LUST Chairman and Board members meet Massimo Cellino
Leeds United Supporters Trust 13/5/14
On Monday 12th May, Trust chairman Gary Cooper and board members Chris Coleman and Paul Keat met with Massimo Cellino for the first time since he successfully appealed to take over as majority owner of Leeds United from GFH Capital (GFHc).
On behalf of our members we asked Mr. Cellino about the current state of the club and discussed our relationship going forward. As a supporters trust two major issues emerged from our meeting with Mr. Cellino. The first is our concern at the precarious financial health of the club. The second is how the trust fits into the wider picture and its role in taking part in discussions with any owner of the club.
Recent press coverage will have made all Leeds United fans aware that the financial situation at the club is dire. Mr. Cellino pulled no punches when he explained to us that he had taken on huge debts from the GFHc era and an operating deficit of alarming proportions. He went into substantial detail and provided supporting documentation on expenditure. While it is not sensible or practical to list all the sums given, Mr. Cellino left us in no doubt about to the size of the task and the seriousness of the position the club is in.
There are, however, two examples given that can be relayed to illustrate the gravity of the situation. Firstly, Mr Cellino told us the club is spending well over £100,000 a day on operating. Secondly, he informed us that the upcoming season ticket sales had been mortgaged prior to his arrival, but since taking over he had settled the loan in question.
Mr Cellino told us he had been working hard on analysing the situation and that he had plans to restructure the club from all angles, looking at costs and methods, with a view to improving the club’s financial performance and viability. He also stated he was committed to doing so while investing sensibly in improving the quality of the squad.
We raised the issue of a fan share scheme, but Mr Cellino said that such a scheme would not be viable until the financial future of the club was resolved. However, he said he had considered the idea of involving the fans in the purchase of Elland Road. This is something we hope to discuss again in the coming months.
In summary, Mr Cellino asked nothing more than for us to trust him and for us to be honest with him with our members views. Gary Cooper assured him of our continuing honesty and asked for the same in return.
On this final point in particular, the Trust board has subsequently taken the opportunity to reflect on its own position and our relationship with the club’s owners.
The Trust has faced a degree of criticism for having publicly engaged with GFHc when, aided by hindsight, it transpired they were doing great damage to the club’s financial health. The Trust understood that many supporters were angry the club had been managed in such a way, and that some Leeds fans were simply looking for somewhere to direct their anger. However, we considered these criticisms when relaying what Mr Cellino has told us.
As a board we have concluded that the Trust’s position and function need to be made absolutely clear when dealing with the club’s owners, so as to avoid being the focus for criticism in the future, however misplaced we feel it is.
The Trust is governed by its constitution - a legal document that outlines the Trust’s goals and defines the way in which it is run. Among other things, the constitution requires two things in particular:
1. That the Trust seeks ownership of shares in the club;
2. Where this is not practical or desired - there is no ‘one size fits all’ model for all Trusts and clubs - the Trust is required to seek dialogue with the football club, with a view to establishing some form of fan representation.
This is the case regardless of who owns the club, whether it is GFHc or Massimo Cellino. These aims are in place to try and make owners answerable to fans, and they will always be pursued even if it subsequently becomes apparent that the club’s owners have mismanaged the club or have been less than truthful in what they have told us. The goal is a degree of accountability.
As a Trust we will continue to pursue this accountability and, with our position clear, we hope that our members and the wider fan-base will keep their focus on the information itself. We believe it to be a less wasteful use of energy for members and fans alike to compare the information against the available evidence, rather than attacking the Trust for simply doing its job and presenting it in the first place.
We realise that to an extent the success of the Trust will always be determined by the willingness of the club’s owner to maintain an honest, ongoing dialogue with us. Therefore, we would like to thank Mr. Cellino for his candour and his willingness to produce documentary evidence to support his description of the parlous financial state of Leeds United.
As is always the case, we hope our members will draw their own conclusions from the information presented and will continue to play their part in the dialogue we have established with Mr. Cellino. LUST will be canvassing its members to find out how you would like us to move forward in these discussions. Your responses will dictate our future actions and the representations we make on your behalf, so it is vital that you continue to give us your opinions.
Encouragingly, Mr. Cellino has expressed his strong admiration for Leeds United fans. His passion serves as a timely reminder that our worldwide band of proud, loyal supporters are one of the few assets the club still possesses that give us the potential to return to the very top of the game. The Trust has great respect for the ongoing challenges faced at Leeds United, and we sincerely hope Mr. Cellino can finally deliver us a club befitting its fans.
On Monday 12th May, Trust chairman Gary Cooper and board members Chris Coleman and Paul Keat met with Massimo Cellino for the first time since he successfully appealed to take over as majority owner of Leeds United from GFH Capital (GFHc).
On behalf of our members we asked Mr. Cellino about the current state of the club and discussed our relationship going forward. As a supporters trust two major issues emerged from our meeting with Mr. Cellino. The first is our concern at the precarious financial health of the club. The second is how the trust fits into the wider picture and its role in taking part in discussions with any owner of the club.
Recent press coverage will have made all Leeds United fans aware that the financial situation at the club is dire. Mr. Cellino pulled no punches when he explained to us that he had taken on huge debts from the GFHc era and an operating deficit of alarming proportions. He went into substantial detail and provided supporting documentation on expenditure. While it is not sensible or practical to list all the sums given, Mr. Cellino left us in no doubt about to the size of the task and the seriousness of the position the club is in.
There are, however, two examples given that can be relayed to illustrate the gravity of the situation. Firstly, Mr Cellino told us the club is spending well over £100,000 a day on operating. Secondly, he informed us that the upcoming season ticket sales had been mortgaged prior to his arrival, but since taking over he had settled the loan in question.
Mr Cellino told us he had been working hard on analysing the situation and that he had plans to restructure the club from all angles, looking at costs and methods, with a view to improving the club’s financial performance and viability. He also stated he was committed to doing so while investing sensibly in improving the quality of the squad.
We raised the issue of a fan share scheme, but Mr Cellino said that such a scheme would not be viable until the financial future of the club was resolved. However, he said he had considered the idea of involving the fans in the purchase of Elland Road. This is something we hope to discuss again in the coming months.
In summary, Mr Cellino asked nothing more than for us to trust him and for us to be honest with him with our members views. Gary Cooper assured him of our continuing honesty and asked for the same in return.
On this final point in particular, the Trust board has subsequently taken the opportunity to reflect on its own position and our relationship with the club’s owners.
The Trust has faced a degree of criticism for having publicly engaged with GFHc when, aided by hindsight, it transpired they were doing great damage to the club’s financial health. The Trust understood that many supporters were angry the club had been managed in such a way, and that some Leeds fans were simply looking for somewhere to direct their anger. However, we considered these criticisms when relaying what Mr Cellino has told us.
As a board we have concluded that the Trust’s position and function need to be made absolutely clear when dealing with the club’s owners, so as to avoid being the focus for criticism in the future, however misplaced we feel it is.
The Trust is governed by its constitution - a legal document that outlines the Trust’s goals and defines the way in which it is run. Among other things, the constitution requires two things in particular:
1. That the Trust seeks ownership of shares in the club;
2. Where this is not practical or desired - there is no ‘one size fits all’ model for all Trusts and clubs - the Trust is required to seek dialogue with the football club, with a view to establishing some form of fan representation.
This is the case regardless of who owns the club, whether it is GFHc or Massimo Cellino. These aims are in place to try and make owners answerable to fans, and they will always be pursued even if it subsequently becomes apparent that the club’s owners have mismanaged the club or have been less than truthful in what they have told us. The goal is a degree of accountability.
As a Trust we will continue to pursue this accountability and, with our position clear, we hope that our members and the wider fan-base will keep their focus on the information itself. We believe it to be a less wasteful use of energy for members and fans alike to compare the information against the available evidence, rather than attacking the Trust for simply doing its job and presenting it in the first place.
We realise that to an extent the success of the Trust will always be determined by the willingness of the club’s owner to maintain an honest, ongoing dialogue with us. Therefore, we would like to thank Mr. Cellino for his candour and his willingness to produce documentary evidence to support his description of the parlous financial state of Leeds United.
As is always the case, we hope our members will draw their own conclusions from the information presented and will continue to play their part in the dialogue we have established with Mr. Cellino. LUST will be canvassing its members to find out how you would like us to move forward in these discussions. Your responses will dictate our future actions and the representations we make on your behalf, so it is vital that you continue to give us your opinions.
Encouragingly, Mr. Cellino has expressed his strong admiration for Leeds United fans. His passion serves as a timely reminder that our worldwide band of proud, loyal supporters are one of the few assets the club still possesses that give us the potential to return to the very top of the game. The Trust has great respect for the ongoing challenges faced at Leeds United, and we sincerely hope Mr. Cellino can finally deliver us a club befitting its fans.