With The Whites making excellent progress this season, this is the last ting they needed.
Flying high in the Championship, Garry Monk’s future secure, the team both positive and focused; what could possibly go wrong? Enter Massimo Cellino.
According to the Daily Mail, the shades-wearing, pie-taxing Italian owner is facing an 18 month suspension from football after breaching FA regulations with regards to Ross McCormack’s £10.75 million move to Fulham in 2014.
Furthermore, the Mail report that an FA Commission is set to fine Leeds £250,000 after they dedicated over a year investigating claims that the club authorised an illegal payment during the Scotland striker’s Elland Road exit.
A growing number of Leeds fans have become increasingly infuriated by the ever-expanding throng of controversies during the Italian’s reign but, if indeed the ban is enforced, Cellino’s bizarre stint in English football could finally be brought to an end earlier than expected. He was, after all, discussing the potential sale of 50 per cent of the club to businessman Andrea Radrizzani.
And while Cellino’s potentially enforced departure is not necessarily a negative for the promotion-chasing Whites (remember, Monk is the club’s sixth manager in just two years) the last thing Leeds needed right now was yet more off-pitch distraction with their comparatively controversy-free start to the season underpinning an impressive push for the play-offs.
Cellino himself came out after the reports emerged, quoting to Leeds’ official website;
“I am surprised to read the news regarding the FA’s intentions to ban and fine me, as well as fine the Club. I am not guilty and I will take the right steps to defend myself through the tribunal.
“I feel that I am guilty of one thing, protecting Leeds United since I took charge of the Club. I ask the players, manager and my staff to continue to work with loyalty and professionalism and to keep fighting for the Club everyday on and off the pitch.
“I am sure that the public in this country and the free press will take the time to look into this case and find the truth.”
Nonetheless, these frequently put-upon fans are more than a little unhappy with their owner.
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