The 36-year-old spent one season with Leeds United.
Clarke Carlisle has admitted to The Yorkshire Evening Post that he feels sorry for Leeds United fans over Massimo Cellino’s stewardship at the club.
The Italian owner is something of a loathesome figure among Leeds supporters, and has been for much of his two-and-a-half year reign in charge of the Whites.
Current manager Garry Monk is Cellino’s seventh managerial appointment, which says it all about the challenges involved in working under such a figure.
Leeds protestors have previously brought a white coffin to Elland Road to symbolise what they feel is the death of their club under the controversial 60-year-old.
Carlisle spent the 2004-05 campaign with United and although his time at the club came long before Cellino’s, the 36-year-old sympathises with Leeds supporters for being forced to tolerate someone as ‘disrespectful’ as their current owner.
“What can I say really? After being at the club and this amount of time in Yorkshire I know how much the club means to the people around it,” he told The YEP.
“So to have someone controlling it who in my personal opinion doesn’t treat the club as the treasure that it is and doesn’t seem to give credence to a supporter’s perspective, that pains me. Especially when there’s no pay off in terms of success or stability, or even seeing the youngsters come through because once they’ve played 40 games they’re off.
“I feel sad for Leeds supporters and hopefully they’ll get someone or some group at the helm who respect the club as much as they do.”
The spotlight has been taken off Cellino over the past five or six weeks, which is mainly down to how well Monk is performing.
Leeds, who sit 11th in the Championship and four points off the top six, have won four of their last five league outings and, at the moment, things are pretty good.
They visit Derby County at the weekend.
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