Leeds United can at last see a shaft of light on and off the pitch
Telegraph 9/2/14Brian McDermott, the Leeds United manager, watched his team maintain their revival with a 2-1 at Yeovil and believes he can make the Yorkshire side a major force again if they have stability off the pitch
By Ian Ridley, Huish Park
Shameful, shambolic, shenanigans... there has been a lot of “sh” flying around at Leeds United lately. The only silver lining? It seems to have all those not directly involved in the politics and economics of the club marching on together, as the club song goes.
With the wind beneath their wings, the soothing win on one of the few patches of green in Somerset not under water made it seven points from their last three games and has put Leeds back in the play-off picture after a ‘sh for shocking’ Christmas and New Year period.
“It’s bonded the fans and the team and the staff together, and I think you can see that,” Leeds manager Brian McDermott said. And there is certainly plenty to bond against.
Losing £1 million a month and refusing to put in any more money to pay creditors believed to be owed up to £20 million, owners GFH have been seeking a port in the recent storms.
Enter Massimo Cellino, Miami-based Italian owner of Sardinian Serie A club Cagliari. Clearly he sees the potential in a team attracting 30,000 for home games in the Championship and a new multi-billion pound Premier League TV deal due for negotiation this year.
He has offered GFH £24 million over three years for a 75 per cent stake, with another £9.5 million going to the Kuwaiti company if Leeds go up.
More important, though, to McDermott, his staff, the team and supporters, Cellino is promising investment in players and to buy back Elland Road. It all sounds more attractive than the struggles under GFH and before them Ken Bates. Except...
Cellino has two convictions in Italy for fraud and is facing trial for embezzlement of public funds , which he denies, to build Cagliari’s stadium.
In addition, even before taking over the club, he allegedly instructed his lawyer to sack McDermott 10 days ago, only to agree with the still present owners to reinstate him a week ago.
Cellino is expected to arrive in England on Monday and watch Leeds’ home game against Brighton on Tuesday night before a meeting at the Football League on Wednesday, which will consider his case under the “fit and proper person” ownership test.
They are unlikely to prevent the takeover. Cellino’s convictions, from 1996 and 2001, are spent under British law and in his current case, must be deemed innocent until proved guilty. Besides, what might be the alternative for Leeds without immediate investment and with threats of winding-up orders from aggrieved creditors, who would surely rather be paid?
The hope for all must clearly be that Cellino recognises quickly – as McDermott did when he arrived last April – the significance of the club to their community and the English game. And on top, the popularity, and capability, of McDermott, who has retained his dignity, returning to the club though humiliated. He is even, he says, willing to work with Cellino’s potential new coach, Gianluca Festa, once a defender with Middlesbrough and coach at Cagliari.
“The owner and I both want to take Leeds back where they belong,” McDermott said. “Hopefully this week we will sit down and have a meal and a conversation. He loves his football and I think he has seen what an important club Leeds United is. Until you are amongst it, you just don’t know. I think as long as everybody’s got the club at heart, that’s the only thing that matters.
“First and foremost we need to get stability. If we’ve got common ground, we have a major chance of being a force again.”
He accepts, however, that his fate is not in his hands. “I’ve got a real desire and hunger to be Leeds manager but I lost my job at Reading and it’s out of your hands. What is in your hands is to try and get results.”
The result at bottom-placed Yeovil, who have a huge game of their own against Millwall on Tuesday, looked in doubt when Ishmael Miller headed them ahead and the game could have been beyond them had Miller not blasted a penalty onto the top of the bar and out of compact Huish Park.
McDermott changed to a 4-4-2 for the second half and Leeds were quickly rewarded when the game’s best player, Ross McCormack, curled home. Stephen Warnock then did what Yeovil failed to with the wind at their backs, by trying his luck from 45 yards with a free-kick that sailed home.
There may well be more ‘sh’ at Leeds this week, in the form of shouting and showdowns but maybe too, with results turning and McDermott left to get on with the job this season, a shaft of light.