Cellino on Allegri criticism, Brescia ‘evil’ and huge Leeds United losses — Football Italia 11/9/25

By Susy Campanale

Massimo Cellino explains in his own inimitable style what went right and very wrong in his tenure at Cagliari, Leeds United, and Brescia, criticising Max Allegri. ‘Leeds were losing £100,000 per day, I cleaned all their debts.’

The 68-year-old has for decades been a fixture in Italian football, ever since he first took charge of Cagliari in 1992.

He sold the Sardinians in 2014, when he invested in Leeds United instead, but that only lasted to 2017 and his return to Italy for Brescia.

That ended in ignominy with the club’s demotion and eventual bankruptcy, though Cellino insists he was the “victim” of fraud rather than the perpetrator of it.

“I arrived at Leeds and found a club that was losing £100,000 per day,” he told L’Unione Sarda newspaper.

“I couldn’t sleep at night because I was obsessed with this. In a year, I dragged it down to losses of £7m, then a year later we broke even, the third we were running a profit. I cleaned everything, I paid off all the Leeds debts.

“I then sold the club for a little less than I had paid to buy it. English football was too dear a table for me, I didn’t have the finances to compete. I risked doing myself real harm there.”

Instead, Cellino returned to Italy for Brescia, and his usual weaknesses of sacking coaches, making changes, and being obsessed with superstition, all came to a head.

“I was convinced that Brescia was far more organised and thought I would only be there for one day a month. Instead, I realised there were far more debts than I’d been told, they requested €12m in outstanding taxes the day after I arrived.

“I managed to get them into Serie A, then COVID hit, but above all there was so much nastiness and maliciousness, I cannot understand why. The place itself is evil.

“If a club had just 10 years in Serie A over 115 years of history, they cannot only blame Massimo Cellino. There is evil there. Brescia was founded on July 17. If I’d have known that, I would never have bought it!”

Cellino’s superstition about the Number 17 famously stretched to the fact he ordered there be no seats marked 17 in his stadiums.

His belief in ‘evil’ at Brescia even saw him complain that his decision to build a chapel at the training ground prompted “evil to attack those who do something important for the Church.”

Current Milan coach Allegri made his mark for the first time at Cagliari, but Cellino was critical of the tactician.

“He is still one of the best in the world, but he is very provincial, so he never wanted to learn English, never challenged himself outside Italy. He always chose the easiest path.”