{"id":295678,"date":"2023-12-01T17:25:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T17:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=295678"},"modified":"2023-12-01T17:25:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T17:25:14","slug":"ex-leeds-owner-massimo-cellino-on-his-love-affair-with-the-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/ex-leeds-owner-massimo-cellino-on-his-love-affair-with-the-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Leeds owner Massimo Cellino on his love affair with the club"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span>EXCLUSIVE<\/span> Chest-thumping, manager eating ex-Leeds owner Massimo Cellino on his love affair with the club and how he once accidentally sacked a coach when he asked to change the couch!<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Massimo Cellino oversaw a hugely chaotic period when he was Leeds owner<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Italian &#8211; who now owns Brescia &#8211; sacked six managers in just three years\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Manchester United in a mess &#8211; they have a collapse in them &#8211; It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For today\u2019s lunch, the man they call \u2018The Manager Eater\u2019 settles for the local speciality of tagliolini with white truffle.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, it has been just six days since he last chewed up a boss in Brescia \u2014 his 21st helping in six years. \u2018It\u2019s a very expensive meal,\u2019 Massimo Cellino say with a smile about his insatiable and infamous appetite for hiring and firing coaches.<\/p>\n<p>There is, though, a problem when we convene at Ristorante Nineteen in the centre of this tranquil Italian city, close to Lake Garda. And it has nothing to do with the food. \u2018Why are you wearing that bloody colour?\u2019 Cellino asks the woman sat by the front door as he walks in with Mail Sport.<\/p>\n<p>The restaurant\u2019s owner is wearing a purple jumper, a cardinal sin in the eyes of Cellino, who has \u2014 as anyone associated with him will know \u2014 a distrust of the colour, as well as the number 17. \u2018They bring me bad luck,\u2019 insists the 67-year-old maverick former Leeds owner, now running Brescia in Serie B.<\/p>\n<p>Cellino has sold \u2014 or refused to sign \u2014 players born on the 17th day of the month. \u2018I don\u2019t want to take the risk,\u2019 he says. \u2018It is a sickness. I am not normal. I apologise for that.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78474467-12814775-image-a-6_1701444802508.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport sat down with former Leeds owner Massimo Cellino for an exclusive interview<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473751-12814775-image-a-7_1701444808954.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Italian &#8211; who now owns Brescia &#8211; oversaw a chaotic period as Leeds owner from 2014-2017<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78474601-12814775-image-a-8_1701445029211.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>David Hockaday was one of six managers Cellino sacked in just three years, lasting six games<\/p>\n<p>But it was his problem with purple \u2014 associated with funerals in Italy \u2014 that left him with a red face shortly after he arrived at Elland Road in January 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I was a mess when I got there,\u2019 he admits. \u2018My English was very poor. My pronunciation was terrible. When I got there, there was a purple bloody couch in the suite at Elland Road. It was purple. I said, \u201cChange the bloody couch, I don\u2019t want to see it anymore\u201d. And then they fired the bloody coach!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Brian McDermott was the coach sent on his way while the velvet couch stayed put. It left Leeds without a manager the night before a home Championship match with Huddersfield. \u2018They said, \u201cWho is taking the team tomorrow?\u201d,\u2019 recalls Cellino. \u2018I said, \u201cWhy? We don\u2019t have a manager?\u201d. They said, \u201cYou fired him\u201d. \u201cI fired the manager? S***\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was 10 at night and there were 2,000 people at the stadium who wanted to kill me. They hid me in the stadium and then took me out in a police car. They said, \u201cIt is better if you don\u2019t go to the game tomorrow\u201d&#8230; Bloody purple!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Nigel Gibbs, McDermott\u2019s assistant, ended up in caretaker charge and oversaw a 5-1 win. \u2018I said \u201ckeep him!\u201d\u2019 recalls Cellino. \u2018Sometimes the big mistake becomes the best thing you do. That\u2019s bloody football.\u2019 Instead, McDermott was reinstalled as boss by GFH Capital, who remained in control while their 75 per cent sale to Cellino awaited EFL approval. But the madness had only just begun.<\/p>\n<p>While McDermott survived the rest of the season, Cellino \u2014 who initially failed his owners\u2019 test but got the decision overturned that April \u2014 sacked him in the summer. His replacement? Dave Hockaday, whose only previous managerial role had seen him lose his job at non-league Forest Green.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I didn\u2019t know who to appoint,\u2019 confesses Cellino. \u2018I had to take someone to do pre-season. I was lost \u2014 and I took the coach with the lowest wages. I\u2019ll never forget. We were playing Middlesbrough and it was 0-0. Then Hockaday took out (Souleymane) Doukara, who was playing good and he put in a midfielder, which was a brave move. We won 1-0.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018After the game, I said, \u201cHey, Hockaday, give me five, you are better than I thought. You took one striker away and put another one in midfield to control the game. That\u2019s something the best coaches understand not the worst\u201d. Then you know what he told me? \u201cI took out Doukara because he was injured\u201d. I said, \u201cSo you\u2019re s*** still!\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Hockaday was gone 12 days later after an ignominious six-game reign. Others lasted little longer. In fact, Hockaday was one of seven permanent bosses Cellino got through in his three years at Leeds. History is now repeating itself at Brescia, while in 22 years in charge of first club Cagliari, Cellino went through 36 coaches, earning him his Mangia Allenatori (Manager Eater) moniker.<\/p>\n<p>So when did he become such a serial sacker? \u2018I had a trauma,\u2019 he explains. \u20181999-2000, I was in Cagliari and I had a team to get into the first three in Serie A. I signed a coach (Renzo Ulivieri) who was a nice person. The supporters screamed against him at all the games, but I liked a lot this man. We lost games, we were going bad. I should change the coach. I didn\u2019t do it because I felt so sorry for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We were then relegated. At that time, I said, \u201cNever again. I have to look after the team, not my personal feelings\u201d. Sometimes I do it faster than I should do. Sometimes I don\u2019t even have the guts to call them myself and say they are fired because I am ashamed. I don\u2019t like it. But the bigger damage is not changing the coach.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473941-12814775-image-a-10_1701445105726.jpg\" height=\"474\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cellino revealed he accidentally sacked Brian McDermott (left) as coach when he had asked to change the couch in his office, before reinstating him as manager\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473865-12814775-image-a-9_1701445080738.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cellino reflected on tales from his time at Leeds including his superstition of the number 17<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473919-12814775-image-a-11_1701445165242.jpg\" height=\"416\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Italian admitted he still loves Leeds and that their result is the first he looks out for<\/p>\n<p>It is typical of Cellino, then, that when asked if there is any manager he regrets sacking, he insists his only regret is that he did not fire one more. \u2018If I was 100 per cent in charge of Leeds United in 2017, I would have sacked the coach (Garry Monk) to bring Leeds straight to the Premier League,\u2019 he says. \u2018He wasn\u2019t a good person. That was a big problem with Leeds that year.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>That was the year that Cellino ceded half of his Elland Road empire to Andrea Radrizzani. At the end of the 2016-17 campaign, Radrizzani bought out his fellow Italian to take full ownership.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I thought it was in his interest to carry on together,\u2019 says Cellino. \u2018But he wanted to buy all the club. He did it and then after two months he sent me a message saying, \u201cI made a big mistake, I have been such a fool\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You know, when someone is short, they like to show they are stronger. They like to win all the time. Sometimes you have to draw. You have to accept that someone is better than you and try to get along.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Leeds finished seventh that season, one place outside the play-offs. Cellino is scathing of Radrizzani\u2019s decision-making in their six months of co-ownership and even suspects he did not want the Whites to go up so he could buy them outright on the cheap.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We had one price to buy the 50 per cent in the Championship and a different price in the Premier League,\u2019 he says. \u2018So in his mind he said, \u201cIt\u2019s better if we don\u2019t go up because I take the 50 per cent for less money and the year after I go straight up. It\u2019s very easy\u201d. But they don\u2019t know football. He sold everyone, because Andrea liked to sell and buy players. Football is not that. That\u2019s why I call them amateurs. They are dangerous.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cellino also blames Radrizzani for the club\u2019s relegation from the Premier League last season. The media mogul has since sold his stake in Leeds to 49ers Enterprises, and now co-owns Sampdoria, who visit Brescia in Serie B tomorrow (sun 3 dec). Cellino, you suspect, will not be rolling out the red carpet.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think he tried to do good but he wasn\u2019t good enough to run Leeds,\u2019 he concludes on his successor.<\/p>\n<p>But what about his own Leeds legacy? Cellino is, unsurprisingly, more positive about it than Whites fans, who would describe his tenure as one of the worst and weirdest in the club\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I still don\u2019t know if it happened or it was a dream,\u2019 he says. \u2018It was a big, big challenge for me. I was trying to run an English club my kind of way. Maybe it was a mistake, but I am not dishonest. I never did anything wrong, at least not on purpose.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When I bought Leeds, I couldn\u2019t sleep one hour at night because it used to lose \u00a3100,000 a day. It lost \u00a332million in a year. There were too many costs. But the first year, I closed with \u00a38m loss. Second season, I broke even. Third season, I brought the club positive.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I had some problems when I was at Leeds because I am a very fighting man. I like to argue with people. I had some problems with the FA. They didn\u2019t like me very much. But I had a good time. I had a beautiful experience. I am just sorry that I didn\u2019t bring Leeds into the Premier League. Never mind. It was my fault. No one else\u2019s.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cellino was so unpopular at Leeds that fans once even protested his regime with a fake funeral to mourn the \u2018death of the club we fell in love with\u2019, complete with a coffin. Asked if he has a message for supporters, he performs the Leeds salute of a thump to his chest and says \u2018MOT\u2019, the abbreviation of club anthem Marching On Together.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ll never forget,\u2019 adds Cellino. \u2018I love Leeds. I still miss Leeds. I miss Yorkshire, I miss Yorkshire Tea, Yorkshire puddings. I still watch Leeds matches. They are the first result I look out for. Last year was terrible. Jesus. But they will go up again.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78475809-12814775-Asked_if_he_has_a_message_for_supporters_he_performs_the_Leeds_s-m-22_1701446255753.jpg\" height=\"872\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Asked if he has a message for supporters, he performs the Leeds salute of a thump to his chest and says \u2018MOT\u2019, the abbreviation of club anthem Marching On Together<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473925-12814775-image-a-12_1701445169132.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cellino was also heavily critical of the work of his successor Andrea Radrizzani and blamed his fellow Italian for Leeds&#8217; relegation from the Premier League last season<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Returning to his office in the heart of the city, Cellino stops to point out the building a few yards down the road. \u2018There is the court,\u2019 he says. \u2018I chose the wrong place!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Others would argue his close proximity to the Palazzo di Giustizia (Palace of Justice) is rather handy, given how often he is called there. Most recently, he had more than \u00a350million worth of assets seized amid an investigation into alleged tax crimes.<\/p>\n<p>However, the agriculture magnate \u2013 nicknamed the King of Corn \u2013 brings news. He has just been cleared of the latest allegations against him. \u2018Yesterday, not guilty in the high court,\u2019 reveals Cellino, who has previously been convicted for fraud and false accounting. \u2018I have done nothing wrong. I am sorry for who hates me or thinks that people can\u2019t have success without stealing. In Italy, if you have success, you are a dishonest person. That\u2019s the mentality.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I shouldn\u2019t have come back here. But I couldn\u2019t stay in England without Leeds. I had to run away. It\u2019s like when you get divorced. You need to start seeing other women otherwise you\u2019ll never forget the one before!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Back in Cellino\u2019s office, a figurine of the Virgin Mary has pride of place. He is deeply religious and once got a local priest to \u2018bless\u2019 the Elland Road centre circle and dressing room with holy water, in a bid to end an eight-month run without a home win.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I believe in God very much, so I think sometimes, when you see something negative, you try and make it positive,\u2019 he explains. \u2018I don\u2019t think it hurts anyone to bring a priest in.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018As soon as he blessed, a lot of black crows flew away from the stadium. I said, \u201cThis is not a joke, this is not a movie\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Leeds went on to win their next home match against Cardiff.<\/p>\n<p>We move along the corridor to the Brescia boardroom, where two shirts hang proudly on the wall \u2013 those of Robert Baggio, who ended his career at the club, and Sandro Tonali, who started out here.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He used to sit here with me,\u2019 Cellino says of Newcastle and Italy midfielder Tonali. \u2018He spoke with me more than his father. I brought him up.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cellino cannot fathom how the young player he helped nurture has come to be banned from football for 10 months for illegal betting. \u2018I still cannot say that Tonali could do anything wrong,\u2019 he says. \u2018If Tonali is bad, I dread thinking about the other players worldwide. If he was with me, I would have worked to stop it. But a lot of money causes too many wrong people around you.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473871-12814775-image-a-13_1701445510636.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cellino is deeply religious and once got a local priest to \u2018bless\u2019 the Elland Road centre circle and dressing room with holy water, in a bid to end an eight-month run without a home win<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/01\/15\/78473753-12814775-image-a-14_1701445524624.jpg\" height=\"951\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Cellino is happy at Brescia but insisted he could soon retire and he plans to move to England<\/p>\n<p>\u2018In England, they should protect him more because he\u2019s done nothing wrong when he was in England. Why does he have to pay from English football for something he made before when he was a baby, three years younger?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Talk of former Brescia players brings us on to Mario Balotelli, who joined his hometown team for a season after they won promotion to Serie A in 2019. Mere mention of the ex-Manchester City striker, though, makes Cellino visibly irate.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I like to not talk about him,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s lunchtime, my stomach is very weak. He\u2019s not worth even to spend one minute talking about him. For me, he doesn\u2019t exist. It\u2019s been a bad dream and I want to wake up. It\u2019s a nightmare.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cellino is understood to have terminated Balotelli\u2019s contract after he failed to return to training when Serie A resumed after the Covid shutdown in 2020. Earlier that season, Cellino was accused of making a racist remark about Balotelli when, asked why he had been dropped, he said: \u2018He\u2019s black and he\u2019s working to whiten himself.\u2019 Brescia later claimed their chairman had been \u2018misunderstood\u2019 and was joking. \u2018They can do what they want to make me seem racist but I am not racist,\u2019 Cellino says now.<\/p>\n<p>He also denies another story that, when his then boss Pep Clotet was sent to the stands during a match against Cremonese in February 2021, he took his place in the dugout. \u2018I am crazy but not that crazy!\u2019 insists Cellino. In fact, he thinks his craziest times might be behind him as he begins to consider life outside of the football madhouse.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Now I am getting old, I don\u2019t feel my energy is as strong as it used to be,\u2019 he admits. \u2018I would like to bring this club to Serie A again but sometimes I think I am not good enough anymore. I have to accept that there are young people who will be better than me now. Football is changing too much and I don\u2019t want to change.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That\u2019s why I like England. They protect their history. I hope England is never going to change like that. England invented football and England has to save football. I will retire to England to enjoy English football.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Cellino\u2019s wife and daughter still live in London and he gained British citizenship last year. Would he ever buy another club in England? \u2018I wish I could but I\u2019m not rich enough,\u2019 he adds. \u2018I don\u2019t want to come to make any more mistakes.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Whisper it quietly, but the Manager Eater might be having his last supper.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12814775\/Leeds-owner-Massimo-Cellino-Brescia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXCLUSIVE Chest-thumping, manager eating ex-Leeds owner Massimo Cellino on his love affair with the club and how he once accidentally<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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