A millionaire is just what Leeds United has been crying out for, but as Massimo Cellino waits to take over at Leeds (subject to other bids it appears), here we post a fans view from our messageboard regular, Harrietleeds;
Sometimes I despair.
Someone with money comes along and a few people think, 'Hey, that's it, wonderful, he'll be great'.
At the training ground on Friday Festa asked what players they had to best fit certain roles: coaching staff scratched their heads and came up with names. He then picked a team to his plan - players he had never seen play. The players were told there was a meeting to explain the playing plan on Saturday morning. However, as we know, that was scrapped and the team went back to McDermott's plans and personnel. It won 5-1.
Some hope he will not sack people 'left right and centre'. He already has. Manager and a director sacked before he owns the club. His MATE appointed coach. He tried to appoint players no-one has heard off before taking charge, before he has even met the players here. Why would anyone think he won't do that? We know he will.
There is a published account of his response to the consortium meeting today which is that there is 'too much sh***e going on'. That's his pubic response. He has also blatantly contradicted himself over McDermott. He has already cost us two sponsors. He has alienated most of the supporters already. Hell, it took even Bates a few years - this guy's managed it in an evening.
In Italy, for all sorts of complicated reasons, football is very much about the owners. They fulfil an Italian fantasy shared by many fans; that it would be wonderful to be free of the petty officialdom, general low-level corruption, heavy beaurocracy and stifling Catholic morality that pervades Italian life. Berlusconi made his political career out of this image. The more outrageous they are, the more they expect to be loved. Thus: Cellino. To think he is going to modify his behaviour at Leeds is wishful. And he is moving from a league and a football culture he knows something about to one where he doesn't. He will make decisions in Miami about staff in Leeds he has never met. He will buy Italian players with no interest in England, no experience of English football, and make no effort to help them adjust. He will run foul of local government, as he always has. If the brand name of Leeds seems bigger than him, he will change it so people recognise it as HIS creation, and no other. It would be entirely in character to ban the all-white because it is associated with an old hero. His style, and the culture of ownership he comes from, always tries to discredit previous icons, as football itself was used to discredit Mussolini, who insisted cycling and not team games were to be the national sport. Anything at Leeds that is not about him will have to go. That is what we're meant to admire: 'our' man showing his power by treating the staff as comical incompetents who are there for his and our entertainment. Yes, there are exceptions, and the top teams use managers that can't be so easily messed around. Make no mistake, though, Cellino is not going to change. Where is the evidence that he will?
What do you think? Agree, disagree? Do you have a positive view to share? Join us on the Leeds United Messageboard to debate.
Sometimes I despair.
Someone with money comes along and a few people think, 'Hey, that's it, wonderful, he'll be great'.
At the training ground on Friday Festa asked what players they had to best fit certain roles: coaching staff scratched their heads and came up with names. He then picked a team to his plan - players he had never seen play. The players were told there was a meeting to explain the playing plan on Saturday morning. However, as we know, that was scrapped and the team went back to McDermott's plans and personnel. It won 5-1.
Some hope he will not sack people 'left right and centre'. He already has. Manager and a director sacked before he owns the club. His MATE appointed coach. He tried to appoint players no-one has heard off before taking charge, before he has even met the players here. Why would anyone think he won't do that? We know he will.
There is a published account of his response to the consortium meeting today which is that there is 'too much sh***e going on'. That's his pubic response. He has also blatantly contradicted himself over McDermott. He has already cost us two sponsors. He has alienated most of the supporters already. Hell, it took even Bates a few years - this guy's managed it in an evening.
In Italy, for all sorts of complicated reasons, football is very much about the owners. They fulfil an Italian fantasy shared by many fans; that it would be wonderful to be free of the petty officialdom, general low-level corruption, heavy beaurocracy and stifling Catholic morality that pervades Italian life. Berlusconi made his political career out of this image. The more outrageous they are, the more they expect to be loved. Thus: Cellino. To think he is going to modify his behaviour at Leeds is wishful. And he is moving from a league and a football culture he knows something about to one where he doesn't. He will make decisions in Miami about staff in Leeds he has never met. He will buy Italian players with no interest in England, no experience of English football, and make no effort to help them adjust. He will run foul of local government, as he always has. If the brand name of Leeds seems bigger than him, he will change it so people recognise it as HIS creation, and no other. It would be entirely in character to ban the all-white because it is associated with an old hero. His style, and the culture of ownership he comes from, always tries to discredit previous icons, as football itself was used to discredit Mussolini, who insisted cycling and not team games were to be the national sport. Anything at Leeds that is not about him will have to go. That is what we're meant to admire: 'our' man showing his power by treating the staff as comical incompetents who are there for his and our entertainment. Yes, there are exceptions, and the top teams use managers that can't be so easily messed around. Make no mistake, though, Cellino is not going to change. Where is the evidence that he will?
What do you think? Agree, disagree? Do you have a positive view to share? Join us on the Leeds United Messageboard to debate.
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