Maverick owner Massimo Cellino admits Leeds United are still a big mess
Guardian 8/8/14
If Cellino and Hockaday pull something off it would go down as one of the more remarkable stories in recent memory. In truth, though, nobody knows quite what to expect
Another season dawns at Leeds United. Another season that promises to, somehow, be more absurd than the last, an unfortunate trend that has blighted the Championship club ever since they fell out of the Premier League 10 years ago.
David Haigh, who was pulling the strings at Elland Road this time last year, has been in a Dubai jail for three months, accused of fraud by the club’s previous owners and current minority shareholders. He has been replaced by an Italian entrepreneur who has previous criminal convictions and whose first managerial appointment is an unknown coach who last worked in the Conference with Forest Green Rovers.
Massimo Cellino is the latest protagonist in a saga that takes centre stage again at Millwall on Saturday and has divided opinion within supporters who thought they had seen it all.
How wrong they were. Cellino, who bought Leeds in April from Gulf Finance House Capital despite opposition from the Football League, is a maverick of the highest order. He sacked Brian McDermott before re-appointing him last season, he was referred to by the new coach – Dave Hockaday – as “the president” about 20 times in his opening press conference, and only last weekend climbed into his office at Elland Road through a window after being locked out.
When his deal to buy Leeds was confirmed, he invited journalists to his lawyers’ office in London, regaling the assembled crowd with outlandish tales of pot-washing in 1970s England and sincerely inviting a reporter to play with his rock band in Sardinia. eneath the jokes, the headline fodder, the superstitions and devilish charm, there is another side to Cellino. It is a ruthless side. He said that the Leeds workforce was bloated and, true to his word, swiftly made wide-ranging job cuts. Around 70 staff were laid off in a matter of weeks – others saw the writing on the wall and walked. Benito Carbone, appointed to work with the club’s academy a few months ago, has already left – citing “family reasons”.
The former Cagliari owner known as the King of Corn has a temper and those who bear the brunt of it are often sent packing or waste no time in doing the packing themselves.The question is, though, can Cellino fulfil his promise to take Leeds back to the Premier League within two seasons? His tone has already changed somewhat on that front – perhaps at the realisation of the mess he inherited – and there is little way to gauge how they will fare.
For all Cellino’s foibles, he is undoubtedly passionate about rejuvenating a club that in recent years has been bereft of optimism. The Italian revealed to the Guardian last week that the wheels are in motion to re-purchase Elland Road, something he wants to do by November when the price would rise, and is seemingly on a one-man mission to drag Leeds back to the top-flight while rebuilding the club from its foundations upwards.
“This is a big mess. It’s going to be a big war – the biggest war is inside, not outside,” says Cellino. “I haven’t even started building this club yet. The results and the team are the smaller problems at this club. Believe me. I have to get this club ready to face the Premier League. At the moment it’s not ready to face the Championship. Last year we started late because one of our players was stuck in traffic – he didn’t live in Leeds. . You must be bloody joking. We need a professional mentality.”
The sad truth is that, without Cellino, Leeds were heading into the abyss yet again. GFHC’s reign was unravelling in spectacular fashion as debts spiralled, with the Italian overturning a ruling by the league and securing the club for £35m, a price that included the debt.
GFHC remain 25% shareholders but have recently agreed to convert £11m of the debt into equity, a move that, according to the investment bank, “should be seen as a recapitalisation of the club to put it on a firmer financial footing”. Cellino, meanwhile, is due to pay GFHC the remaining £6m of his initial purchase agreement by December.
On the pitch the worry is goals, given Ross McCormack’s £11m move to Fulham, which, according to Cellino, will go a big way to securing the deal to buy back the stadium. McCormack was comfortably the Championship’s top scorer with 29 goals last year, but Leeds have so far signed untested foreign players rather than replacing the Scot with a proven striker. Tom Lees, the young former England Under-21 defender, was also allowed to leave for Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer.
Alongside his sporting director, Nicola Salerno, Cellino has bought players known to him from Italy, such as the goalkeeper Marco Silvestri, the midfielder Tommaso Bianchi and the defender Gaetano Berardi. There have also been the loan arrivals of the young Milan midfielder Zan Benedicic and the striker Souleymane Doukara from Catania. This week the club also signed Nicky Ajose from Peterborough.
Asked whether he would be picking the team rather than Hockaday, Cellino says: “How can you think something like that? If I did that why would I need to pay the coach? I hope to give my advice, that’s my duty. I need to know what’s going on and follow his work but it’s not because I decide. I’ve never called a coach asking who is going to play tomorrow – I don’t care.
“I can change manager like underwear if needs be. Everyone has said Hockaday is not the right coach for Leeds, but I think he is. It’s not the choice of the journalists or the supporters. If I have made the wrong choice I have to face it. A lot of presidents don’t fire the coach because they are ashamed that they made the wrong choice.”
Leeds will hope that his choice proves wise, as they wait with baited breath ahead of what could be another turbulent year. If Cellino and Hockaday pull something off it would go down as one of the more remarkable stories in recent memory. In truth, though, nobody knows quite what to expect.
“No-one is going to die,” says Cellino. “If the team is not strong now, it will get stronger. I promise. We don’t have time to lose.”
If Cellino and Hockaday pull something off it would go down as one of the more remarkable stories in recent memory. In truth, though, nobody knows quite what to expect
Another season dawns at Leeds United. Another season that promises to, somehow, be more absurd than the last, an unfortunate trend that has blighted the Championship club ever since they fell out of the Premier League 10 years ago.
David Haigh, who was pulling the strings at Elland Road this time last year, has been in a Dubai jail for three months, accused of fraud by the club’s previous owners and current minority shareholders. He has been replaced by an Italian entrepreneur who has previous criminal convictions and whose first managerial appointment is an unknown coach who last worked in the Conference with Forest Green Rovers.
Massimo Cellino is the latest protagonist in a saga that takes centre stage again at Millwall on Saturday and has divided opinion within supporters who thought they had seen it all.
How wrong they were. Cellino, who bought Leeds in April from Gulf Finance House Capital despite opposition from the Football League, is a maverick of the highest order. He sacked Brian McDermott before re-appointing him last season, he was referred to by the new coach – Dave Hockaday – as “the president” about 20 times in his opening press conference, and only last weekend climbed into his office at Elland Road through a window after being locked out.
When his deal to buy Leeds was confirmed, he invited journalists to his lawyers’ office in London, regaling the assembled crowd with outlandish tales of pot-washing in 1970s England and sincerely inviting a reporter to play with his rock band in Sardinia. eneath the jokes, the headline fodder, the superstitions and devilish charm, there is another side to Cellino. It is a ruthless side. He said that the Leeds workforce was bloated and, true to his word, swiftly made wide-ranging job cuts. Around 70 staff were laid off in a matter of weeks – others saw the writing on the wall and walked. Benito Carbone, appointed to work with the club’s academy a few months ago, has already left – citing “family reasons”.
The former Cagliari owner known as the King of Corn has a temper and those who bear the brunt of it are often sent packing or waste no time in doing the packing themselves.The question is, though, can Cellino fulfil his promise to take Leeds back to the Premier League within two seasons? His tone has already changed somewhat on that front – perhaps at the realisation of the mess he inherited – and there is little way to gauge how they will fare.
For all Cellino’s foibles, he is undoubtedly passionate about rejuvenating a club that in recent years has been bereft of optimism. The Italian revealed to the Guardian last week that the wheels are in motion to re-purchase Elland Road, something he wants to do by November when the price would rise, and is seemingly on a one-man mission to drag Leeds back to the top-flight while rebuilding the club from its foundations upwards.
“This is a big mess. It’s going to be a big war – the biggest war is inside, not outside,” says Cellino. “I haven’t even started building this club yet. The results and the team are the smaller problems at this club. Believe me. I have to get this club ready to face the Premier League. At the moment it’s not ready to face the Championship. Last year we started late because one of our players was stuck in traffic – he didn’t live in Leeds. . You must be bloody joking. We need a professional mentality.”
The sad truth is that, without Cellino, Leeds were heading into the abyss yet again. GFHC’s reign was unravelling in spectacular fashion as debts spiralled, with the Italian overturning a ruling by the league and securing the club for £35m, a price that included the debt.
GFHC remain 25% shareholders but have recently agreed to convert £11m of the debt into equity, a move that, according to the investment bank, “should be seen as a recapitalisation of the club to put it on a firmer financial footing”. Cellino, meanwhile, is due to pay GFHC the remaining £6m of his initial purchase agreement by December.
On the pitch the worry is goals, given Ross McCormack’s £11m move to Fulham, which, according to Cellino, will go a big way to securing the deal to buy back the stadium. McCormack was comfortably the Championship’s top scorer with 29 goals last year, but Leeds have so far signed untested foreign players rather than replacing the Scot with a proven striker. Tom Lees, the young former England Under-21 defender, was also allowed to leave for Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer.
Alongside his sporting director, Nicola Salerno, Cellino has bought players known to him from Italy, such as the goalkeeper Marco Silvestri, the midfielder Tommaso Bianchi and the defender Gaetano Berardi. There have also been the loan arrivals of the young Milan midfielder Zan Benedicic and the striker Souleymane Doukara from Catania. This week the club also signed Nicky Ajose from Peterborough.
Asked whether he would be picking the team rather than Hockaday, Cellino says: “How can you think something like that? If I did that why would I need to pay the coach? I hope to give my advice, that’s my duty. I need to know what’s going on and follow his work but it’s not because I decide. I’ve never called a coach asking who is going to play tomorrow – I don’t care.
“I can change manager like underwear if needs be. Everyone has said Hockaday is not the right coach for Leeds, but I think he is. It’s not the choice of the journalists or the supporters. If I have made the wrong choice I have to face it. A lot of presidents don’t fire the coach because they are ashamed that they made the wrong choice.”
Leeds will hope that his choice proves wise, as they wait with baited breath ahead of what could be another turbulent year. If Cellino and Hockaday pull something off it would go down as one of the more remarkable stories in recent memory. In truth, though, nobody knows quite what to expect.
“No-one is going to die,” says Cellino. “If the team is not strong now, it will get stronger. I promise. We don’t have time to lose.”