Massimo Cellino accused of ending former Leeds United player’s career at Elland Road due to bizarre rule — Leeds United News 18/12/24

Danny Bloomer

Despite still being in the Championship, Leeds United as a club couldn’t be in a more different position to what they were under Massimo Cellino.

Cellino spent three years at Elland Road as Leeds’ majority shareholder and eventually left the club completely in May 2017 when he sold the remainder of his stake to Andrea Radrizzani.

It is any wonder just how Leeds managed to keep themselves afloat both on and off the pitch during Cellino’s tenure in charge.

He constantly hired and fired dreadful managers, signed some atrocious players and was often embroiled in some kind of legal battle, one of which involved Leeds icon Ross McCormack.

McCormack was one of the only people who dared speak out about Cellino’s mismanagement at the time, and recently revealed how his move to Fulham prevented Leeds from going under.

David Norris shared bizarre Cellino rule that ended Leeds career

Cellino’s first summer window in charge saw him make one of the most ridiculous appointments in English football history, bringing in Dave Hockaday from Forest Green. Needless to say he lasted a matter of weeks.

Hockaday’s arrival was also accompanied by 16 new signings, many of which came from the Italian leagues.

Stuart Taylor (backup goalkeeper) was Leeds’ only signing above the age of 30 that summer, and speaking on the latest episode of the ‘I had Trials Once’ Podcast, David Norris has revealed how that ended his career at the club.

Norris was released on a free transfer a few months before the end of his contract at Leeds, having not made a single league appearance in either of his last two seasons in West Yorkshire, due to a rule adopted by Cellino.

He said: “As soon as we had that mad Italian [Massimo Cellino] come in and take over, then no one over 30 was to play under his rule. Stephen Warnock got a few extra games, but he still wasn’t happy. That was the end of me then.

“We had Dave Hockaday, was manager of Leeds which people probably won’t remember or realise. He was a non-league manager, I think at Forest Green and got the job at Leeds under this mad Italian somehow.

“So he [Cellino] was really running the team. I never played after the first season regularly. I had a good first season but under that Italian, it was just carnage because you had a right setup at Leeds, we were well looked after.

“We had the indoor pool that had jets in it, we had a steam room, saunas, baths, training ground. It was luxury and he just shut it all down. Turned everything off at the training ground, made us bring in our own lunches, buy our own socks. It just went, I think he thought, ‘this is £2 per, this is all change’. The lads didn’t react well at all. It was a shambles.”

Leeds have come a long way since Cellino

Radrizzani was the man who took over from Cellino in 2017 and has also received a lot of stick since he left the club.

Radrizzani’s time at Leeds ended badly for its own reasons but he progressed the club so much further than Cellino ever did.

Having helped Leeds return to the Premier League, Radrizzani did end up wasting a lot of the potential it had. However, he left the club in a much better position for the 49ers to take over.

If Leeds can get back to the top-flight under the 49ers then you would imagine the ceiling for success is almost endless.

Popular posts from this blog

The huge initial fee Leeds are set to receive for Crysencio Summerville’s move to West Ham — Leeds United News 31/7/24

Leeds United board break silence after transfer window with statement on upcoming Elland Road development — YEP 2/9/24

Leeds United transfer state of play as Whites knock back low bid and assert wing pair stance — YEP 3/7/24