Mighty Leeds Weblog

The arrival of Rob Kelly as Uwe Rosler’s No 2 is virtually finalised and little by little Leeds United look less like a one-man club. Adam Pearson, their new director, made the point last week that Leeds still have a solitary owner – “he’ll set the policies and he’ll make the ultimate decisions” – but Massimo Cellino appears to be embracing the framework of staff which many think he needs. The involvement of Pearson himself is progress for a club who, Cellino aside, have not had an experienced football mind in the boardroom for the best part of two years. Rosler, too, is a credible head coach; good enough to justify replacing Neil Redfearn, though not to justify the treatment of Redfearn in general. Rosler was given free rein to appoint his own backroom team and Kelly should become the first addition to it before the end of this week, returning to the game four months after leaving West Brom in the aftermath of Tony Pulis’ appointment at the Hawthorns. Kelly, 46, had a limited prof...

Phil Hay New Leeds United director Adam Pearson insisted tonight that the club were in “good shape” and claimed a play-off bid would be realistic next season if they got their “acquisitions right.” Speaking to the YEP, Pearson said he had come back to Leeds to help “take a bit of weight off” Massimo Cellino with the Italian drawing breath after a troubled first season as owner. Cellino appointed Pearson to United’s board as an executive director on Monday, an unexpected but popular development which followed a series of meetings between them last weekend. Pearson’s appointment comes 14 years after he left a previous role as commercial director at Leeds and a mere three weeks after the 50-year-old was named as part of a three-man ‘sporting committee’ at Sheffield Wednesday. The former Hull City owner – a recognised and respected figure in footballing circles – said he was confident of establishing a productive relationship with United’s volatile owner but admitted he had not taken ...

We would like to welcome Adam Pearson back to Leeds United as the club’s new Executive Director. Pearson has a wealth of experience in football and is no stranger to the club having previously held the position of Commercial Director at Elland Road before going on to purchase Hull City in 2001. Under Pearson’s chairmanship, Hull rose from being a team in administration and on the brink of exiting the Football League, to becoming a competitive Championship side pushing for the top-flight after a remarkable ascent up the divisions. Pearson decided to sell the club in 2007 and soon took up the role of executive chairman at Derby County, before returning to Humberside within just two years as he resumed the position of chairman at the KC Stadium. In 2011 he then purchased Super League side Hull FC, who he still owns, and eventually moved on from the Tigers the following year. His most recent role in football came at local rivals Sheffield Wednesday as part of their sporting committee. ...