is not the time to act in haste.  It’s not a time to forget the fans who worship you, and head off to the the very bottom of the Premier League, where Vincent Tan awaits.  Out of the frying pan, and into the fire?  Bite your lip, Ross, and roll those sleeves up.  You can be the hero we need in very dark times.

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Get that shirt on, go out and fight

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“Fit and Proper Test” Under Spotlight as Cellino Bids for Leeds – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 31/01/2014 | 37 comments
Cellino - fit and proper?

Cellino – fit and proper?

Rumours have been gathering pace all day that Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino is on the brink of securing a majority holding in Leeds United AFC. The implications of such a development are manifold, not least the effect on manager Brian McDermott and his backroom team. One quote attributed to Cellino when asked about McDermott’s future was “I need a coach, not a manager”. It’s fair to say the things look bleak for Brian, should the Italian Job be completed.

One vital stage in any such completion would the Football League’s decision as to whether or not Cellino’s ownership of Leeds United should be sanctioned. This involves scrutiny of any potential new owner under what is known as the “Fit and Proper Person Test” (FAPP). On the face of it, Cellino would seem to face difficulties with this. He allegedly has a couple of fraud convictions and is awaiting trial on embezzlement charges. Not on this account alone could he be considered more of a villain than Ken Bates – but you’d have thought that the Football League, even in the rather dodgy guise of ex-United CEO Shaun Harvey, might not look kindly on a man with a rap sheet like Cellino’s. It may well be that this will be the most stringent test yet of the efficacy of the FAPP Test.

There is the merest suggestion that the club might be acquired by Cellino in the name of his son – a guy who is much given to Instagram sharing and who is not, presumably, saddled with a record for dodgy deal like Papa’s.

Whether or not the FAPP test can be satisfied, or perhaps merely circumvented, this looks like being a crucial decision in the context of the whole history of Leeds United. We’re looking at a man who changes managers, or coaches, considerably more frequently that Ken Bates changes his underwear. Cellino is not a man to be swayed by fan opinion either – it tends to be “my way or the highway”. Fan engagement has been a buzz-phrase around LS11 since GFH moved in – but those days might be ending for the foreseeable future.

It looks as though the ownership issue is coming to a head just as the transfer window slams shut on us yet again – so the question of whether or not Cellino is likely to be a heavy investor will probably – subject to any promises he might wish to make in the wake of sealing a deal for United – have to wait for another day. But it would appear that the Italian is very much “hands on” in terms of transfer deals, so it’s highly unlikely that we would see Brian wheeling and dealing as he did so successfully and to such devastating effect at Reading.

Whatever happens, we’re all going to feel as if we’ve sat through some combination of gothic horror, low farce, and pantomime. It has been a deeply unsettling time to be Leeds. We shall obviously have to do our best to keep Marching On Together, but it looks like it might not be easy. The Cellino regime would be terra incognita for Leeds United – we’d just have to wait and see how things pan out. For once, even with a derby in prospect – always a Cup Final for the opposition – football is the last thing on the minds of most United fans. McDermott won’t be drawn on whether this Huddersfield home match could be his last as Leeds manager, saying only that he plans “to enjoy it”. Valedictory words? Sadly, they may well be just that.

These are dark and troubling times at Elland Road – and whatever happens in the next day or so, it seems certain that we’re not out of the woods yet – not by a long chalk.

Addendum – the Fit & Proper Test as it applies to Cellino. Grateful thanks to Max for his research and interpretation – much appreciated.

Rob, I had a look at the rules here:
http://www.football-league.co.uk/regulations/20130704/appendix-3_2293633_2128209

And also key is the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/53/enacted), which the rules use to decide whether a conviction is “spent” or “unspent” (even if outside the UK). “Spent” means they come off your criminal record (if you have one) for most purposes.

Cellino’s convictions are banned by the rules, if unspent, so you then look at the act to decide whether or not they are spent. Sentences of >2.5 years (including, obviously, life sentences) are never spent. It’s not clear what happens with suspended sentences, I would assume they are treated the same.

Cellino had a 14 month suspended sentence in 1996 and a 15 month one in 2001. For a sentence of 6 to 30 months, the time for rehabilitation, or for the convictions to be “spent”, is 10 years. So by my reading he is in the clear.

The embezzlement charges don’t count unless he’s convicted. If convicted, even if the sentence is under 6 months, he’d be disqualified for 3 years (by applying the table in the 1974 Act) from being a football director and would have to resign.

But right now – and I may have missed something, of course – by my reading he would pass the test. In 2010, when he tried to take over WHU, the convictions wouldn’t have spent, assuming the rules applied (the PL rules may be different in this respect, I don’t know)

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Leeds Boss McDermott a Welcome Beacon in the Fans’ Gloom – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 29/01/2014 | 73 comments
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Brian McDermott looking for the best for Leeds United – with or without him

There’s a video clip doing the rounds today – it could easily be entitled “Strife of Brian”, but this is no Pythonesque spoof.  This is tragedy, pure and simple – it’s got all the necessary ingredients.  We have an embattled hero, dark and inimical forces grappling away in the background, mystery and intrigue – and most of all, the grim prospect of a very unhappy ending.  And all in a mere 2 minutes and 38 seconds.  For all its brevity, no-one could fail to be moved by the passion and courage, the honesty and unselfishness that shine through in this isolated bubble of truth and openness in the gathering murk surrounding Elland Road.  The hero is, of course, Brian McDermott and he has earned that title by his struggles to carry on in circumstances that would have seen a lesser man give up and head for the hills.

In this blog’s opinion, McDermott has also earned the respect, trust and unstinting support of everyone out here who would claim to be a Leeds United fan.  Brian has stuck his head above the parapet with the contents of that interview, not in his own best interests, but in those of the club – which he clearly equates with the fans.  He stands out in these dark and dismal times as the one real ray of light – along with maybe one or two of the playing staff.  His anger, his passion and his determination to see right done by Leeds United and its legions of supporters are an apt counterpoint to the anodyne platitudes which are all we occasionally get from the suits behind the scenes, those grey little men who argue about pounds and pence while the club slides ever backwards.  It would be hard to imagine more of a contrast than the one which distinguishes Hero Brian from the corporate clowns humiliating us as they squabble behind the scenes.

I saw a tweet today which sums up perfectly the Strife of Brian.  It invited us to imagine the situation of a man facing a tennis match against a Grand Slam champion, but having to face this virtuoso without a racquet – and with his hands tied behind his back.  This is how hamstrung our Brian has been, for pretty much all of his tenure as Leeds United boss.  Just as we’ve been made promises and have been let down, so has he – and when he is let down it’s more than just a personal disappointment – it’s his professional reputation on the line.  Matters appear to have come to a head in these last few days, as we approach the final week of a transfer window where so much was promised, so much was expected.  Brian talked of getting business done early – but he’s been betrayed in his trust.  It was all lies, yet again.  The carpet has been yanked from beneath his feet, and ours.

It seems odd then, that – with so many deserving targets for their anger and disappointment to be justly poured out – some Leeds fans are actually choosing to have a go at the man who represents our best hope of forcing some kind of breakthrough in this tiresomely endless impasse.  Some fans are absolutely calling for Brian’s head, citing tactics, transfer policy, substitutions – even his gloriously bald pate.  They portray him as an egg  or as a thumb, and they seem to think it’s funny.  Yet this is the man who is speaking out and calling for an end to all the uncertainty, all the fruitless quibbling in the boardroom, all the selfish machinations between opposing interests – and he’s doing it with dignity and professionalism.  Brian wants it sorted, and for us to start moving onwards and upwards – and isn’t that what we all want, all of us helpless and impotent bystanders out here?  Plenty of managers would refrain from comment, knowing that being too outspoken would land them a swift P45.  Plenty more would walk, leaving us to suffer without any leadership.  Still others would seek to follow a party line, cravenly hoping they’d backed the right horse.  But not Brian.  He’s stuck his neck out, to lay his head defiantly on the block.  He seems to be half-resigned to being a casualty of whatever change might finally occur – but he’s saying it’s not about his own interests.  He’s asking for a swift resolution to the takeover saga, for the club and for the fans.  Greater love hath no man…

For those who are preoccupied with details of his team selections, or substitutions, or certain of his transfer acquisitions, I would say – forget it.  We know nothing of his working conditions and the promises made and broken, except for the broad hints in that direction contained in this alarmingly frank and angry interview.  It’s impossible for us to judge the man – he’s been trying to build a house without tools, and with bricks of straw.  All we can say of him is that he’s there for us, the fans, and for the club we all love.  How can we currently ask more of him than that?  For the moment, tactics, substitutions and transfers  are irrelevant.  Football is irrelevant.  The season is a dead duck – it’s the very future of our club which is at issue here.  That’s what McDermott is telling us, and we need to listen.  In a crisis on stormy seas, the last thing you do is tip your friends overboard – and right now, Brian is the only friend we have.

Against Huddersfield at the weekend, all of the Leeds fans should be bellowing their support for this man.  We should be sending the clearest possible message to all the factions currently wrangling over our club; we should be making sure that they’re aware we have heard Brian’s message loud and clear and that we have taken it to heart.

In any conflict, it’s of the first importance to know your enemy.  We should be utterly clear on this – Brian McDermott is not the enemy here.  He speaks for us, because he cares and because he has the courage and resolve – along with the insider’s knowledge – to speak with the voice of a man who knows that what’s happening is not good for the club.  We have Brian to thank for the fact that we now know that too.  Let’s not be blind enough, naïve enough, to ignore it.  We must show our support for Brian McDermott, loud and proud – because quite frankly, he’s the only chance we’ve got.

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Corporate Clowns Fighting Over Leeds United as Fans Suffer – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 28/01/2014 | 25 comments
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The interested parties

Finally, the silence has been broken – what we have been waiting for in terms of hard information, or at least a statement from one of the main protagonists, has at last come to light.  It’s a breaking of the impasse – but not in a good way.  What we have heard is an unedifying tale of wrangles over the terms of an agreement apparently struck last November.  It seems that the Flowers/Haigh/Un-named Others “Sport Capital” consortium found something, or maybe several things, not to their liking after the initial agreement for the sale of 75% of the GFH holding.  Various elements, it is said, were “not as originally described”.  Sport Capital therefore made a “revised” (i.e. lower) offer, which GFH have turned down, seemingly preferring to listen to other suitors, with a certain Italian prominent among the names being noised about.

In other words, it’s a mess.  In fact “mess” is really far too kind a way of describing the utter shambles, the embarrassing pantomime, that has been this takeover so far.  Quite apart from the humiliating spectacle of watching our great club being fought over by a bunch of incompetents, there are a few odd matters arising out of all this.  Not the least of these is the Sport Capital statement “We were fully justified in revising our bid because a number of things have come to light which were not as originally described“.  Now that does seem bizarre, because – let’s not forget – the Sport Capital Consortium and the existing GFH ownership have David Haigh in common.  So if Sport Capital have uncovered something nasty about the club, something that would justify a reduction of the offer which closed the original agreement – then why and how wasn’t Haigh aware of this before?  He was, after all, a senior figure in the running of the club this past year.  Even Andrew Flowers, big wheel in the club’s main sponsors Enterprise Insurance, should have had some level of knowledge.  There’s a rotten smell here, somewhere.

It’s a little odd too that Sport Capital, having (as some might say) reneged on the terms of the original agreement, are now accusing GFH of “breaching their covenant” in talking to other interested parties.  GFH are also accused of breaching their covenant with the fans – whatever that means – but it’s unlikely after today’s revelations that those fans will be confining any expressions of displeasure to GFH alone.  To the fan in the street, sick to death of being messed around by a series of chancers playing fast and loose with Leeds United – an institution of the English game, by the way – it would appear that all parties concerned are conspiring to make of our club a laughing-stock, an embarrassing soap-opera which does little but heap shame and humiliation on the heads of its loyal and fanatical supporters.

It’s difficult to take sides on the little information available, even since Flowers decided to speak out.  But the impression that goal-posts have been moved is not easy to avoid.  Flowers also said  “This boils down to much more than money but GFH have chosen to ignore that”.  But isn’t that slightly disingenuous?  To the selling party, it’s always going to be mainly about the money, surely?  Even though GFH were intending to retain a 10% stake, they will still have an interest in realising what they can for the chunk of the club they’re selling.  For Sport Capital to reduce their offer – and then cry foul and scramble for the moral high ground when the sellers refuse to lower the price – seems, to say the least, a little naïve.  And after all – if it boils down to much more than money – why have Sport Capital reduced their financial offer after an agreement had been reached?  There is much more here than meets the eye, much that we still don’t know on the basis of Flowers’ statement which – let’s face it – is only going to represent a one-sided point of view.  So when he, and Haigh, dismiss rival bids as being bad for the club and the fans – can we really trust their objectivity in a matter where they indisputably have a vested interest?

Meanwhile, hard on the heels of this new storm, Brian McDermott has had the task of trying to field a team that will stop the on-field rot by getting a result at Elland Road against Ipswich.  To say that the prevailing circumstances are not conducive to team preparation is a masterly feat of understatement.  I will try to raise the enthusiasm to write something about the Ipswich game later, but it’s hardly my prime concern right now and I freely admit that.

McDermott has been looking and sounding distinctly glum this past day or so, and all you can feel for the guy is deep sympathy – the sympathy you’d feel for any professional trying to do his job hamstrung and hindered by the manoeuvres of the crass amateurs in the chain of command above him.  Brian wants the matter swiftly concluded and, he emphasises, in the best interests of the club.  Give the guy an award for common-sense, a quality notably lacking elsewhere in what’s going on.  Reading between the lines, you can tell that Brian is half-expecting to be a casualty of whatever outcome we eventually get.  But he’s got his head down, doing his best in a difficult situation and he deserves the support of every true Leeds fan for as long as he’s at the club.

You honestly wonder how much more the fantastic fans of Leeds United are prepared to take.  If you got a couple of the more cynical type of satirical sitcom writers together, and asked them to pen a series about a football club setting out its stall to take the mickey out of its large and loyal fan-base, then they wouldn’t even be able to imagine or approach the farcical reality that now confronts us.  We deserve a lot better than this; but it’s a situation that has gone on now, with a few changes in the principal cast, for quite a few years.  In this time, we have seen clubs that suffered alongside us in the bowels of League One go on to comparatively great things.  Southampton, Swansea – even Norwich.  For heavens’ sake, Norwich have managed to prosper with three-quarters of our League One midfield and our top-scorer of last season warming the bench.  Reality would be funny if it wasn’t so utterly sickening.  For many, of course – the sad acts out there whose chief pleasure is to see Leeds United wounded and suffering – it is funny, in fact it’s riotously amusing.  And this all adds to the depression and misery for our fans, people who live and breathe Leeds United, people though who seem to be the least significant factor in the thinking of those who are wrangling over a great club.

It has to stop, and stop soon.  Clearly, this transfer window – despite the lies we were told last month and for most of this – is not going to be of any real help to us, and therefore this season is yet another write-off.  The only realistic aim now is to make sure we stay in this league, hoping that the ownership issue can be sorted out to leave us with a regime that can support the club’s immense potential and the fans’ justifiably sky-high ambitions.

That should be the bottom line, but right now it appears nothing more than a pipe-dream.  The clowns fighting over Leeds do not deserve any more of our faith or patience.  They don’t deserve to be associated with such magnificent support.  So step aside, clowns – and let’s have somebody in who knows their football, loves the club and has the will, imagination and financial muscle to take us forward.

There must be somebody like that out there, surely.

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Clearest Sign Yet That Ross Will Stay at Leeds: Mail Report He’s Off – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 26/01/2014 | 21 comments
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Ross: staying or going?

The ever unreliable Daily Mail are reporting that Leeds will accept an offer of £5 million to be tabled by West Ham on Monday, pending discussions of Massimo Cellino’s takeover of the club.

The inherent contradiction here is that, if a takeover endgame were indeed in progress, then it is highly unlikely that any major incomings or outgoings would be sanctioned by the current owners – as this might affect the plans of imminent buyers of the club.  Such elementary common sense does not appear to have been allowed to get in the way of the Mail‘s desperate desire to flog the “Ross Is Off” story for all that it’s worth.

It may just be that this Mail report is the best sign yet that McCormack will be in the Leeds United team to face Ipswich on Tuesday.  Whether this will prove to be his last game in a Leeds United shirt is another matter.  The tweets of Messrs Haigh, Patel and Nooruddin, though, appear to confirm that those gentleman have been made fully aware of the strength of feeling among the Leeds support.  It has been said that their intentions regarding Ross were made clear last summer, when a number of bids from Middlesbrough were rejected.  The pull of Premier League money may be stronger – let’s wait and see if the resolve to keep our captain at Elland Road holds true.

If not, then the suits in the boardroom are going to have to do some mighty fast talking to keep the fans onside and face the rest of the season in anything other than turmoil.

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