Leeds United: The Cellino Years

Massimo Cellino was back in the news recently regaling the Daily Mail with the story of how he 'accidentally' sacked Brian McDermott. The story itself sounds rather far-fetched, but if you were familiar with Leeds around the time of him taking over, you'd be well aware of the Italians' less than conventional reputation. If I was being diplomatic I'd describe him as 'quirky', but if I were to forgo beating around the bush, 'fucking lunatic' would be about right.

I thought I'd have been happy never to hear Cellino's name again. However, it's nearly 10 years since he was the owner, we're back in the Premier League, and life is looking good (at the time of writing). With this in mind, I was actually able to look back with some humour at the bizarre, almost-daily, occurrences from the mad bastards reign of error. Below are some of the highlights (and low-lights).

Sacking Brian McDermott

As rumours of an impending takeover began to swirl around Leeds United, Cellino's representatives began to appear at Elland Road and Thorp Arch. Despite not being in control of the club yet, Cellino requested that his mate, and former 'Boro defender Gianluca Festa, sit in the dug out for the game against Ipswich, alongside Brian McDermott. This was on the 28th of January. 3 days later, reports were coming from the Cellino camp that McDermott had been sacked, with Festa likely to take over. The problem with this was that Cellino was still merely the prospective owner. This was pointed out by GFH, who were still technically running the club, and they tried to reinstate McDermott ahead of the Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield. With the game a couple of days away, confusion reigned. Who would take charge of the team? Would it be McDermott? Festa? No one seemed to know what was happening. It came down to assistant manager, Nigel Gibbs, to take charge temporarily. An absolute shambles.

McDermott was eventually reinstated and Cellino would go on to become the majority shareholder at Leeds. Surpisingly, McDermott wasn't sacked the minute Cellino gained power, however, he 'mutually-agreed' to leave the club at the end of the season.

As I mentioned at the start of this story, Cellino now says the sacking was all one big misunderstanding. You see, old Massimo is known for his superstitions, particularly with regards to the number 17 and the colour purple, in Italian culture these can be seen as symbols of bad luck. Well, you can imagine Cellino's horror when he arrived in an Elland Road suite to find a purple velvet couch. This is where the apparent misunderstanding occurred. When Cellino arrived in England, he was still getting to grips with the language. Upon seeing the purple couch, he immediately requested that it be removed. Unfortunately, his poor pronunciation of the word couch meant that the team working for him heard coach, instead. They dutifully proceeded to relieve Brian McDermott of his job. Hmmmm........sounds like some classic Cellino bullshit to me. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, though, I suppose.

Dave Hockaday

After the McDermott debacle, the discussion started to centre around who should replace him. Desite being a Championship side, Leeds were still a big club. Surely they could attract a big name? Maybe an exciting prospect? Possibly a glamorous Italian?

As it turned out, Cellino opted for none of the above. The man he chose to spearhead Leeds United's promotion bid was none other than Dave Hockaday. Who the fuck is Dave Hockaday?, you may be asking yourself. Well, everyone, outside of Dave Hockaday's family, was asking the exact same question when he was appointed ahead of the new season.

This was a man whose only previous managerial role had been with the Conference team, Forest Green Rovers. A job he didn't exactly excel in. In his first season they only avoided relegation due to a technicality. In the second, they narrowly avoided relegation again. The third season saw Forest Green finish 10th. A solid improvement, you might think? Well, not if you have the biggest wage and transfer budget, it isn't.

I actually remember seeing a bookies' shortlist for the vacant job at Leeds. There were 30 names on it, with only 2 I didn't recognise: Dave Hockaday and Eamonn Dolan, who was a Reading youth coach. I immediately dismissed both of them, thinking 'it's obviously not going to be either of them'. It was inconceivable that we'd hire someone with such little pedigree. I'd soon come to learn that the inconceivable was very much conceivable under Cellino.

Obviously, Dave Hockaday didn't last long. A circus-like preseason, followed by a piss-poor start to the season, meant Hockaday would last a paltry 70 days in the job.

Failing the Football League's Owners and Directors test

In October 2015, Cellino was banned by the Football League for failing it's 'Fit-and-proper-persons test' (Football League's Owners & Directors Test), due to tax related issues back in his native Italy. This wasn't even the first time he had been banned by the Football League; between December 1st 2014 and May 2nd 2015, Massimo Cellino was disqualified from owning Leeds United after the Football League obtained documents from the Italian authorities that showed he had been found guilty of tax evasion. All of this was evidence enough for my Gran - he was definitely Mafia.

What I find most bemusing about this, though, is that he actually managed to fail the Football Leagues 'Fit-and-proper-persons test'. Quite a feat when you consider some of the absolute charlatans and snake-oil salesmen who have weaseled their way into so many football clubs. However, it just goes to show the flimsy nature of the test. It's about as robust of a check as the message you receive before entering BBC Iplayer, asking whether or not you have a TV license before you proceed. Absolutely iron-clad.

Trying to ban Sky

Being the biggest club in the Championship, by some distance, meant that Leeds games were often shown on Sky Sports, to the great annoyance of the fans. Being shown on Sky Sports would mean that games were subjected to very late time and date changes. Incredibly frustrating for the fans, especially if it was an away game. It may have pissed off fans, but it's not a surprise - everyone has known for years now that Sky, and the powers that be, don't give a fuck about the fans.

It wasn't just the Leeds fans that were sick of the upheaval caused by the Sky footballing schedule: Massimo Cellino was also unhappy. With Leeds due to play Derby in a Tuesday night fixture, yet another televised Leeds game, Cellino decided to take a stand. As the Sky crew arrived on Monday, ready to set up for the following day's game, Cellino ordered the staff at Elland Road to refuse them entry. A pretty unprecedented move from a club owner, regardless of how erratic they are.

As the Sky crew were turned away in confusion, the Football League were notified of the situation. They released a sternly worded statement to Leeds United and Cellino reminding 'the club of its obligations to our broadcast partner and to ask them for their observations.' Of course, Cellino would relent, and the Sky sports cameras were 'reluctantly' let in.

In fairness to Massimo, this was about the only controversial escapade of his that Leeds fans could get behind: 'Sky TV is fucking shit', after all.

Managerial merry-go-round

In Italy, Massimo Cellino is known as the Il mangia-allenatori - the manager-eater- and for good reason. Cellino can churn through managers at an impressive rate of knots, often sacking managers on a whim, seemingly without much thought or reason. His time in England was no different. I've spoken about Brian McDermott and Dave Hockaday already, but they're just the tip of the ice-berg.

In his 3 hectic years of running Leeds United, Massimo Cellino sacked a total of 6 managers. This might not sound too extreme with the way modern football is in 2025, however, for a Championship club in the mid-2010's, this was unheard of.

After Dave Hockaday, Cellino decided to go for the obscure Darko Milanic, who was hired from Austria's Sturm Graz. He may not have been a widely-known name amongst Leeds fans, but at least he'd managed some proper clubs, surely a step-up from Hockaday....Well, 32 days later, 6 games, 3 draws, and 3 losses, Milanic was no more. Cellino decided he'd had enough and that was it for poor Milanic. Blink and you missed him. Ahead of Milanic's appointment, Cellino likened managers to watermelons, saying: “You find out about them when you open them.” It's a nice soundbite, but a bit of due diligence also goes a long way, Massimo.

I think he may be the only manager during my Leeds-supporting life, who I didn't actually see Leeds play under. A bizarre managerial stint all round.

Following the ridiculously short Milanic reign, Cellino decided to look closer to home. Neil Redfearn was promoted from the Leeds united Academy to the role of Head Coach. Redfearn actually lasted the rest of the season, and, I felt, had a stabilising effect on the team. However, his tenure wasn't without it's ups and downs.

Redfearn initially took over as caretaker manager after Hockaday was sacked, before returning to his academy role when Milanic was appointed. In this brief stint, Redfearn actually did well, recording 3 wins and a draw, so rather than take another risk, Cellino decided to give him the job on a more permanent basis after Milanic was sacked. Redfearn's first taste of the Cellino lunacy came when the Sporting Director, Nicola Salerno, sacked his assistant, Steve Thompson, without explanation. Salerno may have dropped the axe in Cellino's ban-enforced absence, but we all know who was behind the decision.

Furthermore, towards the end of the season, stories began to emerge that Redfearn was being pressured not to start top-scorer Mirco Anternucci. The reason being that if Antenucci scored more than 12 goals in the season, then he would automatically receive another 1 year contract at Leeds. Antenucci's agent confirmed this was the case, but Salerno came out and stated that the decision not to play Antenucci was Redfearn's alone. I doubt the Cellino's mouth-piece is much more truthful than the man himself, so I'll side with Redfearn on that one.

Things got even more bizarre (a common theme) when Cellino called a press conference to announce the appointment of Adam Pearson as Executive Director. Unsurprisingly, with Cellino's track record, questions were being asked of Redfearn's future. Rather than offer a clear answer addressing said questions, Cellino dragged the press conference out for over an hour, even stopping half way through for a cigarette break, leaving reporters bemused and none the wiser regarding Redfearn's future. The writing was certainly on the wall when Cellino described his manager as 'weak' and 'a baby' when interviewed by the Daily Mirror not long after, though.

Redfearn was eventually put out of his misery when Adam Person announced Uwe Rosler would be taking over. Redfearn was apparently offered his job back at the academy, but he chose to leave the club, and I can't say I blame him. He seemed like a genuinely sound guy, doing a decent job under difficult circumstances, who definitely didn't deserve to suffer under Cellino's shit-show.

As mentioned above, Uwe Rosler became the next managerial canon-fodder. I'll be honest, I don't remember much From Rosler's reign as manager. He arrived at the club with a fairly good reputation, having done well with Brentford and Wigan, but he was always destined to fail at Leeds. He only took charge of 12 games for the club, but with only 2 of them being wins, he was already being ushered towards the chopping block and didn't last beyond October.

Last, but certainly not least (both figuratively and literally), was Steve Evans. Evans took over with Leeds lingering above the relegation zone, but managed to steer the club to a fairly respectable 13th place finish. Evans has always been a very vocal admirer of his own (perceived) abilities. This didn't go unnoticed by Cellino, who said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, that Evans 'talks too much' and had to learn to 'shut his mouth'. Hard to disagree, but it's a bit rich coming from Massimo Cellino. Very much a case of pot-kettle-black, that one.

Evans knew the end was nigh when Cellino was constantly approaching other managers, while he was still in the job. Despite getting turned down by Karl Robinson and Darrell Clarke (fucking tragic), Cellino went ahead and sacked Evans anyway, making him the 6th and final managerial sacking if his shambolic tenure.

After Evans was fired, the forked-tongued Garry Monk slithered onto the scene, but the less said about him the better.

Banter Years

Cellino's frenetic ownership was probably the pinnacle of what could be coined the Leeds United 'banter' years: it was such a depressing time, the club was in disarray and we'd become a complete laughing stock. We were no strangers to shit owners either; Ken Bates was a miserable old fuck and GFH were staggeringly incompetent, but Cellino managed to combine those, with a healthy dose of madness thrown in for good measure.

Thankfully time is a great healer. Things got significantly better not long after Cellino sold up and moved on. Now he's been relegated to a mere footnote in Leeds United's history, albeit a fucking crazy one.